"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

What does God want from us? Everything!

Hello all,

Another great week in the mission! 

Every time I think that I am getting to be a bomb missionary or am getting the hold of things, God sends me another trial or difficulty to put in my way. In a way I am really grateful for these reminders that I need Him in my work because it isn't my work, it is His, and I cannot do it my way or with my own strength or wisdom. This week, practically every single one of our appointments fell through, so we offered prayers and looked for new investigators, especially families complete with fathers, to contact and teach. I testify that we were led by the Spirit to find several families. 

Elder Amado, the member of the Quorum of the Seventy with the most time as a general authority of the church, came yesterday and we had a missionary reunion all day yesterday listening to him. Because of this, we didn't write yesterday. The Spirit was super strong when he talked and, although he taught us for like 6 hours, it felt like 6 minutes. I learned so much and can testify so strongly that this church is true and has leaders that have the authority of God to be leaders of the church of Jesus Christ.

So many cool great things happened this week. It was rough but it was instructive. 

Know that I am safe and sound and still have a great sense of humor and a wonderful eyesparkle. BIG NEWS! I have started parting my hair to look more like a pro missionary and the fan commentary has been incredible. Just know that it is a powerful hair-part. 

I think that every one of us arrives at the point several times in our lives when we ask God in exasperation, mentally, or out loud "What do you want from me?" The simple and often not understood answer is "Everything." 

Honestly there is no way to sugar coat the gospel of Jesus Christ because it is purely and simply about sacrificing everything. Usually God doesn't require that we sacrifice everything, but we need to be willing to sacrifice all and, when he asks, anything. People that love God but won't give up their work on the day of rest, or won't read the scriptures, or won't sacrifice time to go to church simply don't really love him. A good question to ask ourselves is "Do I love God? How much? How much am I willing to sacrifice to prove it?" Those who lose their lives in the service of God will find it, while those who look to save their lives by not serving God will lose that which makes life worth living.

Life is good. We have a lot to look forward to these next few weeks! Keep praying!

Love, 

Elder Moffitt

My area of San Juan in San Pedro Sula

Estamos en HONDURAS

Marvelous week this week. Really quite dandy. I'll start the cool news of the week with an excerpt of an email I recently received from my dear mother in Arizona:

"The Sister missionaries called to see if I would take an 11 year old investigator to see a baptism in Tempe West Stake. I agreed and took her to the baptism. She sat with the Sisters. Almost all the seats were taken so I sat in the back row by a guy I didn't know and tried to be casually friendly by sharing the hymnbook, etc. It was a very spiritual baptism of a 40 year old newly married couple. I was especially touched because I felt really close to you and Jessica since this is what you are doing each day. I had a very distinct impression that I was suppose to share those feelings with the stranger next to me. (Really?) So, when it was over, I asked if he knew the couple. He said he had "seen them around." So I asked if he was a member of this ward and he said that he was a "wanna-be." He had been baptized many years ago and had strayed and was wanting to come back and get his life in order, and try to get his 21 year old son to join him. So I just told him that I did not know this couple but that I felt the Spirit of Christ really strongly because my two children were on missions and this is what they get to do each day. 

He asked, Where? 

And I answered, "My son is in Honduras and ..." 

He interrupted, "I was just in Honduras last week. I was visiting my girl friend in San Pedro Sula."

"Really, my son is in San Pedro Sula!"

"Where? My girlfriend is near downtown."

"My son is also near downtown. Is she a member?"

"No. Here's her picture."

"Here is my son's picture in front of his house.  My son is an excellent missionary. If you would like to give me her address, I can pass it on to my son so he can teach her the gospel."

He shows me more pictures on his phone. We talk about the photos and then I ask if he would like to give me her address. While pulling up pictures, he has also been texting his girlfriend and has asked her if he can give out her address for a missionary to visit. She messaged back "Thanks" with her address.

We both thought that God must have directed our meeting. :)"

Pretty cool, huh? What are the chances of that happening? That's my missionary mom right there. Well anyways, this week I got permission to go and visit this hermana and ran into even more miracles. She wasn't home when we showed up at her house, and so I felt impressed to ask to use a neighbors cell phone to call her. A friend was visiting these neighbors, and let me use her phone. As I was calling, the neighbors ratted out the visiting women and told me that she had served a mission and was also "Mormon". The reference from my mom didn't answer the phone but we started talking to this ex missionary, who isn't participating in the church as actively as she could, and were able to invite her to come back to church, to which she agreed. She then led us to another house and we taught a lesson to a lady who has a son in the US who is a member of the church. She has been waiting for missionaries to arrive at her house for a very long time but they rarely pass by that sector. We challenged her to be baptized, and she accepted. She then told us about her sister, who lives in our area, and told us to visit her, as well as several other references. Leaving that appointment, we stopped by the house of the reference from my mom and she was there!!!!!!!!!! We taught her for about 5 minutes and then asked her, "Hermana, do you believe that it is coincidence that we are here?"

