Lego Man & Bednar

Here is the latest from Elder Moss. He wasn't able to upload any new pictures so we've added in a few that haven't been shared yet. We traded email messages with him real-time again today and he's doing great. Keep him in your prayers and use the link to the right-hand side to drop him a quick email. 

¡Hola mi familia! How are you guys!? This week was just another normal week at the CCM except today at 1:30 we have a meeting with Elder Bednar!! There will be over 800 missionaries in a chapel somehow across the street from the CCM! We´re all so excited and it's like a dream come true because I Love Elder Bednar! We watched a devotional of him on Sunday and he's so powerful and brings the spirit wherever he is! I'm so excited for that! Anyways back to this past week! So all last week we were preparing to go proselyting on Saturday of last week. Learning lots of Spanish and learning how to start and teach lessons over and over again. We taught like 8 lessons last week to our "investigator" and they went well! My comp and I are getting really good at teaching through questions and not having to do much talking. We like to start out getting to know our investigator and then learn how we can apply some aspect of the lesson to a need of theirs. Then we like to ask questions and share scriptures that invite the spirit. My Spanish has gotten lots better and I am able to speak my mind about the gospel and help my comp teach the lesson. So after all those lessons and preparing to go out to the field proselyting on Saturday, we headed out. We left around 12:00 and we met at a chapel and drove through parts of sketchy Lima haha. We got to the chapel and we went out on splits. I went out on splits with an Elder from Mapleton and his name was Elder Merril. He had been out 18 months and his Spanish was unbelievable! I asked him some tips and he said to just open your mouth and speak! Even if it is just pointless things you get more familiar with the language and not sounding like a gringo. He said his Spanish started to pick up around 4-5 months! So everyone don´t worry! If I can survive these next 4-5 months, I'm set and I'll be able to talk to these Peruvians who I swear don't even speak SPANISH!
So anyways we get out there and our first lesson fell through.. sad.. but I was having a good time being free in the city with Elder Merril! We started knocking doors and passing out cards and asking if we could return another time. The place we were in in Lima was a more dangerous place. Sisters couldn't set foot here. I had to leave some things behind and just carry a Book of Mormon around with some other things. It's a rule in the Lima east mission to carry a book of Mormon haha. Anyways we're knocking doors and one lady answered and we gave her a card and talked to her about Jesus Christ and then she slowly shut the door haha. Then we moved on to our next lesson with a catholic man and his wife. His wife didn't listen but he did. Now in this house their door was a sheet.. and they lived in like a little alley way! I don´t know how these people do it! It's so sad and we're so lucky to be blessed with a front door! Anyways then he asked his wife to bring him his bible and he got it and patted it and told us to teach him! So we taught him the restoration and we read the pamphlet and explained the restoration. My comp liked to put me on the spot and make me explain key concepts. So in my broken Spanish I explained to this guy what happened and he completely understood me! I mean I wasn´t fluent but I got my point across haha! The best thing about this guys is he was speaking so slow so I loved that! But after teaching him he said he had to go so we ended with a prayer and left. He was an awesome guy and he loved hearing about the gospel and wants to hear more so I hope he does! After that we made our way over to another guy's house who owns a internet cafe and lives right next to it haha. He has a baptismal date but is struggling giving up alcohol with his buddies. So we taught from 2 Nephi 31 about why it is important to follow Christ's example, keep God's commandments, and be baptized. I didn't really understand this guy at all.. he spoke so fast and mumbled but my comp some how knew what he was saying! And of course my comp would leave me to explain why we need to be baptized so I did and he said I did it very well I just sound like a gringo! And the guy understood and then I bore my testimony about baptism and how it brings us closer to God and it's our first covenant that we need to make. I felt a calming peace after and my comp bore his testimony and we prayed and we were on our way. It was cool to go out and teach and realize how much Spanish the CCM really teaches you.. haha! I just need to keep working and speaking and it´ll come! I'm praying for a Latino, honestly, so I just learn it really quick my first 6 weeks out in the field.  Saturday was great... I loved it! It was fun being out in the streets and knocking the doors. I had the biggest smile and I enjoyed being out there so much and I can't wait! Best part is it won't be nasty looking Lima...it will be Huancayo! There are so many dogs in Lima and so many dog fights in the street haha! I'm so glad I am not serving here and I'm serving in Huancayo! All the Latinos say it is a beautiful and the COOLEST place!
So over the last week it's just been studying and getting to make new friends! Best part is, Elder Hale, Nielson, Logan, Parkinson, Sorenson, and me (you won't know them all) got notified by some of the advanced Americans that left on Tuesday that they're passing down the "order" to us. The order consists of silly stupid missionary stuff like books, dumb items, and the ugliest tie in the world. This tie is worn in every single group picture of the MTC and a Lego Man is worn in someones pocket haha! So in every picture up on the wall an ugly brown tie and a Lego Man is displayed in the picture! This has been going on for like 2 years or something and everyone that has worn the tie has signed it! and guess who gets to wear that ugly thing haha. So I'll make sure to take a picture :)
Anyways this week was awesome and I love being here it's just time to leave and I'm excited to leave after going proselyting. I can't wait to go out and change these people´s lives! There is so much happiness I have received from the gospel and I owe the people of Peru that happiness! 

