Four Zone Conferences in Four days.

May 9, 2017, Zone Conference #1

All pictures are courtesy of Sister Lewis.

Setting up for ZC #1 this week. Yakima Selah.

Passing out cleaning supplies.

Zone mission photo

Post ZC leadership meeting #1

May 10, 2017, Zone Conference #2

Setting up ZC #2, held in Moses Lake for the Othello, Moses Lake and Ephrata Zones.

Crazy group photo.

Post ZC leadership meeting.

May 11, 2017, Zone Conference #3

Zone Conference #3, Wenatchee with the Omak and Wenatchee Zones

Zone Group Photo, Omak and Wenatchee Zones

Post ZC leadership training.

May 12, 2017, ZC #4

Ready for ZC #4, Toppenish with the Yakima Valley Spanish and  Dalles Zones

Zone photo YV and Dalles

Gospel Principles game that Elder King won 4 days in a row.

Some old friends, now companions.

Post ZC leadership training #4.

Zone Conference x4

 When Sandra and Hannah (Previously Sister Atkinson and Sister Rasmussen) came back to visit!

Matt, Sarah, Calvin (16), Curtis (2), and Josephine (2 mo.) looking good at church :)

Rainy Wenatchee

May 15, 2017

It was soooo good to see you all yesterday! That was a great Skype call to end on. You all look so good! The handshake was taught to us by Elder Hamblin who is serving in the same ward as us. We still need some practice :)

This is going to be the shortest email of all time because zone conferences were all last week. On Tuesday, we had zone conference in Yakima. Then, we went to Moses Lake that night to set up for the next day. After Moses Lake Zone Conference Wednesday, and after a tender mercy that allowed Elder King and I to see all of our favorite Moses Lake members, we left for Wenatchee to spend the night with the Wenatchee Zone Leaders and set up for the next day. Then we had our Thursday conference, left that night and set up for the lower half of the mission zone conferences in Toppenish. 

And then poof: It was Saturday.

On Saturday, I was on exchanges back in the good old Cottonwood Canyon ward in Yakima! Elder Hoskins and I had a super fun time and I also got to see some of my favorite members. I love that ward. Some of the funnest people ever. Elder Hoskins and I, along with Elder King and Elder Hughes, also stargazed out on the trampoline that night in true Cottonwood Canyon fashion. It was a blast. 

Sunday was the best. Elder King and I saw some incredible miracles, even though we didn't spend very much time in our area last week. We had 8 investigators at church: Evelyn and her mom, Matt and Sarah and their whole family, a new investigator named Ann, and even DAVID. The Jesus look-alike. We went out of the doors after the sacrament to head to another ward to help with a confirmation, and their was David, sitting with his friend Nina and her uncle, Billy! In that very moment, we flashed back to the moment we met David on his doorstep, when his opening line was "you'll never convince me." We could not believe he was actually there. To us, it was hilarious. But we gladly helped him and his crew find a seat in the chapel! David still isn't interested in the church, but it is so cool to see how the gospel softens hearts and builds friendships -- even if they don't accept it right away. It's the coolest. 

After hearing the same message four times at all of the zone conferences, I learned a lot. I could say a lot about everything that was said, but the biggest thing that stuck out to me was how easy it is to feel like a failure on a mission if you measure the wrong things. There is so much good accomplished by every missionary that serves obediently, but most of it is unseen. There is no way to measure success unless you look at your heart. The Savior cares most about where our hearts are. And when ever my heart has been in the right place, that is when I have found the most joy; regardless of whether or not we are seeing the evidence of our work. 

Love you all!

Peace and blessings, 

Elder Moser

We saw a bunch of Chinooks this week. I think these are Chinooks.

​The Moses Lake Krew

The Wenatchee Krew

Stake Conference Weekend!

Mission Leadership Council May 2, 2017

May 8, 2017

Hello.

Our week was... well, 7 days. Lol. But it was a very productive one!

On Tuesday after MLC, we had exchanges with the new Ephrata zone leaders, who were just recently doubled in. The highlight of our time was when they helped us put up 100 more glow in the dark stars in our bedroom, which we now call the "deep space room" because that is pretty much what it feels like. 

Our investigators are doing so well! Nisha, the 14 year old, is on date for next week -- but we will have to move that back because we unfortunately won't be in our area that much next week. So that's too bad. But her parents, even though they aren't interested, are supportive of her and we know she will be baptized soon.

We started working with a PMF this week, teaching their non-member 11 year old son, Aden. He's hilarious. He loves Minecraft and he loves to skip school, so we have been helping him with that, too. He also named his pet sheep in Minecraft Elder Moser. He is on-date for May 27th!

