August 21st, 2018

Boom Roasted

Dear Friends and Family

This week was transfers.  Nothing happened!  Me and Elder Picinich are staying here for another 6 weeks.  Woot woot!

This last week was incredibly successful. We set some people with baptismal dates and we are getting more people to Church. I'm tired and super happy!

I got sunburned finally. My tire tube got wrecked somehow and so I could no longer patch it up. A member happened to have the same tube and they let me use it, but before that happened we were walking in the 110 degree weather.  The UV index was pretty high that day as well, so we got roasted.  I am already starting to heal, but next time we are taking the sunscreen with us because it did not last that long. Funny enough we had a ward ice cream social that night, and we brought some people who are taking the lessons to that, and we got "roasted" by the members as well! It was funny, and they all gave the same advice. "Use more sunscreen"

It's weird to think that I am coming up on my year mark.  Has it really been that long?

In a week we are going to have TWO general authorities tour the mission. Lynn G. Robbins and one other 70 are going to be in the mission for about a week.  It's going to be pretty awesome. They are going to randomly interview some people as well. I am excited!

This week we helped our Ward Mission Leader move some of his extended family's stuff out of his house.  He is the one who is a retired Army General. He has been out of town, but it has been good to hear back from him and help him move some boxes. We also helped out a family remove carpet from their house. It was fun! They fed us nachos.

I forgot to send some of these other pictures, but one sister in our Ward is from Norway so she has some wooden Vikings and trolls on one of her shelves and I'm a nerd for that sort of thing so I took pictures...

Oh also, I have one picture of a duck. Why do I have that? There was a duck outside of our apartment. Are there ducks in the desert? Well I found one. No idea where it came from.  But...it was there.

Also, here is a picture of an American flag made of bullet casings.

Okay, so I found this scripture while in a personal study and it really stuck out to me...

Alma 7
15 Yea, I say unto you come and fear not, and lay aside every sin, which easily doth beset you, which doth bind you down to destruction, yea, come forth, and show unto your God that ye are willing to repent of your sins and enter into a covenant with him to keep his commandments, and witness it unto him this day by going into the waters of baptism.

The interesting thing that we sometimes fail to recognize is that sins do indeed bind us down.  We keep ourselves from happiness and we keep ourselves from blessings when we sin.  Because of the Savior and His Atonement, we can be forgiven from them on conditions of repentance. About 4 verses before this there are 3 verses on Christ's Atonement and what it actually means.  It's Alma 7: 11-13.  I invite all of you to read about it and ponder what Christ did for you.  Because of Him we can feel relief from guilt, shame and all the bad feelings that always accompany sin. Wickedness never was happiness, after all. (Alma 41:10) Why not lay aside every sin? The Lord is waiting for you to let Him heal you. Why not keep his commandments and repent? Relief and happiness are waiting for you. I know that if we earnestly seek the Lord's help and set aside every sin, that He will heal us and guide us back to our Heavenly Father. I know that permanent relief from guilt and shame comes only through the Lord Jesus Christ. So let us make those changes and get back on track.


Thanks for all the love and support!

-Elder Moore

August 14th, 2018

Crash and Burn?

Hello friends and family

This week was nuts

So, let us start off with a story.  My companion and I were biking home up Tropicana Avenue, when we heard sirens go off.  This is normal.  But then we heard more.  And then more.  And then more.  Soon we saw a ton of cop cars driving down the road and the ghetto-bird circling very low overhead.  When we biked up the street we counted roughly 18 cop cars all circling around the entry of an apartment complex.  Their lights were all on and they started to block off streets.  It was loud.  Something was going down at this complex.  It was one that is right down the street from our place too.  Not to mention... We were working in there two days before.  We got in safe and then after we got the news that someone had murdered 3 people in there and the cops got him.  Whether that means incarcerated or dead, unclear.  Either way, it was pretty crazy to see so much stuff going on.  Typical Vegas.

It rained a lot this week.   The power went out a few times, but once we got home it stayed on.  No big deal.

We went on exchanges this week.  I was first with Elder Neve, a total bro from St. George (we both got transferred here from the same district) and then I went with my district leader to his area.  I saw a homeless camp.  It looked like a bunch of tarps and sticks and Walmart shopping carts, because that is what it was.  There were roughly 8 camp sites. Old lots or run-down houses are good places for the homeless to sleep I guess.

Speaking of homeless, there is a member who parades around Vegas meeting the missionaries and trying to settle down.  Somehow he got our number, and right now he is homeless.  He asked us for a Bible.  We actually happened to meet him on the street afterwards and then he requested a Bible later on, so we met him off of Boulder Highway in an abandoned lot to give him one.  It was...fun.  Like actually fun.  He has a little tarp he uses for a tent and he just sleeps out there.  His twin brother was there too, but he has an actual house I think.  Not sure why he doesn't' crash there for a while.  Anyways, not all homeless people are utterly miserably, I have found. He was pretty upbeat and seemed to be enjoying life even though he has basically nothing right now.  True happiness is not in things, that's for sure.