My reflection of the week is from Elder Bednar on Sunday and Ether 12:6. I was a little down after Saturday about my Spanish.. it's tough and it's slowly coming but it's a test of our faith. We don't gain faith unless we endure a trial as it says in Ether 12:6. I love that scripture and I have been reading it everyday. Out there in the field it is going to be tough and I realize that. I'm going to have so many trials and I can't wait to gain more faith from it. The language is going to be one of those. Elder Bednar says "we're on the Lord's time and will". When it's the right time for me to start understanding Spanish completely is when the Lord wants me to. I can't expect it and want it at MY time. Spanish and other things will come when the Lord wants it to for me. It was humbling and I was grateful to have a need addressed by him on Sunday. I'm so grateful to be out here and to be learning Spanish. It is such an awesome language and this gospel is so true! Heavenly Father wants us to all return and I can't wait to gather people and bring them to him! My Spanish is slowly coming along but I keep enjoying it! I have lost myself in the work and I love the gospel and it's teachings and I have never prayed so much and read so much in my life! I love you all and you mean the world to me! Families really are forever and I know that because I can feel that in my heart! ¡Amo ustedes mucho y extreno ustedes mucho cada dia! ¡Oro para ustedes y amo sus oraciones para mi! Ciao
and bye everyone :) WRITE ME!! :)

HUMP DAY.....for the CCM

Very exciting day today...it is Jake's Hump Day...for his six weeks in the CCM! In three more weeks he'll be headed out to the Huancayo mission. That means he's a vet now in the CCM. We received an unexpected email and picture (see below) from President Hansen, who is Jake's Branch President in the CCM and who is a good friend of my Aunt Carol & Uncle Brian Moss. Pretty cool. Here's the update...

¡Hola mi familia! How are you all? I miss you all so much! I love the emails and I love all the support and prayers because it has helped tons! This week has been great and it was a blur! The new North Americans came this week so it´s been fun getting to know some new elders! But all our buddies left last week for their mission, which was sad, but it is just the greatest here! We´re all so excited to leave this place haha. We love it here but everyone is starting to call it the white prison!

Today we got to go out and go to the temple! It was so cool and peaceful to be inside the temple! We had to help out the newer elders with talking to the temple workers.  EVERYTHING was in SPANISH!  But after the temple we went to the distribution center and we all bought a Spanish Book of Mormon and bible and then we headed over to Tottus the "Target" of Peru. On the bus, my companion and I started talking to this girl named Kelly! She used to be catholic and my companion was explaining to her how we believe in the bible. We asked her if she had read the bible and she said,  “yes of course”! We told her we believe in another book called, "el Libra de Mormon." We told her it was another testament of Christ and she seemed very interested to have it and read it! She took it and she asked us for our numbers. But we don’t have one. So I told her in my broken Spanish haha. That we will get some missionaries to call you and that we want you to read and pray about the book!! I didn't say much but I said enough to help my companion out because he was stuck! But it was so cool! She was happy and she gave us her number and we gave it to the office for them to contact the missionaries in this area! It got me so excited to be out in the field soon! Only 18 more days...yay….I can't wait!

