Las casitas perfectas

We found a jackpot of an apartment complex in our area this week. We have walked in there for the past 3 days in a row and every single time, we were able to walk out having taught a lesson or two. Tonight, we are going back again to teach a family of 8 and a family of 6. Just so happens that the mom of the family of 8 is sisters with the mom of the family of 6. Both families just moved here from Mexico and are pretty excited for us to come by and teach them more about Christ!

We started teaching a good number of people this week. The first of which that we found, Esmeralda and Arturo, came from a member referral. Elder Dew and I were teaching this lesson and it was just flowing super well, but they weren't ready to accept a baptismal invite yet. This is something that we have had a little bit of trouble in this area...just getting people to accept a baptismal invitation. A lot of people are willing to talk with us, but as we extend invitations, it just seems like a lot of people aren't willing to compromise as much as we would like.

We met an absolute prepared man last night in those same apartments. His name is Edgardo, 22 years old, just moved here from Mexico and is living with his cousin. After teaching him, he accepted a baptismal date for July 8th! We will all have to work hard to get there, but definitely blessed to have that opportunity.
We set ourselves up pretty nice for this week with a lot of appointments. Looking forward to finding some more elect people!

We had a multi-zone conference and activity this week. For the conference, a lot of the training had a theme of obedience. It helped us realize how we have so much room to grow and how that growth will be accompanied by a lot of success. It's so much easier to expect miracles when you know you are being obedient.
For the activity, we played some "Trashketball." It's pretty much handball, but with big trash cans as the net. We definitely brought the hype, but took a few L's. We also played some ball and worked up a pretty good sweat.

Funny things of the week:
Elder Cousineau and Elder Broadhead (English Elders we live with) had to go on bike one day this week because their car was in the shop. Elder Cousineau hadn't been on bike his whole mission because he broke his collarbone after crashing on his bike only a few days into his mission. Fearlessly, he went back on bike and somehow didn't crash again. We were watching him practice in the parking lot and it didn't look too good, but we gave him a good pep talk and he made it out alive!


We had some interesting contacts this week too...
We contacted an old Mexican man who wanted to know our church's name. I let him take a closer look at my missionary plaque with my name and the name of our church, and he must of thought I was handing him a pass along card, because he took it and put it straight in his pocket. We were all kind of geeking out a little bit and I got my plaque back, so all good!

Contacted another guy right after that, who apparently spent a night or two in jail near Price, Utah. He was just going off about how nice the jail was and how there was a divide between the Latter day Saints and Mormons in the jail. We explained that it is the same exact thing haha. He also was given a Book of Mormon, so we had him find it and read some with him. Shout out to all the nice people in Utah jails!!

Con felicidad,

Elder Moon

 Elder Cousineau and I wore our matching ties that we got from Ross

 Me and our friend Tony. We had some good tacos with their family, and we are working to get them more active.

 Elder Wilson and I. He is an elder in my zone and we went on a blitz together in the Paloma Valley ward down in Menifee.

Elder Beal (serving in Hemet right now) bought a single ski at a garage sale and gifted it to his old comp, Elder Dew. Elder Dew is going to pass this ski down to Elder Lawlor as a posterity gift. Elder Lawlor will have to carry this ski around from area to area until he trains, so it's a funny joke in between all of us.

Until the buzzer hits 0.0

By the end of this week, I think I was almost as tired as I have ever been on the mission. We worked hard until there was 0.0 on the clock. We were able to see some more miracles, as well as, see ourselves and others become more effective. We had two exchanges this week. I was with Elder Guymon in the Mapleton ward on Thursday and with Elder Broadhead in my area on Saturday. Both exchanges were productive. In Mapleton, we were able to miraculously find 2 less active members in the matter of about 45 minutes. The first, while seeking with faith, and the second, while eating Panda Express. Both of them saw us, and expressed desires to come back to church, so it will be a good opportunity for these missionaries to help out these individuals and their families. I am always amazed at how God inspires us to be in the right place, at the right time.

In our area, we found a good bunch of new investigators. The first of which, was Cesar's son, Cesar Jr. He was the most miraculous and elect at this point. He is just looking for some more happiness and forgiveness from God, so we were able to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with him. Cesar Sr. was able to come to church, and to grow his faith a little more. We still need to explain some things to clear up any confusion/doubts he has right now. He has been taking some very small baby steps the last two weeks, so we will just try to get him focused on a baptismal date later in June.

We had a home visit on Saturday, where we were also able to teach a few non-members. 

Sunday night, we were able to set up a lot of appointments for this next week and talked to a lot of awesome people in just the last hour of the night. This is something that we want to continue to do. Work hard and work smart/safe until the last second of each day. There are so many miracles that I feel like are passed up on when we don't empty the tank and go all in. 

