Week 33 - Mar 12, 2018 - Planeta Rica - Week 3

Well after a few days in the hospital, they let my companion leave Wednesday afternoon. However, he is still not to do any work for at least a week. So let me tell you what has gone on. When we got to the hospital one of our members that speaks English and Spanish was there and helped us out a ton. Then Sister Calderon (Presidents wife) arrived and everything went well with the surgery. I got to stay with my companion here at the Hospital, and lets just say they didn't like us sleeping, because every 15 minutes it felt as if someone would come into our room and turn on the light, not really do anything, and then leave, leaving the light on and the door open. It wakes up my companion all the time and he needs to rest. The first few days was pretty stressful in the hospital, I slept on the couch, and was able to travel with the zone leader to the house to shower and pick up things for me and my comp and return. Also with us in the hospital was Sister Fernanda, who is like our mother here in Planeta Rica, both her and President's wife made sure they took good care of us. We also have a member in the ward that just had his appendix taken out here so he has helped us out a bunch. I love the members here so much, they are awesome and have helped us out so much! The only down side of being in the hospital was everyone was either calling or coming by to check in on us. Like literally every 15 minutes we were talking to someone. Our dueno of our apartment is such a good guy, he came by a few times and made sure we were alright, and told us to call him if we needed anything. So most of our time in the hospital we spent watching church movies, so it was OK, but we were so glad to finally be able to leave and head home. I lost track of what day it was, but we finally got home and continued to watch church movies. Thursday I went with a member while his son stayed with my comp, and I bought a lot of stuff to clean and sterilize the house. I have been cleaning everything, I didn't realize how much stuff there is to clean and sterilize. I have learned a lot. I really have learned to appreciate everything that my mom did for me. She always had the house clean, and always went above and beyond when we were sick. I sure do wish she was here now! Staying in the house is difficult because we keep losing electricity in the whole city, and occasionally the water doesn't work. After spending the last few days in the hospital and now here in the house, I really miss going out and talking to the people and teaching lessons. At first we thought it was going to be 21 days, but my companion said we can start preaching in 7 days.

We can't really leave the house for the next few days, so the members have been great and have brought us a ton of food over. We have ate really well, and have had a lot of chicken. My companion is getting better, but it still hurts for him to walk around a lot, so he stays in bed for most of the time. I got to read the Book of Mormon and that was awesome to just sit and read and study the scriptures for a long time. The one good thing about us having to stay inside is that it has been raining a lot and we were already in the apartment so we didn't get wet. So we just have been reading, studying and chilling on the balcony.

Not a lot has happened, but my companion is recovering which is the most important thing.

Love all of you,

Ciao,

Elder Moore

The baptism right before E. Harbertson went to the hospital

The baptism right before E. Harbertson went to the hospital

The scar they left on my companion, I have been cleaning it really well!

Week 32 - Mar 05, 2018 (Planeta Rica Week 2)

So we didn't get any emails this week from Elder Moore, however we did get to talk to him this morning briefly.

The reason why we didn't get any emails and why he called is because he was in the hospital. Here is the backstory. Saturday was a normal work day and all went well. His companion wasn't feeling that good that night. They didn't get much sleep that night because he companion wasn't feeling good, however they had a baptism the next day so his companion wanted to be at the baptism and would trudge on and worry about how he felt afterwards. They had the baptism at the pool next to the church, then went home. When they got home his companion E. Harbertson decided it was time they go to the doctor. Before they could leave his companion started to pass out. Elder Moore, said he was really scared, and was really starting to worry about his companion. He said he prayed so much and asked Heavenly Father to watch over them and to bless his companion. Luckily right near their house is a health clinic, so he was able to take his companion to the clinic. Once at the clinic, the doctors there said he needed to get his companion to the hospital as soon as possible. Again the Lord was watching over them, as soon as they stepped out of the clinic, their apartment owner was outside with his car and told them to get in and he would drive them to the hospital. Upon arriving at the hospital there was already a branch member waiting for them to arrive. He said they had to fill out a bunch of paperwork before they would even look at his companion. After they took his companion back to do tests on him, he called his mission President's wife, and she was hoping that they could make it back to Medellin to get to a larger hospital. However, the doctors at the hospital decided that they needed to remove his appendix quickly before it burst. So his companion went into surgery and they removed his appendix. The mission presidents wife caught a flight and arrived later that evening. The branch president was there as well as the zone leaders. Everything went well in surgery, and his companion and him get to spend the next few days in the hospital making sure there are no infections. So looks like he will be sleeping on the couch in the hospital room for a few days. Elder Moore did say that he saw the Lord watching over them continuously. The day was very eventful, it went from an early morning Baptism to an afternoon appendectomy. It was definitely a day that he won't ever forget. We are so thankful for his "Missionary Mom" that came and watched over them and sent us the pictures and gave us updates and let Elder Moore call us. Our missionaries are in great hands. He also said the branch is awesome and most of the members have come and have checked up on them.

