HOWDY!

First of all, I would like to share two poems with y'all! I found them in two talks that I really loved and wrote them down some time ago so I wouldn't forget them...  

here they are :)

It's easy enough to be pleasant 

When life flows by like a song

But the man worthwhile

is the one who'll smile

When everything goes dead wrong.

For the test of the heart is trouble

and it always comes with the years

and the smile that is worth 

all the praises of earth

is the smile that shines

through tears. 

                                       - Ella Wheeler Wilcox

I'd rather be a "could-be"

If I cannot be an "are"

Because a "could-be" is a "maybe"

who is reaching for a star

I'd rather be a "has-been"

Than a "might-have-been", by far;

For a "might-have-been'

has never been

But a "has" 

once was an "are"

                                           - Milton Berle

so, I would just like to say how AWESOME it was to see y'all on christmas! It really made me so happy and it was great. It was pretty weird to have my last phone call, but I'll just have to get over that! :)

Christmas was great and it was honestly about a million times better than last Christmas. Even with the yucky power outages and not being able to talk to Jen (which I'm still upset about) it was full of fun, love, presents, and suprises! It's hard to think that I won't have a christmas while I'm on a mission for a loonngg time, but I do believe that I'll serve a couple missions when I get old.. at least that's a goal of mine!

Every time this part of the year comes around, I remember when I was at home and we would sit down as a family and write goals for the new year. I'm so grateful that this is a tradition that I still do till today! Actually, tomorrow I'll be taking a little time out of my p-day to exactly that! I'm very excited about the prospects of this new year and all of the new experiences and wonderful times that I'll have. 

One thing that I never really realized until I got on the mission was the importance of making goals, and then telling them to others! When we made our yearly goals at home, we toke a little time to think about them and then we would go around the circle and tell everyone what they were.. I never understood completely and get kind of upset sometimes because of that misunderstanding. But now I realize that if these goals truly are things that we want to do, we need someone else to be able to follow up on us! I've learned that if it's just left up to us alone, we have a HUGE chance to never do it for simply forget. 

If life, but especially as a missionary, planning and goals are essential. We do this for each day, week, month, transfer (6 weeks). And I like to take it a little further, but not everyone does. 

It's simple. When we plan and set goals, the results of our work are dramaticly increased. It can be just like this in our personal lives and it is something that I will carry with me from my mission for the rest of my life. 

I hope that all of you reading this will take the time to make some goals for this next year and then acheive them throughout the year! 

Just like us, God has plans and goals for us to. His goal (like unto mine) is for ALL of His children to choose the right and follow in the footsteps of our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ and eventually one day return to His presence and live with Him in the Celestial Kingdom. He wants us to be happy, to get along and to follow the rules that He has given to us. 

Let us all remember this and remember the great blessings that He has given us. I'm sure we can all think of something is this wonderful season that we have to commemorate the birth of His Son Jesus Christ. 

Love you all and hope the best! 

Merry (late) Christmas and Happy (early) New Year!!!!!!! 

- Elder Moore

So, as the title says... I'M TRAINING!!!!!!! His name is Elder Hansen and is about to make 8 months on the mission! He's a great guy and I know that he'll do a spectacular job as the new Financial Secretary. Something I don't know, however, is when I will be done training him! I guess it'll be just whenever Presidente and I agree that he's ready to fly solo! 

As the following weeks go on (or maybe just in our CHRISTMAS CALL!!!!) I'll give you more info and details on him and our progress. 

We had a presentation thing at the Temple this Friday night and there were some narrorators who told the story about Jesus and I got to be the angle and had to say a couple lines in front of everyone! It was cool :) we also had a missionary choir! I have a video of the whole thing! It's pretty cool! 

I can't believe that Christmas is here already! It seems like it was yesterday that I was in my first area calling you from the tiny little bishops office! If everything goes well, then I'll be calling you from Skype like we did for mothers day! 

So, not really and HUGE news... just some little things that I find great and not so great. Katia is working a ton and with our conflicting schedules it's been very hard to teach her, but she is willing to listen so that's all we really need to know. Now that we're in three it'll be a bit easier to make appointmentes. 

