Slow travel to Huancayo!

What's up fam? Well it took us a really long time to get to Huancayo for the training last week.  We didn't arrive until around 10:30 PM. The driver of the van was ridiculously slow and he asked us if one of us wanted to drive because he was really tired. Of course we aren't allowed to drive. When we finally got to La Oroya we bailed on this driver of the minivan and found another car to take us to Huancayo. When we arrived at the mission home we had a cold dinner waiting for us. We all crashed in the mission home. In the living room they have a bunk beds set up for the missionaries to sleep on. The AP's did a lot of the training but President Silva took a few minutes. He talked a lot about the importance of being obedient. We shouldn't obey just for that moment we're in, we should be obedient for eternity. Obedience will truly permit us to live with our Heavenly Father again. I love President Silva and I'm so grateful for all that he does for us.

We returned home on Wednesday and I was able to go on division with Elder Ryan (from Utah). Elder Ryan has been out in the mission for about 6 months. He's a great missionary and I enjoyed spending the time with him. We spent the day contacting. I have so much faith in contacting. I believe it's one of the most effective ways because it teaches you to open your mouth and be bold and courageous. We found some new people and we're able to set up return appts. It's such a blessing getting to know the missionaries in the zone and being able to learn from them.

Friday was solid! We taught Russell, someone we found contacting, and he's going to let us come back next week to teach him. We visited a referral named Cristian. While we were in his store talking to him a drunk guy walks in and starts hugging us and sits down next to us. He says."Alright Hermano we're going to say a prayer." He starts saying In the name of the Father, & the Son and the Holy ghost and then points to me and tells me I don't know how to pray. You gotta love them! 

Saturday we were out contacting and found a family of all girls to teach.....Aunt Luisa, Ingry, Juana and Cindy who are all very Catholic. The Aunt told us to come back later that day. When we returned we realized that there was no man there and we had to run and get Bryon (our pensions son) to be there with us while we taught. At the end of teaching them they asked us how we know it's all true? We told them that we pray to find out that answer. Elder Guerrero, who was converted 3 years ago, told him that he had investigated a lot of churches and not one of them asked him to pray to find out if it was true, until he met the LDS missionaries. We asked if they've ever prayed to see if the catholic church is true and they said no, we go because it's tradition. I testified to them that if they read the pamphlets and sincerely asked God if this is true they would receive an answer. 

Reflection of the week: The Lord is blessing us for our efforts. Elder Holland promised the missionaries that if they would contact 20 people a day (600 a month) that the Lord would bless them with one baptism a month. I truly believe that we will find people if we have put our trust and faith in the Lord and work really hard. I know it is true...I have seen it with my own eyes. The spirit guides us. I love this work! Pray for me to have the strength to push ourselves even more. I love you all so much! #doitforjesus

Love,

Elder Moss

Elder Ramirez, Elder Moss, Elder Christensen - Huancayo Leadership training 2017

Elder Moss, Elder Christensen & Elder Walker's road trip to leadership training

We're Heading to Huancayo

Today we are headed off to Huancayo for training. We are traveling in a mini van this time because it's a lot faster and less money. That will be a fun little road trip with all the Elders! I'm sad to be missing basketball today. It's been a blast playing with Bryan and his brother Kevin.....they actually play b-ball well. I love our pension's family. Lily is the mother and she's married to Carlos and they have 3 kids....Bryan, Kevin and Karla. Bryan served a mission in Brazil. He's trying to figure out a way to be able to study at BYU or SLCC. So I've been trying to help with this. We are so blessed to be a part of their family. They are such a humble family, who I have grown to love a ton! I will always remember them.

So we have implemented the 4 key indicators that we learned about last week from the worldwide mission broadcast. It's actually been really great not to have to worry so much about how many lessons we have taught during the week. We have been able to turn our focus on finding new investigators and the most important goal...baptism. 

We had the chance to teach Angelo this week. I was so happy that he made it to church again. He's a hippy older guy...really cool. He's doing good but I think that fear is holding him back from taking the next step. Please pray for him! We found a new investigator, his name is Christian. He was a reference from a member. He has a wife and one child. He's young and recently lost his job because of problems with alcohol. As we were talking with him he broke down and told us that he is willing to change his life and feels like this is the right place. He told us that he thought he would never set foot into a church. While I was talking with him, I felt the spirit so strong as I was listening to this man. It was the spirit testifying to me of how strong and real the atonement is. Sometimes people don't understand that they can be released from their torment here on this earth through the atonement. I felt this huge wave of love for him. He's motivated to make his life better. I truly felt the Savior's love for him as we were able to share with him the healing power of the Atonement. We have another visit with him on Thursday. He's also planning on playing soccer with the Elder's quorum this Wednesday.


