Finally.....Luis got Baptized!

Hola Family! Happy Easter!  How are you all?  This last week was alright but Saturday made it the best...which I'll tell about later. Monday we were in Tarma for P-day and hung out with all the Elders. We ate completos.....Chilean hot dogs.  After we played soccer on a rented turf field for 3 hours.  It's always fun to get together and see everyone! Then I went on splits with Elder Mendoza. We had 2 lessons and had a great time.  He's such a great teacher and I feel like I've become a better teacher because of him.  We stayed in Tarma until Tuesday and then headed back to La Oroya to help Elder Alvarado get packed. He's going home back to Honduras.  We feel so sad for him and we really tried to help and encourage him to stay but he was struggling. So guess who's Elder Campbell's companion?! Elder Ramirez! So on Tuesday we had to wait around for Elder Ramirez to show up so we weren't able to do much. Who ever thought that I'd be here in Peru with a good friend talking Spanish? It was so great to see him again.  The funny thing is when we did the rescue mission we ran into each other and I joked with him that he was going to be serving in Marcavalle and here he is! Wednesday Elder Ramirez and I did a division together and taught 5 good lessons..... it was non stop laughing all day! It's so great to be with a missionary who loves to work. The day goes by really quick when you are working hard. Thursday we also had a couple of good lessons.  Friday less lessons......but that doesn't stop us from working.  This week no one was home because it was Holy Week. They celebrate this instead of Easter.  But the one good lesson we had this week was with Rafael again.  He was telling us how he wanted to read more and find out more about the Resurrection and the BOM. I love this kid! He is 14 and is less-active and he's just in love with the BOM now. He bore his testimony at the end of the lesson and told us how he knows God hasn't left him and that in the last 2 weeks he has felt the spirit more.  He told us how the church is true...it was so cool to hear that! Rafael didn't want anything in the beginning and to see him grow so much is so amazing and such a blessing. Saturday was great.....Luis got baptized!  Some back info about Luis. He was an old investigator that we contacted again.  He was taught by some other Elders but nothing came of it. When I met him I felt an immediate connection with him and challenged him to get baptized. We had some work to do with him.....but he accepted. His baptism was so awesome to see. He showed up in a white shirt and a tie that I gave him. After he was baptized he just had this light. His buddy, Willy, baptized him. Luis bore his testimony at the end. He said he wants his family to have the light that he has now. He also said that he just felt something different with us. I know I was sent to La Oroya for him! Wow it was so cool to see how much he has grown....you could feel the spirit strongly. He's one of my favorite converts! In 6 months he will be getting his mission papers ready! I'm so excited for him. It was so rewarding to have a solid convert after a couple of rough weeks.

Reflection of the week:  The differences we can make in other people as members of the church.  I've seen in my mission the differences I have made among the people.  Also how I have been shaped by others. I hope I have been an influence to others. I've tried to step up and take the initiative to be an example. I hope my example has helped others. Sometimes I feel like I have failed. But I can't control everything.  When I get knocked down, I get back up. If I fail, I keep going. Elder Rasmussen taught me to keep working even when you don't have success.  I'm grateful for that lesson. I hope that I've made a difference somehow with each of my companions. I hope that all of us will try to be example for others and try to be like Christ. We influence people daily. I love the tough times and I'm grateful for the people that have influenced me and made me a better missionary. I love it here and I know this gospel is true. I wouldn't be who I am now without my mission. I am learning things that will sustain me for the rest of my life.  I love you all! #doitforjesus

Love, 

Elder Moss

Luis's Baptism - La Oroya

Service project - Potato Picking

Friends united - Elder Ramirez and Elder Moss

Hard to teach someone that's passed out! FYI...Jake's not losing hair, he got a bad haircut!

Elder Moss is prepared for the pollution from the mines!

Hola From Tarma!

Family.....Another week! Feels like yesterday I was leaving the CCM and getting to HVCA and freaking out! I have grown so much since then.  This week went quick.  I bought a recorder. Lots of the missionaries here have them. I thought it would be fun to get a recorder so you guys can hear my voice. I'm in Tarma today and they have really bad Internet service so I'll have to send a recording next week.

