Chiva Vista

So I know I wrote like 5 days ago, but its back to normal this week, so you'll get the usual Elder Moulton update. Things are cool here in Santiago, its still getting hit with random rainstorms, we are still eating more than the daily recommended portions of chicken and rice, and found out we have a large Mennonite community here. Last week we got to go to the temple tho, which is why I emailed on Wednesday, and it is so cool to have a temple so close by. Still getting the random shouts of English words, most of them are words I hope I never learn the Spanish translation for. Got to go inside a military compound, went to a lake in our area, and introduced the chicken initiative. Basically every family down here can receive 5 chickens, 1 pig, or a tank of fish from the church to become more self sufficient. 

And to explain my title, for those of you who don't know, my hometown is Chula Vista. "Chivo" is a word that we use down here for pretty much everything. It basically means cool, but you can use it however. And "vista" means "view," which we have a lot of here. Entonces, Santiago Texacuangos is just like being at home except I give out free chickens.

Another funny thing that happened this week was that we had a little combo thing and I got paired up with Elder Zabel, the other gringo in my district, and we had a little competition versus our Latino comps. Elder Zabel has got a little more time than me here, but we are both relatively new white kids roaming the streets so it was definitely an experience to knock gates with our broken Spanish, but somehow we actually ended up finding more people to teach than our comps. And our Spanish was practically fluent.  

Also this week, Rafael Lopez, the shoemaker, changed his entire work schedule to come to church. And Tomas, our other friend who's been coming to church with us, gave us all of his coffee and quit smoking cigars. Its amazing to see the sacrifices these people are making to change their lives. We had our fair share of rejection this week and there is a lot of misconceptions about our church and our purpose here, but seeing the sacrifices of these people really helps put things in perspective. These people don't have a lot but almost all have faith and a desire to change for the better.

Mateo 6:31-33

31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Being on a mission, I have never had a stronger testimony of that principle. Granted, I can always just go get 5 for 1 dollar pupusas, but still. Putting God first is hard, especially for people that have to fight everyday just to put food on the table, but doing it brings blessings and Tomas and Rafael are great examples to me of that.

-- 

Elder Moulton

Milagros

Editors note: Tanner's update was delayed this week because the missionaries were allowed to go to the temple and had a different day to email. 

This week has been without a doubt one of the greatest weeks of my mission, if not the greatest. The GOAT, as they say back in the USA. Hopefully that’s still a thing. And not just cuz we had to chase/herd some actual goats through the street, which we did. And it wasn’t because we helped break some nice people, who had a little too much to drink, into their own house. It wasn’t the three straight days I had pupusas, the tortilla cooking lessons, or the futbol we played in the dirt streets of the jungle while knocking gates. It was kind of the day we got to help an old guy with only 7 fingers and one foot make fireworks in his tin shack factory. Definetely wasn’t the buses I had to hang out of with bags between my legs, the crazy rainstorms, the tarantula we killed with a chancla, or the doors slammed in our faces; the thousands of bananas that random people give us every other day; the grasshoppers the size of small dogs. 

 Most of that stuff was pretty great, but what made this week the best was the Milagros.

We’ve been trying to find a house here to start a little church group and we prayed extra hard Tuesday to find one. Right as we finished praying and hit the streets we saw a house for sale. Then this week we found 2 more places. Also Rafael and his son Marvin have been reading and praying a lot, they’re trying hard to change their work schedule for church. Three families came to church this week that haven’t come in months. The lady who taught us to make tortillas attended church with us for the first time and loved it. Another friend of ours, Tomas 'pic' came and loved it too. Just a side note that dude is great. Has 9 cats and the voice of a movie narrator. But the greatest miracle of all came on Sunday.

A couple months ago, some missionaries in California sent some info down here, about a person who wanted to hear more about our message. We got a first name, a city, and a house color. So the missionaries here haven’t been able to do much, but Saturday we decided to have a little faith and shoot our shot on Sunday. So we asked around and ended up on a bus. Over an hour later we arrive in a small little town called San Juan Tepezontes. Someone suggested we get in a pickup so we do, and head in the general direction of where someone thinks her little city/neighborhood might be. After a few minutes in the car we start praying. And as soon as we finish, the truck stops and we pick up some more people. Turns out one of them recognized the name and 15 minutes later we were sitting on her front porch. She turned out to be a very strict Catholic but that’s ok, we had a great lesson, got some more bananas and it was a special experience. Then we loaded back in a pickup but realized we didn’t have enough money to make it back to the town with the buses. Driver only charged us half price without us even asking. But the craziest part is this. . . we ended up back in that little town waiting and hoping for a bus. While there, a woman approached us and told us she was a member but hasn’t been to church for 14 years cuz she lives 2 hours away from the closest building. She has a 13 year old daughter who wants to learn more and I know us running into them was not a coincidence. She is, as far as we know, the only member of the church in that small town in the middle of the jungle and this whole experience led us to her.

Life is full of miracles and its amazing being able to see them so apparent in this country, on this mission, and with these people.

Ether 12:12 For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith.

-- 

Elder Moulton

Esta Lloviendo, Esta Cayendo Un Torrencial

There is not an exact translation for its raining, its pouring but that's as close as I can get. Hurricane Michael hit this week and we think its cuz we cleaned the house. Literally every time we shine our shoes, it rains. And this past week we took it a step farther and cleaned our apartment, so you know we had it coming. In all seriousness tho, our city wasn't affected too much, a couple landslides and a cow got swept away, but there are parts of this country that got hit hard. Central America in general is not in great shape right now because of this so please keep these people in your prayers for the next little bit.

