A New Place To Live!

Family how are you all? Things are still great here in Mantaro! We had a pretty good week with a good amount of lessons and 5 new people....I'm so excited about that! Also we got a new room and it's so nice! We ditched our old room and told our Landlord goodbye because he didn't do anything that he said he was going to do.  And we were paying him 450 Soles....so we found a new room.  It's on the 4th floor with a cool view of the city from the balcony.  We have a solar shower and a kitchen. We searched long and hard for this place. We moved in last Saturday.

Last Monday for P-day we just played sports at the church and then that night we found 3 new investigators to teach! Wilder and Johana are a younger couple who own like a mini Home Depot. They are looking for a church where they can feel happiness.  We taught them the Restoration and they were very excited and we are going to visit them tomorrow.  We also have been passing by there place this past week to talk to them.  They have been asking questions on how to raise a family so we are going to bring the Proclamation on the Family to them.  They're are really sweet.  Then we found Nicol, a young mom, who wants to get baptized.  We have set a date for her on July 30th.  We're excited about this. Tuesday we visited Dante.  He's an older guy who wants to know more about the church as also why there are so many different churches?  In Peru you can just throw up a sign on your house, put some chairs up and yell into a microphone and "preach" and perform "miracles" and people will come.  I'm thinking we should try that approach....HAHA!  We also taught the Zenteno family and watched the Joseph Smith movie. They are progressing and it's so exciting! Wednesday was a good day.....we had 4 lessons.We taught Percy. He's 18 and is the grandson of Jorge. He's awesome and has opened up to us a lot.    Thursday we taught Diego and he's doing good.  We finally got in his house LOL! Thursday we received a call from the ZL's telling us we can go to Huaytapallana Friday with President Henderson before he leaves in 2 days. So we went and I was able to see Spencer Campbell.  He's one of my buddies from Brighton.  We were able to talk the whole time. He's in Pampas and got here in February.  So the 4 zones of Huancayo went on the hike. Since we went on the hike we don't have P-day today.  I'm also good on hiking to Huaytapallana....it's always the same! Saturday we moved into our new place.  We decided to celebrate and did a BBQ on our roof with the other Elders....that was fun! Sunday we found John and Mariella FINALLY and did some recent convert visits.  Also the Diaz family is doing great and is getting married July 30th. Villanera family was all excited to come to church and then didn't show up.  So we will have to see what happens with them.

Reflection of the week:  This week I realized after seeing how sad the church is in Peru. I realized how much responsibility the Lord gives us to carry out the salvations of others.  It's sad to see the church in my mission struggle to get someone to say a prayer or do a talk. The Bishop has spoken like 5 times since I have been here.  We need to take our responsibility in the church serious and help others who are weak come unto Christ.  We are so truly blessed. In Jacob 1:19 it explains all of this...."And we did magnify our office unto the Lord, taking responsibility, answering the sins of the people upon our own heads if we did not teach them the word of God with all diligence; wherefore by laboring with our might their blood might not come upon our garments; otherwise their blood would come upon our garments, and we would not be found spotless at the last day."  I love you all! #doitforjesus

Love, 

Elder Moss

Final Hike With President & Sister Henderson - (Elder Moss is right of center)

Better than in "Merica"

Kitchen

Jake's Desk (left)

Rooftop View!

Bedroom

BBQ on the New Patio - Elders Daza, Bruno, Bolanos & Bautista

I'm a Lightning Rod!

Hey Dad ....Happy Fathers Day! Thank you for all that you have done for me.  I love you lots and I'm so grateful for the example you have set for me as a father.  I know that I will use it to teach my kids and to raise my family one day.

Things are good here in Mantaro.  Except that we haven't had water in like 4 days.  Our landlord has yet to fix the water problem and still hasn't finished our room.  We're going to talk to him today to see what's up! We are paying him good money for things that aren't working so well.  We have found another room for the same price. It's a lot nicer, it's on the 4th floor and it has a huge patio that we can go out on that over looks the city. So hopefully we can make that move. The only problem is the lady renting the new place doesn't have a bank account and that's required so she can be paid for our room. That's how it is here...some people don't have basic things like a bank account.

