Window Sill Gardens, Hindus at Church, and Miracles Stacked on Miracles!

February 20, 2017

The Moses Lake Zone is blowing up! We had 3 baptisms in the zone last week, and faith is high.

I think I may have started a trend. So lately in the zone, it has been super wintery and stuff, and everyone is sick of it. So last p-day, I bout some seeds, and right now, I'm growing a little egg-carton garden in our window sill. It's pretty sweet. Maybe by the time I go home I'll be able to eat some of them. Haha.

I don't have a ton of time to write, so I'm just going to highlight some of the miracles that we saw this week:

On Friday after our weekly planning session, Elder Poloncic and I decided to stop by a media referral that did not sound solid at all. It didn't have any information except for a time to stop by, a name, and a boonie address. As soon as we pulled into her driveway, she pulled in right behind us. Normally, this would be awkward; and, actually, pretty standard for us. But as soon as she got out to greet us, she said, "I've been wondering when you guys would show up! Come on in!" Elder Poloncic looked back and gave me one of those "what's going on" faces, and I gave him an "I don't know, but I like it" face. She welcomed us in, sat us down, and introduced herself as Chloe. She told us that her friend just got back from her mission, and that she told her that the missionaries in her area had something to tell her. We then had what you would call a "perfect lesson," which is when the person you are teaching is super easy to teach and answers perfectly to all of your questions, The District style. She understands everything super well, and accepts it all, especially the priesthood authority and the Book of Mormon. I especially love her description of the Book of Mormon: "If your favorite artists comes out with an album that you love, would you be betraying that artist if you bought any future albums?" Golden. Chloe is just super down to earth and really normal, which isn't normal for us, if you know what I mean. She also grew up with all of the members in the area and even went to church with her member friends when she was a kid. When we invited her to be baptized on March 25th, she said "It's about time someone asked me!" Chloe is in her mid 20's and has a husband named Travis who she wants to sit down with us. Such a cool person.

That same day, we had a church tour with Varinder Singh and his Dad, Kuntar. Varinder (We call him Singh) is super proud of his switch over to Christianity, and wanted to show his dad everything. Singh has been to church before, so he translated for his dad as we showed him around the building. His family is Hindu, and there is a definite language barrier, but they are supporting Singh with everything. His dad thought it was funny that we went to church in a courthouse. Haha. On Sunday, Singh, his father, mother, friend, and friend's daughter all came to the YSA. It was awesome! The whole family didn't stay for the whole block, but Singh and his Dad came back for gospel principles after dropping the rest of the family off back home. Singh is back on date for March 11th and is on fire!

Our other investigators are doing well. Jessie is still on date for March 25th and has been sending us texts about the things he is reading. He has a hard time making it to church with all of his other commitments, but he is trying. John and Jessie are hard to meet with. We see them pretty regularly, but it is impossible to have set lessons with them because Jessie is feeling sicker and sicker as the days go. She said that she will be better in March.

On Saturday, we had exchanges with the AP's in Yakima. It was super fun being back in the valley, and I loved being out in the streets with Elder King. We had such a fun time meeting sooo many different kinds of people out in the rain. I love diversity. It's so fun :) 

We spoke in 11th ward Yesterday. Elder Poloncic spoke on hopes and desires, and I spoke on goals and plans. I didn't realize this before my mission, but I am super motivated by goals and plans. It is the coolest thing to me that when we want something to happen, we have the power within us to make that thing happen. D&C 58. Read it. When we show God that we have righteous goals, he will help us in our plans to reach those goals. I shared my experience with We the People in my talk, and how even though we did everything in our power to get in to the top 10, it didn't happen. Our lives are like that, too. Sometimes, we don't hit exactly where we want to go. But when we look behind us, we can recognize how far we've come, and we can feel confident about it. And the gospel is here to help us the whole time :)

Sorry for the novel of an email. At least I know that my mother will smile favorably upon me today.

Love you all!

Peace and Blessin's, 

Elder Moser

The Whole World is in Moses Lake!

February 13, 2017

It has been a crazy week with some awesome experiences!

