huh?

Dear Family and Friends, 

   I'm paying the full price for making fun of Elder Maughan at the end of his mission (but seriously, he hadn't seen the last Harry Potter!) I have NOT been gone long enough to feel this old. Elder Potter was shocked when he realized I had missed 2 of the new editions of the video missionaries go to watch once a week, never saw iron man or superman or sunglasses man or whatever other new superhero movies I've missed, blah blah blah. he keeps telling me how much he wants his iPhone 5S, like thats supposed to mean something to me. hey. my phone lets me make my own ringtones. whenever our members call it plays a hymn in phone tones. i love him, but today we went to a meeting with the elders and elder miller and i were just excited to talk fast armenian, so we let our new companions talk about their mtc hooliganness. its crazy how time and effort combine to change people so quickly. 

   the works going alright, nothing too much to complain about this week but we hoped it wouldve gone better. the mom and son havent met with us all week. she's working crazy hours. the thing is, i feel i've done a pretty good job learning to be patient with armenians, especially investigators. but i need to now learn how to be patient with other missionaries and members that have no patience for investigators. and thats a whole new problem. our member, when he heard the mom was asleep instead of coming to church, suggested we teach about laziness, and throw in all the reasons why the Jehovah's Witnesses are wrong (she's learned about them some) thank you, but no. all she really needs is love, patience, true doctrine, and more effort to be consecrated on our part. 

 but like i said we went to a lesson with the elders today (they found her, she lives right next to our house) and her and her mom said "we want to join your church, is that okay? what should we do?" yep, that is fine with us. the girl works every day, gets one free day a month, but she said she would read and try to make sure that free day was a sunday. the mom will come once the weather warms up, she just had surgery and is still pretty weak. theyre awesome though. Its times like that, when unexpected blessings just fall in your lap, that you realize 1. how important it is to just be a missionary all the time and 2. how pleased the Lord is when you do it. I had another experience like that yesterday, we went to a members who isnt coming to church because no one will come to visit her at home, so we missionaries went over for her birthday. the other 3 elders were on the couch chatting and enjoying cake, the sisters were focused on the member, so i just decided i would chat with her neighbor friend who was just sitting in the corner. we talked about the classic stuff that armenians tend to enjoy discussing with americans who are interested- languages, especially armenian and russian, the soviet times, their lives and how different it is, etc etc. then he told me about how his wife and mother had died within the last 3 months. if i had just preached to him from the start, he probably wouldve shut off. i can chat about normal stuff, but as soon as things got real i told him about the temple and my testimony of it all. then i finished my cake. we're gunna teach him and his son's family this week. 

i love being a missionariy. and i love doing it all the time. sure sometimes i put on jeans to do service and realize how comfortable normal clothes actually are, but i love the white shirt and tie. i love having it tucked in and polishing my shoes, and not just because it makes me look good. most of all i love the tag. 

  you all are awesome. i miss you tons, i hope you have a fantabulously boring week

love elder moore  

get your popcorn ready

Hey everyone, 

   So forreall I feel like I should constantly be eating popcorn cause training is such a party ( i say "its a party" about a lot of things now) meaning that sometimes its awesome, other times i want to rip off my tie, set it on fire, and then make elder potter eat it :) but that im ALWAYS grateful its the situation im in. basically just a little microcosm of my mission, yeah i still remember that word. 

 elder marco, who just finished training, and anyone else that has trained, tells me "get ready to do everything for atleast 3 weeks" very true. i've been teaching, finding, planning, and arguing with our landlord about whos going to pay for the sink being fixed (we had water shooting everywhere until we shut the water off) and everything else, including teaching elder potter about missionary work. that ones the hardest- the rest i can do it all, i just get tired, and have to try to include him without too much he gives up. but i've realized how hard it is to teach about missionary work. my trainer taught me really well, because i wanted to be him. not because he said i should, or that the Lord required it of me, just because he showed me that when we do the Lord's work in His way we get blessed, enjoy the work, and still have lots of fun. so im trying to be the best example i can, instruct when its really needed (no you cannot fall asleep in lessons) and when he asks, and just be his friend. Its defnitely a slow start but we're moving. 

  the works going better than it has, i've just been feeling like we can be doing a lot more. the other day elder potter said "i didnt think missionary work would be this easy" i chuckled cause i knew he'd call me crying a week out of his training some day, but i also realized i can be a lot more diligent about the little things. i LOVE alma 37:46- let us not be slothful because of the easiness of the way. i'm not slothful, i can just do some more sprinting thats all. 