Reflection of the week: This week I was able to see and feel how much my love for these people has grown. Sometimes it's overwhelming. As I sat and listened to Christian I mourned and prayed for him. It has been a goal of mine to love these people more. In the beginning it was hard, but with time it has increased and I feel as if I can share the Lord's love with them more now. As it says in D&C 4:2 "Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all our HEART, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day." This work will never advance without love. Love is what motivates me to open my mouth and teach these people. My love for my Heavenly Father and these people makes me be better and constantly repentant. I love you all! #doitforjesus

BTW...Eduardo is in Ecuador and Neyra is in Lima still....can't wait for them to return!

Eating Suri...a grub that lives in coconut trees in the Amazon jungle. A delicacy in Peru!

Conference in Huanuco - January 2017

Huanuco Zones - January 2017

Big Changes to the Schedule

Hey family.....how are you all? Things in Huanuco are going well. This last Wednesday all the missionaries attended a world wide mission broadcast. We heard from Elder Oaks and Bednar as well as other leaders. The main focus was on teaching repentance and baptism. Then they announced changes that will allow missionaries to customize their own schedules, of course with the approval of your mission President. They want us to be more of a free agent. We also now do our planning in the mornings which is such a blessing. Coming home after a long day and having to sit down and plan for the next day sometimes can be challenging. They also told us that p-days begin at 8 AM! 

So after the training, President Silva talked to all of us about the changes and then gave a little training on his own.  President Silva is a very spiritual leader and is very inspired. I truly love listening to him. He told us that we weren't going to be doing much schedule training but there are going to be changes with recording numbers. There are four key indicators that the missionaries report to us.......baptisms, baptism with a date, who came to church and new investigators. So reporting contacts and lessons are no more. Crazy stuff!! So we'll see how it this goes!

We were able to see Neyra this last week a lot. She's going to be leaving for Lima for a month. She is so awesome! She already has a testimony of this gospel. We just have to wait patiently to baptize her when she returns in March. She will be a solid member of the church.  She loves reading the BOM! We also visited a guy named Angelo. Angelo is 30 years old, kind of a hippy.  He's really a great guy but we've really struggled with helping him progress towards a baptismal date. So we decided to take a step back and do a lesson on trying to figure out what was holding him back. We must have been inspired to do this because the Spirit was there helping us out. We were able to find out that Angelo is scared and wants to feel clean from all the mistakes he has made in his life. It was really such a cool lesson. I know how important it is to really get to know the people you are teaching. It makes the lesson 100x's more gratifying to find out how we can help them.  I was so excited to see that Angelo made it to church.  Hopefully this week we will be able to find some new people .  

Reflection of the week:  I have learned so much out here in the mission. One of the biggest things that has brought me such a sense of peace is that I have learned to sincerely love my mission president. I've learned to cherish every moment on my mission, even the hardships. The mission has changed me so much and I will live this gospel till I die. Thank you mom and dad for everything! I LOVE YOU ALL! #doitforjesus

Love,

Elder Moss

Huanuco 2017

The Work in Huanuco Rolls Forward!

What's up family? So this last week was great! We have had some awesome lessons and Neyra and Eduardo are progressing very well. We were able to visit Neyra three times this last week and we've almost completed all of the lessons.  She is progressing very fast and teaching her has been such a wonderful experience. The spirit has been so strong in the lessons.  I know that she has been feeling it. Bryan (our pension's son and also her friend) was with us while we taught her lesson three. Bryan shared his testimony at the end.  Elder Guerrero and I also bore our testimonies of why we know this church is true.  She has accepted a date to be baptized in March and she's so excited! She is awesome and literally writes everything down and studies everything we give her.  Neyra is so prepared and I know that through our hard work the Lord has blessed us with teaching her.

Elder Guerrero and I have truly enjoyed our first week together. He is from Lima and is 22 years old. He is a convert of 3 years. He is the only one in his family that is a member. We have kept up with contacting people and the work is moving forward.  

I'm really enjoying my time Huanuco! The weather has been pretty good and hasn't rained much. We have a great pension. She cooks American food all the time and healthy stuff too. It's great to have things like lasagne, pizza and food we're used to having at home. 

I will really miss Elder Burt...he's truly a great missionary and someone who taught me to use every available minute to do missionary work. He was always trying to search for the Spirit in everything we did. I love that guy and can't wait to see him again when we go home together. 

