The Best Week of My Mission So Far

The week flew by! Weeks are starting to become days and I can't believe we are in August. This was a good week.  You know that rule that I told you about last week that we couldn't go out of our area? Well last Monday on P-day we got it changed.....so now we can do things within our zone.  We are all happy about that!  Monday we had a BBQ again on our roof with Elder Bautista and Daza.....that was so much fun! Suzy, our pension, always lends us her little grill.  Grills hooked up to gas don't exist here......neither do gas lines.  We use charcoal and wood for her grill.  After dinner we played ultimate frisbee.

Sad news...Kory didn't get baptized on Saturday.  We went and visited her on Monday and she has just decided to give up.  We were so excited about her getting baptized and she was too.  We don't want to rush her.  She thinks that Joseph Smith was a good man and she likes the BOM.  But she's always trying to make excuses. She was telling us that the first 2 most important commandments are to love God and your neighbor and that the other ones aren't important. We told her that if we love Jesus Christ we keep all of his commandments. She feels pressured by the commandments.  So we will keep working with her to try and help her.  She truly is a wonderful person who needs some guidance in her life.

Tuesday we had divisions with the ZL's.  I went with Elder Whittaker.  It was great to speak English and work with a gringo that has experience.  He goes home tomorrow...HAHA! Our mission is slowly losing the superstar Elders.

Wednesday we taught Wilder and Yohana.  While we were teaching them about baptism, the Holy Ghost and repentance they got so excited! They were telling us how they want to start a new life and raise a family in a home with the gospel.  The really do want to change their lives. They accepted a date to get baptized.  I realized how much I love to teach these people and see the happiness that the truth can bring.

Thursday we helped Sussy and her husband paint their garage door....no they don't have a car.  Then we watched some of the locals set up for a huge party in front of our house.  They create random holidays so they have an excuse to listen to horrible music, dance and drink.  So I decided to get on the top of our apartment and preach like Samuel the Lamanite....LOL! Being a missionary doesn't get old. We didn't get to sleep until around 2 because of the noise.  

Friday we had a decent day.  Spent a lot of time planning.

Saturday we ended up teaching 6 lessons. The last lesson was with the Villanera Family. We taught them about the word of wisdom.  We also talked about baptism.  They want to get baptized but they need to get married! So they are working on that.  The dad is reading everything from Gospel Principles.  He loves it all and they love church.  As we kneeled down to pray, I felt the spirit strongly.  I know that they will get baptized and be an eternal family.  What a blessing it has been to teach them.

Reflection of the week:  As I was signing the Villanera's BOM's, I realized how much of an instrument I have been for our Heavenly Father. I'm bringing families unto Christ and also seeing such a change in myself as I learn to love these people. I may have not seen a baptism yet in this area but I know I've planted hundreds of seeds.  I hope to see the Villlanera family again one day.....they are the greatest!  This probably has been the best week of my mission.  I love you all! #doitforjesus

Samuel the Lamanite....I mean Elder Moss 

Elder Moss visiting Lorenzo - one of his favorite recent converts

Elder Moss with the Villanera Family

Elder Moss Hump Day ...... Burning of the shirt

Party in front of the Elder's apartment

The Hard Work is Beginning to Payoff

Hola family.....Happy 24th!  The work is going great here in Mantaro.  This last week was really great. On P-Day we all packed lunches and went hiking in this hidden forest.  It was a lot of fun. That night we went and visited Kory. She is a lady we found through our area book...the previous Elders had given up on her for various reasons and so I felt like we should go back and re-contact her. And now...she has baptismal date set for this Saturday! We were thinking that she was not real committed to us teaching her.  She hadn't been able to meet with us for 2 weeks. But Gustavo, a member, came with us to teach her.  She was telling us how she was feeling about getting baptized and the BOM. You could see how happy she was and excited.  She said that she really feels like she needs to get baptized. Gustavo was helping her realize that is the spirit confirming to her that the feelings she's having are from the spirit and they testify of Christ. It was sweet! The spirit was SO strong! Testifying that this is the spirit and is telling us this is her time was something really special to witness. Her demeanor has changed completely whereas before she was sad but now she feels happy, has a little bit of a testimony that is starting to grow and the support from Gustavo has been great. So after a long four months in Mantaro and a ton of work, prayer and fasting, I will finally see a baptism in our area (fingers crossed)! Hallelujah! But that was a great feeling to see the fruits of our efforts are coming suddenly out of nowhere. 