Monday started out bad by getting horrible haircuts.  Elder Campbell had to go to Huancayo so Elder Alvarado, Solorzano and I went to Marcavalle to get our hair cut. Paola usually cuts my hair and I had to go to her after to fix it.  Elder Alvarado is from Honduras and also a one year convert.  He's struggling a bit, but we are really trying to help him.  He spent a couple days with us. We hope he can see that this mission is awesome. Please pray for him.  Elder Campbell returned on Wednesday to La Oroya.  Thursday we had the opportunity to do some awesome service! We went and picked potatoes on a mountain.  It was so much fun to be with the members of Marcavalle and the other Elders.  We were there until Noon.  Afterwards we had a member offer us lunch....which was lamb soup....which we had to eat to be nice.  It was NASTY!  Friday we actually had an awesome lesson with a new guy name Guillermo...he's awesome! He reads everything, understands and asks good questions. We will put him with a baptismal date this Tuesday. He just tells us how he wants to do what God wants him to do. He will be great! We also had a lesson with Rafael and Ronald (his brother). We read 1 Nephi:13 and we read about the Americas and about the Great & Abominable church.  They also had questions about the Incas and how they are descendants of the Lamanites. They were amazed! Saturday we did more service and helped set up for a baby shower. Sunday we went to Tarma for District Conference. Pres & his wife were there and they spoke. After wards they had everyone line up and shake there hands like they were celebrities...haha! I love the Peruvians! They are such kind people. After the conference was over we headed back to La Oroya with the members and then we visited Luis...who is awesome...and gets baptized this Saturday! Finally!! He's doing great and we're so excited for him! I hope Luis will get to the temple! He will probably do that next year in July when I am home! Which will be awesome to talk to him while he is out on his mission that he is so determined to do! He is awesome and has found a new light in his life and I am so happy for him! I love the temple and going in Lima was awesome but it was in Spanish! But i love that temple! I love the temples and it is something that has stregthened my testimony! I love how we can just go and be so close to our Father in Heaven! Hector is great! I love the guy and we just laugh with him and take care of him! I know that God has a special place for him in Heaven. He can't comprehend everything but I know God loves him so much and I tell him that every time we see him and that he will be with God once again cause he's so special. I love the guy to death!

Well, that's it. We will have p-day today in Tarma and hang with all the elders and play soccer.  Not much happened this last week.  La Oroya is tough but I love it and the time is flying!

Reflection of the week: Learning not to judge too quickly.  This week we went out to lunch with President Mejia and his wife. When I first met President Mejia I thought he was different. I've learned that I need to the give people more time before I form an opinion.  It's important to humble yourself and accept what and how it is with something or someone.  I want to do what I can as a missionary and just love them.  We have done some great things in La Oroya and it'll be sad to go and to not see these people again.  I've learned a lot here and I'm grateful for the change, challenges and hardships I've experienced.  I love you all! #doitforjesus

Love,

Elder Moss

The Work in La Oroya Continues...

Hola Familia! I hope that everyone is doing great! Things are good in La Oroya. We were out of town until last Wednesday so that made the week go by really quick.  Sunday we headed down to Tarma and spent the night. We got up at 6 AM and took a bus to La Merced on Monday.  While on the bus we had an interesting experience.  As the bus was turning a corner, our bus driver tried to avoid hitting a drunk guy that was in the road, unfortunately he was hit and we're pretty sure he died.  We had to switch buses real quick as the construction workers showed up to put cones around him and then the police finally showed up. Sad thing and kind of scary. We got to La Merced and stayed in a hotel in San Ramon.....such a cool hotel! The weather was perfect....it was raining but felt amazing! The best part was Elder Solorzano didn't tell me every 5 seconds that it was cold....haha.....but then he started telling me that it was too hot!

Everyone met up at the church.  Some went to a waterfall while we stayed back and played basketball with all the gringos in the rain.  We spent the day there and ate dinner at the hotel. After dinner some Elders and I all went to this place in town where they sell Oreo shakes....that was so good! We woke up Tuesday and we attended the Multi-Zone conference with President Henderson which was great! I'm going to miss him when he leaves in July....he's been awesome! Then we headed back to La Oroya on Tuesday on the hottest bus, it was really bad but at least we didn't hit anyone. Wednesday we had a zone-conference in Tarma and then we headed back home around 5.  