Reflection of the week:  This week I was studying in Alma 14 and had the chance to read about Alma & Amulek. I was giving a talk in sacrament and was able to share this story. As I was sharing the events of this story I felt the spirit so strong when I was telling about how people had died for believing in Christ and that Alma and Amulek witnessed it all. Also how much they personally had to suffer. I just know how true the BOM is when I read and share the stories of the missionaries who gave it their all.  I know as a missionary that we can give it our all. I know that if we put aside our problems and desires then we can experience miracles as missionaries.  I love this work. I feel as if I grow every week and feel the spirit more and more. I love you all! #doitforjesus

BTW...I just learned this week how to knit a tie. Also I'm learning to play the Quena.  It's a kind of like a flute that is so cool!

Love,

Elder Moss

Saying goodbye to Elder Burt - Huanuco 2017

Transfers & Miracles

What's up family?! Well, we had a miraculous week which was full of the Spirit! First of all, on Monday we went by bus to the mission office for leadership council with President Silva. It is about a 6 hour process to get there. We started by taking a decent-looking bus from Huanuco to Cerro de Pasco for the first three hours and the bus was packed with people and it stopped a ton to let people on/off. So that was fun! Then, in Cerro, we headed to Huancayo on a better bus but it took forever to finally get there. We had a great training with President about contacting with the Spirit and really trying to get to know the person before we present our message about the gospel. We've been doing what president has asked us to do and being more loving to people and getting to know the person when we are contacting and it has worked out well. So that was great! In other news, apparently an Apostle is coming to visit the mission at the end of this month but we don't know who it is so we'll have to wait and see. Also, we've heard that there are some changes to the morning schedule coming soon and that we will have a less-structured morning routine so we can decide for ourselves how much study, planning and other things need to be done. One fun thing that president did at the meeting is he gave us all laminated cards with exercises on them...president is worried because missionaries are getting fat, having injuries, etc so we've been doing these exercises and running every day.  

So we returned to Huanuco on Tuesday night and that's when the miracles started to happen. The work has been great! Just golden after golden after golden! It honestly has been a miracle and I am so excited to see some great people be baptized soon. Let me explain...Wednesday we decided to contact on a small street and so we started knocking doors and well no one wanted to listen. So as we were coming to the last house I saw a house on another street and it caught my attention for some reason...I don't know what it was and I said to Elder Burt, "Elder Burt, that is the house!". I pointed at it knowing that was the house we needed to knock. So we knocked on the door and met a guy named Eduardo. We got to know him a bit more and he invited us into his house. He told us how he is looking for a church that is closest to the one Christ had established. We testified of Joseph Smith and the restoration of the gospel in the latter-days and we made an appointment to return and teach him more. Eduardo is 29 years-old and has to be the coolest guy. He absorbed all of lesson one and he said he understood and is coming to church this coming Sunday! And that is just the beginning! We found a girl named Ney and she is 23 years-old and a lawyer. We went searching for Enrique and we found Ney and had an awesome lesson with her. She is very interested in the church and says if she receives an answer to her prayers she will get baptized. And yesterday she came to church and brought a friend! Then Friday, Bryan (who is the returned missionary and son of our pension) had us teach his friend Neyra. She is 22 and is going to Honduras to study in June. She is a person very prepared and excited to hear the gospel. We've had two visits with her and she's soaked up all of the good news of the gospel. She read all of the lesson one pamphlet and came to church as well. The Lord has honored his promise through our mission president that if we contact people and talk to as many as we can, he will bring us people to teach. Miracles beyond miracles this week! I know that the Lord guided us by his Holy Spirit. I know that we have followed his impressions and for that the Lord's work will advance. 

Reflection of the week: I have such a firm testimony that if we do what the Lord asks he will bless us and will guide us with his Spirit. The testimony I have gained out here will never break. I love what has happened to me out here on the mission and I just want to push myself hard these last few months. This change has been one to remember and one full of the Spirit for me. I love this work and I don't want to leave it. I just realized yesterday that I don't want to go home because I love it out here and all that I am experiencing has been such a blessing for me. I can't wait to send Nick off when I get home, it will be great to see him go!  I am so grateful for Elder Burt...he's leaving today for Huancayo and I am sad he is leaving. I learned so much from him and he is a great guy. But Elder Guerrero, who is from Lima, is coming to be with me as my new companion and I am sure it will be an awesome change and we will do great work with those we have found. I love you all and this gospel! #doitforjesus

Love,

Elder Moss

Training - Huancayo, January 2017

Training - Huancayo, January 2017

Training - Huancayo, January 2017

Jake's Missionary Apartment (middle wooden door) - Huanuco, January 2017

Elder Burt, Elder Moss & a Creepy Clown in Huanuco

Dari got Baptized!