We have enjoyed the rain tho, more people let us in to share a message when we are just drenched teenagers with bibles and smiles. The family I talked about last week, Famila Lopez' the shoemakers are going to be baptized next month! Primera Dios. We have had a great couple lessons with them this week and you can just see the changes they are making and the desire for truth that they have. Its amazing to see the light and joy these people have, even in the midst of everything going on. Some people here are really struggling, we had one day where 3 people broke down in tears to us. And its really hard to see these people, who we love so much, struggle with such big problems. But problems and struggles, unlike pupusas, kolashampan, or the word chivo' aren't unique to Salvadorenos. 

Juan 16:33 says, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulations: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."

Looking at the hardships of these people, thinking of people back home, and just facing the not-so-fun parts of being an 18 year old gringo in a foreign country, its easy to see the afflictions of the world. But we aren't alone and that's a powerful message that we get to share EVERY DAY. And that, that opportunity is pretty chivo. 

I've also caught one of my ties on fire, been bitten by a dog, received a sketchy shot for gripe, had to correct a few kids who misunderstood the meanings of some choice English words, decided choco'bananas are the worlds greatest desert, spilled water all over myself during a lesson and gone to a couple of birthday parties this week. That and my record for pupusas in one sitting has grow to 6, but I am working to improve. Also went to visit the one-legged man I mentioned earlier a few times this week because he is a great cook and sells socks. This man literally lives at the top of 100-200 uneven, steep steps and he climbs it daily with crutches. He is amazing. 

I hope everyone is doing well, thanks for all the emails and support, I don't have a lot of time to email but I usually get to at least read so thanks!
--

Elder Moulton

Boliche y Cuchos

Another week in paradise. We went bowling last pday, a couple hours away on the bus, and it almost felt like we were back in America. Although most of the missionaries here are from Guatemala, Honduras, or Mexico and had never bowled before so it was fun to watch them learn. Got to visit some of the cool sights of El Salvador too and wow, this place is amazing. Its been pretty rainy this week, we’ve had some fun walks-swims through the street but its still hot enough for us to sweat through our shirts most days.

We had General Conference this week, where we get the chance to hear from prophets and apostles of the Lord. We invited a bunch of people, but sadly nobody was able to come. But that’s ok, the words were powerful and I got to watch it in English with the other Gringo in our area so we had a good time.

In D. Todd Christofferson’s talk, he said, “Either the gospel is true, or its not. But if it is, follow it.” Its a pretty simple statement but just thinking about the people here, it means a lot. I know that this gospel is true, and many of the people we teach have developed a testimony of that as well, but with that knowledge comes the responsibility to act.

One day this week we went on exchanges, swapped companions for a day. I got to stay here and as we were kinda prepping for the day, I got the feeling that I should write my testimony in a Book of Mormon and mark some of my favorite scriptures. I did it and then as we were out in the streets, we meet a man named Rafael. He’s a shoemaker and has 3 adorable little puppies and an awesome family but as we were talking to him, he told me how he had faith in God and in Christ but liked learning through reading and hearing the beliefs of others. I gave him the book from that morning and knew it was for him. We’ve been back to visit him and his family since, and I don’t know where he will end up on his journey of faith but I do know God’s got a plan for him, and He has a plan for all of us. 

In other news, we actually had running water twice this week, so 2 non-water in a bucket showers means we’re smelling better than usual. Got to work a little construction, help a few people build houses. Hung out with my cucho (Salvadorean for dog) named Tigre a lil. Ate a lot of ramen and popcorn, I think I created an animal when I introduced that combo to my companion. Overall a really fun week, times flies in the mission field.

I hope all is well back home, thank you all for your love and support! 

-- 

Elder Moulton

Primera Dios

Editors note: Elder Moulton wasn't able to upload any pictures or respond to emails this week as the internet connection wasn't good. Fingers crossed for good internet next week! I am including a couple of pictures he uploaded last week.

Week two down and my pupusa count has already hit triple digits. Possibly more, its hard to keep track. I´ve only had to eat chicken feet once tho, maybe twice’-it was suspect. Things are going good here in Texacuangos tho, there are random rainstorms almost daily that are stronger than anything I´ve ever seen. Poco a poco. We even had a couple people on the street guess that I was Hispanic. Most guessed Canadian but hey I´ll take what I can get. Most of our appointments kind of fell through this week and some of our best investigators and families are really struggling right now, its hard to see. That being said we meet some amazing people this week and have super high hopes. Got to go on 2 exchanges (where we swap areas-companions for a day) and had a blast. At one point me and a missionary I barely know got lost on a dirt road in the jungle for a while and if it wasn´t for his flashlight we would´ve stepped on a snake. But it all worked out, we ended up at the pupuseria.

A scripture that I´ve really focused on this week, and one that we´ve shared A LOT is 

Santiago 2:17 (James 2:17)

"Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone"

Action is the key to progression, and while belief is great and powerful, it can´t do much unless we act on it. Blessings are there for us to receive, we just gotta do our part and go get them.

That being said I wanna close with a short story that explains how awesome the people are here. We went out to help a sick member on Thursday and we went with two members of the branch. We went in a truck with only two seats and the rule is missionaries can´t sit in the back. So without saying a word, one of the members, a 70 year old man with only one leg, hobbles out of the cab and pulls himself into the bed where he rode it out for the 2 hour round trip 

(in the dark and cold). I´ve only been here for 2 weeks but already I have seen so many examples of humility and strength and I feel so incredibly blessed to have the life that I do.

Thank you so much for your support and love.

-- 

Elder Moulton