What a great week and it's only Wednesday :) I am so grateful for a terrific husband who sees me clearly and knows what I need even when I disagree :) I am so grateful for children who are striving to live the gospel and do what's right even when it is not always popular. I'm grateful for the tender mercies of the Lord and the way He answers prayers and how He keeps answering even when, especially when we aren't "getting it". I feel like this quote I saw on a friends post this weekend and Alex's scripture for the week were just what I needed to get myself refocused again. I love this gospel and how we can learn so much from each other and am amazed at the knowledge our sweet, young missionaries have. So grateful for their strong spirits and our opportunities to share in that Light.
Here is that quote:
"I've been thinking a lot about the media I consume--music and movies and discovered this quote: "In the early stages of spiritual development, we are easily seduced by the low-energy thought-world of the Natural Man. It comes through our magazines, our TV, our movies--it saturates our environment. If we entertain enough of the world-mind by passively absorbing it from our environment, we will have limited powers of discernment, fragile faith in Jesus Christ, and weak spiritual energies to nourish us on our journey. We find that the world-mind continually leads us to self-absorption with its irritation, anxiety, and self-seeking. Therefore, we see the necessity of distinguishing between the energy of the world-mind or Natural Mind and that of the Spiritual Mind--and to choose according to what we really want" (M. Catherine Thomas, "Light in the Wilderness"). Wow. Powerful words!"
And...here is the letter for the week:

Hola!!

Wow, you guys did have a crazy week. Even crazier than usual. :) haha that's awesome that Amber had her farewell!! It's crazy that she is leaving too.

I'm glad that you guys were able to take Friday off and enjoy some time together. That's always good. :) that's awesome for Dad too that he gets to focus just on missionary work in the Stake. That's sad that he won't have that ward, but he will still be working with them at least. :) 

So, crazy thing. I know Hermana Perez... Haha she's cool. She is an STL so she is kind of like a zone leader for the sisters. She's a good missionary. That's weird though, haha.  (amy met Hermana Perez’ mom on fbJ)

I am doing good. We are getting along great. Elder Laguna has been out 13 months or so. We haven't been having many dinners or lessons. We are working on it though. We should be moving this week. We aren't sure. We are full car. It's weird. Haha I'm not sure how I like it yet. Elder Salas is cool. It's still a little weird, but it's good. 

This week was kind of long. Obviously every week goes by super quickly, but several days were long. We also went on exchanges on Wednesday. It was good. It was weird though because I spoke Spanish almost every single visit, and I was in an English area. I went to the district leaders area farther down south and a lot of their members are Hispanic so it was funny. It was good.

Also I was able to have a Skype lesson with some recent converts from my last area. We discussed how they can invite their friends to church. It was really good. And it was also really cool to be able to see them again.

So, I don't know if I have brought this up or not, but guess what is next week? The Fort Lauderdale Temple Dedication!!! The celebration is on Saturday and then Sunday is the dedication. We might go to all three sessions. :) it is going to be super cool!! I'm excited. :) so I'll let you guys know how that went next week. :) 

Time for the spiritual experience this week. Honestly, I was kind of a slow week and we didn't have many lessons, but this wasn't even part of a lesson. So it all worked out. Haha on Thursdays we have correlation meetings with the ward mission leader. It went really well. He asked about who we were teaching and how the ward can help them. He gave us feedback on what we should do and it was very helpful. And then, yesterday, we had ward council. Holy cow!! It was super weird to be in a ward council that actually did something productive. The bishop new everybody who was struggling in the ward, and he gave out assignments on how the council could help those people. We discussed all the people we are teaching and gave out assignments for that too. It was super good! It was definitely different than my last area. Haha my last branch had a ton of great people, they just weren't focused on missionary work at all. It is awesome to see how focused this ward is. They even have quarterly parties just for missionary work. They throw a huge party and everybody invites their nonmember friends. We have one coming up on May 10. It is going to be awesome!! Overall it was a very comforting feeling to know that there is a dedicated ward behind us. Well, actually, we are just helping them so it's nice to have dedicated people to help in this work. :) when the ward is on top of things, there isn't a whole lot of room for error. It's been super awesome!!

And now, scripture for the week. The scripture is going to be Luke 2: 42-49. I am choosing this scripture due to the fact that this upcoming weekend is the temple dedication here. :) so, we all know this story. Jesus was 12 and was teaching in the temple, his family left without him, they searched for him, and they found him in the temple. He simply states, "How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" Today I want to kind of take this story apart a little bit in order to relate to our own lives. So, the family was all together in a pretty big company. They went to the temple together as family and friends. There was a lot going on and in the chaos they somehow lost track of Jesus Christ. And where did they find him? In the house of his Father. There are a few ways that we can take this. I want to go this way for now. Our lives get very hectic. Very busy and sometimes we think that we have the spirit with us, or that we are very close to our Savior. But then we realize that we have lost him. We are not as close as we should be. However, we need not fear. We always have the opportunity to go to the temple and come closer to him. When life gets hectic or chaotic, the temple is always a safe haven from the world. All it takes is a couple hours out of your week. Those of you who are back home are SO blessed. I know that I took the temple for granted. I didn't realize how hard it is not being able to go. I miss it very much. And the people here have to dedicate an entire day to go to the temple. Back home, you guys only have to dedicate a few hours. I am so grateful for the temples and for the peace and safety that comes with consistent visits. I encourage you all to visit more frequently if possible. You will be blessed.

