December 28, 2015

Friends and family,

Oh boy. Merry late Christmas everyone! And have a happy new year this
week! I sent a tiny email two weeks ago because I was short on time
and then didn't have a working iPad last week to send anything on. So
it's been a while.

Things are still going alright here but we want to kick them up. Our
goal is to have 5 lessons a week with a member present and 2 at
sacrament meeting each Sunday. Those are missionary terms for some of
the things we help people do.

Did you read Luke 2 about the Christmas story? I read it several times
before and on Christmas Day and it was great! If you didn't, you
should! Also, 3 Nephi 1 is a great Book of Mormon story that happens
at the same time but on the other side of the world. Both of those
stories testify of the same thing and it's amazing how two totally
different groups of people can respond so differently to miracles and
signs like that!

So that'll be the challenge this week, read those chapters if you
didn't last week. It doesn't count if you read them in the past. You
should read them again. If you did just barely read them last week,
ponder them and think of something you should do to act on what you
learned.

Have a great rest of this 2015th year since Christ came that seemed to
fly by! Hopefully 2016 is even better for each of you!

-Elder Moon

December 14, 2015

Family and Friends,

Well I have one minute, so love you all! Sorry I forgot to email
anything today! I'm alive and wish you all a merry Christmas!

-Elder Moon

December 8, 2015

Friends and family,

This is the same explanation for all the emails I'm sending, just copying and pasting it. Sorry I didn't email yesterday, we had a zone conference so our preparation day was moved to today. The cool thing is Elder Gregory A Schwitzer (gave the talk "Let the Clarion Trumpet Sound" last general conference, the October 2015 one) came and spoke to us! And he interviewed a few missionaries beforehand and I was one of those people who got interviewed! That was cool! He just asked some get to know you and your family type questions and things like that, but it was cool!

Besides that awesome zone conference not much is different here. We went to the temple today and have been doing more work with the investigators. Hopefully I'll have more stories in the coming weeks. Some things are worth writing about, but most are just stuck in my journal and haven't made it to emails yet. 

Challenge this week is listen to Christmas music! Have a great week!

-Elder Moon

November 23, 2015

Friends and family,

Ready for Thanksgiving everyone!? Well it's here! I might be that guy you hate, but I'm so pumped for Christmas! I love that time of year even though Thanksgiving hasn't happened. But I'll patiently wait. Thanksgiving is awesome too!

This last week was full of plowing through all our people and seeing who's ready and who isn't really interested. We found some were actually more interested than we thought AND we found new people in that quest to visit everyone. There's more for this week though, so it'll probably be much like this last week. But it was a good week, so I'm excited for the next few days. I hope that made sense... 

Challenge for this week, make a list of 100 things you're thankful for! You don't need to send it to me, but if you do I will read it :)

Thanks for the childhood memories everyone who shared them with me! Have a wonderful Turkey Day!!

-Elder Moon

November 16, 2015

Family and Friends,

Well we set a baptismal date with Juna this week. She's a person we met a few weeks ago. Pray for her to desire to continue progressing toward that big step near the end of December!

I will be staying here in Lewiston getting a new companion so that'll be fun. We had a slower week this last week trying to contact several people we'd talked to before and lost touch with. I also got to go on exchanges with a Zone Leader and he re emphasized how we need to focus on the elect. If people aren't progressing and aren't really interested now, drop them for future missionaries to come by later when they're more prepared. It's not rude to drop them, it shows you love them enough to patiently wait for them to be ready. 

Challenge this week! Share a favorite childhood memory (anything high school or younger, so not really childhood but whatever) with someone you care about! Love you all and have a great week!

-Elder Moon

November 9, 2015

Friends and Family,

This week we didn't almost get shot, so that's a plus! We had some good lessons and had a total of 5 lessons taught with members present, so that's good! We got other members involved that usually don't come out with us, so progress is in the works! I just realized every sentence I type ends with "so_____" after the first part, so I guess I'm consistent!

We have a new rule in our mission of "out the door in 44" which now includes meal appointments. That will be hard to follow because we have to have a spiritual thought and eat all in that time. Some of you are thinking "that's not too hard" which is right. But the difficult aspect comes in when we consider the traditions of the members here. They're very used to an hour, so things will seem rushed and some might take offense (that we're more concerned with the clock than their needs). So my advice is be thankful for the freedom you have now and don't take it for granted!

