Monday, December 30, 2013

Davey sent an audio file and blogger won't let you upload an audio (you have to store it on the internet and link to it).  However, Blogger will let you upload video (go figure).  So.... I video taped the audio.

Well as you heard, Davey told us that he had a great Christmas and then he told us that he had tonsillitis.  I don't know how you can have a great Christmas and tonsillitis but that's Davey.  He sent a picture of his tonsils:

It looks bad but it might be just strep (JUST strep??).  Anyway, we looked up which doctors are in the area that take our insurance and gave him some advice on who to see and how to take care of it.

Here are some Christmas pictures he sent:

An investigators house after got kicked out and pigs over ran it.

And some thoughts he sent:

shoot so this week was great here are just some thoughts i thought you would like to read!

Legendary NFL coach Vince Lombardi said, "The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will." 

There is a tendency to slide by on "little things" or "minor rules." We either choose to be obedient or choose to be selectively obedient. If the latter, shall we expect the Lord to selectively bless us. We are not here to "serve rules." Rules are here to help us fulfill our full potential. I have learned there is safety in obedience.

i love you all and am grateful for all ya do i cant believe time has passed by so fast! NEW YEAR here i come

Love Elder Moss

Tamara asked that his audio file be transcribed:

Good afternoon family and friends.  Hey, just giving you a recording of my week.  This is Elder Moss.  So, this past week it was Christmas – heck yea – it was awesome; we had a great time.  Umm, so pretty much, umm, preparation day we did the usual, we played sports with each other and being able just to have a good time, did our laundry, just different things like that.  And then Tuesday was Christmas Eve.  And, we had a sweet breakfast with a member family.  Our whole zone got together and we did like, umm, white elephant gifts, and just, it was just a really good time; umm, ate a lot of food; so, that was good.  Then we saw some less active members, umm, later that evening.  And then of course Wednesday was Christmas (cough, cough).  And, we went over to the Hermosillos.  That’s an investigator family.  They’re getting baptized the 4^th of…so this weekend.  Umm, I’m baptizing a little, umm, (he’s ten right? yea), umm, a ten year old.  His name’s Anthony and he’s awesome. He’s… he’s just right on the ball with everything.  And then we had dinner with the Petridges.  They got us two huge boxes of Reeses Puff.  And Katelynn I just want you to know that I loved the presents which you got me, they were, they were awesome.  And them, umm, but yea we just…we opened presents.  And then we got together as a zone…and…in the evening we watched Monsters University together.  And that is a super funny movie. I loved it so much, it just made me laugh, and it was…it was just a good time.  And of course we got to talk to the family on…over Skype.  It was…that was awesome.  That was one of my…probably my fav…my highlight of the week; so, that was just good.  Umm, throughout the rest of the week, we umm, we taught a kid named Zane.  He is Hmong, and…but he speaks perfect English and he has no Christian background.  And now he is starting to believe in Jesus Christ and God and it’s really cool to see, like, staring at ground level and just building him up.  And, that’s just a really cool experience.  And then we went on exchanges.  I went with one of our district leaders and we just saw a lot of miracles just talking to everyone and just being able to invite people to be baptized.  There is a lot of miracles within their area, so that was a really cool experience.  Oh, I also found out that I have like umm (what’s it called? tonsillitis) tonsillitis, or something like that.  I don’t know, my tonsils are like super inflamed and it was just, it was nasty, I, I don’t know.  I’ll send you a picture or something, but it was gross and it’s been killing lately.  But, you just keep pushing on and keep working through it, it’s the best.  We had one investigator at church.  His name was Israel and he’s awesome.  So, hopefully he’ll keep coming.  He has a baptismal date for the 18^th.  And then, yea, I think that that’s it for now; but, the weeks going great.  I hope you all have a great New Year’s and just have a, a blast.  Remember to keep choosing the right and strengthen your testimonies every day.  Umm, and yea just have a great New Year’s.  Umm, I love you and miss you and hope I could be spending it with you, just out here in Fresno serving the Lord.  Love you all.  Bye.

Week of Christmas 2013

We got to email Davey on Monday and get an audio recording from him.  We also received a letter from President Gelwix that day too.  On Tuesday we got a picture from a family he was having Home Evening with the night before.  And, on Christmas we got to Skype him.

President Gelwix

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY BAPTIZING NEW YEAR!