I love you all!! Sorry this week was a little shorter. There wasn't much that happened. Have a great week and I will let you know how the dedication goes!! 

Love,
Elder Moyes

 

Roaches and Mosquitos Oh My

I finally have arrived at the current letter to post. I have been actually very grateful for the chance to go back through all these letters and remember the experiences Alex has shared. I am so thankful to have a missionary! We have been so blessed as a family to see his growth and hear his testimony each week. Here's to another 14 more Fast Sundays with a missionary in the field:) Amy

Well, this week was crazy. So this is how transfers went: I got sent to Bonita Springs. It is almost to the bottom if the mission. Naples is the bottom, but we go down there for district meeting every week. Not sure why though. But anyways, I got put in a trio. Me, Elder Laguna, and Elder Liddle. Elder Liddle came out at the same time as me. He is Spanish speaking, but he is from England. Elder Laguna is from California and his family is Latino so he was already fluent when he came out. So anyways, all three of us white washed this place and we are a bit lost. And then, on Friday a missionary went home and so they called us and Elder Liddle got ET'd down there so now there are only two of us. That was super weird to get used to again. So it is me and Elder Laguna. Oh, random fact, Elder Salas is now my ZL and he lives next door. We are Spanish speaking in an English ward. We will just translate when necessary. And they pink washed Bradenton into one area. So now sisters are there.

Anyways, I am not going to give you my address yet, because we will be moving next week. I am super excited because it is going to be huge and super nice. Well, not like over the top nice, but definitely better than where we are now. There are roaches and Mosquitos everywhere and the whole building is falling apart. Haha but that's okay 

Well, I definitely missed you guys over Easter :/ I am glad that you had fun though! :) We got invited to dinner with a couple. They are both lawyers. It was really good. It was weird eating at an English house. Haha they had roast and potatoes and salad and rolls and then for dessert we had an ice cream cake. Haha it was crazy! It was super good though. That was basically our whole Easter. Church and dinner. 

So, yup. That was my week. Pretty eventful. Haha alright well, again I'm going to mix the spiritual thought and the scripture. The scripture is 2 Nephi 9: 6-13. So, as you know, this scripture is about the resurrection. And we just celebrated Easter yesterday. Now, the spiritual thought is going to based on this as well, obviously. I hope that you all have had the chance to see the video "Because of Him." If you have not seen it, go see it right now! Go to easter.mormon.org and watch the video. It is AMAZING!! So read the scripture and then watch the video. I promise you that you will feel the spirit very strongly. It is so amazing that we have the chance to celebrate the resurrection Jesus Christ. Our beloved Savior suffered and died for us, but that would have done no good if he had not risen again. He has risen though. People ask us why we don't use the cross on our churches or wear the cross. The cross is a symbol of his death, which yes, we respect and we are eternally grateful that he died for us. But that is it, it is a symbol of his death, however we know that he lives. He is alive and as such, we will love forever. Because of Him death has no victory. We can all be forgiven and we WILL all live again. He loves YOU very much and he wants you to be happy. So as we leave this Easter weekend for another year, remember all that is possible in your life Because of Him. Easter only comes once a year, but Christ is there for us always.

I hope that you all had a wonderful Easter weekend and I wish you the best!! I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Moyes

April First half of the month

Hola!!!

 

Well, this week went by super fast. They all go by fast, but Conference makes it go faster. Sounds like you guys had a pretty fun Spring Break. :) that's good. :) I did get the picture of the giant connect 4 game. Haha that is super cool. Dang, captain America 2? That's weird. Haha I'll have so much to do when I get home. I'll have to catch up. :) I bet it was nice to have a little break from the busy life. :P haha but now this week everybody is back in gear. I am so grateful that you guys are there for me, you guys are the best! :) haha  

Also, transfer calls are this Saturday so please don't send anything this week unless it will for sure get here before then. I have no idea what is going to happen. Everything could completely change, or stay the same. We will see.  

Alright, well I was well taken care of this week, for my birthday. I don't go around telling people my birthday, as you know, but some people still found out... So basically the Estrada's got mad at me but made us dinner. :) haha they were mad because I didn't tell them. And Abi bought me some cupcakes and a card. And then the best one was the Carlos family. Haha this is Nora, Jazmin, and Annai. I think I've mentioned them before. Anyways, we went over there on Friday and walked in and they threw confetti at us and the room was completely decorated! So, I had my first surprise party... But it was just them so I was okay with it. They had balloons and cake and ice cream and everything. They also bought me and Elder Salas a tie. They signed mine. I took some pictures so I'll send those hopefully later today along with all that I took on my birthday. :)  

Yeah, we watch conference at the ward building. Not many people come, but some do. There was one member from the branch at priesthood session... Woohoo... I really want to throw down on them in sacrament, but that's not my job. Haha I remember last conference during Sunday school I was in the youth class. (This was the week after conference when we had church) And the youth were asked who all watched conference. There were probably 30 youth in there. 1 person watched conference!!! And they couldn't remember anything from it!! It is super frustrating!! So hopefully they watched it this time... In between sessions of conference we try and visit people. Saturday night between the 2nd session and priesthood we had dinner. And then we gave a couple blessings in between the Sunday sessions. Normally we try and visit people though. It is still a normal day for us pretty much. We did not have any investigators come to conference... :/ we had a less active though! But some of them watched it at home, so that is good. :) 

