June 26th, 2018

It was a Doozy

Oh Boy

This week was... interesting

This Week we buckled down.  All of these families I have mentioned before are getting closer to the appointed times of Baptism.  Well...We learned a lot more about the investigators too.

So much stuff has happened this week and I don't even know where to start.

Well the biggest thing is that we taught the law of Chastity to a family.  The parents are not married, at least not legally, and long story short, because of money issues and child support problems.... They will not be able to get married anytime soon.  It is an incredibly frustrating situation, and I can't really do anything but council with my leaders and still teach them and help them.  They are serious about Baptism, but worldly views about things have made this process a challenge.  If I'm learning anything from this whole thing, it is that people make things too complicated. I am a simple person.  I like simple things.  And this whole situation is a challenge for them and us.  But, the Lord provides a way.  Even if that way is waiting.

The other family is doing great.  No issues with the commandments, we just have to help them prepare for everything when their date comes up.  Oh and we also have to teach their child nearly everything to get him up to speed when he comes back from Idaho.  So...other than that, they are good.  They are funny too.

It's still hot here.  Triple digits every day.  It was 98 degrees earlier this week.  And it was....cool.  It felt cool.  I think the highest was 114 degrees this week.  Either that or 115.  I drink a ton of water every day.  We buy 40 packs of waters and go through them every week regularly.  People are generally courteous.  It's funny because they will bash or yell at you "no soliciting!" And then they will ask if you want water.  Which...we always do.

This transfer has been a long time coming though.  The families are finally getting to those pivotal moments where they are almost in the water.  Granted... because of varying situations many of the dates for their Baptisms are farther off, but they are all going out of town or moving around or whatever.

Being a Missionary is Stressful sometimes.

I've learned some interesting things that I had never considered about this mission.  Las Vegas was founded by Mormons.  A lot of people don't know that, but it was founded by members of the church.  Henderson and the Vegas area actually are super close behind Utah as far as membership in an area goes.  So most people have had the Missionaries at their door.  This creates an interesting dynamic that I think makes this mission, or at least this part, unique compared to other places.  People know who we are.  Most people join or start investigating because they have family who are Members, they are always helped by the church members or have friends, or they married a member.  As opposed to people who don't know anything.  It is an interesting thought I guess.

We had  zone conference.  It was good.  My district actually kind of...stuck together the whole time.  Which is weird to say, but we all just kept with our own district, while everyone else mingled around.  I've always preferred small groups anyways.

We had district council right after in some stake meeting room.  It had a table and some whiteboards and whatnot and we called it "The War Room."

So we had council in the war room.

I am tired.  The heat, the lessons, the people....It is basically the opposite of "Elder Moore" stuff.  But the Lord needs me to help in His Work.  So I suck it up and Just Do It!

I don't have a lot of pictures.  Just one flattering one of me and Elder Ficklin going to service.

I Love You all and Wish you all the best!

-Elder Moore

June 19th, 2018

Saved in the Heat

Heyo friends and family!

It got hot.  I have a picture to prove the weather.  On Wednesday last week or Thursday or something, it became 110 degrees. I don't think I have ever experienced such heat before.  It was....hot.  I drank soooo much water.  Luckily it cooled down later, down to around 95-98 degrees instead.  I didn't ever think that those would be considered 'cool' temperatures.  But... at least it's a "dry heat".  (I hate that phrase now)

This Week we worked.  Well...duh.  This week we broke some new ground.  We taught two families the Word of Wisdom.  It's interesting to get the reactions that we got.  Some were thinking that it was going to be super easy to follow, while others were thinking it would be a struggle.  Well, either way they both committed to live it, and so we will continue to follow up and help them on their way.  A lot of these lessons and people have been a long time coming.  People tend to... take a while around here, but I guess when I prayed for patience that one time, the Lord chuckled and threw me here, where people progress, just at a slower pace than other places it seems.  Oh well.  It's a good thing.  We want disciples, not numbers.

Here is something interesting.  We were riding our bikes through the desert, and we saw a guy in the distance walking his dog.  He was quite a ways off, when we noticed that his hand was raised.  And then he proceeded to make the symbol of the cross repeatedly while we rode by.  I looked over at my companion and said, "I think we just got saved."  It was pretty funny.

