Week Eighty-One: Salta

Hey fam! 

I'm sorry to hear about Theo! Honestly I just thought, at most, he had hip dysplasia. I didn't think it was so serious as bone and lung cancer. It does hurt to hear that he has passed, but I have learned a lot here in the mission and I know that these hard times are a time of growth. Even though they aren't the easiest to pass through, with a firm hope and faith in Christ we can find our comfort and joy. This is a time of progression and strengthening. I love my handsome boy and always will. I don't think there is any dog sweeter and more loving than he is. His tenderness is contagious and you can't help but just want to love him and play with him. Although we miss him like no other, he is happy and absolutely out of pain with his mom and grandma. With those three in Heaven they are having more fun than ever. And that is the joy we can all focus on. Like President Nelson said last conference, we can focus on joy to help us get through all trials. Jesus focused on the joy that everyone can be cleansed from sin while He was in the Garden of Gethsemane. If we focus on our unselfish love for Theo, we will have an overpowering sense of joy that he is happy, healthy, and loving his time with Luna and Stella. He never knew Stella but I am positive that when he got there she knew him perfectly and welcomed him right alongside Luna and they are enjoying themselves as they wait for us. I know you guys are worried about me and are going to be praying a lot for me, I'm not asking you to not do that, but I also want you to keep in your prayers that I can stay focused on the work I am doing here. I am pretty far away and I can't do much physically but I can help spiritually. When Elder Cook came to our mission at the beginning of my mission he gave left us with a promise and a blessing. He said that everyone we love and will love in the future will be blessed by our service. I want to be focused so that you can receive all the blessings possible, especially now. I also want you to know that I am and will be fine. Please don't worry about me, I am okay. I know with limited communication there are a lot of doubts and questions on how I am, so during the week when you are wondering how I am, just know I am doing good and can only improve, I promise. 

As for my week, nothing really special happened. We are teaching the daughter of Fabiana, the recent convert. When we were teaching Fabiana, her daughter, Maira, did not show to much interest and didn't want to stay for the lessons. But a little bit ago we were reteaching the restoration to Fabiana and Maira stayed for the lesson. It was a really good and spiritual lesson and at the end we invited her to be baptized. We got the answer that every missionary wants to hear but very rarely receives, "Yes, I would love to." Since then she has been super excited for her baptism! And she is already participating in the missionary work. She invited one of her friends to listen to us and now she also wants to know more and she accepted a baptism date! 

This is the last week of this transfer and it is possible that I will get transferred. So we will see what happens. 

I love you guys so much and will be praying for you and Chloe. I hope you have a great week! Give lots of loves to my beautiful girl for me!! I'll talk to you soon and I'll see you soon in Skype too! I LOVE YOU! 

-Elder Andrew Moore

PS I didn't take many pics but a member gave us some candy apples

Week Eighty: Salta

Hey fam!

Sounds like everyone was able to enjoy Easter! Easter here was pretty relaxed. It was actually pretty weird because church didn't focus on it either, I'm not too sure why?! 

Yes, the weather here is starting to get pretty cold. I have officially broken out the sweaters and jackets. Luckily the air conditioning unit we have has a heat mode so we don't freeze at night lol. As of right now I'm liking the cooler weather but it's only fall and I know that it gets a lot colder than this. 

I talked with President on Wednesday. He and I talked about school and everything. He said that I need to talk with the new president when he comes. He can't make changes that will affect the new president. I was expecting that answer so we just have to wait till the new president comes in June. 

Also this week we went to another area super far away, farther than last week, but only by an hour. We got there in time and we also left in time. We didn't get stuck there lol. But in the process to get there it was pretty interesting. We knew we had to leave Wednesday in the afternoon but we just didn't know when exactly. We checked the times and realized that the bus we needed leaves at 5. We realized this at 4:35. We quickly ran to "pack," (I say it like that because I just grabbed my tooth brush and left lol) we got in a taxi, and went to the bus station. This was the only bus we could take and it was very possible that we were going to miss it. So in the taxi I said a small prayer that we would make it in time. We got there with 5 minutes to spare but we still had to buy our tickets. We got our tickets and stated looking for our bus. There were a lot so it took some time. We couldn't find our bus until we got to the last one and it had just shut the door. We knocked on the driver's door to ask if this was the bus we needed. He said it was and we literally jumped on as the bus was pulling out. We found our seats and I said a prayer of thanks because I knew that He had a part in that. Just a small but at the same time a miraculous story of the power of prayer. 

