Elder Corbin Moore-- July 30, 2012

Whats up!! Well this week was a good one. We were able to go to the visitors' center with a couple of our investigators, A. and her daughters K., and K. It was a super great experience for them and they really enjoyed it. They were super excited to learn a little bit more about the temple, and the role that it plays in our beliefs. The sisters taught about families and tied that in to the temple and how the temple blesses families. The following day we went over to follow up on it and were able to talk with them about a phamplet that we got for them at the VC about temples. They loved it and said that they just want to keep learning more. They both showed up that the church as well. It was nice for them because it was 5th sunday which means that the missionaries were in charge of the sacrament. I didn't speak, but I did get a chance to sing with the other elders. Overall it was a good sunday and church for them. Then after church there was a baptism, so we invited them to go with us. They came and then returned to the church later that night for a fireside that they were having. They are the only investigators that we are working with right now but we are on the search for more.

       Im still working on the spanish, it is going really well. I am at the point were I can just speak in spanish and I am fine. I am trying to help Elder Stinson learn it a little quicker so he enjoys the spanish that I throw his way. Elder Stinson and I are doing great together we never have problems, which makes the work easier. The only time that we do have problems is when we get locked out of our apartment. Hahah. Which happened for the first time today. Well we were leaving our apartment to walk down the stairs to the laundry room that we have here in the complex. We shut to door behind us and when we returned we found out that the door was locked. So we tried to play with it for a little, because we didn't have a phone to call the managers. We couldn't do anything so I knocked on our next-door neighboor's door and asked her if she had the manager's number and a phone that we could use. So I called them but there was no one there, I left a message and then we started scoping out to window of the apartment to see if we had left any of them open. None of them we opened except the bathroom one. So we found a ladder and made it work for us. We finally got back into our apartment, it was pretty funny. I am sending some video feed of it.

       Well that is basically what happened this week, not to mention that I had my birthday which was just a regular day here in the mission. I still feel like I am 17 and enjoying life. So we will keep it that way. Well I haven't heard too much about what is going on back home. Just that Bernie is starting football, and that Keyton went to priest camp. Still haven't heard too much from Brayden. or Josh? Hopefully eveything is going well with everyone and I would love to hear from you all. and pics. Well got to go and do some missionary work. Hope eveyone is watching the Olympics I know I would be. Peace out

 

Con Amor

Elder Moore

 

Elder Corbin-- July 23, 2012

Man does time fly by way to fast. I had an interesting experience this past week. Elder Stinson and I were sitting in our apartment doing our weekly planning session. I look up and the big calendar that we have on our whiteboard and it dawned on me that August is in two weeks. Wow, my mind was just blown. I have almost been out for a year and I have no idea where all the time went. I was thinking to myself, I can still remember basically the whole week before I went into the MTC. Going out riding with Papa Whittle, and then the farewell, sitting in my room watching the Office, packing the night before with my wonderful mom, and listening to the Killers. Yet again I'm stuck here trying to contemplate the "mission time", it is unreal. Then to top it all off to think that I am going to be turning 20 this week. Crazy!!! Well I guess I will just have to live up this last year of the mission, and trying to just take everything in.

       Well this week was pretty much, "one of those weeks". Not too much going on, but just trying to stay positive, and laughing at evey chance that I get. This week I have done a lot of thinking about life in general. Although I can't share all my thoughts with you, hopefully I will be able to convey some of the ones I feel are the most important.--Gratitude--Unfortunately us as human beings, sometimes forget this word, and the application that it has in our lives. Being out here in the world and seeing everything that goes on, has really changed the way that I feel about this and how I apply it personally in my own life. Let us all remember that we are subject to a "higher power" and that when we involve gratitude in our lives, God is able to help us enjoy the things that we do have.--Patience--If we understood the full power that this virtue could have in our lives I am convinced that we would all make an effort to posess it. This virtue involves putting the will of God, before our own. When we are able to sucessfully do just this, we will begin to see miracles in our lives. If we read the Book of Mormon, we will find many stories of prophets that are able to work miracles. But in order for those things to have come to pass, these prophets had to align there will with the will of the father. In the Bible we read of our savior who did just that, and the miracles that he was able to perform. When we have enough patience to wait, and to believe that God knows better than ourselves, we are setting ourselves up for an enjoyable life. I didn't say it was going to be easy, no one every did, and yet we all decided to be here.--Charity--In the last book of the Book of Mormon, we read a lot about this subject. We read that it will be well with us in the last day, if we can only have this quality. Unfortunately enough it may not be the easiest to obtain, but we know that it is not impossible. I believe that the secret lies in trying to model our lives after that of our Savior, Jesus Christ. When we study the live of our Savior we will see that this is the driving force of the work that he did on the earth. We will also see that the greatest and most important thing, the Atonement, was also driven from the source of charity. All three of these things are very important in our lives. Especially as we consider the commandment from our Savior, to be "Perfect, even as our Father in Heaven". May we all concentrate our efforts to be more like our Savior. Then will we begin to be filled with the greatest feelings of joy, accomplishment, and self-worth.

