For two years I will be preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and serving the people in the area of the Salt Lake City East Mission! My mother has volunteered to post my letters and pictures on this blog so you can follow me. I have been preparing for my mission for 18 years by exercising faith and building a testimony of my Savior Jesus Christ and His amazing Gospel. Please email or write me if you have any questions or just want to talk!
I love you guys so much! It was awesome
being able to see you on Christmas. I was kind of scared that it was going to
be weird seeing and talking to you guys but it was really awesome and motivated
me to be better!
Please tell grandma Dora thank you so
much for the jalapeño jelly and the bran muffins! We ate it with cream cheese
and crackers this morning. (Jake cracked me up in the Herman family Christmas
card! Good work Jake.)
Thank you family for all the awesome gifts and
letters! I love all of you! I am super sorry for not doing that great about
writing a lot. I think it would work awesome if you asked me like one or two
things specifically to write about because I have a hard time thinking of
things. We can try it out for next week!
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have
reflected on all that your savior has done for you. I got some insight
during our zone conference that I wanted to share.
After the angel appears to the shepherds the host
of angels appear and it says...
Luke 2
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a
multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,
good will toward men.
All of us were in this heavenly host; all of us
were there on this first Christmas. All of us were looking down at the Savior’s
birth and singing praises Him. I am sure there was more celebration and joy at
the beginning of our Savior’s mortal life than any of us can imagine. He was
starting the greatest feat that any of us have ever done. He was going to atone
for all of us and open the gates of heaven for all those that are willing to
follow him. It must have been a bittersweet moment for our Father, but all of
us were there.
I love you guys,
Love Elder Moe
"They need to still make copies of the
Book of Mormon like this!"
"Elder Dubbeld loves Root Beer. He bought
six 2 liter bottles last Monday, not to mention
a ridiculous amount of cereal."
"When your foreign companion
discovers junkfood..."
Hey guys I'm super short on time today I apologize.
Luckily we will be able to talk a lot on Christmas. I got the package! I
really appreciate all of the gifts professionally wrapped by Becca. So I kind
of cheated and opened up my Nerf gun early. We are having a huge nerf war in a
three-story ward building today and I couldn't resist.
Dad you're going to have to put that Rotel in a
Tupperware and send it over. I honestly can't believe Christmas is here
already. Time flies especially on the mission. The biggest change this week has
been our new companion Elder Dubbeld. He had oatmeal for the first time with me
the other morning; things are pretty different in Holland I guess. From what
he's told us, he is going to go crazy when we go to Walmart today. He says when
his dad goes to America, he brings back a whole suitcase full of Lucky Charms
and A&W rootbeer.
This is my journal entry from when he came!:
Nice snow boots Elder Gill and Moe :D
Wow so we have a new companion! We are training in
a trio!!! His name is Elder Dubbeld, pronounced just like doubled. He’s from
Holland and got called to Elder Hagoods mission in the Trinidad Port of Spain!
He is waiting here for probably six weeks or so. Until then, Elder Gill and I
are training him! He is really quiet and soft spoken but we are going to have
to help him with that. He ate oatmeal for the first time with me this morning.
He said he really liked it! I would think they would have oatmeal there. I’ve
never thought of it as an American thing. His second language is English and
his first is Dutch. He’s not a very confident English speaker but we will help
him out of his comfort zone for sure. There is no growth in a comfort zone and
not a lot of comfort in a growth zone. I just realized we are going to have
posterity ties handed down in Trinidad Port of Spain. That's sick!
This week was super awesome!On Thursday we went to the Salt Lake
Temple and then Friday was crazy:We had zone meeting, Christmas Dinner, talent show and a General Authority
speaker. The food was awesome and President and Sister Eberhardt got us
microwavable rice bags and shorts with the mission name printed on them. The
General Authority speaker was amazing! It was Elder and Sister Gay. I will tell
you all about everything on Friday!
I love you guys so much and will see you on Friday.
I apologize for the short lame email. We had to walk here and so we were late
and then Elder Guapo had to come by and talk to us.
