Another Week!

Editors note:  I knew this was my boy without seeing his face.
I took this picture off the mission blog. :-)

Training 8/23/16

We had your son and his companion over for dinner this evening. They are doing well. 

Thank you for sharing him with the Lord and the people here. 

Here's a picture of him with his companion and our son, who recently 

returned from the Arizona Gilbert Mission.

Don Meyers.

August 29, 2016  

Oh hey. Didn't see you there.

This email is probably going to be a little short because we have to take some Elders to get their car fixed, so yeah. 

I went on exchanges twice last week, so I haven't been in my area very much recently. But here's the run down:

We taught Joseph the Word of Wisdom, and even though he had some questions about the coffee and tea, he understood why it was important. He is in med school right now, so he pretty much taught us the side effects of coffee and tea and what not. He committed to live it, though! He is such a champ. When we came over to his house for our second lesson that week, he was just studying with his morning pepsi instead of his coffee. He's such a champ :) 

Tim is getting baptized this Sunday after his wedding on Saturday! A bunch of missionaries that taught him before going home are coming up too, so it will be weird seeing a bunch of RM's proving that they can grow beards. 

The members in the YSA and a few in the Ward are giving us lots of referrals lately. One members called us late one night to tell us how excited they were about an experience they had with their 17 year old neighbor, Chase. Apparently, Chase asked them if she could come over for scripture study and family prayer every night since they don't do it at her own home. They have been keeping us updated with her progress, and she is really interested in the church. Hopefully we'll get to meet her this week!

The rest of the week was pretty standard. Extra hot Thai food with the Finches, a new mission leader in the branch, and some star gazing to top it all off. 

I've been thinking a lot lately about how a lot of families want to find the secret to a happy home. They want to be like that one perfect family in the ward. I can definitely testify that it's no secret! If you want a happy home, make Christ the center of it. He is the foundation that will never fail. Even if your family has it's struggles (which is normal), there's no secret ingredient to a happy, loving, put together home. Just make the gospel your families whole life, not just a part of it. Do the little things like family scripture study, family prayer, and family meals. You can just feel the loving atmosphere in a home that is built upon the foundation of Christ, and I've realized that after everything else is gone, that is what I want for my future family. 

Have a good week everyone! 

Peace and blessin's,

Elder Moser

We all match!

Planning Meeting photo op.

Stargazing and Happiness

August 22, 2016

Hey!

YSA continues to be awesome! Max didn't come to church yesterday because he was out of town, but he has been coming to the YSA's FHE activities and that has been really good for him! He is starting to make a lot of friends in the branch. Unfortunately, a lot of them are moving to go to school, so we are having trouble finding someone for him that will stay. Joseph has also been doing amazingly well. Every time we leave his home after a lesson, we are almost giddy with excitement. In our lesson last week, he told us that he had read and prayed. He explained the feeling that he got as "that excited feeling you get when you get the latest version of windows." He told us that he believes for himself that the church and everything that we've taught him is true, and he told us that he is excited to commit himself to something that will change his life. Joseph is the type of guy that is really on top of things. He's crazy responsible. He apologized for only being able to read 10 chapters last week while going through his medical schooling, if that gives you any indication of what he's like. His baptism is still on for the 10th, and Elder Jarvis and I are so excited to see where a life in the church takes him!

The day before transfers, we had the opportunity to do what we call "fear busting", which is when you take out a greenie to go do missionary stuff for the first time. I took out an Elder North, from Orange County, and it was a great time! We only did about an hour of tracting, but we came across the nicest lady I have ever met. Her name is Gina. Gina is loaded. She was just getting out of her brand new Tesla, when she offered to let us take her Jeep to do our missionary stuff (she thought that we were walking the whole time.) We thought it was a joke, but she was 100% serious. She welcomed Elder North to Washington, and talked to us for a bit before we had to go. We don't know how interested she is, but you never know :) Also, Elder North is in our zone now, so we are excited about that!

Transfers were fun. Elder Jarvis and I were the site coordinators. So basically, Elder Jarvis was the site coordinator as I mingled with all of the missionaries coming through. It was fun, and It gave me a chance to really work on my sunburn. 

We had a good lesson with Rodney last week. Long story short, he told us that he would get baptized if his wife was more on board with it all, which is hard for her and her busy schedule. So we will just continue to work with him until she can meet with us too. Tim is still doing great, and will be getting baptized in two weeks! We didn't have a chance to meet with Randal and Christy last week, but this week we will. The work is keeping us busy!

The Finches were out of town this week, so our nights when we got home were spent doing chores, doing more chores, and singing a sweet freestyle song about the Wendy's that just opened up here in town. Good times. 

We also got a new ward mission leader, Brother Diaz, who has already been helping us out a ton, so we know that with him we will be able to get work done! He has some great ideas about how we can work together, so we are excited. 

Another notable thing from last week: A returning less active family made us try on these virtual reality goggles and put us on a rollercoaster. Elder Jarvis almost threw up, and it was hilarious.

That's the week, my friends. The church is true, and seeing people accept the gospel brings you more joy than you could ever imagine. You all should give it a try sometime :)

Peace and blessin's,

Elder Moser

Yakima Zone

I Love Washington Weather!

Stargazing and Happiness

August 15, 2016

Alright everyone, here's the scoop. 

Last week was a good one! Our investigators are progressing like nobody's business. In YSA, Joseph is still doing great. We taught him the Plan of Salvation and talked about his baptism, and he's pretty much cool with it all. He's the easiest person ever to teach. Sometimes we feel like he's actually a member and he's just pulling our leg, but we are totally fine with that! Max, the guy that came to the branch a week ago with a family friend came to church yesterday as well, this time by himself, which is a huge step. The talks given yesterday were also very good and I think that they really struck a chord with him--about trials and why we have them. We have yet to teach him, but the YSA branch is really good at fellowshipping, so we are excited to see where this all takes him!