When we got back to our place on Wednesday it was so nice to find that our landlord finally fixed our shower and it's the most amazing shower ever! We jumped right back into work in Pacca and found 2 new investigators and we visited Hector. The Vento family, who were attending the Marcavalle branch, decided to start attending the La Oroya. We are so happy about this because they are the model-Mormon family....I love them! And they came yesterday to church. Thursday we had splits and I went with Elder Campbell, who I always have such a great time with. He's training his companion and his companion wants to go home.  He is struggling with the mission and doesn't want to be here. So Friday I told Campbell that I would do splits with him and see if I could help him in any way. I tried to help this Elder and I gave him some advice and talked to him and tried to give him encouragement....I hope he changes his mind. Saturday we visited Luis and Hector and the 2 new investigators. Luis is getting baptized on the 27th because we have stake conference this weekend. He maybe will be getting baptized with Renzo and Carmen! Carmen is new and has been attending church. Renzo is failing us sometimes. But we're working hard and trying to get them ready! Sunday we had 95 attend the branch.... lots of less actives and investigators. We had 3 lessons on Sunday and visited Luis.  He keeps coming to church and attending seminary at 6 AM. We also visited Lettsy who's preparing to go to the temple in 3 months.  

Reflection of the week: We studied a talk for the multi-zone conference about "pride" and I can't stop thinking about it. The one problem I have seen in some places and with some people in my mission is pride. It prohibits the people from going to church.  As members of the church we shouldn't be this way. We need to be humble examples for all. Love all and treat them as Christ would. I hope all of you at home don't let pride get in your way! I'm trying to teach them to be humble and to follow the example of our Savior. Love you all! Please pray for La Oroya! #doitforjesus

Love,
Elder Moss

Elder Moss & Elder Ramirez - Lima Temple March 2016

Elder Moss & The Elders in Lima East

Back in La Oroya

Hey Family.....How are you all? I'm finally back in La Oroya....so excited. But right now we are in La Merced for Zone Conference. I never thought I would miss La Oryoya but I did. After I wrote you last Monday we went with all the Elders in my "temporary" zone in Lima East and we went and played soccer with another zone.  I actually watched them play because I didn't have any p-day clothes. I sat there sweating while watching them play for four hours...not so fun! They have planned p-days and usually play soccer because there isn't much else to do. Later that night we had FHE. Tuesday I worked with the Lima East missionaries again and said bye to their pension. The pensions family was awesome! On Wednesday all 6 of us Albrecht, Solorzano, Gonzales, Petersen, Ramirez and I all met back up after being split up for four days and we went to the temple before our flight left at 4. I love the temple! Even though it was in Spanish, I enjoyed it and understood it all. Ramirez and I were talking about doing temple days at home once we get back from our missions.  It was so great to see Elder Ramirez. I love him to death and all the guys I was with, especially the 2 missionaries Loundetta and Nunez that I spent 4 days with. You become pretty close when you're sleeping 3 guys on 2 beds...HAHA! After the temple we got picked up to go to the airport to fly to Jaujo.  We show up and employers told Elder Holmes over the phone that we could fly with copies of our passport and driver licenses because that's all we had. Turns outs NO.....as if it couldn't just get any worse! Ramirez, Petersen and Gonzales all flew that day and Albrecht, Solorzano and I stayed and enjoyed Papa Johns in the airport while we waited until someone could pick us up. We did get to see the beach which was really cool! So we headed back to Lima East and chilled in the mission house. Those Elders were not happy that we were back.  We got back to work with them and did splits on Wednesday and slept. They left us in the house on Thursday with nothing to do. We didn't have any food so we had to buy some.  Elder Albrecht and I decided since we didn't have much to do that we'd go to the temple again. Albrecht is awesome...he went to Alta....we had a great time. At 5 we went on splits with the office Elders. I went with Elder Morris to the richest part of Peru.  Holy Cow.....the houses! The General Authorities live there. We visited a rich guy.....I taught a lesson...it was good. We returned around 8 and Elder Holmes had flown in to bring us our original documents. We were so happy to see him! We had a flight at 6 AM so we left at 3 AM Friday for the airport and there we were again.....but this time we got our tickets and Dunkin Donuts!  We flew home to Jauja on a 25 minute flight and headed to Huancayo to President's house where he greeted us with hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls....ahh so nice to be back! We visited and then headed back to La Oroya. What an adventure.....crossing a landslide, making the decisions, going to Lima, the temple, going to the airport twice and coming home after a week! Definitely one to remember. Turns out I did the right thing by going down to Lima because more landslides happened that killed people. Thank you to the spirit!:)

