Porque Estamos Aqui

Hope everyone had an awesome week this week. Elder Clove and I had a roller coaster. 

To kick things off, we had El Gran Cambio de 2019. My best friend in the world, a 75 year old baller named Candido, gave up smoking and coffee this week. And he did it in style. He swapped all his coffee for a bag of milk from a member. It was a happy moment. In other news, I broke a string trying to tune a members guitar, taught a lesson to 7 kids on the street (the youth of Ilopango call me Gringo Messi now), had 8 of our currently investigating friends at church, almost fixed a blender, ate 2 tortas and a burrito in one meal, and decided that chicken heart is my least favorite part to eat. It was a fun week, we had a lot of really cool things happen, really saw God's hand in it all. There are things about being a missionary that are so awesome to experience, like hanging out of a bus while a chicken is biting you, or watching people change their lives completely, or answering the random biblical questions of our neighborhood trash bag vendor, or forcing people to drink entire cans of soda for an object lesson. And to answer the question posed by my title, we are here (missionary wise) to experience all of this. To meet these awesome, crazy people and to try to help them come unto Christ.

But to explain more clearly the purpose of my title, sadly this week we have had to experience the passing away of a few really special people. One of which was our friend Wilbur. He was 18 years old and just kind of a goofy kid, but his biggest goal in life was to have a family and he was always grinding and looking out for his little siblings. Its not real easy to express the situation in an email, but we know hes crackin jokes and playing futbol in a much better place now. Its been a kinda sad week, but its lead to a lot of thinking and a lot of change. We aren't here for a long time, but in the time we are given there is time to accomplish what we need. But more than just accomplishing goals and checking boxes, life is about enjoyment and happiness. And in all that comes our way, even if its a dog jumping out of an alley outta nowhere to eat your face, or a person who thinks we are spies, we can choose to find the joy in it. And that holds true everywhere. I'm gonna paraphrase a little because I don't have the technology to get a direct quote, but President Thomas S. Monson once said that happiness is a choice. And just coming from Elder Moulton, I think its one we all should make. So choose to be happy this week, you already know Elder Clove and I are going to have a blast. Choose to enjoy the hard things and make sure to take advantage of what comes your way. Because we aren't here to just get through life, we are here to enjoy it. Hope everyone is doing big things, thanks for the love and support, they make the choice to be happy that much easier. Although being out here in the promised land, happiness is pretty much guaranteed.

Salud

-- 

Elder Moulton