Mango Season and Baptizing Pastors

Hello everybody!

This week was an incredible week. It was so full of great moments that missionaries live for. I don't have much time so I will write kinda a brief summary.

I was asked to perform the baptizm of an ex pastor of an evangelical church, and her husband. Maria had her own church for many years and never had heard about The Church of Jesus Christ. Us missionaries arrived and started to teach her and it is crazy how awesome her change has been to really come and know the truth of the scriptures for herself. She did something that people rarely do and humbled herself enough to listen, read, meditate, and pray to ask God the truth, and she has such a strong testimony about how God answered. She bore her testimony after her baptism about how she is so grateful to have found the truth after living for so many years just based on her interpretation of the scriptures. In 2 Peter 1:21-22 it says: 

Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scriptures is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

Maria is super firm in her belief that God has restored his church to the earth today with the correct and necessary authority, and with prophets and apostles at the head who receive continued revelation. She now understands that prophets and apostles are necessary and are on the earth again. She came to know that the Book of Mormon was true because she READ IT and prayed about it. All who do the same will receive the same answer, be them pastor or humble farmer. I taught her and her family several times and she asked that I baptize her and her husband. So cool.

I was walking down a path and heard someone shout,"Hermanos, come! Hermanos, come!" So I turned around and asked if my companion had heard it. He said, No, but we walked back a bit to a house we had passed and asked if they had called us. A lady came out and said No, but that we could come in and teach her. We came in and she said that she had always wanted to talk to the missionaries and they always passed by her house but she was always too afraid or nervous to call them over. She said that she wanted to change her life and wanted to be clean again and so we challenged her to be baptized. She accepted. Wild. That was totally led by the Spirit.

Found a church called the Church of Eagles. Haha. Thought it was funny because in The Church of Jesus Christ we worship Jesus Christ, so what do they worship in the church of eagles?...

It is mango season!!!! Vaughn Akiu, you would be so jealous of all the super delicious fresh mangos I am eating right now. 

We were walking around and randomly it started to rain a little nice cool rain. I was loving it and then looked down and I was covered in little black spots. Apparently they were burning sugar cane in the distance and the soot mixed with the rain and came down on us. I thought it was funny... nasty rain...

It was my companion's birthday today. So I made him a happy face breakfast of eggs and beans. :)  Then, while he was eating it, we splattered nine eggs on his head and covered him in flour. That is the tradition here. It is an act of love. I promise.

Other than that, we had a ton of amazing spiritual experiences and found a ton of awesome new investigators, two of which we found contacting and they literally asked us how they could get baptized in their first lessons with us. The Lord is blessing us so much for our obedience this past transfer and I know we are going to have a ton more miracles according to our faith. 

But, now it is time to play soccer for the last hour of p-day! Adios!

Love ya'll,

Elder Moffitt

Avacado Shampoo

Yes. My hair does smell like avocado. Thanks for asking.

My name is Adam Moffitt and I am wearing a pink tie in an internet cafe in an obscure town in the northern part of Honduras. With avocado smelling hair. And I'm a Mormon. And a missionary.

Describing Honduras -- I walk along dusty roads in the heat all day to visit people and teach them about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. There are cows. And people. And cars. Sometimes the cars are nice new pickup trucks. I wonder how they have bought them.
We have perfected the way to cook rice in our house. We eat a lot of rice.

Beans are very popular here. Beans with coke. Chemically speaking, this produces high levels of gas. This can be uncomfortable and distracting in the middle of lessons.

There are your descriptions mommy. More will come next week :) We have a lot of sweet people we are teaching. We contacted and are preparing two whole families for baptism. I love sweat running down my face. Well, it use to annoy me but now I just let it flow. "Let it flow. Let it flow. Sweat falls like the economyyyyyy." (Yep, to the tone of Let it Go).

Thanks for the banana bread recipe. There arent any bananas here. OH WAIT. YES, THEY ARE EVERYWHERE THAT I LOOK.
Baaaaaanaaaaaaanaaaaaaas.

Elder Brimley reports: "In funny news, the water has been out for two days now..... How have we showered, you ask? Hahahaha. From the absolutely revolting, putrid water from the pila where we wash our clothes, which is outside. It was really funny because I was in the middle of showering in the morning, when all of a sudden, the water all stopped. I had shampoo in my hair and I had to go outside with a towel over myself and wash the shampoo out of my hair. That was fun... I guess... Haha, but it made for good memories of my mission. I hope the water comes back tomorrow." 

Straining my mind to think of great stories from this week but all that comes to my mind is rice. So I will leave it with that. 

Honduras + Missionary = Rice

Hurrah for Israel!
Elder Moffitt

This is Brother Zapata. He is really buff and a great cook. Yes that is the color of my shirt, or skin, or wait... 