Please keep Renzo and Luis in your prayers. Luis is doing great and attending seminary. He's suppose to get baptized on the 19th.  Renzo has a date for baptism on the 27th. 


Reflection of the week:  How grateful I am for my mission.  I love it! Only things like this happen in the mission.  I love our President, the people and the missionaries here in Huancayo. There is a reason why I'm here and this whole experience gave me a boost of excitement to work hard and enjoy what time I have left.  The life of a missionary is the best.....nothing can beat it! I love serving the Lord and proclaiming the gospel.  I love you all and La Oroya!  #doitforjesus

Questions:

1. Why was Elder Peterson alone?

He went to Lima to do Visa stuff and they sent him alone

2. Where and who was Elder Peterson's companion?

His companion was back in their area

3. Did you get muddy and wet while rescuing Elder Peterson?

No..haha...but I saw it all and it was so cool mom! The coolest thing!

4. What happened on Wednesday at the airport when you tried to get back?

We didn't have the right documents. All we had were copies of our passports and licenses. 

5. What clothes did you wear all week?

The same clothes ( it was gross) and we bought new garments from the temple.

6. Is Elder Holmes and older missionary….senior couple?

No. He is the personal secretary and is my age.

7. What was the plane like flying back to Huancayo?

The quickest plane flight...it was awesome. Got on and got off

8. How many times did you see Elder Ramirez?

I saw him twice and we talked and it was great to see him.

9. Did the members in La Oroya even know that you were gone for a week?

Yep...they knew we were gone. I called them all.

My First Landslide!

Dear Family & Friends - Jake and his companion were called by the mission office to go "rescue" an Elder who was stuck in a landslide on the main highway to Lima. You'll see from the map below that their area was one of the closest to where the landslide occurred. Unfortunately, Peruvians don't find a landslide newsworthy and there's almost nothing written about it on the internet. Evidently, missionaries sometimes have to travel alone to Lima for Visa processing. We aren't sure why. Here is what Jake told us. We learned from the mission office later today that he and the other five missionaries from Huancayo will fly back to their mission on Wednesday. He's safe, hot and humid but says he really misses the Huancayo mission and can't wait to get back!