This Saturday we get to go on splits with missionaries in the Lima south mission and go proselyting for the day! I’m so excited. I can read and write and my vocab has grown! I only use Preach My Gospel in Spanish and if I don’t understand a word I look it up and write it down in my Spanish vocab notebook. My listening is getting lots better! Last night a general authority came and spoke in Spanish and I understood about 80% of it somehow :) Now for my speaking it is slowly progressing! I am getting more confident and I can speak pretty well for only being here for 3 weeks. Teaching lessons I can do pretty well with my companion! We like to teach through questions and asking our "investigator" thought provoking questions that can invite the spirit. We both ping-pong back and forth very well and we like to use scriptures A LOT! They invite the spirit and answer our questions! I have never been so RELIANT on the spirit and the scriptures…it’s crazy! And I know they'll be even more reliant out in the field! I love learning Spanish and I love talking to the Latinos and improving! I can teach most of the lessons now and it is so much easier to invite the spirit! The people here are awesome and I love my teachers and the friends I've made! I have honestly lost myself in the work and I LOVE doing the Lord's work. And also this week I got made District Leader haha! It went from my companion to me and well yeah that's it! District Leader in the CCM is a pretty big deal…JK! It's great though! You just watch over the district, write on the board and lead out discussions and attend meetings on Sunday! It's been great for the first few days and I love my district they are awesome! Being here is just amazing and time is flying by like crazy!! I'm praying harder than ever (in Spanish) for my Spanish to improve and for me to find opportunities to invite the spirit.

“My reflection of the week” was from last night when one of the area 70's came to speak. He taught us how to be better missionaries and how to teach lessons. The one major thing I took out of it is learning how to teach with the spirit to the investigator's heart. We can do all we want to try and throw info into the investigator's face and try and convince them but that's not how it should be done. We need to learn to teach with the spirit and teach to their hearts. If we convince their heart of how true and lovely this gospel is through the spirit they will feel it is true. I love the gospel so much. I especially love our savior Jesus Christ more this week. He paid for all our pain and afflictions and he knows how we all feel. But in turn we must do our part by putting forth our OWN effort. We all need to make an effort of coming unto Christ and following his example. It won't be easy but in the end we can live with our families FOREVER and be so HAPPY! I love the plan our Heavenly Father has for us! And I absolutely love telling my investigators that I know families can be together forever and that this gospel is so true. I want to bring as many people possible unto Christ and feel of his love and know of his plan. I want them to all feel a burning in their bosom and have the spirit testify that these things that we teach are true. I love being here and I wake up everyday willing to do the Lord's work! :)

We take it meal by meal here at the CCM. And once you make it past lunch the day is a breeze because it consists of physical activity! We used to play tons of soccer. But now we don't because they think the afternoon kids are too dis-respectful so they make us play half-field soccer. So now we workout and do circuits and lift on the cinderblocks outside for a workout haha! We're pretty creative and have figured out how to do things! But after that there´s class, dinner and lessons and gosh it flies by! Oh and Elder Bednar might be coming next week!!  We’re all so stoked!! He is my favorite apostle and if he comes I will DIE! I love Peru and I love you all and I love my family and the gospel! ¡Hasta Luego mi familia! Yo amo ustedes mucho!

First Time Visiting the Lima Temple (it has been closed). Endowment session all in Spanish!

Elder Moss and Elder Hale

President Hansen & Elder Moss

Got this picture on Monday from Nick...these are Nick's friends from Jordan High and they were on an EFY service project in Lima, Peru. They visited the CCM and look who they found!

Farewell To The Old Guys...

Editorial: We've experienced some of the challenges of communicating via email with a missionary in a country where internet service is spotty. Jake had a longer and more descriptive email for us but it was either deleted or never made it when he sent it. So he quickly pieced this together for us before his time was up. That said, we are REALLY grateful that he can send us email messages and we can communicate back and forth with him a little bit.  

