Goodbye Elder Mejia

So the saddest thing happened this week. Elder Mejia, my comp for 4 months when I was ZL, one of the best missionaries to ever serve, and my favorite comp so far, finished his mission on Tuesday. I seriously almost cried hearing his last testimony in the district meeting and as we said good bye in the airport. I don't cry! I was so sad. The mission will never be the same. Seriously. I guess i need to go so Honduras to meet up with him again. Getting up at 2 in the morning to take him to the airport was tough. Aaron got baptized last week. It is like baptizing Cody Perry. I was super excited. He even had me baptize him. Then on Sunday he got confirmed, interviewed to get the priesthood and then he came with us for 3 hours to visit people and then he went to a meeting to start seminary. He is great.
His cousin was going to get baptized today but she started avoiding us after she passed her interview. Seriously it happens so much! It looks like she is afraid of everyone seeing her and talking about the fact that she is going to church. It's such a petty thing but she won't let us help her solve it!
I'm excited to talk to the family tomorrow. Its gonna be great.
This week we had what was called "the worst storm in 15 years" in Guayaquil. I don't know if that's true but it was pretty bad. We took a taxi to get to interview for Andrea at 5:30. It normaly takes 5-10 minutes to get there so it costs like 1.50. But then we took a taxi and traffic was horrible there were cars that were flooded on the sides of the road and no one was going anywhere fast. We got to know our taxi driver really pretty well. He has traveled the world a bit but doesn't want to get married because he says he's not done yet but hes 38. He's a good guy. He didn't even charge us more for the fact that the drive took forever. We gave him more but he was a good guy. In total it took us 2 and a half HOURS to get there. That's right 2.5 hours when it's normally 8 minutes. How crazy. Then as were were getting out of the taxi Elder Hernandez lost his name tag that he has had for 23 months and didn't notice until the taxi left. So that was gone. He used black tape and whiteout to put his name on one of mine until he got the new one 2 days later. The irony is that he is the one who makes the name tags for the mission and always says "Elder, I've had my name tag for 23 months and have never lost it. You have been here for 5 months. Don't lose your name tag." Oh what irony.
So that pretty much sums up my week. I'm excited for the coming days and know that good things are going to happen. We just gotta keep working.



Elder Mooree

Baptism!

Today is Baptism day! The best day of the week! We have a great young man who is going to get baptized today and he is a copy of Cody Perry! Seriously he reminds me so much of him. I'm not joking. They make the same faces and jokes and it's hilarious. So hanging out with Cody has helped me on my mission.
His cousin was going to get baptized too but there was this fiasco with her interview. She passed one with Elder Mejia but they wanted to give her another. She left more confused and unexcited than she started. So the APs are going to be doing my interview from now on because Elder Mejia finishes his mission on Tuesday and I trusted him with all my other interviews and he did well. Actually our investigator asked that he come back and interview her and not the other one. Can i just tell you how much I'm going to miss Elder Mejia? Best missionary ever. No joke. I was so blessed to be his companion.
Other than that not too much has happened in my life. We couldn't leave too much because of how many records that Elder Delgado had to put in the computer but we got out enough to get our baptism down. and the other one is set for next week. So I'm pretty excited.
Oh but getting the font ready was a challenge. We took time out of Pday to go and empty out the font by hand. We bucketed out the water cause the drain was clogged. It was fun to get to know a couple members better as we did that. Then as we were filling it back up, we ran out of water. So we had to go in the roof and fix the tank. Overall stressful but super great! It only took an hour and a half which really surprised me.
Oh and someone was surprised cause I "live close to Las Vegas but he's so calm and well behaved" I always tell people I live 2 hours from Vegas or else everyone gets confused where I live. Maybe I'll say the Grand Canyon more often now.
But things are really going well here. I am excited and really to have a lot of success here in the office. It's weird that I already have 2 months here. It went by really fast. And it doesn't feel like Mothers Day should be here yet but I'm fine with that. I'm excited.




Elder Moore

1 year

Well I passed my year mark this week. It was Thursday. But the thing is I didn't even pass it with my companions or in my own sector. But the entire day in a exchange. Cause there is an elder that fought with his comp and so there were emergency transfers on Monday. So all week we did exchanges with him. I was there Tuesday, Wednesday night, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday morning. It was long. The worst part was that I couldn't do anything to celebrate or even write in my journal cause i didnt have it. I was going to burn the year shirt but I never got the chance. I might do it this week. But the worst was that it was Thursday (my year mark) that they companions went to the temple with our investigators. So I couldn't even go. I spent the day knocking doors and going up the hills. It was tough. We will get back to normal this week and fix everything.
Our baptisms fell through cause she felt too pressured to get baptized. She said she wants to but on her own time. But her neighbor is going to get baptized this week so she will think about it this week.
Also a lady who has wanted to get baptized for years is going to get baptized Saturday too. Her husband never wanted to get married and they finally got planning on it but then he left. 30 years together and he left. But now she can get baptized and she's really excited.
We are breaking records as a mission now we just need to do it as a zone.


