Es Como "Monton" Pero Con 'L'

To quote my English-learning, pupusa-burning, Quetzal-earning companion, "Hey man, whats up?" Which sadly is about the extent of Elder Felipe's English for now, but we are working. We got plans. Along with the English classes however, this week brought a lot of good times, great people, and big moves. To start out with the best, Nancy was baptized this week! Nancy is just 16 years old but we have been teaching her and her family for a while now (she is William's aunt). Her journey really hasn't been all too easy but long story short, she made this decision and put out an example for all her family to follow. And we are super excited for her down the road. Future missionary for sure. And while that was obviously the highlight of the week, we had quite a few other memorable moments. We learned a little sign language and got to use it in the street with a group of deaf teenagers, ate pupusas at least once every day this week, helped a nice friend of ours with his cows, broke a chair during a lesson, got asked if I was Chinese, hiked some serious mountain jungle paths, and met a guy with a rooster fighting ring who lives directly next to the police headquarters. SO it was a pretty good week honestly. And to explain my title, once again a lot of people had a hard time with the last name. SO what we do now is just explain that my name is like "monton", a Spanish word which means "a lot of," but with an 'L'. And people seem to understand that. 

Now I don't know the origin of the word 'monton,' but to me it sounds a lot like mountain and for that I'm gonna use it to share a lil something spiritual. One of the hardest things about being a missionary is seeing the really difficult things that people have to go through. It's hard to see families struggle, or opportunities fall through, or mistakes made. There's not a single person in the world that doesn't have a 'monton'of problems. And sometimes what we expect is some grand sign or great big task to do in order to move these mountains that life puts in our way. The Bible even says that with just a little tiny bit of faith we can move mountains, and that for sure applies to both spiritual and physical ones. Now I don't want to speak for everyone, but a lot of times we got the faith part down. Or at least we think we do. A lot of times when we have a trial that's huge and looming before us, we say that we have faith to do whatever it takes to move that mountain. And we wait. We wait for God to give us some great task to fulfill. We wait for God to tell us to move the mountain, to sacrifice everything, to change our lives completely. But a lesson I have really come to learn down here is this: Most days its not the faith to move mountains that we need, its the faith to climb them. I'm not saying that God isn't gonna help us to get over our problems, not at all. But the point is that if we truly have something we want to accomplish, or something difficult we want to get over, the first steps are not to go all out and do some huge thing. The first steps are to do the small things; to climb. The hardest kind of faith to have sometimes isn't the faith to make a great sacrifice or do a grand act, its the faith to press forward and do what we know we should be doing. To pray, to read, to listen. So if you got a mountain in front of you this week, don't try and move it right off the bat. Climb it. Do the little things first and you will end up over that challenge in no time.

Hope everyone has a great week, as always thanks for the love and support!

SALUD

Elder Moulton

No Debe Ser Una Persona Sucia

Editors Note: We got to video chat with Tanner today! He looks fantastic and sends his love to all of you. What a blessing to see him and hear his voice. We also got to talk with his companion Elder Felipe and hope to "see" them again next week. 

Another 7 days of jungle hikes, overflowing buses, and chicken. Lots of chicken. But we couldn't be any happier, its been a good time here in Cojutepeque. Got to have a few interchanges and work with some really awesome other missionaries, and even ended up back near Las Canas for a day. But the real grind is going on here in the chorizo capital of El Salvador  with the greatest Guatemalan of all time, Elder Felipe. We had some crazy stuff go down this week, starting with a mystery car-motorcycle off road adventure that I can only describe as a direct guidance from God that led us to a family in the middle of nowhere who all came to church this Sunday. A walk through a military camp at 8:45 at night. 2 guitars, and a brief preview of the future duet of Elder Felipe and Elder Moulton. Horrible burritos at the Mexican restaurant we got here. And to explain my title, a pair of brothers who really wanted us to drink their water. One was shirtless and sweaty but an old friend of mine from a couple months back. The other was sadly pretty sick and it had left its mark on the front of his shirt. Long story short these guys are our buds and way funny but we were really tired and sweaty and they weren't exactly models of personal hygiene at the moment. So Juan goes, "Don't worry man we aren't dirty people drink my water," in broken Spanglish. And so we did. But he also had this nugget of advice that I figured would be good to pass on "Don't be a dirty person."

Little spiritual thought this week is something I had the chance to share at church this week, when the designated speaker couldn't make it. Its one of my favorite scriptures of all time and its been huge in my time here. Its the story of a young guy who needed to build a boat. And he didn't know how to do it. So his brothers started getting on his case. But this guy, in this verse of scripture, gives one of the greatest comebacks ever given:

1 Nefi 17:51

"And now, if the Lord has such great power, and has wrought so many miracles among the children of men, how is it that he cannot instruct me, that I should build a ship."

