HEY! it was so great talking to you last night. and no, the tour of the house was great. It was good seeing that some things just don`t change--- the mudroom counter, the mudroom "closet," the dirty clothes, the clean clothes on the bed, it was all good! My family is still the same family, they didn`t get stolen and replaced while I was gone. That`s always good to know. Are you guys leaving with the missionaries? Have you watched the Saturday conference? next package: 180 degree earmuff things please
Well, there`s not too much to tell, seeing as we talked via skype yesterday, and it was GREAT!!!!! wonderful to see you all. So I thought I`d share something that I learned these past few weeks. "Perseverar hasta el Fin," or "endure to the end." After explaining faith, repentance, baptism by immersion, and receiving the gift of the holy ghost, Nephi asks us "if all is done" And the definitive answer is No. why? because we wouldn`t have even gotten that far if it weren`t for relying on Christ. "Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life." When I thought of endure to the end, I thought "keep the commandments your whole life!" yay! The Guide for the Study of the Scriptures in Spanish says, under "perseverar" (endure), "Permanecer Firme en el compromiso de ser fiel a los mandamientos de Dios..." Which means, "Remain firm in the commitment to be faithful to the commandments of God". I always thought, "so, if I don`t drink, don`t smoke, pay tithing, read my scriptures, pray, don`t break the law, keep the law of chastity, do all that for the rest of my life, i`m good!" Sort of a checklist, for lack of a better term. So if you press forward (stay active and fulfill callings), feast upon the work of Christ (read scriptures, go to church, study, etc), and edure to the end, there you go. Eternal life. But Nephi says before that, "Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men." Here, he kind of defines endure to the end. having hope, and keeping the two great commandments: love God, and love thy neighbor as thyself, here, written as love of God and of all men. How can you truly endure to the end, keeping your baptismal covenant to keep the commandments of God, if you don`t keep the greatest two? You can say, I love God enough to keep the word of wisdom. I love God enough to keep the law of Chastity. I love God enough to pray and read my scriptures. And thus, you`re working to ensure your own salvation. BUT, if you love God and yourself enough to work towards your own salvation, shouldn`t you love your neighbor as yourself, and work to help them achieve their salvation? The greatest service you can give, the greatest love you can show toward anyone, is helping them or at least giving them the opportunity to receive the "greatest of all the gifts of God," that is, Eternal Life. Salvation is Personal, but that doesn`t mean that you`re completely alone and without support. You use your own agency to choose eternal life, and thus the salvation is personal, no one is forcing you. But to truly endure to the end, one must, as the area presidency in Chile has said, help those who have fallen off the path that leads to salvation, or help those who have not yet found it. THAT is enduring to the end. it`s not a checklist. it`s not something that you can say, "look, i`m almost done! I just have 2 more boxes to check, and i`m done!" No, it`s home teaching, visiting teaching, missionary work, and being a good example. Inviting others to come unto Christ. Loving God enough to help him fulfill his work and his Glory. Loving your neighbor enough to help them reach their true potential. And loving yourself enough to lose yourself in the work, because only those who lose their lives in the work shall find it.
Really, quite an interesting little concept we learned these past few weeks. Endure to the End.
Love,
Elder Cole Moffat
May 14, 2012
Here We Go, May 7, 2012
WELL. I`ve been here for January, February, March, and April. and I don`t have changes. which usually means i`d be here until June 19th. But, you see, this is my comp`s last change in the mission. So, he`s going to have super changes and leave the sector... and go to Buenos Aires. which means that unless there are special changes, they whitewash the sector, or they close the sector (none of which are likely), I`ll be here until at least the 31st of July. 3 more months, will make it 7 months total. Dad, if you thought staying in San Antonio for 3 months was huge, i`ll be here for a bit longer. Walking the same streets for 7 months straight is a bit much... but hey- it looks like the Lord is waiting for me to do something more here in this ward/this sector. I just need to figure out what it is, and DO IT. and soon. and President King said something that struck me. "your investigators won`t work harder than you do." And neither will the ward. I`m still trying to process the fact that I`m going to be here for 12 more weeks... It`s like an entire school year in one sector. but hey. "i`ll go where you want me to go"- or rather, "i`ll stay where you want me to stay." YEAH.
I love you all, and I`ll talk to you Sunday at 6:00 Chile/ 5:00 Chicago!
