Family,
My Last Email as a Missionary......
Just a quick note on our area and what happened this week. This was a week of me saying good bye and getting ready to head out. Yesterday we found out that Elder Hansen is getting transferred to BC, so it will be a brand new set of missionaries in this area. He and some of the members are kind of bummed that both of us are gone.

Man, this last week went by soooo fast!!! My mission went by sooo fast!!!

This Church is TRUE!!!! Over the course of these two years, I have had experiences to where I cannot deny the truthfulness of this Gospel. I will miss this work. I will miss the special spirit that a Mission brings. Just recently, teaching S, J, and O, I have come to fully realize that the Gospel works miracles in peoples' lives and that the light and direction that it brings is truly amazing. Another truth that has been close to my heart is that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is real and it the best gift that has been given to us in our lives. We as a mission have been studying the Atonement and have been putting a focus on it in our studies and man you can go on forever learning about the Atonement and trying to understand the full measure that it can have in our lives. Did I say that a mission is AMAZING?? Because it is! This is what I needed and it is what every worthy and able young man needs to do! It helped me grow in ways that would not have happened unless I went on a mission. I know that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God and the fullness of the everlasting Gospel was restored through him. I know that Thomas S. Monson is who leads and guides this Church today. I am so excited for General Conference, as as a missionary you gain a love for hearing the messages they share with us and I am looking forward to what will be said on the next couple weeks. Well this is my final send off! I love you all and thank you so much for all the support and love that you have given me over these two years. I will be seeing you Thursday!!!!!!!

Love,
Elder Hayden Moore

September 12, 2011

Family, What a week!! Over the weekend we had three baptisms! On Friday S and her son got baptized and then XXXX went into the water on Saturday. The confirmations took place on Sunday and they went great. XXXX became a priest right after church, so that will be good for him to be able to get involved in the ward. It was a busy week leading up to the baptisms...making sure that we taught them all the lessons and getting it all organized and ready. And that was pretty much our week. The baptisms seemed to take up most of our time. It's crazy that it has come down to my last week as a missionary...and it will be a good week. With the baptisms we have no one left in our teaching pool, so this week we are going to try and find some more people for Elder Hansen to teach next transfer. Well because we went golfing today, I don't have much time left on the computer. I love you all so much and I will see you in 10 days! Love, Elder Moore

September 6, 2011

Family,

Man you guys are TRUNKY!!! hah

Well, we had a busy week teaching and getting our investigators ready for baptism this Friday and Saturday. The baptism on Friday is going to be S and her son J, and on Saturday its going to be XXXX ( I will send pics). We just started teaching J on Saturday with his Mom.  He is just 14 and is a way smart kid. Things are going well in this area, but we need to find more people to teach because once they are baptized our teaching pool is going to be zero. ha. Teaching S&J has been such an amazing experience.  They are going through some rough times and they can already see the Gospel blessing their lives, and giving them comfort and direction. The Church is true!!!!

We as a mission have not really done much tracting by contacting people on the street, but we are trying to get out of this bad habit that we have gotten into with not talking to everyone.  That is something that the mission is pushing lately.  Not tracting per se, but making sure that we are talking to everyone. Also this last week we had a specialized training on the second lesson on how we can teach it better.  It was a great training, but the trunky part was that they had the three of us that are going home in a couple weeks stand and bear our testimonies. It has not really hit me yet that I am coming home in a couple weeks.... I guess it will at some point, so it felt weird. This is a great work and I will be sad to leave it!! My companion is keeping me in line ha and I'm trying not to "trunk" him out too bad. He has about 10 months left. Things are going great! The weather is amazing and so is the work!

I love you all and miss you and we'll be seeing you in a couple weeks!!!

Elder Moore

August 29, 2011

Family,

What a week! Two dates set for September 10th!! On Wednesday we set a date with XXXX, Finally!! We went over the Doctrine of Christ with him (he had heard it a few times before). But this time, when we started to read it, he said "oh yeah, I have heard this before. I know I need to do this". Then we whipped out a calender that Elder Hansen brought along and Elder Hansen said, "write in on September 10th that this is your baptism". It was an awesome lesson and it will be an awesome baptism. XXXX and his wife are great and they will be even greater when he is baptized.

So for the past few weeks a non-member, XXXXX has been coming to church and it had been impossible to set up a lesson with her. But Saturday we got a call and she invited us over for dinner. We had a great time and got to know her and her family a little bit better. Well we taught the first lesson with her yesterday at church. It was amazing! Right off the bat she started to get emotional and she accepted the date of September 10th! She has a son and a friend who want to be taught the first lesson as well, so we are going to teach them tonight. By tonight we should have two more dates set!! SO many miracles happening in our area. The Lord seems to be pouring out his blessings upon us all!!