Christmas Telephone Instructions:
• I asked you last week to confirm the date & time of your Christmas Day call.
• You may give your family your missionary cell # in today’s email.
• IMPORTANT: You absolutely, positively must let them know that they may not call or text you at any other time. We have had problems with this in the past with families sending text messages and even calling since they have your telephone #. If your family calls or texts at other times you may not take the call or answer the text and you must self report the incident to me.
• You have up to 40 minutes for your call.
• In your email today, please tell your family you have 40 minutes total and under no circumstances may you exceed 40 minutes. (This is a First Presidency policy. Please be exactly obedient.)
• If you have two families (divorced, deceased, remarried or otherwise parents) you may receive two calls or one from each family, but your total from both calls may not exceed 40 minutes. You may go 20/20, 30/10, or whatever as long as you keep it within 40 minutes.
• You may use telephone or Skype. If you opt to use Skype, you may use the visual or picture feature. This is a change from last year. Your Skype call will need to be from a member computer and the member will make the connection for you.
• When using Skype, sometimes you lose the connection. If such happens, your time continues, you do not get “credit” for disconnected time. It is one of the hazards of using Skype.
• You may only contact your immediate family unless you have made other arrangements with me.
• What to talk about? Your family wants to hear your voice and know how you are doing. Before the call, write some notes on spiritual experiences you have had, converts, investigators, and how you have grown on your mission. Bear your testimony.
• Some families ask for your residence address or ward members in order to send mail and packages directly to you. DO NOT give out this information. If they find out anyway, you may NOT accept the mail or package and must self report the incident to me.

DAD:
Hey son, we got your email from president gelwicks. Do you have the skype information or are we just going to do a phone call with your missionary phone? I gave you our skype information last week. We would like to make the request with the member family if you're going to do that. Again, is that an option or not? I know your mom would really like that. What time are you planning on doing the call?

we can do skype that would be cool but we don't know what member to do it at yet what time do you want to do it?

We are available all day.  What time works for you?  I thought you said the Burnett's had Skype.  Are you planning on going over there?

we might not go over there and we do 't know a time yet haha

Well I asked last week and you said you would have the information this week to tell me.  So what are we going to do?

does around 5pm?

That is find, 5pm.  I don't know if your mom will want to wait that long but if that is best for you then it will be fine.  5pm your time would be 6pm our time.


(MOM, who broke into Dad's conversation)
(Hey Davey,  How are you? Did you get the pictures and voicemail?)

(yup i loved it and i am trying to send a voicemail but i cant..?)

(You tell dad that I am fine with 5pm. especially if you are at a members home.  It might be nice to enjoy you in the evening.  I'll get you when ever I can :) Are you using the voice recorder that dad sent you?)

(yes i am using it)

(It sounds like it may be not operator friendly or computer.  I'm sorry it isn't working.  It has to be frustrating!  I love the video that we got from one of the members you visited.  You looked great!!! and sounded wonderful!!!  I loved to see your sweet smile!!!)

Dad, my voicemail says it exceeds 15MB i don't know what it means right now its at (12,159K) its about 4 mins long

Depending on the email program, you can't send files larger than certain megabyte limits.  Some are 10mb, some are 15mb, and some are 20mb.  It just means it is too large.  12,159k should only be 12mb but for some reason it doesn't like it so you need to make it shorter.  First time is hard but as soon as you figure it out then you can break it up.

(Audio Voice Recording Transcript):
Hey family and friends, this is Elder Moss. So, I have been trying to send a voice recording but it's not sending because it's too big so I am going to try and do this as quick as I can.  So this past week, Monday, ummm, we had preparation day and played some basketball as always.  We also had transfers this last week and it went really well.  Ummm, our zone is amazing, ummm, we are setting up for January right now.  Our December wasn't so good, we only had four baptisms, we have twelve young companionships here.  There's some cool things - we found three new investigators this past week.  And, they're awesome, two of them have baptismal dates for January and are moving on, moving along really well.  One's name is Alex and the other's name is Israel.  Also, we had FHE this last Wednesday and that was awesome; we had a bonfire with all of our members and it just went really good.  Ummm, today we are having a basketball game but we are also going over to some members, or not some members but some investigators house to make some tamales.  Hey Dad...I did have menudo, I ate it and I liked it, it was good, and also cow tongue.  But ummm, we also ummm, we're having a Christmas eve breakfast tomorrow morning and then Christmas day I am not really sure what we are going to do yet, I know we are skyping you so it's going to be awesome.  But, other than that, that's that's pretty much the week, just a lot of miracles and Elder Bettinger and I are doing really good, ummm, we just love each other and we're working good.  Ummm, so I think that's it but merry Christmas to you all, I love you so much and I hope that you have a great week,  Ummm, I miss you and I love you, and friends out there that are listening, I I love you too.  Ummm, I'm grateful for all that you've done in my life.  Ummm, have a great week and yea, just have a great week.  Merry Christmas, love you all.

ok so we will be skyping at our members house kendal wadsworth she is awesome she will be sending us her skype thing so then you can find her and we can skype!