Last Monday, we got to have dinner with a part member family, Lance and Linda, that we tracted into a few weeks ago. They are some of the nicest people we have ever met! We weren't even planning on having dinner on Monday, but they texted us right before and invited us over for dinner and a lesson. After getting to know them a little bit better, they asked if we wanted to go through the pamphlet that we gave them a few weeks ago, which they both had read. We talked about modern day prophets and the Book of Mormon, and they were both very intrigued. However, even though they loved the conversation and were very respectful, they told us that they are happy where they are. We can tell that they aren't ready for change yet, but we are glad that we have made some good friends with some great people.

Tuesday was MLC, which meant a road trip with some of the Northern missionaries down to Yakima. The meeting itself was one of the most inspiring that I've been to, because everyone in the mission is excited to promote the new schedule and simplified Key Indicators. All the missionaries really feel like we now have a more focused vision of our purpose. In simplified terms, we're stoked out of our minds. The trip back to Moses Lake took forever because of some of the stops we had to make, but we got Red Robin out of it. So we were happy :)

Singh is back on the radar! Singh has been impossible to get a hold of for the past month or so, but on Wednesday night, he called us out of the blue and asked us to come over to his new home to meet his friends and family from India. It was super fun! I finally got to meet Singh in person. His family was pretty cool, too. I'm not trying to stereotype them or anything, but his dad, Kuntar, literally looked like the Sultan from Aladdin. So cool. He sat us down to talk with the family for a while, and Singh apologized for not meeting his baptismal date a few months ago. Now that he has a stable house and his family is here from India, he feels like he'll be able to take the time to have the lessons again. He also asked if we could take his family on a church tour this week! His mom also brought us out some Incredible Indian food for dinner, including Naan bread with this spicy meat "gravy" stuff that you dip it in. There were also some sweet hot pickled Mangos and Lemons that you use to spice up your meal. He also gave us some sugar cane candy that you can only get in India. It was really fun getting to meet his family and to experience a little bit of his home life, and we are so excited to start teaching him again!

We had a pass-off lesson with Greg last week, our Jamaican non-YSA. He is doing really well, and is very committed to finding the truth. I just love his bright attitude and his love for God! All of us could be a little more like Greg in that way. 

Jessie and John, our Part-member family, are doing well. We had several planned appointments with them last week, but they all fell through because Jessie is up and down a lot in her healing process. I can't blame her, though. I guess open-heart surgery can do that to people. She keeps telling us to not give up on her, and we won't. We're just praying she gets feeling better!

This week, Elder Poloncic and I had a cool experience with a YSA that we were teaching a few months ago. We dropped him because he wasn't very committed, but we both had a feeling that we should go and drop by last week. So we did, and some awesome things followed:

1. Jessie has been humbled.

2. We had a church tour and one of the deepest conversations I have ever had with him.

3. Jessie is now on date for March 25th and is excited to be baptized!

So yeah, people change.  And the gospel is for everyone!

Elder Poloncic and I have acquired a lot of interesting stories from this week, including high centering Becky (our van) on the top of a hill on a snow bank while trying to find a less-active family, tracting into some crazies, etc, etc. But one of our favorites was when we decided to tract a little bit in the new apartment home complex that is being built in our area for all of the Japanese Mitsubishi workers that are moving to Moses Lake. Within a few doors, we had some outrageously funny conversations with some Japanese people that know very little Engrish. Er, English. They were super friendly people, though, and it was fun talking to them even though neither we nor they had any clue what was going on. We are thinking about starting up an English class at the church, because all of these workers will be here for at least 2 years and they literally live right down the street from the church building. Should be fun!

The Moses Lake zone has seen some incredible miracles this past week. We have 4 baptisms for this week, and people that are ready to be baptized are being found all over the place. Everyone is working hard, and is excited to see what this year will bring as we move into the warmer months. The fog has finally lifted as well, and it's blue skies all around!

Have a great week everyone! :)

Peace and Blessins,

Elder Moser

 The bottom is when Kuntar showed me how to write Elder Moser in Punjabi.
 The top writing is his wife's name because that's what he thought I asked him to write at first haha

Poloncic

Mission Leadership Conference

Feb 7, 2017

The Mission Family Card door.

Stake Conference and Muricles

February 6, 2017

Elder Poloncic:  Elder Moser always takes time to listen to you.  He has a big heart.  He is an amazing singer.Elder Moser:  Elder Poloncic is super obedient.  I love his sense of humor and ability to have fun.  He cares about everyone.

