Pues, Aqui Estamos

Well, I haven't written anyone this whole year so we´re gonna have to change this. New year, new me right? 

So its been a pretty good lil while recently. Its always a little bit weird after changing areas. Also a little weird when you get to eat iguana eggs. But they ain't too bad. Taste like sardines. But don't eat iguana skin. I learned that the hard way. But besides that, its been chill. Lotta fireworks blowin up all over. Someone almost hit me with one when I was hanging out of a bus. We Ubered everywhere. Its been a good ride

Like always your boy is a little short on time, so we´re gonna hit you with a quick bible story. Once upon a time, God told a man he had to leave his house and he couldn't look back. (No I'm not talking about Elder Moulton because you know I still remember the good old days) But this guy left his house and took his family with him. Long story short, his wife turned into a common table condiment because she decided to look back. Why am I talking about food condiments? Its not because iguana tastes better with salt, although that is true. Its because 2019 is gone. Don't look back. Its a new year, use it as a new opportunity to do good. 2020 hasn't been written yet and if there is anything this crazy experience has taught me, its that we have the power to write whats coming next. 

Hope everyone is living the dream and staying safe out there. We´ll catch you on the flippity flip.

SALUUUU

Elder Moulton 

La Vida Es Una Autopista (part . . . )

Ok I got no time like always and I haven't sent a group email in weeks so I'm just going to fill you in super quick and wish everyone a happy holidays. Last week was probably one of the neatest happiest of my mission. Ivan, Julio, Andrea, Edwin, Irene, Santos, Alex, and David were all baptized! and even though it involved many mornings waking up at 4am to get on buses, wedding planning, and working on a farm, to see these 3 families come unto Christ absolutely changed my life. Ill throw some pics in but before I share a quick story just wanted to give a heads up. I had changes this week and I am back in my second area again. And I am PUMPED!! Its rare that a missionary gets the chance to return to an area but I'm back in Las Cañas and super super super excited. I love this area and have a bunch of friends from before that are just absolute studs. I'm getting to pass both Christmases of my mission here too so you know we will be having a good time here. Although my free day is now Friday so I wont be sending emails Mondays anymore

Ok quick story: Editors Note - He told his mom the story and asked her to type it up. . . 

Saturday was the big day for the mom and dad to get married and everyone to get baptized but as of Friday morning the dad (Edwin) still wasn't back from seeing his family in another part of the country to tell them about the wedding. He was no where to be found. No answer on his cell phone, the missionaries in that area couldn't find him. Nada. Tanner and Elder Real decided they just had to exercise faith and move ahead. A show of faith. They bought the wedding decorations and told everyone to move forward. Still no sign of Edwin. They were typing up the baptismal program, adding Edwin's name with faith that all would work out, and the phone rings. EDWIN!!!! He never explained where he had been but he had found the church in the area he was visiting and even gone to a baptism and was ready to be married and baptized himself the next day! It was a wonderful wedding and the group that had started with 20 people when Tanner arrived had grown to 50 people and they were all there to support Edwin, Irene and their family as they were married, baptized and confirmed. Tanner said the principal of faith is real and quoted Ether 12:6 

 And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that ^afaith is things which are ^bhoped for and ^cnot seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no ^dwitness until after the ^etrial of your faith.

He asked me to challenge all of you to act on your faith. To do your part and let the Lord fulfill his promises. 

Hope everyone is doing great and since I won't be able to write before Christmas, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Elder Moulton

From His Mom. . .

Hello All,

Elder Moulton has had a very busy couple of weeks and has not been able to email because of a temple trip and other mission Christmas activities. From the pictures he uploaded it looks like the Cortez family was baptized on Saturday and we are so happy for them! Elder Moulton looks as silly as always. We are grateful for the love and support so many of you give to him. We wish you all the Merriest of Christmases and hope you find joy in the love of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Libre Soy