Did you give Kendal our skype names that I gave you last week.  She can request us tonite or tomorrow so we are ready on Wednesday.  If you get us her name or email address (you can find people by email address also so she can use this email address to find me) then we can request her.

K, i love you so much have a great week talk to you on wednesday!

love you!

Elder Bettinger and Elder Moss playing Charades at FHE
acting out the scene from Lady and the Tramp

On Christmas day we got to Skype Davey.  It was wonderful to see and hear him.  Dad took a family picture while he was on.

Monday, December 16, 2016

Weekly Letter:

Alrighty so this past week has been really good we did get transfer calls and i am not getting transferred haha so yes i am staying here another 6 weeks! and i am still going to be a zone leader so that wont change either. 

So also i will be sending a christmas card to you i just need the address for where i should send it to, it is ridiculous looking haha but i hope you like it! 

Soooo this week well we have taught a lot of people we have been covering 2 wards this week with another missionary named elder martinson so that has been a great experience we found this family who has a daughter that got baptized in a different YSA ward but they all live in our boundaries so we have been teaching them all as a family and the whole family is getting baptized except one girl who is also YSA she is getting baptized later but it is so awesome to see them all progress in the gospel together and it has just grown my testimony about families being together forever and now it is possible for them. they are getting baptized on jan. 4th :)

we also had our Christmas Zone Conference this week and that was a blast we were shown the all the pictures of this last year and it was just a lot of fun i won bingo! but ya it was just a blast to do that and be with everyone we had more than half the mission there with us so it was packed!

We also saw a miracle that was really cool we taught this kid named chris for the first time he has had a rough background and so we were teaching him and i just invited him to be baptized right off the bat and he accepted and said that he has been waiting for this day so right after that we set a date with him and taught him the word of wisdom and when we got to the tobacco part he had a brand new pack on him and got up and went and threw them away in the garbage and was like "alright no more problems" and from then on he said he would live the word of wisdom and law of chastity so it was just really cool i know that there are thousands of "Chris's" out there just ready to accept the gospel we just have to invite them to and they will do it!

I love you so much and i know that this is the true church God bless you and stay on the right path and live righteously. 

Elder Moss

hey just so you know i ate menudo and cow tongue last sunday! haha it was super awesome!

This is Joshua Quezada the starting running back for Fresno state (played for BYU before transfering to Fresno) and the one in the blue tie is our elders quorum President i  just had barely gave him the melchizedek priesthood so that was really cool   

Monday, December 9, 2013

We received the following note with a movie clip:

 I'm sorry I couldn't send you the whole video, but here is part of it. I'm truly so thankful to have your son in my life. My family and I have come to learn so much from him and I thank god everyday for allowing me to meet these missionaries whom have brought me closer to god. You're son is truly so amazing. I just wanted to share this video with you to show you how great he is doing on his mission. Thank you. 

Conversation with Mom:

this my zone after a christmas concert that we did! 

Love the picture, but are giving one of the guys a kiss?

haha no no mommy

Did you get the pictures, voice mail, and other items that we mailed to you?

Let me know what packages you have received?

yup i got them all and i have just got one package from katelynn

The one from Katelynn have you opened it up?

yup i have!

So you know they are stockings that can't be opened up until Christmas day ;)

Some girls talked to Chase and wanted to know what you would like to have for Christmas. He gave them some ideas. 

Are you going to try out your voice recorder? I really would love to hear your voice.

i haven't got a voice recorder? but when and if i do i will try it out ha

I will have to have dad look into when it was supposed to get there. 

I also had SueLynn say that she sent you a letter and their Christmas card and it was returned to her. The address that was on it was the mission homes. Do you know if other people have had this happen to them? No worries I told her to resend it and I gave her the one that I have been using.

