La Vida Es Un Autopista (pt 6)

So as you can see from the title here, this week brought changes. Lots and lots of changes.

Lots of tears and lots of special moments but the highlights were the baptisms of Pamela and Sofia and Paula and Alisandro, super special to see and super super excited to see what the future holds for these studs. We will keep ya posted. And even tho during the baptism someone accidentally punched me in the face, it went really well. 

Also, I have to say goodbye to Apopa this week. Which is very very hard. I gave my last talk in church this week and everyone made fun of me for bawling my eyes out. But life goes on. Also said goodbye to Elder Jimenez this Sunday as he left for a new area and that was pretty tough too. All in all this week was full of changes, with many more to come. But if I have learned one thing here, its that change isn't bad. It just brings more opportunities. I'm really really gonna miss Apopa. It has come to be my home and I love these people with all I got, but God's Plan is better than mine. And I know it'll all work out.

Just want to finish up with one thought. God doesn't change. And if God has done miracles in the lives of others, if you´ve seen miracles in your own life, God can make a miracle now. I've gotten to know a lot of people and a lot of struggles here in Apopa and one thing I know for sure is that God is a God of miracles. And its never a bad idea to hope.

Hope everyone has a great week

SALUUUUU

Elder Moulton

Plan de Dios

Another week in paradise but with 0 time so we gonna give you the bullet point editions

• Alan got baptized!!! the kid is a total stud and was so hyped and we are so excited for the guy. He is gonna start sharing the gospel with his family too! 

• A whole buncha crazy stuff happened and we had to cancel all our plans one day and we ended up finding a family of members of the church whose son got hit by a bus, they told us God sent us and it was just a crazy experience. GOD'S PLAN is real and even though we were stressed cuz the plans fell apart He knows where He needs us.

• We were gonna build a house but a General authority of the Church, Elder Arizu, called us and we ended up going and visiting some families with him here in Apopa. What an experience. It was super amazing

In the end, just an all around awesome week, God is really looking out

Have a great week

SALUUUU

ELDER MOULTON

Pollo Frito

Well another week in paradise. Only got hit hard by rain once this week but I think it may have been the strongest rainstorm I have ever seen. Basically swimming in the streets. My scriptures were soaked. I don't have any time this week, like always so I really just wanna finish off with a story.

About 7 months ago, when I first came to Apopa, we met a nice lady named Rosa. She was very loving, and let us into her home to share a message but told us she would never go to `the Mormons`. We passed by a few more times but she wasn't very interested so we kind of stopped. A few months later we were walking by her neighborhood and felt that we should swing by. We did, and through tears she told us more about her story, her life. She told us she felt we were sent by God. But she told us she still didn't want anything to do with our church. So the same thing happened. little by little we stopped passing by and she stopped letting us in. Months later we try again. Long story short, she has come to church with us 2 times now, is preparing to be baptized and has changed her life in many drastic ways.

All I have to say is don't give up. God knows whats up. He knows when. The balance between persistence and patience is hard. But It always works out in the end. I know life is hard sometimes. We can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. Like when you eat vegetables for lunch for 4 straight days and your companion says all he wants to eat is pollo frito and french fries. But it all works out because Sunday night in the pouring rain as we run to the house, we run with smiles because we had a bag full of fried chicken in our hands. It will all work out, even though pain comes, joy does too.

Hope everyone has a killer week

SALUUUU

Elder Moulton

Chino o Chele

Well another week in paraiso. Not gonna lie this week has been CRAZY! Sadly I am going to have to be pretty brief in my emails now because the time we have to write got cut a little shorter. But the highlight of the week, well its hard to pick just one. One of the coolest things was that this week I got to travel back to the first area I had here in El Salvador to work with some missionaries back there. Honestly a miracle because everything kind of fell into place last minute. But a way cool experience to get to work with some other missionaries and in an area where I was 1 year ago! Crazy stuff. 

Also some people came to church this week that we have been teaching for a while and sitting there in church we just started praying for a miracle and BOOM a couple families walk in that we had been praying for. Way cool experience. 

To explain my title, we had a lesson this week where two dudes just started talking between themselves and starting using traditional Salvadorean nicknames. Namely Chino and Chele. Hard to explain exactly how it all went down, but I'm thinking about putting in a request for a name tag that says, Elder Chino." I'll keep you posted.

Just want to finish up with one thought,

Talking this week to some people in the street really changed my life. Out of respect for these people I am not going to share much but I just wanted to say how blessed I have been in my life. There are people in this world facing challenges that I can barely believe and its just humbling to know that my problems really aren't anything in comparison.

Hope everyone is doing well.

SALUUUU

Elder Moulton

Gracias A Dios

Another week in paradise. Really technically 2 weeks cuz I didn't drop an update last week. But it's all good here in Apopa. Kinda crazy that I'm still here. I've been in this area for over 6 months now and I really do feel at home. "Apopence de cora" like we say here.

Things are all good tho, we've really been training hard in soccer because some local teams wanna show us what's up but I think we are gonna be all right. 

Elder Jimenez and I are still showering in rain water although we did get some water like 2 days this past week so that was a little miracle. Other than that and the random remarks about Donald Trump every 5 seconds in the street its been a good time. We had the chance to meet and teach some really awesome people this week and after visiting some of the very humble and sincere people of Apopa my companion and I started talking about the culture here. Something a lot of people say that sometimes is almost funny because of how often they say it is "Gracias a Dios," or "Thanks to God." And they say it about EVERYTHING. Literally. You finish eating? Gracias a Dios. You saw a friend in the street? Gracias a Dios. You pass your class in school? Gracias a Dios. EVERYTHING. The ability for people here to realize just how great Gods help is is incredible. And its something I'm trying to implement too. God looks out. He's there in every moment but sometimes we forget. And we have to remember that every moment and every good thing that happens really is a blessing and a miracle.
So yeah, good times, hope everyone has an amazing week!

SALUUUUUElder Moulton

Editors note: Tanner knows a young man who "free style" raps.  He asked him to freestyle a song for his family using his last name.