I ate bolut this week again haha. Do you remember the duck egg? Yeah, it was nasty. I have some pics and maybe video that I can send.

This week was awesome. This will be a good way to end things. I am trying to stay as focused as I can be right now. At times it can be hard, but I can do it. It's only a few more weeks. I love you all so much!! Have a great week!!!

Love,
Elder Moore

August 22, 2011

Family,

Another week come and gone.

For us this week was just another week of missionary work. That's not a bad thing, it's a great thing! But it was just the norm of having some appointments cancel on you and others going through. Those were awesome! Also, this week we had an awesome hail storm (I will send pics).

On Friday, we had a training from President Archibald on the third lesson in Preach My Gospel. It was a really good training on how we can teach it better and more simply for people to understand and what they need to do progress towards baptism. We also got a portable DVD player for training purposes in our companionship study. It's weird having one, because for so long if you had one of those you would get in trouble. But now they gave them to us! We can only watch Church stamped movies and the Preach My Gospel DVDs. Tomorrow, we have a Mission Tour with Elder Baxter from the First Quorum of the Seventy. They are always awesome because the Spirit and the direction that we receive from it is top notch. I will tell you about it next week.

Investigator-wise this week, we met with XXXX and YYYY, our two most promising investigators. XXXX is awesome. He knows it's true and knows that he needs to be baptized, but just does not have a date yet. We are really working on that. With YYYY, it's a little more work. He needs to read and pray. The next time we meet with YYYY, we are going to eat bulot (the Duck egg from my first area). Elder Hansen has not tried it yet, so he is in for a real treat. Well that's all folks! Love and have a great week!!

THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!!!

Love,
Elder Moore

August 15, 2011

Family,

Things are going well, this week went by really fast! We had some good lessons with our investigators OO and JJ. With OO we are so close to setting a baptismal date. He knows it's true but needs to take the step of faith and get baptized. He is way solid and going over there is a lot of fun. It makes our week, for sure. With JJ, he is not reading right now, but is coming to church, which is good. But he also needs to take that step of faith, it's almost as if he might not want to have to deal with all the commitment that comes along with joining.

We have a Mission Tour coming up next week and Elder Baxter from the Seventy is coming to the Mission to make sure we are all in line haha. It will be fun. We also have a specialized training this week on the third lesson. We have improved our teaching in this mission so much.

Elder Hansen and I are doing great, I'm trying not to make him to trunky in "Killing me off". He is doing good though no worries.

I don't have my camera this week.....sorry. but I will send off some pics next week. I love you all and have a great week!!!

Love,

Elder Moore

August 9, 2011

Family,

Looks like I'm sticking around for my last transfer and Elder Hansen is going to kill me off haha. That poor guy. It will be a good transfer and I'm excited to have this be my last area.

Well we had a decent week and we made some awesome progress with our investigator Oxxxx. He knows its true and he knows he needs to be baptized. The lesson that we taught him was definitely an inspired lesson. In our previous lesson we walked out of it feeling like we need to go over the baptismal interview questions and we did for this lesson and it was awesome. He will hopefully be in the waters in the next couple weeks. We had a great opportunity this week to be in the circle for the baby blessing of Josel's daughter. As for our other investigators, we have not been able to meet with XXX.

Well I love you guys so much and I will see you in 6 weeks!!!


Elder Moore

August 2, 2011

Howdy y'all

Well another week come and gone and pretty much a transfer come and gone, and it's crazy how fast it has gone. We had a good week, the unfortunate part is that most of our investigators were either out of town or they just flaked out of their appointments. On the plus side the weather has been really nice and is supposed to be be nice for the next week.

So yesterday we got to go to the Calgary tower and we had lunch to the restaurant up there and it spins like the Compass room and the food was bomb. I will send pictures next week. I have to run I love you all so much and hope you have a wonderful week!!

Love
Elder Moore

July 25, 2011

Family,

We had a good week! We picked up a new investigator named XXXX from Ethiopia. He is way solid, wants to be baptized, and has a willingness to learn and read and come to church. Things are good here and work is happening. Besides teaching XXXX it was kind of a slow week and we kinda hope this week turns out the miracles. Dan was a miracle for sure and it will be sweet to work with him.

The weather this last week turned cold and rainy. Today is supposed to be alright but not that great. I love you all and hope you have a great week!!!

Love
Elder Moore

July 18, 2011

22 months!!! Crazy how time flies!! We had a good week! Stampede is over and Calgary is now going back to normal life. We meet with a few of our gators this week and we also have a few that are struggling. Downtown this past week was a little nuts because it was stampede. The actual Stampede grounds were in my area this year, so it was busy all week down here. We were not allowed to go to the Stampede, but we did go to the Stampede breakfasts and BBQ's around our area.