How are you doing? Are you staying warm?

no i don't know just tell her to send it again it should go through. but ya i have been great mom it is awesome! how are you and the family?

I knew that you weren't feeling good. I told dad about a week and a half ago that something wasn't right and I felt that you were sick. It took a lot from me not to call your mission president or your cell phone (I kept the number in my phone). I even thought I should call the Burnetts and have them check on you, but I decided to pray extra hard just for you. I'm glad you are feeling better, but sorry your companion is not.

We are doing good! I think this Christmas will be very different for all of us! The boys have had so much fun with the snow. I think Chase tried to pray for a snow day on his birthday, but got it a couple of days late and it ended on being on Saturday. 

What are your plans on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day?

haha i have no clue yet what we are doing on those days i might get transferred before christmas due to transfers are on the 18th but i don't know yet ha 

If you get transferred will you be okay with a new change since you have been in your area so long?

defenanly it will be good but who knows right?

Is there an area you would like to go to?

You also need to make a recommendation to your president that Zone leaders should get double the length of phone calls on Christmas and they can Skype ;)  I'm kidding

hey mom i just want you to know that i thank you for the christmas presents and you sending them i know you love me so much and i appriciate it a lot! don't worry to much about it or stress over it i will great with the things you have sent you didn't have to send me anything but i am glad you did ha also chase went on a date! hey hey atta boy! that is awesome and it sounds like it was a great wholesome date with is even better to hear about :) 

You must have just listened to the voice mail.  He did have fun. He did get upset at me for posting some baby pictures on facebook and told be not to do that again. I later said that was okay (it was his way of saying sorry). I'll have to have Chase write you about his date.


Weekly Letter:

Alright so my week this week has been great i have been sick as a dog this week just feeling like i was going to die but i pressed on and kept working now i am pretty much over the cold but now i got my companion sick ha but back to the week... we didn't get to find a whole lot but we did teach our more solid investigators i taught a girl who is a professional cheerleader for the NFL team San Francisco 49rs ha i felt famous..but we also just had a lot going on we had a stake correlation meeting with the stake president and also president Gelwix which went very well it was super funny during the meeting as president gelwix was talking he put up his fingers to illustrate something he was talking about but while he was doing that he was flipping off one of the stake presidents counselors hahaha and i noticed it and then elder bettinger and we both looked at each other and just started laughing and then he looked at us and then looked at is finger and noticed what he was doing then and slowly put it away haha we all started laughing after that but it was so funny!!!! 

My companion has been getting packages like crazy! ha it is crazy we make so many trips to the mission office to get all the christmas packages coming in for all of the zone members, we also this weekend had a huge Christmas concert which we sang at it was a two day event with 3 different times that we sang at it was cool we had investigators there so it was fun. then of coarse we had the amazing Christmas Devotional that we got to watch i love those things i seriously missed out before my mission but ya that was really fun to be at and we had investigators there also with us watching it! 

Also this weekend we had a member of the 1st quorum of the Seventy come to our mission and talk to us which was really cool it was Elder Bruce D. Porter he talked about the gospel of jesus christ and about Sin and the Commandments! It was so awesome i learn something new all the time this gospel and church is true.

So also this week one of the missionaries got transferred out to a different area so we have another elder with us named elder martinson he will be with us till the end of the transfer so ya we are in a trio so that we can work both areas. it has been really great so far things are just the best here as a missionary!

Sorry i haven't emailed pictures in a while i just haven't taken any! i will try my hardest to repent on that. haha

I love you so much 

Have a great week! 

Elder Moss

Monday, December 2, 2013

Alrighty!

Well this week has been a great week i loved it i was tired cold and full of the spirit! ha i am just so grateful for you and all that you have done to help me in my life i love you so much and cant thank you enough i hope things where you are at are going great!  there was a super awesome talk given by Elder Holland called "place no more for the enemy of my soul" and shoot that was a powerful talk, i love what the spirit taught me how the atonement of our savior sanctifies each and everyone of us as we continuelly strive to become better and learn from our mistakes and not do them again! This past week we have been finding a lot we have some investigators but non are progressing which stinks! but we never give up. the week went on and we found i believe just 5 new investigators who are all looking really promising and should bet baptized this month and january so ya! we are teaching this guy who is on parole  he killed someone and he has some awesome stories it is crazy but he wants to get baptized and turn his life around so that is a blessing he has been in a gang since like 12 years old. so ya that was just one of the cool people we are teaching but for thanksgiving elder bettinger and i had a goal of gaining at least 7 pounds and we had 3 dinners that day and i ended up gaining 8 pounds and my companion gained 11! hahaha so we accomplished our goal i was super full! Then also on sunday we had no one coming to church but we wanted someone to come so of coarse when church times comes around a random kid calls us and came to church that we have never met before his name is lawrence and he is very nice so that was a cool miracle that happened. Also we had two turkey bowls with about 80 missionaries so that was super fun and i have been sore! i also got really sick i swore i was going to die it was for about 2 days and i finally got over it and now i am recovering ha so ya that was about my week but again i want to echo what i said before i love you and am truly truly grateful for you and wish you the best week this coming week! Also mom i took back that stuff you bought me and just bought one sweater just so you know and i sent home the rest of the money on a gift card to you. i love you!