Love, Elder Cole Moffat
PS- I liked it when you sent pictures.... who cares if they`re random or old? Right?
April Showers, April 30, 2012
Thanks for the letters, eyres! and thanks
for dear eldering stuff, mom. Maddi´s training!! how good for her!
in her 4th transfer? What a BAWS. can you please send me the mission
address for Maddi (Chicago Mission) and Landon (some Bolivian Mission)
please? thanks! Happy Birthday to Stephen Patterson, Camila (who got
baptized in this ward this past july), and today my COMP, ELDER
GUZMAN!!!! He´s a great guy. keep going on that eagle project, Hayden!
and dad, I´m still always working on the language. i´ll continue even
after the mission working on it. I did try to read this flyer that was
given to us during this march, and i couldn´t understand half of it (All
i got was that they were pro- liberty in every aspect of life, anti
capitalism and anti government.... oh dear.....)
So,
my ankle is doing better. it doesn´t look like it did a few days
ago, which is good. Those pictures i sent were when it was bad and
super swollen. suuuuuper swollen. but thanks to icing it a few times,
this deep heat cream from familia Duran, this sac of beans that you
microwave and it heats up- also from familia Duran--, and the
priesthood, it´s much much better. not perfect, but getting there.
It´s funny. every Chilean is a doctor, or at least thinks they are.
you tell a Chilean your foot hurts bad, and they say, "I have a fix for
that! and it really works. others will tell you something else, but
this is really what will help." Well, 6 people will tell you 6 things,
and they all say theirs is the one that works..... "Icing it doesn´t
work." "I´ve already iced it and it´s helping." "...oh... well what
you really need to do is put a few spoonfuls of salt in there to help
give it nutrients." (?!?) "no no no! vinegar! You need to put vinegar
in the cold ice water!" yup yup. pretty funny stuff. So I trusted
what Hna. Duran said and gave me because A) she has her head on
straight, B) the cream was in English, from Australia, and C) her
husband was raised in America (Provo), and he has leg problems. and it
actually helped.
It
got pretty cold this week! and it rained with a few thunderings! how
nice! this week it´ll stay in the low to mid 70s, which is much better
than high 80s and 90s. but from here on out, it´ll be getting a bit
colder, with lots more rain.
Fabiola is...
progressing.
Prayers are what are going to help the situation. Prayers and animo.
But she loves reading the Book of Mormon, and knows she´s a better
person because of what she´s applying to her life. Time to whip out
the proclamation to the world: the FAMILY.
I
read "Cuarto Misionero" by Elder Coorbridge of the 70 (and the Chilean
Area President) that he wrote when he was a mission president. It´s
incredible. I´m asking the mission office for a copy of it in English,
and I´ll send a copy home to you, dad (I think you´ll find it
interesting, and it can also be applied to living the Gospel, not just
as missionaries), and I want to send a copy to Andrew before he leaves.
it´s incredible and really made me think. a lot. Man, I´ve gotta make
some changes. There´s always room to improve, because none of us are
perfect.
God doesn´t change. We do. We need
to change. Constantly. And why? because we´re not perfect. We all
need to change until we get to the point where we don´t need to change
anymore -- perfection. And if in this life we decide we are done
changing, we´re wrong, because perfection is impossible to attain in
this life. But we can progress and get a lot closer to perfection here
at the end of our lives than we were at the beginning, if we chose to
learn and grow. This perpetual process of Change towards perfection is
made possible through Jesus Christ, the son of the Perfect God. The
perfect God chose his only 100% Obedient Son to be the means by which we
can Change. trials, temptations, afflictions, sickness, and everything
HARD in our lives exist to help us either recognize the need to change
or develop some attribute of perfection, whether it be obedience,
humility, patience, love, submission, meekness, willingness to submit,
etc. As the prophet Amulek taught, "But that ye have patience, and bear
with those afflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest
from all your afflictions." When we have changed to perfection, we will
have experienced all. there will be no more trials or afflictions,
just as God, in his perfection, has no trial or affliction he must bear
in order to progress. IF WE CHOOSE to use trials as an opportunity to
apply the Atonement of Christ to change, we can have a firm hope that we
will come to perfection, where we will rest from all afflictions. This
is called Eternal Life. Que sea nuestra meta la vida eterna.