Good news! Carlos (Hemet investigator) is doing really well and they have a baptismal service planned for him on June 3rd! I'm pumped to see Carlos progress even more and to be an example for his family in Mexico. 

We will have a few things going on this week. Multi-Zone Conference on Thursday with Lake Elsinore zone and then next p-day will be a multi-zone activity for the south half of the mission. Gonna be a good time! 

Happy early birthday to my mom (May 22) and dad (May 28)! Love the fam. Thanks to everyone for all the support

Elder Moon

 5 elders from Tres Lagos ward

Fire in the Carlsbad Mission that I saw when I was on exchanges in the Mapleton ward

The Trío in backseat of truck

Poly Dinners

We have seen a few miracles here in our area this week. One, we found a new investigator early in the week. His name is Tomas and he mentioned to us that his dad was baptized in our church before he died. He has a lot of potential, so we hope to work more with him this coming week. Two, we found 2 other new investigators, Abel and Joanna. Abel is 18 and just moved from Mexico 2 years ago and he invited his sister-in-law, Joanna, to listen to our lesson. Abel is seeking for the truth and has found recently that church is something that brings him peace. Three, we contacted a humble man, Ermin, who was working on his rent house, but lives in Moreno Valley. We were able to talk to him for a long time in front of his house as we shared The Restoration and parts of the Plan of Salvation, which were answers to some of his questions. We shared a Book of Mormon with him and passed the referral to the English sisters in Moreno Valley. All 4 of these people have been prepared by our Father in Heaven who had the trust in us to bring them the Gospel and have the Spirit testify of its truth.

Calling home was another highlight of the week. It is awesome to see how much the Gospel blesses families. It brought me a lot of peace to just see everyone happy. 

On Friday, we had exchanges, so Elder Dew and I went into Elder Cousineau's area (English area). I was able to drive around the car that they have, and we went out to the Boonies in their area and did a lot of seeking with faith to try to get them some more people to teach. Like usual, we still talked to a good amount of people in Spanish, but we found them some solid people to go by for this week. That night, a Polynesian member in their ward bought us 9 pizzas, Popeyes chicken, and salads from Pollo Loco. There were only 5 of us elders, so we barely made a dent in that feast. The members out here are doing everything they can to make sure we have some meat on our bones. 

On Saturday, we had a service opportunity at a food bank. Sunday, our trio taught Gospel Principles and then the other Elders had to teach Elder's quorum because the member's told us they were sick last minute. Still a good opportunity though because we had a few less actives show up to Gospel Principles. One of which, hadn't been to church in over a year. We had just visited her 2 weeks ago, and we set something up for this week. Working with less actives is something that we are really trying to get the Elders Quorum to help us out with. We are planning on having a ton of them come out with us on a Sunday coming up here in the future, so we will see how it goes!

This week, our ZLs our doing exchanges with everyone, so I'll be out in the Mapleton area. Pumped up to work in our little Mexico area here in Perris.

Favorite scripture: Helaman 3:27-30.

Acting on our faith in Jesus Christ= heavens opened= miracles.

Looking forward to those miracles this week!

Elder Moon

6 Months out, so time to burn a tie  (not one of mine, of course)

Exchanges with Elder Cousineau and Dew in English Land!

Seis Meses

Tomorrow will be 6 months for me on the mission. It has been a quick 6 months since the start of my mission. I've seen so many miracles and how God puts certain people in our way for a reason. There have been some trials and let downs, but so much joy knowing that I'm doing the most important work I can be doing for my Savior.

An update on the investigators:

Cesar is our investigator closest to baptism. He came to church for the 6th or 7th time and had an awesome experience in Sunday School. He wasn't afraid to speak up and pretty much bore his testimony to everyone He received some good fellowship from the Elder's quorum and a lot of the hermanos know who he is and want to help him, which brings a good spark to the ward. Its crazy how fast you can start to have that connection with your investigators. We are really pumped up for Cesar.

We started teaching a new family, the Ruiz Family. Their hearts have been open to us the last 2 times we have stopped by. We are planning to have the kids come to mutual on Wednesday night because there are 2 teenage boys. Their dad works on cars during the weekend, so we will try to get a church tour in before Sunday, and then work to get all 3 of them there on Sunday.

I have heard some good things coming back from Hemet about Carlos, an investigator who should be getting baptized at the end of the month. I was able to talk to him a little bit through Facebook messenger and give him some encouragement.  I have the hope that both these individuals will be able to be strong Priesthood holders in the near future.

We had a good service opportunities popped up on Saturday night where someone let us serve and help them fill up a truck of weeds that we were pulling and digging out. It felt good to be able to serve out in the neighborhoods. We have a lot of Spanish people in these neighborhoods, so all of our Spanish is improving with all the practice. It is a little funny to see some of the English missionaries here get frustrated with the amount of people who only speak Spanish.  We are all on the same team, so was good that we found them a few English investigators this week!