Love Elder Moss 

November 25, 2013

Davey was on today with Mom and Dad.  Below is the conversation between all three as Tamara kept jumping in on Davey and Dave's conversation:


hey real quick i need a flash drive and also mom the package you sent me ha we cant have purple sweaters only black long sleave. also the pants are a little too long but no worries i love them so much they are awesome and i loved getting them but i just thought i would let you know. and hey that sweater was super expensive please you don't have to spend money on me i know you are already sacrificing enough so don't worry and don't spend so much money on me. i love you all -Elder Moss

I got all of the clothes at Macy's and I thought I said to wait tell Christmas ;). If you have time take it back to Macy's and get something you would like for a top. In the letter you forwarded from your President I thought he said the sweaters needed to be a "reserved" color, so not to bring attention to you, but you can get something you can wear. With the pants you can take them also back and get some that might be shorter. It should have had a gift receipt with the package. Don't worry about the money, this was budgeted for Christmas.

How are you doing?

i am doing great and ya they are just like dark grey and black are the colors ah and i am dong awesome i am sending a voicemail!

I am sooo excited about you sending a voicemail. I will play it over and over to be able to here your voice!
hey and don't worry about the cost of the clothes I got everything on a sale that Macy's was having. 

Did you get my voicemail? about the handcuffs? and pictures?
We did have a fun time this last week. On the way home Chase and I talked about him going on his FIRST date, Junior Prom. I got him to blush a few times ;)  It is fun to see all of my children grow up, but it is a little bitter sweet.

HAHAHA oh man that is super funny! ahh i love it so much dang that is awesome 

i don't know how to send this voice recording it is too big to send

I don't know what to tell you.  Most emails can send up to 10mb, some 15 and some 20.  Is it larger than 10mb?  If so you have to make another that is smaller or somehow shrink that by breaking it up or zipping it up - but I don't know if you know how to do that and it is too complicated to explain.  You could look on the computer and see if there a program called winzip, if there is you open it and put the audio file in it and zip it up then if it gets small enough you send it.  Are you on a public computer?  If so it probably won't have the program.

i cant send it

Can you have someone put it on a CD and mail it to us?

no i already deleted it 

Well, just make another one and make it shorter or make several that are short and then send them in separate emails.

i tried that dad trust me i need like a voice recording device and not use my camara 

You were making it on your camera?

yup thats all i have haha

When I send you voicemails I have to make sure that it is 4 to 5 min. If it is longer than that it will have a hard time sending. I have sent 2 voicemails so it will send better.  Next time you do a voicemail break it up so it will send.  I'm bummed, but I will recover from not receiving your first voicemail. Keep trying!!

Now Katelynn and Jeff will be sending you Christmas Stockings. They were really sweet and also made one for your companion.

It was okay that you opened the package. It was supposed to have a note on the package reading, Merry Christmas open on Christmas day. Don't worry about it though it is okay that you opened it up early, now (if you have time) you can exchange the sweeter for a shirt or something you can wear.