 

Con amor, Elder Moore

 

Everything.Happens.For.A.Reason

There.Is.No.Such.Thing.As.Coincidence

Elder Matthew Whittle-- July 24, 2012

Hola!

 

I haven't met a Natalie T. yet, but I'll keep an eye out for her. It's possible I could get transferred to the dirty dito, (Escondido). I've been here now for 6 months so it's about time, but you never know. Some times President decides otherwise. Some elders have had 9 month areas in our mission, but that doesn't happen too often.

 

That's a lot of money just to get rid of some bats, but at least it's not 10,000 dollars haha. I did get the sd card back and everything. Thanks:) The package was missing a little something though;) What happened to the CD with those good songs?:) haha That's good that the good ol willow is going to survive after all. Tell Braxton good job on praying. Now he has a testimony of prayer! Sweet!

So I say that Cherry shouldn't be sold for any less than 7,000. You know you can always just wait for me to get back to sell it:) I'm glad she's still alive and everything. That's good news. How's the smoto doin? Oh y para que sepa Papa, La palabra desenrrabadilladito quiere decir como el parte blanco de un pedaso de pan. So you have the crust and the white part. The white part is el desenrrabadilladito, y el delfin quiere decir dolphin pero tambien del fin quiere decir the end.

 

Tell Grandma Whittle Happy Birthday for me and that I love her and miss her! Hopefully I'll see her soon. Our Temple day is scheduled for August so Hopefully I don't get transfered up North cause then I'll have to go to the Newport Temple. I love going down to the Temple knowing that she's there, and that I'll probably get to see her. I think she should move up to Utah too, but not until I'm done with my mission:) haha

So I have a solution for Josh. He can just move out here to Del Mar, and Go to the Torrey Pines Singles ward, That's the ward we work with, and then he can be a ward missionary and just come out and work with us everyday! Perfect plan Eh?:) He would love the singles ward out here. It's super cool. It's not anything like the single's wards back home. Tell him I miss him, and I'm praying for him, and if he does head off to college and continue his life, he better not get married or anything because we still have to party! haha, and he better be ready for me to move into his appartment in a year. He's such a good guy. I miss him a lot.

 

Well the work is going great. We set a couple more baptismal dates this week, and had 5 investigators at church. It's really starting to catch on fire down here. We're loving it. Things have been going great. I love seeing all the cool miracles everyday, and being able to see people making changes in their lives to come unto christ and follow him. I love you all. "Be strong and be true." Cuidense mucho. Adios.

 

Con amor,

Elder Witle!

 

P.S. As far as the "Hump day" package goes, music is always nice:) and Jerky:) and fam pics:) Thanks!

Elder Garrett Allen--July 23, 2013

Well Well anyother week has gone on by and I now have a 7 months in th mission. Time is flying on by. It is a crazy feeling. I am almost done with this transfer. I am on week five. Only this week and the next to go. I think that I will be staying in La Banda for another transfer though but I guess we will see. Also If you are sending a package I want a shoe horn. That Would be sweet haha.

So This week was kinda a slow one. The lessons weren´t as good and the people weren´t home. Also this past tuesday all of La banda was taking a bath so they didn´t have time to talk to us...or atleast that was everyone excuse. So we didn´t get as many lessons as I was hoping for but there is always next week right? Right now I am just enjoying everything that is coming my way. So sometimes days are hard but that is the chance that I get to learn more. So YAY!!

I am really starting to love Argentina. Honestly at this point it just feels normal. Basically it is become my home. It is kinda a strange feeling. I can´t really explain it, it is just something that you have to see and feel. Being in a forgien country is diffently a learning experience. Something that can only really happen in the mission. Honestly right now the challenge is the language. Yes it is now just hitting me haha. I understand pretty much everything. That isn´t a problem. The problem is talking. I have an accent that I just can´t seem to drop. So for some people it is hard for them to understand me. Freaking changos haha. But it is ok I guess. I just have to keep trying and mov forward.

These past couple of weeks I have been studying a lot th bible and about faith. Basically they both rock. The bible has everything in it and faith is faith, so it is great. Faith is totally something that I could improve on. I like to be logically with stuff and hav straight forward answers. But I think God is training me to see different ways. It is kinda working haha. I read a lot about faith from a book by James Talmage. Basically he is a stud. He explain faith as so much more of just believing. Believing isn´t enough. Me got to have are works and have them be good works that shine the light of are savior into the lifes of others so that we can glorifly are heaven father. Just believing is doing exactly what The Followers of Satan do. For they believe in christ and even know him with a perfect knowledge. If you dont believe me go read when christ cast out "legend." Now you might ask why faith? Well because basically this whole mission is about faith. We have faith that be will except are message and keep going. we have faith that we wont die from the crazy food and water haha. We really do walk by faith and trust. 