Now God isn't asking any of us to build a boat. At least I don't think he is. But if we think about it, the point here still stands. Looking back on my life, God has given me a whole bunch of miracles. Just the fact that I made it through the crazy streets  of Chula Vista everyday on the weakest scooter in existence, or that we find our way back to civilization here when the bus routes close down. And if God has the power to do that, I have no doubt that he has got what it takes to help me get over whatever it is I got in front of me. God isn't going to build our boats for us, but with a little bit of faith and some work on our part, he opens the way to get it done. This scripture really helped me awhile back when I was struggling to learn Spanish. And while I can't say I am a perfect Spanish speaker yet, I can for sure say that God is helping me to build this boat. And that promise rings true with whatever problem or difficulty we could face. So next time something hard comes by or when life says you need to build your own boat, remember those words:

"If the Lord has such great power, and has wrought so many miracles in the life of (insert your name here), how is it that he cannot instruct me, that I should (insert action needed to overcome personal struggle or trial here)?

Hope you all have a great week, thanks for all the love, prayers, and support. It makes building this boat of a mission a whole lot easier.

SALUD

Elder Moulton

Me Llaman Gringo

This week I am going to get real. I had a goal when I first got here, to be pure Salvadorean after 6 months. Well I have officially been a missionary for 6 months and everyone still thinks I'm from los Estados Unidos. Every once in a while I get a Canada or Spain. Point is, I can eat as many pupusas as I want, speak as much Spanish as I can, but sadly I am not quite Guanaco yet. That being said, this week was actually pretty crazy. We dug a giant hole (goal was 7 meters) for a crazy old man to have a bathroom in his house, practiced Portuguese and Kak Chiqel in the bus, we fixed some flooding water pipes with wire and prayers, and got to hear from Elder D Todd Christofferson at a conference of 500 missionaries. While this week had its fair share of crazy moments and people, the highlight of it all was for sure this conference. We got to hear directly from an Apostle and even cooler, he speaks perfect Spanish. 500 missionaries strong, all of EL Salvador, and it was just an awesome experience. And he is sticking around here for a while too so we will see if he swings by Cojutepeque. 

And to justify my title a little bit, this week 'besides being called Gringo' I have been called "Milton," "Mootoon," and just about any variation of the word you can think of, quite a few Spanish words that I gratefully don't understand, and to top it all off "Joesph Smith Junior" by a man screaming in the streets. People call us missionaries a lot of different stuff. And now, with 6 whole months under my belt here in the promised land, I am more grateful than ever for the name that I am here representing. A lot of people get confused when they see that both me and Elder Felipe are named Elder. And I don't know why but nobody believes we are twins. So quite a few times daily, we get the chance to explain who we are and who we represent. And even though Moulton is very difficult to pronounce in Spanish, its a pretty cool experience to represent 1. Jesus Christ and 2. the Moulton fam down here in La Provincia de Nuestro Senor Jesu Cristo El Salvador Del Mundo. Which is actually the full name of my country. So yeah, maybe I am not pure Latino yet, hopefully in another 6 months we will be there, but for now I am alright being a representative of the greatest man to ever live, in the country that bears his name. Hope everyone has a great week, thanks for the love!

SALUD

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Elder Moulton

Elder Moulton and Elder Felipe

Cada Rosa Tiene Sus Espinas

Well another week in paradise for yours truly, the Elders of Cojutepeque. And not only because we literally have a little pueblo in our area called Paraiso. We have been on that grind this week, preaching, teaching, herding goats and cows in the streets, sweating stains into our shirts, hiking through jungles, and using silly putty and card houses to teach about the gospel. So its been pretty cool. We had elections down here this week too, which is pretty fun. Nayib Bukele is our new president. He's a G and definitely had my vote. Also my companion unfortunately started the rumor that I am Donald Trump's nephew. From what I can tell only one guy believes it. We didn't eat anything too weird this week, we actually have a Little Caesar's and a Burger King. Normally we stick with chicken, papas fritas, and tortillas. Its a pretty sweet life.

Now to explain the title, being down here in El Salvador, one of the first things you learn is how much the people love Classic Rock. . . that and fireworks. Salvadoranos are a people of 80s music and blowing things up all night long. But along the lines of the music preferences, one of the most popular songs in the street, and one of my most favorite from back home is this one. "Every Rose has its Thorn." I always thought it was pretty cute and the only song I have heard better is the latino remix of "I Will Always Love You," by Whitney Houston. But I swear we don't just go around listening to the music blasting from the buses. Just this week I figured we'd use one song as an example, but you already know we have to get deep with it so we're gonna flip it around and say that every thorn has its rose. Sometimes we end up in some sketchy areas, or meet someone that's really sick, or get stranded because the buses change during elections. But always we find that one awesome family, get to see someone recover with just faith and prayers, or run into crazy people who invite you over to eat macaroni because you were making the 45 minute jungle hike back home with no transportation. Point is, it always works out. All these thorns got roses, we just gotta look a lil harder. So when you drop your pupusa and the dogs eat it before the 5 second rule even comes into play, or when your chancla breaks, or when you have a giant mosquito bite on your forehead, look for the roses. Cuz they are always there. God gave us our fair share of thorns too, but vale la pena, we got some pretty sweet roses. Hope everyone had a great week, thanks for all the love.

SALUD

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Elder Moulton