No Se Preocupe, Ya Estoy Mojado

Well I never knew paradise would be so wet but you already know that your boys are out here forging rivers and tripping through the jungle on the grind. Walking through the dirt road turned river last night in the middle of nowhere, where the only houses lost power for the storm, it really hit me just how cool it is to be here right now. 

Not going to lie, this week has been a grind. Gonna keep it short but just wanna share one quick story. One day my comp and I were finishing up a little study session when I just felt the need to visit Santa Elena. Its a little town that's like 45 minutes away from our house in bus. Long story short we head out to our first appointment and have a nice little lesson but still have the feeling to visit Santa Elena. But Elder Real and I are like no its too far we don't have time so we keep going. But the feeling is still there. So we head off to where the buses pass, almost turning around 7 times and with weird stuff passing all around us. We ended up chasing a lady 5 blocks who left a bag behind, meeting an old man who wanted absolutely nothing to do with us, and hitchhiking a ride with a guy who took us almost exactly where we needed to go. What happened was for some reason when we get to the bus route, there just weren't any buses passing. As we waited and cars passed we got more and more anxious. We prayed, flipped coins, did everything imaginable to try and decide what to do when suddenly a red pick up drives by and we decided to ask for a ride.

 In the end, we made it to Santa Elena and had a 5 minute lesson before running back to Usulutan for an appointment but my point is this. Don't doubt when the opportunity presents itself to do something good. Galatians 6 (I don't remember what verse but it says no nos cansamos a hacer lo bueno and the verse after that). Just do good, and even tho life gets in the way sometimes and the rain is coming down hard, God looks out. We got pretty wet this week with the storms and everything but as we said when one lady told us we should call it a day in the midst of lightning that struck the house we were in and deafening thunder, no se preocupe hermana, ya estoy mojado. 

Hope every one has a great week

SALUUUUU

Elder Moulton

No No Esta Bien, Tenemos Linterna

Wow. Not sure where to start this week for you people but I guess well start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. But Apopa is in the past and wow. that was about the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I love that city. And the people there will always have a special place in my heart. But life goes on. Even when the thrill of living is gone. But another week in para para paradise so I really can't complain. 

I am now here in the jungle. Literally jungle. And it is so different. My town is called Usulutan and I am here with my boy Elder Real from Nicaragua. Haven't been able to know the area cuz we have been overflowing with meetings but I like it here. Even tho its hot. Very hot. But we will keep ya posted.

I've been thinking a lot recently about God's Plan. And look, the mera neta as we say here, or la viña por aqui is this: We aren't perfect. And if there is anything I have learned on this wonderful ride its that I am so far from perfect its funny. But I have learned to be ok with that. We all make mistakes we all got problems and that's a good thing. A friend of mine told me when we have a challenge we should smile because we know God cares enough to teach us a lesson. As we taught a family in a little community off a dirt path this week, it really hit me. I got issues, you got them too. We all do. I can't pretend to understand what these beautiful people of El Salvador are going thru but I can show them this: ALMA 7:10-12

10 And behold, he shall be ^aborn of Mary, at ^bJerusalem which is the ^cland of our forefathers, she being a ^dvirgin, a precious and chosen vessel, who shall be overshadowed and ^econceiveby the power of the Holy Ghost, and bring forth a son, yea, even the Son of God.

11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and ^aafflictions and ^btemptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will ^ctake upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

12 And he will take upon him ^adeath, that he may ^bloose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to ^csuccor his people according to their infirmities.

There is someone who understands. Don't forget that. Hope everyone had a chance to watch general conference this week. If you don't know what that is, shoot me an email and I'll send you a link. 


SALUUUUU
Elder Moulton

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. 

Notas de la madre de Tanner

Editors Note: Tanner had an epic soccer game with the community team and a big leadership luncheon with his mission president so he just gave us a couple of bullet points from the week.

• No water in his apartment all this week so thankfully it rained again so they could "shower" under the alley gutters.

• Don Paco (age 84) was baptized this week and when they arrived to pick him up he was already in his baptismal whites. 
• Tanner was able to fulfill his lifelong dream of wearing the white jumper to baptize someone because they finally found the missing jumper.

• Amazing ward Noche de Jogar (Family Home Evening) this week including cake and 20 investigators came and Eva gave an amazing lesson about how to recognize you are a child of God.

 

Saluuuuuud

• Elder Moulton

Cuando Su Uber Llega Tarde

Another week in Paradise. These past couple days have flown by, feel like I was just writing another one of these. But I gotta say this week was one I will never ever forget. 