So on Tuesday we had a lot of appointments and one of them was with this guy Martin...who wants to be an atheist. So we showed him Alma 32 and read that with him and emphasized that it says in there to "try God" with faith. It was interesting trying to get guy who says he's an atheist to just use a little bit of faith. It's funny because by doing that, Martin will actually have to use quite a bit of faith!

So Weds was just okay. We played sports at the ward with the members, so that was pretty cool except they showed up an hour late :-)

Thursday I had to go to District Council meeting with all of the other DLs and ZLs. I got to see my friends Elder Campbell and my former companion from Huancavelica, Elder Jimenez! It was great to see them. We ate Popeye's chicken so that was a nice break from Peruvian food. Then we had the council meeting and it was like a panel interview where we could ask questions to the APs, President and Sister Silva. It was a good meeting. President spoke and as expected, he's made some changes to the mission rules. The big change was that going out of our Area...so not the Zone (big) but the Area (small). This change will be hard to get used to. He also has issues with us calling each other by just our last name (leaving out Elder)...this one is familiar to me because I remember my Dad's mission president in Hawaii would get after the missionaries for calling them "guys" or "dudes" or whatever they said back then. Slang and loose talk is the issue here. Also, President Silva said we are no longer restricted from eating with members. Before, we were only allowed to eat with our pension. President said that this added time with members might result in good work being accomplished. So all of this is going to take some getting used to but you have to just accept it and move forward! I know that President Silva is the Lord's servant called to lead us at this time and in this place. 

On Friday we found another family to teach. They are dirt biking fanatics and their kid is like a world champ at it or something. So they accepted us into their home because they say they've been looking for a church to go to as a family! So that was great!

Saturday the parties began here in Peru. It is like 4th of July here this coming week but its not just one day, but the whole week. 

Reflection of the Week:  Talking to lots of people this week has brought us success. Something I refused to accept when I got here was that the area was "dead" or not known for being productive. Every area I've been in has had a similar challenge and so I've said from Day 1 as a goal that I wanted to improve the area in some way or another. A total of 11 new investigators this week! Contacting works! The Villanera family still comes and they were a family we contacted. They want to get baptized. They were a knocked door. I love it out here! Time is flying! Love you all! #doitforjesus

District Council - July 2016

Elder Moss & Elder Gonzales - July 2016

Elder Moss & Elder Jimenez - July 2016

Peruvian Sunset in Huancayo - July 2016

Another one...

The Book of Mormon is Key

What's up guys? How's home and everyone doing? Everything is great here.  We had a slow week of work but the week itself went by fast.  We did have 6 investigators come to church.  The Villanera family is so solid and they come to everything now! Their kid, Christian, is going to seminary also...so that's really cool.  They are really excited about the church.  The one big hang up is that they need to get married.  They want to get married.  I hope one day I get to see or hear that they got baptized. Teaching the Villanera family was definitely the highlight of the week.

