Giant Bears and Pit-Bulls (again)

April 10, 2017


Today is my "six months to going home" mark. That's all I'm going to say about that.

It was kind of a crazy week last week.

For starters, we were on a 3 day exchange with the zone leaders from The Dalles, Oregon, from Sunday night to Wednesday night. It was pretty sweet having a full house for a while! It was also good catching up with Elder Bird. 

Sorry I'm not smiling in any of these pictures. I'm addicted to mean muggin'.

Exchanges with Elder North. I took him out tracting his first day in the field 9 months ago. Such a stud.
We toured this guy's crazy looking tree house.

We had MLC this week, and Elder King and I gave a training on how we can DO more with our instigators for them to keep their commitments, as was taught to us by Elder Uceda last month.It was pretty fun. We borrowed a brand-new CPR dummy (who we nicknamed Alma the Younger) from a member, and then had different missionaries who don't know how to do CPR come up and try to do it after just listening to us talk about it. Then, we had them do it with us. Obviously, they did way better when we did it with them and talked them through the process. Our teaching should be the same way.

Talking is easy, but it isn't teaching. The more we do, the more they will progress.

Our investigator are all doing so well! It was a tougher week to meet with them all, but they are still on track. Matt and his family is doing great! We really wanted to get them to come to church yesterday, so we asked them if it would be alright if we came to their house at 7:00 to wake them up for 8:30 church. When we got to their house on Sunday morning, Matt was awake and ironing his church clothes. Sarah (his fiance), Calvin (his 16 y.o.) and Curtis (his 2 y.o.) were all sill asleep; so Elder King and I put together this improv routine that we call "The Wake-Up Dance." We spent a good 10 minutes going between each of the rooms dancing and signing, giving them each glasses of fresh water, and encouraging them to come to church. In the end, only Matt and Curtis came; but we had a lesson with them last night, and they ALL committed themselves to go next week. Their family is changing so much! They are all praying as a family, and you can see the light in them. I love their family!

We couldn't teach Carolina and Hector last week, but we still got to visit for a few minutes with a convert family that has agreed to have them over in their home for future lessons. The member father, Brother Plata, also new Hector from local MMA and is already friends with him, so that makes our job easier!

Evelyn is still on-date for the 18th. Their family was in Seattle this week and didn't come to church, but we challenged them to visit the temple while they were there and will be following up with her tonight. Her mom still wants to come to church with her before she is baptized since she will be the only member in her family after her baptism.

Sister Ray. Ahh, good ol' sister Ray. We are still teaching her, and she is making big

changes in her life. She has been clean for almost 2 weeks now, which is huge for her. The fact that both of her legs are broken makes that pretty easy, I guess. 

Last week, we met another crazy guy. Like, next level crazy. Elder King and I were trying to hold in our laughter the entire time. Here's a snippet:

Guy: "Yeah, I was born in Jerusalem."

Us: "Really? That is so cool!"

Guy: "Yeah, about 2,000 years ago. In the middle ages."

Us:"...Wow. That was a long time ago. What was it like living in the middle ages?"

Guy: "Eh, you know. Blasphemy... Oceans... Giant serpents who's souls I lived off of."

We then picked his brain for a few more minutes, and he told us all about how several years ago he was shot in the back of the head by a laser gun by what he calls "the automated God." Such a spiritual conversation.

Another crazy story: Last night, after visiting one of our investigators, Ana Marie, we were driving away from her apartment complex when we saw her bolting across an empty lot. "Where could she possibly be going??" Then, she turned around and started running towards the road when a massive pit-bull, HER massive pit-bull, ran right in front of our truck. I slammed on the brakes, but THUMP. We hit the dog. Hard. We stared at each other in amazement at what had just happened, and then quickly jumped out of the truck to see what happened. As it turns out, the dog didn't end up under the wheel, but ran into the side of our truck full-sprint and dented our vehicle. Insane. The dog is okay, though.

Damage from the pit-bull incident of  '17

Whether it's pit-bull slams or kneeling in family prayer with our investigator families, the work moves forward. We are loving it :)

Peace and Blessin's,

Elder Moser

Sunday meetings with Yakima 3rd ward. (With Reginna?)

Pictures of  Mission Leadership Training, courtesy of Sister Lewis' blog:

Official greeters.