Pues, another week (or 2 weeks) in paradise and I gotta say life is going pretty great. We even had a mini Turkey bowl/ pickup football game last Thursday with all the missionaries to celebrate Thanksgiving so it was a cool experience. Things are going really well here in Usulutan, never thought I'd learn to be a wedding planner when I left for the mission but we got some good stuff in the works so we will keep you all posted. Other than that, this week has really just been a spiritual roller coaster. This week, some friends of ours who were going to come to visit the church for the first time had their house get robbed Saturday night, some got sick, and really just everything hit all at once. But when Sunday morning came around, even thought there was a bunch of inconveniences, there they were at church with us. Which has really made me think about the way we take what life gives us. Being a Spanish stuttering, 2 left footed, young, gringo missionary here in a country that has a culture unlike anything I'd ever known before, food I'd never even heard of, and incredible people that have just blown me away, has really showed me just how little control I seem to have over what comes my way. But 3 families here in Usulutan have shown me otherwise. One of my favorite sayings is, "No puede cambiar los circunstancias en cuales se encuentre, pero si se puede cambiar su actitud," And these 3 families have shown me that. 

These families barely have enough to make ends meet and to go to church is a huge sacrifice. Bus fares and time away from the field means food that won't be on the table. But these people, in the faith that they have, CHOOSE to make these sacrifices. Maybe life is throwing some curve balls and maybe it looks impossible to keep going, but 1 Nefi 17:3 (And thus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled. And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and ^astrengthenthem, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them; wherefore, he did ^bprovide means for us while we did sojourn in the wilderness). We can always choose to keep going, to do the right thing, to change, to sacrifice. We HAVE to choose that. I am so grateful that God put me here and now in El Salvador because it really let me know just how important it is to CHOOSE the right. Every moment is a choice, and every choice has a right option. We aren't always going to get dealt the hand we want, and sometimes (as I have learned here) we mess up. We make a wrong choice. But there is always going to be another choice to make. Another shot to get back on the path, and that to me shows just how much God loves us.

Hope everything is going well, have a great week

SALUUU

Elder Moulton

Una Semana Locisima

Well paradise is going crazy right now. Im just going to give it to you all straight.

Monday- We get a phone call that says there is a tsunami and we have to get to "high places" so we all get to the park and have to wait for 2 hours.

Tuesday- Big earthquake

Wedesnday- Flash flood hits us as we are walking home

Fhursday- We find and kill a scorpion behind our fridge

Friday- The bus we are in has an accident and is totaled

Saturday- Actually a pretty chilling day 

Sunday- Got to go to church in Ozatlan so we really can't complain

This week was nuts! But I gotta say we came out unscathed and wow. God is real. This world is a pretty crazy place but we have seen some real blessings recently. Really made me think of a scripture I like in Romans chapter 8:5, 38-39

35 Who shall separate us from the ^alove of Christ? shall ^btribulation, or distress, or ^cpersecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to ^aseparate us from the ^blove of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Life is rough but there is NOTHING too big to separate us from the love God has for us. I dont really know who reads these things but let me just say that whoever you are, if you believe in God or not, if youre a member of this church or not, God loves you. And that's what I've really come to find out in my time here in El Salvador.

So have a great week, know that God loves you and...

SALUUUUU

Elder Moulton

Highlights from Elder Moulton

Elder Moulton wasn't able to send an email this week but he asked me to share the following highlights: 

• William got baptized. William is a, "really awesome kid." He is 9 years old. His mom was a member of the church but when Elder Moulton and his companion found them they hadn't been to church for years. William was very excited to get baptized and now all the family is coming to church and William is excited to be an example for his 3 brothers. 

• A worm fell out of his hair. He said that actually they live and work in a jungle so it just got in his hair and then fell out. . . 
• A member of the church gave them a bag of chocolate for dinner. 
• He sat in a bunch of bananas.
• He and his companion killed a big spider. See the video. . .

• He saw some roosters fighting. 

And then he would say 

SALUUUUUD  

Elder Moulton

Si Solo Tuvo Un Disparo

Well another week in paradise and I cant lie, I'm loving life. Maybe its that we played basketball in the blazing hot jungle sun all day today, or the night that a pickup truck full of military buffs gave us a ride through the windy streets of Ozatlan, or the 3 lunches we ate this Saturday. But things are looking up. Belen was confirmed in church this week which was a miracle but what I really wanna share is a fat miracle we gotta see this week. First off want to say shout out to my main man Sam who got baptized this week back home, way to go bud, miss ya and thanks for being an example. But down here the miracle we saw was OZATLAN. Where we meet on Sundays is a nice little church building, but about 45 minutes away in bus, in the jungle is a little pueblo called Ozatlan. I've talked a lil about it before but this week was just wow. We spent very limited time there because of transportation and everything but we spent like 9 hours of the week visiting over there, and this week, in the little house where they hold their meetings, over 40 people showed up! Including Familia Cortez and Familia Guido and Familia Hernandez, 3 of my favorite families of all time. Just total studs and wow. Everyone was grinning ear to ear and crying as we saw person after person, family after family, entering the tiny home to meet together on Sunday. Its hard to explain exactly how it all went down, and how much of a miracle it really was, but where usually 20 people sit each Sunday there were 40 and families who had been struggling and apart from the church rejoined. It was just amazing.