That leads me to this week's challenge: use your agency (ability to choose) to increase your agency. Choose to kick an addiction to free yourself from those chains (giving you freedom from that addiction). Choose to give to others to then have somebody indebted to you and have the freedom to control them (ok, maybe not for that reason, that was a joke people). But really, find a way to use your agency to increase it! 

And, as always, have a great week!

-Elder Moon

November 2, 2015

Friends and Family,

Well there was a crazy story that we were part of yesterday. We were tracting (going door to door) and this man came out at this one house, yelling and swearing at us to go away. So we left as he requested. I said as we walked away "we were just offering service" and he said "I'll show you service!" Oh, a small detail I forgot to mention: he was pointing a gun at us when he opened the door. So that was fun! But neither of us got shot, so all is well!

Other than that exciting news and some drama within the ward and some misunderstandings we had to deal with, everything went well. Hope everyone's week went well and this next one will go even better!

This week's challenge is to pray. If you already do pray daily, find a way to make those prayers more meaningful!

-Elder Moon

October 19, 2015

Well, this is my addition for this week: Christ lives! Two simple words, but they're filled with incomprehensible truth! And the challenge, which doesn't relate to that declaration at all: what song reminds you the most of me?

Have an even better blast this week than last week everyone!

Caption:  New haircut!

October 12, 2015

Friends and family,

I want to clarify my comment last week: "I truly am superior to him and must win every time." That was an example of what my prideful side would say. I don't actually think I'm superior to him. I was just saying that's the side of me that I have to subdue and conquer. That kind of attitude would most definitely be prideful and that's what I was working to avoid. So letting someone have the victory is one way we can destroy those tempting thoughts of supremacy. 

But yes, we definitely need to avoid those thoughts every time we can. Anyway, one great way to overcome pride is by loving others. Sometimes it's hard, but it's good to do and a happy way to live.

Miracle of the week! Several weeks ago we met a man out jogging named Shevah. He didn't give us any contact info so we just deleted him out of our records last week. Like 5 days later we happened to run into him and he gave us a number to call! Crazy!! So we added him back to the records but I thought there was NO WAY we could possibly find him again. And he found us! What a blessing! We also had Stephanie and her daughter come to church and they want to come next week with her whole family! That's awesome!!

Anyway, challenge of the week is to ponderize a scripture of your choice! Pick a verse you like or don't know or anything in between. Then memorize it and think about it several times every day. Tell me what happens because of it!

Happy Birthday to my favorite sister, Lauren!!!

Have a blast this week everyone!

-Elder Moon

Who has time to carry two loads??

October 5, 2015

Family and friends,

Well this last week I thought of some ways to be less prideful. One way was doing other people's dishes without making some snide comment about how "it'd be nice if people would do their own dishes" or something like that. Just silently serving. I also determined I would let a Elder G"out-kick" me at the end of our morning jog we do each day (minus Sunday). He started kicking and I just let him beat me because I usually just out kick him when he thinks he can beat me. I am truly superior to him and MUST win every time, so I do! But that's prideful, so I just sucked it up on Saturday and let him finish first. I then spent several different segments of time wishing I had just out-kicked him and won so I would be able to say I always won, but that was just self-defeating (since I knew I needed to let him finish first for my pride to begin to die). Pride is annoying.

Anyway, thanks for all the responses and general conference was awesome this last weekend! Check out some of the talks at lds.org! There are some pretty awesome ones! 

This week's challenge is to think of a challenge for me! And then do it too, so you can't pick something impossible because you'll be just as accountable! Hope everything goes well for everyone this coming week!

-Elder Moon

Caption:Elder G informed me that strainers don't work like funnels (I knew this, I just spilled a lot...haha)

September 28, 2015

Friends and family,

Another good week. Some other missionaries in our ward had a baptism and we had an investigator named Stephanie and her kids attend that! It was awesome! She's read over half the Book of Mormon within the last 2 weeks, holy cow! Talk about dedication!!

We are having a hard time getting lots of our appointments to actually happen. People here are willing to set them but either aren't home when we show up or say "now's not a good time." If anyone has ideas of how to solve that problem, that would be great! 