Investigator-wise, we had a good and bad week. We had a couple drop lessons and also we have one going off the deep end. XXXX is the one going off the deep end. She is the one who had set her own baptismal date for the 28th of June, but didn't stop smoking. She was still reading and doing fine, then she went MIA again and we have not been able to get a hold of her at all. On a lighter side of things we do have a couple investigators XXXX and XXXX who are awesome, but they need to exercise their faith a little bit.

We had interviews this week and they were awesome, this is my last interview with President Archibald until I have my departing interview with him. Again, crazy how time flies. He told me it will be over before I know and I need to act like it,s not going to happen till it happens.

Today for Pday we went and golfed 18 at a really nice course owned by members. They let us go for free! Clubs, carts and balls all for free, it was one of the best Pdays on the mission. I will attach some pics with this email.

Well I love you all so much and I hope you have a great week!!!

Love,

Elder Moore

July 11, 2011

Family,

Stampede is here but we aren't allowed to go. That's actually a good thing because people are getting crazy downtown. ha Our apartment is a prime location for drunks walking by, so we see some funny people singing songs and yelling at each other. The area is doing great, but we only met with a few investigators and some of them are dropping appointments; which is a bummer. We have not been able to meet with our other investigator over the past couple weeks because she has gone M.I.A. on us. She is not answering her phone or her door. Bro. XXXXXX is doing well. He is reading and praying but we feel that he is not questioning honestly to find the right answer.

I will send pics next week. I have to run but I love you all so much!!!

Elder Moore

July 4, 2011

Family,

HAPPY 4TH!!!!!

We have a lot going on here in 5th and Wildwood wards and its awesome! We will have them hitting the water this month (missionary slang for being baptized). We met with an investigator yesterday and we are trying to get him on the ball for reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. We taught him the importance of doing so yesterday and we are calling tonight to see how it went. We had the XXXX kids come to church yesterday. The mom couldn't make it but our Ward Mission Leader picked them up yesterday and they had a great time. We have had trouble meeting with some of our investigators this last week, but we still met with a five of them. We are lucky in this area, we get a ton of referrals from the mission office. Many of them turn out to be nothing, but some of them we are teaching now, it's sweet.

So I have a new companion and his name is Elder Hansen from Fresno, CA. He has been out for about a year. He is a lot of fun and he might be my last comp. I am happy about that. For Canada Day we went and walked around downtown, checked out the festivities and talked to people. It was a fun day. For the 4th we are having a zone BBQ and will be kicking it and having fun!! (I will send pics). It is Half Kilometer month, so we are going to be walking a ton...we already have. It's fun.

Tell everyone I love them lots and I miss you all!! See ya in 2 1/2 months!!!

Elder Moore

P.S That's a pic of the Calgary skyline and the other pic is of my previous companion, Elder Kuettel and me.

June 28, 2011

Family,

Another transfer... and I'm getting a new comp. His name is Elder Hansen from Fresno, Cali and he has been out for a year. Good chance this is my last comp so I hope it turns out good ha. We had an interesting week. Our investigator, who had a date for what was supposed to be today, didn't quit smoking. She says she wants to wait awhile before she gets into the water. We are bummed but it's all good. We had a good lesson with her yesterday and she still wants to move forward so that was good news. We are teaching a lot of people right now, but the frustrating thing is that none of them are progressing. It's hard when that happens, but we have a few positve things with some of them.

The weather is finally warming up and the rain is gone for now. I have to run but I love you all so much. Have a great week!!

Elder Moore

June 20, 2011

Family,

We had a awesome week, besides the weather because that has really not been great lately. It has been raining and gloomy over the past week....kinda depressing really. Please AZ take some of this rain.

We have been really busy teaching this week, we had a few lessons drop through, but we had an awesome miracle with our investigator, XXXXX. Over the past few weeks she has been moving backwards and her desire was very low. We had an appointment with her on Wednesday. So we went in there hoping get her desire back so she can start progressing again. So we came into this lesson with that mind set and we wanted to read the Doctrine of Christ with her. As we did she accepted it very well and we asked her "based on what we read, what do you need to do?" She said that she needed to be baptized! We set the date of July 16, feeling that she needed time to progress and get things rolling. She said that she thought she would be baptized on the 28th, and we asked which month? And she said this month!! She said that she is quitting smoking on the 21st, so tonight we are taking all of her smoking stuff and getting rid of it. She is going above and beyond on her commitments. It's been an awesome experience.

I love you all and have a great week!!

Love,
Elder Moore

June 13, 2011

Family,

It was a busy, busy week! We picked up two new investigators this week and we hope we can get another. We had a good week teaching our investigators and some had some interesting stuff happen as well. During one of our lessons we had the investigator say the closing prayer and while he was saying it (which took about 10 minutes) he tried to speak in tongues.... it was weird. This area is awesome and fun because we are downtown. It is great being able to street contact people and walk in the city. The work here is amazing and we are seeing miracles. I can't believe how the work is taking off. We are teaching seven different people right now and we are hoping to set baptism dates with them this next week.