 the mom and son we're working with are still doing well, she's just fighting against accepting a baptismal date and then doing everything to reach it. she said she wants to be baptized in august, her birthday. shoot me! you wish people would realize how much more important this is (plus, EVERYONE knows its better to stagger special occasions that to stack- i have it perfected, birthday in june, christmas in dec) but you also know that you cant expect them to just get it. we're working hard though, she can be ready, and im gunna push her to hit up a March 29th baptism with me. its gunna be special. 

 not too much else going on this week! im tired but loving life. i've been trying really really hard lately to find the balance between complacency and being too hard on yourself. pres carlson introduced the trainers to the trainees. he said "this is elder moore. he speaks pretty good, or he's fooled me pretty well. he's way too hard on himself" haha. but i just always feel complacent. i guess the trick is just in taking the days as they come and trying to be better than yesterday, atleast in some way. 

anyway you all are awesome, i love you and hope you have a great one

elder moore

mi or sirelu

Dear Family and Friends, 

  The title means "a day to love" and I say that because 1. I completely forgot about Valentines Day this week, and 2. I'm so far gone out of good titles. I should've stuck with Chase and been smart- weekly letter ___  

  Anyway no one here cares about Valentines. It reminds me of Elder Bednar when he came to answer questions in our stake and said you could ask him where the sword of Laban is and he would tell you "I dont care, and I dont know why you care!" Seriously though the Armenians have it right. Not only do they not care, but in general they're super classy about affection in public. If people do kiss in public its typically only on the cheek. In general theyre pretty conservative people. I'm gunna miss it. 

 So apparently the Olympics are starting? yeah no one here is going. and my comp's dad told him the Russians are crazy unprepared and everythings chaos. Hearing about it just made me laugh cause none of it surprises me, and then I remembered that the whole world is watching and freaking out. Idk if Armenia sends people, if they do the sports arent big enough or we just arent good enough to get anyone excited. 

  A few people commented on the oil obsession of Armenians- its totally them. They're pretty Orthodox (I think?) they have amazing respect for the sanctuary- good and bad. Bad, some people wont come to church cause it isnt pretty enough of a building. good, they LOVE the Kiev Temple. So pretty.  But yeah this is a people who still burn candles and do animal sacrifices and swear they are the most Christian people on the Earth. not because theyre a bad people, just because they havent been taught that religion should be anything different. you find so many people that want more though, and are willing to act to get it. The Lord is preparing this people like he never has before. 

  Speaking of which, our new investigator is doing awesome. Shes the mom of a 12 year old whos a neighbor of a less active that we found by a miracle. tell me thats a coincidence so i can laugh at you. our less active work that we're actually doing has been really tough- lots of incomplete addresses with no phone numbers, no one knows them, lots of people in Russia, etc. but from our show of diligence the Lord has literally dropped people in our laps, and theyre bringing people with them. the daughter of a new convert family got married a few months ago and her husband told her she couldnt come. this past week she decided to show up and said she was either going to leave him, or bring him to get baptized. 

 anyway this mom is doing great, she loved the 1st lesson. We read her the verse from Amos in the 1st pamphlet about the Apostasy, and she was like "okay, i've heard that exact same verse come from a Jehovah's Witness. why are your messages different and yet based on the same Bible?" she LOVED Elder Callisters example about the need for 2 points, because infinite lines can be drawn through just one. she wanted a BoM, said she would read and pray, came to church, and prayed there too to close Sunday School. 

  so anyway i'm really happy that I stayed here in Gyumri through the transfer. oh yeah and this picture is my new friend and companion, Elder Potter. He just got here from America. Its funny, the last few weeks of the transfer were kinda tough but Pres has known i'd be training for about a month now. So when i saw him he just kinda winked, like yeah dont worry it was all worth it. Its cool, its definitely something im not used to. I remember wanting someone just like me, and now i realize thats terrifying! i forgot to look a year in the past and realize what i was like in my training, and how long it took me to apply what elder maughan taught me. Elder Potters cool, hes ready to work, willing to learn, he just needs to be harnassed (you know, exactly like how i did and still do?) the language is a struggle, but hey, he's in good hands :P and i just learned a ton on patience! its gunna be a good transfer.

 I love you all, I love my mission and this work, and I love the Lord. 

