"Took Our First Hot Showers in Two Weeks"

Aug 23, 2018

Thank you for the updates and stories. This week went by pretty fast and was fun! They call it Buenos Aires here, but honestly the air is really weird sometimes. I think they burn their trash so it smells like junk throughout the day sometimes. 

So the showers here are ICE BONE CHILLING COLD. I am on the top floor which literally gets almost no hot water. Yesterday Elder Armstrong and I sprinted to the showers after class and were the first ones in the bathroom, and took our first hot showers in two weeks. It was life changing. 

The Spanish is starting to come along good! The gift of tongues is real. Me and Armstrong and another guy in our room named Elder Andrus have been reading the BOM out loud in Spanish at night together and the blessings have been flowing because of it. 

The temple was good last week, I listened with a translation, but today I’m not going to. Sundays here are so nice and relaxing; we don’t have any classes and we watch a BYU devotional and at the end of the day we get to watch a church movie. It is the best. WE GOT TO TAKE PICTURES THIS SUNDAY!!! The older group of missionaries is leaving Saturday as well as the Latinos, so we were allowed to take pics. After Saturday it will only be us 24 gringos here in the CCM. Hahahah that will be fun! Honestly, we have so much fun here. It really is true what Grandpa said in your blessing mom; I laugh A LOT here...sometimes too much. 

On a regular day we have study time, then breakfast, then personal study, then IP (progressing investigators), then classes, then lunch, then study and stuff, then physical activity time (I usually play basketball or soccer and it is super fun), then more classes with teachers etc...  I love my district though. This guy in my district named Elder Brocket reminds me a ton of a really smart Luke Hackinson. DL Christensen, is so funny; says I remind him of his brother all the time (He reminds me a lot of Dallin Biorn, I love him). Elders Gage and Staheli are the Utah boys companionship and they are so funny. They always talk in a country accent to make fun of me because they say I sometimes have an accent, its hilarious.

Mother, everyone loves the music I brought. I play it in class and during study time and it is super fun. Thank you for all the work you did on that.

So the big group pic of everyone at the temple is not everyone, it's just the people that were there at the time. It has most of the gringos but not all, and it is only a few of the Latinos. The super dope pic of me and the shorter Elder is so sick with the flag in the background! He is from Idaho and is in the older gringo group. He is so funny, his name is Elder Rodriguez. The bigger Latino that says "I love you baby" is Elder Rojas. He always screams my name every time he sees me and acts like he is shredding an air guitar. One time I was pooping and he busted open the stall door and did the whole routine there with me sitting on toilet open to everyone in the bathroom; it was honestly pretty funny. 

Alrighty guys! Got to go! Love you bye!!!

Elder Moe

Video:  "What's up Vanilla face?!"

The Trip to Buenos Aires

Aug 16, 2018

Hello family!!! Its Elder Moe!!

The trip to Buenos Aires was quite uneventful. It went smooth and well. I showed up to the Atlanta airport and there were already two missionaries there waiting at the gate. There ended up being 7 elders and 2 sisters all there. We boarded the plane and a couple came in last second. None of the Utah missionaries made the connection. They had to wander around Atlanta and find a hotel. Going through customs… well, it just went – lots of broken Spanish used hahaha. Once we arrived at the CCM the craziness began. We were shuffled around everywhere because the Utah elders weren’t there. My companion was one of them, so for the first day and a half I was in a room alone with an Elder from Ecuador that spoke ZERO English. Some of the workers don't even speak English, so literally I had to use every ounce of Spanish that I already knew (from 2 years in high school) just to communicate with my roommate and some of the workers. The Utah elders ended up showing up the next day which was super nice to have more gringos!! And my companion Elder Armstrong was finally here. 

The first few days were actually really hard... for everyone. Everyone struggled but no one felt comfortable enough to really tell anyone. Feelings of sickness, loneliness, frustration (because literally everything is in Spanish) sank in for everyone. I was going in and out of little modes where I would feel super down and feel like I couldn’t feel the spirit. On Sunday, I saw that one of the Elders in my district was having a hard time. He ended up pouring everything out on me and I was able to comfort him and I gave him a blessing and it made both of us feel way better. The past couple days have been WAY better. I LOVE my district. WE tell each other everything. I have grown really close with everyone in the district. I love the Latinos here and they love us; they teach us (the gringos) funny stuff and we teach them funny stuff all the time.

The food is really good here! The Spanish is coming along pretty well. Me and Elder Armstrong, my companion, have taught four lessons this past week to a fake investigator, but they seriously become the focus of everything we do and study. I love Elder Armstrong! He and I get along great. He is super nice and we always have fun times pooping next to each other in the bathrooms. We have received revelation for our lessons multiple times while in the bathroom. haha

We are not allowed to take pics here at the CCM (MTC). Sorry, it’s a dumb rule but I follow it. I do have one pic of me and my comp at the temple though.

Gotta go, bye I love and miss you guys.  Tell everyone I’m sorry I couldn’t email everyone; we have such a short time.

Love, Elder Moe

"Ten of Us On the Plane!"

Aug. 9, 2018

I only have like a couple minutes to write, p-day is on Thursday and we were in a little late, so next week you will get a full letter and pics and videos. There were ten of us on the plane! Eight Elders and Two sisters. WE had a BLAST. The CCM (MTC) is so crazy and so much fun and I've only been here one hour!! I have good friends here and love it. Love you guys!

Elder Preston Moe