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HEY FAMILY! How is home? Yeah Lima is great haha...I'm in Lima! So not much happened this week except that on Friday I got a call from Elder Holmes in the mission office! He started out by asking if I still had money from transfers and I said yes so he told me that Elder Solorzano and I need to go to a landslide that happened on the main highway that connects Huancayo to Lima haha! One of our missionaries, Elder Petersen was stuck in a bus (that was literally stuck in the mud) in the landslide and he was alone and we needed to go get him. So I took the 700 Soles I had and we left La Oroya and took a personal taxi to San Mateo, a small city. We walked for an hour and we found a moto-taxi to take us down to the buses that were stopped in the landslide. We get to the bus and found Elder Peterson, who had spent the night alone on the bus without any food! So after we got to the bus, we realized it was way too dangerous to get back to San Mateo and go back to our area. We tried to go back up to La Oroya but it is a huge mess on the highway and it would have been too dangerous. Plus, there was no way to get a taxi to take us back. So Elder Holmes called us and asked if there are taxis to Lima (going the other direction)...so I started asking around and people told me yes there are taxis just below the landslide! I had to make the call on what to do so we decided to do the safe thing and head down toward the taxis to Lima. Well turns out Peruvians are really good liars haha! So we cross this huge landslide that has wiped out all the highway and wade through the Rimac river, which is running crazy fast and all over on the highway. And after a while, we got down the highway past the slide and found like 100 moto-taxis. A tiny little taxi takes us down to a city called Chosica. It costed 50 Soles and they said it would take 15 minutes but in reality it was two hours away! When we got to Chosica we took another taxi into Lima and went straight to the temple. So Elder Peterson, Elder Solorzano and I descended from La Oroya at 12,272 feet down to sea level in Lima. From the temple we got help from the Elders in the Lima East mission and they have taken us in and we are staying with some Elders in Santa Anita, which is in Lima East mission but right near the Rimac river. It was great to see the temple again and to see my buddy Elder Ramirez haha! There are 6 of us from Huancayo here and we are staying with missionaries here in Lima East and working with them for a few days. I don't like it here because it is so hot and humid and yeah I miss Huancayo...and La Oroya! It's nuts here and I miss it all haha.. so yeah we are chilling here in Lima until they can get us a plane back because the highway back to Huancayo is DESTROYED HAHA! Things are nice and sweaty here in Lima! We weren't prepared for an extended trip so we've had the pensionista helping us here in Santa Anita with getting some clothes cleaned and we also had to go buy some basic bathroom supplies. Church in Santa Anita was great! They have like 200 attending so church was cool!  Things are good..... I am safe and okay! I love you all! I hope to be back in La Oroya this week but we will have to first fly from Lima to Jauja and then get a ride back to our area. And then the following week we will be going to Satipo (the jungle) for a multi-zone conference. But I love you all! Take care..... hahahaha :)

Reflection of the week: Being here in Lima East has made me really appreciate and love where I am serving in Huancayo :)

The PURPLE lines show the taxi ride from La Oroya "down" to Lima and then the BLUE lines show the flight and drive back to Jauja and La Oroya.

Festival Food & Letzi's Baptism!

What's up Family?! How are you all? Things are great here....we had a baptism and interest from more investigators. Letzi got baptized on Saturday! She is great and is setting the example for her parents Omar and Paolo. It was so cool to see a baptism with all the members. La Oroya might be a bit confused with a couple things but they are very supportive of baptisms! Elder Solorzano and I were so happy about that.

Last P-day we hung out with Elder Campbell and Elder Bruno....we ate pacca manca. Pacca Manca is sweet potatoes, potato, weird beans, lamb meat and chicken that they cook in the ground.  And it comes with this sweet tamale called a humita. The best food here! It costs 13 soles and we have to drive about 20 minutes to get it. It's awesome to eat cultural food and not just rice.  After lunch we hung out at the fair and went shopping. They always give Elder Campbell and I the gringo prices so Elder Bruno and Solorzano ask for us so we can get a better deal.  Tuesday a member kept us busy for an hour talking to us and to Sandra and Abraham....which I loved talking to them! Wednesday we visited less actives with President Mejia. We met with Letzi to help her prepare for her baptism. Thursday we had divisions. I went with Elder Campbell....Love that Kid....we've become really good friends. We did service in the morning to help clean up a trash yard basically. We spoke English during the day and visited a member.  Marcavalle has some really cool members. And then finished the night at a members house doing a FHE and making "funfetti" cake from the states that Elder Campbell had! Their house is so nice. They are a young couple and they reminded me of my parents. It was hard to leave their house...Haha. Later Elder Campbell and I burned his one year shirt.....that was fun to do! Friday Letzi got interviewed by the ZL's and she passed. But then things went downhill....we wanted to do the baptism together with the other Elders because they were having a baptism also. So Elder Solorzano called President Mejia, who then called President Henderson. President Mejia didn't understand and he thought Letzi was going to get baptized into Marcavalle branch. He misunderstood that we just wanted to do the baptisms together. It's all good, we fixed it and had the baptism. 

We had a good week! We have changes this Wednesday......AGAIN! Most likely none of us will go, possibly Elder Bruno. But La Oroya truly is a tough area, lots of challenges with members and not much support. It's hard but I trust the Lord, and I know he will watch out for the members and our investigators here.  Elder Solorzano and I are trying and praying and being examples. It's a tough area but I love the challenge.