Elder Moore

Well, we are in trio again

So this week has had its ups and its downs. But this was a week to remember. First of all I have a new compaion. His name is Elder Mezarina from Lima. Seriously I can not stop getting Peruvian compaions. We are training him. So I now have 3 Peruvian sons and a Peruvian Father. Am I actually Peruvian?
Things are going pretty well here. We have a family that is super excited about the church. It's a mom and her 2 sons. They should get baptized the 15th. We have some other families that are a little bit lukewarm. But I am excited to see what all we can do.
As a zone we had 11 confirmations this week. So we are starting off the month strong. It's good cause we have the goal as a zone to have 40 converts this month. We really are doing well already. We have 6 or 7 more this week and then we need to see how the rest go. I really am excited though. Just everyone pray for us.
I don't know how it happened but I forgot about the Super Bowl until I was going to bed Sunday Night. Crazy right? Nothing like me.
Overall things are going well and I know they will keep getting better. I only have fear that I will not be here in the zone to see us get 40. But who knows these days.
Oh and Elder Waddell is going to come this week to the mission and it should be really cool. I'm thinking puro machete for all of the wicked elders-But not really. I'm hoping to get some great spiritual advice.


Elder Moore

Well, here we are at the end of the month

So this month was one that I will remember forever. Lots of BIG news and just a crazy month. Started with New Years, I got sick, The rain started, and we had a crazy month as a zone.
We went from really good to normal to bad to normal and back around pretty much nonstop this week. We had the goal as a zone to break the record. But sadly a lot of little stuff happened and we didn't even get close. We got pretty much the same as last month. Which isn't bad but we didn't have the growth that I was hoping for. But this next month we will break a record.
We had two baptisms this week. One from the ward 9 de Enero. They don't have missionaries so we went and contacted a reference and she got baptized 2 weeks later. Super great. We had a small Noche Blanca there. 5 baptisms in 3 wards. It was cool.
Then Sunday morning the daughter of a member less active got baptized. It went well but started late (like everything here) and so the bishop wasn't happy. But nothing too big.
But I didn't transfer this week and doubt we will have transfers here for a bit. I think Pres. wants better numbers before changing too much.
Um so there was a kid who thought I was chinese cause I'm from Utah. He said Utah in a chinese accent and it worked. So I just laughed.
There are always other stories to tell but I forget when I get to the computer. But hopefully everything ends up well.


Elder Moore

 

Birthday Week

So this week went pretty well.
Monday we played soccer for the first time. It went well but I can't play well. But I'm thinking in the next year I will learn and be good. Or at least that's the hope.
Tuesday was the birthday. It went well. We had Ceviche de Camaron for Lunch cause its my favorite. And then in the night we had a birthday party with a less active family whose daughter turned 5 on the 14th. SO lots of jokes that I'm old. But it was cool. Some random stuff is that in Ecuador, they yell "Vive el santo!" "Vive!" at the birthday parties. It means "Live the saint" Or kinda like "Live long saint." But it's wierd I just laughed and laughed when they said it. But also you bite the cake after blowing out the candles and someone pushes your face in it. That was funny.
It's wierd to say that I'm 20. Not used to it. Don't think I will be.
Other than that we had Stake Conference and we had Pres. Dennis and Pres. Groeburg (the temple president) come and talk. It was really cool.
Also we have a bunch of baptisms this week in the zone and if we get some miracles going we can break the zone record. I am pumped and really really excited to see it happen. I want them to split the zone while I'm here. Doubt it will happen so fast but I hope so.
Transfers are next week and I think one of us will go but who knows which it will be.
But other than that we are working hard and just trying to keep focused on the work and nothing else.




Elder Moore

2014

So we had New Years and I couldn't believe it.
New Years was cool. We saw everyone burn their manigote, or paper machete thing. The lady who owns our house offered us Honey juice. But it was just Honey and really strong. I found out normally they drink it with Champagne. SO it was wierd.
Other than that we finish our Trio. Elder Miñan went to be trained by the other Elder Moore. Yup there are two Elder Moores and Elder Miñan gets us both right off the bat. But its cool.
Things are going well though. Today we got permission to play Soccer but if someone get hurt, the permission goes away and he goes home. So I don't know how much I'll be playing.
I have some goals for what I want to do in 2014 and some plans for how I'm going to fill the goals.
But I don't know- it's all just crazy. I'm excited for the new year and just really excited to keep working.
Good things are coming this year.