Hey family! It was such a great week...We had another baptism! Dari got baptized on Saturday. She is so happy! She has been so excited about getting baptized.  I know she's going to be a solid member. She told us that's she's already indexing names in the family history center. She's also already really involved with the young women. 

Last P-day we made tacos with Elder Walker and Elder Ryan. Then we were able to play basketball with some members.  

Tuesday we had divisions.....I went with Elder Vichemez and we visited some really cool people who live up on the mountain. 

Wednesday Elder Burt and I started contacting doors on a little street. We found a kid named Miguel.  He is 19 years old and is studying engineering.  He let us into his house and we were able to introduce the BOM and he was really excited! We were able to come back the next day and Miguel gave us a complete run down of the intro, testimonies, and first chapters of Nephi.....so cool! He is really interested in the church. We are going to see him again in about 3 weeks. Then some guy named Carlos contacted us and told us he was taking the missionary discussions and is living in Huanuco and wants us to come over and teach him.  After a tough week last week I feel like this week we made up for it.  

I look back and see how much I have grown up by being courageous and opening my mouth. Sunday night at 7:30 P.M. we needed 30 more contacts.  We passed by a funeral place and we saw a viewing starting.  So as we were running back to our place I was telling Elder Burt how we were going to get 30 contacts in 30 minutes. So we grabbed a stack of pamphlets and hurried back to the viewing. We just started talking to everyone on how our Heavenly Father has a plan for us! I did talk to a girl who was really interested so I'm going to pass her info on to the missionaries in Cerro. It was so cool to see 2 white kids in white shirts going and talking to complete strangers about the Plan of Salvation. I never thought I would do this. I was able to talk to several people who were from Pasco and tell them to visit the church. I also told them that there is always hope after this life! I love opening my mouth even thought it's frightening sometimes.  But I know the spirit is there to support us if we do our part.  

Reflection of the week:  I was able to fast this last Saturday and bring myself closer to our Savior.  The more I fast, work, pray, read and teach I become happier and happier. At the baptism I was looking at a picture of Jesus Christ and I just had this overwhelming feeling come over me so strongly.  It was the coolest thing......I just wanted to sit there and just give so much thanks to Heavenly Father and his son, Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for my mission and what it has taught me.  I love you all so much!  #doitforjesus

Love,

Elder Moss

Elder Moss and Elder Burt - Dari's baptism - Huanuco 2017

t

I Come Home This Year!

Happy New Year.....I cant' believe it's 2017! Happy Birthday Sarah! I can't believe you are 10! I remember baptizing you 2 years ago! That was such a great experience for me. I love you lots Sarah:). 

This last week was a tough week.  Elder Burt and I have been killing ourselves to meet the contact goal each day and sometimes exceeding the goal.  Talking to everyone had just become an automatic thing we do now.  Even though we have talked to a lot of people, we haven't found any new investigators to teach lessons to.......that has been disappointing and frustrating. But I know the Lord is testing us and I know that all the hard work will pay off one day.  It's a great feeling getting back to our room each night knowing that we gave it our all. We painted our room this last week and moved things around....big improvement!

We had a cool experience on Sunday.  After a tough day on Saturday we were able to have something good happen! We had 2 visitors from Lima come to our ward.  You could tell they weren't members but looked really interested.  So we talked to them, their names are Alvaro and Celeste.  They asked us for more info on the church and BOM's. They really soaked it all up and were really excited to learn about the church. They will be here for four more days so we will try and teach them.  They are determined to go back to Lima and attend the LDS church there. They had been invited by a member on the street to come to church.  I thought that was a cool experience to talk to them.  As missionaries we always have the opportunities to plant new seeds that hopefully will grown one day.  The Lord is using us as instruments in so many different ways.  My testimony has been strengthened through these experiences. BTW......Dari is going to be getting baptized this Saturday!

This last week we were able to have interviews with President Silva.  I honestly have to say that he has impacted my spiritual growth so much.  I owe him for that and I truly love him. 

Since coming here to Huanuco.......I have truly enjoyed being able to proclaim the gospel to as many children of God as we can.  I have grown closer to my Heavenly Father and I feel his strength and blessings as I have new spiritual experiences or small miracles happen everyday. I love you all!

Reflection of the week:  I've been thinking a lot about the pioneers and how much they sacrificed for us and most of all Joseph Smith. He is such a great example for me and all he gave. I just come to tears thinking of him and my testimony I have of him.  I can't explain it but I truly know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. I love it out here so much. I love to kneel down and pray and thank my Father in Heaven for all that he has given me and I love this gospel. I feel as if God truly does listen to me every night and morning that I kneel down. It has been the hardest time of my life, but the most gratifying time of my life. #doitforjesus.


Love,

Elder Moss

Huanuco Apartment