Hastening the work!

Hey everybody!  Especially my sister Mallory - Happy Birthday!!!!

We have Smart Phones!! We had our interviews with President Hammon this last Friday and we set up our new phones. Shout out to the Padres for the support and allowing me to be more effective as a missionary with this new tool.

We have already had some really awesome lessons with using the phones. We have been able to share and send over The Proclamation to the World to a couple and have them read it post lesson. Little things like that are helping these people learn and grow their own testimonies outside of the lessons. I just love how we were able to get the phones and just start using them immediately while we proselyte. 

We started teaching the Enriques family on Saturday night as well. We taught the Sabbath Day to them and the father of the family, Juan, had a lot of good questions. He told us that they were Catholic, but would start setting some time aside on Sunday to be able to come to our church so he can learn more. They already seem like a family who would be a great help to the church, so I am excited to return and teach them more. Unfortunately, we weren't able to see them at church because Juan had already planned to go visit his brother the next morning, but they let us know that they will be there next week.

Rosa (Raquel's younger sister) did show up to church though and she is preparing to be baptized on the 22nd of April. We were able to share Elder Uchtdorf's conference talk from last October about how we all should have that desire to return to our Heavenly Home. Rosa and Raquel are both growing a lot in their own testimonies. Raquel is about to finish the Book of Mormon and she was just baptized last month! 

Sometimes it just feels unreal being in a lesson and being able to testify about these principles that will bring us exaltation. Being able to see these people make changes, big or small, to be able to come closer to Christ and live his Gospel is something I'll cherish forever.

I also just finished 3 Nephi and have started reading the Book of Mormon, and I have two verses I want to share.

Mormon 2:19

Mormon 3:12

When we follow the example of the prophet Mormon, we will always be in the world, but never of the world. 

There are definitely some ups and downs in the mission field, but being able to be in the situation I am right now at this point of my life is one of the greatest blessings. We are having so much fun serving, teaching, and working hard. 

Elder Moon

Here are the pics that we took after service project. You might notice some fresh new clothes from Ross.

1. First comp pic
2. Matching Ross hats with the 4 man, all squinting with the flash 

lluvia all day

Hermanos y hermanas,

This week has been killer.

Hemet is still the same, but just a lot of rain and colder weather this week. My new comp, Elder Bailey, is an awesome missionary to work with. He was in Puerto Rico for 4 months or so before the storm and then was serving in Moreno Valley for 6, so he is about at his year mark. He has been helping me a lot to improve my Spanish and I've been helping him get used to the area. 

We have been working hard, contacting a lot of people in our area. We started teaching quite a few people too, but couldn't get anyone to sit in the pews with us this Sunday. Todo va a estar bien! With that, we are going to work more with the members and just keep on praying for these people.

We did have some success getting a less active family back at church this week though! We will be going by this family again later this week, and they told us that they would invite their neighbors who aren't members to listen to a lesson.

There is a good chance that we get our smart phones on Friday, so we are pumped for that. I guess there will be an update on that next week!

The greatest lesson I learned this week is to just open my mouth. I have been working on it continually, but there were certain situations this week where we could of just ended a contact, but instead, we share a scripture and it softens the heart of the people we are talking to. 

I have been reading in 3 Nephi this week and have read the first few chapters of when Christ came to the Americas. The chapter that stuck out the most to me this week is 3 Nephi 13 where Christ teaches the Nephites how to pray. It's so important to be having sincere prays, so that we can teach our investigators and all those we teach by example. 

Hope everyone has a great week.

Elder Moon

only pic from this week. Elder Bailey is in the front with me. Elder Dundon in the back middle is elder castros new comp. He is from Temple, Texas

Cambios

Hey everyone, thanks for the b-day wishes!

Before I start getting into the details for the week...we had transfers, and Elder Royce is leaving Hemet. He has been here for 6 months already, so it wasn't a huge surprise, but it will be a little sad since he was such a good trainer and we had some great memories working together. He will  be I gwoing to serve in RIverside in the De Anza ward! I'll be getting Elder Bailey as my new comp! He was serving in Puerto Rico before the storm and is coming most recently from the Moreno Valley Zone. I'm excited to start working with him and to learn everything I can from him! Elder Castro also is getting a new comp, so things will be back to normal as far as having 4 elders in the Ramona Ward again. I'll have more to update about the new situation next week!