I love you guys so much and we have had a crazy
week. A lot of things happened and I took videos of most of them.
First thing that happened was Zoe and Jason are getting married!!!!! There is this senior Missionary named Elder Guapo and
he specializes in marrying people. We had heard some crazy stories about him
but we brought him over to the lesson anyway. We told them why he was coming
and what he was going to talk about but he didn't know that... He told us
"you never say marriage in a lesson!" And so his method (Bishop
Stoddard told me this) is to read the Family Proclamation with them and then
ask what God wants them to do. If they don't get it right, they read it again
until they get it right. So after the first time through, he asked Zoe and
she didn't know how to put it or what specifically he was looking for, so I
leaned out from behind him and mouthed "marriage" and she understood
and said marriage! Guapo jumped up, yelled and was congratulating her and
giving high fives for getting it on the first try. So we filled out the
marriage license application and then he told them to put their shoes on.
Twenty minutes later we were at the marriage office getting the marriage
license. It was pretty exiting! They had already planned on getting
married, they just needed a push and Guapo gave them a shove! It is all good
though - they are getting married this week on Saturday and they are exited.
The Relief Society is helping out a lot.
The next thing that happened was Elder Gill ate
it on his bike. Friday morning we took a trip to Instacare to stitch
up Elder Gills face. We were riding into the Willows Apartments and on the
first speed bump Elder Gill ate it hard.. Like super hard. He landed like
directly on his face. He tried to grab a hold of the handle bars to regain
control and so the first thing that hit the ground was his face. Typically when
people fall, because of instinct, they put out their hands to catch themselves
and so they scrape up their palms. He had road rash on the BACK of his hand and
a sick gash in his chin. Nothing else got scraped because he was wearing a
pretty thick wool jacket and he slid on his arm for a bit. I was riding right
behind him so I saw the whole thing and it just replays in my head every time I
think about it. Typically it splits me up because it was so flipping funny, but
awful, so I have just been cracking up randomly ever since it happened. This is
pretty hard typing this up honestly. He bled a lot and then eventually it
clotted and he had this weird clot thing hanging off. It was pretty gnarly.
Elder Astorga and Elder Baumbach came and took us to Instacare and he got two
stitches inside the wound and 6 on the outside. It was super cool; I have never
seen anyone get stitches before. Elder Gill was pretty lighthearted about it. I
will attach a video of the after math. He gave me permission to take the video,
but I think he got a little nauseous when he saw the injury. You can tell when
he starts feeling sick because his face turns yellow.
I felt a little bad and shouldn't have done a
selfi video, but hey, you live and learn right. I should have taken a picture
after the blood clot came off because it was super deep and super gross.
The next thing I sent was a video of the
transfer phone call. We knew Sunday night that we were both going to be
training but we had no idea we were going to be training in a trio. We thought
that Elder Gill was going to leave. This next week will be exciting because on
Tuesday we have transfers, Thursday we go to the temple, and Friday we have
zone conference.
Ok, so to answer some questions. Yes I have
gotten my boots from the office but I had to ask for special permission and we
had to get a ride there. I would like it a lot better if you sent stuff to our
house. With Sister Lafferty, we were walking into Mickey d's and I saw her on
the front of the line in the drive through. It was super weird seeing a face I
recognized! But it was awesome! I had no clue she lived here!
Oh yeah, we went to temple square with Zoe and Jason to see the lights and it was awesome. Jason was super sick when we
were driving there but we said a prayer that he would feel better while we were
there and he did. He was like completely recovered after having his head half
way out the window for the drive there. Zoe really loved it and they both
said they were exited to go through the temple to be sealed a year after Zoe is baptized. After we left and got in the car, Jason almost instantly felt
super sick again. It was definitely a miracle. I know that this is a work of
miracles. It is a work of mighty changes of heart. It is a work of
relationships, change, growth and tender mercies.
I love this scripture written by Isaiah in
Isaiah 9:6 -
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is
given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be
called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The
Prince of Peace.