Thanks and special shout out to my band director, math teacher, Amanda, my grandparents, and my mom (and anyone I forgot) for telling me their favorite Christmas songs! Funniest one I got was Mr Bayless's choice, Los Peces En El Rio. I haven't heard that song in a very long time! Lots of "Oh Holy Night" responses too! Mine is Angels We Have Heard on High, but Hark the Harold Angels Sing is a close second... however, like my dad's mom, in the last few years I've really liked the 4th verse of "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." So that's that.

New challenge: For this week, find a way you're prideful and STOP IT! If you're too competitive (now I support good competition that motivates us to improve, but I mean the "I'm superior to you" competitiveness), be willing to be a cheerful loser if/when you lose. If you're too rude to a spouse, child, parent, or friend, be extra nice this week, even if they deserve it. Suck up your pride and be generous. You'll be a true winner that way. 

Have a great week!

-Elder Moon

September 21, 2015

Friends and family,

Well this last week wasn't as much based on numbers, but was just as awesome! We had several lessons and some people were excited to learn while others were not. That's the joy of being a missionary, some people love to listen and others feel you're wasting their time.

Challenge of the week: Tell me your favorite Christmas song! I know that's a long time from now, but Christmas is a great time and everyone is happy then, so why not now?!

Sorry this was shorter than normal, and that its after 6 NY time, we had a zone Pday activity which was fun but I hate when they go over time. I'm talking to the mission president about it.

-Elder Moon

Here's Canada!!

September 14, 2015

Friends and family,

This last week was awesome! We gave out 52 copies of the Book of Mormon, had 48 other lessons, and found 11 new investigators! That is incredibly more than I've ever seen done! It was definitely a week filled with blessings!

For reporting on my failure this last week to be more healthy, I didn't eat as much junk (treats) and exercised more. Didn't really change much weight wise, but I was healthier. 

This week's challenge is to share something you believe with someone, anyone! A friend, a stranger, a sinking or relative or anyone! 

Know that I know the Book of Mormon is true. Having passed out as many copies as we did this last week, I had the opportunity to share what is was SEVERAL times. It's another testament of Jesus Christ. So if you like the bible, see what's in the Book of Mormon! There are verses in both the old and new testaments that reference it, and it verifies the truthfulness of the bible, so they complete one another! I love both books!

We'll have a great week everyone!

-Elder Moon

September 7, 2015

Friends and family,

Well this last week was good, but this coming week will be better! We
met more people and gave out 10 copies of the Book of Mormon. But we
can do better! In regards to my challenge last week, I started
learning to cook and make more things on my own. The con of that is I
made ice cream and other treats, so I gained a few pounds rather than
lose them... So I'll try to swap that around this coming week so as to
not be a hypocrite!

This week's challenge is to repent of something you've done in the
past (long ago, recently, or presently). This was inspired by my
having not done my last challenge.

A scripture for the week is Mosiah 2:41. It's in the Book of Mormon.
If you don't own a copy, you can request one on Mormon.org for free,
or you can read it free online. Several websites have irk including
lds.org.

I hope everyone has a great week and thanks to everyone who gave me
ideas or emailed me personally about the challenge!

-Elder Moon

August 31, 2015

Friends and Family,

Sorry this is coming late, we had a combined zone activity today 2
hours away, which means 4 hours driving round trip, so we have been
given extra time to finish emails and shopping and other necessities
tonight. Thanks to everyone who sent their favorite songs and told me
about their experiences reconnecting! Shout out to a high school band
friend who chose me as their friend to reconnect with!

So I'm now in Lewiston NY and things are slow. My new companion and I
are both new to the area so it's interesting trying to meet people and
get things rolling! But challenge accepted! It'll be fun, and hard,
but most of all, it'll be a good experience to push myself to give
more than I've ever given of myself and learn to love more people more
perfectly.

Challenge of the week, this is a thought I had the other day: We would
be a lot more healthy and fit if all the calories we ate and all the
exercise we did affected our spouse's body, not ours. We wouldn't eat
that extra cookie and we'd push ourselves to jog one more lap because
we want our spouse to be healthy and fit. But when it's our own body,
we justify eating that extra candy bar and skip our daily set of push
ups because, well, we are happy with how we look. But think, your body
is a temple Heavenly Father has given you. I'm not married, so I can't
think about eating my spouse's calories or exercising for them, but I
do love God and want to please Him. The challenge this week is to
choose healthy foods and do a little more exercise than we usually do
to make our temples more "fit" for the kingdom! Love God enough by
taking care of the body He has blessed us with!