To start off, we have some good but sad news. Greg, our Jamaican YSA, is actually not a YSA. The other day, we were having a lesson with him when he started throwing around the word "wife." So we asked him, "Wait, Greg, how old are you?"

"I'm 34."

And that was the end of that conversation. Apparently Greg hasn't aged since 25 because he looks really young! He's also been meeting us at his brothers house, which we thought was his house, which is why we thought he was single -- his wife wasn't there. We're sad to pass him off to the family ward, but we think that he will thrive in it. We sat next to him at Stake Conference yesterday, and he seems to enjoy being around people! 

We had an awesome experience last week with John and Jessie, the part-member family that the ward council helped out when Jessie was in the hospital in Wenatchee after heart surgery. When we went over to their home last week, they were so grateful for the helped that they received from the ward that they sat us down and told us that they want to sincerely investigate the church. Jessie, the member, hasn't been to church since she was 9 years old, and John has never been to a Mormon church in his life. Neither of them know anything about it, so they asked for a copy of the Book of Mormon and demanded that we come back on Wednesday for a lesson. We were so surprised! Since Jessie has called herself a baptist her whole life, she is worried that her friends will think she is leaving her faith behind. But she told us that she just feels her heart pulling her this direction. It's amazing the impact a small act of service can leave on someone! It's also the coolest to see how God can humble us to lead us down the right path :)

Some awesome people have been coming out of the woodwork lately. We found another guy, Lance, who's wife is a member. He is not, but he wanted to set up an appointment to learn more about what the church is all about. I don't know why, but people are wanting to set up appointments with us these days! We'll be teaching him tonight. We also met with Janette again, another PMF who's husband is a non-member. She sounded excited but a little nervous to come back to church next week :)

It's funny the weird situations we can get ourselves in to as missionaries. For example, last week we were stopping by a potential named Miguel that Elder Poloncic met on exchanges. They let us in, and then the dad (who didn't speak any English) sat us down and grabbed his 25ish year old son Miguel and his young daughter to translate for us. We were a little confused because Miguel was acting like he couldn't speak any English, but I didn't know any better because I had never met him before. Finally, Miguel said (with his sister translating): "so why do you come here?"

Long pause.

Elder Poloncic: "Oooohhhhh I don't think you're the Miguel we're looking for."

Apparently they moved a few days earlier. 

Also, we tracted out this really run down camper trailer park out in the boofoo and met some super interesting children of God. It was a total throw-back to my time in Coulee Dam. I actually kind of miss places like that and the stories that are just waiting to be told :)

It's been a great week! Exciting things are happening in our area, and we have been able to feel the spirit work within our companionship. It has been an amazing experience to serve!

Have a great week!

Peace and Blessin's,

Elder Moser

Preparing for a day of interviews.

Famous poster every missionaries signs.

Soup dinner before Moses Lake Stake Conference.

President Mike and Sister Yvonne Tolley and President Lewis. The Tolley's knew
my parents during medical residency in New York.

When I try to be cool. haha!

Pre-transfer Fro-yo.

Elder Quast and I are reunited!
 I accidentally looked a little too crazy in this one, sorry

Transfers!

January 30, 2017

So before I dive into this email, everyone should know that I forgot my planner from last week at the apartment... So I'm going to do my best!

Last week was pretty "lit" as the kids say.

Tender mercy of the week: About 6 weeks ago, we received a super not solid referral from the YSA sisters for someone with no name or address; all they had was a phone number. So we called the number, and they guy who answered (1) was really hard to understand and (2) did't sound solid at all. His name was Greg, and he just did not sound interested. We tried to set up an appointment, but he said that he would give us a call later. So we were like "whatever." Then, last week, he called us out of the blue and said that he actually did want to meet with us. So we did, and Greg is LEGIT. He's in his mid-20's and he's from Jamaica. I Can't remember why/how he got here, but he is a super humble guy that just sincerely loves God. He expressed to us that he wants to know who God really is, because he wants to give him the most respect possible. Before we left that lesson, he always referred to God as Heavenly Father, and it seemed to really connect with him. We are super excited to keep working with him!

Donny, the 9 year old that we tracted into a few weeks ago, is doing well. He has officially been passed off to 8th ward, and he is like my idol. When we tried to set a date for Feb. 25th, he said that he wanted to get baptized on Feb. 11th instead. What a stud! We just hope that 8th ward can really take him under their wing, because he doesn't have very much family support. 

