Training in Huancayo Was a Success!

Hey family! It's hard to believe that Christmas is this coming Sunday. I'm excited to Skype with everyone! When you're a missionary you kind of forget about Christmas (and other holidays) especially when the weather in Huanuco is in the 70s. 

We had a really great week with some miracles!  Monday we traveled to Huancayo in a car for 6 hours! That was really long and hard! We passed through La Oroya......it brought back some great memories while serving there. It is a long and winding road to get to Huancayo. We passed by the road that goes up to Cerro de Pasco. Elder Burt and I stayed in the mission home that night and the next day we had training with President Silva and the other ZLs.  The training was awesome! He talked a lot about the importance of opening up our mouths and talking to everyone.  He assured us that when we are brave and bold that something good will come of it.  He told us that the whole purpose he's here as our mission President is to help us to know who God is and that he's our Heavenly Father. The Spirit in the training was really strong. 

I had a great interview with President at the training. It was a really spiritual experience for me and him to talk one on one about the progress in the mission. I thanked him for sending me to Cerro de Pasco and told him that was the hardest experience I've had and that I really learned from it. We both had tears in our eyes and he gave me a big hug and really felt the love I have for President Silva. President has challenged all of the missionaries to make 20 contacts per day. Last week Elder Burt and I contacted 141 and by making and exceeding that goal I feel like I have grown closer to my Heavenly Father. We have seven new investigators and two of them are progressing fast. Their names are Antoni and Enrique. We contacted Enrique in the street last week and he told us to come back. So we returned and got to know him a bit more and his cousin Antoni as well. They are 20 and 21 years old. We taught them about Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon and how to pray. We invited Antoni to pray and he gave one of the most sincere prayers I have heard. You could truly feel the Spirit as he prayed with all of his heart. Since Thursday we have seen Antoni three times and he has advanced with his reading in the Book of Mormon. Talking to everyone has really shown us that the Lord has prepared people for us to teach. I have really felt my work ethic growing here as we set and strive to hit goals and I've truly enjoyed it! Jefferson is set to be baptized on Saturday. Not sure on Dari or Juan...they've been hard to find lately so not sure what will happen with them. But we have a ton of work to do here and the zone overall is doing great!

Reflection of the week: I love the scripture in D&C 82:10 "I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." Elder Gonzales would always quote this scripture. I know if we follow President's goal of 20 contacts per day that we will have baptisms. I have seen the Lord's blessings as we've been diligent in working. #doitforjesus

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas! I will see you on Skype on Sunday!

Love, 

Elder Moss

Mission Training - Huancayo - December 2016

Elder Moss & Fellow Missionaries - Huancayo - December 2016

Elder Ramirez & Elder Moss - Huancayo - December 2016

Short Hair!

Elder Moss & Elder Ramirez - Huancayo - December 2016

Peru, Huancayo Missionaries - December 2016

It's warm in Huanuco

What's up family? It's Monday morning and Elder Burt and I are finishing packing to head to Huancayo for ZL meetings with President Silva. It's a seven hour drive by taxi to get there. They were talking about having us fly there but not sure what's going to happen. 

I got to Huanuco last Monday and the weather reminds me of California. It's never cold and when it rains it feels amazing! It's a bit humid but nothing too bad. I love being with Elder Burt. He's the best companion ever! We came out in the same MTC group together. We had a solid week....which was really great! President has challenged us to do 20 contacts a day. So Elder Burt and I have taken that serious and we've had a lot of success with it. We ended up with 102 contacts this week and 15 new investigators. When we get back to our rooms at night we are exhausted. It's amazing to have so many people to teach. We have 3 investigators with baptismal dates....Jefferson, Dari and Juan. Jefferson is a 10 year old kid who's brother, Jordy, got baptized a while back. He has a lot of support from his family. Dari, who is 17 years old, is planning on getting baptized also. She was at church this last Sunday and has been progressing well. Juan, was a reference from a member. We were teaching him about the atonement and what our Savior wants from us.  We were taking turns reading in Alma 7. He was reading and he paused and said, "Elders I need to get baptized." We were like, great! We also got a reference from the Sisters in the area to go give a blessing to a lady named Theresa. Theresa's husband has prostate cancer and we taught both of them about the priesthood and the power to heal. We read to them from James in the Bible about blessing the sick. The Spirit was there really strong and we gave her husband a blessing. Everyone felt the Spirit and I hope that we will be able to keep teaching them. 