Weekly Report:

sorry i cant send the voice mail maybe send me a recording device then  can send them in the future but as of now i cant  so ya i don't have a lot to say because i said a lot on the voicemail thing but i cant send it! so ya but my week has been really great we have worked a lot with our members and it has turned out really great we went on a lot of exchanges this week and had a lot of miracles we found a girl named heather as we followed the spirit when we were walking around an apartment complex we also found a kid named albert by persistently talking to everyone ha we also had stake conference this week and we were in the choir and sang a song so that was interesting president glewix came and spoke to us all so that was very nice! he then came to our house and spent some time with us i fell asleep on my bed while he was talking then he woke me up at around midnight and said that he was leaving haha so ya i am tired a lot but hey good news we are having a turkey bowl today and going to play some rugby and football so that should be a lot of fun then! i just want to wish you all a happy thanksgiving this week i love you so much and grateful for all that you have done! i am planning on spending thanksgiving with a lot of members and so we have like 4 dinners so i will be eating a lot! i am super excited haha but that is my week i love you all so much! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Love Elder Moss

That was short but I understand.  You fell asleep when President Gelwix was talking to you?  That is funny.  How long were you asleep if he woke you at midnight.  What did your companion say?  What did President say?

ha i don't know he always comes over to talk with us and just be with us we have such a close relationship it is weird haha he usually just says the same things just how is our zone doing and then just talks to us about up coming meetings and just how our families are and everything 

Monday, November 18, 2013

Hey Family 

sorry it is so late in writing this letter we have been super busy with zone leader responsibilities so we didn't really get to have a preparation day the only time we have sat down was when we were teaching an investigator and also when we are driving and when i am now emailing you! ha 

So this week hmmm well we had leadership training this last wednesday which was really great we figured out some things we needed to do better and things we are going to start implementing so that was awesome and just being able to feel the spirit is just the greatest at any point and we felt it a lot that day so it was great! 

We picked up a kid named robert as an investigator who is really quite but he is really cool and is going to be baptized definatly he is a members friend so we go to get introduced that way so it was awesome! 

We also had a meeting with the stake president and president glewix about something called stake correlation or in other words a zone leaders worst nightmare! seriously it is crazy how much time and numbers and formulas it takes to put that thing together but we did it! 

well i did it ha i am training my companion to be a zone leader so it took longer since i was the only one that knew how to do it and i had to show him. 

so those are some of the high lights of this week oh and ya we also had a baptism happen this last weekend i baptized a kid named armondo it was really cool but i will tell you something funny that you can make fun of me for ha i totally forgot how to hold him and everything so someone had to remind me it was so funny haha but ya i just blanked completely so ya that was my week! i love you all so much 

Love elder moss 

Davey and some other missionaries went to the zoo

Letter from President Gelwix (Christmas information)

President Gelwix

Dear family and friends of CA Fresno missionaries:

With 300+ missionaries serving with us in Fresno, we face some challenges. Realizing that we all want to make the Christmas experience in the mission field a memorable one, we have a few suggestions:

1. To avoid theft or incorrect address because of transfers, we remind you that our mission policy continues to be: ALL cards, letters and packages are to be sent to the mission office: 1814 N Echo Ave, Fresno CA 93711.

2. Our Christmas Zone Conferences (where most Christmas packages are distributed) will be earlier this year - Dec 11 and 12th to accommodate transfer day scheduled on Dec 18. We will do our very best to deliver packages received between Dec 13 and 24.

3. Smaller and more compact packages are easier for the mission office and missionaries to transport. We can accommodate only a limited number of packages requiring immediate refrigeration.

4.Below is a list of possible gift items suggested by missionaries: 


Gift Cards: Wal-Mart, fast food etc
Cold Hard Cash
Visa Gift Cards
White shirts and garments
Approved books:
The Power of Everyday Missionaries by Clayton Christensen 
The Feeling Good Handbook by David Burns, MD
CDs by LDS artists (music policy: by LDS artists only or classical music in traditional arrangements)
Office supplies: notebooks, white out, pens etc
For elders: shoulder bag to replace back pack
USB drive to back up pictures
Voice recorder: faster than writing in journal when short on time
Books of Mormon with personal testimonies written in them
Pocket size copies of the Book of Mormon
Ties or Sock
Tie clip (conservative)
Bike tools
For elders: khaki dress slacks 
For elders: V neck sweaters in conservative, solid colors
Thank you cards: simple, professional looking
Ring or keychain: CTR or ETT3 or RWH
Sturdy water bottle
Gummy bears
Beef jerky
Breath mints
Calendar
Mormon Messages
Pictures of siblings or parents as missionaries
For sisters: no show socks, shoe liners for flats


NOTE: 
Instructions regarding a 40 minute phone call to your missionary will be sent at a later date.

We appreciate the privilege of serving with your missionary and wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and all the best in the coming new year.