Everything is going great here! I love you guys and hope you have another great week! Kiss the puppies for me! I'll talk to you soon!

Week Seventy-Nine: Salta

Hey fam!

Man, it sounds like this week was and is full of big events! This week was pretty interesting for us. We had even less time in our area this week than last week and I'll tell you why. The new district that is a part of our zone is about 3.5 hours away by bus, and you can only get there by bus. We had to go and watch the district leaders' district meeting and their session of weekly planning, and have divisions with them. With some good planing we were able to fit that into a day and a half. Our plan was to leave our area in the later afternoon, get to their apartment before curfew, sleep there, watch the meeting, have division, then watch their planning meeting the next morning and we'd be out of there before lunch. But there was a slight problem. When we got there, the bus drivers in all of Argentina went on strike and refused to work. So we got stuck for a little bit. We ended up having to stay about three days in total because the buses weren't running. We got back only to have a church open house to plan, set up, and work the next day. So that also took more than half the day. Are there church open houses in the states? It's where the missionaries and ward members come together and have a tour of the church. There are banners and everything. It's pretty cool. But I don't know if they do that over there. It was kind of a bummer not having a lot of time in our area, looking at the plans we have this week we aren't going to have too much time either but at least more than last week! 

There is a rumor going around here, that the USA and Russia are now in war. I heard that USA bombed some place in Syria and Russia got mad so now we are at war with them. I haven't read or seen anything legit I've just heard it from the people we talk with. Just want to know if that's true or not lol. 

This Wednesday we have interviews with President. I'm going to talk to him about ending a week early just so that he's aware of everything. 

Mom, I am so happy you were able to enjoy your birthday!! I love you so much and I'm so happy you were able to spend it with the family! Even though the family wasn't too complete I'm sure you were able to feel the love from all of us on your special day! I wrote you a card a few weeks in advance so that it could get to you in time but I guess it hasn't gotten there yet. Who knows with this mailing system?! Lol but be looking for it! 

Sorry I didn't take any pictures this week but I'll try to take some to show you guys! Oh and I forgot to clarify, that picture I sent last week was just our zone with the 2 pairs of senior couples. 

I love you guys! I hope you have a great week! Keep taking pictures and I'll try to do the same! Give the puppies lots of kisses and loves for me!! I'll talk to you soon! 

Week Seventy-Eight: Salta

Hey fam!

So conference was awesome!! I don't know if I really had a favorite talk, there were so many good ones! But I loved the Priesthood Session, I was able to get a lot out of it! We went to the stake center to watch it and all the American missionaries got together and watched it in English in another room. I had some questions and thoughts prepared beforehand and I was able to get a lot of answers. There were answers to questions I didn't even know I had yet lol. Even though I was able to get a lot from it I know there is even more to take out so I'm downloading all the talks and I'm going to listen to them again to study them a little more profoundly. I never met Elder Costa but I did meet Elder Mark Bragg who spoke in the Saturday morning session. It was pretty cool to see him speak in General Conference just a few weeks after we met him! 

This week we had barely any time in our area. We had so many meetings all over the place. On Wednesday, President told us that we will be having our zone conference on Friday morning. We usually know weeks in advance but we got the last minute notice and it was combined with the other zone too. So we had a lot to plan in a very short amount of time. But the good thing was that we could divide up the work with the other zone leaders. In the conference I spoke about the new Easter initiative. I don't know if you have seen the new video, I would imagine that you have but it is super good!! Share it with everyone! 

Oh and I got the package you sent!! I believe it was the most recent one because it said it was mailed in February. Thank you so much!! I put up the pictures on the cork board I have, along with the calendar and its awesome!! The candy and food is awesome too! You guys are the best!! Oh and funny story, I opened the bag of granola and started to eat some. I put it back in the box until the next morning. I started to eat some again when I noticed an ant on my hand, and then another, and some were on the table and the bag of food. I then looked inside the bag and noticed they were coming from there. It didn't really bother me so I just kept eating, blowing the ants off before I ate. Then I remember that a very similar thing happened to Justin. So I followed his example and put it in the freezer to kill them off lol. 

This week even though we had very little time in our area we were able to find some new investigators through some referrals. So we are keeping busy! I like being busy with missionary work lol. 

Everything is going good here and I hope you guys have another great week! Oh and I do remember talking with Sister Holt in the MTC! That's way cool that she actually came to the Alta Loma ward and got to know you guys!! Tell her I say hi too, and you're welcome for the great counsel of getting to know the Moore family! Lol I love you guys! I'll talk to you soon! Kiss my puppies for me!!