Last week we also had a cool experience with a part-member family that we tracted into. Jessie is a member, and her husband, John, isn't. They both live in a little rv and are in a very tight financial situation. He told us that his wife was in Wenatchee and needed to be picked up after open-heart surgery, and that he had $7.45 for the trip up but didn't have enough money for gas on the way back. We asked the ward council last Sunday if they could help him out, and they jumped at the opportunity. Two members met him at the gas station to top him off last Monday morning, and then gave him another $20 for the trip. Then yesterday, in ward council, the member that filled his tank showed us a text from John expressing how grateful he was that they helped their family out. John even offered to work to pay it off and to come to church to meet the ward. It was a really good experience to be a part of, because they are very humble and so grateful :)

Welp, transfers are in two days and E. Poloncic and I are staying together. Holla. And we get to keep the YSA, even though we thought it was going to be moved to a different companionship. Also, during the Worldwide Missionary Broadcast a few days ago, the Missionary Department made some changes for all of the missions in the church that we are super excited about including a longer P-Day, less Key Indicators, and scheduling changes. We are stoked!

I hope that all of you have a great week!

Peace and Blessin's,

Elder Moser

​District Lunch at Shari's.

Ya'll ain't never seen a walking area like Moses Lake 5th ward.

​Almost worked...

E'rebody is Coming to Church These Days

This weather though. 

Everything this week was cancelled due to "freezing rain." Zone Conference was cancelled and moved back twice, church got out an hour early last week, and nobody had school for the entire week. It was pretty funny, because even though the weather was pretty bad, everyone was losing their minds. Before the storm even hit, everything was shut down. So it was a week of just rolling with it. 

We had some awesome things happen this last week! About 2 weeks ago, we were tracting out in the boonies and we knocked into a young 9 year old kid named Donny. This past week, we met with him again, and Donny is the coolest little kid ever! His family life is really broken and both of his parents are making poor life decisions, but he just has so much hope. We've been teaching him with permission from his mom, and it is so much fun. Everything that we share with him is just amazing to him. When we showed him the picture of the First Vision, he just sat there staring and said "woooahhh!" We invited his family to come to yesterday's church service with us, but only Donny wanted to go. So we picked him up with a member of the ward and brought him. He was amazed by everything.

Pointing up towards the ceiling speakers in the chapel: "Are all those speakers??"

"yep."

Whispered: "Wooooaaaaahhh!"

Donny's mom is apparently a less active member, and so he's actually met missionaries from several years ago. But now he wants to get baptized, and we are super excited for him! Teaching a kid with such difficult circumstances but with such a happy attitude has been really humbling. All of us really do have a lot to be grateful for!

Our other investigators are doing well, but it is becoming easier for us to see who has a real desire. Singh hasn't been very good at keeping his appointments, so we are leaving the ball in his court. One of our other investigators in 11th ward, Ryan, told us that he doesn't really care if Joseph Smith was a prophet. We can't tell if he means that, or if he's just being a 13 year old. Either way, we're leaving it up to him too. 

Let me walk you through our Friday, because that was a fun day. Keep in mind, this was after being cancelled twice due to icey roads.

8:30 am: The Spanish Elders from Moses Lake total their car in front of the Stake Center.

9:00 pm: Inspiring zone conference stuff happens

4:00 pm: We find out that we are not road tripping to Yakima to exchange with the AP's: Instead, they are both staying in our area. However, we had made a special effort to have nothing planned for that day so that we could go down to them. #communicationskills.

The exchange started the next day. I was with one of my favorites, Elder Taele. He is so cool. However, we accidentally karate kicked my USB while switching seats in Becky, and now 2 transfers of mission pics are gone. Uncool. But I'm pretty sure I have those pictures backed up, so no worries. It took a lot for me to convince him that he wasn't the scum of the earth for doing that. But, other than that incident, we had a great time and met some really cool people, even though our plans were super impromptu. It was great!

Our whole week was like that. Just flying by the seat of our pants, or however that saying goes. What does that even mean? Anyway, yeah. Crazy. And now. Elder Poloncic and I are like the Taxi Service because we don't have enough cars for everyone to do their shopping and stuff on P-day.