Alright I am going to combine the spiritual thought and the scripture again. So, conference was AMAZING!!! Elder Hollands talk was probably my favorite. There are several close seconds though. That was definitely how Conference should have started. "Talk about making God in man's own image." Holy cow! That was the best throw down ever! However, even though that was my favorite talk, I want to focus in a different one for my scripture of the week. This was the talk that President Monson gave at the end of the Sunday Morning session. This talk was about the first two commandments. Love The Lord thy God with all thy heart, might mind and strength, and love thy neighbor as thyself. Neither of these commandments can truly be kept without the other. So the scripture is Matthew 5: 44-47. As we know, these scriptures are talking about loving our enemies. We all know that. We know that we need to love our enemies and treat them kindly too. But just like President Monson said, "Why is it that the ones we love most, become the target for our harsh words." Loving our enemies is hard, but we rarely voice our feelings to them. We generally hold it in until they are gone, but the ones that we love the most are those upon whom we unleash that anger. Why? Are we not all brothers and sisters? Are those we love not the most important things in our lives? Do those we love, know how much we love and appreciate them? I believe that the reason for this is how society tells us to treat people. I hope that most, if not all, of you have seen the somewhat recent Mormon message about bullying. Society tells us that whatever we are doing is okay because we are "just kidding" or "trying to have fun." There is one line in the video from one of the boys who started it all. A girl asks him if he is the one who posted this picture that has been going around making fun of another girl. She said that it made the girl cry earlier that day. The boy then responds, saying, "I was just joking around so people need to stop taking things so seriously." In the video this is kind of an extreme case, but in the background of the video there are a lot more realistic cases. How many times to we "joke around" at someone else's expense, not realizing how much pain it causes them? THESE ARE OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS!!! More importantly than that, THESE ARE GOD'S BELOVED CHILDREN!!! We understand our divine potential, and guess what?! They have the same potential! We should not try and bring them down. We should try and help them reach their full potential. This is our "4 minutes" to shine. The rest of eternity will depend on what we do in these "4 minutes," but it is everyone else's 4 minutes too. So while we try to compete to the best of our ability, help those around you compete to the best of theirs. They are nor competing against you, nor you against them. There is more than one Gold medal at the end of this Eternal Olympic Game, so help the others around you reach their potential. 

I love you all very much! And I hope that you have a wonderful week. We have 6 more months until the next 12 hours of new scripture so study what we have and make your Father proud. He loves each and every one of you. Don't forget that! I love you too! 

Love,

Elder Moyes

 

Well, I'm getting transferred... So are the other 3 elders here... And we don't find anything out until tomorrow so our branch is just left in the dark. So with transfers we don't get told where we go or anything unless it is close by where we are now. So Elder Park and Elder Salas are going down south. Elder Salas is going to be a ZL down there. He is going to do great. :) so they don't go to Tampa. They just go straight down there to save miles. Elder Hall and I will drive up to Tampa together and find everything out there. I seriously hate this. I don't want to leave... I'm going to cry tonight while saying goodbye. I already know it. It's not even just leaving, it's leaving our area completely in the dark for several days. We don't even know if more missionaries are going to come to the branch. Oh well, I'm definitely coming back to Bradenton after my mission. I love it here. Hopefully everything goes well.

Thank you for the packages! I haven't opened the Easter one yet, but I am glad I got them on time. :) I'll probably send a letter from my new apartment this week since I keep forgetting to send one. 

Okay, so spiritual experience for this week was probably Saturday night. We found out we were getting transferred and none of us could sleep. It has been very hard for me knowing that I am leaving this area without any knowledge of whether or not they'll be taken care of. The spiritual part of this was the testimony that I have gained about how service really helps you gain that love for people. I knew that I loved these people here, but it was different knowing that I’d be leaving them. I can't even describe how much I love it here. I feel like tomorrow I am going to be leaving a piece of my heart behind... It hurts, but it is also so rewarding. :) I can't wait until I can come back and visit. :)  

Alright, well the scripture for the week will be Alma 8. Yeah, it's a chapter, but it's not very long. This is around where I was studying this week and this chapter really shows that as long as we do what we are told, The Lord will provide, even if it isn't what we expect. This goes along with Elder Holland's talk from conference. We will at some point face persecution for our beliefs. It will happen. But we will never be alone. God is always with us, he will always help us. 

I hope you all have a fantastic week! I'll update you on my new area next week! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Moyes

 

 

 

March 2014

Well it has been a very interesting week. We lost 4 investigators, we
might get 2 back soon though. One of them called us last week and
cancelled our appointment. He said something about a gunshot and
possibly going to jail again. And we haven't heard from him since, so
we assume he is gone. Then, on Sunday we were supposed to have 2
sisters, one is 13 the other is 15, come with one of their friends to
church. The 2 girls are our investigators, not members. Just making
sure you don't get confused with the word sisters. Anyways, they
didn't show up. So we tried their house and nothing, until Wednesday.
Turns out the older sister moved 4 hours away to live with her older
sister and the younger one doesn't want to learn anymore. The older
sister might come back though. We are teaching her over FaceBook. And
then the last one is a 15 year old boy. He loved listening to us and
was trying to change, but apparently the cops found him with some guy
he shouldn't have been with and on top of that he was drunk... So he
is now in Juvi. We talked with his mom and she said we could visit
him. She also said he told her everything we taught and he loved it.
He was trying to change he just hangs out with the wrong crowd. :/ so
we will see. We might get him back soon too. So yeah, that was our
week with investigators. :) haha oh, the life of a missionary. :)

