Week of October 29, 2018

Hey mom,

short week so I dont got a lot to say. Temple was way cool I liked it a lot. Weird in Spanish. But cool. Things are good w my comp. Turns out pres is giving us one more transfer here. Ortega is mad about that. Rafael came to church, hes the shoemaker. Tomas is doing awesome too, I gave him one of my white shirts he looks like a stud. Got to see all my MTC buds so that was cool. Spanish is good too, a +few times this week I just realized I was having a convo. We went to the lake, that was fun. Its in our area but it was kind of a waste of time honestly. I didnt really wanna go. But its cool, hopefully I can get the pics from Ortega{s phone camera thing. Sorry I dont have more lol, pretty chill week. 

Thanks for the update! I am so happy to hear ur doing good. And hey those pupusas are nothing on the ones here, I am sorry. Also the soda, different brand doesnt count. jk jk way to rep the set. So happy to see Brandon! I worry about him a lot. Pry for him and you every night. ANything else crazy?

also i have a request for the cabin if you can. If not dont sweat it. But like a thing in the wall of the basement for hammocks. I love hammocks now.

Love ya!

-- 

Elder Moulton

Hey btw dont send the group yet, I will upload pics later, if you dont get them by like 3 go for it. But yeah it was a really good week haha, we had fun and my spanish is better than the vids I swear, I get stage freight. Totally forgot to thank you for the package lol, its dope haha I am so excited thanks so much!! It really doesnt get here fast I mean I just got the letters, just depends on when we can hike in and get the packages so dont stress. Plus they are exspensive too.  

What else am I forgetting?

Oh my gosh thats sick. MY BOY ROB haha what a guy. Think about those kids a lot. Really miss them doesnt surprise me tho, Brandon likes the spotlight. What a g tho, brandon is a character cant wait to see him again.

yeah no i was kidding that stuff is bomb haha urs is good too im sure. The coat was a gift from a crazy hat maker named oscar who i dont like to talk about cuz theres some sketch stuff going on and its also very frustrating. But hes a funny dude. and yeah I spent a lot but not all. Price is close to the same back home but all my money goes to buses. Think I gotta log off now tho, so I love you, awesome to hear from you and the only pic in specific is one from ortega at the lake where I have the BOM extended, its sick. Just make me look good :)

love you so much, you are in my prayers and keep on being awesome. Makes me happy to think of alll the awesome things yall are doing back home. Started crying once this week when one of the songs on my flash drive played. something about what a fam is. super cheesy but still. love ya lots!

te amo,

Elder Moulton

also what is this video you said? christmas party? 

love ya!!

--

Elder Moulton

To Trevor:
Gotta dip but thanks! I needed thT HAHA. Trying hard to find the balance but I am finally coming into my own and its been amazing. Literally somedays I am casi fluent. Loving the culture and stuff now too. Still wierd as heck but its awesome and I love it.

love ya dad, I miss you like crazy man

Dear dad,

Good week, short but it was cool. Ortega and I are getting along better. Hes super mad that we are staying here one more transfer. He really just wants a new comp and a new area. But Im gonna try to go hard this time. My spanish is better sometimes I can just talk. I take over in lessons sometimes, some people I cant understand and I am working on vocab. My comp cant really help me tho, cuz he doesnt know any english and his spanish is all just from speaking not from like school so Usually I read the dictionary every night and try to get him to help. Hes been very sleepy this week tho. Even fell asleep in a lesson. Also just gets mad sometimes, hes says its cuz he wants to be a better example to me and that hes so disobediant and that he cant change. But when I try to talk to him he ignores me. weird. We were 7 investigators short of our goal cuz we spent the week doing not much. Even went to the lake for like 4 hours one day. SO yesterday he had the other missionaries in our branch come w us to help. Me and the gringo went to the tough area and found 5 in like an hour and a half, taught a sick lesson to an investigator'using your Plan de Salvacion layout thing, and had time to spare. And my spanish went 10x better. It was insane. They found 4 in the gold area and then went to an old investigators house. But its alright, things are better. And bc of our progress we are staying another transfer. 4 baptismal dates, 3 diff investigators came to church. But honestly idk. we are getting along good now but its rough. I dont wanna talk bad either but i gotta vent too. plus he came from such a bad situation. His dad is a drunk and his fam is broke. And like you said, when I remember that, its easier to be patient.