Zone leaders and Branch President

E. Harbertson

E. Harbertson on the road to recovery

Week 31 - Feb 26, 2018 (Planeta Rica Week 1)

Q&A

Q: How are you and your companion getting along?
A: Great, we both like sports and we have very similar personalities.

Q: Do you like your new area?
A:Yes, the people are very nice and always will listen to us. It is very hot, but it's flat.

Q: Favorite scripture study that you have had?
A: I was reading in Alma about being judged for what we do during this life.

Q: How is the branch?
A: There are not a ton of members, but they are super strong!

Q: Something interesting that happened?
A: They have a lot of huge bugs down here, we caught one that was as big as my hand, it was huge.

WEEKLY RECAP

So the computers here are super slow so I won't be able to send so many audios. So I am in Planeta Rica now which is in the "Coast" area of the mission, and I love this place. The people are so nice here, we can do street contacts all the time and the people listen to us. The other day we contacted this guy on the street and he invited us to go sit down, so we were able to talk to him for a while about the church. It is so easy to find new investigators, the people here are so humble and nice. In the short time I have been here I have found that the people from Choco are some of the most humblest people. We are teaching this one family from Choco, and they are golden. They are very awesome to teach. We have set some baptismal dates with some of our investigators and will be setting more this next week. We usually teach like 3-5 lessons with investigators each night.

So this area is hot, kind of like Arizona hot, but its not bad, our apartment has a bunch of fans, so we sleep convertible at night. What I love about the area is that it is super flat, no mountains to climb! My companion is really cool, and we get along great. He is from Pleasant Grove, Utah. He speaks really good Spanish. This is his first area, and he has been out on the mission 3 months less than I have. The only bad thing is that we have to travel really far for our district and zone meetings, which is also expensive. Our apartment is really nice, it is big for the two of us. We have two bathrooms, and I like to use the one outside. The owner of the place is super awesome and funny. He took us out to eat and we made pizza. He also bought stuff so that we can hang hammocks in our apartment.

The branch is really good. They are super strong. They have like 3 missionaries out on missions right now. The branch president is super cool young guy. We only had 2 investigators at church, but we are going to change that for next week. It is super close for all the members and investigators to go to. It is cool the chapel is like this outdoor area with like palm branches as the roof to shade.

Love you all,
Elder Moore

Week 30 - Feb 19, 2018 - Pereira Week 24

Q&A

Q: New words that you have learned this week?
A: Mandar rápido paquetes

Q: Favorite food that you ate this week?
A: Turtle, JK just the normal rice and beans and meat

Q: What did you do for you P-Day
A: Transfers

WEEKLY RECAP

This whole week I was pretty positive I was going to be transferred out of here so I started packing up stuff and just getting ready for the next adventure. I kept thinking of where I would go. There is really on three major areas of our mission, South (Pereira), Center (Medellin), and Coast. So I am pretty sure I am probably going to the coast. I definitely have been here a long time, I have watched the building next to our apartment go from 3 floors all the way to 10 floors. I am kind of feeling two different ways, one I would like to stay because we have been super busy teaching some awesome people and have seen a lot of success. However, I would also like to go to a new place and just try some new things. I know everybody here and know the area really well, but either way I am excited to serve.

So a quick funny story, Wednesday was Ash Wednesday down here in Colombia, and everybody, I mean everybody had the black cross of ash on their forehead. Not sure if everybody knows why they are getting ash on their forehead but they all are doing it. Anyways as we were walking, we saw this one girl who did hers with makeup, it looked really good, but you could totally tell she had done it with her makeup. Another story was I was dreaming that I was snowboarding, then I looked down and I had no boots on just bear feet and they were freezing. When I woke up I realized that since the bed is to small for me, my feet hang of the bed and I didn't have any blankets cover them.

We had some really good lunches this week, once we went to this restaurant and had the bandeja paisa, I was stuffed afterwords. Then we had a good lunch with our mission leader, and planned the baptism for this Saturday. Two of our investigators are getting baptized, so it is pretty awesome, I'm excited for them. It has been a busy week since E. Miranda left for the office, we have been in a companionship of 3 with E. Cox. We always try to get members to go on splits with us since we still have two big areas to cover.

So on Saturday we got the phone call (we have weird ring tone for transfers) anyways I hear E. Cox say so E. Moore stays. I was like what? He was just joking, I am leaving and going to the coast to a place called Planeta Rica. My companion is E. Harbertson (gringo). So we left on a bus, and got no sleep. Traveled with E. Lopez to Medellin, we stayed in a hotel by the bus terminal, then caught the bus for our 7 hour trip to the coast. It was a long transfer. I didn't get into the apartment until after 11 pm. It is a really nice apartment with just E. Harbertson and myself.