With our love,

President and Sister Gelwix

November 11, 2011

Mom:

I just got on...  I'm at work and have been really busy.  I hope you are still on.  If you are I need to know how your week has been and how are you doing?

ha i am but we are about to leave our time is about up but it has been great i love it how are you all? i miss ya and love you so much ya cute family ha ;)

We are all doing good!  The boys and I had a sleep over in my room. We all started in my bed then as the time went on Brayden decided it would be easier to sleep on the ground.  We had a lot of fun!!

haha that is aweosme! sounds like a lot of fun i cant wait to wrestle them! we got to go i love you mom!

LOVE YOU TOO!!!


Dad:

Hey davey, I'm not home right now but I am writing you on my phone. I am out doing my part time job that I got here to do on my days off when I'm not doing anything. So anyway I'll go in and read the other emails you sent and then go from there.

alright love ya!

hey just so you all know i am not going to eat a whole lot of the packages that you send a lot of candy in i would rather have like mints or something like that haha

Okay I read your other letters the one from the mission president and your weekly. I'm on my way back to Salt Lake and uh we'll be driving so I'll try my best to talk to ya while you're still on.

io am about to get off anyway dad i love you and sorry we are over our allowed time limit you are the best drive safe ya handsome man ;) have a great week!


Weekly:

Good Morning! I am having a wonderful day today isn't it wonderful to be a mormon!
This past week has been awesome, hard but great we went to the zoo for our last preparation day and i also got my flu shot which stunk the lady that shot me up like turned the needle in my arm and it just was not pleasant haha then we had a great dinner with some members yup it was pizza hut deep dish haha but shoot that members home was amazing it was so big just the land alone to build the house on was 2 million dollars the home itself was ginormous! 

Things have been great i have been so busy lately we are trying to get everything organized due to we had to move apartments and things are just everywhere and i hate it i cant wait till it is all better! In the ward we have reactivated a lot of less actives and we actually took one of them out with us to an appointment it was his first time and he was really nervous but everything turned out great so that was really cool to see! we also taught the lesson in FHE we taught the restoration because our bishop asked us to start teaching the members the lessons which is a great idea! We also had transfers like i told you before and we got take the new missionaries out on what called "open your mouth" haha they are always so nervous but it is awesome to see the miracles happen as we talk to people and invite them to be BAPTIZED! We also gave training to the new missionaries on how to be a successful missionary, we are giving trainingtomorrow to our zone on how to work with members better which is going to be great since members are key to everything we do in missionary work. 

We had two missionaries stay with us they are heading home soon and so they are traveling around staying with other missionaries and they got to stay with us and work a couple days with us it was awesome we got a lot of work done due to we split up and divided and concord! So that was a lot of fun to do and work with them. 

Other than all those things life as a missionary is great i love it so much. it is hard work but hey who said that this life is easy? everything we do is hard and tries us everyday but we stand strong and in the end it will all be worth it! I love you so much and am so grateful for this gospel i am grateful for the changes i have made and that i have applied to become better i love the scriptures and the ensigns so much ahhhh! it is amazing the things i learn from it. i say this one more time I love you all, god bless you, and become better than you were the day before don't get caught up in the material things of this world but get caught up in the moments that matter most there lies the true happy times that you can hold onto. 

Love, Elder Moss 

November 4, 2013

Chase:

Hey Davey its Chase. So i am writing to you right now so that you can reply to me tomorrow, Monday. So I extended a call to a nonmember a while ago cause I felt impressed to do it but I didn't know he wasn't a member and so the missionaries and the bishop have been working on him so that he might be baptized and can take the calling.  Well he hasn't...yet. So the missionaries I guess want me to meet with them at Anthony's house (that is the nonmember) on Wednesday at 4:30.  I would just go there with the missionaries and be there during the discussion about baptism.  I am really nervous because I dont know what to say and I dont want to mess anything up.  So I am coming to you for advice.  They did say that I need to be prepared to give my testimony about Baptism to Anthony but I am not sure what to say. I read in my scriptures looking for some answers and I'm sure I will do more reading but please help me with any advice that I might convey a message across to Anthony in a good way.  I want to help these missionaries in any way I can.  So please help me if you can. 

