Trametes, Rocks & The Gift of Tongues

Nov 26, 2018

OH my gosh that looks so so fun! Those pictures are super cool and that looks crazy! Mom, I wont be sad if you take/send family pictures without my giant face in them hahahah. That picture of Brinton and Grandma is so funny. Sounds like it was an awesome trip!!! 

This week was crazy!!!! I had trametes (processing Visa paperwork) on Wednesday with a lot of guys from the CCM!!!!! I saw Elder Tolman and Andrus and my old comp Elder Armstrong was there too! We were literally in some capital building all flipping day. We left Belgrano at 8 am and didn’t get back till 7:30 that night. But it was super fun because I was with the bros the entire time!! It was super fun to have time to catch up and hear how they have been doing and hear their Spanish! Elder Andrus and I did a little bit of contacting together in the train on the way there and it was so fun!! We also saw Elder Villa there who was in the CCM with me and went to the West mission! I actually can talk to him now! It was super cool to actually have a conversation with him and not just be teaching him random phrases in English that he didn’t understand (What’s up vanilla face!!!) So that was crazy and fun!

We did divisions in Chacarita with the ZLs (Zone Leaders) again and this time I was with Elder Simmonns! It was awesome, we went into a couple villas and taught a couple lessons with a member there.

You probably know a little bit about the two soccer teams Boca and River; when they have games at the River stadium we aren’t allowed to work in our area because the stadium is close and all the crazies are out drinking and doing crazy stuff. So we tried to go work with the Elders in Saavedra but we got lost on the way there and our phone was about to die, so we just took some pictures under and on a bridge then went back to Belgrano because the Elders there wouldn’t answer their phone haha. The game ended up getting postponed because a bunch of River fans got rocks and were throwing them at the Boca players and injured some of them ( I don’t like River, Boca is way better )

Elder Fuentes asked me to say a prayer in English this week, and I tried to do it and it was crazy, I tried to start praying and I couldn’t do it. My mind went completely blank. I talk in English every once in a while when I’m with gringos but I haven’t said a prayer in English in three months. I literally struggled so hard at the beginning; I kept saying words in Spanish! I ended up getting pretty emotional and felt the spirit testifying to me that the Gift of Tongues is real and I am receiving a ton of help with the language because all of the studying. Out of nowhere, my English clicked and I was just praying like normal again. 

I was able to speak a lot this week; I am starting to be a lot more like myself in Spanish now. When I have the spirit with me I am able to explain things in more detail and understand and respond to questions people have, but when I don’t have the spirit I have to think and struggle a bit more and it doesn’t flow nearly as well. There is a clear difference between the two. Thank you for your prayers!

Love you family!

If you are viewing this from the email subscription, to see the videos, click on the blue link down there that says, "Elder Preston Moe in the Argentina Buenos Aires North Mission." It will take you to the web version of the blog where you can watch the videos.

Video: The Basketball Courts

Video: View from the Chacarita Pension

"Elder Gong!" & "Awesome Birthday"

Tolman, Moe, Andrus

Nov 19, 2018

Family!

We had a 12 hour zone conference on Tuesday, it was actually really fun! We did some district councils and had a zone meeting then did practices, then we all went out and contacted (in our area!)  for an hour and had interviews with Pres then had lunch, and then at the end of the day we had a huge meeting with all the ward leaders in the stake, and the stake presidency was there and the area authorities and we talked about how we are all going to work better together (wards and missionaries) to move forward the work of the Lord! I sent a few pics we took as our zone! Yes, Elder Simmons is one of the zone leaders, he is so awesome, I love that dude. He honestly looks a little bit like Brinton.

ELDER GONG! Yes, I got to see some of my old CCM friends and friends from my zone in Tiigre! It was SO FUN! I sent a picture of me and Elder Andrus and Tolman! And with me and Elder Christensen and Fuentes. Elder Christensen is huge, I love him he is so funny and a really good missionary! After the meeting, Elder Gong had us gather in districts and he came and personally talked to and shook everyone’s hand! It was such a tender moment, God has called 15 men, 15 out of the whole world, 15 men to lead His restored church that is on the earth today and I got the chance to meet and talk to one of them. I LOVE BEING A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS! 