One of our fav snacks is orange juice w and saltines. Reminds me of you. Also our branch is tiny and just wack, you wouldnt believe it man. And the stake is now looking for houses so it is out of our hands

Week of October 24, 2018

Mom!!! I love you and just read ur email, what a week wow. I miss your primary stories haha. And glad dad is still eating pizza. I get little ceasears every other week or so for zone meetingsand think of him. Cool story about grenier, He is a good dude. And elijah wow. I am praying for you all and brandon especially please send updates. Also so cool about the mission calls! Wow! Ukraine is nuts, I was kinda hoping shed learn spanish hehe. Way cool tho glad they are both excited. You should tell them congrats or something and from me too. Not sure if I responded to everything but this week is a mess and I have way less time so Im just gonna send my keyboard letter now 

Dear Mom,

Interesting week this week. Im real sorry I forgot to tell you about the change to wedensday. My b. Ur prolly freakin out. Im sorry! its cuz we are going to the temple hoy. But this week was cool. Lessons w familia lopez and Salvador are going great. Even tho Salvador thinks we are a cult and worship John Smith. Last week we went to Genesis like 3 hours away but it was like a freakin giant thrift shop it was tight. NFL jerseys for 1 dolor. Dont tell dad but the two jerseys are for him. Got some sick ties and shoes too. All cheap. And a football. I actuually really miss football. Its been raining like a stupid amount its crazy. Lot of landslides and stuff but in our neighborhood we wont have to worry. Just scared for some investigators. Cool story is we fasted this week. I did a few times cuz ortega forgot on sunday, and we didnt eat on the bus ride monday. But tuesday we fasted and right after we ended it we found a house for sale. Then 2 more. So we are hoping to set up a group here soon. We are gonna have to work hard to get it in church shape tho. And we still have to see if it gets approved. Primera Dios. Been eating a lot of baloney stuff w thousand island dressing and bread, sometimes moldy haha. Its good tho. I put popcorn and chips in it. They have chips here called jalapenos that are BOMB. Not sure what else I am missing but you will get filled in when u read my journal in a lil haha. I have eaten pupusas 3 straight nights too, at the time I wrote this. Got to make fireworks with the 7 fingered, one foot man in his lil shack factory. Got an awesome forro for my scrips too, peep the pics. Tried to make chocobanannas, didnt work. One lady, Norma is on date but cant read and doesnt understand my spanish. At one point she thought I said faith is distrust in God and got mad. But usually she just agrees w everything and clearly doesnt get it. But she came to church sunday which was amazing. We pluck beans and uncob corn for her sometimes, she is an amzing cook. But people here sometimes dont wanna learn they wanna seem like they already know, then go off and you lose the point. Nobody really listens. And the people that do live an hour away from church or are dirt poor or have friends who tell them to ignore us. Its tough. But we aint quitting. Looks like the area is getting shut down tho. Im gonna do all I can but the ZLs told us we are decreasing by 4 missionaries in the zone next cambio. Learned how to deliver a baby too, Ortega asks a bunch of questions lol. Excited for the temple tho! Sorry I forgot to tell you. Also This week has been so crazy amazing. I got a pic of me giving a Word of Wisdom to some drunks, I sliced my hand open during a street futbol game, we did it to contact, cooked tortillas, saw some crazy views, dont post any views yet tho cuz the best are coming. And some some crazy miracles. Ive been taking more initiative recently and still not real comfortable with spanish but usually I can say what needs to be said. Even gave a lil presentation in Primary, so I thought of you. Love ya!