Elder Cole Moffat
April 25, 2012
Another week gone by, April 22, 2012
 |
| Cole's b-day shirt from Spencer |
Thanks for the emails, familia. and the
cards from val. I try and send letters when I can, but that is not
very often. I sent letters to maddie, chelz, and nate this week. But
here´s the thing. I´m scared to send some letters because it´s the end
of the school year and addresses will be changing all over the place!
people changing apartments, going home for summer, leaving for school,
it´s nuts. SO, i think from here on out, if you want a letter, you´re
going to have to write me one first with your address, even if it
doesn´t change. because I don´t know who´s is changing and who´s isn´t.
yeah. that. and, Happy birthday Jessica and Emily!
Good luck on
kicking off your Eagle Project hayden! and congrats on being such the
stud you are. Glad to hear your play went well and you had a good
time, Spence! Yes, dad, my teeth are okay. No stitches. it´s all
good.... but today we played ultimate frisbee on a huge field against zona
ochagavia (we got wrecked), and then we played soccer, and that´s when I
wrecked my ankle. definitely not broken. I have it in my brace I got
at the MTC and I can walk on it fine. give it a few days with the brace
and it´ll be back to normal. Elder Gehring is in Ochagavia, so it was
cool to see him there! Although I think my body is allergic to
post-highschool soccer . I´m sad to say, I´ve definitely lost most of
whatever touch I had. BUT. I still like it. :) I really like what you
said about following promptings. I´ll try and do that even more.
SO.
This week.... hmm.... I don´t know if I told you about the reference
we got from the Duran family? really awesome. The mom and her
son. However this past week was super intense. We knew she was
going through hard times with her pareja who moved out 8 months ago, but
last monday night, she completely opened up to us. woahhh. she´s got
some tough stuff going on in her life, and because of that, she´s really
sensitive to the spirit. She can tell when it´s there and when it´s
not. and thank you again, dad, for your advice of pointing out the
spirit when it´s there. because when I did that, she was able to
identify it in later visits. Monday, intense, Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Tuesday, we had a member with us in the chapel, and not knowing her
background, he kind of was pressuring her. and Wednesday, we taught the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and she told us that on
Tuesday, she didn´t feel the spirit as strong as she normally did, but
that when we taught about the restoration, she did. so great. Friday
we watched the restoration DVD, and then Yesterday, we talked about the
Plan of Salvation--- she totally gets it. We gave her little pamphlets
of the lessons to read before we teach them, and she read them and
basically did a 3 minute summary of the lesson for us. And it´s all
exactly what the doctrine says. she´s amazing! and her answer about
the book of mormon was that right after she prayed to know if it was
true, she really really felt like she should read it. and whenever she
reads it, she feels a warm peace. her family is now just giving her
crap for meeting with us and going to church and stuff. but it´s all
right. God will help her, if she exercises her faith in him. And she
has a lot of faith to exercise.
There is a
possibility that I will be here in San Miguel for a few more months, or I might leave May 8th. Yes, there are challenges in this sector, but there
are challenges in every sector-- different, but there are always ways
to improve every ward and branch in the world. I would not mind staying
here a few more months if the Lord wants me here. and yes, I get along
with my companion, Elder Guzman, very well. He´s going to end his
mission here. And he´ll finish strong. We´ll make sure of that. He´s
a good guy. me cae bien!
Mother´s day is
coming up!!! I can call May 12, 13, or 14. Give me a list of all your
available times when I can skype! fyi for that weekend, 12:00 in Chile
is 11:00 in Chicago.
I love youuuu all!
Elder Moffat
Temple Week, April 16, 2012
 |
| April Zone Conference, Santiago, Chile LDS Temple |
Thanks for the dearelder`d stuff, and also a thanks to Maddie Kleinhample for writing me. It`s super hard to find 2 minutes to write something by hand, so sorry if responses are delayed. But I`m working on it. Happy birthday to Brad Gresik, too! and
CONGRATS TO ANDREW WHITTLE (cousin) ON HIS MISSION CALL!!!!!! (Sendai, Japan) I`m super excited for you!
