In terms of the letters I got from you, mom and dad, sounds like you had a pretty interesting weekend. Good ol´ panama city part 2: The CRUISE. fun stuff! and sounds like the Halloween celebrations were also a little different/ interesting. But thanks for the picture! I can´t print it or anything, but it was good to look at :) and maybe when I bring my hard drive and/or bring my camera I´ll save it on there. Lookin´good, spencer! with braces!! I´m not sure i´ve seen those yet! nice. Also, if you can fit hair gel in the package, that´d be great. if not, i´ll find some. and I´ll buy sheets. We´ll go over to Totus within the next few weeks. It´s like a Dominicks or something like that. I´m sure they have sheets. also, Elder Fuhriman says to send that package within the next few weeks. Otherwise it´ll be in the holiday rush and get here late (like his did last year). Also, if you want to fit the stuff into a bubble padded yellow envelope thing, those seem to not get broken into as much. I guess people don´t think you´ll send expensive stuff in something other than a box (which is kind of true) but either way is fine. just only put "missionary supplies" and "ropa para los muertos" on the slip with some virgin mary pictures and it´ll be fine. the envelopes may be a little faster, too. Also, I´ll send some letters to people this coming week.... although I don´t know how many... you´d be surprised how LITTLE TIME there is to write letters.
Laundry and Ironing is fine, mom. Some Hermanas in our ward do our laundry for us, and we have literally the best iron i´ve ever used in my life in our pension. absolutely amazing. I´m honestly going to write down the brand and model and get it when I get back. amazing. also, I play piano for sacrament meeting every Sunday. and the other night when we had a little meeting at the capilla some elders kept flipping to random hymns and made me transition from one to the other, to another, to another for about a half hour. it´s good practice!
BUSY WEEK just happened. Tuesday to Wednesday Morning I did a Split with Elder Lopez (Guatamalteco in his 3rd change) in the sector next to ours. we walked SOOO much, but being with a latin in Chile requires 0 English and 100% spanish. so it was good to be completely submurged. Then I was with Elder Fuhriman for a few hours, then back with Elder Lopez for Wednesday night to Thursday Morning in our sector. We taught a good lesson 3 to C and answered a lot of questions she had about Baptism and why and how and who and all that. it went really well. Then I was with Elder Fuhriman for a few hours on Thursday and taught a good lesson and bore testimony about why I know the Book of Mormon is true and my experience with it. THEN Thursday night, guess who came to my sector to be my companion for a few days? ELDER GEHRING! yep, two 3-week old greenies as companions from Thursday night to Saturday morning. Yes, we did 20 contacts on Friday, and taught 2 lessons! and in one of them, committed an inactive couple to set little goals for themselves to achieve their big goal: being sealed in the temple. and shared a spiritual thought with another inactive family. BOOM greenie power! Then on Saturday morning, we went to Cinco de Abril (really really nice stake center) to hear from President King, Pres. Kemp the president of the MTC in Chile, and President Snow, of the Presidency of the 70. Really really good stuff. We met up with our companions there.. Then Saturday night, we did a "cosechón," and with 3 other companionships in the zone, plus a bunch of members, we did 24 hours of work in just 3 hours.
With C, it went really well, because she realized the doubts she was having weren´t hers but those close to her that are criticizing her desire to be baptized, so she´s gung ho on being baptized the 20th of November. yay! So all in all, a pretty busy freaking week. phew!
Some notes from the devotional with Pres Snow: Always ask myself what have I learned this week? And take note as blessings come (like you said, dad). ALWAYS keep studying and learning. Then he talked to us about the Holy ghost and the gift of the holy ghost. and in order for us to receive inspiration in our lives, we need to be taking ACTION. what do we need to do to have the spirit with us? Study. Pray, Be obedient. Trust in the Lord. Etc. All of these things are ACTIONS. so what do investigators need to do to receive a witness from the same spirit? TAKE ACTION. I really like how he applied that to us.
Also, this is for Hayden, Spencer and Luke, and is a great analogy that Pres. Snow gave: If you had a gift to open for Christmas, would you wait until after Valentine´s day to open it? No, stupid, you wouldn´t. you´d open it on Christmas. :P So you have the Gift of the Holy Ghost, just as was given in The time of the New Testament as recorded in Acts. You have it. Are you going to let it just sit on the shelf until later, until you´re a little older, until you´re in high school, or college or on your mission? No! don´t do that! You were given this gift, so open it and use it NOW. this is what President Snow Asked us-- how many of you missionaries waited until just a few months, weeks, or even days ago to open the Gift of the Holy Ghost in your Lives? wouldn´t it have been so much better to have it way way earlier? and I thought to myself.... ummm yeah that would have been a really good idea. durrrr. yeah. insight of the week. Also, as a side note, i wrote this down as we were reading some epiness out of nephi: "Can´t wait to hear Nefi give a Talk!" man, that´ll be good.
2 Ne 2 and 9 are really good. I read those this week in Spanish. 2 Ne 2 just lays out the WHY of everything. why opposition? why does Satan exist? why did the Fall have to happen? What does the Savior mean to us? yeah. epic and simple. Also, By the End of my mission, I want to have read El Libro de Mormón 3 times, Book of Mormon 3 times, and New Testament, DyC, and PoGP each once (I´ll see which language when I get to them).
Keep being awesome at home, having fun and all that! I miss you soo much, but i´m too busy to get homesick-- or to sleep for that matter. But don´t worry about me, mom. i´m fine. just perseveren hasta el fin!
Siempre Suyo,
Elder Cole Moffat