Also love. Love is pretty important. We have to love each other and forgive each other. I think that is something that we miss sometimes. If we could all just be a little bit more loving and forgiving i think that world would be a whol different place. Yes love and forgiveness go together in my mind. You can´t love some one not forgive them. That is stupid and totally doesn´t make sense. We all just need to be a little bit more forgiving and caring. Really forgiving someone is not that hard. You just do it and move on haha. We all aren´t perfect and you are going to need forgiveness in you life to at sometime so how are you not to forgive??? That is my question for the week haha.

Side not the record for people on one moto here is now  5 or six. Argentina is really stepping it up. Oh and of course scott and drive the tracker. he will take care of it. I know that haha. Till him to jack it up and make it all sweet for me haha.

So it is true, I am changing a little bit. I can totally feel gods hand shaping me into what I need to be. Honestly I feel like I have a long ways to go until I am finished though. My testimony is growing,.So that is a plus right? I am still a Little afraid to lose myself in the work but I am already doing it haha. If I like it or not I am doing it. It is a good cause to be lost in. I am really enjoying it. It is like a endless bit of knowledge and goodness and I just can´t seem to get enough information. It is pretty great.

Anyways I have to go for this week! Take care and I love you! Try to have fun when I am gone but not to much. JEEZ, You´d think 2 babies and a wedding could of waited till after my mission haha.

Anyways take care and I look forward to next week! LOVES

Elder Allen

Elder Devin Oviatt--July 23, 2012

  Wow this week has been so great!! So first of all we found out about the olympics and the part that we are going to be playing in it. So the Church has organized a booth that will be set up next to the London Eye, right on south bank. So starting this Friday I think, we are going to be going there in like shifts to run the booth. It will be every day from 10-7 everyday. All the missionaries in the whole zone are really excited! We will be in probably the busiest part of London next to one of the biggest tourist attractions in the UK. I really can't wait!! Their will be millions of people there everyday. It's really exciting. We might even have a I Pad so that we can be collecting emails right then and there and be able to send the email while we are talking to the people so that they recieve the email while or shortly after talking to us. I havn't really talked about the email prograhm in the Mission. So the whole mission is really trying to get emails from everyone. Member and non members. The emails are really nice. They have just little messages on them and after a while one of the emails will go through the first lesson. Than some more little messages and than it will send the second lesson and so on. But we encourage members to do it too because than on the emails the members or whoever can LIKE it on facebook and it will post it to there walls. Than there friends can see and read and start getting those emails! The old and new mission President are pushing this very much. Which I agree this program can go a really long ways. They can track who and where opens the emails and they are already seeing it spread all over the world. It really cool. But yeah so when we go to the eye we are going to be trying our best to get emails. 

   This morning we saw the Olympic torch! that was really cool. We took Book Of Mormons with us and lifted them up. HAHA it was really funny but hey we might be on TV. We're hoping that we might have permission to watch the opening ceremonies. Cross our fingers! :) Seeing the Torch was really cool though. We saw the helicopters land the torch on tower bridge! I just cant wait. There is already a huge rush of people. They are expecting a influx of like 8 million people. 

    We starting teaching a guy from Ghana this week. His name in nana Tutu, (: haha and my favorite part is one of his sons name is Lord Tutu. But he's really cool. Im excited to start teaching them more.

     But yeah so I'm really excited for this week. I miss and love you all. It's so cool to hear about which of my friends are going on mission.

  With love elder Oviatt

Elder Matthew Whittle-- July 17, 2012

Que Honda Cabezones!

 

Calabaza quiere decir, "pumpkin" pero tambien quiere decir como alguien que no piensa mucho, o sea, alguien que es "clueless". Tu puedes decidir quienes SON las calabazas;) Tengo una broma para ti. Si tuviera todos los peses en una linea, cual seria el ultimo?............................. vas a adivinar?.................................................Ok ya no quiero esperar mas. La respuesta es "El Delfin" :) Tiene sentido, o eres tu una calabaza? Jaja

 

Things are going great right now. We've been teaching a lot and we've found some cool new investigadors. We just starting teaching this 19 year old girl from brazil, and almost have set a baptismal date with her. She's very sincere and is really interested in the Book of Mormon and everything. We're excited for her, and we've found a couple new people for the Spanish branch that we're starting to teach as well. The district is doing really well right now. We had a really good district meeting yesterday. President Cook randomly showed up so that was kind of nerve racking, but it went really well, and the spirit was really strong. It's a really neat opportunity to be able to be a leader because you have the chance to learn more. You get to go on exchanges with all the missionaries and learn from all of their talents, and abilities. It's been really neat. I'm really grateful for the opportunity.

 

So the 4 runners not working eh? That's no good. I think you better just junk it;) haha just kiddin. We were helping that lady with her BMW a while back and her fuel pump wasn't turning on either. What the problem was though was her crank sensor went bad. The new cars can be kind of a pain to diagnose. It takes a lot of time to isolate the exact problem. That's why I like Cherry. When something goes wrong you know what it is. Let me know what the problem was with the 4 runner. I miss working on cars haha. Never thought I'd say that one. I hated working on cars when I was little. I remember being in the garage from early in the morning until about midnight working on that stinkin van we had haha. I dreaded those days, but I really like it now.

