I'm 21 years old!

Dear family,

Well this is kinda cool. I´m 21 years old. I don´t feel that old.. I like it though. I feel like an official adult now. Today to celebrate my birthday we watched "The District," a series of missionary training DVDs. We then ate lunch with Margarita and Luis. We ate some tortilla de papas (like a giant french fry thing), with some creamy chicken popper things, rice, and some pork. It was an interesting meal, but very delicious. Afterwards, we played MONOPOLY DEAL for about two hours or so with our District Leader and his companion who came to chill. Elder Grillone made the German Chocolate cake you sent me and now its cooling back home. It was a nice relaxing birthday party, especially with the cool cloudy weather we are having.
Oh and thank you so much for the birthday package. I loved it. The two new ties are legit. The Peanut Butter M&M´s and airheads were delicious. Everything was amazing. My companions laughed at the Zing-shot and the Transformer bubbles. We couldn't decide if you actually thought I would love them or if you were sending them just to try to keep treating me as your little boy. Well when our Zone Leader came over on divisions we set up a pyramid of BBQ and Jalapeño Pringles and Dr. Pepper cans and had a tournament with the zing-shot to see who could knock over the most. I won 4-1-1. It was pretty intense. Thank you so much for the gifts.

This week I had the opportunity to go on divisions in another sector called Nocedal while our District Leader Elder Lyman came over to Pirque. Elder Bloomquist and I had a great time. I was exhausted at the end of the day because I am not used to walking. We had a really good experience though with a lady named Andrea and her 23 year old daughter Jocelyn. When we first started teaching them Andrea made it clear that she just let us in cause she felt bad for us and she thinks it is good to hear the word of God on occasion. She flat out told us that she wouldn't go to our church and she wouldn't join our congregation. It didn´t matter to me though, I was determined to teach her the first lesson and invite her to be baptized. We started teaching and she would just start talking and talking. She probably talked for about an hour in total. Really.. We kept teaching though when she would give us the chance. We explained baptism using Mosiah 18 and explaining 1) that it has to be a personal decision, 2) it has to be done by immersion, and 3) by the proper authority. It was probably one of the longest lessons I have ever been in and one of the most disorganized with two little kids running around, a mother breast feeding her kid, with crazy questions and side themes, BUT in the end Andrea and Jocelyn both accepted the invitation to be baptized. Andrea said the closing prayer and afterwards said that she doesn't know what happened, but that she somehow went from not wanting anything to now wanting to be baptized. They seemed pretty determined as well. It was a cool lesson of patience for us.

Then on Sunday Carlos showed up to church in a suit and his new tie we bought him. His mom Gloria and his little brother Benjamin came as well. It was great. Also Adonis, the son of a somewhat recent convert named Victor, came to church for the second time. He lives with his mom from Victor's first marriage and visits on the weekends. Last week we invited him to play fútbol with us on Friday and he loved it. When I saw him in church again I decided that we needed to put a baptismal date on him immediately. We had the day booked with appointments but I really felt like we needed to teach him. We talked to his Dad and he said that they would be home until 7:00. I told him that we had a lot of appointments but that we would try to pass by. After church I felt that we needed to go strongly so I called and canceled one appointment, then changed another appointment to later in the evening and we went to Adonis and Victor. We taught Adonis the Restoration and as we were talking about Jesus Christ we started talking to him about baptism. We invited him to be baptized and he said, "of course, that´s kind of why I have been coming to church." In the lesson Victor explained that he had been praying ever since we talked to him in the church that we would come to teach his son and was worried because we never said it was a sure thing. So at the moment Adonis has a baptismal date for the 3rd of April, conference weekend. Adonis and Victor both seem very happy.

Things are going well here in the mission though. I am worn out, but still trying to work hard. Thank you so much for all your love and support. You are the best.

Love,
Elder Mooney

Time seems to be going by a little too fast.