Today we played basketball with some members of the ward, it was super fun! I uploaded a video from three weeks ago of the court in the back, so you guys can see it!  Oh my gosh that video of you guys singing is so flipping funny ahahahahah (jajajajajajaja)! I’m so glad that Brinton is still a dingleberry! Diga a Brittney: Sí! Estoy disfrutando AFULL!!!!!! Hahaha hablas en vos! Capas cuando vuelvo podré usar vos pero por ahora hablo todo en usted! Gracias por enviar el video, chao!!

I am proud of Becca for giving blood and being stronger than Brinton was and not passing out! 

Have fun in Utah! That sounds so fun having everyone up there at the cabin! Ohh cold weather, I’m gonna have a full straight year of summer!

I had an awesome birthday, we had lunch with familia Lucas and then we also visited familia Alliuad from the CCM! They are so awesome, I love that family! They made me another cake!

Have a good week family! love you all!

Fuentes, Moe, Christensen

If you are viewing this from the email subscription, to see the videos, click on the blue link down there that says, "Elder Preston Moe in the Argentina Buenos Aires North Mission." It will take you to the web version of the blog where you can watch the videos.

Birthday Candles

"He Said the Dreams Stopped"/ "Blaring Spanish Rap Music"

Moe & Fuentes

Nov 12, 2018

ELDER GONG IS COMING ON FRIDAY!!!!!!! Hahahahaha I’m so excited! Two apostles in three months!!

This week we did divisions with the zone leaders! I went to Chacarita with Elder Belnap. We went into a villa! (its like a neighborhood of sorts) It was absolutely wild! It is a different world inside. All the houses are just four brick walls stacked on top of each other and usually there is only like three feet of space to walk through to go places. Parts of it are literally like a maze. But it was pretty tranquilo because we had a member with us who knew a ton of people inside and it was actually a pretty nice villa, it had a street in it and that is not common. But everything is different inside the villa, it was super cool and super super humbling. It was hard to focus sometimes because usually someone nearby is blaring some type of Spanish rap music. But it was a really good experience! 

 

Villa in Chacarita

Saturday and Sunday it was raining like no other. It was actually pretty fun. I was wearing brown socks because I had just returned from divisions in Chacarita and I had put those on in the morning because I was wearing my brown shoes in the morning and I didn’t want to dirty another pair that day. Haha I was wearing my black boots with black pants and brown socks.

Thank you so much for the videos!! Hahaha I was laughing seeing everybody, that is so awesome! Thank you! Thank you for the package! Holy crap 4000 songs you gotta be kidding! Thank you Sis. J!! Awesome thank you so much!! I sure hope we have a mission Christmas party, I have heard nothing of this. 

Yes! I’ve been going out on splits with Santiago, a friend of Javi’s from the CCM. He just got home from his mission at the same time Javi did, and is in our ward. He is from Bolivia, is super cool and talks really cool, I like his accent a lot and it’s easy to understand.

Elder Moe & Santiago

Mom: Do the members feed you everyday? 

Elder Moe: Yes! Usually during the week we get what is called a vianda (lunch), basically we go and pick up food from the members houses and bring it back to the pension (apartment) and eat it. Weekends we usually eat in members houses though, but its always lunch. The day revolves around lunch and we do studies during the siesta after lunch. 

Mom: Have you had to give a talk in sacrament meeting yet?

Elder Moe: I bore my testimony once, we thought we were gonna be giving talks so I stayed up late to prepare a talk and then he announced over the pulpit that the Elders would be "sharing their testimonies." Thank you Bishop!

Mom: Does anyone know about your birthday? Wondering if you will be fed?

Elder Moe: Trust me people will know, the lady in the ward who organizes our lunches figured out and I’m pretty sure she sent a message to the family that we have lunch with that day.

Mom: How are your investigators?

Elder Moe: Ever since Felipe has started meeting with us he has been having weird demonicish dreams, so Thursday I felt prompted to promise him that if he would read the Libro De Mormon (LDM=BOM) and pray every night before he went to bed that he would never have a bad dream again, and if he did have a dream it would be something good and uplifting. He came to church this Sunday and said the dreams stopped and he has been sleeping really well!! The power of God is real everybody!! It was an awesome experience.