Our pension is awesome and she cooks healthy, American food for us. It's amazing to see how different the people are here in Huanuco verses Cerro de Pasco.  The ward here is great! People are just happy here.  

Reflection of the week:  I have been thinking a lot this last week on how many blessings we receive when we endure through struggles and challenges. It takes a lot on our part to obtain those blessings. The Lord wants to see our faith and with that bigger blessings will come. I always think of 3 Nephi 29:9, "And when they shall have received this, which is expedient that they should have first, to try their faith, and if it shall so be that they shall believe these things then shall the greater things be made manifest unto them." I love this scripture....it is true. I love you all and hope you have a great week. #doitforjesus

Love,

Elder Moss

Elder Moss saying goodbye to Elder Morales and Cerro de Pasco

Miracles....Rocio's Baptism!

Hola Family! I guess the good weather in Cerro de Pasco couldn't last. We had crappy weather all week and it down poured on Saturday. We had such an awesome week...miracles are real! Tuesday before Elder Morales and I were getting ready to head to zone conference a miracle happened.  Rocio called us out of no where and said, "I'm getting baptized this Saturday. My parents are alright with it."  Holy cow we were so happy! Later that day we visited with her. She was so happy and excited.  We talked about a couple things and set up an interview for her...she passed.  It was so amazing to see that the Lord will make things happen if we just put our faith in him!  

Saturday we had to help move the ZL's to a new room using tricycle bikes with huge baskets in the front.  That was funny! I also had the chance to drink frog...haha! Elder Oyarzun bought it and it tastes like menthol. Supposedly it helps your cough. After the move we had to go set up for Rocio's baptism.  Rocio's parents and siblings came and the members were really good to them. It's was such an amazing experience to baptize her and to see how happy she was!  You could feel the spirit so strong at her baptism.  It's such an incredible feeling to know that I am an instrument in the Lord's hands for these people.  The Savior is the reason why these people choose to be baptized. 

The other news is I'm not going to be living in the cold anymore.  Saturday morning I received a call from President Silva....I'm going to Huanaco to be a Zone Leader, in the Huallaga zone with Elder Burt from my MTC group.  Elder Burt is from Washington and has been out about as long as I have.  I'm really excited!  I'll be leaving Monday morning.  Elder Morales is staying and will be training.  That will be great for him.

Reflection of the week:  I've learned so much about myself and the work here in Yanacancha.  I've learned how to truly appreciate this place (Peru) and really love the people.  I've been humbled by my experiences and I'm so grateful for that.  This place has taught me a lot and most of all how to love President Silva. He does receive revelation for this mission.  At times I was truly challenged personally in Cerro de Pasco but I never gave up and pressed forward. The blessings came. I will always love Pasco! I love you all! #doitforjesus.

Love,

Elder Moss

Rocio's baptism - Elder Moss and Elder Morales

Pizza Hut never tasted so good!  Elder Moss & Elder Morales with pension family

Pray For Rocio

What's up Family? I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful.  I forgot it was Thanksgiving on Thursday until my pension mentioned it to me around 8 PM. Things are great here in Pasco! Because there hasn't been much rain in the last couple weeks the cost of potatoes has gone up and people are starting to freak out about it.We had a decent week. We've been contacting a lot and this upcoming week will be even better because we have some new investigators to teach.  

We've been teaching a lady named Julie, who's 24 years old. She's really cool and is studying to become a lawyer. Julie was baptized about 3 years ago but has become in-active. She is starting to come back to church.  So we have taken the opportunity to teach her some lessons.  She also has been reading the BOM quite a bit.  We've had some really good discussions about the importance of the gospel.  I can see the spirit is working on her and she's starting to change.  She's a big rock fan and her clothes can be quite interesting. She also has a nose piercing.  So on Wednesday when we were visiting with her she wanted to talk about her nose piercing. We explained to her that the prophets have told us that our bodies our sacred and that we should avoid those kinds of things. She told us that she had truly felt the spirit these last couple of days and she just knew that she had to talk to us about it.  After we had that discussion she took out her nose piercing.  That was so cool to see.....the spirit is working on her. Just in the short amount of time that we've been teaching her she has changed a lot.  She wants to come to church, she loves reading the BOM and she's listening to the Spirit. When we left I had the greatest feeling inside knowing that we're helping a daughter of God.  I'm witnessing how the gospel changes lives little by little just as it says in Alma 37:6-7 "Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise. And the Lord God doth work by means to bring purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls." 