Also, let me know what some of your ideas are so I can use and spread
them! Have a great week everyone!

-Elder Moon

August 24, 2015

(No Su

Well, if any of you (or all of you) didn't get an email last week
that would be because I completely forgot to send one! Sorry about
that!

So my favorite song... Oh that's a hard one. I love 80's music and
hymns Disney music. I would have to say as of right now, my favorite
one is "You're the Inspiration" by Chicago. Thanks everyone who
answered that! Music is a wonderful thing that can cause many feelings
and emotions that would not be discovered any other way. I love music!

Well I'll be transferred to Lewiston New York tomorrow and will bid
Geneseo goodbye! I'm excited to have the opportunity to go somewhere
new and hit the ground running!

This week's challenge is to contact one of your old friends you
haven't contacted in a while. One quote I've heard recently is "we're
so connected that we aren't connecting" as in we are so linked
together through social media that we aren't actually connecting
(talking, interacting, spending time with each other physically
present rather than virtually). I thought that was awesome, so I
wanted to share it! Let me know how it goes (if it isn't too
personal)!

Everyone, have a great week!

-Elder Moon

August 10, 2015

Friends and Family, 

 Well my question is how can you love the sinner and hate the sin? It's
easy to hate the sin, but sometimes I find myself hating the sinner
too. If I knew how to answer this question, I'd be much better than I
am now. But I think the answer is practice. Constantly trying and
serving and praying for a change of heart to see others the way God
sees them.

Thanks for everyone who sent their questions, all of like 3 people.
Haha, but that's fine. 

This week's challenge is to tell me what your
favorite song is and why (religious, pop, rock, any genre).

I'm doing well, we've seen a few miracles this last week. One lady was
super excited to get a copy of the Book of Mormon and was anxious to
read it (which never happens). We were about to walk down Main Street
and just try to meet people, but I got a thought "go to the Gaby
family" and I thought to myself "nah" and immediately the same thought
came into my mind as surprisingly as if it was a new thought "go to
the Gaby's" so I asked my companion "do you want to go to the Gaby's?"
And he said "yeah." So we walked over there and gave someone a copy of
the Book of Mormon on the way, and as it turns out, the Gaby's were
there and we sat and taught a lesson and invited them to a member's
house (their friends) for another lesson later on! It was amazing! 

 That's all from Elder Moon, everyone have a great week! 

 -Elder Moon 

PS shout out to my awesome sister who gave a phenomenal homecoming
talk yesterday!!

Hey dad---look at this!  (fake dunk!)

August 3, 2015

Friends and family,

Well this week was good. We had a few crazy people yell at us and ask us random strange questions and lots of rejection, but we also had lots of success. For example (on the less positive side) I went up to one man walking by and said "hey sir, how are you?" And he yelled "GO!! I'm tired of talking to preachers!!" That was a little crazy...

I'm pretty sure he was crazy too, or on drugs based on the way he turned and looked at us and all. But everyone deserves to be loved.

So a note of apology, the first few emails I've sent have been a little forceful about reading the Book of Mormon or other things. I apologize if I seemed to take away your agency (free will/ability to choose). Everyone has their own choices to make. However, it's still true that you won't know until you try. So I invite (not force) you to give it a shot! The worst that could happen is you get sucked into goodness and spend more time than you expected deeply thinking about what is written. :)

I will be honest, I didn't pick a specific thing to increase my faith in Christ this last week among the rush of last week. But I finished the Book of Mormon for the 8th time and still know it's true, and that increased my faith in Him!

This week's challenge: think of a question, preferably a spiritual question, and then ask me. I'll give you my answer next week, but also pray about it and see what you learn!

With love,

-Elder Moon

July 27, 2015

Friends and family,

Super quick email today because I'm short on time. Thanks to everyone who sent me their favorite New Testament scripture! Mine is John 7:17.

