MUNRO, WEEK 42: THE PARTY CONTINUES

Well, as you can see by the subject of the email. The party CONTINUES in MUNRO! Same companion and everything. It seems that I will be here for another transfer after too because this is the last transfer of my companion. So we will see what will happen! 

Anyways, this past week was good. Munro is a great ward. A return missionary took us out to dinner after working with us for a day, we had great pizza but I didn't have my camera with me to take a picture. I will try to get that picture though. 

We have an investigator that has her baptism this weekend, so pray for her! 

It got cold again here! Had a storm and it was raining and blowing. It got so cold last night in the pension that I got out of bed, put on socks, pants, long johns and went back to bed. It was great. :) 

There is a member in our ward that is a PE teacher at a university or high school and we were talking all about missionaries and their health after the mission. It was pretty interesting. He explained how to burn fat and exercises and everything. A member that was with us (in one of the photos) said this which was just plain funny: "So it that you are saying is that there isn't a magic pill or some Chinese cream that I can just smear on my body to make it go away. That I actually have to do exercises!" The member laughed and said yes. Then he said. "Forget it, I will just keep eating what I want." Ha!

A really REALLY cool story that happened with this member and his family is this. We stopped by to get to know him a little bit more and to meet his wife who went inactive for some reason. They have 2 kids one that 5 years old and the other thats 3. We decided to teach the OLA. Orar. Leer. Asistir (Pray, Read, Attend) And how these three things can helps us receive the blessings that God wants to give us and that we need. I drew a picture of a faucet and that the three things (OLA) were pipes that directed that water to a flower which is our testimony. The kids were really attentive. The Spirit was there too. Then they satarted drawing their own pictures so we kept talking to the parents. Then at the very end I looked at the picture of the daughter and asked her what she drew. So she explained it proudly to everyone. It was the temple and next to it she drew each member of her family and she proudly said "Even mommy is there too!" (she is inactive and the kids know it) I then pointed to what was above it and asked and what's this? It was a heart with an arrow to another heart that was broken in half, and then it had another arrow that pointed to a heart that was whole again. She said " I don't know, I just wanted to draw it!" I testify that she was prompted by the Spirit. And she drew what was needed in that very moment. Everybody in the room knew it. The little girl kept on drawing and it was quiet for a moment as everyone was reflecting on the simple but profound doctrine that this daughter of God had drew. I then testified that whatever problem we may have had or have now in our lives, it can be fixed by God. By the OLA. 3 simples things and the Lord can repair our lives. It was a time I will never forget. It's so true. 

The next day as we were heading to sacrament meeting, the Bishop called us and asked if I could give a talk on the importance of reading the Book Of Mormon. For 10 minutes. I did. I talked about this experience. How when we read, we receive and if we don't, we don't get anything. It's that simple. If investigators can receive an answer from God and change their life and get baptized in only three weeks, why can't we, as members, do the same but faster? We know the commandments, we know the standards of God, what we should do and shouldn't. The change isn't that drastic for us. We are already baptized. We just got to read!! The Book of Mormon is TRUE! Without it, we have nothing. No hope, no future, no happiness, no church, no priesthood, no authority. Nothing. THAT'S WHY WE HAVE IT. To establish the Light of the Gospel. READ IT. PRAY ABOUT IT. APPLY IT. Establish the Gospel in our own lives. We can't testify of the Book of Mormon with divine power if we don't have a solid testimony first. Every problem, difficulty, trial, or situation that we have, has an antidote in the Book of Mormon. Read it! :) That's my testimony. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. 

That about sums it all up for this week! I will make brownies this week. I hope it goes well! 

Love you all. 

Please pray for me!

Love, 

Elder Moore

PICTURES

A great family -- pioneers! They helped open one of the Munro wards back in the day. 

Another family we're working with. The man and woman in the right of the photo are going to get married in a few weeks! Civily first, then the husband will be baptized. Then they will be sealed in a year. They are awesome. 

Me celebrating when I heard they took out a date to get married!

Me and E* with our missing teeth. We are growing up!

This is of a part of the district. 

MUNRO, WEEK 41: WEEK 6

Well, this week was long. 

I went on divisions...TWICE! That makes 7 times this transfers. Which is definitely a record. They have been great experiences. The zone had a goal to do a lot more divisions to learn and to expand the work. It was pretty interesting. Sometimes difficult but I learned a LOT!!