We spent our p-day cleaning the whole apt so Hansen has a good first impression :) haha we also played basketball and had to go to the office for a bit around noon because an Elder broke his foot getting off a bus and needed the cruches from the office. 

Well, not only did we clean the apt, but more like completely reorganized it! It is super different now and I like the change. We moved the dresser and the two beds around so now we can both have the wind from the open window during the night! The only semi bad thing is that last night it rained so I woke up at about 4 with rain splashing me in the face haha. also, the sun wakes up at about 5 or 5:30 here and that's not that great either.. but hey! what do you do?! hah 

Love you all so much!

- Elder Moore

Is my calender right? Is it really possible that it's already December!?? I can't believe so much time has passed since I left what seems like last week. Every time I come up on a marker in time.. I always like to take a little while and think about how much time I've been blessed with here and then make goals for the remaining time left. The scary thing is that when I did this a couple days ago for my year and a half mark, I decided that it would be the last time that I do this (by myself of course) during my mission. We have planning for the month, weeks, and days...but this is all with your companion, I, personally, like to sit down by myself whenever I complete one of these "milestones" (6 months, 1 year, 1 1/2 years) and make more personal goals for what I personally want during my mission. The next time I do it... I'll be headed home and making plans so that I can get a jumpstart on my return. Weird to think that the year is almost over... but I sure am excited to see what 2013 has in store for the life of Elder (and then Peter) Moore.  

Well, this past week has been one full of running around just plain hard work. On Thursday we walked a lootttt because we had a lot of places to go and things to pick up for the transfer tomorrow and then the arrival of the new missionaries and the departure of the old missionaries. Also, we made our Christmas card that I told y'all about, so after I write little letters I'll start sending those out... so look for them in a couple weeks or so! :) 

This Sunday our ward was HUGE because our Elders Quorum President blessed his baby and a bunch of his and his wifes family came so there were like 20 more people than usual! It was great and he was really nervous (it's his first child and it's a baby girl) it made me remember my family and the many baby blessings that I've been to and the one that I had the opportunity to be in the circle for :) it ALSO made me think about the baby blessings that I'll get to participate in in the future! I'm so excited for that. On Sunday, our lesson was on Eternal Marriage and familys. It's such a wonderful subject that I love so much. We are so lucky to have this knowledge that we can be together forever and all the blessings that come from living faithfully in the Gospel and getting married in the Temple. 

Well.... looks like I'll be in the office for a while longer.... I had told some of you that I would start training the new secretary to take my spot and leave in January, but because of some complications and some elders who went home, Presidente would have to close an area in the mission if he put someone with me to be trained, so I told him it was okay and I would stick it out for a little bit longer........woohoo. But it's really okay I guess. I'm not here to do what I want to do, but to do what God wants me to do, and I know what He wants me to do because I know that He inspires President. So if President thinks it's better for me to stay another transfer and keep an area open, I trust him... even if it's not exactly what I would like to do or the way I would do things. 

I'll leave you this email with another story! So as you might know we have a 70 in our ward! Elder Granja. He used to be the Bishop of this ward, but in April (I think) he was called to be a 70. He is a really great man and INCREDIBLY smart. He is a doctor and his wife is a Dentist. His family is great too. Well this Sunday we had lunch at his house. It was delicious (i like fish now by the way) and I had the chance to leave the message. I had been thinking all day about a verse in 1 Nephi 10.. I believe it's verse 18 or so... it says that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever... and if we will but repent of our sins and go to Him, He will give us everything beacause He has already prepared a way ever since the beginning of the world. That's not direct.. but it's how I remember it going in English :). Well I absolutly love this verse. It's so true! God has already done EVERYTHING for us. He gave us this earth... our families... friends.. all the beautiful things... and the chance to have it all forever.. and all we have to do is repent and follow the simple rules that He has given us!!!! 

I hope you'll all remember this scripture (and even go read it so you can see how it really goes!) and apply it in your lives. We only have a little time here on the earth, so we need to fill it up with GOOD things instead of the numberless bad things that we have here. I love you all so much and hope that everything is going well in your lives! You should all write me and let me know how you're doing! Have a great week and I'll try to write a big email next week :)

Love,

Elder Moore