People are generally nice.  They always give us water.  Even if they are not interested.

I'm pretty sure one of our investigators works in Area 51.  He can't take his phone to where he works and he is in the airforce.... and does not do "typical military stuff."

I don't have a lot to say this time around I guess.
The Church is True
The Doctrine of Christ, the Doctrine of the Book of Mormon is true.

Here are some pictures I took.

I Love You Guys
-Elder Moore

June 12th, 2018

Changes

Hey Friends and Family!

We had a few changes this week.  A lot of it was just meetings moving around and our mission being observed by Salt Lake for using a new thing on our devices that should help us in proselyting.  And this month our President is having us do a "p-day sports" fast.  So basically every p-day for the next couple of weeks we are not to go to the chapels to be around other missionaries and play sports with.  Apparently it has gotten too rough and some elders are getting too comfy with the sisters I guess.  Not me though.  I'm excited because this means I don't feel obliged to be around anybody else on P-day for the next few weeks!  Instead, I will find something else to do.  Maybe I will hike.  Or draw.  Or nap.

I wish I had more stuff to write this time around, but I'm beat.  The heat here makes me tired much faster.  So this morning, even though I slept, I am ready to pass out again.

I was so tired yesterday that last night I was riding my bike and I miscalculated the curb I was going up on, and I ended up falling off of my bike and Elder Ficklin laughed at me the whole time.  I also laughed, but I was so beat that I didn't really care.  It was an interesting end to a long day. 

Here is something that is actually quite funny.  I am gaining the reputation as the metal-head missionary.  Obviously I don't listen to it but occasionally music gets brought up in missionary chit chat and it's funny.  Especially when the zone-leaders ask about the bands I liked back home or when my brand new companion asks me "are you the one that likes metal music?".  I don't know which of my previous companions talks about me like that but its kind of funny.  Not something I expected to be known for.

I have been coughing like crazy for a week now and it is driving me nuts.  I had a sore throat for a few days, but it's going away, but the coughing is annoying.

I wanted to share a quick thought.  This scripture is when The Sons of Mosiah are all talking about missionary work, in the Book of Mormon, and Ammon begins glorifying in the Lord.

Alma 26
11 But Ammon said unto him: I do not boast in my own strength nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy and I will rejoice in my God.
12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things, yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in his land for which we will praise his name forever.

I know that through God all thing are possible.  The One who created all things that we know and see and feel takes interest in us, His children, and provides His help if we let Him help us.  And Like Ammon, if we truly humble ourselves and let Him help us and guide us... "In His strength [we] can do all things."

So I only have 2 picture this week (sorry Mum).  One is my companion acting goofy in between the two wards church blocks we are assigned to and the other is me in a part members family's home next to their ceiling fan.

I also have this quote by CS Lewis that our mission president sent us.

Love you bye
-Elder Moore

June 5th, 2018

Through Fire

Hello Friends and Family

It got to 108 degrees yesterday.  Today, the high is about 109.  At 6:30 in the morning it is already in the mid 80s.  Welcome to Vegas.

So last week we had transfers. My new companion is Elder Ficklin.  He is smart.  He has a photographic memory and already knows the area and map and it took him about 3 days.  It took me about 2 months.  I'm glad that I have a smart companion though.  He has a somewhat goofy sense of humor that I also have.  So that's good.

We did a lot of service again.  I had the privilege to help clean up, what I can only describe as a junkyard.  It was one of the members back yards.  The dad was once a metal worker, but he also works with wood on occasion.  His son has a forge.  He has a lot of tools for working metal and he also makes a ton of knives.  The thing is though, they have a lot of stuff.  I don't think anyone needs 20 shovels.  I found a door buried in the dirt, and underneath the door was a bunch of angle-iron and some old rusty axes.  It was a lot of fun, but the family was under a lot of stress.

And then we did it again the next day.  It was about 6 or 7 hours worth of service in the 100+ degree weather.  My neck got a bit sunburned.  And then the next day, we got a call from the relief society president in one of the wards because she needed help laying some brick and digging.  So then we helped with that for another 3 hours the next day.  Honestly, it's kind of fun to play in the dirt.