Now for the rest of the week. On Saturday we had a big party for a
Tongan lady who just got baptized that day. All the missionaries in
the area were invited. So there were 8 of us. It was awesome! The food
was delicious and it was super cool. I know the family that hosted the
party from when I was a Zebra. They are all Tongan and they are so
cool. Also, because of transfers there are a couple elders going home.
One of them is in the English ward and he was part of the baptism.
They had him get up and bear his testimony and then they did a dance
for him. It is a tradition for when people leave and also for other
things. But what they do is someone dances and people get up and go
throw money at them. All of this money is then given to the person who
is leaving. It is just one of their traditions. It is how they show
that they care. So, Elder Bennion got $370!! It was crazy! It was
super cool though. And then after that we had transfer calls... Well,
I'm staying again with Elder Salas and Elder Hall and Park are both
staying also. So nothing changed for us. They completely white washed
an entire apartment down in Fort Meyers though. There were 6 elders
living there. And all of them are gone now. That was pretty crazy. But
yeah, I'm staying. :)

There are a couple families we are pretty close to. The Estrada family
definitely. Their oldest daughter actually lives in Murray. Haha that
was pretty crazy when we found that out. The Calvillo family, the
Sedillo family, the Partida family. Those are probably the closest.

Spiritual moment for this week: yesterday, the other elders had a
baptism!! One of the members had a family member come visit and she
wanted to be baptized. She is 10 and is super smart. They had the
baptism yesterday and it was amazing. The spirit was super strong and
a lot of people were crying. It was amazing! She is only 10 and she
can already see how much joy this gospel brings to her life. It was
really amazing.

Alright, the scripture this week is 2 Nephi 33: 15. Nephi is making a
promise here. The rest of the chapter talks about it more in detail,
but what he is saying is that we will be held accountable for what he
has written. Sometimes we feel like life is too hard or we don't know
where to go. We often forget that we have an instruction manual right
in front of us. Nephi has told us everything that we need to do to
return to live with our Heavenly Father. It is right there! We have an
instruction manual for our life. If you read the introduction to the
2013 version of the Book of Mormon and compare it to the old one,
there is a significant difference in the first paragraph. It isn't a
huge change, but the small change is significant. I will let you look
that up and find out what it says. We have the fullness of the gospel
in the Book of Mormon and sometimes we forget that we are told EXACTLY
what we need to do. It doesn't mean it will be easy, it just means we
have no excuses because God has told us what to do. We just need to do
it. I love you all and I hope you all have a great week!

Holy cow! You guys had a seriously busy week. Haha it is super weird to think that all of that used to be normal. ;) haha I wish I could come see the games. I'm sorry T got sick. :/ I hope you get better soon! You have to be better for Spring Break! the spring break here started last Friday so it is going on this week. 

It sounds like you guys had a really good Stake Conference. :) I really love hearing about people I know speaking about the same stuff as we are here. It's nice to hear their thoughts and input. Thank you! So, new stake presidency? Weird. I'm excited though. They will do great. :) I can't picture President Hutchison, but I know the other two. :) that is awesome. 

So, interviews.... They got cancelled last week, so now they are this week. :) haha I was not happy when they got cancelled. We were already at the building and we found out they were cancelled. So we had to drive all the way back home. Now we get to do it again. Oh well. I hope they go well.

So on Saturday we did some service for one of the families in our branch. They wanted to turn this extension to their house into a patio. So we completely destroyed it. :) it was awesome! We took out the windows and doors and completely blew out the walls. It was fun. We used sledgehammers. It was super fun. But of course, I was taking apart a window and the glass exploded. It went through my glove and cut my hand. It isn't anything serious just a cut. I washed it and put a bandaid put on it, then kept working.  I love sledgehammers. :) that was our Saturday, from 9:00 to 4:00. I got sunburnt too. It was fun though.  

Well, for the spiritual happening this week. We went to a less actives house and her mom answered. Her mom is from New York and was just visiting. Well, she is a member so she invited us in and was super excited and was talking with us and made us some empanadas. They were really good. Well, the less active showed up and both of her kids weren't feeling very well. One hasn't been sleeping and the other is having some anxiety attacks. So we gave them blessings. It was really cool. The older one said that when she prays her anxiety goes away and that she felt a whole lot better after the blessing. It was super cool. The mom was holding the younger girl while we gave the blessing and she said that she could feel it too. It was just a really cool experience. Every time we go over there we make the mom cry.

So scripture of the week is Matthew 6: 25-26. This is around where I was reading this week and I thought it was a good scripture. God takes care of all the animals on the earth. So why would he not take care of us? All we have to do is keep his commandments. We just need to do what he asks of us and we will be taken care of. We don't need to worry. He is on our side. He loves us.

You guys had an amazing stake conference! That is super awesome! I know exactly which video you guys watched. :) we show that one sometimes. I love it. :) I wish I could have seen that stake conference, it sounds like all the speakers did amazing! We have some good speakers here too, but most of our branch speaks no English so we have to translate and it isn't the same. 

