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.