This was written hundreds of years before
Christ was born. Historians would look at Christianity starting after Christ's
ministry and crucifixion. They would look at it as a widely spread religion
brought about by many followers and friends that traveled and spread the word.
They would look at it as a well recorded ministry of an inspiring leader. I
testify that this is not true. I know that Christianity was not formed by the
words or writing of man. I know that Christ is the center of all things. We
even count our time from His birth. I know that His atonement was the greatest
event in the history of this world. I know that the prophets starting with Adam
have always testified of Christ and they always will. I know He is the Mighty
God. I know He is the Prince of Peace. I know He is a gift to the world. He is
The Love of God manifested to all mankind.
This season we are celebrating our Savior and His
birth. A Savior is born for you.
Love,
Elder Moe
"Yes it is a mirror selfie, but it's awesome...
"This cat was hard to take a selfie with."
"District awesome continued. Elder Asker is the guy next to me. He is part of the senior couple in Murray."
Alright, so because of popular demand I will be
sharing things about the district living arrangements and stuff like
that! I will start with the district:
So starting on the top row from left to right:
1. You have President of course.
2. Elder Pittman- he is a brand new missionary and
he is a convert of about 2 years. He is super cool!
3. Elder Moe- he is pretty cool but sometimes he
gets on my nerves especially when he tears up the bathroom right before I
shower ;D
4. Elder Gill- He is really awesome! He has been to
a year of BYU I before he came out. His Dad was in the Air Force so he lived in
Germany for a while and he has India Indian background. He has a ton of faith,
is really spiritual, humble and doesn’t get annoyed when I want to pray a lot
(which is super nice). We get along great!
5. Sister Uelese- She is Polynesian, which says a
lot already! She is super fun, speaks Spanish (which can be bad for the Spanish Elders sometimes) hahaha, and left for her mission as a teacher in Alaska. She
has a favorite question that she loves to ask people that is very thought
provoking... "Have you ever been slapped by a poly??" All joking
aside, she is actually really nice, a stud missionary and the best English
speaker out of the trio.
6. Sister Pauni- a lot of the things said about
sister Uelese can be said here. Sister Pauni is super funny! She sometimes
wears this hat that is white and furry and looks amazingly funny but she rocks
it! She is very good at popping her knuckles in a way that Instills fear into
those she is looking upon. She hails from the kingdom of Tonga and taught the
zone some togan words including "Namuseku" which she assured us meant
handsome man. (We asked brother Wolfgram, a Tongan in one of our wards, and it
means ....). I promised the
sisters I wouldn't tell anyone in the zone what it means so keep it on the DL.
7. Sister Masih- she was born in Samoa but moved to
Australia when she was really young. She is like the mom of the group and does
her best! She was in my zone in Wyoming so I already kind of knew her. She is
pretty hard to understand sometimes but she is hilarious too! I gave her a
blessing one time when she was sick and her middle name is Sunshine - that
describes her really well!
8. Elder Sales- he is from California and came out
with me. He is super cool! I am going to be going on exchanges with him soon
and getting to know him a lot better!
9. Elder Kupaka'a- he is from Hawaii (the big
island) he is like the biggest goofball I have ever met. He said he doesn’t
speak native Hawaiian but he spoke fluent Pigeon which is like a mix of a bunch
of other languages. He is a really hard worker and is super good at drawing and
stuff. He loves to teach using little hand motions and visuals.
Front row left to right
1. Elder Alvarado- he is from Arizona and is
totally a redneck! It is super awesome. He loves to say super apostate things
and see people's reactions. He served in Lyman, Wyoming before this and was
somewhat legendary for drinking goats milk straight from the goat.I am running out of time but that is
all the young missionaries in my district.
"Our sweet Christmas setup" All donated by
some awesome members! Notice the warm fire.