"Called to Serve Him!"

Shall we show you how this is to be done?

Taking notes.

Lunch Break

Lugging Boxes in the background.

Stapling the newsletters.

And that's a wrap!

Sasquatches, Teaching in the Hood, and Memories!

April 3, 2017 

​We got Sister Call pretty good this morning. I'll have to tell the story later :)

From Sister Lewis: "Between General Conference sessions, the APs came to help us
prepare for MLC this next week.  We took a quick break for food."

This past week has been one of the craziest/most fun/most memorable/most spiritual weeks of my life. 

Buckle in.

Last Monday, we had the sweet opportunity to exchange with the Omak Zone Leaders. Omak is about 4 hours north, an hour away from the Canadian border. I was so excited to go to Omak because 1. The Omak Elders are legit and 2. I

haven't been on exchanges to Omak since I was being trained in Coulee Dam!

Elder Harman and I, just

waiting for the keys to the apartment.

We saw some pretty cool parts of the mission on the way up that I haven't seen before, including Lake Chelan, Brewster, and some other pretty little towns. Our exchanges with the Omak Elders were awesome. Even though it was still central Washington, it didn't feel like it. I didn't realize it before - but northern Washington is crazy! The people are super cool and have crazy life stories, the scenery is beautiful, and it just felt like another country. I was with Elder Harman, and we had a blast talking to people and even got into a few houses while tracting. We stayed in Omak through Tuesday and left Wednesday morning to make it back to Yakima before District Council. I'll include some pictures of our adventure. We even drove through Coulee Dam on the way back! It felt so good to be back on the reservation, and it was fun being a tour guide to Elder King who kept saying "What?? What is this place?? Are we still in our mission?! This is so cool!" He is right. I didn't fully appreciate it while I was there, but Coulee Dam is unlike any other place. 

Welcome to Omak. These elders are absolutely hilarious.

Driving through my old area!
 Had to take a picture next to the Squatch

Our week was seriously PACKED with amazing things. On Wednesday, we had a lesson with our 12 year old investigator, Evelyn, and she has finally committed herself to be baptized on the 18th. We talked to her last night, and she said that even though she is ready, her mom wants to also be ready, and that she is going to start coming with her to church. Probably to make sure we are not brainwashing her, but hopefully this will be the perfect opportunity to teach the whole family.

On Thursday, we were on Exchanges with Wenatchee. The came down to Yakima this time, and we both split up and worked our area the whole day. Oh. My. Goodness. So many amazing things. One of the highlights of the night was when Elder Cannon and I taught a recent convert in our ward, Reggina, and her entire family as well as her cousin, grandma, and uncle. There were about 6 of them total, and they have been wanting to meet with us because they say that they have seen a huge change in Reggina and want to know what that change is. We had a really good restoration lesson with them, and they are an board with it all. They all wanted to come to church this week! 

We picked up a former investigator named Matt Palmer this week. He is awesome. Since the missionaries taught him last, he has quit smoking and he really wants to come back to church and be baptized. His wife is a less active member, but he has a son that is also a non-member. They are an awesome family and we have already taught them several times and have a great relationship with them. In Matt's prayer one night, he prayed and thanked God for having us come over, and that even though he says that a lot, that he really means it. Such a great family!​

​Elder Cannon and I reppin' the streets

We also taught Carolina and Hector a few times last week, and they are SO COOL! Milo, their two year old, is my best friend now and Aubree, their nine year old, keeps them accountable to read and pray as a family. Every time we kneel in prayer with their family at the end of a lesson, the spirit is so strong. I already love them. Tonight we will be teaching them again and talking about baptism.

Conference was incredible! We had 2 of our investigators watch it with members, Evelyn and Kelly, the one who is trying to quit smoking. We loved the talk about taking the missionaries seriously. Not that they aren't taking us seriously, but it was such a perfect talk for them to hear! 

We picked up a new part member family this week, Angela (the member) and Bryan. Angela called us the day of transfers a few weeks ago and immediately said this:

"Hello, my name is Angela and a few days ago I jumped out of a 3 story window and shattered both of my legs. My husband and I are stuck at home and we want to take the lessons again."

Classic Yakima.