In the Cottonwood  Canyon ward, Tim is still on date for September 4th. It will be the day after his wedding, so that will be a super eventful week for their family! We also had another lesson with Randall and Christy, and it was amazing. We taught the restoration and read from the Book of Mormon, and they were both very engaged. We are so excited to see Randall making so much progress so quickly! 

We went on two exchanges this week. The first was with Elder Black from Erda, Utah. He's a convert of about a year and a half, and he is so cool. It was with him that we taught the restoration to Randall and Christy, and it was awesome hearing Elder Black testify of his experience with the missionaries and how he came to know that the Book of Mormon and all of this is true. It was a powerful lesson. We are so lucky to serve around such Incredible missionaries!! What made that exchange even better is that right before we taught that lesson, we had dinner with some members of the ward that made us a huge platter of homemade sushi and a huge pan of all you can eat gyoza. I know it might go against the doctrine of fasting, but it is so much easier to teach people when you feel fat and happy :)

The other exchange I went on was with Elder Powell from Logan, Utah. Literally everything we had scheduled for that day cancelled on us either that day or the day before (including dinner), so it was pretty interesting. We spent lots of time getting lost in the boonies and talking to some wonderful children of God that really don't want their front porches touched. In situations like that when people reject you harshly or when your just having a bad day, it helps me remember why I'm doing what I'm doing. I have one of the greatest messages of all time to share, and if people sic their dogs on me, I did my part. And nothing is going to keep me from moving on. 

So Elder Jarvis and I usually end our nights star gazing in the Finch's back yard and talking about life and everything else. One of the things we've been talking a lot about lately is why we do what we do. Whether it's sports, serving a mission, or finding a job, why do we do what we do? What are we trying to accomplish? It all comes back to happiness. In every action, we are searching for happiness, even if we may not recognize that we are. Sometimes that happiness comes later down the road, and sometimes we are looking in the wrong places for  a fleeting happiness, but in missionary work and in the gospel, it takes a big picture view. A view that encompasses everything of long-term worth. And we call that view the Plan of Happiness :) So remember the "why" behind your whats. It will make life a lot easier and way more enjoyable. I'm without Facebook, my family, and every other worldly kind of entertainment, but I'm the happiest I've ever been. The plan works, my friends!

So that's life right now! Things are looking up, neither of us are getting transferred, and life is good! Love you all!

Peace and blessin's,

Elder Moser

 

Miracles on Miracles!

August 8, 2016

It's been a week to remember, my friends. 

Elder Jarvis and I are seriously loving everything about this area and about living with the Finches! I think the biggest problem we had this past week was when the maids took our dish sponge and didn't replace it... So yeah, we are definitely struggling a bit. But other than that, everything is great! It has also been really cool seeing how our new method of planning has been affecting the work. We were busy all week long and always had something to do! Not to mention some crazy awesome miracles!

Last week we the coolest part member couple. Christy (who just won a fight with cancer) is a member, and her husband, Randall, is not. We went into the lesson with pretty average expectations since it was our first meeting with them, but it was seriously one of the most memorable lessons I have ever been in. We talked mainly about prayer and about how we can receive revelation for ourselves, and Christy pretty much testified the whole time. When we asked Randall if he would pray before we left, he got super nervous and we could tell that it was going to be a challenge to get him to do it. But as we talked with him and his wife, we just shared our love for them and helped him understand that prayer is for him, not for us. Randall has met with missionaries several times before, but that was the first time he had ever prayed out loud in his life. The spirit was so strong, and we felt so good about it. We weren't pushing him to pray, we were helping him pray because we love that family and want him to experience it as well. We could tell Randall felt the spirit, maybe for the first time in his life, and it was just an awesome lesson that pretty much left Elder Jarvis and I leaving thinking "what just happened." It was incredible. We really feel like Randall could be the ward's next baptism. I love missions.

The YSA branch is seeing some miracles, too. Last week, we got a referral for a 19 year old guy named Joseph. We had a lesson with him, and he totally understood everything he had read in the Book of Mormon since the Elders gave him a copy a few days before. He is super smart, very open, and he keeps his commitments. We also gave him a tour of the church and put him on date for the 27th of August! He also plays the guitar, so we spent a few minutes at the end of our first lesson going back and forth. Good times. 

On Wednesday night, we got a call from an older sister in a nearby ward saying that she wanted to bring a family friend, Max, to YSA on Sunday. He's 23 years old, and he has quite the story. Max is really athletic and was a star soccer player, but a few years ago he had a stroke that took all that away from him. He has had to learn how to do a lot of simple things over again, but has totally recovered. He's pretty quiet now, but he seems like a great guy. We have to take things slow with him since he comes from a very devout Catholic family, but he's coming to FHE tonight, so that will be good for him. We are loving YSA right now! 

This week, I found out that our ward mission leader's wife, Sister Meusborn, is from Liberty, Missouri and lived there the same time I did. That means that her parents were in our ward probably. Also, I found out that Sister Summer's parents live like 4 houses down from my grandparents in St. Anthony. Not only that, but I totally went to their house last year for a neighborhood party. So yep, this world is a strange place. 

We had Mission Leadership Council last week, and President Lewis asked me during lunch if I would play and sing "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go" before the departing testimonies, which totally destroyed my plans for relaxing during the meeting. Good times. Other than that, that was the week. It was definitely a quality one!

Peace and blessin's,

Elder Moser