Oh, I haven't told you guys about English class I don't think. So, I'm teaching English class every Tuesday and Thursday. :) haha it is super fun. We have taught them colors, the alphabet, parts of the body, and now we are moving on to clothing. I love it. :) it really helps my Spanish, and I can see how far I've come. It also helps me understand English better because once you have to explain something, it makes sense to you. Haha it is super fun. We have three classes. Ours is the beginning class and we have 4 students. Elder Park and I teach it. Elder Hall teaches the intermediate class, and Elder Salas teaches the advanced. Which makes no sense, Elder Salas is fluent so shouldn't he teach the beginner class, where they know no English? Idk. Haha I love it. :)  

This past week was somewhat slow. It was a good week, but not a lot happened. Well, we had interviews this past week. :) they actually went really well. We mainly just talked about the branch and how we can better help them. We are supposed to be getting 20 lessons a week. And 1 out of every 12 referrals becomes progressing. So that is 240 referrals in one week. And there are 2 companionships so that is 480 referrals that we need from our branch. :) the branch was shocked when we threw that at them. So we will see how this week goes with all that.  

So, spiritual experience for the week was probably yesterday during fast and testimony meeting. It was amazing! We had a member from the stake presidency there and he doesn't speak any Spanish, so Elder Salas was translating for him so he would know what everyone was saying. I was thinking back to when I was just learning Spanish and how I could still feel the spirit even though I didn't know what they were saying. It is so amazing how sometimes I still can't understand anything that people say, but then once I feel the spirit, I understand everything. I love it. :) it is so amazing how it works and I just wish I could feel it that strongly all the time. :) I love it so much. 

So, scripture for this week is going to be Mosiah 28: 3. This is a fairly well known scripture and if you don't know the scripture, I'm sure you at least know the story. So Alma and the sons of Mosiah now realize what they have done and have repented. And they want to go on missions to preach to the Lamanites. I think that this scripture is SO amazing because the Lamanites want to kill the Nephites. They are complete enemies. But the sons of Mosiah want to go preach because they cannot bear even the thought of any soul not making it to the Celestial Kingdom. These are their ENEMIES. So, should we not feel the same way about our friends? We don't need to go on a mission to share this gospel. The sons of Mosiah knew that their home was being taken care of. Alma the younger stayed behind to teach the people there, so they had the opportunity to go elsewhere. As missionaries we leave our hometowns to help people elsewhere because we know that our families and friends are taking care of the people back home who have not felt this joy. So go find your friends and invite them! That's all you need to do. It's a simple invitation. :) The mission President shared a short experience he had the other day. He was at a restaurant and he turned to his waiter and invited him to church. Very very simple. He gave him a card with the missionaries number, exchanged their own numbers, and the missionaries followed up. Now, that waiter has a baptismal date in April. All of this from a simple invitation to a waiter. People are EVERYWHERE! It doesn't have to be shoving it down their throats and dragging them to church. It is a simple invitation. They are already your friends and it shows that you care. "Hey! My church is something that I hold very dear and you are my friend.  I want to show you what makes me happy. Will you come to church with me this Sunday?" It's that simple. As missionaries we aren't the driving force in this. We are called to serve full time so that we can help the members with THEIR JOB! This isn't our job. Our job is to invite, teach, and baptize. It is much easier when the members invite and then help us teach. 

I love you all!!! Thank you so much for all the birthday wishes and for the presents! You are the best! Have a great week!

 

February 2014

So first off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!!!! I love you and I am so grateful for everything you do for me :) I hope you have a great day!!  

Our investigators are doing well. One of them is getting married so that she and her husband can get baptized!!! It is super exciting, so I might have to help plan a marriage!! :) Haha that's weird.

I don't know exactly how many Spanish elders there are in the mission, but it is around 20 or so. Not a lot. 

The branch is not very big. It used to be bigger, but then it got split now it is really small. There are like maybe 50 people on average at church. MAYBE. Haha it isn't big. 

The branch mission leader is okay. We have been working with him to try and up the work, but there are some obstacles. they haven't really caught on to the changes yet. So oh well. 

We are all doing good. We almost had to move because all 4 of us are sleeping in 1 room, but we are fine here and there isn't anywhere else to go.

Yes I have recovered from all of my injuries :P There are still marks there that are very easy to see, but they are healed and don't hurt at all :) Just flesh wounds :P 

Yeah we took some pictures after we got home from the wreck. The pictures don't show what everything really looked like though.  

Okay so last Tuesday we had zone conference. And for the entire conference we just practiced using the pamphlets and leaving "prayers" at people houses. I say "prayers" because that is what we are supposed to call them. They are really called Peace and Blessings. We use the priesthood to leave a blessing of peace and comfort on a house and on the family so that they are more receptive to the spirit. We do it for members too. It really works. So that is what we did the entire time at zone conference. :) It was long, but it was really good. 

Also, we have a new rule in the mission. There is absolutely no more music whatsoever in this mission. So I will be sending a small package home soon with my ipod. It is just to make us more obedient by taking out even the small things. And to get us ready for the ipads. So just a heads up :)

Okay, so the scripture this week is 2 Nephi 5: 32. "And I engraved that which is pleasing unto God. And if my people are pleased with the things of God they will be pleased with mine engravings which are upon these plates."d  This scripture just proves that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. If we are trying our best and doing what God wants, we will realize that the Book of Mormon is telling us what to do. If we love God, we will love the Book of Mormon and vise versa. I was reading it the other day and I thought it would be a good one to share.

And now, spiritual thought time. So last week Elder Salas and I were on FB and we got a phone call from some random guy we didn't know. He asked us if we could go to the hospital to give his son a blessing. We told him we would and started walking back to the apartment to get the car. All of a sudden a car pulls in front of us and stops us. It was the guy who had called. He gave us a ride to the hospital where we proceeded to give his son a blessing. His son has an infection in his heart and it is very very serious... It was an awesome blessing. And then right after that, the man's wife walks in (the son's mom) and asks us to come with her to bless their daughter who was only 4 rooms down. We then gave her a blessing also and it was super cool. The family lives in Sarasota so we don't visit them. They are members and the parents were extremely devastated with the news of their children being sick. I am so grateful that we had the opportunity to help this family out. I know that when that guy drove by it wasn't a coincidence. Our Heavenly Father is watching over each one of us and he knows exactly what we need and when we need it. It might not be our timing, but it is his and it will be for our benefit.