Love you so much fam, thank you for your prayers. Heavenly Father hears your prayers and is answering them. Because of your prayers, and the help of Heavenly Father, I am speaking very well. I get complemented every day by someone when they find out how long I’ve been here. It is such a blessing, thank you for your prayers, Heavenly Father listens and he loves you guys and I love you too. 

Tell Hunter and Ian that I love them and that the power of the Priesthood that they hold is real. It is more than just passing the sacrament, it is literally God´s superpower for his children and we are to use it to bless others and not ourselves. It’s the same power that parted the Red Sea, healed the sick, gave the blind sight, and stopped the tempting dreams satan was sending to Felipe. You guys have it, be worthy of it and learn about it and you will start to see how it influences you and you will see the hand of God working through you to help and bless people around you. I love you guys, you guys are awesome!

I’m loving the mission. I’m just trying to focus 100% of myself on the work so that the Lord can shape me into the missionary he needs me to be. Thank you for blessing me with a picture of my beautiful truck haha. And thank you for the emails, I am excited to be here and I have been enjoying the closeness of the Spirit. Love you!

Elder Moe

"Call Me Elder Greenie Moe"

Elder Moe & Fuentes and Elders from the Rosario Mission

Nov 5, 2018

Holy cow those onesies are legit HAHAHAHAHA! It almost looks like dad has a butt! The Halloween costumes look so sweet, but I think the Micklesons outdid you guys! Brinton and Haley actually look really good hahaha!  I’m glad you guys are going to be able to spend time with Brinton and Haley and Grandma Dora for Thanksgiving! That will be so flipping fun! I hope all goes well with the elections, keep me informed that way I can hear it from you and not some arrogant Argentine who wants to argue about something. Thank you for the advice and counsel, there are a few things that you told me before I left about companions and such that I have reflected on multiple times. Thank you

My new comp is Elder Fuentes!! He is from Northern Argentina. He doesn't speak English!!!! So it is 100% Spanish from here on out, but I am excited and ready! The Lord has blessed me immensely and I have been able to learn very fast. The Lord is helping me; I know it is Him because on my own I struggle, but I can feel Him helping me and I can speak. The language is for sure coming. Being with Elder Morel was kinda like the CCM, I learned a lot but we basically spoke a ton of English, now I’m just 100% Spanish and I am doing it! I have been able to communicate very well with him. He is an awesome missionary. He has been out for 10 months so he still has excitement for the work! The miracles are already coming. He is pushing us to work harder and work better with the members. This is going to be a successful transfer. He likes to be obedient and work hard so I love him!!! Also he is a baller!! I have never met an Argentine that actually has some moves, but this chico can play!!

Something pretty wild happened this week that was definitely a first for me. We found Gloria and Felipe (names changed) who live in a truck (with a cover over the bed) on the street. Gloria was baptized in 2016 but is now inactive and living with Felipe (not married), but they invited us to come talk to them because they want to come unto Christ and get Felipe baptized!! I felt that we should offer to give them a Priesthood blessing to help them start their journey back to the Savior and I just assumed we could do it in the church on Sunday, but no! We gave them blessings in the street! Elder Fuentes said he has done it a few times. So this week I gave Felipe a blessing in the street and it was the first time I've ever given a blessing in Spanish! I was about to do it and then the thought occurred to me, "Elder Moe you have to do this blessing in Spanish." It was scary, but I did it!!! Never before have I done anything like that!!!

I extended a baptismal invitation to Lucas (name changed)! He accepted! And I forgot to set a date!... What an idiot! You can call me Elder Greenie Moe, we are going to visit him today so he can meet Elder Fuentes and extend a baptism date.

The pic with the other two Elders is another story; they are from the Rosario Mission. They had to come here because the Elder from Mexico lost his passport, and the embassy is in our area.  Money withdrawal was easy; no one gets robbed here. You don’t have to worry about me in this area! I got it taken care of, love ya!

Love you family!! Have a great week!

Elder Moe

If you are viewing this from the email subscription, to see the videos, click on the blue link down there that says "Elder Preston Moe in the Argentina Buenos Aires North Mission." It will take you to the web version of the blog where you can watch the videos.

"My New Companion, Elder Fuentes"