  

 My first b-day in the field was a fun one. It was raining all day, but we started off the day on a blitz. So all the missionaries in our zone went to the Zone Leader's area and we all sought with faith, but mostly tracted houses because of the rain. Almost every house we went up to, we just told them who we are, said we would love to serve them, and asked them how we could do that. We were able to pick up a few service opportunities for the weeks to come, which will make in turn make it easier for missionaries to teach them in the future. Just doing missionary work Ammon-Style. 

We also had some dinner money, so we went to a place called Big Daddy's BBQ. Everytime we would drive by this place, I would want to eat there so bad because there isn't a whole lot of BBQ options here besides Dickey's. So we finally went there and it was good, not Rudy's good though haha. 

We served a lot more this week as well which has been a good time.

Wednesday- Community Pantry, a little small NPO that feeds the poor and homeless. We are going to start doing this every week.

Thursday- We made a garden for one of the Park Hill investigators. She just had weeds in her backyard, so it was cool being able to dig all that up and plant some seeds.

Friday- Picked fruit for an hour or two in the morning. Helped the old people play bingo in the afternoon.

Good times!

Also, Elder Royce and I were seeking with faith together while Elder Castro was on splits with a member when we met a woman who claimed she was Mother Eve and that she stopped time in 2015. She had a few other conspiracies, so it definitely goes down as one of the weirdest contacts we have had. Talk to everyone though!! 

Highlight from the week: Rosa (Raquel's sister) has a baptismal date for 4/22. She has been coming to church ever since I got here, but she wasn't willing to commit to a baptismal date. She finally felt ready to commit to a date, so we are pumped and we help her along. 

My favorite few chapters in the Book of Mormon are Helaman 7-16 that are from the Prophet Nephi. Everyone should read Helaman 10:4-5. Put your name in verse 4, and that is some of the best motivation you can get in the scriptures. 

On Sunday, there was no one to teach the Youth, so Elder Royce, Castro, and I took charge. We wanted them to ask us about the Book of Mormon, gospel, missions, or anything to do with the church. Bearing testimony about the importance of missions to these youth was something special to do, and I shared that same scripture from Helaman with them. Helaman 10:5 shares the blessings of serving the Lord, and I can testify that the blessings of serving a mission are abundant.  

I'm pumped for this next transfer and I really am loving this area and the people we teach.

Until next week,

Elder Moon

 birthday package

we ate some good bbq on my bday

Golf course

Few of us played 9 holes last P day.

This was not all

A big change happened this week. Elder Castro, Elder Royce and I are now in a trio! Elder Baum is getting fixed up in Utah now with his stomach problems that he had been having for a while, so our trio now has 2 areas to work until transfers in a week.

We found some awesome investigators just last night while following up on a potential. The potential's name is Adan and Elder Jensen and I had talked to him last transfer while on exchanges. We were actually knocking on the door whenever Adan and his wife pulled up to the house. He let us in, but his wife was a little more hesitant to listen as she stood a little far off, but I invited her to be a part of the lesson. Our trio was in sync teaching the Restoration of the Gospel, and we invited them to be baptized and they accepted! Once we explained how baptism needed to be performed by someone holding the proper authority from God, Sandra (Adan's wife) started to help us teach Adan how she thinks it is important to be baptized again. They were both baptized as infants, but Sandra was really understanding the doctrine. After sharing the Book of Mormon and Moroni's promise, Adan still had some more concerns, but Sandra told Adan, "You're going to study!!"  With transfers looming, I don't know how much I'll get to help teach this family, but it was a great way to cap off the week with a powerful and spiritual lesson. 

We are still teaching Raquel's younger sister, Rosa. It has been really awesome to have Raquel in those lessons with us now as a recent convert! Last week, I was prayerfully studying what we should teach Rosa and Alma 32 was the chapter to share with her. She was able to understand how she needs to try the experiment with planting the seed (word of God) in her heart and letting it grow as she acts in her faith. It was the most spiritual lesson that we had with her. The best thing about Raquel and Rosa is that they know how much we care about them and their family and they feel the same way about us. These are going to be the people that I will never forget from my mission.