Yeah some of our investigators are nuts and have cool jobs. That and people just talk down here with no filter so I get everything. Gyna is flip flop. We dont know how to spell. And yeah me and my comp are like really good buddies. We sing and party to hymns in SPanglish. He doesnt love working sometimes, bought an 80 dollar camera thats basically a samsung galaxy, actually it is, and told me he wants to be a clown someday. Not joking. So he is an interesting dude. But we have a good time and I like it. I am sad I have to change companions in a week. Hopefully I get to stay in this district to help transition. Temple was way dope! I will talk about it in my email nextnmonday. But I loved it. And yeah packing is gonna be weird lol. Love you tho! If I get booted Ill talk to you Monday!

can you send mw noahs email? 

also add ammon.murphy at myldsmail.net please

and yeah almost positive I get a newbie and that the area is closing, although we put 4 on date this week so who knows. Best week in history of Santiago. we will see. Time is weird. Short term crazy fast, long term not so much.

And yeah she kinda went off. I can only deliver hispanic babies tho

To Trevor:

Hey just saw this. We have a laundry lady but she is not good. Are clothes are dirty and she loses them or gives them to the wrong missionaries cuz our whole rama uses her services. We have a microwave, although I dont use it much anymore, only sometimes when I need popcorn. We have a mini fridge too. And a hot plate but its sketch we used it once. Money is good. A mess but good. I usually am fine but will prolly pull some out to be safe. 

And yeah theres a buncha people  leaving here, a petition is going around. Can you give me the US side? we are worried for some of these people. And political stuff is heating up too, elections are close.

Week of October 15, 2018

Interesting week. We had intercambios twice, and during those we got 3 Baptismal dates and 10 new investigators. Ortega and I havent had a date since my first day, and the most nuevos we find are 3 or 4. Just interesting. Also had entrevistas w the president this week, that went really well. Except we found out they might close this area, which would kinda be the worst. We have to find a building and start a group. Hurricane Micahel hit us hard monday, some parts of this place were really messed up. We were ok it just rained a lil and some houses fell apart, landslides. In other parts, people and cows died and roads got wiped out. Pray for my country. Also heard a lotttt of music from back home so that has been interesting. ACtually able to talk now, I have led a few lessons and taken the initiative in contacting. Also had a couple bdays this week so that was cool, even if we did waste a lot of time. My comp and I are getting along really well tho, and I live for friday nights when we get unlimited pupusas from a member. Ended up getting 25 neuvos this week, which is cool, but the fechas are the best. 2 from the fam I talked about earlier, with the puppies and Libro de Mormon, and 1 from an old, sad lady who we hadn{t visited since my second day. Also have one more, Salvador, without a date but in many ways he is our most positive. Food this week was for sure interesting, I have learned to eat without chewing. For the most part I like the stuff tho, especially cuz most people eat crap like I would eat back home' pan francais w eggs, sour cream, and beans for example. Also I have been telling everyone how you used to pour hot sauce in my mouth for saying bad words, cuz I can handle spicy better than all the Latinos. We don{t eat spicy like ever but a few times we have, and they are dying its funny. I have this huge kanker sore thing on the outside of my mouth, wanted your opinon on what to do. Hard to have personal hygiene here but I try lol. Found comfort in ramen, salchichas and pan dulces. And of course popcorn, which I am eating as I type. The tshirts here never cease to make me laugh, although I use them to contact now which is cool people like that. Our rama is a little off but its very funny. Songs are always an adventure, especially when the daughter of the president is conducting. She will stop us halfway thru and make us start over if we arent singing w passion.  

hope all is good I love you update me on stuff, you guys, the cabin, brandon, peoples mission calls etc.