Love Elder Moore

my new friend and companion, Elder Potter

The most stressful two days ever

Dear Family and Friends, 

  ... are the days before transfers. I can stay pretty focused most of the time. Even as you do your last weekly planning session (and your companions confident he's going to leave after 9 months in Gyumri) theres still too much to do and too much time to be distracted by possibly leaving. but then pday you get a letter from pres carlson, the same he always gives, reminding everyone that some people will not change at all (Which is kinda a scary thought when you only do transfers every 12 weeks) and also NOT to talk about transfers- he hates nothing more than missionaries who know exactly where theyre going before he calls them. anyway calls come tuesday night and we have a zone meeting and the sisters have a baptism so that should keep us from getting distracted. as for what the future holds, i honestly have no clue. but i trust pres. 

  everyone made me laugh a ton today, especially chases letter about convincing the kid he doesnt know english- last week when a guy came to the sisters baptism the sisters were talking and he leans over and goes "theyre not from Armenia, are they?" I said no, theyre American. He goes "yeah its totally obvious" and then gives me this look like I'm in the in crowd. Sir, you realize you're talking to a fat kid thats as american as they get right? we go way back, and before that we're from england anyway. IM FROM AMURICA. anyway i decided to let it slide and see how far i could take it. he stopped investigating though. bummer. but this week i got told i spoke armenian better than they themselves haha. which isn't always a good thing, but i'll take it. 

  this week our efforts in reactivation continue to do good things. a neighbor of a less active came to an activity and then to church. hes cool, he's 12 years old. he calls me "elder beautiful" (for real, don't laugh) the one thing i have that armenians dig is great hair. they LOVE the color of it, and i've found a good classy missionary look. but they love how thick it is (they can have it, i got a haircut 2 weeks ago and already need another. i miss buzz cuts and long hair) anyway hes a good kid but he is a 12 year old with only his mom, who happens to be a Jehovahs Witness, and then his less active neighbor who could go back to living 2 hours away at any time. so we'll see. but then last night Branch Pres took us with him to give a blessing to a less active- Armenians LOVE blessings. The only problem is their convinced the power is in the oil (theyll make up fake illnesses when you tell them if they arent sick we dont use oil, and they'll ask you to put more and more on) anywayy this girl was normal, she knew it was all dependent on her faith, but her non member sister in law also asked for one and she loved it and was super interested. she looks like great potential, after a few min of explanation she really wants to get a patriarchal blessing and go to the temple with her husband. so that was awesome. our branch presidents legit, he's only 28 (this is his 4th year as BP) so he's still basically just a missionary. we walked out and he was like ELDERS NEW INVESTIGATOR WHOO! 

  not too much else this week. i've been meditating a lot (pres told us to make time in our nightly schedule for it) and my thoughts kept going back to Char- not for nostalgias sake, I've been learning a ton from it. When i first left i thought "well that was a training ground", which was completely wrong because in my training 5 people got baptized, and after i left 8 people we taught got baptized, and theyre working on a family of 6 we found too. i just had to realize that the timing is the Lords and whether or not i record the baptisms is of no importance, and also doesnt affect if i was successful or not. then i started feeling "well we did our best, but we couldve worked a lot smarter. things worked out in the end, basically because of Armen BP" and its true, i wish i had done less active work in Char, it wouldve been a lot easier there than here (the citys small and the addresses are way easy) but no one taught me to/how, i kinda had to learn it myself actually. anyway then one day i was talking to elder marco on the phone and just out of our heads we had a list of 11 good men that could be priesthood potential we had tried to work with. of them only 3 didnt have families, 2 of them being fairly young. if even just half of them had made it it would do wonders for that branch. and I finally realized "we did our best, AND it was good enough. we were good teachers even back then, because we practiced every day. we did all work through Armen, because thats how its supposed to be anyway" it just simply wasnt those men's time. but the best part is in all of this i never came to some conclusion of  leaving Char behind as a failed project that simply wasnt my fault. my appreciation grew of it all. my love for those people grew. and my testimony grew that training grounds dont exist. The Lord intends for no one to fail, we just have to respect the greatest gift of all, free agency. 

  i love you all, i love this work! i hope you have a great one

love elder moore

HEY!

Dear Family and Friends, 

  Hey, funny thing, my companion has spent like 2 weeks ripping audio files from my CDs (my last comp gave me cds of "Stories from General Conference" and "Past Impressions" from Mormon Channel, theyre AWESOME) anyway he had ripped em all to his flash drive, and now he just accidentally deleted it all! whoops. its okay we have 10 days together he can get it done again. 