Transfers are in a week already.  I feel like I just got here.  Who knows what will happen.

On Sunday night I crashed my bike.  That was fun.  We were going through a light that was not going to be green for very much longer, so we had enough time to go through.  I shouted "send it!" to my companion, who probably didn't hear me, because as I sped up, he stayed the same speed and while trying to go around, the gap between the curb and his bike suddenly closed...and my front tire bounced off the curb and I flipped over my bike and got a few bumps and bruises.  And a skinned palm.  It hurt for a moment but then we got back on track.  My elbow still has a goose egg on it.

We've mostly been teaching pre-teens and teenagers in part-member families.  The parents either fell away from the church or had weird life changes that for a while, made them inactive.  Well, now they are coming back.   So we are teaching their children.  It has been fun.

Here is something I read recently out of the Book of Mormon...

Mosiah 27
30 I rejected my Redeemer, and denied that which had been spoken of by our fathers; but now that they may foresee that he will come, and that he remembereth every creature of his creating, he will make himself manifest unto all.

Heavenly Father remembers all of His creatures.  We are some of those creatures (in fact, we're His favorite because we are His children).  And He will reveal Himself and His works to His children.  I know that this is true.  He does it to people on the street every day through His servants....

Here are a few pictures.  This is my bike on the back of my district leader's car.  It looks funny.  The other one is a picture of an alleyway with a sign that says "no parking" with a car parked underneath it.  And then there is my palm that got skinned a bit.  I was worse a few days ago, plus I picked all of the debris out of it.

-Elder Moore

P.S. In regard to the title of Elder Moore's last email: HAM is an acronym for "Hard as a missionary" meaning we are going to work really hard.

August 7th, 2018

HAM

Hello Friends and Family

This week I read a scripture out of Mosiah that really struck with me.  I sometimes forget this simple principle, but it is summed up in one verse.

Mosiah 26:30
Yea, and as often as my people repent will I forgive them their trespasses against me.

I was struck by this scripture.  It's so true.  Christ's atonement makes it possible for us to always repent and be forgiven of our trespasses.  I know that we can be forgiven and feel the joy that comes with it...IF we repent.

This last week as rough.  Very rough.  Most of our lessons fell through, and we just had a bad time this last week.  After some deep reflection and pondering, my companion and I have determined why everything was bad, and we are making the correct adjustments, and this week we are going Ham on the work.  We already have felt the spirit confirm our decision and actions that we have made plans and set goals for.  This week we will "come off conqueror".

We met some angry people this week.  They didn't like us.  We offered to serve them in some way, but they didn't like it.

We did a lot of service last week too.  We helped lay tile (which I have never done before).  We also helped move some stuff around for people.  One family called us and asked us to help move them out.  We went to help them, of course, but when they said "move out" they meant dump out all of their junk...in random dumpsters in the city.  It was not at all what we expected, and because of the questionable legality of the actions ,we promptly told them we had another place to be (which was true) so we left.  It was....sketchy.  Going to random dumpsters and trying to not let anyone see us makes me also question the stuff we were helping them "move".

While we were laying tile, I was getting checked out by a Laurel aged young woman in that ward.  My companion informed me a few times that she was sometimes watching me do stuff, but I basically ignored her because I am a missionary.  It was also really weird because she decided to come in the kitchen to tell her mom about a lesson on marriage and the "ideal husband" she had to give in Young Women's, and she decided to stand close to me when she was talking about it.  I promptly ignored it, and went back to work.  Since that time, my companion has lovingly called me "Elder Eyecandy"....

I got trolled by a cop this week too.  My comp and I were biking downhill so obviously we were going fast.  We had some cops driving down beside us, and one of them got on his loudspeaker and says "Hey you going way to fast, Elder".  I was thinking "What?! Everyone else is in cars going way faster, how am I going too fast?"  So I start to slow down, then he pulls up alongside me and then waits a second.  Then he says "Just kidding" And then speeds off down the hill.  Silly cops.  (Most of the police and paramedics are members.  Only the Mormons would be willing to keep a place like Vegas safe and clean)

We saw the Ghetto Bird a few times too.  It was shining it's light on a location near us and a few times it circled above us.  It's so cool.  Being a Helicopter pilot for the police department would be a sick job.

We had zone conference yesterday.  It was so good.  It was an awesome conference.  It helped me and my comp get back on track.  I have no doubt that it is no coincidence our week was bad before zone conference.  I have noticed that this is what usually happens before something spiritual.  Everything seems bad and terrible and then BOOM THE SPIRIT.

We are also going to have 2 General Authorities in the mission by the end of the month.  They are going to be in the mission for about a week or so.  Mission tours are always awesome...apparently they are interviewing some people.  Who knows who will be interviewed....

Well that is all for now.  We are going HAM this week.  One of the famous Las Vegas signs is in my area, so I took a picture of it.  Most people don't know that there are actually several of those signs.

The other pictures are service and my comp taking pictures on the bikes.

-Elder Moore