We did get to visit Rocio this last week.  It was a little bit of a let down.  She really wants to get baptized but her parents aren't in agreement.Rocio doesn't need permission because she's 19 but she's very worried about her parents and family and what they think. We shared everything and have really tried to encourage her to be brave with getting baptized. We explained that the Lord wants her to do this now and that she is ready.  She still has a date set for December 3rd....so I guess we'll see what happens.  Please everyone pray for her. She truly wants to get baptized.....she was crying when she was talking to us.  Please pray that she'll be courageous.

Reflection of the week:  This week I was able to read more of the BOM and wow my testimony grows and deepens every week because of this book.  As I read it and see others read it, my relationship with my Savior and my desire to change increases daily. This book does wonders and I love reading it.  I'm now on my 2nd time reading it in Spanish and I continue to discover so many great things.  One of the things my mission has blessed me with is a strong testimony of the BOM and I'm so grateful for that! I love you all! #doitforjesus

Love,

Elder Moss

Elder Moss - Cerro de Pasco 

Cerro de Pasco

Ana Got Baptized!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! I'm so grateful for everyone's love and support while I've been on my mission.  Family is truly the best! We had another great week without rain....thank goodness! Everyone here is so surprised with the weather because usually it's raining and snowing this time of year. I like it because with the snow Cerro de Pasco just looks really sad. 

Anyways, this week was great! I got to baptize Ana on Wednesday.  We arrived a little early to the church so we could set up for her baptism and fill the font. Luckily they do have a heater for the font, but the water still looks green. We had a wonderful turn out and support from the members.  We had members give talks and then after Ana was baptized she shared her testimony with everyone. You could really see that the gospel has truly changed her.  She said she felt like a new person.  She was so happy!  We went and visited her on Friday and was so excited to be confirmed on Sunday.  She is planning to visit the temple in Lima on December 10th and take some family names with her so that the work can be done for her ancestors.  Ana's heart is truly converted....she already wants a calling in the ward. She's one of the most committed converts I've seen here in my mission.  She loves to read the BOM and the account of Joseph Smith. These truths are what really changed her heart. I know that Ana was prepared by the Lord. I can see that the Spirit worked through us to prepare her and have her ready to enter the waters of baptism.  I'm excited to stay in touch with her and see the joy and happiness that the gospel of Jesus Christ will bring to her life. The next thing we need to do is getting her daughter baptized that lives in Utah!

Reflection of the week:  Every week that goes by on my mission I have noticed that I find someway to have experiences that draw me closer to the spirit.  I feel as if every week my testimony grows in the BOM and my desire to tell people about the gospel.  As my testimony grows, I realize I need to share this happiness with others.  The BOM and prayer have been such a big part of this growth. My love for our Heavenly Father grows every week. I know that being here has made my testimony grow and I have learned to love the scriptures, obey, pray, repent and all of that. I feel as if every week my spiritual level changes. As I look back I see the lives I've touched with the help of God. But most of all I see how I have changed. I love the Savior and the ability we have to change and become new people in the gospel. That's the big thing the mission has taught me. I love you all! Enjoy the turkey and think of me as I will be enjoying chicken! #doitforjesus

Love,

Elder Moss

Elder Moss and Ana - Yanacancha Ward

Elder Moss, Ana & Elder Morales - Yanacancha Ward

Ana's Baptism

"Hasta la vista visa"

Hey family...how are you? We had a really great week and to top it off the weather was finally nice. It hasn't rained for several days and it's not feeling as cold. I've been able to just wear a sweater all week....which has been really nice. We found 6 new investigators this week and I feel really motivated to work hard and make the lessons the best I can. 

I love reading the book of Mosiah. I use it a lot when teaching investigators.  One of my favorite scriptures to share with the people is Mosiah 2:41 "And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it."

Monday we played basketball at the recreation center.  We had enough kids to play 5 on 5 so that was awesome.  Basketball has really helped have the opportunity to teach. We are teaching a kid named Axel that we met playing basketball. 

Tuesday we taught Axel about the Restoration and he loved it! He told us he's been looking for a true church because the Catholic church doesn't make any sense and neither do the rest of the churches. He accepted the BOM and said he's excited to read it. So please pray for him. 