Yesterday was stake conference, and Evelyn, her mom, and her younger sister all came with her! This is a big deal, because we have been trying forever to get her mom to come, since she wanted to come before she let Evelyn get baptized. She was shocked at how many babies there were at church and wants to come to the normal ward next week to show off her 4 month old. We are working with Evelyn towards May 27th as well. :) Matt and his whole family were supposed to come to conference as well, but they got distracted by a duck park and did that instead. Lame. It makes me sad that they didn't come, because the talks were literally perfect. Except for one talk that started rambling about the original translations of Isaiah, they were all about conversion. One lady especially stood out, who shared with everyone her story of how she started investigating all these different churches when she was 12 -- basically she has the same story as Evelyn. So cool!

One of the highlights from our week was when we tracted into a guy named David. David kinda looks like Jesus. Long hair, scruffy face, and a younger guy. He is probably the most natural guy ever. Like he would live in the forest if he could. He also doesn't believe in God, but believes in almost all of the same values we do. When we first met him, he was so confused as to why we wanted to come back when he obviously wouldn't change; but after meeting with him a few times, we are best friends with David. He has taught us so much about life. He has done it all. He knows what works and what doesn't work in life, and it is interesting to him that the gospel way of living is the short cut to the knowledge that he has gained form some painful experiences. We have had some fun experiences with him, from teaching us gymnastics, to jamming out on the guitar with him. We even had a church tour with him yesterday, something we never thought he would be open too when we first met him. It is just so cool to see how the gospel softens hearts!

Love ya'll!

Peace and blessin's,

Elder Moser

Ye Olde Mission Home.

This little old Indonesian lady dragged us into her apartment on exchanges to show us everything. 

Adios, Amigos.

Welcoming Parties and Tucker the Tacoma

"So Mary is the mother of Jesus, right?

And Jesus is the Lamb of God, right?

So did Mary have a little lamb?" -Sister Thayer

I'll be here every Monday, folks. 

MAY 1, 2017

This week was cool.

Last Monday, we spent the evening hours at the mission home with the 11 missionaries who are now home. RIP. Not going to lie, it was super sad seeing them leave, because they were all really good at what they did AND they were the sister missionaries that came out with me. I always said that I would feel old when the sisters I came out with go home, so yeah. The arthritis and back pains are on their way.

Even though we lost 11 sisters on Monday, we welcomed 4 new sisters straight

Giving the mission home tour, Ft. Hermana Young

from the MTC on Tuesday morning. We spent the day pretending to know everything about the Washington Yakima Mission, and had a great time hyping up everything -- from the beauty of the orchards and vineyards in central Washington, to the enormous bathroom attached to President and Sister Lewis's room. That was pretty much our whole day; welcoming the new missionaries and learning more about them. It was super fun, even though we ran out of time to play spike ball. 

Wednesday was transfer day! We spent most of the day driving from Yakima to Quincy and then back again. After driving back, we helped with a trainer/trainee meeting for all the new missionaries. We have also welcomed a "new" missionary to the Yakima 3rd ward crew, since their are 4 missionaries serving including us. His name is Elder Hamblin, he's been out for 9 months, and we love him. He is a lacrosse player, and fits right in with our shenanigans. We can't wait for him to have the full 3rd ward experience!

Aight, time for some updates. Evelyn is a rock. She is soo converted. We committed her to pray with her mom every night, and she has been doing it! She also surprised us in one of our lessons last week when she told us that she want's to serve a mission and be the next "Jerald," our recent convert that comes out with us sometimes. Too cool. Her mom still hasn't been coming to church, but as soon as she does, she will be baptized. We are all praying for May!

We picked up a new investigator named Tanisha last week, a 12 year old girl that came to church with her neighbors on Easter. Her home situation is pretty bad, but we are teaching her at the park and she has a ton of good questions. She's a lot like Evelyn in the fact that she's pretty mature for 12 years old. She has also been collecting a stack of religious books for the past few months because her family is into a lot of gang related stuff but she doesn't want that. She is on date for may 13th, and we honestly think she will be baptized!

Matt Palmer and his family are all still coming to church every week. We love them. Last week, we made each of them a prayer rock and put up some signs in their house reminding them to pray, since Matt is the only one who has been reading. It's been incredible to see the amount of progress they have made! When we went to their house on Sunday morning to wake them up with our pan-flute dance, they were up and running! They have a wedding date for August, but we are still praying that it can be moved closer. 

The mission is on fire right now. We beat our mission goal for baptisms for the second time this year in April, and the excitement is felt everywhere!

Some other cool things: Elder King and I are driving a brand new 2017 Tacoma named Tucker for a few weeks while ours is in the shop. Also, we have been upping our apartment game one week at a time. This past week, we put 280 glow in the dark stars in our bedroom and it is honestly the smartest purchase we have ever made. 

That's life, everybody. I love it here. I have seen people's lives change like you wouldn't believe. I honestly can't wait to be best friends with everybody I've met when I get home! 

Meeting their new companions.

Would you believe me if I told you that this was just our ceiling? Yeah, most people wouldn't.

While Pres Lewis finished the interviews, we talked about the mission and what the areas are like. 

This afternoon after a few hours out being missionaries, these Sisters returned to us and we met and talked about their experiences and what they learned.