Uncontrollable Diarrhea ... vs. Grave Diarrhea

Hola!

Gotta tell you all the story of Christian. Christian is a 20yr old that we contacted in January. We taught him a few lessons, he read and prayed about the Book of Mormon and the church, and said he felt a feeling of peace that he hasn't felt ever before so he decided that the church was true and wanted to get baptized and serve a mission and everything. Before we met him, he was a hard rocker dude, but was in the process of leaving that behind. So the week of his baptizm, he went out of town suddenly.  From what we heard, he was just working to get money to pay the passage back, and then he got malaria. But it wasn't until he got back this Monday that he told us the real story. He had actually joined the Honduran army, and was a week away from finishing basic training, which is like a 6 week course, when they were out chopping a field and the sergeant came around hitting everyone on the back of their heads with his hand. When he passed by Christian, however, he hit him with the butt of his rifle. Christian, as small as skinny as he is, got a little angry at that, being hot and frustrated and all, and turned around and knocked the sergeant unconscious. That little dealio got him kicked out of the army, so he called us, came back home, and got baptized this Saturday! He will receive the Aaronic Priesthood this week after conference. His baptizmal service was super powerful and, at the end, he bore a powerful testimony about his conversion and that, even though he doesn't know all the answers to all of life's questions, he got an answer from God and that was what he was going to base his faith on. We are going to meet with the rest of his family this week. The cool thing is that all that week my companion and I fasted and prayed that Christian would come back that week. It is funny how God works, but one little rifle hit changed Christian's life completely. He was one week away from walking the streets with an AK47 and now he is reading scriptures and preparing to serve a mission. 

Baptizm day! We can be distinguished.

But we don't take ourselves toooo seriously!

This week we had a health fireside where we learned about the dangers of "Uncontrollable Diarrhea and Grave Diarrhea."  The mental image I had of "uncontrollable diarrhea" is just too funny. Maybe it's just that I have lived here too long but it gets me every time. Other than that, the work is good. I guess that I will probably be transferred from the San Juan branch in San Pedro Sula next week. It's been good in this branch but I'll get ready for some new frontiers. Yee-hah!

Easter is soon! Enjoy this inspiring 3 minute Easter video, "Because of Him":

Jesus Christ is our Savior. 

Because of Him, we can change for the better and live again with God. 

This Easter season we celebrate His life and Resurrection 

and invite all to share His miraculous story.

http://www.mormon.org/becauseofhim

Love you all,

Elder Moffitt

"Hope you don't die ... and be safe!"

Okey dokey let's see what happened this week.

Had three baptisms this Saturday! Baptisms are always the most stressful things ever. Pretty much Satan just goes ham on our plans and tries to make everything go wrong. I've had baptismal fonts lose their water connection right when we go to fill it up, ovens practically explode while leaving the house of an investigator to accompany her to her baptism, baptismal clothing disappear minutes before the service, etc. Pretty much, whenever we have a baptism, we just put a little more gel in our hair than usual, part that bad boy, stuff every piece of white cloth in sight in our backpacks, and bake a few cakes for good luck. But, heaven got a little more crammed with future residents this Saturday so that was awesome.  

I usually give kinda random meandering thoughts about spiritual themes in my letters but I think that bores you guys so I am going to keep better track of the cool things that happen during the week and tell more stories so you all can understand better my life in Honduras. 

This week: 

Walking to eat dinner at 8:30 at night and we walk past this kinda drunk looking guy. After we walk past he asks us a question, so we slow to let him catch up, always trying to be great friendly missionaries. As we walk alongside him, he starts to tell me a story about how he was in the USA illegally and got deported and got in a fight with one of the immigration police (he described it wonderfully, complete with all of the colorful words they used in the interchange) and told me that he promised himself that he was going to fight the first American he saw in Honduras to repay them for deporting him. He got pretty excited about that goal and so I was kinda sketched out wondering if I was going to need to pull out some crouching-tiger-hidden-missionary and asked him if he was going to try and fight me then, but he just laughed and said that No, he now realized how foolish he had been and that he was trying to change his life around and look for God. DING DING WHIP out the GOSPEL!!! We got his info and sent the reference over to the missionaries near his house. And he walked away from the encounter alive. Smart guy.

Had a guy that we were teaching give us back the Book of Mormon and tell us that he couldn't meet with us anymore. Not meeting our eyes, he said that he talked with his pastor and his pastor told him that our message wasn't true, and that he shouldn't talk with us any more. Moment of silence as we listened for the Spirit to tell us what to say. I asked him, "Did you ask God?" "No" he replied, and turned around and walked back into his house. From the start, we say about a billion times to every person we teach, pray and ask God if our message is true. How can you ask a man instead of God for an answer about the truth? 1 Corinthians 2 talks a lot about that. Santiago 1:5: If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask of GOD, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. If you want to know the truth about God, please ask God, and not your cat or your librarian or your pastor. 

Got some sweet letters from the Primary children of my ward this week! The highlights were two letters from Brach Drew. The first:

"Dear Elder Moffitt, I'm scared for you in the murder capitol of the world. That's scary that you were in an armed robbery. I hope you don't get murdered while you're there - Brach Drew" with a marvelous drawing of a skull crossed out. 

The second:

"Dear Elder Moffitt, how is it like hearing people die every day? Your sister told me to ask you if it's scary there so I can have something to write. Hope you don't die and be safe. Your friend, Brach".

At least I have somebody who understands the calamity and danger in which I live. Thank you dearest Brach. 