Wednesday I had divisions with Elder Mathews. He interviewed Ana for her baptism and she passed! She's set to get baptized this Wednesday! We finally saw Rocio who had some really great news! Her parents are fine with her getting baptized. Her baptismal date is December 3rd. She's doing great and keeps coming to church and reading the BOM.

Thursday we had a zone conference and the assistants came.  I spent some time visiting with Elder Mendoza.  I was able to say goodbye to him because he's heading home December 5th. He truly was a great friend to me and he taught me so much. He had a huge impact on my mission! 

Sunday we only had about 60 members show up to church. One of the challenges is that church starts at 8:00 in the morning. We had to give talks last minute.  I talked about the BOM and the importance of it. We also had to bless the sacrament.  I feel like the Yanacancha ward is needing some help right now. We are trying our best to figure out what we can do. Sunday night we taught the Gomez family with a Elvis who's a member.  The mom is an inactive member.  I could tell that the lesson on the restoration really touched her. She really wants her family to be in the gospel.  We've actually had a lot of support from the ward with missionary work....we just need to get them to come to church.

Reflection of the week:  Missionaries have such a huge impact on the people they teach and come in contact with.  We have been teaching a less-active named Juliana.  She is 25 and is studying law. She's always thanking us for leaving our homes and families to come here to serve.  There are a lot of people like her that thank God for our service as Elders. It's so true the impact we can have on people's lives. I love seeing how the gospel has changed and transformed my investigators. It strengthens my testimony of missionary work. I am truly starting to see the fruits of my labor I love it out here even though it has been truly tough at times. But I know all of the hard experiences will payoff.  #doitforjesus.

Love,

Elder Moss

"Hasta la vista, visa" - Nailed it!

Cerro de Pasco - November 2016

Steady Progress With Our Investigators

I love the Book of Mormon! The more I read and study it, the more I realize how much our Heavenly Father loves us. I love being a missionary and sharing the scriptures with people and sharing the happiness that we all have. We were able to get inside of a house yesterday and we taught this family about the Plan of Salvation and how families can be together. As I was testifying to this family, the spirit confirmed to me of the truthfulness of this. I know that I will live with my family forever and that's so cool. 

So we always play basketball on P-days and also early in the mornings during the week. We've been inviting people to come play with us and now we're going to start teaching them about the gospel. Every Monday the Atencio family has us over at 8PM for family home evening. Such great members and are always so generous to the Elders. We also had a great lesson with Ana.  She moved her baptismal date up to November 16th. She told me that she wants me to baptize her....I'm so excited! I've personally been so blessed to teach her.  She told us that she really wants to be more humble, patient, and charitable. Perfect....so I turned to Moroni 7 and we started reading. I was teaching her that the key to changing ourselves is to really having that true desire and asking our Heavenly Father with all of our heart. I remembered that chapter in Moroni because I was going on splits in Huancayo with Elder Camacho and we were teaching some investigators and I remember it being so powerful. I asked Ana if we had helped her get an answer to her question and she said, "Without a doubt." Ana is going to be one of my best converts.  Church starts at 8:00am and she arrives at 7:45am every Sunday.

Rocio is doing good. She's in Cusco right now so we will go visit her later this week. Miguel is good! He's working with the Bishop right now so he can receive the Aaronic priesthood.  


This last week they had a VW Bug car race on the main street in our area.  That was really fun to watch. Saturday we had a day full of lessons and Sunday we found a new family to teach! It didn't rain at all this week.....which was really nice. Things are going well in Cerro de Pasco. Grandpa Moss will be happy to know that our street we live on is Micaela Bistadas 310...by the mine. I'm sending pictures of it.  It's the green building.

Reflection of the week:  Fear is something that can hold you back especially as a missionary. When you meet people for the first time, or you feel like you need to go up and talk to someone....I've learned you just have to open your mouth. You will either teach them or never see them again. This week Elder Morales and I had some good contacts and found 4 new investigators.  My mission has given me the confidence to not be afraid to talk to people. I'm so grateful for all the lessons I have learned on my mission. I love you all! :) #doitorjesus


Love,

Elder Moss 

VW Bug Race in Cerro de Pasco

Yanacancha Ward - Cerro de Pasco

This is where Jake lives in Cerro de Pasco