I hope everyone has a great week and for those who are concerned with how I'm doing, I'm doing just fine! Service and sharing the gospel is a blast! My sister just made it home safely from her mission, way to return with honor (which is different from getting honorably released, you can get honorably released from full time missionary service and not return with honor, but my sister is doing both today, yay sister!).

Challenge for this week: pick one way to improve your faith in Christ and let me know what it is, then follow up and report on how it went!

Love,

-Elder Moon

July 20, 2015

Friends and family,

Well I'm super excited to be with a new companion. My last companion and I were complete opposites so we clashed a lot. We still got along and did work, but it was rough. This new companion and I agree on lots of things and work together well. We will have many new stories from the new level of work we will be doing from raising our bar!

We had one progressing investigator and when we came in he said this will be our last meeting together. We asked him why and he said he likes his church and doesn't want to change. We explained we aren't trying to push anyone anywhere and only want to add to what people have. We read parts of Mosiah 3 and talked about the restoration again. He then committed to read from and pray about the what? You guessed it! The Book of Mormon! And we also scheduled another meeting with him (refer to the statement above about this being our last meeting). Miracles happen my friends!!

So, my favorite attribute is charity/love. My math teacher from freshman and sophomore year sent an awesome email about her thoughts on this and I completely agree with her! I think this attribute is the most important (it says it's the most important in the scriptures too) but it really is! If you're full of love toward God first and everyone else second and THEN yourself, you'll always be happier because you're focusing OUT and not IN!

Anyway, this week's challenge: send me your favorite New Testament scripture! Tell me what it is and why you love it!

-Elder Moon

July 13, 2015

Friends and Family,

So this week is transfer week, which means missionaries get swapped
around a little. I'm staying here but my trainer is going on to be an
assistant to the president (one of the responsibilities missionaries
can have). So Elder W is leaving me and Elder L will join
me!

I'd like to thank my grandma, mother, aunt, and cousin (that's who I
remember, sorry if I forgot to mention you) for sending me their
testimonies of the Book of Mormon! The Hill Cumorah Pageant started
this last week and it's all about that wonderful book! After the rest
of you send in your testimonies, venture out to Palmyra NY and check
out the pageant! It's free and parking is free too!

As I said before, Christ-like attributes this week! Send me your
favorite ones and a list of ones you want to work on this week! As an
added bonus, tell me what you're going to do to WORK ON THEM this
week!! :)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. It is the
ONLY church on earth that has the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ without minor flaws in its doctrine. If you do not believe this
or are offended by it, I'll take a moment to apologize for undue
offense. I respect every individual's beliefs and don't want to put
anyone down for what they believe in. But I do not apologize for my
bold declaration of the truth. Some of you laugh or roll your eyes and
mutter "truth." That is fine. You have your agency (right and ability
to make your own choices). Before you move on though, but after you
roll your eyes and mumble, ask yourself this question: "what if he's
right?" Jared Moon, now Elder Moon, may have a track record for being
right often, and maybe he doesn't. But of this I know I am right. This
church is true. The only way you can KNOW if it is true (not just deny
it) is if you read and pray about the Book of Mormon. Please do this.
I promise you will regret NOT taking this challenge (if you haven't
already) at judgement day. Please do it for your own best interests.
It will bless your life beyond measure, beyond what you believe right
now. I'm giving 2 whole years of my life, the prime years of my life,
for this. The least YOU can do is read and pray about it.

With love,

-Elder Moon

Pictures-

Palmyra Pageant!

First day in the mission with President and Sister Francis at the place it ALL began!

July 6, 2015

Dear friends and family,

Sorry about this week's email. It won't be near as profound as last week. This week I'll tell you more about people here. Bill is a progressing investigator. That means he's learning and doing the things we commit him to. Like if we say "will you study the scriptures and pray" and he says "yes" then "progressing investigator" means they actually do it. He will get baptized if he comes to know the Book of Mormon is true. Austin Prince was a miracle. We got a referral (a name sent to us to go meet) with his name. We met him and found out he was a former investigator (met with missionaries before and then dropped them for one reason or another) and he was open to letting us in. He's excited to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. He said he'd be baptized if he got an answer. When we asked if he would, he gestured to the verses we just read (Mosiah 18:8-10) and said "well, why not?!" That was incredible!