Drop Kicking Drugs

Dear Family,

Super fun to talk to you all yesterday for Mother's Day! It was weird skyping with you and seeing the living room and stuff because it was super normal and seems like I haven't even been away that long--but at the same time I have. 

Elder Moffitt sings "Let It Go" on Mother's Day skype call from Honduras 
with the family in Arizona and his sister, Sister Moffitt serving as a missionary in Ukraine!

This week went well. Found some great new investigators, and we continue battling to help the ward progress and see miracles and conversions here in Sarrosa.

Had a great day on Saturday laying down the law of the Word of Wisdom. We contacted a man in the pulperia who really wanted to change his life but had problems smoking and drinking. He had a cigarette behind his ear. We taught him about the power of the atonement and forgiveness and how we can change. And we challenged him to throw away his cigarette. He protested, saying that he would change starting tomorrow, blah blah blah, but we continued challenging him, saying if you are going to change you need to start now, or you never will. He thought and then said, "Take it". With pleasure I took the cigarette and hulk stomped it into the dust. 

30 minutes later, walking to a different appointment, we encountered a drunk man that had also expressed his desire to escape his alcohol addiction and his desire for us to teach him. We challenged him as well to throw out the alcohol bottle he had in his pocket. He protested, of course, saying how he wanted to change but didn't want to give up his alcohol (hmmm) and so we said, "If you really want to change, and really want us to help you, give us your alcohol and let us help you." He slowly handed me his bottle of alcohol and I poured it onto the dirt and then punted that plastic bottle into the stratosphere. 

It was one cigarette and one little bottle of Plata, but it meant a lot and it was a great decision for them. 

Hurrah for Israel!

Elder Moffitt

Notha Hot Week Saving Souls

Hey all,

Just anotha week in the hot business of saving souls. Things are going good. We are seeing a lot of miracles here. Fun events and breaking news of the week:

Tried to get this dog that belonged to one our our investigators to love me and went to pet it with my best coo's but it didn't buy it and bit my hand. Sweet thing...

It's funny how everyone here feels a very urgent need to practice their English when they are drunk so when walking past a drunk guy on the street I am guaranteed to hear, "How are ju my freend, my bruder?" I like to respond with a very rapid return phrase in complicated Old English mixed with Brooklyn street drawl and leave them to meditate on what I said.

We had this one lesson this week that really taught me a lot about sacrifice versus excuses. We have this family that believes every thing that we have taught but that lives kinda far away from the church. Also, they aren't married. They want to get baptized, but they just seem to make excuses for why they can't go to church or pay to get married. For like an hour we sat with them trying to get them to understand that salvation isn't cheap; it is really, really hard but when we make sacrifices, the Lord will repay us, even 100 times more! I am so grateful I can sacrifice two years of my life to serve the Lord. God will NOT ask us for excuses on the day of judgement, he will ask us for results. He, who had the most reasons to make excuses never murmured nor hesitated to take the hard road, and he did it for the rest of us. If we want to be saved we must repent and it is NEVER easy to repent. Let us be as Nefi who said I will go and do, not "but...."

My shirts are starting to get super worn! I feel so pro. In just one month I will complete a full year in the mission. I will hit my halfway mark. How wild is that? I'm halfway done! NOOOOOO!!!!! I still have way too much to learn, way too much to do. I don't want my mission to end. It's crazy, but really dedicating yourself full time to the Lord is super difficult but super rewarding. I hope I can have great faith and great courage in these months to come. 

Thank you for all of your prayers.

Elder Moffitt

P.S. If you are one of my friends, and you are not a member of The Church of Jesus Christ and would like to learn more, just go to www.mormon.org and invite the missionaries (like me) to come visit you and share a message. Be a man (or a woman) and just Do It. You'll thank me later. :)

This is a beautiful convert family that is super poor but never once asked us for anything. We helped them upgrade their house a little with new materials and everything. They have grown so much spiritually...

Running in the Dark

P-day hiking and repping my school with a sweet bullhorn trumpet. #Only in Honduras

Dear Family and Friends, 

This was a great week here in my new home in Santa Rita! We have some great families that we are teaching that are interested and progressing really well. I love teaching entire families!

One of our adventures for the week: Friday night were walking home from the outskirts of our area at about 8:30 pm when two men started following us.  The highway road is dark and deserted for about a 30 minute stretch so we sped up our walk hoping to avoid an ugly encounter.  Looking back, we didn't see the men anymore, so we relaxed a bit and continued discussing plans for our investigators. About five minutes later, I looked back and saw the two men rapidly approaching us. My companion, Elder Lopez, suggested that we run but I said, No, not wanting them to think we had something of value (since I just had my books and 10 lempiras). “1,2,3, corramos!” said my companion, and again I declined, feeling calm and decisive. Then he said again, “Corramos, 1, 2, 3!” and I felt a strong feeling of fear, like if someone had dumped cold water on me. “Vamos!” I said. So we took off running on this dark highway, and the men started running after us. We ran and ran, and they ran after us as car after car passed us. I felt no fear, but said a quick mental prayer while running and honestly felt such a strong trust in the Lord—that we were servants of His and He would protest us. S we kept running for like 10 agonizing minutes and, just when they were gaining on us and I was ready to quit running, a small white car pulled up and shouted, “Elderes, get in!” Needing no further encouragement, we quite literally dived in the car, and were whisked away to the safety of our house by a visiting bishop from Palermo Ward who saw the situation. I know that wasn't a coincidence, and the more time I spend in the mission, the more time I understand what it means to trust in the Lord, to really trust in Him that everything will be okay if I am doing the best I can and honoring my covenants. 