Dear family,

Time seems to be going by a little too fast. We always work and think of time by changes and two weeks have already gone by this change. We only have four more weeks left?! We´ve got some work to do.

So on Thursday we had Zone Conference with President Laycock and a couple other zones. It was really good. They did a good example of hard work and perseverance with an Elder who had to do wall sits for five minutes while the assistants but electric heaters by him and started to tempt him to give up. Then his companion, President Laycock, and a zone leader went to cheer him on and support him. It was pretty intense, because the missionary got really into it and was suffering after only a minute.

At the end of the conference President decided to do something that he hadn't done in about eight months or so. He asked five people to give surprise talks. We always have a theme given to us each theme for studies and we should prepare a talk for that theme. This changes theme was the Book of Mormon. Luckily I gave a really good talk about the Book of Mormon in my last ward JP and felt ready. To my surprise President called on me to give the first talk and I didn't have it with me. I had written it in a different journal and so I walked up there and spoke a few words and shared some jumbled up thoughts. It wasn't very powerful at all. Afterwards I started thinking about what it will be like in the final judgment. A lot of people will think they are ready, but when it comes down to it they will just end up feeling unprepared and stupid. I don´t want to feel like that. I want to be ready.

We have a few people with baptismal dates. Emanuel (17?), Sonia (61), and Ivan (19). We have a lot of work to do with the three of them and they are all a little unstable at the moment. Please pray for each of them. Sad story of the week though. Sonia accepted a baptismal about 8 days ago. And about 3 days ago she slipped on some water that had spilled from the dog bowl and broke her wrist. She now has a cast from her wrist to her shoulder and she told her daughter to tell the kids that she won't be able to get baptized right now :( We haven't seen her yet, but we are going to see what we can do.

Things are all right though! My birthday is almost here and that should be kinda weird. I might throw myself a party so I don´t get depressed that day. Haha! I can't wait to get the package you sent. I love you and miss you all.

Love,
Elder Matt Mooney

The Elders are well taken care of!

"Al proximo nivel!"

Hello family!

This week went by pretty fast. It´s been pretty strange having a new companion, because it doesn't feel like I have a new companion. I think since I have spent so much time with Elder Jofre already that it has been an easy change. It has also been really nice having Elder Riding in our house. He is a fun kid and is really chill so there are no fights or contention in the pension. My companion Elder Jofre has seemed a lot happier and more talkative. Elder Grillone has also begun to speak spanish a lot more now that he has to guide Elder Riding around. It appears that this is going to be a good change for us!

A couple interesting stories from the week:

1) We went to the Barrales Family´s house the other day after lunch and they gave us some ice cream because they were having a big party with some friends from other wards. We talked to them for a few minutes and then started to leave. As we were leaving we noticed a large group of children in their front yard sneaking up on their brand new pet EMU named Julio. They started chasing him around the yard throwing balls at him when he started to book it and ran right out the front gate. (Luckily not our fault because the gate was open the entire time). We ran back and told Brother Barrales and the three of us ran and kinda guided him back toward the house. The Emu is really fun though. It supposedly can grow to up to six feet or so. The Barrales family is awesome.

2) We were knocking doors the other day when we came upon a castle looking house. No one came when we yelled ¡HALO! and then my companion noticed that the side gate was open. So he said "Al proximo nivel!" which is President Laycock's saying that means "to the next level." We entered the property when all of the sudden we heard a faint barking. Within a matter of seconds there were 5 or 6 large hound dogs chasing after us. I turned to see where my companion was and he was already out the gate. I hopped on my bike and booked it out of there. Afterwards we just started to laugh. It was a pretty fun experience. Just after that we found 3 new investigators.

Things are going well though. We just invited the grandma of a convert family to be baptized last night and she accepted. She will be the fourth member of the family that will have gotten baptized now.

Thank you for your support and prayers. You are the best.

Love, Elder Mooney

My week!