One thing that I really like about Planeta Rica is that it is super flat. Its hot, but not that bad for this Arizona boy.

Love you all,
Elder Moore

E. Steadman and I last time together as Comps

Watched this building grow basically from the ground up

I've been her a long time to watching this being built

Bus ride to Medellin with E. Lopez

The scene from the bus, Colombia is really green and beautiful

Week 29 - Feb 12, 2018 - Pereira Week 23

Q&A

Q: How is your health?
A: I am feeling really good.

Q: New words that you have learned this week?
A: Qué hubo? = Whats up?

Q: Favorite scripture study that you have had?
A: I was reading about Nephi and his bow breaking, and just thinking that even in bad times God is always with us and provides a way for us if we have faith.

Q: Are you happy?
A: Yes, very happy it was a great week!

Q: Favorite food that you ate this week?
A: Bandeja Paisa

Q: What did you do for you P-Day
A: The whole zone went to the river and had a picnic.

WEEKLY RECAP

Monday - We had a bunch of missionaries spend the night in our apartment. That night we were talking and one missionary jokingly called me Shrek, so I got up on the bed where he was at and started wrestling him. While wrestling him we heard a pop sound and then we were on the floor. The beds welding broke! So we all ended up sleeping on mattresses on the floor throughout our apartment.

Tuesday - We took the bed frame down the street to get the frame hinge fixed. This guy took it and welded it really quick and painted it for like $3.50. It is now better then we had it originally. It is supper strong and doesn't wobble anymore. Then we went and followed up on a street contact that we did. We ended up teaching a family of 6 and there are super awesome. They really liked listening to us explain the Gospel of Jesus Christ, they had some questions and really felt the spirit. They asked us when we could come back, and we set a date for another visit and lesson. It was a good night!

Wednesday - We were walking down the street and got contacted by this guy. He invited us to go get Ice Cream, he bought me this huge Snickers ice cream bowl (Blessings). He is a member but has been inactive for a long time but wants to start coming back to church. It was pretty cool talking to him. Then we went to teach Edison, and he asked if he could bring a friend (we told him no we can't do that, just kidding). So we met at the park and taught him and his friend, Daniella, the first lesson again (we had already taught him). He is an awesome guy and really understands the lesson and helped her understand it also. The lesson went super well and both of them really seemed to enjoy the lesson and want to learn more.

Thursday - We had lunch at the Bishop's house and his wife is an awesome cook. She made us Bandeja Paisa, which is Colombian's well known plate of food. It was super good! Then we went and visited Isabel and talked about Prophets. She had a lot of questions about President Nelson, so we will have to find a bunch of information about him to share. Her sister even came out her room and listened to us. Usually she would always go to her room. She told us that she thought we were weird, but after getting to know us that we are pretty cool and funny. I jokingly told her that I thought she was weird because she would always go to her room and didn't want to talk to us. Then we went to look for a reference family that the Family Rivera gave us. We didn't have that great of directions to their house, and as we were walking my companion says forget it lets go home. I was like if God wants us to teach them he will put them in our path. Right after I said that we crossed the street and there they were outside talking. It was awesome! We laughed, and knew that God wanted us to teach them! I have learned that investigators give really good references.

Friday - We were on exchanges and I was with E. Miranda. I like him a lot, he is like Coach Wolcott to me, he teaches by example and he is not a hypocrite. He works really hard and is obedient. It was a super awesome day with some great lessons and we made some awesome street contacts. We meet with a family that is going to be baptized in a couple weeks, they are super funny and we had a great lesson with them.

Saturday - Found out that E. Miranda is getting transferred and going to the office tomorrow. The most spiritual thing that happened this week was the baptism of Isabel. It was very spiritual, I looked over and saw Isabel's sister start to cry, I know she was feeling the spirit. Then this other guy cried in our lesson that night. It was a great day.

Sunday - The Salgado family came to church and we taught them a lesson, they are a golden family. They are so prepared to receive the gospel, it was awesome teaching them. Then we went and taught Jessica, I made real good friends with her father, at first he didn't like the missionaries but know he comes out and talks to us and listens. We went to Antonio's house and visited with them, they have become active and met with the Bishop, it is awesome to see their progress since I've been here. Antonio then gave us a reference and called him over and we taught him, and he committed to come to church next week. We visited like 5 families that night and shared a bunch of messages. Then we had to take E. Miranda to the bus terminal very late at night.

Monday - We went as a whole zone to the river and had a picnic, it was fun! Rode in the back of a truck there and back, it was very interesting.

Great Week,
Love you all,
Elder Moore

Our Zone in Pereira

Doing Service work with bamboo

At Isabels baptism

At the river

Traveling from the river

E. Miranda he is a stud missionary

Isabel's Baptism