Reflection of the week:  I have realized that in the mission there are hard times, but you have to pick yourself up quickly You can't allow a bad day to bring you down. You need to keep smiling and move on. Friday was a really hard day for us, but we didn't dwell on it. We picked it up and taught 25 lessons, had some great contacts and worked hard. I love it here in Peru and I'm truly so happy. I love the Lord's work and all of you! Thank you for everything! Ciao! #doitforjesus

Elder Moss

Pacca Manca 

More Food!

La Oroya

La Oroya

Elder Campbell

Puppies!

Omar, Paola (Letzi's parents), Letzi (in white)

Letzi's Baptism

We're Getting a Shower!

What's up fam? How are you all? Hope you are all doing just "Lovely"! La Oroya is treating me well with the white-looking mountains and lots of traveling. This last p-day we went to Tarma. We played basketball all together and then worked in foursomes that night. Tarma is the coolest place.....I want to serve there! Tuesday we had zone conference in Tarma and then came back to La Oroya to work. We left on Wednesday at 3:00 to head to Huancayo for a multi-zone devotional with Elder Godoy of the 70. We went to the office and hung out there with the elders. I got my package:)! We ate pizza with the Huancayo, Satipo and La Merced zones.....it was fun to see everyone! So good to see some elders and talk about the mission and life. A lot of elders told me "sorry" because I was in La Oroya and asked me what I did to be there....haha! This place has a reputation but I'm fixing that! We went to a hotel and spent the night with all the Elders. That was fun....but hotels here aren't like the states. We got up at 5:15 and got ready and had breakfast at the mission home and then headed to the conference. President and Sister Henderson spoke and then Elder and Sister Godoy. It had to be one of the most spiritual experiences I have ever had. One of things Elder Godoy talked about was how we are truly instruments for the Lord and how obedience plays a huge factor in that. Being obedient here in the mission is something I love and thanks to Elder Mendoza I have seen blessing upon blessings from obedience.

We returned to La Oroya on Friday and got to work. We had some lessons and contacted some people. I love contacting people......it's my favorite to talk to everyone and be their friends! Don't freak out Mom but we don't have a shower so we've been waiting on our landlord to finish it. It's so nice and our room is really nice so I don't care. We shower like every 2 days in the other Elders room.....missionary life! Saturday Elder Mendoza came to Marcavalle to interview an investigator of Elder Campbell and Bruno because he is our new zone leader. I love that kid! I am so happy! We talked about HVCA and he said that Ugo is active gain and is 1st counselor of the YM's, Mariella attends a lot and that HVCA is growing. People want to work and there is more and more support. Branch attendance is 80-85. But Frank and Rocio are less-active so that made me sad but HVCA is a lot better! It was great to talk to Mendoza during the baptism on Saturday! We did a lot of great things there....glad I left that area better! My goal for every area I am in is that I make it better and I'm an example for all! BTW mom the shower will be done on Wednesday.

Reflection of the week:  I had an experience while teaching Omar and Paola Thursday night. We were talking about baptism and how it's necessary and they accepted a date, it was spiritual and going great. But we moved into a problem....they're not married. We start to talk about that and they started fighting, yelling and crying in front of us about problems from the past. Elder Solorzano was trying to help them but they just kept going at it. Frankly I was sick of it all....because that's not how you should treat someone you love. So I waited and IDK why but I felt I needed to speak boldly and with authority. I told them to be quiet, to pray together after we leave and to talk. I told them as a representative of Christ this is what he wants them to do. They stopped and we prayed to end our visit and I was asking for so much to help them and then we left them to pray.  I know the spirit told me to do that. And for them they're doing better and attended church together and Omar told me that everything is a lot better. I have a testimony that the Spirit tells us what to do, we just have to listen and not have fear. For now Omar and Paola are fine and their daughter, Letzi, is getting baptized this Saturday. Next Saturday Luis is getting baptized. He's attending church and institute classes. Things are good here.....I love you all and miss you! #doitforjesus

Elder Moss

Shower under construction...

Elder Moss & Elder Lefson - Huancayo, Feb 2016

This is Jake and his friend Hector.

Elder Solorzano & Luis - La Oroya 2016

Hector got his official name badge!

"Home"