 

That's a really cool principle that has helped me a lot on my mission. "That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do; Not that the nature of the thing is changed, but our power to do is increased." -Heber J. Grant- When we do hard things, we get better at doing it. When we get better at something we begin to enjoy it more. Just like with soccer. I didn't like it when I was little, but I stuck with it, and as I improved I started to like it more and more. It's the same principle with studying the scriptures. At first it's hard for us to understand them, and really study them well, but the more we do it the better we get at it, and then it becomes enjoyable. Then we want to do it daily. That principle has really helped me out in life.

Wellp things are going great. Hope everyone is doing well! Love you

 

 Que esten bien! Adios!

 

Con Amor,

Elder Witle!

 

P.S. Que dijo un pes al otro?.................. Nada :)

Desenrrabadilladito!

Elder Devin Oviatt-- July 16, 2012

Hey fam,

Hows utah doing? Are the fires still going? This week was really good! We had a zone conference on Friday in crawley. We finally met with the new Mission President. He seems like a really nice guy. Who use to be a heart surgeon. He served his mission in Australia and Bruce R Mcconkie was his Mission President. He is different from President Shamo but in a good way. Some small thinngs have changed but nothing that big yet.  

   Our ward (Catford) had a variety night/ Talent night! It was super funny! The bishoprich did a liup sinc to the 3 amigos where they sing my little butter cup. That was really funny. But I was really impressed with some of the talents. We we're able to bring some of our investigators. We have been visiting this family. We call them our long term invesitagotrs that dont know it yet. haha They are really nice but they are really active in there church. We try intiveing them to the talent night but they already had plans. oh well. I've had to start signing nearly every sunday. So I just accepted it so Im learning BSL kinda. During church I sit with them and help them translate for a member name Sam. He know a little bit of ASL and BSL. So I'll sometimes interpret for him. They're are two other deaf members but they only know BSL. Its funny because Im interpetting for Sam I'm starting to mix Asl and Bsl. I'm getting really good at finger spelling though in bsl. Grandma and Granpa are going to be so mad when I come back and only know BSL. hahahaha. 

      Oh yea I dont think Iv'e told you but we see foxes a lot here in London. Iv'e never seen a fox before but here I see a couple a week espescially while tracting. I'll try and include a picture of one we saw yesterday while knocking a street. haha so One of Elder Manga's friends sent him a package that had a game of angry birds. It was a lot harder than we thought it was going to be. It made me wonder what seku and kylie's nights are like when they get home. For P-day we are going to the O2 arena with the Zone. Thats whats nice about the Wandsworth zone. Its so small that it's really easy for the whole zone to get together and play football or whatever. 

    Yep well thats all for now,

Remember always that if the shoe were on the other foot you would walk away awkwardly. 

With love Elder Oviatt!

--

"Spiritually Minded Is Life Eternal"

Elder Corbin Moore-- June 13, 2012

Whats Up!

 

       Well it has been another sunny week down here in California, and the work is going forward. We have had a couple of interesting experiences here this past week, with tracting and street contacting. And as always I'm just catching all the sun. So its been awhile since i've written so I'll try to get everything in this email.

       So last monday after I wrote we went down to a park to play some soccer (first time that i've played on the mission). When we arrived, no one was there, so Elder Rosales and I were just standing there waiting. While we were there though a girl about 16, her younger brother(13), and her younger sister(5), arrived at the park, all of them crying. I looked over at Elder Rosales, and we started talking to each other debating wether or not we would try to see what was wrong or to just let them be. We decided to go over and see if there was something that we could do to help them. We introduced ourselves and tried to calm them down. By this time the boy was fine, but the older girl was still crying. We found out that they were having family problems, and had gone to the park to get away from it all. We tried to explain to them that we were representatives of Jesus Christ and that we could help them. But no information came out other than their names and there ages. So we just gave them our number and told them that if they ever needed anything that they could just give us a call. We parted ways that day, but the following day Elder Rosales and I felt as though we should try and find them, even though we had no idea where they were. I told him that J. had told me that they live a couple streets down, and so we went down two streets and just started knocking on every door on that street, hoping that we would find them. We didn't have any luck that day, but continued the search two days later. We finally abandoned the search, but kept our eyes open for them. Well we were out tracting on Monday and we received a call from Elder Kuo. He told us that he had a referral for us. So I pulled out a card and starting writting down all the information that they had. He said that it was a girl probably about 14 years old, and her brother about 11, that they were catholic and that they wanted the missionaries to come by. Elder Kuo explained to them, that they lived outside of their area but that they would send over the other missionaries, which they were fine with. So we had to get going but I asked Elder Kuo one last question. "What are there names?" He said that the girl's name was Brenda, and that the boy's name was Junior. I didn't recognize the boy's name, but right when he said B.I immediately thought about the girl we had talked to a week earlier. I checked out the address and it was over in the area where we had been tracting. We stopped by the house and as we got to the front gate we saw little E. playing in the front yard. It was them! I was completely blown away that some how or another God had placed them back into our hands. It is very interesting how that all worked out, to know that they just happened to be in the other missionaries area and saw them. It is even more interesting when you put Elder Kuo's perspective on the whole situation and what happened to him. Overall I know that that God has a big part in the work that we are doing.