The weather is up and down here. It will be nice one day, then cold and rainy the next couple. It's kind of bummer summer weather. Oh well!

I love you all so much!!

Elder Moore

June 6, 2011

Family,

Wet weather does not stop here in Calgary! We did pick up a couple new gators this week! We had an awesome miracle on exchanges where Elders Hepworth and Kuettel met a member and his friend. They taught him and set a date for the 18th, but he did not come to church so the 18th is no more. We have a lesson with him on Tuesday. We also taught a former investigator named XXXX and he is ready to be baptized. He has a testimony - he knows the book is true and the Joesph Smith is a prophet. But he won't be baptized without his wife, who does not have a desire to be baptized. We taught the Doctrine of Christ and explained the importance of being baptized now and tried to set a date, but he said no. We told him to pray about it.

Things are going well Elder Kuettel and I are having a blast and we are seeing tons of miracles! I love you all and have a great week!

Love,
Elder Moore

May 30, 2011

Family,

Miracles never cease in 5th and Wildwood!! Our blind friend Chris was baptized on Saturday, and what a miracle he is! He walked into the church over a month ago and new he needed God in his life. Now he has made that change and is loving life and seeing many blessings come his way.

Another awesome miracle that we saw this past week was also on Saturday. Normally we have a standing appointment with a less active named James, but he was sick and couldn't meet. The sad part about that was that we didn't have backup plans...We were humbled and we prayed that Heavenly Father would guide us to who we needed to see at that time. We also repented for not having backup plans. So we looked at the former investigators list and went to meet some. On the way we spoke to a couple people and met a lady who speaks Mandarin Chinese We got her info and passed it off to the Mandarin-speaking Elders. We also got in contact with a former investigator and set up a lesson for next Saturday. The best part about that night was that we went by a part member family and set up a lesson for Sunday. Yesterday we had that lesson with them and taught them about Temples and Eternal Families because they just recently had a baby. Bro XXXXX was very receptive and we set a baptism date with him for the 24th of June! So many amazing things happening here in this area.

We have another amazing week planned this week and have lots of lessons with some potential investigators. On top of this we can take our suit coats off for the summer on June 1st, Wednesday!! That will be a good day haha. I love you all so much and miss ya tons! Have a great week!!

Love,
Elder Moore

P.S. in the top picture is of some elders in my transfer and from left to right is me; Elders Fowler; Hurley; Newman; Kirklin; Spurlock; and Glick.

The baptism is Elder Kuettel and this is XXXXX holding his seeing stick.

Then the picture of the city is a view from the balcony of a member.

May 24, 2011

Well I'm back in Calgary serving right downtown! It's pretty sweet and very different than Raymond, but it's awesome. You meet so many interesting people here. The wards I'm serving in are 5th and Wildwood, They are good wards and we have a couple investigators in 5th ward and two of them, we are hoping, will get baptized this Saturday. XXXXX is one of those and he is blind. He only has about 4% of his vision left and he is way solid. Our other investigator is XX. She is solid and knows the Gospel is true, but she needs to stop smoking. She has been good for a few days, but she still needs to make it to Saturday.

My new companion is Elder Kuettel from Stouffville Ontario, Canada. He has been out for about 10 months. It's a lot of fun and we have a ton of work. This might be my last area and I'm hoping it is because there is just so much to do! Downtown Calgary is incredible. I'll send pics next week of the City and our Baptisms!! Love ya!!!

Elder Hayden Moore

May 17, 2011

Hi Family,
I'm getting transferred to downtown Calgary, like right downtown. The wards are 5th and Wildwood. I'm a little bummed...I loved Raymond...but I have always wanted to go downtown too. There will be a lot of opportunities to proselytize.

Can you believe I just passed the 20 month mark? How is Connor? Tell him 'hi'. He is looking huge in those pics, but I will take him down when I get home. haha.

I am sending a few pics. That's Larry Gelwix. He is the coach they based the movie "Forever Strong" on and he is going to be the mission President in Fresno, California. He came to do a fireside in Raymond, it was pretty sweet. His son is also serving in this mission.

Well I have to run! Talk to you next week!

Love,
Elder Moore

May 9, 2011

Family,
the phone call was amazing. It was awesome to be able to talk to you all and to hear what's happening in AZ. Overall it was a good week. We had a good lesson with X this week and discussed the Baptismal interview questions to see what still needs to be clarified. Priesthood authority is something she just has not wrapped her head around yet, but still her main concern is smoking.... she has gone down to a couple a day now, but the time is coming close that she needs to stop smoking. I love you guys so much! It was good to hear from you! Have a great week!!


Love
Elder Moore