I've decided that P-day isn't always the best day....especially if you don't have anything planned to do. On Tuesdays we had interviews with President Silva and also district meeting.  We went to the office and spent 3 hours there.  The ZL's had English exams and practices with the Elders. After that I had my interview with President Silva.  Unfortunately it only lasted about 3 minutes because we had no lights.  First thing he asked me was, "You're a ZL right?"  Ha ha, I told him "no". President is cool and I like him a lot.  I guess he used the spirit of discernment to get to know me in that 120 seconds of my interview! I'm sure I'll have a chance to talk to him more in the future. He's had a crazy schedule. Wednesday we visited David.  He had read the Plan of Salvation and had done a huge study on it with his Bible.  He tried to tell us that we didn't exist before.  But we showed him Ephesians 1:4-5 and then he finally understood that we are all predestined and we have a purpose and that we did live with God.  He also had a lot of questions about the Fall.....we will go back later this week and answer them.  We also played volleyball with the ward on Wednesday and everyone still can't believe how tall I am....LOL! Thursday we had failed appts but we made up for it and found 2 new investigators.  We also saw recent converts, Wilder and Johana. One of the new investigators is a reference from a member who helped us.  His name is Martin and he's 17 years old.  He listened and understood everything.  His only question was, "So who's the living Prophet now?".  He also came to church.  Friday we taught the Diaz family 1 Nephi 13 and it was intense.  They understand that the Bible is not perfect. They also are great and use the references to look up a ton of scriptures so they understand. We saw Izumi who told us he believes now that God is just and idea created by man. He had watched some documentary about God and his existence in mankind.....it was on the Discovery channel.  So now he thinks God is fake.  I honestly think he's trying to justify to himself so he can drink and do what he wants.  We will try to help him understand but we might have to drop him. Saturday Elder Gonzales was sick so I did a lot of reading and studying.  We had a lot of failed appts on Sunday so we did some contacting.  In Peru, Saturday and Sunday, no one is home. They either go to family, go to some festival or drink. So kind of a tough week but we're hanging in there! Some of my most spiritual experiences here have been because of the power and influence of the Book of Mormon...it is the key and it doesn't matter WHEN people decide to get baptized but HOW they are truly converted to the gospel through the Book of Mormon. Good chance I will leave this upcoming change...we will see.

Reflection of the week: I like to share 1 Nephi 19:8-9 with people that don't take an importance of the sacrament, of the Saviors teachings, the atonement.  So many people don't apply these amazing things in their lives.....they ignore what our Savior has done for us. That's like the people who scoffed, disregarded or mocked him when he was on the earth.  What our Savior has done for us is VALUABLE.  If we don't use it and follow him then we are the ones that are disrespecting him.  If we truly have faith in Christ then we truly will follow him.  He knows we aren't prefect, he knows we fail. But he loves us.......what counts is our intentions.  I love you all! #doitforjesus

Love,

Elder Moss

Elder Moss - July 2016

Huancayo Zone - July 2016

Elder Moss & Elder Gonzales (far left)

The Spirit is our Guide

Hey Family.....How are you all doing? Things are good here! Just an average week. Not much but we have been working hard and finding new people to teach.  Monday was sweet...we had a a BBQ and all the Elders (gringos) played basketball for 2 hours....that was a lot of fun!  President Silva and his family came and ate with us.  So that was fun to interact with him.  We also visited the Jara family who are slowly coming back to church. They've been one of the hardest families to rescue. But they truly are sweet!  Tuesday we got a reference from a member.  His name is David and he has a sickness that has kept him in his room for almost a year.  For a year he has gone to medics and they can't find the problem.  Apparently he has a lot of pain. People think that he's loco (crazy).  I see him as a normal guy that thinks too hard or there's something messing with him, like a demon.....HAHA! He is 33 and a civil engineer. Also he's an Adventist.  They believe in Saturday being the Sabbath. We introduced him and his girlfriend to the BOM and they said they would read it.  We also talked to his parents and they are willing to find out more about the Restoration of the Church.  So it ended up being a good reference. We visited John and Mariella. They are doing good and Mariella is still reading. Her baptismal date is August 30th. The Villanera family came to sport night on Wedensday. Thursday we had a lot of failed appts.  But we did see Urbano.  He's 58 years old and is less active. Walking is challenging to him.  We have tried helping him out by giving him some exercises so he can strengthen his legs.  We are working on his faith.  Friday we had planning meeting. We saw the Diaz family and they are so cool.  They have some of the best questions. We taught them about the Great Apostasy.  Then the Jara family has 2 friends that we taught.  One was from HVCA that recognized me. The other one lives in our area. Saturday we taught the Villanera family.  Heli, the dad, read all the Principles of the Gospel book. The mom is also really interested. I think back and I'm so grateful that we knocked on their door.....we were definitely lead by the spirit.