I love this work and am so grateful for this opportunity. I love you all!!

Love,

Elder Moyes

 

 

I cannot believe that it has been 7 months already!! Time sure does fly :) (Maybe not so much for you guys ;), but for me it has been) It sounds like everyone is still staying busy up there :) That's good :) I'm sorry to hear about Snuggles :( I hope that everyone up there is okay.. I'll miss him, but at least he is happy :) 

Our investigators are doing well. We only really have one progressing now. Magali. She is progressing very quickly though and it is amazing!!! She had a meeting with the branch president and she is going to get married!!!!!!!!!! So I might be having a wedding!!! It is amazing!!! After the wedding she is going to get baptized!! I am soooooo excited for her!! She is so amazing and the whole family will probably be baptized also!!! :D I don't know if I will be here for all of that, but I am so excited for her!!

The prayers are going well. The people can definitely feel the spirit and it gives them a desire to learn more. We have a lot of potentials, but none really new investigators.

Facebook is going well. We have been able to talk to people we can't otherwise reach. And now they are going to be giving us a ton of new rules on Thursday... But it makes sense, because on Thursday we are getting iPads!!!!!!!!!!!! It is awesome!!! Everything will be on them and we can teach using more videos and it is going to be awesome!!!  

Alright, so this week was not super eventful. The big thing that happened was that Elder Salas and I got invited to an extended MLC meeting. This meeting is usually only for Zone leaders, AP's and sister trainer leaders so it was kind of a big deal that we got to go. There were two members from the missionary department there and it was basically a 6 hour long training. It was amazing!!!!! They did such a great job. I can't really put 6 hours of training into a short paragraph but they talked about how important studies are in fueling us for the rest of the day and they showed us how to better use the pamphlets. They didn't spend a lot of time on it because right now we are one of the few missions who really uses the pamphlets to teach and they are amazing!! The training was so good and I learned so much about how to teach more simply so that people understand it better. For the most part we all grew up and we have been active most of our lives and we started in primary. So that is where we need to start our investigators. Start them in Primary and continue from there. It is so amazing how simple this gospel really is and how much it helps people.  

So for the scripture this week it is going to be a little different again. I am going to choose to share the heading to the book of 1 Nephi. Not the heading to Chapter 1, but the heading to the whole book. I challenge each of you to read it and, sentence by sentence, go through and apply it to your lives. The first sentence: An account of Lehi and his wife Sariah, and his four sons, being called, (beginning at the eldest) Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi. 

 This book is going to be about a man, his wife, and their family. It is going to be about what they went through and what they had to do. There. First sentence done. Now you guys move on and keep going to the next sentences. I promise that as you do this, you will realize more about how the scriptures do apply to us today and, more importantly, how they can apply to you individually. Pick your part and read. They didn't write this book for themselves. They lived through it. They were there. They were writing it for us. So the least we can do is apply it to ourselves and get the most out of it possible. 

I love you all!!! Keep up the great work!! Love,Elder Moyes

 

Okay, so this week was really good. We had a lot of lessons and we met a lot of new people. So my spiritual experience was on Saturday. We had a lesson with a member and then right after the lesson she told us about some of her friends. So she took us over to their house and we met them and taught them lesson one. It was super awesome!! They were excited about us coming back to teach and it was so cool to finally have a member who was willing to help out. It was just an awesome experience.

And the scripture is Abraham 2:11. This week we taught a lot about how the gospel blesses our families and it is so amazing how we are all part of one huge family. The blessings that we gain are so essential to our happiness. We weren't placed in these families just randomly. We have the families that we have for a reason. And the best part is that we have the wonderful opportunity to live with them forever. We get to live with the people that we love for eternity. What greater blessing is there? I am so grateful for the plan that we have and the opportunity that we have to live together forever. :) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

January 2014

Happy new year!!! I hope everybody had a great time celebrating! This is going to be my only full year in the mission so I am super excited!!

My shoulder and elbow are healing fine. They are almost completely fine. My hand is still kind of messed up though. Just hurts and isn't healing very cleanly or quickly.

 

Spanish is coming along pretty well actually :) We use it a lot more now that we are not a zebra anymore and so it is picking up. It is still slow because of how much English is around us, but it is coming along :) 

Yes, we are all still getting along :)

Our week was good. We got into a lot more houses and were able to find more people. Mainly less actives though, so we didn't get a lot of new investigators. But it was a good week. 

So the scripture this week is kind of different. It kind of goes a long with what I have been studying. It is JSH 1:75. So, I chose this scripture because I have been reading about the history of the church. It is so amazing how much these people sacrificed for this church. They gave up everything, willingly. They just left everything so that they could follow the prophet. They had to deal with mobs and all sorts of stuff. No other religion was being persecuted like this and that is because our church is true. We are "youth of the noble birthright." That means that we have been born in a time where the church is already set up. The people before us suffered so much so that we could be here. They gave up all that they had so that we could have what we have. They sacrificed everything and a lot of the time we take it for granted. Serving in this mission has really made me realize it, because this mission used to be terrible. It was a horrible mission and nobody really cared. A lot of missionaries did bad things and the mission presidents didn't care. And now our past several have been whipping it into shape and we are in the top 6 most obedient missions in the US. That is why we have facebook and are getting ipads next month. I have been able to see first hand how much people have to work in order to establish something so amazing. And sometimes we take it for granted. I hope that we all realize how much was suffered for each one of us.