Dear family,

Well this last week was pretty exciting. It was the last week of the change and Carlos and Maria Jesus were confirmed. It was kinda scary because the bus didn't pass and Carlos didn't show up to sacrament meeting until after the sacrament. He showed up though (in a sleeveless shirt and dress pants?) and was confirmed by the branch president. I think afterward he looked a little emotional. It was good. It was also a good Sunday because President Laycock came to our branch again and spoke in our sacrament meeting. He gave a really powerful talk about the Holy Ghost and he also talked a little about the mission. He had the five young men in church, including Carlos, stand up. Then he made them raise their hands and commit to going on a mission. Carlos did it! We are praying that he will follow through on that commitment now.

I think I told you all before that every Friday we play fútbol and basketball with investigators and members. On Friday we were playing and for some reason my team was just rocking and we won the fútbol match. Then we started playing basketball and my team managed to win each time again. (Probably not because I'm that good, but because the Chileans aren't that great ;) Unfortunately in the last five minutes I rolled my ankle really bad. It still kills when I wake up in the mornings. So now I have two bad ankles. Not fun at all.

On Saturday we went to the house of Mauricio, Cata, María Jesús, and Mariela (all recent converts) and we made cinnamon rolls with them in the evening. It was pretty fun. The cinnamon rolls actually turned out really well for being an internet recipe. They also made panqueques filled with manjar which I love. Then on our way home another member lady called us and had us pick up a big tray of creme puff pastry things. We ate pretty good this weekend.
Oh and speaking of eating good. Luis and Margarita, the people we live with, slaughtered a pig and cooked it this weekend for Luis´ birthday. I took a bunch of pictures. It was pretty disgusting to watch it all, but it was awesome eating it. It turned out really good, especially with the onion mushroom plum stuffing they made.

Oh and about changes. We all figured Elder Mathews was leaving because he had already been here for four changes. The rest of us were pretty unsure of what was going to happen. We had heard some rumors of changes and such but nobody was sure. We got the phone call and yes Elder Mathews left and the rest of us stayed. The only weird part is that I am no longer companions with Elder Grillone. I am now companions with Elder Jofre from Argentina (the other elder we live with) and Elder Grillone is with a gringo named Elder Riding from Idaho who has the same time as me. It makes everything a little strange with appointments and investigators, but we should work it all out this week.

Anyways, that is my week. Thank you so much for the letters, the love, and the concern.

Love,
Elder Mooney

Fotos!

Keep working!

Dear family,

Well on February 5th I officially finished 18 months in the mission. That means I´m 3/4 of the way through?! It feels kinda crazy to think that I am on the final 6 month stretch now. I am just gonna try to keep my head down and keep working!

Things are going great with Carlos and Gloria. Carlos is gettiing baptized next Sunday and is just rocking at everything. We taught him and his mom about the Word of Wisdom. We watched The Restoration video, talked about obedience to God´s commandments and his prophets, and then we explained how our bodies are temples. Carlos accepted the Word of Wisdom without doubts and Gloria accepted it as well. She said that giving up her Tea is going to be a really challenge, but she was going to do her best. We are really proud of them and how much faith they really have.

Oh and I recieved the Valentine´s day package you sent and loved it! Really, the candy, the cookies, the card, and the amazing tie. Thank you so much for the package. It´s strange, because I am not usually a huge fan of pink ties, but the one you sent was just classy and stylish. It´s one of my favorite ties at the moment. And the cookies were used for a good cause, we made them for Carlos´ birthday!

One unfortunate thing that has been going down here in Pirque is that diarrhea has become a weekly routine.. It feels like at least once a week all of us Elders are spending too much time in the bathroom. Not very fun :S

Everything is going pretty well though. We are excited for the two baptisms we are going to have on Friday (Carlos and Maria Jesus) and I´ve just been excited because I am an old missionary now. Haha

Thank you for all you do. You are the best!

Con amor,
Elder Mooney