--

Elder Moulton

Nah Im good thanls for worryingh haah thanks. I have all I need I think. My lip is ok it is getting better. I take a lysine everyday. I get made fun of for my drug use hehe. Its all good tho I am doing well. Physically I exersize alone evrry morning and hopefully will be in prtty good shape when I get back. It isnt too demanding, my comp is fat and likes buses. thanks tho. So sick to hear about the cabin, I am hyped. I didnt get a different email but thanks for filling me in. What suit is my boy gonna use?? WHo asked him?? thats my son lol. Syd what the heck open ur call. Freakin goolds. Morgan is opening hers this week too. The shot was like a flu shot kinda thing kinda, everyone got it. and nah The dog bite was nothin It was my dog that did it, didnt even puncture the pants. I have an umbrella too

send whatever out I aint pici pici as they say here.  

And hey good for quinn he is a stud.

And yeah I have fleas and stuff I already know. Im never gonna be quite the same health wise but its ok, Vale la Pena for sure. 

My lip is improving.

The cabin looks bic! Im sitting next to my gringo friend and hes thinking about UVU so were gonna have parties all the time. But like spiritual parties haha.

Fr dont worry about health or anything I am good. and taking meds. Also use santizer constantly, even on my feet

honestly cant see the blog but I trust you haha My emails are in good hands. I got to go now but I love you, and thanks for all the updates. I think about home a lot, prolly too much, and wish I wouldve spent more time w you oldies. Stay real tho, stay woke, know that I miss you and I am thinking about you. Also dig around in the google file I shared, I have some pics from other missionaries and you have to look around.  

Love you! HAve an awesome week! I dont actually have fleas!

Week of October 8, 2018

Well, couple days in this week and I{ve been aged guessed at 27 and 16. And told I look like Billy Elliot. Also got both Burger King and Wendy{s )in the city 2 hours away for Pday and Migration stuff= and have climbed enough stairs that my thighs are like Jeffery Page status. The old one legged guy I wrote about lives at the top of a steep staircase with about 200'300 stairs. He does it w crutches daily. Also sells knock off socks so I look fresh now. Got asked to marry someone{s daughter. Fell asleep on a bus and got laughed at by everyone. Yeah it was a good time. I ride at least 6 or 7 buses a day, and I{m always the tallest one by far its dope. About a quarter of the time I end up hanging out the side cuz its full, thats always fun. Especially in rain.

Different DayÑ

Yesterday we had intercambios and I stayed here and got to be Senior Comp-DL for a day and take my comp around. I was freaking out cuz my Spanish sucks and I don{t know the area too well but it ended up working out great. I had the best experience of my mission. I was talking to a shoemaker, just contacting and we ended up spending about an hour just discussing beliefs and stuff. That morning I had an impression to write my testimony in a BoM and to mark some scriptures. And while we were talking I knew it was for him. His name is Rafael and during our convo he asked me if he could come to church. It was seriously so cool. My comp was talking to his son so it was just us and just like everything was great, the spirit took over and Spanish was barely even an issue. That day ended up being the most successful on my mission. 6 new investigators, some menos activos, and I got to do it w an Argentinian who looks like a knock'off Santi. Then today we helped a guy who was building a house move and nail some not very structurally sound pieces of a future {House{ and we got to talking. He got deported from the States and has 2 kids there. He told me, in very broken English, that he has been trying to turn his life around since he got sent back here 10 years ago and is trying to prioritize Christ. I{ve also been attacked a few times for being a gringo, people tell me I{ve never had struggles in my life and I am just a rich Gringo with cars and iPhones and that I{m only here for my parents or that I should go back. And thats hard, not cuz I question my testimony or anything, but bc they are the reason I am here and I wish they could see this the way I do. And I feel bad that I{ve never had the struggles they do but God loves all of us the same. And some people here don{t believe that. Which breaks my heart. Also been bitten by chickens and cats and tried vegetables I didn{t know existed. Gotten to do some construction too, throws me back to the airstream and Ben{s dad. I tell people here I worked construction before lol. Although its funny cuz construction here is like when we built the clubhouse, they just kinda go. We installed a door and wow its like they just send it. People here think I{m dumb tho bc I know enough Spanish to understand a lil but can{t express very well or understand complex things. But I{m lowkey grateful for that, its a new experience )I know that sounds cocky= but its humbling and good for me. 