Well, today we have plans to go to WALMART! Yep. [That's right, Taylor, the company has spread its slimy tentacles here.] Haha - it's okay with me because I heard that they have peanut butter. So they won me over. 

This week was a little bit more difficult in finding people. But we found someone named M*. She is great. About 40 years old but she is progressing and came to church! And she fit right in with the members and everything. 

This week that is coming is the last week in the transfer. So we will see what the Lord has in store for me! 

I really don't have much to talk about this past week. Things have been just chugging a long. 

The weather is already starting to heat up. 70s or so. I already broke out the first short sleeve the other day. This summer is going to be a doozy. Yay. :( Winter was absolutely nothing. Only a few really cold days that was it. 

I love you all I hope everything is good! 

Love, 

Elder Moore

MUNRO, WEEK 40: WEEK 5

Hello!

Well, family I have 30 minutes to write and then get back to the work! 

Today we went early to play soccer and volleyball and made smoothies. They were great! Mango and Kumquats (which are weird) and everything. 

This week was very busy. Walking with a purpose every day in every part of the area. The ward is really progressing in the missionary work. For 8 weeks we have been talking with the ward about goals, ward missionaries, regular meetings, people to accompany the missionaries, home teachers and plans. The past 2 weeks they established home teachers, called a new Relief Society presidency, have had 2 meetings that are now regular every week, and then they just called and set apart 3 ward missionaries. IT'S AWESOME. I feel like the missionaries and the ward are starting to work together. It's a great feeling. :) 

Here's a funny story. One day we were walking to a house of a less active. We were talking with the family outside and out of the corner of my eye I saw a lady of about 60 years watching us. We said goodbye and as we were walking I made eye contact with this person, my companion too. We decided to detour and talk to her. She is from a providence north of here. She has a big family and we talked to her about the Plan of Salvation. She accepted to listen to us. We came back the next day and taught about the Restoration because she is Catholic. She accepted the lesson and told us that she was going to pray, but then she told us a story about how when she was alone one day, pregnant she went into labor early. 3 people came to her in a white shirt and tie and helped her to the hospital. Then when they returned a few days after she gave them lunch but they only ate seeds and honey and grains. (In this moment my companion and I looked at each other and he whispered the 3 Nephites.) We left and we came back the next day. She told us that she had news for us. That she said her prayer and something came to her memory. She went and retrieved an old book and opened it up. And a picture was there; a picture of three Elders. The first Elders that opened up the area where she was. They were all dressed in white. She then realized that she was a baptized member of the church! It was a very happy moment for us (also sad because we lost an investigator that was progressing) but it was great!  

So that is my story of the week. Very interesting. 

Thanks for all your prayers! I love you all! 

Love, 

Elder Moore

MUNRO, WEEK 39: WEEK 4 OF TRANSFERS

Well, hello family! 

It's great to write to you all once again, although I must admit I don't know what to write... 

Yes, we went to a place called Tecnopolis. Which is the Argentina version of OMSI. But not quite the same caliber. They had some cool things and exhibits but the others were just plain weird and space fillers. They had a huge warehouse of just futuristic clothing for extreme conditions... woohoooooo... But then they had a cool hands-on application place and I got to participate in this blind maze race where I only had a sensor in my hands to navigate a small maze that beeped when I got close to a wall. It was pretty cool. It was all about bats and how they find food. Hope you enjoy the pictures:

We had a crazy crazy week. Lots of traveling and lots of divisions. There is a sick Elder in our zone. Which happens to be Elder G*, my companion and best friend in the MTC. He has been in his apartment with some type of virus for a week. I had the awesome opportunity to do divisions with his companion so I could stay with him in his apartment for an hour or two. It was a great blessing! We just talked and talked and worked on papers for the mission and stuff. It was great! Definitely a blessing for us, almost like a recharge. Haha. 

Anyways, we have found lots of people to teach but none of them are able to go to church so we stop teaching them because they can't progress. So it's a little frustrating in that part of the work. But we go on! Eventually we will find someone that is ready for the waters of baptism! 

That's about it! I love you all! Thanks for your prayers. 

Love, 

Elder Moore

MUNRO, WEEK 38: HOWDY!

Alright family! 