My title is another shout out to those who know, and while it doesn't make much sense in Spanish, as the saying goes, "If you had one shot," what would you do with it? Life goes by fast, the mission goes by fast. But we gotta make it count. Its hard to sum up, just how many miracles I've seen in my (almost) 15 months here but God is real. Make it count. 

SALUUUU

Elder Moulton

Que paso de loco hoy?

Another great week in paradise.  Even though this week was packed full of bus rides and the mission secretaries robbing my  chocolate and a guy trying to hand me a pistol. We really got to see some miracles. To start off this Thursday, Maribel was baptized! Which was an amazing experience. I’ll send pics next week. Saturday Belen was baptized. She is a little girl who just has me repeat very simple words in English over and over again. I got to spend one day visiting people with a member of the church in a little pueblito and got to meet some really cool people. One of the biggest miracles this week was we went to visit someone the missionaries in another area were teaching. When we finished  there weren’t any buses. But the baptismal service of Belen was going to start in an hour. We were about 2 ½ hours away from our area.  After much prayer we started hitch hiking our way back into the city. Three different families stopped their cars to help us and miraculously we made it to the baptism in time. 

I also killed a spider on my companion’s leg. It was a pretty chillin week. We hopped on some incorrect bus routes but always made it back to our house safely. I also tried frying two week old tamales for dinner. Wouldn’t recommend. 

Hope everyone has a great week. Sorry we kept it short this week. I’ll send something good next time. 

SALUUUUD

Elder Moulton

Ya Te Vas?

Well another week in paradise. And let me just say, paradise really shouldn't be this hot. Everyone here was super hyped because they thought we were gonna have this big tropical storm, they cancelled classes in school for a week and everything. But in the end we just had a lot of sun. Pretty cool week tho, really got to enjoy the fact that more people were sticking around the house for the vacations so we got to meet some really cool people.

But more than anything I just want to share a crazy experience that happened this last Monday. There is a little pueblito named Ozatlan about 45 minutes away from us by bus.  About 4 months ago, the missionaries who were assigned there were reassigned and no new missionaries entered. So basically there was a group of members meeting for 4 months without missionaries or very much support. Elder Real and I decided after lunch on Monday that we'd go visit and see what was up. After a miracle catching the last bus at 3:30 and running into some members in the town park we end up climbing a hill, past an Amish community where nobody uses shoes and we found the humble home of Maribel Martinez. And that ended up being one of the most spiritual, amazing experiences of my life. Maribel, even tho she has problems with her knees, goes to church EVERY week even tho she is not a member. She never was baptized because she felt doubts and was unsure. And when the missionaries were taken out of the area she was left mainly in the dark. For 4 months, members of the little group of 30 members in Ozatlan visited and invited Maribel and she faithfully attended church every week, inviting her friends and family to come too. When we entered her tiny, tiny house, we started to talk about her life. As we talked my companion and I felt strongly that God had prepared the way and that everything was falling into place. We invited her to be baptized and she said with a smile on her face, that that had been her only desire for months and that she wanted to follow the example of Christ. Maribel showed me that God looks out. She is going to be baptized this Thursday and I honestly couldn't be more excited for her. This is God's work and to see miracles like this just makes everything worth it. 

But to explain my title, a 2 year old girl stole my companion's ring and when we tried to get it back, she just kept saying, "Pero ya te vas!" and smiling as my companion and I tried every way possible to convince the little Salvadorean thief to give us the ring back. I have learned a lot on the mission but I gotta say I never thought I would be in a hostage situation negotiating with a toddler in Spanish. But that's life, ya gotta love it.

Hope everyone is doing swell

SALUUUU

Elder Moulton

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