Readers of this email, please read the Book of Mormon. I promise you it is true. It could NOT have been made up by Joseph Smith! Study it and you'll soon find out how that theory is impossible. It was inspired. Inspired either by God who prompted the ancient prophets 2000 years ago to write, or it was inspired by Satan. As you read, you'll find that it encourages us to do good. Satan cannot prompt us to do good, he has to tempt us to do bad. So, therefore, it is inspired of God. I can answer any contradictory opinion and I can refute any opposition with evidence in the book and historical proof. But my evidence will be nothing compared to your own. That evidence will come as you read and pray. As you ask God if it's true, you will find the answer. I promise. And God promises. Just give it a shot! What if it was true and you never found that out because you never read it? There's only one way to know for yourself!

I'll continually come back to this book. I'll bring it up over and over, especially since some of my friends receiving this email haven't read it. I have friends that are Baptist, Catholic, Hindu, Methodist, etc. You are not members of the church I have joined. I'm not telling or asking anyone to change. I'm just asking you (Mormons and non-Mormons) to read the Book of Mormon, again if you already have. Then:

Respond and share your testimony of this book with me! I want to know who believes it is true! And I want to know how you've come to know that! That's your homework! Next week's is to send a list of Christ like attributes you love, so be ready to make that list for next week!

-Elder Moon

June 29, 2015

Friends and family,

So this is the first time I'm actually sending this. As many of you
know I'm bad at all things technology. I usually sent this to my mom,
who then logged in and forwarded it on or something like that. Today
is the day I try it myself! So you might get this once, twice, three
times, or no times! Gotta love trouble shooting.

So today I will share part of my testimony. I won't share any stories
or any details of what I've been doing here besides that I've been
working and serving and trying to be better and invite others to do
the same. No stories or experiences this week because I feel a need to
express what I believe without distraction.

God lives. He loves us. He is involved in His work and glory to bring
about our eternal life. He is all knowing and all powerful. There is
not and will not be a task too great that is beyond His power or that
surpasses His ability. There is not and will never be a truth He
doesn't already know. His plan for our salvation is flawless and
unchanging. There is no need and will not be a need to change an
unchangeable plan, to perfect a perfect plan, or to refine a refined
plan. It is t a plan that is as eternal as God Himself and we are to
act in accordance with that plan. We may not and frankly do not know
or understand all the details, but we know enough to play our parts
and do our duty. One of the great pieces of His plan, the fundamental
unit of society, and the binding tie that holds us all together is His
ordained version of a group of individuals coming together in a unity
known as "the family." The family is of God and was instituted by Him
back when Adam and Eve walked this earth. Marriage between a man and a
woman is how He intended us to marry and be given in marriage. The
family is not something that has been delegated to us to destroy and
defame at our discretion. We have no authority to redefine what The
Almighty has defined. I do not say this to unrighteously and
disrespectfully offend or contend with others. But I stand by my
Father in Heaven and declare to the world that the family is of God
and marriage is to be had in the way He organized it. I respect the
opinions and stances and rights, privileges, and beliefs of everyone
everywhere, and I ask that everyone everywhere respect mine. There
will always be a diversity of opinions, but there will never be a
diversity of truth. Truth is as complete, perfect, and unchangeable as
God, and if it were to change with time, it would cease to be truth
and God would cease to be God. BUT GOD WILL NOT CEASE TO BE GOD. He is
eternal. Truth is eternal. My determination to stand by those truths
is also eternal, and I boldly declare that in the name of Jesus
Christ, Amen.

I hope everyone has an amazing week and finds ways to stand for truth
in a loving and peaceable way. Truths must be defended, but the root
of God's truth is love. May we all defend truth the way Christ
defended truth, through pure love.

Love,

-Elder Moon

June 22, 2015

Dear friends and family,

Missions are awesome! We've met so many people and talked to them and done so much service! I love it here! I've learned so much about the gospel and there's only more to learn! 

Scripture for the week, Isaiah 65:5 "I am Holier than thou." It's true. I am holier than all of you. Haha, just kidding! Christ is holier than all of us and the way I apply this is through Isaiah 55:8-9. His ways are higher than ours and sometimes He asks us to do things that don't make any sense. They don't sound smart or logical. But His reasons are above us. We can't comprehend His reasons that sometimes seem to us like tedious, irrelevant, and even stupid things. But as we obey, we will see the blessings that come (D&C 130:20-21).