Also look up Pacaiya, or something like that. Its the weirdest thing I have eaten this week. My comp only eats w his hands, and his face. Its kinda hard to watch but this week I realized I do that too. Except here in the house, we found some forks. And lunch they give us forks but Ortega believes tortillas are a better utensil.

funny English moment, our ZL tried to say theif! but yelled Soup! instead cuz he got the words mixed up. He{s Guate and actually knows a lot of English, more than my Spanish.

Other funnny things,

many missionaries have coin collections cuz we use US money, my comp has the biggest its intense. We showered twice with running water this week. Theres like random US songs everywhere but people play like Usher and then like 70s music back to back. Its a lil weird.

I love you so much and thanks for the email, I am glad ur still getting rabbits. Hows the dress going? Camden is spoiled lol. Although she prolly wants an immoddest one. I hope Brandon is ok I miss him. I used you to call some people out the other day. We have 2 really lazy investigators and they were giving excuses and I said stop. I said my mom always said theres a million reasons not to do something, the only reason we need to remeber is that we love god.so thanks. I love you!

-- 

Elder Moulton

haha yeah I bought that on the side of the road, I freaking love the puch. and thanks mom. I will be ok. Just living for Pupusa nights on fridays, pdays, district meetings, church, and lessons. Cuz thats when I can understand stuff. But nah its coolin. I really do love being here, just wish I could be a better missionary. Gotta rep the moulton name.  

Speaking of names, I like chewy. Its satan rn but I can fit chewy in there.

We are going to go play soccer in the rain in a lil, I will try to get a pic for next week.  I feel like theres so much to say haha, its hard for talkative me not to be able to go off sometimes. But its a valuable lesson and I am very grateful. I am writing in my journal every nigjht and want you to read it when I get back

Hey mom, I am leaving rn but I love you, hope all is well. I hope you have an awesome week. I pray everynight for you to know how much I love you. And dad too, pray for him. Only put pics I look good in. Do people read my emails? also please give me tips or things I should do better w those, cuz like those are missionary opportunites, wanna do it right.

love you so much, tell dad too. And keep getting those bunnies.

Hey dad,

I couldnt fit the comp stuff into my email w the pres cuz he is right next to me and I think he knows I am a lil frustrated. I keep it lowkey tho. I know he prolly badmouths me all the time, but fr I dont care like I know the pres will know the truth. Hes inspirred. Kind of a quirky dude tho, I mean I only met him once and my interview was 2 minutes, everyonce else had 10, but he wrote a song for our mission and changes metas all the time. I like him tho. And thanks dad. I know you are right, I think sometimes it just helps to say stuff. 

My comp is trying tho, and I think being called to his calling has helped him. I can see his is actually trying very hard to do things right, he just really struggles sometimes. And I dont blame him, he has nothing at home and a rough backstory. He doesnt share it w me tho. Really doesnt trust me yet. But its ok. And he is a lil chubby and very self concious about that haha its funny. I wis you could be here too tho. The other gringo and I always talk about how we wish we could text our dads. I use your bits of wisdom and stories sometimes. I brag to everyone that you speak spanish. The accents down here and the slang are weird. I worry I am cussing all the time haha.

