?Pero Vamos a Ir Donde Queremos Ir?

I hope everyone had a steller past 7 days. Just for everyone to know, things are good down here in paradise. Among the highlights of the week, yesterday our bus broke down in the middle of the highway so my companion and I decided to use it as an opportunity and invited 50 people to church with us. It ended up like one of my old track pep talks. At one point I asked, “Did our bus break down?” and like 2 confused people were like, "YEAH" with a little too much enthusiasm. So I go, “ But are we going to get to where we need to go?” and this time like 5 people, "YEAH." And I said, "That's great, but what about after this life? Are we going to get to where we need to go?" I said that's the real question but don't worry to help you out we have a meeting next Sunday at the church and you have 2 muchachos here to help you find the answer. So that was a fun experience. Couple more chicken feet, although I ended up getting out of another chicken foot soup so we can count that as a win. 

But the real highlight of this week was when my mission president called me out of the blue on Friday and told me I had to be at the temple at 9 the next day. And the whole story is a little crazy so i will just try my best to sum it up. For those of you who don't know, I am not the first missionary in my family. I have had a lot of great examples stretching back through the years. But ever since I heard I would be serving in El Salvador, one of these examples has stood out for me. 50 years ago, Elder Moulton was here in El Salvador too. My grandpa served a mission here and I always thought it would be cool to meet some of the people who he talked to. Long story short, at the temple I was asked to be a translator for a group of Americans who were there to donate luggage and clothes to future missionaries here in El Salvador. So that was probably the coolest thing I have ever done. Got to have a little headset and everything. 

But during the meeting, the founder of the foundation stood up and asked me to present myself to about 50 or 60 of these future missionaries (many of whom were kids from my old areas which was awesome to see). 

And he started to share his story. 30 years ago he was a little kid here in El Salvador, and his family were good friends with another family. This other family invited them to church and years later this man is now and ex-missionary lives in California (actually in the same area where my Aunt and Uncle live - Shout out to the Sibbetts!) and is helping other kids prepare to go on missions. What makes this story so cool is that the family that helped this little boy get baptized was a family that my grandpa taught when he was here 50 years ago. Basically, because of my grandpa 50 years ago, I was able to be a part of this wonderful experience. But what really was crazy was afterward as we were leaving there was a couple who had just finished spending some time in the temple. And as we started talking to him we found out that HE WAS PART OF THE VERY SAME FAMILY THAT MY GRANDPA FOUND AND BAPTIZED! 

Really hard to explain exactly how neat of an experience this all was, how special. But it taught me something as well. I doubt my grandpa thought, 50 years ago when he first met this family, that his efforts would lead to helping 50 more young missionaries leave on missions. I doubt he thought that this family would find another family, or even that the work he did would extend much more than what he could see. But my point is this. The little things we do today are what are going to lead to great things tomorrow. And we can't always see that. Its easy to be sad or disappointed even. Sometimes your bus breaks down and you end up just asking why and feeling like you'll never get to the place you need to go. But in the end, the buses break down for a reason, in the end, talking to one little family here in El Salvador will end up touching the lives of thousands of other families that these future missionaries will teach. 

So if the grind gets tough or it doesn't seem to be worth the pain, remember that only God knows where the finish line is sometimes and only He knows the things that will come down the road. We taught a lesson this week about dominoes. I set up a bunch of dominoes and at the end a little action figure. Throughout the lesson, we focused on and just established one truth. And we talked about how if one thing happens it leads to another. In the end, after the family told us they believed that first point we knocked over the first domino. And we watched as the rest of the blocks started falling too. The last block knocked our little action figure off the table and into a perfectly placed glass of water. For those of you who don't get the analogy, they agreed to be baptized next week. 

Sometimes it just takes one little thing to put Gods plans in motion, like my grandpa did 50 years ago. But I know its the little things that God calls us to do. On that note, have an awesometastic week, we will catch you all on the flippity flip

SALUUUU

(Elder Moulton #2 in El Salvador)

No Mira Hacia Atras

Hey everyone, hope everyone is doing great. This week was a pretty solid one, even when we got stuck outside in a torrential rain storm and nobody let us inside, or when we spent a night killing cockroaches left and right and even in the air, don't know why they have wings, its really not fair. But yeah we had a solid time. I got to work with 3 other missionaries this week, which was sad cuz I didn't get to spend a lotta time with Elder Herrera but we had a good time and managed to fit some pupusas in almost every day. And then today the rain cleared up and we were able to play futbol with a bunch of friends in the community so the little miracles are always fun to see. Also we got to go work and build a house for some members of the church down here and even though we got covered in cement it was fun and took me back to the old days working on houses (shout out to Brian, Ben, and Nacho). Lots of miracles this week but a lot of sad times too, a friend of ours, who was going to get baptized this Saturday, lost her brother and spent this weekend with family at the funeral. Which was really tough to hear but just makes me think of how blessed I am to have my family, God watches out. Also this week, we were teaching about the Book of Mormon to a lady and she wanted nothing to do with it. So we tried explaining, for like 10 minutes and nothing. At that point I decided that there wasn't any more we could do so I just said stop. And I told her that I knew this book was the word of God. And I told her if she could read just one verse of this book and tell me that its not the truth, that I would never read it with her again. I said open to whatever page and God will show you that this book is the truth. She paused for a minute and then opened up to Mormon 3:12. 