During Zone Conference, President Lewis shared the video of an Interview with Aaron Ralston, the guy that got his arm crushed by a boulder and had to cut it off after 5 days to free himself. The discription of how he did it was pretty gruesome, but President Lewis made an interesting point about how our desires shape our priorities. It couldn't have been easy for him to cut his arm off right after it happened, but after days of no progress, he realized that his desire to live and see his son again greatly outweighed his desire to have a right arm. His arm wasn't a bad thing by itself -- but it was holding him back, and would have led to his death. Our lives are the same way. Are our priorities in order? Are you letting your "right arm offend thee?" What do you need to change in order to actually reach your potential and fulfill your true desires? Christ can help us cut those things away from us that are holding us back. Even though it may be hard, the desire for spiritual life will always be better than it's alternative. :) 

Love you all!

Peace and blessings,

Elder Moser

Yakima Reunited!

This is the only picture I have of our exchange with the AP's... Feat. Elder Cannon

Moses Lake Miracles!

January 16, 2017

We found some pretty cool people this week! 

We had a lesson with the Coopers this week, a family that we tracted into a while back. The dad, Kasey, is a retired navy and firefighter, and loves God. It was a pretty good lesson! We brought a recent convert of about a year with us that was also tracted into, and they seemed to really relate with each other. Kasey has his doubts about Joseph Smith, but he is willing to really study it. His wife and two teenagers were in and out of the room the whole time, but one of his kids, Makayla, got pretty involved with the lesson. So yeah, teaching is awesome. The gospel is real. People are cool. 

On Wednesday, I was on exchanges with Elder Goodwin from Las Vegas in 5th ward. 5th ward should probably be a car area because it's pretty spread out, but they have bakes instead. And, since I was on exchanges, their bikes were broken. So we walked a ton. The most populated part of their area is "The Base," which is an old military base right by the airport where people lived when they were in the service. The Base was designed to confuse enemies that tried to invade, so there are only 3 entrances to the whole thing and the roads are really confusing. The people their are pretty cool though. Very humble. By the way, it was 5 degrees outside. So me having never been in a walking area when it was that cold outside decided to wear my joggers under my slacks. 

Best. Idea. Everrrr

This week was a week of exchanges. I also went on exchanges with one of my favorite missionaries, Elder Tietjen from Mesquite Nevada. I froze my hands off again. So that's pretty much the highlight. 

Oh wait, actually the highlight was when I locked us out of our apartment in 2 degree weather. Imagine the face I would make, and that was exactly what happened. Haha. As soon as I closed the door, I just looked at Elder Tietjen and was like "yep." So then we spent a while trying to open the door with a credit card, and after a few silent prayers, it opened up. Murcles.

Our investigators are doing pretty well! This week we met with Rachel, a 13 year old part member family. We had a lesson about coming to know God. For 13 years old, she is very mature and has spent some time researching other religions. We really hope she reads and prays, because if she really wants to know God, it's as easy as that! We also met with one of our investigators in YSA, Richi. He was tracted into, and wants to know more about the gospel because he is having a hard time feeling forgiven for what he's done in the past. We taught him about how exciting it is that we have the opportunity to repent. It was an incredible lesson, and the spirit was definitely there. It made a lot of sense to me as we taught. God wants to forgive us. He wants us to be happy. Believing that is one of the first steps!

Last week in fast and testimony meeting, Lawrence, one of our 13 year old investigators, bore his testimony. The only way that I know how to describe Lawrence is this: Imagine the Prince of Belair, and don't change anything. Except make him 13. That's him. He bore a pretty funny testimony about how he prayed and made a deal with God that if his passport got here on time for his vacation, he would get up and give a "speech" next time at church. His passport came in the next day, so he got up there because he is a man of his word! :)

Some great things are happening in our area! We have been focusing a lot on goals and how they lift our vision, and this week Elder Poloncic and I hit the standard of excellence for member present lessons! We are also excited about this apartment home complex that is being built for 300 Japanese workers and their families that will be moving to Moses Lake to work on some Mitsubishi planes or something. Should be exciting! 

Have a good week everyone! Don't freeze :)

Elder Moser

Look how excited I was to be with Elder Tietjen!

​When your breath freezes on your glasses all day long