"Obviously not," she told us. What, then, do you think was the intention of God that my mom talked with your boyfriend in a random baptismal service in Arizona and sent us here? She replied that God has a plan for her. Five minutes into the lesson, we challenged her to be baptized and she accepted. 

God is not a god of coincidences. He does have a plan and he uses us, when we are obedient, to fulfill and complete his grand designs. This work is real, this church is the church of Jesus Christ restored in its true form by living prophets ordained with power from on high. I testify of that from a dinky little faded green internet cafe in Honduras to whoever reads this in whatever part of the world you are. The evidence of this exists and is waiting for anyone who cares enough to read a little navy blue book called the Book of Mormon and pray about it. If we aren't afraid to open our mouth, to be led to those who need us, and to take advantage of those moments when life gives you lemons. God will work miracles. Many times God makes citas fall so that we find the person that he really wanted us to find. 

Other news... we are teaching a lot of really great people. One 20 yr old we found and who accepted an invitacion to find out for himself the truth and be baptized if he receives and answer in the affirmative has already read about 200 pages of the Book of Mormon in the past week alone. There are so many cool things that happen every day on the mission. 

Spiritual quote of the week: If we want to know God, we serve him. If we want to know God better, we serve him more. 

I know this is true and I have learned so much about myself and about others and about God in the past months by dedicating so much of my life to Him. My goal is to become a consecrated missionary, or to give ALL that I have in the service of the Lord. The happiest nights in the mission are when you crawl into bed and you are exhausted out of your mind and your feet hurt but you know deep inside that you gave it your all and the rest is in God's hands. If things are in God's hands they always end up awesome. Lets put more of our lives and the world in God's hands by doing what He has told us to do. 

Elder Moffitt

Teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ in San Pedro Sula

Don't Worry, Be Happy!

Hello Everyone! 

Still working hard over here! This week flew by so fast; not really sure what happened. Every day we get faced with different challenges but I have learned on my mission that getting stressed out really doesn't help anything at all. When the challenges come, we work harder, think harder, and put our trust in God. God cannot ask for more than our best, for that would not be just, but he cant ask any less than our best either, because that would not be just. The Lord has His plans, and if we do all we can, we will end up on the awesome side of the outcome.

Building a house for a family in San Pedro

Weddings, overcoming drug addictions, miracles, baptisms, changes in peoples lives, there are a ton of awesome happenings coming these next few weeks!

We are teaching a dad who is fighting with alcoholism and wants to change so bad but can't seem to resist the temptation when it hits. He has 4 boys and wants to be a good father to them. On Thursday we sat down with him and made a schedule for the week with 6 categories: 

- prayer in the morning, 

- scripture in the morning, 

- prayer in the night, 

- scripture in the night, 

- scripture memorized that day, and 

- if he made it through that day without drinking. 

We promised him that if he would do those 5 things every day, he would be able to check off the "Didn't drink today" box every night. We stopped by a few days ago and he was like a completely different person. He has never been able to look us in the eyes, but this time he was so happy and so confident and he ran inside when he saw us and brought out his checklist and for the last few days he had checked off every single square. This guy had never said a prayer in his entire life before we met with him and now he is praying every day, morning and night, and is reading the scriptures and memorizing powerful scriptures to repeat in his mind when the temptation hits. We don't make the decision to resist temptation in the moment that temptation hits, we decide in all the minutes we spend going to church, reading the scriptures, praying, and putting on the spiritual armor of God piece by piece. The change in him is a literal miracle made possible by the atonement of Christ. We are hoping that one day he and his girlfriend will get married and that he will be able to be baptized and leave all the hardships of his past behind and be able to start over completely.

Mario and Javier's baptism. Happy day!