      Well don't have a lot of time left. Hope that Dad and Keyton had a fun trip down here to California. Everything is going good with me, just trying to take everything in. The time is beginning to go by faster, weird. Peace out have a good one.

 

Con Amor Elder Moore

 

Everything.Happens.For.A.Reason

There.Is.No.Such.Thing.As.Coincidence

Elder Corbin Moore- June 18, 2012

Well another week has come and gone, and I'm still in California in
the hot summer weather. July 4th is rapidly approaching, which I can't
even believe, but that means that it is time for fireworks and
parties. I miss being in all of the holiday atmosphere, but its all
good I'm in the LA hood atmosphere. Finally went and bought myself a
LA, 59-fifty hat. So now I look like I am from LA. There isn't really
that much to say it has only been 4 day since the last time that I
wrote. We have just been doing the regular stuff, going to DDM, giving
training, weekly planning, and coordination. We don't have any cool
stories like we did last week. Elder Rosales had his birthday on
Thursday, so I worked with the investigators we were eating with that
night, to secretly get him a cake, and all that stuff. I think he
enjoyed it so that was what counted.
      Well I'm glad to hear that the boys are going on Trek. It was
super fun when I went, and is a great place to grow spiritually, and
physically, because you going to be pulling a cart all day. But just
enjoy it and learn as much as you can. Im glad you got the index
cards. I still have paper but it was just easier because I already had
them there. Hopefully you all are learning spanish so that we can
"placticar" when I get home. It is a useful language to know. Well I'm
going to split now, hope everything is going well for you all and I
will talk you in a week. Peace Out.

Con Amor Elder Moore

Everything.Happens.For.A.Reason
There.Is.No.Such.Thing.As.Coincidence

P.S.-here is some spanish for you.

Si usted tuvo, un chance, o una oportunidad, para tener todas las
cosas que quiere, en un momento, lo tomaria, o lo dejaria.  (keyton
I'm sure you will like this one)

Elder Corbin Moore--June 25, 2012

 

       This week we had a General Authority Mission Tour. So there was a member of the Seventy, Elder Paul V. Johnson, who was here, I guess touring the mission. We also had a big meeting with half of the mission, on Thursday, from 8-3. President Baker spoke, and then Elder Johnson, talked as well. So yeah that went pretty well, and we didn't have DDM because of it. Last night I was able to go back to my first area, because Elder Rosales used to be down in the same ward, and one of his investigators was getting baptized. So I was back down there and was able to see a couple familiar faces. A lot of the members that were there, I didn't recognize. I guess the ward has changed a bunch since I've been there. 

       Today we had a Zone P-day, so we were all up by the mission office at the field playing soccer. It was super fun to be able to play it again, but I caught some sun as always. Then we went and got some grub, and then starting doing all of our stuff for the day. 

       Glad to hear that trek went well for the boys. Hopefully they learned a lot and will be able to apply those things. Got an e-mail from Brayden it was super short. He said that things were going well and that they are getting things moving. So G is getting a new house? Where? Anything else going on back home? What is the story with Josh? He said that he was going to send a letter a month ago but still haven't heard anything from him. Hope that everyone is doing well back home. I'm doing just fine down here in Los Angeles, living to dream. Bernie and Benien, what is going on? I haven't heard anything about nothing, jaja. Well I expect to get some letters about trek, and the tour, and baseball, and all of that stuff. Are you still using the weight bench? If not get on it fools. Well I've got to be going but I will be talking to you next week. 

Con Amor Elder Moore

Everything.Happens.For.A.Reason

There.Is.No.Such.Thing.As.Coincidence

Elder Corbin Moore-- July 9, 2012

Well as you might have guess from the subject of the e-mail, I did get transfered out of LA 6th. I am now residing in Brookshire which is like to most eastern part of the mission. For anyone that wants to see it on a map the city that I am in is called Downy. It is really nice down here, it reminds me a lot of Utah, so its prett kewl. My new companion is Elder Stinson. He is from Alabama and this will be his second transfer in the mission. I am still the District Leader but with one change I now have a car. So that is nice to be able to have a car, even though we are going to still be biking. It is super weird driving a car seeming how I have had one for basically a year, haha. My zone is called Lakewood, and supposedly it is called the "promise land", not really sure why right now, but I have heard because we are like out on the outskirts, and we are like the "forgotten zone." The area seems to have potential so I'm excited to get to work. The demographic of the area is about half and half, latino and white. I don't know to much about it, because I have only been here for a couple days but more details to come.