HOLA! I love you guys so much! and I hope you're all doing well! How is everything? Everything here is great and on Monday we just sent off the advanced missionaries and said goodbye to all our friends! but before we said goodbye we got haircuts and we entrusted elder Nielsen to cut our hair because the Peruvian guy that comes does a so-so job. But anyways we got to cut mine and it looked like a BOWL CUT! So we had this latino fix it and he was like a barber before!! So it looks great now!! I love it here and all the people here, especially the latinos! My buddy Porter Yates showed up today and that's been fun to get to see him!  We went out in the city today and went and bought soccer jerseys for like 5 bucks. They are so cheap and everything here is so CHEAP! The buses are so small, so me being 6'3" I like crouch in them.. it is so funny!  Everyday I wake up with a smile and a will to work! I love the Lords work and I've learned to lose myself in it. Losing myself in it has made the time go by so fast. I can teach a full lesson with my companion and we got our fake investigator to pray. I taught him how and he prayed and we seriously felt the spirit! it was so cool and we had a peaceful calm feeling after.  I feel the spirit so much and especially through my teachers.

The other day it was a rough day.. I was distressed about my spanish and I was worried. My teacher pulled me to the side and asked me what was up. Idk why but i just felt like breaking down and giving up!  He gave me a quote to read from Ezra Taft Benson, it said something along the lines of learning a language and being a missionary requires the spirit. without the spirit, no matter the skill or talents, it is not possible to learn as fast as you can without the spirit. So everyday i begin my class with my own personal prayer asking for guidance and the spirit and the GIFT OF TONGUES: it is true and the spirit helps anyone who wants to learn .  I love it here so much you guys! i love the work and the people and the long term friends i've made. Heavenly Father wants us to return to him and be with him. I am here to preach that to the people of Peru and have them come unto christ and feel of the spirit and Gods love. He wants the people of Peru to return back to him and through many missionaries and ME, he is relying on us to do that. Everyday I wake up and put a tag on that has my name right above "jesucristo." i am a representative of jesus christ along with many other missionaries. Jesus Christ has died for us and wants us all to come back to our Heavenly Father through him. We can make it through any trial because Christ has done the same and knows of your pain and suffering. He loves us all so much. I have felt the spirit testify to me that Jesus Christ did die for us and through him we can feel clean and comforted. I love you all so much! I am so sorry.... my other email got deleted and i forgot to send it so this one is a bit shorter.. But WRITE ME CAUSE I LOVE YOU ALL! I LOVE THIS GOSPEL AND I LOVE THE PEOPLE HERE AND I LOVE THE LORDS WORK! :) Ciao! (a way to say bye in peru..) :)

Jake's district....His companion is on the far left

Laundry....Where is my mom when I need her?

P-day fun.....buying cool soccer jerseys for dirt cheap!

Amazing What A Week Will Do...

Jake emailed us today around 1:00 PM and we were able to email back and forth with him for about an hour. He's doing great! Keep in mind that the keyboard is in Spanish so it's a little challenging to get the punctuation and other stuff right.


¡HOLA MI FAMILIA! I love you guys so much and I love the CCM in Peru! It has been such a great time and everyday time flies by! It´s crazy how fast time has picked up! The airport and plane ride was great! There were 40+ missionaries flying to Peru or Columbia! the flight from atlanta to peru was the longest flight of my LIFE! But we arrived in peru around 11pm and we had to go through cutoms and immigration stuff and then the church picked us up in a huge tour bus! we drove 45 mins to the CCM and arrived at 2 am and we got our companions. my companion showed up in the morning and his name is Elder D. from Provo! he´s 20 and is a great guy. He´s taught me lots about spanish and helped me out tons! im just so happy to be here and to be learning spanish and the gospel! i try to memorize 100 spanish words a day and im trying to read my spanish book of mormon every night for at least one chapter. and you might think thats not a lot but in spanish its HARD! But i love the book of mormon in spanish!