We had quite a few crazy run ins, with horses, drunk men, and old friends but the best news is that we finally had rain! So we weren't too sweaty this week. Which was good because we didn't have water in our colony and passed 3 days with out showering. That was rough. But it rained a lot so we were cleanish.

I'm going to get right to the good part tho, this Saturday we had what us Salvadoreaños call a ´´Tarde Blanca´´ where Dennis, Henry, Karla, Marjorie, Miguel Angel, and Rosaura all were baptized on the same day. And even tho we had a slip and slide sort of accident outside the baptismal font and a wedding with an over the top balloon arch (that your favorite central American missionaries put together) it was one of the most special nights of my mission. But I would like to explain my title. After 5 of the 6 people were baptized, including Henry who is one of my best friends forever and a future stud of a missionary, we realized that Dennis had disappeared. And I was stuck in the water, in the baptismal font. Long story short Dennis is an Uber driver and he left his wedding early and missed the baptismal service because he had to do an Uber run. And we didn't know so after an hour waiting in the water he showed up and was baptized but wow. Never thought I'd be stuck in a baptismal font for an Uber run. Gotta love this life. 

Anyways I wanted to share something with you all that I read this week that really hit me hard from a talk called DO NOT PROCRASTINATE by Eldred G Scott:

The story is told that Satan called a council of his agents and asked how they would combat the forces of righteousness. One said, “I’ll go and tell them it isn’t true.” Satan said, “No, that wouldn’t do.” The second said, “I’ll tell them it’s only half true.” “No,” Satan said, “that’s not enough.” The third said, “I’ll go and tell them it’s all true, but there is no need to hurry.” “Go,” Satan said. “That will get them every time.” Lucifer cannot win.  

If there is something you know you should do but aren't doing it, DO IT. Don't wait because if we put things off it doesn't happen.

Have a great week! 

saluuu

Elder Moulton

!Hola Chelito, Hola Negrito!

Well I can now officially say, I have hit one full year here in paradise. Its been a crazy ride, Ive seen things I would have never imagined seeing, met people who have absolutely changed my life, learned more about my Savior and his love for us, and eaten things that would have made me vomit all over myself a year ago. Its a little crazy to think that this awesome adventure is halfway over but we still gotta lot of work to do and I am so pumped to be here on the grind. 

This week was one of the absolutely weirdest of my mission. We got to travel across the country for a meeting with Elder Taylor, a church leader, who flew down from the USA. It was incredible and just being there we felt the Spirit so strong. We got the chance to have a couple of training meetings with him too and then we spent the day working with ELDER FELIPE!! It was so cool to be able to see him again. What's even cooler is when a missionary first enters the mission, his first companion is called his "dad" and Elder Felipe now has a "son" in the mission, so we got to work with my "grandson" too. It was way cool and even tho we had to  take an 8 hour round trip in bus it was a great couple of days. 

Here in Apopa things are still kickin. When there is someone with a lighter skin tone, they use the word chele or chelito, and a lot of people call me that. My companion and I have gotten to know the community a little bit and one day as we were waiting outside of someone's house some little kids ran by and yelled, "Hola chelito, hola negro!" and that's us. I'm sure there was no racism intended but its just funny to know that we have friends here in Apopa. We kind of stick out. 

But it really was an amazing week and just walking through the market this morning, it kind of hit me that I have been out here for a year now. And wow. I may be forgetting English and its true that eating a meal without tortillas and beans sounds weird to me now, but this is without a doubt the best place in the world to be for me right now, and the mission has taught me so much about  life and more importantly, about my Savior. So, from your favorite chelito and negrito, hope everyone has a great week!

SALUUU

Elder Moulton

?Donde Esta Mi Carro?

Well another week in paradise. Gotta be real this week had its ups and downs but I really cant complain when I got the chance to live in the one, the only APOPA CITY. Its been a blast here and even tho we ended up running back and forth in mototaxi for hours to bring Don Paco to church, and we were gifted so many pupusas that my comp hid some in his backpack when they weren't looking. Also I played piano in our ward for a couple of songs and it went absolutely horribly, but it was an experience. And experiences are something that we never run short of here. Highlight of the week was probably when we had what the Salvadoreans call a pupuseada. Basically my dreams came true. The entire city was invited and we cooked up some mean pupusas here in the church, and yes we ran out of salsa but it was a day I will never forget. Also got the chance to go and visit some other areas with my companion and we had a good time pretending we knew the area and talking with people as if we were locals. Been keeping it real and playing a lot of soccer on Mondays too so we're keeping Gringo Messi alive. On the real tho we had a couple lessons this week that really taught me an important lesson.