Elder Moore

Well, I have a new hijo

Although it surprised me, we got a new companion. His name is Elder Miñan. He is from Peru (I seem to have a bunch of those). He is new. And I mean new. This is his first sector. And we are his first companion. I was not expecting to have the opportunity to train again. It's really weird to be in a trio as ZLs. I means i'ts weird anyway. I like being in a companionship. But I guess I will have to get used to it. It will be interesting.
We had the baptism of Oswaldo this week. It was awesome cause Pres. Dennis gave permission to Elder Moreno to come. He was the elder who found him and the family loves him. He also helped reactive the family to get baptized. We will see what happens. There is the mom, the grandma, and two little girls who all listen when we visit. So I'm super excited.
Other than that there is not too much going on. I mean we are trying to work the best we can with the crazy schedule we have. It was nasty. But we are starting to find more people but like always finding people is the hardest part. Not really but it's the most annoying.
Other than that we had P'day today because we needed to take advantage of the time we have. I think the same will happen next week but who knows.
Overall Chirstmas is here and I'm not trunky. It's too hot to believe that it's Christmas.



Elder Moore

Oh what a busy week!

This week was super duper busy.
Monday. Pday. Always fun
Tuesday.
Leadership Council. We started in my chapel and then we went to the mission home which is in the richest part of Guayaquil and like 40 minutes away in a car. But it was cool. There we took pictures and everything. At night I did a baptismal interview and she was super ready.
Wednesday. District Meeting that is normally Tuesday.
Intercambio and two more interviews. Long day with little lessons and lots of sitting around
Thursday.
Weekly planing until 1. Lunch till 2 and leaving for the temple at 4. Not much work done that day either. But the temple was awesome! We saw the new video and it is so much better. Super great.
Friday. We could work. Finally! Trying to sure up the baptism. Finding people.

Saturday.
Preparing for the baptism. Visiting a few people. Waiting for 1 and a half hours for the baptism. And boom! done! Then the counselor of a ward that doesn't have missionaries said he wants us to work in his ward to raise their spirits. So we are going there too.
Sunday. Confirmation. Getting people to church and meeting with the ward missionaries. Then visiting a few people.
Today. Transfers. I stay here but we are in trio until Wednesday when he starts training and another missionary comes with us to be trained by us. So we are going to be ZLs that are training. Crazy.
But things are going super great. I mean who doesn't love a busy week. But no worries.
Chirstmas is close but I haven't really caught the spirit yet. I guess sweating in the sun doesn't mean Christmas to me. But I guess we will see what happens in the next few days.
Overall. Things are great. Two or three more baptisms this week. I guess we will see. no worries though. Just getting work done!



Elder Moore

Ending the cold streak

Well the plan was to have 4 baptisms this week. But one by one we had problems and we were super busy all week so weren't able to sit there with them for too much time. It was tough but we were able to get to Saturday with 3. But then one fell in the morning. So One got baptized Saturday and the other one to get baptized Sunday. But then in the night a member went to tell her he will go with her to church and she told him she can't get baptized cause her boyfriend moved in with her and he doesn't want her to go to church. So there are a few reasons that she can't get baptized. It killed me. She was so close and so excited. She was ready to change her life! But this week we are on pace to have a couple. But a few are kinda tough.
Random fact: I am part of the mission chior. How that happened I don't know. I think it has something to do with the fact that we have the keys to the church haha. But I still can't sing that well. But I'm trying. We are going to sing for a catholic church. I want to sing Joseph Smiths First Prayer. But we'll sing Chirstmas songs I guess.
I'm feeling a lot better in my role as zone leader. I have alot more confidence. I'm just trying to figure out what more we can do to motivate these missionaries.
Overall it was a crazy week and will keep being crazy this week. But I'm excited cause this week we are going to the Temple. I don't know when but we are going this week.
Oh and this week we had the ward Talent show. It was really good. The Relief Society did a clown act and it was really funny. The elders did the story of Jonas and it was really cool. The Primary did a christmas dance and it was cool.
Things are going great and I'm excited to keep working.


Elder Moore

Thanksgiving? No.