This is going to be quick because today we are going to Tecnopolis! It's a special exhibit in our area that opened up this past week and it's all about science and technology. So basically it's an OMSI. But we are going in just a bit. I promise I will take a TON of pictures. :) 

Thank you for all the pictures you have all sent! They are truly wonderful. The neices are sure growing up fast! It's sad that I am not around to mess up the childhood! :) 

Something VERY interesting that happened this week was that Sunday we slept in for 2 hours! Our cellphone wasn't plugged in properly in the night time and so it died and the alarm never sounded. Our back up alarm was outside because we use it to see the temperature every morning. I was laying in bed (waiting for the alarm) and I looked up and saw more light than usual. (We basically sleep in a cave. It's awesome). Then I heard more cars outside than usual. So I got up went to the phone. It was dead so I went outside to see the temperature alarm and it said 8:20! I turned on the light and yelled at my companion as I was jumping in the shower. And he jumped up in bed, yelling VAMOOOOOOOS. (LET'S GOOOOOO). It was the fastest morning getting ready that we have ever experienced. We told the Zone Leaders and they were obviously stern with us but at the end they said, half laughing after hearing about our story in the morning, "Elders, we would be lying if we said that that hasn't happened to us. But just don't let it happen again." Haha. Deal. The whole day was thrown off a little bit but we changed our ways. :) Just goes to show you the importance of OBEDIENCE! 

Anyways. I love you all! 

HAAAAAAAPPY BIRTHDAY KERRI! 

Love, 

Elder Moore

Kyle didn't mention what these pictures were from, but since we know he LOVES Oreos, one can only assume he managed to procure some, probably for a birthday treat!

Don't know what these are, but they sure look good!

MUNRO, WEEK 37: HI!

Carrying around an egg (supposed to represent an investigator) during a zone meeting.

Hi Family! 

Everything is going good. A week full of WORK! We had divisions with the Zone Leaders and BOOM! Showed us a new way of work and teaching. We doubled our references from members this past week. And we increased our lessons by 50%. It was a great moment for learning, and very humbling. I learned a lot! 

Sunday was interesting. I put on the lunch calendar that it was my birthday and nobody signed up! Until a family surprised us with an invitation after Sacrament meeting. The second counselor was conducting sacrament and he announced before the meeting the it was my birthday that day. I was so embarrassed. 

Then after that we got invited to dinner to have some amazing milanesa and papas fritas (french fries). Then the family made bizconchuelo which is a weird form of cake. But it was good! With some Nesquik that I bought. 

:) 

We found 3 new investigators this week but they weren't able to come to church because Sunday was Dia Del Amigo, which is Friend Day. It's a BIG deal here. Everybody says in the street "Feliz dia del amigo!" Happy Friend Day! Which is great because everybody is happy! 

My companion and I are doing great. We get along well. 

A very interesting experience I had this week was that one day we talked with the neighbor of a member. The neighbor recently moved in from Nigeria. We started talking to them and they interrupted and said in broken Spanish. That they only speak English. My companion replied in a little English "Great, he speaks English too" and so I started to speak and we talked and then I started to introduce the gospel and my words kept running into Spanish. Every 5 or 6 words the word in Spanish would crash into my sentence. It was DIFFICULT. It was almost funny to the other because they could see that I was struggling. Well the Lord helped me and they accepted a pamphlet and we will follow up! But it was just very funny, to think that I have been teaching the gospel so much for the past 10 months, that I have forgotten how to do it in English! Which in a way is a good indicator. I will have to relearn English after my mission!

Anyways, this week should be good! I am very excited to go to infinity and beyond! 

 

I love you all! 

 

Happy Birthday Grandma! Happy Birthday Uncle Craig! Happy Birthday Dad! Happy Birthday Kerri! 

Love, 

Elder Moore

"Conference call with the zone in the morning!"

 "A milkshake that my companion made Sunday morning. It was good!"

"A shoelace that fell to the ground in the shape of a turtle. It was cool. Not very important."

MUNRO, WEEK 36: TRANSFERS TRASLADOS

TRAAAAANSFERS! 

Alright family, ready for the news? 

I got a new companion! Elder C* from Honduras. 5 COMPANIONS. 5 COUNTRIES. Honduras. Colombia. Argentina. Spain. USA. What a great blessing! The Lord wants me to learn something! I hope I am figuring it out. 

Me and my new companion, Elder C*.