I miss you tho and I am holding back tears cuz I cant look weak haha

Week of October 1, 2018

Wow ok i finally got this thing to work this is dope. Ok week 1 fill in, not writing a letter, just writing a journal so its gucci. Things I forgot, the people here love fireworks, the first thing I heard when I got out of the car’ BOOM BOOM. There was a big festival here for one of the saints and people went wild. There´s bugs all over too which, me being the prissy American guerro that I am, really BUGged at first lol. But the aranas and I have come to an understanding. You stay away from my bed, chair, books, and bag, and I won´t spray OFF on you with the wrath of a catholic bus preacher. The spiders are freaking huge tho. Also, we aren´t allowed to say certain numbers here, such as twelve plus one, or nineteen minus one Î spelled it out bc I can´t risk this falling in the hands of the wrong person* There is graffiti everywhere and some sketchy peeps around. But we coolin tho in that aspect. As long as we exersize caution it is never a problem. Drunk people are my fav, I haven´t met a lot yet but one grabbed my head and smacked me, then called me Obama and went staggering down the street. Yeet. I feel so much better rn, the prayers and stuff worked miracles. My biggest fear is stepping in dog crap. It happened at Hmna Elsie´s daughters party and like halfway thru, Noe was like ¨who stepped in crap_¨and we all look at Ortega, then I´m like nah I´m always cautious. Look down it was all over my pants and shoe haha. Also, I don´t exactly comprehend everything yet, we were at a place and listening to someone and they were just going off, and smiling so I started smiling too bc at a point if you ain´t with it you can´t just jump in or take a pause. Anyways turns out she was talking about how her husband was torn into pieces by a bus, the gangs robbed his body, and she got fired. Once I figured that out I started crying. There´s been a few moments like that, where I don´t really know what´s going on, but I know enough and get emotional.

‘’’’’

Week two was more of the same, I can understand casi todo now, can´t speak for crap tho. Not sick anymore, I actually am doing very well in that department. Which reminds me the address of the hospital was, as their card says, Ä lado de Pizza Hut¨The addresses here get funky haha. I´ve had to eat some wack stuff, wack combos. Chicken foot soup, spaghetti w sauce and w beans and avocado, green crunchy omelets with a pile of tomatoes and popcorn. Most our investigators are dead which is hard and our one date fell thru so we´re back to square one in a sense, but we got 20 nuevos this week so we´ll see. There´s a fam here, our neighbors, who treat us like their own kids. They are amazing, and help us so much. I think I talked about them last time or already idk. But recently we´ve seen them reading the LdM and we´ve had some amazing talks about doctrine. They are our golden meta, we are going slow haha. Also the fam who feeds us lunch, menos activos, treat me like a son. They are way chivo and we are all learning Portuguese together. They have 2 kids’ 7 and 10 and we play American games, piedra papel tieras, and soccer everyday. We are working hard on them. We have gotten caught in some insane rainstorms tho, the streets just flood and its always fun.

JesuCristo Vive!

-- 

Elder Moulton

Hey mom, 

soup of chicken feet is grooss. I miss ur food so bad. Problem is white people don´t really have culture so when people here talk food- which is all they do- I can´t be like yeah well I like MacnCheese. But its cool, just know I miss ur food. We don´t cook here either. We have a microwave for popcorn or ramen if we can find it. I usually eat ice cream or a pan dulce and chips for breakfast haaha.

torres family is our neighbors, not members but soon. or not soon. but eventually.

Time has gone by very fast haha, I mean 2 years is still so long and I really kinda wanna be 6 months in, speaking Spanish and knowing the area but its ok. con tiempo. I have really been working on patience.

Also I am really sorry but this computer lab has some kinda block against pics... I can´t upload them at all. And I had some good ones haha, so I am sorry. Next week primera Dios.

I haven´t been able to see the Cabin tho! Also if you could sign my letter w something nice like thanks for the support.

I feel bad that I can´t respond to people, I want to but there isnt time. Please let them know. Especially G and G.

I saw a pic of Brandon  w no hair that was tough. Ima email him

love ya

nah nah im good on food, I found my groove. thank you tho. I gtg rn so just know I love you, sorry about the pics, tell dad I had one w Che Gevara- our city is the center for radicals lol theres murals everywhere. ok I gtg bye!! LOve ya!