This Sunday I learned another great lesson. I was sitting in church and thinking about all the people that we wanted to come to church and didn't, and then I stopped myself. I looked around at all the people that DID come to church. The spirit of Christ was really strong in that meeting and I found myself smiling from ear to ear, just really, really happy to be a missionary and feeling a trust that God knows and will sanctify the work we are doing in his own time and in his own way. I felt that I had down all that I could and felt so at peace. I almost just started laughing out loud in the middle of the sacrament meeting I felt so much joy. Maybe the classes were going to be kinda boring, maybe the members wouldn't do all they could to help us, maybe some people won't want to or be able to make the changes we hope for in their lives, it doesn't matter. The gospel is about being happy and being sad stinks. Don't be sad people. Smile and be happy and trust that if you do your best, God will do the rest. If you trust in that, the only reason that you won't feel happy is if you don't do your best. So do your best, trust in God, and wait for the miracles. 

Elder Curichimba, Mario and me

YAY GOSPEL OF SALVATION!!!!!!!!!

I bet God and Jesus Christ have the best smiles and best laughs ever, because they are beings that live the eternal principles of happiness perfectly. They are the epitome of happy. Megahappy. Uberhappy. And when Jesus commanded us to be perfect, like unto him, he was commanding us to not worry, and to be happy. Like that wall fish. 

Wish I had a dancing "Don't worry, by happy" wall fish here in Honduras. Oh well, good Christmas idea :)

Happy thoughts,

Elder Moffitt

O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!

Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth. Alma 29:1-2 

Call us butter; we're on a roll!

Hello everyone! Greetings from the land of beautiful winter weather! Anyone want some 70 degree cloudy-but-not-raining weather to do missionary work in? Come to San Pedro, Honduras! 

This week has been so nice; it has been a real blessing. The only bad thing is that in the mornings it is only 60 degrees and so showering is super difficult. (The water is not heated.) My sister Jessica, who is serving in Ukraine, probably doesn't believe me, but it's a rough few minutes for me at 6:30 am. 

Our house in San Pedro Sula

Other than that, this week we had success up the wall! Not sure if that is even an expression, but it is the best way to describe our week. We had almost 50 lessons with investigators, 32 of them included church member neighbors, and we got references and contacted new people like crazy. Elder Curichimba and I did divisions 3 days in a row in order to get around and visit all the people we had to teach and also to be able to find more people, and we were so blessed! We found some super awesome new investigators and we are flying now! 

On Friday, I had one of my best lessons of my mission. We had our first appointment with an 18 yr old named Elmer, who I am actually staring at right now because he works in this internet cafe. We started the lesson by teaching about the restoration of the gospel, how Christ established a church with prophets and apostles with revelation and authority, but this church fell and the authority was lost after the apostles were killed. We talked about how God had once again called living prophets today, starting with Joseph Smith who was called to restore that same church of Jesus Christ. Elmer was really engaged and interested. Then I asked him if he believes that God answers prayers, in order to later invite him to pray about what we had just taught him and ask God if it was true. Elmer said yes, because sometimes people do bad things and want to change and they can pray and God will help them. In that instant, everything changed. there was a literal change in the spirit that was so strong. Elmer was talking about himself, and the lesson was no longer about the restoration, but about repentance. We asked him if he felt like he wanted to change, he said yes, and, even though it was the first time we had ever talked with him, we challenged him to be baptized, and he accepted. The spirit was so strong. I learned a lot about teaching people (and not simply lessons) in that moment, and also about how important the spirit is in conversion. Even though he didn't understand all the lesson, we hadn't explained the book of Mormon, he hadn't studied and prayed, it didn't matter, because he felt the spirit of God. And that overwhelming feeling of peace, of love, of warm and gentle joy, was enough to make a punk, skater 18 yr old want to change and commit to it.

That is just one example of how awesome our week was. We had a ton of great experiences and were led like never before to people that need the gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives. God has given us all the success we have had and we are so grateful for all that he has given us. We even helped one father, who has walked down every wrong path there is, to say the first prayer of his life, and to believe that he really can change his life. 

Changes (transfers to new assignments) are this Wednesday and I really hope I don't get changed, because finally this area is getting going and God is doing a great and marvelous work here.

IMPORTANT NOTICE! 

To all my ARIZONA friends -- The new Gilbert Temple is now OPEN for EVERYONE to go INSIDE before it is dedicated as a House of the Lord. 

If you have ever wondered what is inside a Mormon Temple, make a reservation and go for the Open House from now until February 15. Like the ancient temples of the Old Testament, the temple is not secret, it is sacred. And so before it is dedicated as a House of the Lord, all can enter and visit. Get over there! You can go and wait in line, or get a reservation and not wait in line. 