I love you all!! Have a great week and a great start to the new year!!

Love,

Elder Moyes

 

 

So transfer day is next Tuesday, and most likely I will get transferred. We don't know for sure yet, but I have been here for 6 months so it is a good guess :)

My week was good. We got 7 new investigators this past week and so our work is definitely picking up :) There was only one downside. We aren't supposed to give out money and so a homeless guy came up to us and asked us for money. (he has been doing this for a couple weeks now) We keep telling him that we can't and usually he just walks away mumbling, but on Saturday he asked me for some and I told him that we can't and he snapped. He started screaming at me and swearing and calling me names and I thought he was going to hit me. We were on exchanges so I was with Elder Park and he was behind me so the guy was just yelling at me. It was not an enjoyable experience. Hopefully we don't run in to him again. That was the most exciting thing this past week. I have not been cooking very much. I've made some spaghetti and cookies and stuff, but none of my usual dishes.We actually haven't played Basketball in a couple weeks. The four of us just usually hang out and do whatever we want. It has been really nice. It is more relaxing and it is a change from the usual so it has been good. :)
It was kind of cold and I sleep by the window so I woke up with a sore throat yesterday. I don't feel so great right now, but I'm able to keep working :) Just the headache is very annoying. And yes, Mom, I took advil :) That is the first time I have taken any in 6 months :P Haha

On Tuesday we got invited to have dinner with a members family and after dinner they had some "cake." It is basically bread with frosting and it is really good. So, inside the cake there are these little plastic baby things, and if one of these is in your cake, you have to make some kind of food and bring it back in a month for a party. And yes, I got one!! Haha it was really fun :)

And now for the spiritual moment of the week. So we got 7 new investigators and one of them is Cuban. He is really cool. We went over and were teaching him and he interrupted us and told us the reason why he lets us come back. He said the very first time he saw us he got a super good feeling and he feels that every time we are over there and he really likes it. So he loves us teaching him. It was really awesome!! Our new investigators are super awesome. We had some other new ones tell us the same thing. It was really cool and we were able to teach them even more. I love it!!Now for the scripture. The scripture I chose is 2 Nephi 12: 2. I have known about this for a while, but I just think that it is really cool. Look in the scriptures, take the U in the first 'mountain' and go straight down for 4 letters. What does it spell? :) The second coming is almost here and we are so privileged to be here at this time. We are here to help in the Lord's vineyard just like in Jacob 5. The scriptures have all the answers. Just keep looking :)I love you all!! Have a great week!!Love,Elder Moyes

 

So I have some news. Elder Walker is now a Zone leader!! :) Haha He is super awesome and he is doing great. I saw him at a training on Saturday. The training was really good and elder Kapishka (not sure how to spell it) was there from the 70 and he was super awesome!! And also at the same meeting, I met Tanner's Grandma!! Haha she was talking with Josh and she had him go find me and bring me to her :) It was pretty cool. We only talked for a minute but she was very kind and welcomed me to Florida and told me all about how she heard about me and everything. It was cool so now you can tell them :)

The spiritual experience is that training. It was super awesome and I learned a lot. I am super excited to continue to see this mission grow. He didn't have a set talk he just went by the spirit. Next week I will send some of my notes, but President Cusick also spoke and told us to be confident. We are called by a prophet of God to serve here. He will protect us and we have no reason to have any fear whatsoever. So get out there and get to work. It was super awesome!! I was very grateful for the opportunity to go to the training. We also have a Zone conference tomorrow so I will write about that too. 

I forgot the scripture so here it is now: Enos 1:9. Once we are truly converted we have a desire to share this gospel with everyone we come in contact with. We truly want everyone else to feel the happiness that we feel and so we share it EVERYWHERE we go.

I love you guys!!

 

 

 

December 2013

Happy December everyone!!! While you all are bundled up, I'm over here in short sleeves and I'm sweating!! Haha

Transfers are tomorrow!! We got the call on Saturday and this is everything that we know: Elder James is leaving and I am staying. I am getting a new companion. And 2 other missionaries are moving into our apartment with us. So 2 companionships, 4 elders. That will be interesting! Haha I am kind of nervous, but it will be good. I am pretty sure I won't be teaching English anymore. It will just be Spanish again so that will help my Spanish improve. That is everything we know about transfers. I will let you know a lot more next week, like my new companion, the other elders in the apartment, where elder James went, etc. Josh is staying, I know that.

This week was good. Transfer call week is usually pretty crazy and so the last few days have been filled with Elder James saying goodbye to everyone and him packing. The most spiritual experience I had was probably yesterday. I had to give a talk in the English ward about Christmastime. I think it went really well. It was a good experience. I talked about how we get to do sub-for-santa every year as a family and some of the experiences I have had that have let me feel of the true love of God through that service. It was amazing!! :) I hope everyone else liked it. I shared a story called "Linda's last Christmas" from the 2011 December Ensign I think. I don't remember exactly which year but I think it was 2011. It was really good :)

The scripture of the week is Matthew 25: 40. We all know this one, but because of my talk yesterday I want to focus on service. Serving is something that is not hard to do. When we serve we get to see some of the pure love of Christ. Service brings out a love that we cannot understand. It reveals indescribable feelings that just make us love the person we are serving. And when we serve other people we are only in the service of our God. How do we feel when someone we care about receives service? How do you think God feels when his loved sons and daughters receive service? I challenge each of you to strive this next week to do at least one small act of service a day and you will be blessed.