Elder B*, went to a different place to finish his mission. Elder C* came in his place. He and I actually already know each other. He was in my first zone in a neighboring area. He is awesome and we get along great! He also has the same time as Elder B* so he will be leaving in October. So Munro will probably be his last area. 

Anyways, this past week was good; some really cool things that I got to do this week. Something that happened for the which I am eternally grateful is that our shower head broke, so we called the missionary couple that is in charge of the pensions. They said that if I could fix it, do it, so that they don't have to send someone and pay them to do it. I looked at the shower head and realized that "yes, I can do that!" I felt like Sam from the movie, Holes. "I can fix that". So we went to an Argentina Home Depot. Bought the new shower head and tube, some teflon tape and got to work. Ended up being a success! I am very happy with the end result. No problems, a quick fix. Nothing major but I am happy that I had gained the knowledge from experience! Thanks, Dad. Attached are photos. :) 

Elder Moore, the handy man!

Then the other day the lights went out! So we went down to where the breaker box was. In Argentina (well, in this building) they don't use massive breakers with the switches. They use little fuses with metal. They are called Termicos in Spanish. I don't know what they are in English. My companion didn't know much and I only knew a little bit from what I saw our neighbor do with their Termicos one time. Turns out there is a filament inside. Much like a light bulb, that over time it burns out, so the electricity can't pass through. So what I did is shut off the electricity, removed the two termicos, found which one was the problem, retied the filament (turns out it just slid out of its place) replaced the caps that hold it there and put them back in and voila! Let there be light! It worked! It made me feel very grateful for the places that I have been and the experiences that I have had that are helping me already in the future. Although the candles in the dark reminded me of home alongside the wood burning stove, I still like the heat of the electric heater that we have. 

I am very happy to hear everything is going well! Sounds like a great summer is taking place! It's a great winter here! 

Today is a short p-day because we went to pick up and drop off old companions and then we have a zone meeting in the afternoon. But I added a ton of pictures! :) 

Enjoy. Love, 

Elder Moore

PICTURES!

Empanadas de Jamon y Queso! (ham and cheese) 

They are like hot pockets but better.

This is a picture of an Asado! Which is basically a BBQ that a family put on for us. 

The big long brown weird looking thing is called Marcion. Which is the Blood Sausage. I didn't mind the blood sausage that much. It was...interesting. Tasted a lot like liquid cinnamon...if that makes sense.

The other picture isn't some chocolate cake or pastry but actually coagulated blood warmed to perfection. :)

This is the tie of my companion. I was burning off the fuzzies and it just erupted in flames and I threw it outside (it was raining). It was a really old tie, apparently made with all the flammable materials known to man. 

This is my birthday present to me. I bought a pillow! Because the one that the mission gave me was stuffed with that foam that fake plants have at the bottom. It was super thin. The new one is great. :) 

 [Happy Birthday to Elder Moore, who turned 19 years old on July 20th!]

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! 

MUNRO, WEEK 35: HOLA!

Alright, I do not have much time to write  because we finish P-day earlier on this day. 

[Some stuff about the World Cup that I am putting in a separate World Cup post]

Anyway, this past week was good, a little frustrating because we had two investigators set for Sunday but they both fell through last minute. We had a car and a member drive us and everything. It's the worst when that happens. But yeah.

I am really sorry but we have to go! Chao! Photos and more next week! 

Love,

Elder Moore

MUNRO, WEEK 34: JULY!

Hello Family! 

It's JULY... almost... It is also getting colder! I love it! The weather isn't that far off from winter in Oregon so that's definitely a blessing. I would say that right now its the equivalent of October... I think. I am not sure. My body keeps telling me that is July, I should be sweating right now. But nope.

"Here's a piece of wall that looks like Abraham Lincoln to me." Ummm....Kyle, you're crazy!

This past week was good. I went on divisions with the Zone Leaders and that was great. I always learn a ton when I do divisions so that is a great blessing; gives us a chance to shake things up in the area. 

We are starting to receive some investigators here and there and references from the members which is a HUGE help. Members are pretty much the key, have I said that before? :) 

We had an investigator that was ready to get baptized and then moved outside our boundaries into another ward by ONE street. So that was frustrating but we were able to make the hand off pretty smooth and we hope to here good results! 

Here are few photos of what I did to help my companion learn English in the apartment. :) 

I love you all! You are all in my prayers! 

Love, 

Elder Moore