This last week consisted of a lot of failed appointments and looking for a new place.  We were able to contact some people.  We are really looking forward to next week because we have some good people to visit.  Pray that they are there when we show up.  Monday for P-day we played capture the flag in a really cool forest. Huancayo has random forests that are really pretty! Every appointment that we had set for Monday failed us.:( The Zenteno family was out of town. But we were able to catch the dad, Samuel, on Saturday and visit with him. He is awesome.  He was telling us how he is looking to strengthen his family and to be able to raise his children in a good home. So that was perfect.....we gave him the proclamation on the Family! Tuesday was district meeting.  Then we did divisions with Elder Carrasco who's from Chile.  He's one of my favorite kids! He is so funny.....we had a good time teaching.  He really knows the lessons well and how to ask good questions.  I enjoyed doing splits with him a lot. Divisions sometimes kill the week so we weren't able to visit a lot of people.  But Wednesday we visited the Diaz Family.  The office Elders are suppose to be visiting them but haven't had the time for 3 weeks.  So we decided to pick this family up. The Zone Leaders told us it was ok. They have a date to get married July 30th.  We had to help them understand that Jehovah is Jesus Christ.  That is a common problem here and it isn't made any easier by the Jehovah's Witnesses.  One of the highlights of the week was visiting an old man named Urbano.  He is a less-active and we try to visit him weekly.  When Urbano offered the prayer he said, "Lord you know I can't go to church because the Taxi's charge me 4 soles and they rip me off."  My favorite excuse so far....I was trying not to laugh!

So President Henderson spoke in Stake Conf. this past Sunday and he had all of the missionaries stand up and he had me raise my hand and and he said that I'm so tall that my companions love me because I am like a lightning rod! It was really funny! Actually, I am the second tallest Elder in the mission, but the tallest Elder goes home in a month. I will miss President Henderson when he's gone. President Silva will be here on the 29th so that will be great. 

I have been reading in Ether and there is a part where it says that Moroni couldn't write more because the Lord didn't want him to.  I now understand why.......the Lord want's to test us and doesn't want us to have a perfect knowledge or we would not be testing our faith. Then connect that back to Alma 32 which talks about faith.  The teachings in the BOM are unreal.  I love it so much! 

Reflection of the week:  I was thinking back to the lessons when we teach Jose.  I've realized the more and more you ask questions the more likely the spirit will be present.  Having the person share what they are feeling is how you touch their heart with the spirit and get them to recognize that they are feeling the spirit.  Jose is more committed to push himself.  I know that through the spirit we can change.  I love feeling the Spirit!  I love and miss you all.  #doitforjesus

Love,

Elder Moss

Bird egg...we think. That or it just hailed easter eggs.

Elder Carrasco

Huancayo Sunset

Jose's Dog

Teaching Some Great Families!

Hey Family! How are you all? I feel really good about this week..... we had 18 lessons! Mantaro is improving a lot! We are finding investigators and less actives to teach and it's growing. I feel like finally we have gotten to a point where we don't have enough time to fit everything in and that's such an amazing feeling.  

Monday for P-day we took a train and went to Izcuchaca it was so sweet! It really made me miss Huancavelica! Nothing in the mission so far compares to HVCA.  Afterwards we played basketball and volleyball when we returned.  I'm still pretty good at basketball...ha ha! On Monday we also visited the Senteno Family.  Their intentions to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet are real! They're determined to know if the BOM is true and if the church is true. Tonight we are going to show them the Restoration so that will be cool.  For District meeting on Tuesday I gave a lesson on Diligence. We visited the Villanera family that I found 2 months ago.  We were able to teach the mom. They have 3 kids....Christian, Steven and their baby. Christian and Steven love us!  We taught the family lesson 1 and they still seem very interested. Wednesday we had five lessons.  We visited an old investigator named Manuel. I really like him.  He's 23 and has a kid and is excited to start coming back to church.  We also have been visiting Jorge. He's 78 and less-active and is one of my favorite people.  He's always telling us some really crazy stories.....so entertaining. Thursday we met some pretty hardcore in-actives....Miguel and Carmen. They went in-active because a member sold them a bad copy machine that broke. They tried suing them. I was trying not to laugh! They kept telling us how their lives have gotten better since they stopped going to church.  They said money and work are better.  It was sad because I felt that Carmen was very prideful. They kept telling us how they were mad that the ward wasn't helping out kids who needed help and I asked her, "Well then why haven't you done anything to help?" Then she rambled how she doesn't like this member and his family.  So sad that people let worldly things get in front of their own salvation.  Like it says in Matthew 6:33. "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." On a good note, Saturday we went to visit Diego and he finally is going to come to church.  We taught him a lesson and the spirit was so strong.  We also visited the Villanera family again and they are still so interested in making sure their family is happy and they love what the church teaches.  The parents and kids are excited to come to church. They are planning on coming next week. Earlier this week we had a large multi-zone conference with President Henderson. This was his big send off. He will be leaving in a couple of weeks and I don't think I will see him again. I will miss him! President Silva will begin on July 1st. He's from Peru and it will be great to get to know him. 