Here is the website: http://mormontemples.org/gilbert

Send me a note after you tour the temple: adam.moffitt@myldsnet.org

Elder Moffitt

ABC15 Inside the Gilbert Arizona Temple

(My brother, Chris, is on this video. He is a featured singer, playing the role of Old Testament Meshach in the huge youth Cultural Celebration that is being held as part of the dedication of the temple!)

So it Begins - 2014!

Well, not to start my letter with a cheesy Lord of the Rings quote about the New Year but ... as King Theoden says on the walls of Helms Deep:

"So it begins."

P-day begins with doing laundry. Yep, this is my washing machine. Really.

This week was really awesome and I had a lot of super sweet experiences. Remember how last week I had that experience reading from Doctrine & Covenants 31 about how if we work with all our might we will be laden with many sheaves? So last week we went to a lesson with a youth from the rama and as we were walking back, we passed by another youth riding on a kiddie motorcycle. Jeffrey, the member we were with, laughed and said, "Hey, I know that guy." So we dragged him over to the other guy and started talking. We started talking with Kiddie motorcycle man, a 19 yr old kid named Javier who taught himself English and works in receiving customer service calls (which is impressive because he has a real job), and put an appointment for the next Thursday and gave him a pamphlet about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The next week we came back and started teaching. He had read the whole pamphlet and even filled out the little "Extra study questions" page with answers, which kinda shocked us. But we taught the lesson; he was super smart and interested and knew all the answers, so we asked him if he had any questions, cause he pretty much had the pamphlet memorized. He paused, and asked if it needed to be about the pamphlet. We said, No, whatever question, and he said "What is the process to be baptized and when can I be baptized?" 

A few seconds later, after I swept up my jaw from the floor and taped it back on, I asked him why he wanted to be baptized. He said, "Well I read the pamphlet and I have read parts of the Libro de Mormon before and so I said a prayer and asked if this was the true church and I felt really different and it felt really good and warm and I think that was the spirit of Christ so I want to be baptized and one day serve a mission." Remember that this was the first lesson. So  we put a date for him to be baptized on the 26th of January, because he has to go to church at least 3 times before getting baptized. We asked him if he worked on Sunday, and he said, yes, but he would talk with his boss and pray to get the day off. He did and went to church this Sunday. He is sooooo prepared to receive the gospel it is incredible. After that first lesson, as we left with Jeffrey, the member, he said, "Wow why haven't I talked with him about the gospel before? Why didn't I invite him to meet with the missionaries before?"

It is so true. There are friends of ours that are just waiting for the missionaries to show up. Help them find the gospel before that!

The thing is, I am realizing more and more that this isn't our work, that in order to be successful we need to let God do the work. There are people that are willing to read, are willing to pray with an open heart and real intent, and are willing and desirous to follow God in his way. These are the people that we are looking for, because our message is real and those people are going to be able to gain that same testimony. When we focus the teaching on our charm or charisma instead of on the spirit, we are essentially practicing priestcraft. And that's not good. If we are working and trying our best, God is going to "laden us with the many sheaves" we want, but only after alot of faith, patience, and desires.

But anyways, crazy awesome week. We challenged 22 people to be baptized, some of which accepted and are now preparing to take that step, and others that aren't as excited to try and find out for themselves if these things are true. Its a great work and a true work and things are starting to get rolling here in our Rama finally. One of my goals this year is to read all the scriptures, Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants (essentially revelations that were given to modern day prophets by God) and the Pearl of Great Price, all in SPANISH!!! Gonna be a crazy goal but we study a lot here so I can get it. 

Today we went to play soccer as a missionary zone in the Olympic Stadium, where the national teams play, for 2 hours and it was pretty awesome. 

Love you all. Do what Javier did if you haven't already. Read and meditate and ask God in humble prayer.

Elder Moffitt

Happy New Year from Honduras!

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy New Year!

Elder Curichimba and I had an incredible week and an awesome Christmas! 

Our sweet Christmas Tree.
Yes it is 2 dimensional but, hey, its the thought that counts.

To celebrate Christmas, we bought rice, beans, and tamales and went to a very poor part of our area, a sector we had never visited before. 

On the 23rd, Elder Curichimba and I went from house to house of our ward members and neighbors singing Christmas carols and giving Christmas cookies to people, and then inviting them to come sing with us at different houses. Christmas caroling definitely isn't a thing here so we had a lot of people that were really surprised and pleased that someone thought to come visit them and sing a Christmas hymn and give them a Christmas cookie. We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas day sharing Christmas messages with families in our area and reminding people of the true meaning of Christmas. 