Funny thought: somebody said "My step dad didn't have a drinking problem, he was VERY good at it!" Hahaha!

Alright, our challenge for the mission is to flood the world with the Book of Mormon. If you don't have a copy, you can easily obtain a free copy through the missionaries in your area! If you haven't read it all the way through, READ IT!! It's another testament of Jesus Christ and like the Bible, it gives us what we need to improve our lives. If you read my emails, please read this book. I know it can help you with wherever you are in life. Even if you think you're all set or if you've read it 100 times. Read it for the first time or the 101st time. It will be worth it.

Enjoy your week!

-Elder Moon

June 15, 2015

Dear friends and family,

This last week was great! I had a fun birthday yesterday and we met lots of new people these last few days! I've been doing well and love it here! There's a lot of work to do, but we've been staying on top of it for the most part. We taught a few lessons and did some service. Lots of people ignore us or refuse to talk to us because they think we're going to try and force something on them. If only they would take the time to listen to us. We aren't doing that at all! We're sharing uplifting messages and serve those in need (or even just people who want help). 

Here's a conversation we had with one man: We said "how are you?" And he ignored us, so we said "hey, would it be alright if we left you with a card to our website today?" And he said "do you want a beer?" And we chuckled and said "no, did you want a card?" And he said "do you want some weed, some beer?!" And so we said "oh, we're good" so he said "do I push my beer and weed on you?" And we said "no" so he said "then don't push that crap on me" or something, so we said "alright, have a great day!"

Yeah, gotta love people. Anyway, here's a scripture for the week: John 7:17. You'll have to look it up to see what it says because I'm not copying it here! Mainly because it talks about DOING God's will, so you have to ACT to read it. The King James Version of the bible will give you the exact wording I used, so I recommend that one. The challenge for this scripture is to learn something new about God's will (commandments, bible story, anything from scriptures really) and then go DO it to learn for yourself if it is true! I know that if you do this sincerely, and throw in a prayer specifically asking for help to understand His will personally, you will receive a witness, because you receive no witness until AFTER the trial of your faith! So try your faith this week!

-Elder Moon

June 8,2015

Dear friends and family,

I'm in New York! Life is good, but very boring right now. This last
week was full of training and videos and online things to register and
set up and man, it was not as much fun. But now that all of that is
over, this week will be great! We met a few people and hopefully we
will meet a lot more now that we can go do stuff! We'll be serving,
sharing messages, teaching, and just improving the community in
general!

One thing I would say to everyone reading this (whether you're a
member of this church or not) is to not shut people out. Anyone. If
they're selling something, maybe it's something you'd want, but you'd
never know until you learn what it is. And even if you don't want it,
you can have an awesome conversation with someone new, you can learn
about a new product (who knows, maybe you'd get an idea for your own
million dollar invention), and you'd make a new friend. Same with
other religions or political groups or organizations. You might change
your mind, you might find something new that you like, and you'd at
least learn something new and make a new friend.

That's all the news from Elder Moon today. I hope you all have a
wonderful week and a great upcoming AMAZING Flag Day holiday (it's
kind of an awesome holiday because my parents were blessed with an
incredible child *cough cough me cough cough*). It became a great
holiday because of me, you're welcome America. Anyway, farewell friends
and family!

-Elder Moon

PS.. from Mom- no normal pictures, but he did send these.  Gotta love missionaries with iPads!  He is serving in Geseseo, New York.

May 29, 2015

Friends and Family,

I'm in the MTC (missionary training center, not Mormon torture chamber unlike some might think it is). It's fun and very busy, so this will be a short email. I've learned a lot and one of my favorite speakers (Elder Jeffrey R Holland) came to speak to us on Tuesday night! I totally recommend looking up pretty much any of his talks, but especially "None Were With Him." It's amazing and it can change your life! I leave for New York this Monday and will start real missionary stuff then and I'm so excited! I hope all is well for each reader of this and I'll try to put more next week. One caution for the next 2 years: I might not have much time ever, so short sweet and to the point emails might be the norm, which is good for those who don't want to read much anyway!

-Elder Moon