Angela is a recent convert of about 5 years, and Bryan is a Blackfoot Indian. They have a crazy story that I don't have time to tell, but Angela has been on every kind of hard drug for several years now. She was on hard drugs when she jumped out of the window a few weeks ago, and that is what woke her up. She is incredible. She has such a strong desire to feel the happiness the gospel has given her again, and she is so sincere and kind. It's sad to see how drugs have flipped her life around. Right now, she is on bed rest and lives in a really bad living situation. Like their room in the apartment is just a corner with some blankets hung across the ceiling. It is so small, that I had to sit on their bed while Elder King sat in the bathroom to teach them. But it is in those circumstances that help us realize that the gospel really is for everyone. There are a lot of people here that need the gospel, and it excites us that so many are willing to not only listen, but to change. 

The gospel is simple and powerful. It can change anyone and can be taught by two snot-nosed kids who only have room to teach from bathroom. I love the people here in Yakima. I love the way I've felt being here. I love being a missionary!

Love you all!

Elder Moser

Banks lake! Still in the Coulee Dam area

During his time of year, there are several waterfalls that go down the Coulee walls. So pretty.

Dry Falls. We talked to the guy in the visitor's center about the
Book of Mormon :)

Exchanges, Baptisms, and Exchanges!

March 27, 2017

Writing Home

It's been a great week!

On Tuesday, Elder King and I drove the Enterprise (the mission 15 passenger van) with a load of new missionaries and their trainers up to Quincy for a Doctrine of Chist meeting, which is the 2nd part of a new missionary's training.

​The drive to Quincy

It was really cool! I haven't been to that meeting for several months, but I learned a lot about teaching the doctrine simply. I also got to meet a lot of new missionaries! That night, we visited a referral from the Spanish branch for a young family that showed up on Sunday out of the blue. The parents, Hector and Carolina, are looking for a good environment to raise their 2 year old son, Milo. Carolina remembers going to the Mormon church with her friends when she was young, so she is ready to give it another shot! We feel really good about that family. The spirit was definitely in there home, even though Milo was running all over the place like the chunky little stud he is. Such a cool family.

On Wednesday, the Ephrata Zone Leaders came down to Yakima to exchange. I was with Elder Burbank from New Mexico. We had a great time! It has been pretty weird for me to be in an area with tons of people and to have opportunities to talk to people on the street, but I love it. Elder Burbank and I met tons of cool and crazy people. We are especially excited about a big black guy named Pastor Daniel that said that his wife is a member from Bountiful Utah. He also said that he sometimes teaches from the Book of Mormon because it is the word of God. Prepared? We'll find out!

On Thursday, we went on exchanges with the Yakima Zone Leaders in Cottonwood Canyon. I was with the Elder that took my place when I left, Elder Ranta.

He is an amazing missionary! We had several lessons throughout the day with some awesome people, including one part member family who's wife will soon be baptized. It was a fun day, and I loved being back in my old area seeing some of my favorite members. We even saw Tim and Jen Darnell, the family who almost got baptized until the wedding fell through. Its a long story. But they seem happier and healthier than ever, and I'm sure they will be back on date soon! The four of us ended the night at the Finch's house with some Tim-Tam Slams (look it up) and some star gazing out on the trampoline before going to bed. It was a great time :)

On Saturday, we drove to Moses Lake for round three of exchanges. We were pretty tired by then, but of course we had an amazing time

Varinder Singh's baptism.
​Elder Poloncic was too far away to come :(

. I was with an old missionary friend, Elder Bawden. Some great things are happening in that area as well, even though they have just been doubled in. It was sooo good being back, even though I've only been gone for a few days. Elder King also served in Moses Lake, so we were pretty nostalgic. :) Also, Varinder Singh got baptized! Woohoo! Overall, a great day. Even though the Ward Mission Leader never showed up and I got to conduct the service. I felt like a bishop up there. Haha.

It's been hard to keep everything straight the past few days because so much happens every single week. We are seeing some great thing in our area, though. Evelyn joined us for a FHE at the Gilman's house last night, and we had a fun lesson about prophets and General Conference.

We are both having a blast talking to some of the coolest people! I don't even have time to mention them, but I'm learning a ton. I love Central Washington :)

Love you all!

Peace and Blessin's,

Elder Moser

The Moses Lake Krew...

Because one isn't enough.