        So last Tuesday, I had kind of figured out that I was going to be moving so we went and visited a lot of my recent converts. We took some pictures and I was able to get their information, so that I can still keep in contact with them. I was hard to leave but I think that being in a new area is just what I needed at this time in my mission. It gives me an opportunity to meet new people, and to start fresh with a new area, and companion. Elder Stinson is a kewl kat. He is a hard worker, and we get along just great. He has great spanish for being out for one transfer which is good, I'm working with him so that we can speak spanish all the time. I really want to increase my ability for it to be second nature for me. And also trying to increase my vocabulary. I started reading through the spanish dictionary for language study. It really has helped me learn more. I heard that being in the states it is harder to become fluent, because you are not immersed in it like you are in another country. But I'm working hard to learn as much as I can. Who knows maybe I will be using spanish after my mission for my career.

        Well it looks like everyone else is having a great time camping and all. I see that my guitar made its way up there too. Take of my baby please, haha. Well hope it was great for all of you. I miss crusing around on the scooter in the mountain. But hopefully I'll be able to do the same thing, on a motorcycle when I get back. (I can just hear dad's reaction right now). Congrats to my bro down in Brazil, I wish you both the best of luck, and look forward to seeing you after the mission. Looks like Keyton and Bryson are still jokers, the only thing that has changed is that they have to shave now. Hope you are getting ready for school. Well I have to go but I will be talking to you all this next week. Hope everyone has a great week. I'd love to hear from you all. Peace Out

 

Con amor,

Elder Moore

 

Everything.Happens.For.A.Reason.

There.Is.No.Such.Thing.As.Coincidence

Elder Corbin Moore-- July 16, 2012

Greetings to all from the area of Brookshire. With the temperatures on the rise and the parties also on the rise, it will be putting an extra challenge on the work here. But who ever said I wasn't ready for a good challenge. This week has been an interesting one for us. Everything that we planned this week, and all of the set appointments that we had all fell through. Although it was a difficult week we are not going to let it get to us. We know that the Lord works in different ways, and it is a great time so strengthen ourselves and especially on our weaknesses. We will be re-concentrating our efforts one a lot of tracting this week. And with hard work and a good attitude we know that the Lord will bless us with some new investigator, who have been prepared to hear the Gospel. We have been trying to get to know the members a little bit more, and even had the opportunity to sit down with the bishop to discuss the ward with him and some of the things we could help him with. Other than that we don't have to many stories for this week, hopefully with all the tracting that we will be doing this week, I can return this coming week with some interesting stories for you all.

         Alright to answer some of the questions about my companion, Elder Stinson. Like I told you last week he is from Alabama. I believe if I am not mistaken his parents are converts to the church. Both his parents are from Panama. His mom was born and raised there, and his dad is white, and was just raised there. Although his parents know spanish, he does not, and didn't take any in high school. He has one older sister, 3 older brothers, and two younger sisters. Two of his brothers served missions, one in riverside and I don't remember the other one. Somewhere spanish speaking. He is into motorcycles, and hunting. Like to talk about music, likes all the old stuff that I like, thank goodness.

         Sound like everyone is having fun with the July festivities. I wish I could be there for them, one of my favorite times of the year, but I be there in two years. Sounds like Bernie is getting ready for football season, hopefully he will find some of my hints useful. Well I don't have too much time left but hopefully this week with be a great one you all. Whats up with Josh, still haven't heard anything from that fool. Glad to hear that Elder Whittle is doing well. Glad he is a DL, he is a great leader. Tanner????. Peace out

 

Con Amor

Elder Moore

 

Everything.Happens.For.A.Reason

There.Is.No.Such.Thing.As.Coincidence

Elder Matthew Whitttle-- July 10, 2012

Que Honda Calabezas!

 

I got the package you sent! Thanks so much. I really like the shirt. It's pretty sweet haha, and we're enjoying eating all the junk food:) We had a pretty good 4th of July. We were able to talk to a bunch of drunk people so that was interesting haha. It's sad because they get addicted to it so easily and then it takes over. The interesting thing is that every person we talk to that is drunk practically begs us to help them stop drinking. It's almost like satan has gotten ahold of them and they realize it and they want out, but then the next day they don't remember it, and they just keep doing the same thing. It's pretty sad.

 

Man the good ol willow is dying?? That's sad. I love that tree. I remember climbing in it all the time. I hope it doesn't die. Tell dad good job for not selling cherry for 3000. That would have been horrible! If you want to just wait till I get back, I can sell it:) I'm glad you're keeping her in good condition. 

 

Elder Moore still hasn't left his first area?? That's insane. wow. I should be transfering again here in about 4 weeks to my third area. That's a long time in one area. I bet he's ready for a change haha. That's awesome that he's district leader. I'm not surprised at all. He's a stud. I bet he's tearing it up in LA.

 

Everything is going well. We finally got in contact again with the lady from the park. She got another job so it's been hard to find her, but we finally found her home one evening. She answered the door and was really happy to see us. She gave us her new phone number, and asked us when we were going to come give her the discussions. She's really neat so were excited to start teaching her.

 

lo que envie a papa son tribu lenguas en espanol. Parangaricutirimicuaro es un lugar en mexico. Hay mucha gente mexicana que no se puede decir esas frases tampoco entonces no se preocupen si no se los pueden decir. Coman mas chile y tal vez un dia vayan a poder ;) Les quiero mucho y estoy orando para ustedes!