After we laid brick and did our studies we decided to work on the far side of our area,  which doesn't get worked a lot.  We had to bike up boulder highway (the highway that leads to Boulder City, which leads to Hoover Dam) which takes about 20-30 minutes.  At this time it was about 106 degrees.  It was so hot.  People say "Oh, but it's a dry heat".  That may be true, but it's in the 100 degree range.  I've never had to deal with this kind of heat before.  Anyways, we biked to a place, worked and then biked back.  So...Here is something interesting that happened on the way back.

I should preface this with a lot of homeless people actually walk on the trail next to boulder highway, so if you talk to them, it gets weird really fast.  We were riding back, and we saw this guy who looked like he was working on his bike or was going through a bag or something off to the side.  He was sort of behind a bush, like he was hiding from the highway.  We rode up and offered to help him with something.  He said he was good, so we kept going.  As we kept riding we noticed that this guy was not fixing anything.  He had some stuff lying on the ground.  In his hands were a spoon and a lighter.  And he had a case of syringes next to him.  So this dude was casually shooting heroine on the side of the busy highway in the middle of the day.  Welcome to Vegas.

Last week we got our money thing filled the day after P-Day.  So I didn't get to buy very much food.  My new companion and I were surviving on cereal.  It wasn't  the worst, because we have member meals.  Except, nobody signed up this week.  So we were concerned that we were not going to have enough food.  Until we had service.  The members for some reason gave us bags of food, and then they fed us.  And then the next day we went to meet some investigators and they made food for us and sent us home with all of the leftovers.  It's kinda funny how the Lord provides sometimes.  Anyways.

That was the cool stuff or interesting things that have happened. I'm excited to see where this transfer goes.  We have a family and a young woman who want to get baptized by the end of this month, so here we go!

I know the Lord will provide a way for us to get  through all challenges and trials.  He will provide for us- if we let Him.  I know that He tries us and lets us have trials, because it will bless us and prepare us for the future that we cannot see.  I know that President Nelson is the Prophet upon the earth today, and that God himself has called him.  I know that the Book of Mormon is true, and that the doctrines and the gospel preached within is the true doctrine that will bring us joy and eternal happiness.

Thanks everyone
-Elder Moore

This is Elder Ficklin

May 29th, 2018

TRAAAANNNSSSFFFFEEEEEERS

We had transfer calls

I'm staying here for another 6 weeks.  My companion is going down south to Boulder City.  My new companion is named Elder Ficklin.  That is all I know.

These next few months will be fruitful.  The people we have been working with are getting closer to Baptism and making covenants and whatnot.  I'm excited!  And tired.  Missionary work is tiring.  Elder Perez is sad that he is leaving.  He grew attached to the people here.

We had a young woman who is not a member walk up to us and ask to be Baptized on Sunday.  That was an amazing miracle!  I have never had that happen before.  We are going to start the lessons this Thursday!

We had lessons every night leading up to today.  I love having things to do at night.  Every night was  a lesson with a different family.  So good. So exhausting.  So fun.  Missionary work is very rewarding.

My companion and I got asked to bear our testimonies on Sunday.  It was super good.  I felt like I needed to bear it on missionary work, and it was good.

We did a ton of service this week too.  We moved a few people, worked on some yards and helped clean a house.  It was fun.  I'm tired though.

Well, that's about it.  I'm happy and busy.  I get to stay here for another 6 weeks and serve the people here.  I don't want to get trinket, but another 2 transfers and I will be at my year mark.  Crazy huh?  Time flies so fast...

This Week I have been studying Christlike attributes.  He truly is the way and the one we need to follow.  He was our perfect example, and by strive to be like Him, we will be much happier.  On the mission I have been striving to be more humble and meek.  I know that if we give all credit and glory to God (humility) and allow ourselves to be teachable (meekness) we shall obtain a fullness of joy someday.  I Know that Jesus Christ is our Savior, and by following his example, we will be the most happy we can be.

Moroni 7
33 And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me.

Love you bye
-Elder Moore