Reflection of the week:  I decided to really concentrate and listen to the spirit more this last week.  I made sure to ask questions that invited the spirit to be there.  I really tried to listen more carefully to what needed to be taught.  I really think by doing this it made the week and finding people a lot easier.  We decided for some reason to knock on a door and found a less-active who wants her husband to join the church.  So we were able to teach them.  I don't know why we knocked on it, but we did.  The spirit is the KEY to this work! I love you all!  #doitforjesus

Love,

Elder Moss 

Elder Moss, John Cruff and Elder Gonzales

Learning Diligence

Happy 17th Birthday Nick.....miss and love you!  Time is flying here in Mantaro. The work is getting better little by little.  Monday we tried to play capture the flag in a huge forest. We made weapons out of cardboard and it was fun for about 20 minutes.  Then security came over and told us that we had to leave.  Later we had FHE with the Bishop.  You could really feel the spirit in the lesson.  I enjoyed it so much especially since I didn't have to teach. Tuesday I gave a training on diligence and I shared a scripture 1 Nephi 10:19 "For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round." I have a great testimony of diligence after some tough weeks of working hard and little hope.  My mission has taught me that through diligence things can happen.  I can see that Mantaro is slowly showing hope. Elder Gonzales headed to Lima to take care of his visa.  I hung with Elder Daza and Elder Bautista for 3 days.  We went to a hospital...that was so sad.  I felt so bad for the people.  Peru is a tough place. I bought a trompo....coolest thing! It's like a yo-yo but it leaves your hand and spins on the ground and you can throw it and make it fly.  Sergio, my pensions son, it teaching me the tricks.  Thursday Gonzales returned and we got to work. We contacted a guy named, Jesus. He's a mechanic and he was outside taking a smoke break.  I felt like I should approach him.  We did and he was surprised. I told him that Jesus Christ loves him and that he's important to him and his face lit up.  We're going to go back on Monday. I hope he wants to learn the lessons.  Sunday they had elections again so that meant no church and no one was home.  We did splits. Elder Daza and I taught the Anyaipoma Family.  They're a less-active family who have experienced many trials and are ready to come back.  They are awesome and we talk to them in English because they've lived in the states.

I have noticed that small things do count.  I want to leave an area knowing I did my best. And hopefully the Elders that are still there can progress on what I want I have done.  I heard that La Oroya has a lot of success now....it's unreal....they're booming over there apparently. I'm glad to have been apart of that.  President sent me an email telling me how proud he was of me and how good of a missionary I am.  I'm going to miss him lots when he leaves at the end of the month. 

Reflection of the week:  I was thinking a lot about the Plan of Salvation. We taught the Anyaipoma family about this wonderful plan that our Heavenly Father has for us.  The spirit was really strong and it helped them understand what we were teaching.  After explaining to Carol, who's 29,  she asked, "If we are already baptized and we repent then what?" The question is easy but so logical and so powerful. Then what? As we know, through the sacrament, the Lord has given us ways to change and feel better. I testified and the spirit was there and they are excited to come to church this Sunday.  The mission is amazing! It's almost been a year and I want more time! I love you all! #doitforjesus

Love,

Elder Moss

Trombo - Spinning Top