A miracle I wanted to share
this week is a stellar example of member missionary work. There is this bomb
family in the ward. Their youngest daughter is an awesome member
missionary. She made a bet with one of her friends at school (she is thirteen
years old) that if her friend lost she had to take a missionary lesson. So she
came up and told us one day and was like, "hey I have a friend who owes me
two missionary lessons." We were like, "what do you mean??" Then
she explained it to us. We ended up meeting with her friend thinking it was kind of going to be a joke, but she made the bet because she
really cared and loved this friend and knew she needed the gospel. After a
spiritual lesson on the Restoration, she accepted the invitation to be baptized
and is getting baptized on the 9th of January!!
Sorry not a great letter today. I love you guys so much and I love my Savior, Jesus
Christ.
Love,
Elder Moe
PS I met one of Marlin Moes nieces or something the
other day. She has been to Bob’s place on the lake.
PSS look at family tree. There are a lot of things
that need to be fixed
This stud Truman helps out with driving sometimes.
He will be serving a mission in January to the TEXAS FORT WORTH
Mission in the language of Marshallese!
Dad, from your letter:"There is some stuff in the Old Testament that I just
can't teach to the Freshman and today was no exception. Fortunately none
of them read the assignment because I didn't want to have to explain what
happened." Was it the Sodom and Gomorrah chapters? :D
Preston, you and your hammocking traditions, I love
it. Dried mangos are the awesome and perfect "strictly hammock food".
You are kind of a hippie dude. Long hair, guitar, dried mangos, hammocks, pole-vaulter.
Total hippie. How is it trying to stay warm in the hammocks? Do you use a
sleeping bag? It's great to know that you are still burping in people's
faces... Super polite.
Becca, you are a special individual. When I tell
people about my siblings, I typically say, "I have a little brother that
is the second oldest and a little sister who is the youngest and she is more
mature than both of us." But yet, you have this insane goofiness about you
that is unmatched. Nice slow mo videos by the way guys!
Mom, you are awesome I love you! We haven't
been riding the bikes lately because of the snow and it doesn't help that the
nut from the front wheel fell off. So, I have to get a new one today.
"Favorite picture ever."
Here is
a really cool story of what happened this week. So let me tell you how we
met Jason (name changed). We had an appointment fall through and we had some time to go
contact someone. We said a prayer at the front door of this apartment building
asking Heavenly Father to guide us to someone. We said amen and I felt we had to go to apartment
A. Elder Gill suggested that we could go contact this girl we had met the other
day, but I couldn't walk out of that building, I felt that we needed to knock
on that door. So we did, not knowing what to expect (you never do when you are
knocking on a door), we knocked. The door opens and this big guy looked at us pretty freaked out and said, "come in." That
was all that was said. I am pretty sure we didn't even get a word out. We came
in, introduced ourselves, and he has us sit down and was like, "it's weird
you all are here right now man, I don't know what to think." He said,
"be honest with me right now, what made you come here?" I said,
"To be completely honest, we were at the door of the apartment
building and said a prayer to guide us to someone and the spirit told us to
come knock on your door." He just leaned back and was like "Wow, you’re
telling me that right there... Wow." We really didn't know if it was a
good or bad thing at first, but he told us that four days ago he had prayed for
guidance, help and direction and we showed up. He said, "every time I pray, you guys end up showing up!" Since then we have been meeting with
him a lot. We have seen him everyday since that happened on Tuesday and he
keeps wanting us to come back and he always wants us to stay longer. One of the
first things he told us when we met with him was "missionaries in the past
have always been like "come to church and see, see what it's
like!"" And he pretty much told us straight up not to ask him to come
to church because he is not going. That's awkward...He came! and I think they really liked it! I was praying that
they could feel the spirit and that all the talks were good and they were. I was
afraid that when we got into Gospel Doctrine, and we were doing genealogy, it
would be boring, but they loved it. He was like calling his mom and putting all
the names and birth dates on. It was really cool! Then in the last hour they
were doing a combined meeting on protecting our homes from pornography and I
was like... Crap. But it was super awesome!! The bishop of that ward is amazing and Jason was talking about it after how he wants to be
able to protect his kids from that someday.
