February 22nd

Haha! Yeah scout camp could sound like fun just for a few days. 

Well, this week we had transfers and my companion left. My new companion will be Elder Arnson! I already know him from other zones. I'm excited because we are already pretty good friends. I'm pumped for this next transfer. 

This week was okay. We got a decent amount of contacts, and we taught a lot. We had a baptism marked for Sunday, and it was kind of washy all week and so we didn't have a definite answer to whether he would be baptized or not. He is 10 years old and his parents are going through some really rough times. His brother just got sentenced and is involved in a homicide of 2 people. That's hard on his mom especially. The baptism didn't end up happening because the mom backed out and said at the last minute that she doesn't want her kid to be baptized this weekend.  He wants to be baptized though, and this next week we will  work and talk to the family a little more.

Our 21 year old investigator, went to church again. We found out this week that she is having difficulties with cigarettes. We made goals for her to slow down to a point where she can stop, and its going pretty well! We invited her to church again, and she said she feels insecure because she doesn't have appropriate clothes for church. I told her not to worry, and that If she goes to church borrowing her aunt's clothes for just one more Sunday, God will see her effort and help her out. Well, in my head, we were going to talk to the relief society pres. and ask for help, maybe some pants and a dress or something.

 Well, we get to church, and a member her age comes up to her and gives her a little gift bag. At the end of church I ask her what was in it, and she said in kind of a laughing tone, a dress. That was a really cool experience for me and for her:   that sometimes we don't think we have the means to follow and keep a commandment. But God sees our effort and recompenses us when we do our part. 

Have a great week!

 Love Elder Moss

February 8th

Haha I saw all of the Panther shirts! I want one too! But I wouldn't use it until after the mission. Because they lost, they will probably be cheaper now.

We did end up celebrating my birthday! It was great! We went to Açai on monday, and a member surprised me with a birthday cake on tuesday. I don't even remember telling her it was my birthday. So that meant a lot. I am really bad at getting photos to you guys. I will try to take some more and actually send them this week. 

The lunches here are complicated because The city is huge, and its divided in two parts: The center and the east side. The center is where I work and it has maybe 5 members. The east side has All of the members. The divide the lunches so we don't have to travel that far every day to eat lunch, but its complicated because few members are giving lunch every day. It stresses the members some times, and my companion kind of messed up last week with dis-marking a lunch that we should have gone to. So we are trying to fix things. But I'm still gaining weight. I am at like 65 kilos now! 

Tomorrow we have interviews with president. I'm excited because its my last interview with him before the final interview (the weekend I go home) and my zone is working so hard. This week, our small zone of 7 companionships have 10 baptisms promised and one possible. Its going to be huge because our goal for the entire month is 12. And this week is stake conference, so all of them will be baptized together in one big baptismal service. 

The only thing that we need to worry about with diseases is Dangue. Its still going strong but its dying down a little bit. I haven't gotten it yet, so I'm feeling less worried than others. 

Love Elder Moss

February 1st

Thanks mom! We ate a little bit of cake last night, but today we will eat pizza. 

This week we worked a lot. 

I have pictures to send,but There not ready.Illsend themlater today. 

This week I saw a ferarri 430. It was beautiful. I kind yelled at it when It drove by, and it slowed down to a walking pace, then sped off.. That was a cool experience.

Then we saw it at a gas station and we talked to the owner for a little while. 

On Friday night, we went to the activity at the church which was a ´´iron rod.´´ People were blind folded, and we had ropes tied in the hallways that led to different rooms, which represented the different kingdoms. Then the 4 missionaries walked beside people whispering  in their ears convincing them to go to certain rooms (depending if you were a good angel or a bad one) That was actually pretty spiritual experience. 4 out of 20 people went to the celestial kingdom.

Its just been hot here. Really hot. No snow. But we have had some success with new investigators. We taught a few new people this week that seemed pretty interested. We will go back this next week to see how they are doing.

Love Elder Moss

January 25th

Yeah, a few days ago, we went to go get açaí which is like ice cream, and the news was passing with this giant snow storm crossing the entire east coast. They talked alot about New York and New Jersey, but I was thinking "hey maybe the family wont have school!" And I forgot this was dads first time being able to use the 4 wheel drive in the new expedition. I'm sure it was nice. 

Yeah that snow board was mine a long time ago, and after trying out real snowboarding, its a lot of fun. Just the first two or 3 days hurts a lot because your rear end spends a lot of time on the ground. 

Last p day, we had to go to the court house because my comp had to sign some official paper work to get a package from his house in Chile, and we saw some people waving at us to go talk to them. They started speaking Portuguese, but after a minute they said that they are from Utah, close to where Jordan lives, in Bountiful. They are Brazilian doing some official paper work, and so the wife took a picture of me and sent it to you! We saw them at church, then ate lunch with them at the stake prez house. They are good friends. They just left to go back to Utah yesterday. 

The Broadcast was really good! It had like 3 or 4 general authorities, and they talked a lot about teaching repentance and baptizing converts. It was a great training about how we cant look at investigators as objects that we need to throw in the water, but as people we are trying to help to change their lives. Baptism is a part of true repentance, not the other way around. 

This week we taught a ton of people, and were able to have 3 at church! two teenagers and one 22 year old. All guys. They liked it, and in fact, the 22 year old was asked if he was going to be baptized and he said not today but he will in a little bit. It was cool. He is actually one of the funniest investigators I've taught. I told him that my birthday was next Sunday, and he started singing happy birthday, but with the words Merry Christmas because he confused them. I started laughing so hard and so did he when he realized it. Then he asked me how do you laugh in English. At that point I couldn't control my self. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. 

Today we have our first pday with our zone! Its actually going to be really cool. We rented this place with volley ball courts and basketball, and we are going to have a giant barbecue afterwords. 

Love Elder Moss

January 18th

No theres not anything that I can think off right now that I would like or need... but thanks!

My week was pretty good! The area here is huge and so I walked a lot, but besides that, lots of new changes from my old area to my new.

We live alone, so instead of 4 its just us two. and we live in the guest house of the stake president. He is awesome, always asking us if he can help wiht anything. The people in this city are much more receptive than in my last. We were able to have a few new investigators. We are making friendships with alot of people, and I can already see that we are going to have success here! 

I think the Santa Barbara in Cali is cooler than this one. This one is small, but its still decent sized. Its not near the beach, and doesn't have a lot of site seeing  or touristy stuff.

I took a few pictures, but I cant seem to send them. Ill see what I can do..

This next week we have a conference with president, and on Wednesday we have a missionary conference with Elder Oaks. He will to a satellite transmission to the entire world. 

There are many members here that are friends to the missionaries, and I think that my birthday will be celebrated so I'm excited about that!

Love Elder Moss