Elder Moore

WORLD CUP SPECIAL POST
[I took all of Kyle's emails that contained information about the World Cup and put them in one post! Kyle has always LOVED soccer -- probably more playing it than watching it, so we know being in Argentina during the World Cup was exciting for him!]

Argentina preparing for the World Cup

Pre-World Cup
These are World Cup stickers that I am collecting. This is the only time where I will be in Argentina, on my mission DURING the world cup so this is why I am doing it. It's really fun. The members and investigators do it too so we can trade and everything. This is who I have in the American team. 

June 16th

The World Cup. The words alone have energy in them. La Copa Mundial. Oh man. The energy here is quite interesting. Things FREEZE in the streets depending on who is playing. You can imagine last night when Argentina played that there were tumbleweeds in the streets. Like an apocalypse happened and everybody died. It was...eerie... super quiet. Now, we are going to talk about what the missionaries do during the World Cup. We never received any information regarding what we could do or couldn't do (which means normal rules, which means, no soccer). Only that if at anytime we felt unsafe in an area, no matter how small or unimportant, we were to immediately leave and head to the apartments. And that we weren't supposed to spend time unnecessarily in the streets. The challenge that we faced was very difficult. If we went to an investigator, member, recent convert, or less active, they will be watching the game. We can't head back to the apartment early. We can't walk in the streets. So what do we do? So we stopped by a member's to pick up my white tie and he was watching the game (obviously) so we made the decision to sit and have a cup of mate cocido 10 or 15 minutes. Then we had an appointment with 2 recent converts and two future investigators and watched the ending minutes to the first half, then we left. And walked alone and quietly back to the apartments. Walking a little slow so we wouldn't enter the apartment really early. It was a difficult situation. I hope we either have permission to see it in the future. (I realize yesterday was Sunday so the president was put in a difficult decision) or that we are given permission to go home early because I have never seen a street or town so dead. Dead silent. Everything closed and everybody inside. So that's what we did. It's also difficult because a member told us this: "Soccer is the culture here. If you want to gain the respect of less actives, investigators, or persons in the street. You HAVE to have a knowledge about the world cup. It's our culture, missionaries should embrace the culture!" So imagine the difficulty...

However we heard the Argentina won so that's pretty cool (because people yell out their windows). Everybody is really excited. People have their flags out their windows. Cars have flags. People dressed in blue and white. Faces are painted. People driving with these trumpet things. It's pretty awesome. They are all really excited. All the members hyper analyze every game, every referee, every player and every call. It's awesome.

Kyle in his Argentina shirt.

June 23rd

Oh man. 2 to 2. That's awful. Now the points in our group are Germany 4, USA 4, Ghana 1 and Portugal 1. We play Germany next we have to WIN or TIE to be advance no matter what. I hope we tie because Germany and USA will advance together. However, if we lose...we have to PRAY that Ghana and Portugal tie so that are only awarded one point each. Then we can advance. Come on USA!!! Tim Howard! Beasly the BEAST! I keep in touch. The Argentina game was amazing. 0-0 until the 92 minute with Messi outside of the 18 yard box. Funny story. We arrived at a house the last 5 minutes of the game so we got to see the goal. It was INSANE. I was so excited. Our member sprinted outside in the street screaming GOOOOAL GOOAL GOAL GOAL GOAL. With all the neighbors. It was awesome. I mean, I was excited, but wow. They went insane. They yell and scream at the TV like they are directing it. I LOVE IT. Anyway. That was it. 

June 30th

World Cup minute. Alright. It has happened. The rule has been brought down. With certain games, we will receive a message saying "All missionaries will stay in the apartment during this time and another. When Argentina plays. For sure now. So tha'ts always exciting... and boring. But we can always keep track of the scores by the types of screams and if their are fireworks or not. Haha it's its own religion here. Again I love it. We did have the opportunity to see a part of the Mexico and Netherlands game. Wow. What a rob! I don't agree with that. But oh well. There is something more important that I do. :)

July 7th

It happened again! We had to stay in the apartment Saturday during the game. However TUESDAY we had a Mission Wide Activity. Where we had a devotional and then right after we watched the game against Switzerland. It was so intense! Way to go Argentina!

I heard about the United States. How sad. :( Also, Colombia. PLEASE GERMANY BEAT BRASIL! PLEASE. Argentina now plays against Holanda which will be a very hard game. And the good news is that we got PERMISSION to be in a members home to have another "cultural activity" and watch the game! Woot! I am so excited for this Wednesday. So if you all watch the game you will know exactly where I am too! :) 

July 15th (After Argentina lost to Germany in the final on July 13th)

Alright. WORLD CUP MINUTE. Yep, I know, I heard. Argentina 1-0 with only minutes to spare to go into penalty kicks. Sad, but that's life! There are things more imporntant. That day was super super boring. We were told to be in the pension from 4 o clock in the afternoon until the next day. I have never been so bored. After all the things that we could do, there was nothing more TO do. So we just sat and talked, and planned and read. For 6 hours.. woohoo... So that's that!