So first of all, I tried so hard to have Thanksgiving. But we have ward council and informes to
recieve from the zone so after trying so hard, I just couldn't. It was going to be a chicken but nope nothing. But it's ok.
Overall, things are good here. We have some baptisms this week. Pretty much all of them are putting up a fight but I am feeling good about it. Just need to focus of the spirit and they will get it done.
The zone is still struggling but no worries. We are correcting it.
The zone conference was really cool. It was Christmas-y and really cool. Pres. Dennis was really funny. We had a 4 zones there so I was able to see a bunch of old buddies from other sectors and even a few that were in the Guayaquil North mission with me before the Guayaquil West mission was created and they are also now in the West mission. So that was really great to see everyone.
The mosquitos in the house are more undercontrol. I really have done pretty good killing all of them. But I'll keep going.
Overall things are pretty tranquil here. I mean we are working hard but not too much that is super new. We are working great with the less active members. We took 9 to church and there are a bunch more that are possible. We just gotta make sure that everyone keeps up thier testimony and we will be great. We don't have too many investigators but the ones we have are pilas. They are progressing well and I know that we can get it done.
I'm not too trunky with Christmas coming. Pretty much cause I dont believe it is Christmas cause it's too hot here to be Christmas. And there are no cheesy movies but overall I think I'll be fine.
Everyone Keep me updated.




Elder Moore

One week more

So first of all, I need to give mad respect to the sister missionaries. In this month, they were nearly the only ones who baptized in our zone. The Assistants saved us and have 1. So in the zone we had 13. We are really thinking we need to step our game up. Lets see what we can do.
As for us, we are no longer in trio. Elder Castillo got his companion and well... we will keep working with them at times. But we are doing a lot of intercambios to try and lift of up the zone. We have great opportunities here we just need to take advantage of them.
We have 4 really great people preparing to be baptized. One is the daughter of an inactive family who we found following the guidance of Pres. Dennis and Pres. Monson in looking for less active people to active them. The blessings are already coming. And the other 3 are Teenagers who are super interested. The mother of one of them is even a bit interested we just need to help her focus in the gospel.
Random story. Apparently I offended someone for knocking on their door. Yup. Not even hard or that much. Just a good knock.
We had interviews with Pres. Dennis this week and it went well. Things are great. Just trying to help so that he doesn't have to worry about our zone at all.
We had a Area wide training last night. It was cool. All the the ward councils went and we learned alot. Tenemos que trabajar juntos. Its was funny cause the Area 70 kinda ripped a few people apart. No one specifically, but he clearly had someone in mind.
We have a zone conference this week so that will be great. I'm pretty excited.


Elder Moore

You Raise Me Up

This title is what the zone is doing. This is the goal for me and Elder Mejia right now. We are doing alot better. We nearly doubled a lot of the numbers and we are doing great. We just need to keep on suring things up and we are going to finish the month strong and keep on going strong through out December. It's wierd that we are already thinking about December.
Today we had a leadership council and it went really well. I felt great and it was good seeing some old friends (old as in like 6 months ago jaja). Things are really great and I know that things will only get better.
The Mission Work does not exist anymore. It is now the Work of Salvation. Our emphasis is not just baptisms anymore. But in less actives and converts. Way more than before. President Dennis doesn't even want us knocking doors- just activating people and the promise from the leaders is that the baptisms will follow and will be more and of better quality. I'm really excited to see how we can finally fix the problem of 200 attending and 700 members in the ward. We can easily have 2 wards there.
We have quite a few investigadores that are progressing very well. We just need to make sure that we can get them some great conversion. Prayer, Book of Mormon, and Church Attendence. That's how the Lord has commanded us and that is how we will do it. I know that we will have it all done right and they will stay here strong.
Random fact, The mosquitos are driving me crazy. I'm in the middle of the city and they are eating me in my sleep. Both me and my comp are having problems sleeping cause of how much the bites itch. But we are going to try like 3 different solutions this week. So no worries.
I'm feeling alot more confident and I know this is going to be some great success that we will have. I'm super excited.


Elder Moore

One Week. Three Comps

This week we had transfers. Our old ZL finished his mission Wednesday and the new people came on Friday so it wasn't much of a surprise that on Friday we had transfers. I did get transfered. The surprise was that I stayed in the zone. And not just that but I became the companion of Elder Rojas, from Chile. He trained Elder Costello from my CCM group. But right after training he became the zone leader in our zone. So then I became his companion. So if you were able to follow that train to logic town, I am the new Zone Leader in our zone. Not what I expected. But I guess its all good.
Then last night we got the call from the assistants that there were more transfers. And Elder Rojas had the transfer. So I had 3 days with him. And one was an intercambio trying to help another sector. So I don't really know our sector that well. But there are quite a few people here.
My new companion is Elder Mejia. He is from Honduras and is excellent. He has had a lot of success lifting up zones and so we know what we need to do right now. It's going to be great to see the way that we can really get to work.
As for finishing my time with Elder Arias, things went well. We had seemed to have everything understood and working well when I got transfered. But I guess thats the way life goes.
So this week well keep working and try and find the best that we can to lift up the zone to be the best in the mission, in the Ecuador and in the world.


Elder Moore