Running in a close second is from the son of my cousin, Ethan Blayne Ency, who drew a lovely picture of a temple surrounded by USAF planes and heavily armed troopers and wrote, 

"DEar ADam, This is my very own made up temple protected by the military. I just got baptized. Love Ethan Blayne."

Well there you have it folks. Militarized temples and baptisms. What more can you want in your quest for salvation. Thanks for all your love and prayers and support and letters, especially from Brach and Ethan. I'm putting them in charge of my sail out in a flaming kayak with my sword and scriptures over a waterfall funeral if I don't make it out of here alive. But I'm pretty sure I will. 

Love,

Elder Moffitt

Got my Honduras soccer pants!

Hea everyone!

Had a super awesome week! A women named Orfelia with whom we have been working for a while accepted to get baptized this Saturday! She has wanted to get baptized but her neighbors and everyone has been attacking her with all sorts of nonsense and she finally has realized the importance of reading and praying .  I had almost given up on her but my comp and I decided that we would pray really hard and try for one more week. On Saturday, she told us that she hasn't received an answer to all of her questions but she has received an answer that she wants to be baptized. That is how Heavenly Father works. He gives a part of the answer, and if we act on that revelation, if we take one step with the light we have and take one more into the darkness of the future, trusting in God, he will continue illumination the way step by step. 

Check out those videos by Elder Bednar called Patterns of Light. A lot of time in life God doesn't answer us as clearly or as completely as we want but that's because we are here to learn and to grow. If we knew all the answers there would be no learning and no growth because we would never mess up.

We also had a regional conference for Central America this weekend via satellite by two apostles, Elders Dallin H. Oaks and Richard G. Scott. I am so grateful to have living prophets and apostles in these days. There is an imperative need in our day to receive direction and guidance directly from God through his instruments the prophets. 

Efesios 2:20 teaches us that the church of God is founded on prophets and apostles, or people that God chooses to receive revelation and have authority. I am so grateful that God has restored his church and that we have prophets and apostles once again on the earth today. If you doubt that they are real or true prophets or apostles, talk with a missionary and then ask God. It is kinda infallible if you really want to know.

What else.... oh yeah, we went to the center and did some third world window shopping and I got some Honduras soccer pants, which are kinda like gym shorts but capris. They are cool. I also got a bull horn trumpet thing that sounds like a duck farting when you blow through it but it says Honduras on it so it's all good.

Well, we had a lot more amazing experiences but I can't tell you everything. Just watching my tan/sun burn get darker and darker and my white-shirt-covered skin get whiter and whiter. It is quite the contrast now.

Love you all! Learn Spanish! 

Elder Moffitt

Full style Honduran Futbol with my hijo Elder Motecinos de Bolivia and Elder Hangsden. Can you be too Honduran? 

I Love Being a Missionary!

Hey family! Super tired today but I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! 

I haven't had an easy week in 8 months but it has made me so much stronger. This week we contacted a ton. I have literally lost all fear I ever had to talk to people. It's crazy. In whatever circumstance, I can just start talking to people without even feeling awkward at all. It's crazy that in 3 months I am going to complete a year here in the mission. I have a great family and want to tell you all how much I love you all. 

I am worried for our friend with a severe drinking problem.  I have brought him members that also had drinking problems, I have watched dvds with him, I have worked with him to pray and read the scriptures, but he missed church last week to go get drunk. Normally, by now I would drop him, but literally his life is in the balance. He was vomiting blood last week because he drunk to much. His family is on the point of leaving him. And he is sincere in his desire to change, just he doesn't make the decision to resist when the temptation comes. Please pray for him.

The mission is rocking tho! Enjoy some of Sister Klein's great photos below. Have a great week and I hope you bought me a pirate sword pen from Disneyland!

Love,
Elder Moffitt

Chummy spiders and my new companion from Bolivia!

Hello all! 

Sorry I didn't write on Monday. I know none of you could sleep you were all so nervous for me but our P-day got changed for today because we had changes today. I said goodbye to my dear Elder Curichimba after 4 1/2 months together! 

New companion, Elder Montecinos from Bolivia

My new comp is Elder Montecinos from Bolivia. I have known him for about 3 hours but he seems super cool. He just arrived in the mission, so I am his Papa! I will be training this young'un in the ways of the Lord. He shall be my padawan, my disciple, my only child born in the desert, my squishie, my precious, my dear son. In order to welcome him to the mission I bought a diaper and painted it really nice and pretty with his name and the Honduran flag and sparkles and all that jazz so he feels welcome to the family. 

We also have a new gringo roommate, Elder Andrews from San Diego!

Other breaking news from San Juan is that I started to shower last night and turned around and this massive spider was crawling up the shower curtain, so I unleashed the fearsome power of my 13 yr old girl scream and booked it out of the shower. I'm chill with spiders using the shower and all to clean up but they just need to remember to wait their turn.

The work is going super well. We are having a lot of success and I have learned to be patient with the Lord and with investigators. This is a new message and a new world for everyone, and sometimes it takes a bit for someone to really realize that they need to pray and ask God to get an answer. Proud of the new Gilbert Arizona Temple and of my brother who was a big part of the youth Cultural Celebration playing the role of Meshach with 12,000 youth! I felt the Spirit super strongly looking at the photos of all the youth singing their hearts out despite the drenching rain in order to express what they believe. I know this church is true. I know this gospel is true. I know that God has once again called prophets to guide his church in these latter days. I testify that the Book of Mormon is true and is the word of God. It has changed my life.

In the name of Jesus Christ,

Amen.

Elder Moffitt