A day in the CCM goes like this, first we wake up at 6:30 then we go eat breakfast. Favorite thing for breakfast is the yogurt! Absolute best thing in the world no joke! but usually the breakfast consists of lots of BREAD and eggs or muffins with some fruit and crappy peruvian cereal haha! after breakfast we head to class and have personal study then have class for about 3 hours on teaching the gospel and learning to teach to the investigators needs. Then we have lunch which consists of rice and chicken and more bread and MAYBE just maybe ice cream. The ice cream here is unreal! But we get small portions of that! And then we head back to more class, then we have physical activity everyday. That consists of mucho fútbol with all the americans and sometimes the latinos have physical activity with us so we play with them and usually lose... But in between games me and my buddy elder stokes run laps till we´re on again to play soccer. So we´ll run about 2 miles and play soccer so ive loved that lots! After that we shower, get ready, and have companionship study to teach our investigator after dinner. Then we head to dinner which consists of more rice or chicken.. or if we´re lucky PIZZA! the menu consists of rice and chicken or chicken and rice.. haha.. But the food is actually great and they do the chicken different! We just all stay away from the bread cause it clogs ya up and you gain mucho weight! But after that we have class which consists of grammar and then teaching our fake investigator! The second day we were here we had to teach him and it was SO HARD! I couldn´t say a word so Elder D. talked and trasnlated for me and i just said "si, si, si, muy bien, bueno" cause thats all i KNEW GUYS! I was so frustrated after! After teaching our investigators we get ready for the night, head to our rooms, and hang out and talk. We then have study time and wow then im in bed again trying to figure out where the time went! Its loco how much fun I am having with all these guys! ELder hale and I have become great friends along with tons of other guys! We have an elder named elder nielsen who is a huge linemen committed to play for weber state from Henderson, NV and he says he knows SAMMY! Anyways hes like a walking god to the latinos its hilarious! They love all the tall kids! They want to talk and learn english and they help us with spanish and we just make fun of each other cause none of us know how to communicate! We all love it here but the spirit is so strong here and everyday i wake up with a smile, laughing, and enjoying my time!

here are the questions i gotta answer for you all haha! the missionaries going to my mission are Elder D., he is not bilingual, but he knows lots, elder B., and elder J. and 2 hermanas. and there 4 in my room and 8 in my district! favorite thing is leaving this place and enjoying lima! and the temple reopens next week cause its been closed.. :( and the biggest surprise has been how much i pray and want to study! and heck no im not playing the piano mom! and elder BEDNAR comes in 2 weeks for a devotional and were all so stoked for thAT! church is at 9 and you have to prepare a 5 min talk because the branch president will randomly call you up to speak and it has to be en ESPANOL AHHH! and anything i need, my blue joggers and some more white socks please! but dont send anything till i get out there cause they wont accept packages here. but those are the questions for you (mom and dad)

Anyways, So every week I want to do a "reflection of the week," where I look back and see how I grew that week. (Mom is gonna be happy about this.) ANYWAYS! After we taught our fist investigator that second day I was so frustrated and discourage with my spanish and speaking. I thought I was confident and prepared but frankly, not a single soul is good in spanish here, except my buddy elder white who sounds like a latino. So i went back to our room all down and discouraged. I started to read my scriptures and just write in my journal about how i felt. I felt like I couldn´t do it. But i kneeled down and prayed to my heavenly father and prayed so hard and poured out how i missed my family, time was going slow, and that i just could not speak or understand. I woke up the next day went to class and started to read in preach my gospel, i was reading the spanish version and i was UNDERSTANDING it more and more! I can listen to conversations more and understand what is going on. ive dedicated to learn 100 words a day from the back of this book and im planned to finish with 5 weeks being in the CCM. Im so much more confident with understanding my teachers and understanding words and writing spanish. Talking im so so, but its good and getting better. I have to stop and think about what to say and im not the most confident but i can have a normal convo with the latinos! Through god nothing is impossible! I understand and im learning more and more and experiencing the gift of tongues as of now! It is such a great feeling and I am so happy! I know this is where I should be and I cant wait to get out in the field and start teaching! The gospel is so true and heavenly father loves each and everyone one of us and wants ALL of his children to return to him. Theres a plan and a savior who knows how we feel and is there to comfort us along with the holy ghost. I love heavenly father and jesus christ so much and I love being here and learning how to teach the people of Peru that he loves them too. I miss you all soo so much but I love you all even more! I´m safe and enjoying my chicken and rice :) my P-day is wednesday by the way! God speed family and friends!

Oh and I love SUNDAYS! theyre so relaxed and great and we watch lots of videos and devotionals cause our teachers arent there.. but who knew id love sundays!! and the CCM here is beautiful! ill send pictures and the soccer field is turf and thats all we do! we love it cause it is such a nice soccer field!! Tell dad happy birthday for me too!! I love him and miss him and everyone write me please!! I LOVE YOU ALL AND YOUR PRAYERS!