  im pretty happy this week. Idk why. i told President Carlson that cause we talked about how all the other missionaries say im great but just always seem depressed and bored. who asked them anyway... anyway he made me study happiness. but today im happy. the week didnt go that awesome, i had plenty of stressers. but i was pondering at the end of every day and was just thinking "how else would i want it?" sure, people getting baptized, but thats on them. i would like, but in time, not now, a companion that pushes me to be my best, but i've enjoyed all the lessons i've learned in patience and ministering, not being a critic (even though i do it so well), etc.etc, things with the branch havent been easy, but i feel so much more fulfilled being the one to come in and turn things around then just having it handed it to me, even though i want it to be handed to the next person.and the other missionaries have done a good job on expressing appreciation, which has made such an effect i decided to do it for other people. if i had time id find the verse in D&C about how a big ship is controlled in a storm by a small rudder, something like that. same situation, better attitude = happy missionary. 

  like i said, notta lotta this week. we did run into a man that we had talked to before New Years. he chased us down and showed us the pass along card we gave him- it looked 5 years old, i figured i would see missionary names i didnt recognize, but there we were. he dropped it in water, the only thing that didnt get ruined was our phone number. hmm... anyway he came to the sisters baptism and then church on sunday. its been a focus of mine, trying to instill it in the others, to keep our sights set high on who we bring to church. we arent only inviting the rich, but we do need the spiritually strong, the church is too small in armenia to have nothing but welfare cases. anyway this guys kinda old and his breath smells like too much alcohol and not enough teeth brushing for a year, but hes super nice and he has a family, and inner potential. same thing again this week, in looking for less actives we met an old man whos wife died 3 months ago. his situation isnt great but he has a family. family = contacts, referrals. and everyones invited anyway because God loves them all. 

 HEY! this work is true. haha i was on exchanges with my old MTC comp, whos with a companion that doesnt love obedience or leaders. he said something funny "if this work wasnt true, id punch the guy and move out" its cool to see what people will do when they know somethings true. in the armenians, but in us too. 

 i love you all and hope your weeks are healthy and fantastic. 

elder moore

Faith in the Future

Dear Family and Friends, 

  Yeah I'm not sure whats up with email. I have no clue when what I'm reading was sent or anything like that, I haven't gotten anything from Tyler 2 or 3 weeks in a row now, Idk if thats an email issue or he's just busying getting married or something crazy I haven't heard. But thats alright. I've been feeling the need for a new page to be turned this week. The winter "break" period was a longg one. It's still cold, but its warmed enough for things to start melting and I don't wear a hat anymore, finally. There still aren't a ton of people outside but our efforts in less actives are starting to pay off so we're busier than normal. Theres about 3 weeks left in the transfer and I've just been feeling the need not to wait out and start the next one better. I want to imrpove things now and have that carry me through. 

  first off, we had some outright miracles this week, and i wanted to tell you about them. last monday we were walking in the other elders area (thats where email is, its literally the only time we arent in our own area) and a girl stopped us on the street- baptized member that got back from living with her mom in a town where the church hasnt reached. said she was going to come to church on sunday to find us, but found us randomly on the street anyway. turns out she didnt get to make it this week after all, so if we hadnt seen her it would've been atleast another 2 weeks. she's good though, she'll be a good member when shes fully active again that can help the branch. 

 during email time i got a referral sent to us from mormon.org- why is that a miracle? because it NEVER happens in Armenia. not enough people use the internet or know how to do that sort of stuff. addresses are a mess, the system of Armenia in general is a mess, but elder frey (zone leader) and I managed to actually find the place tuesday. cool guy, wanted a BoM to research, said he'd let us know in like 2 weeks if he wants to learn more. 

  then later on monday i got called and the person just said "cookien enk oozoom" (enk oozoom is we want) I thought someone was just messing with me, so i said "pechenny?" (russian word for cookie) they were confused and repeated themselves, when i finally realized they were talking about Elder Cook, who i never knew but know the name and know he served here. you put the IN ending on a name when its a direct object. basically they wanted elder cook to visit them again, and since hes not here they'll settle for us. we havent been able to meet yet since someone in their family went to the hospital, but they said theyll call us again. 

 we found another less active this week thats served a mini mission and everything, was just in Russia for 2 years working. but he's back, and just got married to a girl he's gunna bring to church. 

finally we were visiting a member randomly cause he wanted help downloading mormon messages in Russian, and ran into the former branch president, whos freakishly tall by the way, like Chase's head will reach his shoulder id guess, who was over there for no apparent reason. anyway the guy hasnt been to church in like 3 years, but i think he just figured he wasnt wanted there since apparently he did a pretty bad job as BP. but we invited him and he came, and the members were all pretty welcoming. 