Where to even start for this week.... well, on Thursday, we went to the Temple! It makes me miss being able to go quite a few times before the mission and weekly in the MTC. definitely set a few goals post mission that have to do with the Temple and families and stuff. super awesome to be there with President King and his wife, and also my trainer, Elder Fuhriman, was there too. 3 zones a day for 4 days. it was San Miguel, Maipu, and la Costa. Yes, as a missionary, I am here not to bring people into the church, but to help them and prepare them to choose for themselves to make a sacred covenant with God through baptism. But I also realized that while baptism is absolutely necessary in their progression, we focus so much on it that it can seem like the end result "yay! we had a baptism!" but the much greater (and much less-common) achievement is "YAY! They progressed and were able to go make more sacred covenants with God in the temple!"
President King shared with us his--and now our --vision for Chile. 2 parts: one has to do with us being the best missionaries we can be to always have the spirit with us and to become the best teachers we can be. that`s not anything new. the second part was revelation (literally). Let me explain. Missionary work is the life blood of the church. a few prophets have said it. and at the end of chapter 1 of Preach My Gospel, there are a bunch of quotes from prophets about missionary work. What happens when a missionary decides to commit himself to being the best missionary he can be, and submitting himself and humbling himself before God by really doing missionary work? He is converted. He is converted by the power of the Spirit, because he is selfless, and really worrying a lot about other people. He`s serving! And in that process, he realizes his errors or weaknesses, and repents or does what is necessary to overcome the weaknesses. This is the second part of the Vision: what would happen if a less-active member got involved in missionary work? It would be a lot more effective than just sharing a spiritual thought, because 10 minutes later they`re not thinking about what you shared. But if they`re involved in something, it has a much more profound effect. and frankly, the majority of the 85-90% inactivity rate in Chile still has their basic testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, they just got offended or bored or didn`t really understand what that testimony means. What happens when you share your testimony of the Book of Mormon? It strengthens. Vision, part 2: involve less actives in the missionary work here in Chile. give them a transfusion of the life blood of the church: missionary work. And this could maybe be applied to other parts of the World, too. just a thought. pretty shweeeet!
ALSO, la familia Duran gave us a reference this week! we shared with them! they came to church! they liked it! They want us to come back! family night tonight with them in the casa de la familia Duran! YESSS. Fabiola, a young single mom going through some tough stuff, with her sons Ivan (13), and Alonzo (3). they`re really cool. It`s looking GOOD!
On a not so spiritual note, this morning we played ultimate frisbee and soccer in a park/field, and during ultimate frisbee I ran full speed and jumped straight into a nice metal pole. one of those an arm and a leg on each side of the pole, parallel with the ground type crashes. But I`m okay. and I held onto the Frisbee. Touchdown.
little things, now. in the next package, some facewash would be nice. like the nutragena grapefruit stuff. maybe a few. Also the 180 degree brand behind the neck earmuffs for when it starts getting cold. I NEED THE CARMELITA RECIPE! you probably sent it to me. but if you could send it again, I`d be so happy. also, the simple crepe recipe we have, I want it. if you can soon, it`ll be Elder Guzman`s birthday April 30th. A quick little card or something little would be cool. He goes home in June, so he told his family not to send him anything for his birthday (makes sense), so maybe a little card or something would be cool from the states.
And finally, because I have a few minutes..... recipe for HUMITAS!
12 ears of freaking HUGE corn (like 20 normal ears). save the husks.
2-3 medium onions (1 one big one)
4-5 basil leaves
salt and oil to taste.
cut the uncooked corn like you do for the little kids... and sometimes the big kids... and get as much of the corn as you can from the ear. put it all in a food processor until it becomes like a puree. grill the super finely chopped onions and basil leaves, and mix it in with the corn puree, adding oil and salt to taste. put the mush into the corn husk leaves and fold (maybe dad remembers, or look at pictures online), and tie them up. Put them in a pot of boiling water, with a spoonful of salt and a stem or leaf of basil. leave them there for 45-60 minutes, and eat ´em hot and with sugar. sooooo good. definitely will be making humitas when I get back.
Also, Milanesa, an Argentine staple:
thinly cut stake, coat it in eggs, and bread it with super fine breadcrumbs, finely cut garlic (not powder), and this other herb that I can`t remember.... no importa. and fry it in oil. serve with sliced tomatoes if you want. or just like that. also really good. and if you want, coat it in eggs, bread it, then coat it in eggs again, then bread it again, THEN fry it. ricisimo!
Well, that`s all, folks.
I love you and miss you.
Elder Cole Moffat
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