Behold, I had led them, notwithstanding their wickedness I had led them many times to battle, and had loved them, according to the ^alove of God which was in me, with all my heart; and my soul had been poured out in prayer unto my God all the day long for them; nevertheless, it was ^bwithout faith, because of the ^chardness of their hearts. 

And after that she told us she accepted. She told us God was speaking to her. God is real, the Book is true and if there is anyone reading this email that doesn't know that, find a Book of Mormon and open to a random page, read just one verse. And you'll know too.

But to explain my title, just something I was thinking a lot about this week, and something we shared with some members is that whats in the past, is in the past. Leave it there and grind. One of my favorite scriptures is Mosiah 27:8 and verse 29

Now the sons of Mosiah were numbered among the ^aunbelievers; and also one of the sons of Alma was numbered among them, he being called Alma, after his father; nevertheless, he became a very wicked and an ^bidolatrous man. And he was a man of many words, and did speak much ^cflattery to the people; therefore he ^dled many of the people to do after the manner of his ^einiquities.

29 My soul hath been ^aredeemed from the gall of bitterness and ^bbonds of iniquity. I was in the darkest abyss; but now I behold the marvelous light of God. My soul was ^cracked with eternal torment; but I am snatched, and my soul is ^dpained no more.

My point is that wherever you are in life, especially spiritually, the time is now to use what you got and trust the Lord. Don't look back. The past hurts sometimes and we can't always just outrun it. But we don't have to. Because God watches out. Have a great week everyone!!

SALUUUD

Elder Moulton

Que Haria Si. . .

Hey everyone, hope everything is going great. Sorry for the lack of emails lately its been kinda crazy down here. And while half the people here in Apopa think that our little earthquake was a sign of something catastrophic, we are actually doing pretty good. This week brought some good times and some bad times. The best way to sum it up would probably be yesterday when we had to turn down our 4th dinner because we were just stuffed but they still gave us cake, or running into the little horse (the one that bit me last week) in literally every part of town. We got to eat Taco Bell because my companion had to go to downtown,  but the highlight of the week would for sure be the baptism of Betsy. Betsy is a little girl who just turned 8 and decided she wanted to be baptize. She asked me to baptize her, which made my day, and we had a ton of support from local members who even brought cake. It was all in all just a really special experience.

Now to explain my title, "What would you do if...?" This week my companion and I have been trying hard to look towards the future. Which means planning for potential or probable obstacles. When you start thinking down the road a little bit, you start asking the question, what are we gonna do if... ? or how would we react if...? and you get a little hypothetical (which is one of my favorite words in Spanish). While we can't predict the future we can plan for how we are going to handle it. If you make a decision as to, "What would you do if...?" before the situation actually occurs, you will be much more ready to overcome whatever "Ifs" come your way. I want to share the story of a friend of ours who recently stopped drinking alcohol. He told us when he first stopped drinking that he anticipated the process to be tough, he was thinking towards the future. He then proceeded to tell us that even though he would have temptations and tests, that he had made up his mind to say no. Long story short, 2 times this week different friends offered him something to drink and because he had made his decision beforehand, he was ready to say no. It wasn't easy but it was easier than an on the spot split decision because he had planned for this before. In the end, this friend of ours came to church with us this week and is preparing to be baptized with the goal of being a missionary too someday as he told us. And he taught me a great lesson. A lot of times, we know our own weaknesses, what will try our patience, our confidence, and most importantly our faith. But if we look towards the future and make the tough decisions now, the ones we know might come down the road, our beliefs and our goals will never fall. And to wrap it up I want to close with something my mother would occasionally tell me as a kid, "What Would Jesus Do?" Because the answer to both questions, "What would you do if?" and "What would Jesus do?" should usually be the same thing. Hope everyone is still balling out, stay grinding.

SALUD

Elder Moulton

A Shakeup in Apopa

Editors Note: 

A 6.8 Earthquake hit Tanner's part of El Salvador this week. Tanner said everything was falling in his apartment and it was crazy! Thankfully, all missionaries are safe. Power was out at the church where he normally emails, so he had limited access to a computer this week and was only able to voice call for a few minutes. He asked us to share the following highlights. . . 

Bit by a horse this week. 

Helped move three people.

Built a house.

Got to hang out the window of a pickup truck.

Ate Tacos - "That was awesome. Not as good as home though."

Celebrated his companions birthday with a chocolate war.

He also shared with us his testimony of the Book of Mormon and how a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ is dependent on having a testimony of the Book of Mormon. He said a testimony is a chain and a lot of the chain can be figured out logically but the chain has to start with faith and a testimony of the Book of Mormon.  

Thank you for all the love and support you show Tanner.