 And finally the family I told you about last week that showed up on the radar again out of nowhere we finally got to meet with this week. they still like us and the message, they loved the Joseph Smith movie, they just dont really get what it all means/why they need to join our church. they assumed everyone believed that God came from Heaven to talk to Joseph Smith, and gave him the Book of Mormon. they asked me "wait, don't people in the Armenian Apostolic Church believe the Book of Mormon?" I almost laughed out loud, they hate us. but i explained no and they were confused at why people wouldnt believe it. funny thing is they havent read it yet. So theyre in kinda an interesting situation where culture is just overrulling everything, but we're excited to get them connected to some awesome members in families just like them and we know they can be great. 

  so yeah! some pretty great stuff this week. We're working with a recent convert on preparing for a mission, he's doing well. we finally got all the in active member information sorted out and figured out who was in our area and now we're hunting them down. its nice, it gives you a place to walk to instead of just walking around and gives you a reason to chat with people if you cant find the address. most that we've found are in Russia, two people wouldnt open the door for us and another turned out to be crazy. but i was inspired by Chases email from this week about how things went- this focus on less actives for us is working, already 4 people are coming again, but its also showing the branch president and hopefully members they can trust us with anything. I think the miracles we saw this week was evidence that atleast the Lord had noticed that. as we care about His lost sheep, and study on what you actually teach someone who already knows the facts but doesnt want to come (harder than i assumed it would be), He's given us straight up lost sheep who are ready to come back and its awesome. and all in all we still have new investigators to help too. things are still plenty hard, and i'm kinda tired, but i feel good. 

i love you all, i hope you have a fantabulous week and that no one gets sick. oh and shout out to Bo Bleyl! I knew his number was getting called soon but forgot the exact week, but it sounds like this is the one? so excited for him. man its a party. 

k love you all bye

Love Elder Moore

Heyyy

Heyy family, remember me? 

  Hey it's all jokes you guys know I love you and I forgot to write Tyler all the time. I bet the week was pretty uneventful anyway just getting back to stuff. I realized in my journal i had still been writing 2013 until like the 9th, that was weird. The week was another one that didnt move too fast. Not because it was terrible, it wasnt the best but it went fine. im not sure why things have slowed down in my mind lately. maybe its God's way of stressing that i gotta get some more stuff done this last month of the transfer. who knows. I've been thinking about Charentsavan a fair bit lately. Elder Smith, who was in Hrazdan, the other city in that district whos state is a step down from Char, meaning really really bad, until he went to Yerevan to serve as an assistant, was telling me how much he missed Hrazdan because it forced him to rely on the Lord in literally everything if he wanted to stay sane. Char was about the same. I didnt think I could keep walking all day with no one talking to us, i was super young and felt like i was doing it all wrong, and had nothing to rely on. Elder Marco, yes, but he was there longer and having just as rough a time. but we relied on the Lord in everything we did, including together, and things turned out alright. Now, we have to learn those lessons and then move on, so we can still rely on the Lord while more things work out. I'm not saying I want to go back to walking all day every day- i love the responsibilities we have of working with less actives and new converts, trying to strengthen the missionaries relationship with Branch President, and serving other missionaries, especially my companion, and ultimately helping new people get baptized. But it does lead to a sense of complacency- you're busy enough, so thats good, but if youre honest with yourself you know you could do a lot better, but only if you rely on the Lord. And thats harder than it sounds when youre cold and tired and want to tell yourself that its enough. So i've been in an interesting situation within my own head, being tired, knowing I am doing a good job, but also knowing it needs to be better, and then just trying hard to remember the Lord and rely on Him constantly. its been good though. I had a lot of good exerpiences this week with the scriptures and zone meeting and listening to old conference and BYU devotonals, but i dont remember anything specific to tell you all haha whoops. 

  in work, like i said we're working hard to make contact with all our less actives and work with who we can. we haven't gotten in touch with too many people, but it gives you a different feel as you go walking to find their houses instead of just walking to walk. one lady we visited did come to church this week, apparently shes a great person for finding other less actives because she knows a lot of people. we're also working hard with a new convert to get the melchizedek priesthood and prepare to serve a mission, and another new convert who's our mission leader. its been fun to take a new approach to the same missionary lessons, and our focus has been on receiving personal revelation and i love it. we have one man, the dad of the preparing missionary, who just needs to get baptized but was super busy for new years, he said he'll be free soon though. and i dont know if you remember the family we found that just stopped answering our calls but i called him out of the blue and he answered, said they were in yerevan for weeks. he might still be dodging, but i refuse to believe it till he tells me, cause i remember the look in his eyes when i taught him about the Restoration. 

  K guys i love you all tons and hope you have a great week. i love this work so much. i love how hard it is! 

Love Elder Moore