It's 1:00, but I know the gospel Is
true!!!! Love you bye!
"Sneak Peak: One of the new characters in the upcoming STAR WARS saga - Elder Moe Kenobi"
Dear Family,
HAPPY FLIPPING
BIRTHDAY TO MY MOST FAVORITE BROTHER!! You’re my only brother, but you are
still my favorite. I love you so much! I have been pretty terrible lately about
writing in my journal because of district leader responsibilities... I have to
call all the companionships in the district and then call the zone leaders
every night and I always take forever. On Monday night, Tuesday and Wednesday
morning we had our traveling AP (Assistant to the President) stay with us and
train and Elder Gill and stuff. He is from Guatemala! He helped me brush up on
my Espanol. I was thinking that you would be proud of me because I keep
randomly talking in Spanish like you do all the tiempo.
"This is Elder Valdez! He is the AP that stayed with us Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. He's from Guatemala!"
It looked like you
guys had a super sick bonfire!!!! I hope you are singing your heart out and
jamming on the guitar! Honestly I miss that a lot. I saw the shirt Jet made
you! That is pretty cool. Owasso better be hammockville by the time I get home!
It sounds like you are spreading it a lot!
I love you guys so
much. I’m sorry I didn't have time to do a house tour for you guys this week,
but I will do one soon. I am jamming to all the awesome music on my iPod. Thank
you so much Mom for working so hard on that. Having the speaker is so
great because when we share videos with people we just turn it on and it is
automation Bluetooth connected.
So I don't really
think there is a set rule on teaching someone who is under the influence, but
we ran into another guy the other night. He was super drunk or something but he
worked at Delta airlines and he helped missionaries leaving the MTC all the
time! He was super scared when he answered the door and he was trying to
convince us that he was the best Mormon ever so we didn't even need to talk to
him. He was like "you wouldn't believe the prayers I say in the morning. I
pray to like Thomas S. Monson and like his councilors and gold plates and everything.
You guys are so great man! I know every thing you are saying and I am 100
percent on board... you would not believe the person I was.. so thank you so
much." We got like three words in and he was saying stuff like that
at the door for about 10 minutes.
To answer a few of
your questions: 1) We
got bikes from the mission office. It was by the Hand of God because they are
both super nice "giant™" bikes and they were both given by
missionaries that have left or are going home soon. My thighs have been sore
lately. 2) Some of my responsibilities are: I have to do district meetings,
Give trainings every week, Do exchanges, Call the district ever night, And
other stuff. The most important part is ministering to my district, which is
the best! It can be applied to all of the work. 3) We have four wards. We cover
Hillside, Hillcrest, Park and Ridgecreek.
My companion, Elder Gill
Have an awesome Thanksgiving
everyone!! Eat a ton of food for me so you can all gain weight like I will
after 5 dinners. I am so thankful for the opportunity I have to be on a
mission. I am so thankful for an awesome family. I am so thankful for a loving
Heavenly Father and a Savior that has given His life for me. I am so grateful
for all my friends and family, your love and support. Go out of your way
this Thanksgiving to tell people thank you especially to your Heavenly Father.
He has given you everything! The only thing we can give Him that isn't already
His is your will. If we submit our will to him, we will have true and eternal
joy!! Listen to what the spirit tells you. If you are to afraid to act on a
prompting think, "if not you then who?"
Love,
Elder Moe
P.S. I spoke twice
yesterday! :D it was awesome. I love speaking! l have learned how to do it - Don't prepare anything. The only thing
to roughly organize is your thoughts.
P.S.S. Just a heads up I am going to buy a nerf gun today. We are having nerf
wars as our zone activity and nerf makes this sick gun that shoots balls
instead of darts and it is awesome.
At the mission office with Elder & Sister Hawes
Elder Valdez - Traveling Assistant to the President
"I saw a picture of Bella the other day!!"
"This is Elder Baldry. He's from Australia."
"I told him to wait right before he flipped...He wanted to do
