August 2, 2010 - Now in Mishawaka

August 2, 2010
Hey Familia,

Salamat for your email mom its great (salamat means thank you in tagalog). Mario taught us some tagalog before I left Logansport. I know how to hit on woman in a different language now so that will be cool to try out when I get home and all. Well I bet your wondering where I’m at now. I got sent to Mishawaka, Indiana which is right next to South Bend and below Michigan actually some of our area covers Michigan and South Bend. It’s not really that different just a way smaller area and we only have a car every other week so we ride bikes a lot. I’m starting to lose weight now and I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to but I’m still eating a ton. The members up here in Mishawaka are way nice. There are a lot of Samoans in the ward and we ate at one of their house's on Thursday and they won't take ‘Hey I’m full’ for an answer. You’re not full until all the food is gone so they got the kinda appetite that I like, ha ha. We are going for ribs this Wednesday and my comp says they make a ton so it will be awesome to have some home cooking. My companion now is Elder Williams. He has been out for about 9 months, he is from Thatcher, Arizona and he is way cool. We hit it off pretty well. He is a way obedient missionary so we don't have any problems. It’s crazy that obedience is the most important thing out here. I have definitely learned a lot of different views about obedience and perseverance versus doing something you love and persevering in it. It’s a whole different learning experience. Elder Williams played QB in high school and will be playing safety in college when he goes back home, so on P-day you know we will be throwing the ball around, it will be fun. Well we go to the stake center up in South Bend which is a way nice building, pretty much like one back home but it’s nice for the people here. I met Manti Te'o which is the middle linebacker for Notre Dame. He is a member and he is a big deal in college football. He is a homie though. We saw him at church and talked with him for a bit, he actually brings people from the team to church with him and the players seem to like it a lot, so he is doing a lot of missionary work which is cool. We tracted a lot the first couple of days we ran into this reverend out here who is supposedly famous his name is John Dye you guys will have to google him and tell me about him and stuff. He was not going to read the Book of Mormon though no matter what we told him. He told us that he was greater than Jesus Christ. I started laughing which wasn't the best thing but he said "what?" I told him, ‘well are you perfect?’ and it got him thinking, but he has written a book and been on TV shows and he models and stuff he was way into himself, so kinda prideful. But, he just kept saying that church wasn't important. We rebuked him a little, in a nice way of course, but he wasn't changing for anyone. He was just to set in his way, which is how a lot of people are out here. A lot of people are just set and won't listen to you at all, so what we do is bring up Notre Dame football at first to ease the transition everyone loves Notre Dame out here. They are huge diehard fans so they can talk forever, but we slowly start talking about Mormons and then the Book of Mormon, and then people actually are like ‘Alright, I’ll read it’, which is way cool. I think it’s more of the fact that they are comfortable with us so it’s easier to talk about religion when someone is really comfortable and nice to talk to. It’s always fun to talk about football too. We bring up Manti sometimes and be like ‘ya, he is Mormon’ and people turn their heads for a second and start wanting to learn more about Mormons. A lot of people also have the wrong idea about Mormons too. And there is no way you can change their minds. It’s kinda funny because how can you expect to continue to follow Christ and become a better person, if you’re not willing to have an open heart. People are just set in their ways though and there's nothing you can do about that. We have an investigator who is way into the BOM. He told us last time we came over he was just like LEHI is, No Joke man, and his Boy Nephi is my Man. It was way funny but he told us straight up that he knew that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God so now we just have to act on it and tell him what he needs to do because he knows the BOM is true, that Joseph Smith was a true prophet. So it will be awesome to see him progress. There are still a lot of loopy people out here that are just hammered when they answer the door but don't really know what they are talking about. We try to get out of there as quick as we can because even if we do teach them they won't remember anything. We tell them so we get some interesting scenarios with them one guy kept laughing at us and then he would be mad then just complete serious and start crying, what are you gonna do though. Well I don't really know what else to write, everything else is awesome so no worries. Don't worry mom, I told him about diabetic first aid the first night. My address now is

Elder John Moore
318 Lincoln Way East Apt #2
Mishawaka, In 46544

Love you all still and I’m still working as hard as I can and I have about 250 strips left. I actually counted. That paper that I sent with you with the passport is the invitation Nathan made for his baptism. I was going to send pictures but I ran out of time. I’ll send them today though I’m not sure that I’ll send anything out to you guys. I have enough room in my bags and all. I did have to buy new running shoes cause basketball tore up my Nikes. I tried to buy the cheapest ones though, sorry about that. Well it’s always good to get mail, so I’ll be looking forward to either emails or letters.

Love,

Elder John Michael Moore