We have been having some real quality lessons lately and the result of that we had 10 investigators who came to church this last Sunday.....Diaz, Villanera, Izumi & his daughters. That has been such a blessing and testimony builder for me.  We also had a video conference on Sunday with the area 70. He was giving us some instructions on the plan of the area.  There's not a lot of seminary attendance and keeping the sabbath day. I spoke in church and talked about the importance of being an example.

Reflection of the week:  As I was watching the video conference from the area 70 I started to realize things I need to be better at.  Not obedience wise, but small things.  I feel like sometimes we are to prideful to change. We need to listen to the spirit and ask God what is missing in our lives.  Pride can block the spirit from whispering to us.  The spirit can indicate to us in a lot of ways.  But I realized he is our guide and he gives us advice.  But we need to be willing to listen. I invite you all to listen to the spirit and try to be a teachable and humble enough person to change what your need to change. Thank you for all of your love and support. #doitforjesus

Love

Elder Moss

We Had 11 Investigators Come To Church!

Happy 4th of July family! Today all 4 zones in Huancayo are going to have a BBQ and some members are going to do some fireworks....so that will be sweet!  This last week was amazing! We found 3 new investigators through contacting.  We didn't have P-day on Monday because of the hike with President Henderson last Friday.  Tuesday we had district meeting and then we were able to visit John and Mariella and she accepted a baptismal date! We taught her all the reasons we should choose to get baptized and the blessings from it.....she accepted it all!  One of my favorite scriptures that puts all the Catholics in shock is Mark 10: 38-39 "But Jesus said unto them, Ye know now what to ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? And they say unto him, We can. And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized".

We also taught Wilder and his wife and they are excited to read the BOM and find the right church. Wednesday was good we taught Eduardo Parruga, an investigator that's married to a less active.  He is reading the BOM and is understanding.....which is great! Then we also taught the Java's, a less-active family that has had some problems with some members. Apparently the members have accused their daughter and their son (whose a return missionary) of some things and they were offended.  So we shared a lesson about forgiveness. The mom started to cry and you could feel the spirit.  Thursday we taught this old dude, Dante, who has no teeth. He likes to relate everything to Saints and Idols.  We're thinking about teaching him the first 2 commandments.  The funny thing is all the Catholics believe in the Bible but they completely skip the first 2 commandments.  We saw our buddy, Urbano, who calls us liars and hypocrites because we don't visit him enough.  He's a good guy and walking is challenging for him.  We are helping him to practice walking and to use his faith...HAHA! Friday we met President Silva and all his kids! I think he's going to be great! That night we went and purchased the food for the BBQ. We also visited, Kory, who has a baptismal date.

On Sunday we fasted that people would start applying what we teach them into their lives and it worked.  At the beginning of sacrament we had 5 investigators show up....Mariella, Kory, Izumi and his 2 daughters. Then after they opened the doors the Villanera and Diaz family showed up! That's 11 investigators at church! That has to be a miracle because getting people to church, even the members, is honestly so challenging.  They all came and stayed and enjoyed it....it was awesome! FASTING works! 

Reflection of the week:  This week I realized you can work hard and have great numbers but what counts is how those investigators apply what we teach them and how they progress.  Also the BOM is the KEY to EVERYTHING! People become hooked and it's so cool to see! Implementing the BOM of guarantees progression and most of all explaining about the importance of the BOM with the spirit. I love this book and the miracles I have seen! I truly love it out here. Love you all! #doitforjesus

Love,

Elder Moss

Goodbye to President & Sister Henderson
Welcome President & Sister Silva

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