We had Stake Conference here in Hemet as well because the Stake Presidency was being reorganized. Elder Wakolo from the Quorum of the Seventy delivered some awesome talks! He's from Fiji and had recently been a mission president in Little Rock, Arkansas. One of his funniest quotes from the weekend was "I'm from Fiji and they wanted me to serve in Little Rock, how does that happen?" Saturday afternoon, we had the first session, which was for the Priesthood holders. Our bishop wanted us to translate for this meeting, so that was something a little challenging, but a fun experience to look back on. Simultaneous translating is something I could for sure work on haha. That night, we had the adult session of stake conference. Elder Wakolo gave the ultimate talk on the Atonement and how true conversion comes when we understand the Atonement. He gave us 36 chapters in the Book of Mormon that testify of the Atonement. We were sitting next to Raquel during this meeting, and as we were scrambling to write all the chapters down, Raquel was telling us to "Hurry up, finish!" Personal study just got a lot more intense with all these new chapters to go back over!

During the Sunday General session and about halfway through Elder Wakolo's talk, the building's power just shut off! Elder Wakolo did his best King Benjamin impression though and kept on talking to everyone without a mic. He shared his conversion story and how the Book of Mormon changed his life. 

Studying and gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon is life changing. Once you know of its truths, your life will never be the same. Our desires and long-term goals will be altered to match those that will bring us eternal life.

Favorite scriptures from this week are D&C 64:33-34 and Alma 53:20. In D&C we read, "...out of small things proceedeth that which is great...and the willing and obedient shall eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days."   Have that willing and obedient attitude, and you will make a difference.

The BYU lacrosse team had Alma 53:20  printed on our helmets last year. It's a powerful scripture about the Stripling Warrior's and it says "...this was not all--they were men who were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted." It was a constant reminder to me last year that I had a divine potential to reach as I have been entrusted with a lot. I'm so glad to be serving a mission right now and to be on the Lord's team.

Have a good week everyone!

Elder Moon

 I received this nice picture last week from the young ballers back in Allen, TX

Moon, Castro, Baum & Royce

Study time

Elder Baum - hope he gets better soon!

Eternal Bliss

Hey fam and friends!

It was a solid week out here in the mission field. We had Raquel confirmed on Sunday, and I was able to bear my testimony after that. The Spirit was just really strong that Sunday. Elder Royce and I have been finding new investigators to teach, and we have been helping Elder Castro and Baum in their area with finding and teaching as well!

My favorite chapter I read this week in my personal study was Alma 37. It is some of the counsel that Alma is giving to his son, Helaman. I like verses 42 and 44. Alma talks about how we need to follow the straight course to obtain "eternal bliss." But when we are transgressing against God's commandments, then we are "tarrying" or taking an "indirect course." We are all going to fall a little short and "tarry" for a time in our lives. Sometimes in small ways, and sometimes we may get really far off the straight course, but Christ and His Gospel are there to bring us back on track no matter where we are at!

One of the coolest people we taught this week was named Luz. We started teaching some of her sons, and we had a really cool lesson with her where she accepted a baptismal date and was just begging us to keep on teaching the rest of her family. She even answered the door and told us "Estoy dispuesto para aprender, tengo que recoger mi libro," so she is golden! Most of our investigators have a baptismal date for sometime in April, so we are going to work hard these next couple weeks, so that they are coming to church and progressing in their reading and prayers. Raquel will be getting ready to go to the temple soon to start doing baptisms, so we are excited for her progress as well as one of our recent converts!

Elder Castro had his bike locked one night and some guy stole his back tire. The next night, me and him were driving to an appointment and we saw a guy with like 3 bike tires that he was carrying. Must be a hot demand for tires here in Hemet. Also, we played vball this morning as the Hemet zone to get ready to take on the San Jacinto zone next P-day. It took me back to the Shake and Bake days in the MTC haha. Also, Raquel had signed up for a dinner spot for Thursday night the previous Sunday, so whenever we called her to confirm the appointment, she had absolutely forgot. I don't think she even really cooks anymore besides feeding her son microwaveable burritos, so we just taught her a lesson and ate at home that night haha. 

It has been pretty cold here this week for southern California! I think one morning it went below freezing, which I don't think has happened yet since I've been here! 

 

We are still working hard out here and trying to finish the transfer out strong. Thanks for all the support, and I hope everyone has a safe week!

Elder Moon

Pic: 4 man apartment pic