We were teaching someone and they just really didn't want to pray. So I said look whats your favorite food? and she said Fish. So I say alright here's the deal, on the other side of that door (as we pointed at a door) there's a bunch of fish. You want some? And she goes, yes. So I say great.  Now we are just going to wait for the fish to open the door. The point of the example is that the blessings or the results that we want don't come to us. We don't wait for God, God waits for us. I think too many times we put off what we have to do, or justify our lack of action saying that we are waiting for a sign, or waiting for God to do something. But we shouldn't wait for God to do our part for us, he is the one waiting for us. Another friend asked us if he was doing everything right, where were the blessings? (He wanted a car more than anything to explain my title.) But It really made me think. As we grind and do our part, we have the habit of looking at what others have, or we look at what we lack instead of recognizing all God does for us. In the end, don't wait for God, don't look at what you lack. Just do all you can do and in the end it all works out. Not saying we are all gonna get cars, and I definitely didn't promise that to this friend, but it all works out at the end of the day. We just gotta do our part.

Hope everyone has a great week!

SALUUUU, 

Elder Moulton

Buenas Tardes

 Another week in Paradise, your boys are down here grinding. I have been sweating through my suit coat but we are loving life. We had a baptismal service almost get cancelled because a cow attacked a neighbor and we sent out a fleet of mototaxis to bring my new best friend, DON PACO, to church. He's 84 and a complete baller. But we saw some real miracles this week too. No vegetables for lunch, not a whole bunch of rain, and a bunch of trips to other areas. All in all it was a good time. We led some goats through the streets, we were gifted bananas by sweet old ladies, and I gave a talk in church because no one showed up. But it was a good time and we are getting hyped for this next month.

Funniest experience of this week would just be the way people pray here. A lot of times they start with, ´´Buenas Tardes Dios´´ or use different nicknames they have for God. It's quite the experience to hear the different ways to pray. I get asked a lot to pray in English and that's pretty fun too. Although I always end up slipping into Spanish because I've been here for a minute now and I'm forgetting English. We had a lot of prayers answered this week tho and really got a testimony of the power of prayer.

Hope everyone has a great week
SaluuuElder Moulton

No Pierda La Fe

Well another week in paradise, everything is cooking here in Apopa. You know its a good week when you don't eat soap not even once. Probably the first time in the mission that's happened. On the real tho, pretty good times here. Rosa was baptized this Tuesday and it was just an amazing experience. She was so happy and animated and the coolest part was that after seeing the change in his mom, her son Erick has decided to start talking to us and learning more. 

As we say here everything is poco a poco but its awesome to see these miracles. We also had a crazy big activity in the ward where I struggled mightily to explain the game ¨signs¨ to 60 people in Spanish. It ended up working out alright and we had a good time. And while these were all great times, I would have to say that what went down this Saturday will probably stand as my highlight for quite sometime. 

A long time ago, when I was in a little town called Cojutepeque, your favorite missionary Elder Moulton, being the Elder Moulton you all know and love, lost the keys to the house in a bus. Long story short, after months of using sticks, wire, and whatever else on hand to get in, they finally had the chance to change the locks. And I got to pay for it. Usually in the mission, we can't go back to other areas to baptize old friends or visit anyone. But because of the key situation, we found ourselves in Cojutepeque this weekend, which was timed perfectly with the baptism of Carmen Beltran. I don't know if anyone remember the Beltran family but they were a family we were teaching back in the day that mean a lot to me. Its a big family and while I was in Cojutepeque we were able to see a lot of them get baptized but Carmen never decided to make the choice. And to be honest it would've been easy to say that she wouldn't make the choice in the near future. But this weekend I had the chance to go back for the baptism of her and her husband. We spent hours and days, riding in the back of a pickup through the jungle to teach these people and when I left I thought I would never see them again. I didn't know if the rest of the family would ever come to Christ.
 



The point is DON'T LOSE THE FAITH. Going back and seeing the Beltran family, almost 100% complete and happy, it made me realize that God really does have His plans. And he puts them in action. so DON'T LOSE THE FAITH. Rosa told us her son would never like to come to church or talk about God, but God touched his heart and she didn't lose the faith. Carmen was baptized months after her family, when all of us thought there was no hope but we didn't lose the faith. All of this is just my fancy way of saying, don't stop grinding. Because God is going to make the good things happen, we just gotta trust and work to do our part.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Saluuu

Elder Moulton