 Have a great week!! I love you all!!

Love,
Elder Moyes

 

My new companion is Elder Salas. He is from Texas, but his grandparents are from Mexico so he is fluent in Spanish. He is helping me a lot. Oh, and he is a convert. He has a really cool story. He is 23 right now and he already has a bachelors degree. He is awesome!!! I love him. We get a long really well. And the other 2 elders are Elder Hall and Elder Park. Elder Hall actually trained Elder Salas so they know each other. Elder Hall has been out a year, Elder Salas has been out 8 months, and Elder Park has been out 6 months. Only one transfer more than me. All of their spanish is a lot better than mine. They came from places where they actually used their spanish :P Haha But already I can see mine improving so I am happy :) All 4 of us are in the cortez branch now. No more sisters. And we are only spanish. No more zebra.

Elder James is in Fort Myers with Elder Hall's second trainee who came out with me. Haha

The scripture for the week is Alma 7: 9-12. This is the one that we have been sharing a little more often with people. This is what we shared with the recent converts. Jesus Christ was brought to this earth in order to live a perfect life and then atone for our sins. The whole reason he came down was to save us. He loved us that much to suffer and die for us. And he knows that not every single person is going to accept it. He knows that not everybody is going to want to follow him. But he still suffered for them too. And he would go through all of that pain, all of that misery and sorrow and suffering even if YOU were the only person that would come back. Even if YOU were the only person that he could save, he would suffer for everybody. All of that for YOU. A normal person. A regular mortal who sins on a daily basis. He died for YOU because he loves you. And his love is unconditional. It is always there and we get to choose what to do with it. So what are you going to do with his love?

I love you all :) I hope that you know that. I miss you guys, but I would not be anywhere else. :) Have a great week and let me know if you need anything :) I will send some more pictures next week.

All 4 of the missionaries in our apt get along really well. Elder Hall trained Elder Salas so they already knew each other and we all get along. It is really good :) I love it. I don't want to go back to just having 2. It isn't as fun.

I did get my tree!! Thank you!!! :) Haha we now have 3 because elder park got a charlie brown one from his family and there was a little one in the apt already :P Haha We are decorated!! :)

Okay so as far as talking on Christmas goes, We are going to a members house to try and skype :) I will call you first so that you know I am getting on and that will be anywhere from 12:00 - 3:00. That is your time. My time is 2:00 - 5:00. So just know I'll be calling you guys first :P I'm excited to talk with you guys!!! :) I guess I should save some stuff for then so I'll just answer your questions for now. :)

 

It was so awesome to get to talk to you guys on Christmas! I loved it :) Honestly I was expecting more of a homesick feeling, but I was fine the whole time :) Then at the end it kind of came, but I'm doing good now :) It was so much fun. Thank you! :)

So the scripture is 2 Nephi 28:30. We have all the help we need. Even when things are hard, God will always be there for us. He gives us the instruction that we need and then, if we listen, he will give us more. However if we don't he will not give us more. We need to constantly listen to his guidance in order to be happy. He will never leave us alone.

As far as spiritual experiences go, I had a really awesome one on Saturday. :) We were on "exchanges." By that I mean that Elder Tueller (one of the zone leaders) came with both me and elder salas. The other one went with the other elders. So we were biking and talking to everybody. IT was awesome!! So many people were interested and willing to listen. So we are doing this as we are heading to contact a referral. The referral is in a rehabilitation center because he got in a really bad car accident and is almost paralyzed. His whole lower body is extremely weak. So we went over and start talking with him. We teach him a little bit and he is super excited and willing to listen. As we are talking (the conversation was in Spanish and elder Tueller is and English missionary) I got the impression to offer a blessing. Then elder Tueller tugs on my shirt and I look at him and he asks if we should give a blessing. Haha It was awesome because elder Tueller can't speak Spanish so he didn't know about the conversation at all. And then, Elder Tueller made me give the blessing!!! It was my very first blessing in all Spanish. I have done the anointing before but not a blessing. It was so amazing!! I honestly have absolutely no idea what I said except that during part of it I said that he would be able to walk and then run again. Other than that I have no idea what I said. But it was a really cool experience. :)

Now, I have one thing I need to ask for. Can you guys please send me a package with some garments in it? I need about 4 pairs probably. So, what happened is on Saturday night we were biking home. We were kind of late and so we were biking really fast and my hand slipped a little, my bike swerved, hit a pot hole and I went flying over the handlebars and I hit the road, bounced, hit again, and my bike landed on top of me... We had to call the other elders to pick us up. I have a huge road burn all over my left shoulder and elbow and on my back. My white shirt is completely trashed and my garments are bloody. I cleaned up and put some bandages on, but it went through so the other garments are bloody too. So I need a few pairs please. :) Haha I am okay. I am just super sore and the road burn stings really badly, but everything is okay. The cool thing (i think it's cool) is that my white shirt is trashed and so is my back and shoulder, but there is not a scratch at all on the garments. However, there is blood so I can't wear them now. So that was my first crash so far and it was pretty epic so that's good right? :) Haha Well, I love you all!! Have a great new years!! Stay safe!!

Love,
Elder Moyes