We have had a few fun p day activities the last few weeks playing Ultimate frisbee, soccer, and bball.

My comps also bought some lacrosse sticks, so we have been practicing in the mornings. I'm still trying to convince Elder Lawlor (Canadian comp) that lacrosse is the national sport of Canada (he thinks it is hockey), but I'm trying to get him ready to go back and impress all his Canadian friends with his lacrosse skills. Anyways, we are having a good time, it is heating up in our bike area, but definitely seeing the blessings of working hard.

Just read in the Book of Alma when Helaman talks about the Stripling Warriors and their love and respect for their mom's and their counsel. With mothers day coming up, we will be able to call back home for a little bit of time on Sunday.  I'm really happy to be able to talk to my Mom and It's going to be exciting to see how all the fam is doing!

I also hear that BYU lacrosse is playing in the Tournament, so I will be wearing my BYU team lax tie this week to support them while away!  

(Editor Note:  BYU beat Grand Canyon yesterday and then knocked out Utah today!!!!!!  so the tie must be helping)

Que tengan la mejor semana!!!!!!!

Elder Mason Moon

Floral Friday but with a new twist (uglier floral ties)

Our new team

Andamos en bicicleta!!

First week in Perris, CA is in the books! After showing up on Monday, I knew that this was going to be a fun area to be in. We have a small bike area, with a lot of Spanish speakers here. I think there was one night where we were biking down one of the main roads near our apartment and there were tons of people just outside walking on the sidewalk, and about 5 or 6 contacts in a row were just all Spanish. 

It's a good time proselyting in a trio, and we have had some great unity from the start. Elder Dew and Lawlor had been teaching an investigator named Cesar for a transfer when I got here. He is progressing the best out of all of our investigators. We taught him twice this week and he came to church for the 5th time this Sunday! He is pretty pumped up for a baptismal date on May 20th. We also were able to teach 3 new investigators this week, Erwin, and then a couple named Jose and Teresa. We went on splits a few times, where I went out with Elder Lawlor and Elder Dew went out with our ward mission leader to go visit other people. One of these times, Elder Lawlor and I taught a man named Manuel. They had taught Manuel once in the past, and they had taught his wife as well. His wife was feeling sick and was already asleep, but we just taught him and at the end, we gave him a blessing because he was feeling pretty sick as well. There is honestly no better way to have the Spirit testify to an investigator that the power and authority of the Priesthood has been restored to the Earth than by being able to bless them by that power. 

So with our phones, it's easy to see if we are close by a member, so we have been stopping by a lot of less actives. One of them was a member who none of us had met before, but we just felt inspired to stop in and share a quick message. We didn't have anything planned out super in advance, but I just planned to share Helaman 5:12 last minute. It was awesome to have them respond positively and to recognize that we were there for a reason, and to bring a specific message to them. The Hermano that lived there had his mother living with them and she has had a few surgeries recently, so we gave her a blessing. We found out the next day while looking through our area book, that the lady had actually been a former investigator. After looking through some of the concerns that she had while being taught the missionary lessons, it made me think back to the blessing I gave her and how the Spirit really does guide us.. 

We had a city-wide service project in Menifee on Saturday and I got to throw on the Mormon helping hands jacket for the first time. Didn't get any pics though, but it was a good time helping clean up some yards in a retirement community. The sponsors there hooked us up with a BBQ lunch after we were done. Right after that, we went to a less active member's house to do some service for a little bit. She made us some fresh guava juice. Later that night, we were proselyting and we were in contacting a random person when a member sees us, pulls over and hands us 20 bucks for dinner. It almost felt like WE were the ones being served that day. Everyone was happy as we just all served one another!!

Being on bikes this transfer really is a blessing. The people that we meet and the joy that we have along the way is what makes each day special. Being in a trio is a really fun time, but it's even better as we try every day to be obedient to what we need to get done. The blessings have been coming and I'm really looking forward to what we can get done for the rest of this transfer. 

Lastly, just want to include some motivation for all who are called to serve in whatever assignment you may be called to.

Alma 42:31

And now, O my son, ye are called of God to preach the word unto this people. And now, my son, go thy way, declare the word with truth and soberness, that thou mayest bring souls unto repentance, that the great plan of mercy may have claim upon them...

We are all enlisted to help others realize the great plan of mercy will bring us eternal blessings. 

Elder Moon

 Service at a farm with some Emus

 All rocking lentes (glasses)

 One of the elders in our 5 man apartment, Elder Cousineau, absolute mission legend

 Bici

 With the Canadian, Elder Lawlor

The Trio (Elder Dew and Lawlor)