Con amor,

 

Elder Witle

Elder Devin Oviatte--July 6, 2012

Man this week has been incredible. So we had our baptism last saturday. Her name is V. She was a referal from a ward member. She came to some dance that the stake was putting on and she enjoyed the people and the environment that she wanted to see what church was like. So on the following Sunday she just walked up. We started teaching her and she was so ready for the gospel. We taught her the restoration and when we were done we asked if she had any question and her only question was how to become a member. Me and Elder Manga just started laughing a little. We countinued to teach her and my favorite was the plan of salvation. She asked how Jesus showed himself to prophets before he came to this earth so we must have been spirits before we got our bodies. She was confirmed a member and the spirit was really strong during that. 

Elder Manga is the district leader so we went to another baptism this Saturday. Her name was N. She is a single mom of 5 kids and is so cool! I was glad that we got to go and see that. All four missionaries sang for it. ehhh! We sang Jeruselum, it is our mission song. We have our first zone conference with the new mission president. After the baptism we talk to alot of her family and friends that came to her baptism. 

At the baptism we all had matching watches and ties. I'll try and get a picture to yea. So we had a less active come to church. She wanted a blessing. We knew really nothing about her or anything but as Elder Manga started giving her a blessing it was so powerful. as he was blessing her thoughts would pop into my head and as they did he would say them. When we finished she said that we had spoken of things that only she knew. Blessings are amazing, I love giving them now. 

Um lets see what else happened..... ohhh we had a member from America give us beef jerky. Oh my goodness soo good. Elder Manga Had never had it before and he fell in love with it. haha. I might try sending you guys amazing European chocolate but maybe after it cools down. I havn't seen the sun in like 4 days. It has been raining so much!!!  The olympics are getting so close. all the missionaries are getting more and more excited. Everyone else her just thinks it is going to be a annoyence. We'll yea that all for now. Hope everyone is okay with the fires and such. They even made it onto the news out here. With love

Elder Oviatt  

Elder Matthew Whittle--July 3, 2012

Hey Como Estan?

How did you find out about District Leader??? Did President Cook spill the beans? haha. It's a lot of stress, but it's been good too. I literally now have no time in the mornings and evenings, but it's a really good oportunity to serve my Heavenly Father more.

 

I'm glad you got the pictures and all. That movie is a good one for sure. I loved doing the sing off in the MTC. It was really hot though after wards. We couldn't fall asleep for a long time because we were sweating to death in there haha, but it was fun. Definitely worth it. I'm glad Brax enjoyed the video. If you could just send the memory card back to me that would be great! And yes that is Sister Merril in the picture. She was in my first district in Oceanside.

 

That's good that everything went well with Kelsi. Brandonian was just being fashionably late as usual;) haha I miss that guy. Is he still alive? Haven't heard from him for a while;) haha. And what about what's her name.......... Me..... Meggg...... oh got it Megan;) Has she disappeared or is she still there too;) phahahaha Tell them hi fur me and that I luv um:)

 

Elder Barlow came down for C's baptism. He should be visiting you soon. It was weird to see him again. Everyone that was here when I came in are all gone pretty much. It's really weird/sad. I still haven't heard from Elder Kidd. He better not be married or something already haha. That would be awesome if you visited him up there in Idaho.

 

So with the mail thing, the Zone Leaders just pick it up, and then give it to the District Leaders, and then we give it to our districts, so I'll probably get it next week.   I need to write the Andersons. What's their new adress?

 

That's awesome that TJ is already heading out. Time goes by so fast it's ridiculous! He's going to be a good missionary. I'm super excited for him! Please keep praying for Josh! I really hope that he can come out again, but maybe you're right maybe the Lord has something else in store for him.

 

That's crazy that Jaden saw Devin. That is a small world. I bet Devin is rocking it over there in England. Tell Brynn and Jaden hi for me! They're great. We had a blast working together everyday at Happi jac.

 

Well things are going great down here! We're seeing a lot of cool miracles, and working hard. I love missionary work! How's Choster doing? I'm learning some Korean from C. so hopefully I can speak a couple more words when I get back:) Well Love ya all. Espero que tengan una muy buena semana! Adios!

 

Con Amor,

Elder Witle

Elder Garrett Allen-- July 2, 2012

Well first thing first is that I am getting your emails. So don´t worry about that. It is ok and everything is under control. Second is that I would like the email address of Momma whittle and josh if that is at all possible. Just tell them to email me or something. I hope everything with all of these babies work out...What is with everyone having babies now... You all need to calm down haha. Also I can´t wait to meet all of these new people in my family. 

Anyways into the week. Having a new company is always an interesting experience. This is my fourth companion now and the first week is always any adventure. The truth is that you never really now what you are going to get. This time I got a Latino that knows absolutly no english and that makes things pretty dang interesting. Lets just say that I have used the word "freaking" a lot this week. Lucky my companion understands that word haha. His name is Elder G. and he is a stud. I can talk to him just fine so that is a plus. My spanish isn´t perfect but he understands me. He is a great teacher also. He is a little intense but that is ok. Sometimes I think that we are attacking the investagotors with the truth and that is something that I am not use to at all. haha. I am very relaxed so I think that he can teach me a lot. It will be an adventure. I can wait to see what happens. I think that we will have some success and that is all that you can ask for. he is a good kid and a good help. I will learn from him. I am just going to remember to search for my joy and have a good time. That is all that you can do.