Start of our Caroling mission... Just 2 Elders, some cookies, and lots of Christmas cheer.

Our lights on our house. We are never there,
but that doesn't mean we can't brighten up someone's night!

On Christmas Eve we ate at 3 members houses and dodged as many explosions as we could. At 12 pm, it was like the world literally was just exploding. Everyone blew up everything they could get their hands on. How else would you celebrate Christmas?! 

Christmas Morning in Honduras!
Thanks to family and friends from home that sent great notes--
and a personalized stocking from the awesome Relief Society sisters!

My Breakfast on Christmas Morning,
with all 5 food groups except for candy corn and syrup. 

I also got to TALK WITH MY FAMILY!!!!!!!!! 

I have a pretty awesome family and it was super nice to get to talk to them for a bit. If you haven't tried talking to my family, you should definitely try it sometime! 

It definitely is a sacrifice to be here and not building Legos from the new Lord of the Rings Lego with my little brother in our PJs but it is worth it to spend a Christmas dedicating all that I have to the Lord and feeling of that special spirit that comes from giving to others.

Miracle of the week: Saturday was a pretty difficult day. Three of our investigators with baptismal dates changed their mind, and pretty much all of our citas (appointments/lessons) for that day fell through. At 7pm, we went to a member's house to go with her to a cita with a neighbor family that we had contacted a few days before. The family, however, wasn't there. We returned to the member's house, and decided we could go contacting together to visit some of her other neighbors. As she got ready to go, I noticed her Book of Mormon open on the table and started reading in Doctrine & Covenants 31, where the book was open. The chapter is a revelation that Joseph Smith received directed to a man named Thomas B. Marsh that was about to go and serve his mission, leaving behind family, friends, and everything else, to consecrate a bit of time to the building of God's Kingdom. It was like reading a message directly from the Lord to me, especially being away from my family for Christmas and having all the difficulties I was having. My heart was really touched, and as I offered the prayer before we left the house, I felt the spirit sooooooo strong and couldn't even say anything. With tears in my eyes I just expressed my gratitude for the challenges we had had that day and asked that we would be led to people that were prepared to hear this message and needed it in their lives. We headed out the door, and this member sister just went reference crazy. She practically dragged us from house to house to house presenting us as missionaries of Jesus Christ and bearing her testimony about the importance of our message. We put appointments left and right and this week will visit these new families with the faith that our humble prayer in a time of trial was answered, that these people really need to hear what we have to say, and that they will have desires to find out for themselves the truth of our message. I went to bed that night so, so grateful for yet another gentle reminder from a loving Heavenly Father that I am not alone in this work. I know that I am not a perfect missionary, but that God has put me here for a reason. 

These three verses in the Doctrine & Covenants 31 really moved me:

3 Lift up your heart and rejoice, for the hour of your mission is come; and your tongue shall be loosed, and you shall declare glad tidings of great joy unto this generation.

 4 You shall declare the things which have been revealed to my servant, Joseph Smith, Jun. You shall begin to preach from this time forth, yea, to reap in the field which is white already to be burned.

 5 Therefore, thrust in your sickle with all your soul, and your sins are forgiven you, and you shall be laden with sheaves upon your back, for the laborer is worthy of his hire.

I am so blessed to be a missionary of the Lord and to declare the things that have been revealed to prophets in these latter days. I will wait patiently for my sheaves to come, and will try to labor with all my soul in this work, for while I am not a perfect missionary, I am worthy of my hire and I can do this work with his help. As the chapter ends,  Be faithful unto the end, and lo, I am with you. These words are not of man nor of men, but of me, even Jesus Christ, your Redeemer, by the will of the Father. Amen.

The message that we are sharing is not of man or of men, but of Christ, who is with me as long as I am faithful. I know that those who sincerely ask in prayer to know if this message is of men or is of God will receive an answer. I am so grateful for my Savior who came to earth to suffer for me and am so grateful for this experience and this Christmas message that I received from up above.

Have a happy New Year! Don't forget to set goals! 

Love,

Elder Moffitt

The day after Christmas, on my 6 month mission anniversary, I got called to go downtown to Immigration and get my residency officialized (along with the other awesome American missionaries that came in my group to Honduras)! Now I am a legit temporary citizen of Honduras!!!

Stopped by the cathedral in downtown San Pedro.