As it says in the scriptures, “And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.” D&C 84:88

I know that we were guided by the Holy Ghost to run when we started to run. I know the Lord sent that bishop to see us and save us.  And I think that the Lord also wanted to remind us to do our running exercises in the morning. :)

Javier Mauricio quit his great Sunday job to be able to go to church.
THAT IS FAITH, PEOPLE!

Hurrah for Israel!
Elder Moffitt

Posing with my new companion, Elder Lopez

Semana Santa and Happy Easter from my new home in Santa Rita!

OH MAN, I have way too much to write about and no time to write it. So I am SUPER PUMPED about this new area that I am in. I made it out of San Pedro Sula alive after 6 months and several close calls and now am in a small town called Santa Rita in the countryside of northern Honduras in the state of Yoro. The city is strewn about by sugercane fields, in which many of the residents work, whether planting, cutting, or manning the machinery of the sugercane. So pretty much I live in Candyland. Pretty much.

My new companion is a Guatemalan named Elder Lopez and he is super cool. Our house is super big and we live together with Elder Maldonado and Elder Brimley. Elder Brimley is also from Arizona and we were in the MTC (Mission Training Center in Provo, Utah) together -- so it's a good time. I am super excited about this area because there is a ton of potential for teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Everyone is so open and so friendly and the lifestlyle is a lot more calm and relaxed here. In the city everyone is always running around and busy and distracted, but péople here really have much more relax time, even though they work hard. I am pumped to find new people to teach and to build the Lord's kingdom here.

So Easter in Honduras is pretty much non-existent. The week is called Semana Santa, or holy week, and most everyone has the week or at least the weekend free of work. But the sad part is that no one understands why. Everyone thinks that Semana Santa is just to go and swim in the rivers or go to the beach and relax. Hardly anyone understands that we are celebrating the suffering, death, and victorious resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Much of this week we spent teaching about the atonement of Christ and the magnitude and eternal importance of that weekend that changed the world forever.

So I'm not really tuned in to the whole video world over there in the States but there is an INCREDIBLE new video and page about the meaning of Easter over here at http://easter.mormon.org/

Everyone needs to WATCH IT because it is awesome and really powerful. Here it is:

Because of Him

I want you all to know that the reason I am here on the mission is because I know that my Savior lives and loves me and that he is literally at the head of this church. That is the motive for every drop of sweat I have dropped over here.

Hurrah for Israel!

Elder Moffitt

Moving into our "big house" with Elder Brimley

Pictures from San Pedro Sula

  

Remember Christian? One week as a member and he is already THE BEST MISSIONARY EVER! 

New friend Selvin!

 Honduran bridge. Someone didn't go to USC School of Architecture...
That or Voldemort went wild on this bridge.

Want to hear a prophet of God speak?!

Well, this week was our church's General Conference, or in other words, the awesome twice a year weekend where we get to listen to the words of the living prophets and apostles of Jesus Christ that direct his church. For 10 HOURS!!!!! 

We spent most of our week preparing our investigators for the conference, including teaching everyone about the importance of prophets, and how God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and so it makes sense that he has called prophets and apostles to lead his church and his saints in these the last days. 

There were so many great talks it was incredible, but my favorite was by Lawrence Corbridge, who talked about the importance and incredible fruits of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The simple fact is that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true, the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and one learns so so so much when he/she just investigates all there is to learn. I loved the directness the speakers used in their talks. It's time to repent world. Ain't nobody got time for sinnin'. 

Can't remember any really great stories from this week (that happens when it's really, really hot in a small Honduran internet cafe), but I learned a ton from the conference. If anyone has any questions about Honduras or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, send me an email and I'll send you the best answer I have! 

Click here for all General Conference Talks

And here is a one-minute short version of my favorite talks of conference -- "ask God and He will answer!": 

Bad news: It is super hot now. The hottest time of the year is April. 103. Humidity. We don't have air conditioning. Sweet.

Good news: The mangos are ripe now here so I'm loading up on that fresh fruit. 

Love,

Elder Moffitt 

While waiting for a meeting, Elder Hansgen and I took a few minutes for a missionary swagger photoshoot!

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