So that whole thing with Josh is crazy...I had no idea that any of that was happening....I wish I could be there to help but the lord has me in different places right now. I know though with out a doubt in my mind that the lord is guiding Josh and that there is a purpose in this. He should not lose faith but keep strong. This those not mean that he should go for a mission but rather he should go for an increase in trust in the lord and a willingness to except the plan that he has for him. This is one of my biggest problems...I want a reason for everything and to know why everything is happening and if I am in the right spot or doing the right thing and blah blah blah. But thanks to a very intelegent mother I have seen that sometimes we need to walk be faith. To trust the lord and to do his will. The famous words of Jesus Christ, "Thy will be done". The savior ask for the cup to be pasted from him. It wasn´t easy and he didn´t want to do it but he excepted the will of the father and drank of the cup. I believe that sometimes we all have to drink from this same cup. Now some would ask, "But how can a mission not be the will of the Lord. I would be doing his work?" To this I would look to the scriptures. For are thoughts are not his thoughts. He can not see the plan of the father fully at times. We have to deal with not knowing. At times we have to walk into the unknown. Right he isn´t doing a mission right now but i know with out a doubt in my mind that he can still do great things and I know that he is. He can still find his joy! We can all find are joy. Remember what Joseph B. Wirthlin said in his final talk, " Come what may, and love it." Try to find the blessng. I know Josh is strong and if he serves a mission or no I will not think different of him. He is a capo and basically rocks! I love him. I feel for him and am praying for him! If he has faith he can do all things but dont try to change the will of God.. That could come back to haunt you haha. 

Sorry about that...I got all crazy there..hope it isn´t a bad thing to say..I dont really know the situation...I dont hear anything about any of my friends haha. Anyways this week has been pretty dang good. Nothing to crazy has happened this week. I sorry..My comp is super intense when he teaches. It is crazy...He kinda has scared some of my converts away but that is ok.. I will just talk to them and get them to understand. He likes to kinda attack people with the truth and I like to just kinda get them to realize the truth. So that is interesting. But really all is good. Also today I got to go to central of tucuman. It was pretty dang good. I got to actually see amazing things and stuff. Basically it was a party. A good change of pace. I am always trying to be better and teaching in spanish is freaking hard....Like really hard haha. Talking is easy but teaching is hard. I will learn I guess. With tine all things come right?

I can´t believe all of the changes that are happening at home. I can´t wait to go see it all again... It will be crazy to see all of the new things and sights and people. I am going to be a stranger when I get home...That will be fun. I hope that you guys miss me haha.

I guess it is time to end this week. I love you all and miss you guys a ton. The mission is good it just feels like I have forever to go, Hopefully things will get better in that aspect. Honest I like it here. It is different and all. It is like an adventure everyday. Anyways take care and God Bless. The church is true and the lord has my back so aspect. Honest I like it here. It is different and all. It is like an adventure everyday. Anyways take care and God Bless. The church is true and the lord has my back so everything is good. I love you all and wish you the very best! Take care of yourself and all of that great stuff.

Elder Allen

P.s. The photos are of me and my comp with family zamorano. That is me Llama sweater. I hope you enjoy haha. Take care.

-

Elder Devin Oviatte--July 2, 2012

Hi family!,

So this week was really good! It was transfer weeks so it was really busy! We got a senior couple in our area but now it is only a 2 man flat. One of the elders went home and the other got sent across the mission. Their names we're elder P. and Elder S. But the senior couple is really cool. We also got some new BYU students that came into our ward last week. They will be here for six weeks. So We had our first Baptism this week!! it was soo cool. Her name is V. It made my week. It's been raining a lot this week. We might play Football (soccer) in the rain today with the whole zone. Im looking forward to that. Umm let see what else.... We went contacting in grennwich again. I love that place. The park over see's all of london. Its really cool. Did I tell you we did the haka for president shamo? If I didnt it was really cool. Our whole zone did it in front of the London Temple. I still havnt met our new mission President. But we will probably have a zone conference soon so that he can interview all of us. I feel like there is going to be a lot of changes coming soon. It's weird being back to a 2 man flat. 4 man flats are alot of fun. But yea. I cant believe that my 2 month mark was this week. that was a shock! It doesn't feel like Iv'e been gone for that long. It is going to be Elder M.'s 1 year mark in 2 weeks. So we are going to go eat somewhere or something. I feel Like I dont have that much to say since it was transfer week. Kieren told me that collin is going to Russia!!! Thats soo cool. It will be funny to email him. 

    I get to eat a lot of different food. We have a lady it our ward that made us Jerk Chicken. SOOO good. Tell the family hi and that I miss them.

With Love

Elder Oviatt