Alright Chase i have just got to tell you that is so cool! don't be nervous bro the missionaries want you there cuz you have a strong spirit and know you will have an impact on that kids whole life! Read D&C 33:8-9 

chase you have a powerful testimony don't worry about what to say it will come to you D&C 84:85. one thing i would say is just be his friend love him and relate things to him that you have felt and how it has changed your life and how it will change his life if someone is going to believe you you have to be sincere.  you won't mess anything up i promise you that right now you will not! i hope that helped out! i love you and that is so cool you will love it so much give those missionaries a hard time

Love Elder Moss

Mom:

Davey,

Did you get the email from Chase? He wrote it last night to you.

yup i did

Good, he seemed a little nervous to go with the missionaries and knowing what to expect. I told him to write you and you would have come good advise for him.

Yesterday your brothers and I wrote you a letter.  You hopefully will receive it sometime this week.

How are you doing? Still tired? I have loved again all of your pictures you have sent us. And I feel it a bonus when I get a text from either Rachelle or Sister Burnette. I feel so blessed that you have a loving home that takes good care of you. Do you think you will be transferred soon?

nope i din't get transferred haha i am having another missionary come to be with me ha 

I can't remember if I told you I'm the new Assistant to the Wolf leader - yes, I'm back in Cub Scouts.  I am really happy to be able to be back in the Cubs and in the past I've had fun doing it.

Chase will be ordained as a Priest on his birthday.  We have made special arrangements to have it done on Wednesday morning before dad leaves to go back up north.

Our family will be heading up north on the 23rd for McKell's wedding.

dang that is so crazy!

Love the pictures! And you are playing Ping Pong, I'll tell Chase that you have been playing. Chase thinks he will pounce on, in Ping Pong, you when you get back.

These were taken at Fresno State University Institute of Religion

haha we will see about that ;)

I guess a match is in order!

Weekly letter:

Alright so my week has been pretty great as you may know transfers are happening this wednesday and i am not getting transferred but my compaion is he is going to porterville he also got released as a zone leader due to he just didn't want to be one anymore so i am getting a new companion Elder Bettinger he is coming from turlock to be a zone leader with me this is his first time being a zone leader so i am just super excited! i love Elder bettinger we came out into the mission together and we roomed together at the MTC so it is going to be just awesome! we are moving appartments 2 days after transfers so this friday but we are only moving down the street so that is nice.

Halloween was great i honestly totally forgot it was halloween and i didn't know till  half the day was gone haha but it was good we went to a members home and played games with them due to the cause that we couldn't be driving or biking or walking past 6 30pm so ya it was great it was so sad though to see people come to the door and they were young women and were just dressed so immodestly literally like walking pornography, women need to have high standards and live up to the name of a Daughter of God with Divine potential and a Divine calling. the world is getting wicked and we need to set the example the young men and women growing up need to be examples in all conduct.

well the rest of my week was great we taught a lot of lessons and just had a great time we had a really spiritual experience with one of our investigators named Adrian we were teaching him and he wants to get baptized but he expressed that ever since he started reading the book of mormon he has felt that God has abandoned him which was extremely weird so long story short we overcame that by talking about trials and just read from the Book of Mormon and just followed the spirit i cant explain it but we just had just a super spiritual time very emotional but full of love and he came to church this sunday and loved it so much so that was really cool to have happen it strengthened my testimony so much he is still on board for his baptism he wants his family to get sealed together and he wants to have the gift of the holy ghost in his life.

right now everything is going great trails stink so much but they make you so much stronger i have a testimony of that so much never give in to satan and the wickedness of the world! the church is true stand up for what is right!

Love Elder Moss

This is the missionaries in the Zone Davey is over

 Halloween pumpkin carving

October 28, 2013

Dad:

yup i am on are ya?

You're on earlier than normal.  I haven't typed you a letter yet.  

ha ya we came earlier cuz we have a quad zone activity this afternoon

Awesome, what are you doing?  I am trying to plan out my holiday schedule.  They gave us the option of banking our time off for the holidays to use at another time.  I think I am going to do that so that I can take off if I need to go home for something or if the house sells, etc.  Have you started thinking about the holidays?  I am not trying to make you homesick or anything, just wondering about plans.  You've been in Clovis for a while, do you think you will get transferred?

i have been here for about 5 months or more idk ha and ya i think i will transferrs are the 6th and i really haven't even had time to think about holidays but the members usually just say "oh your coming over to our house!" ha so idk whatever happens happens.  what is your job again? 

It is called Observation and Assessment.  I work for Juvenile Justice Services as a counselor.  We do activities such as service or hiking or sports or reading groups and then observe and assess the boys to see how they function and if they are learning to control themselves to stay out of trouble.  We are trying to rehabilitate kids so they can go back to society and their homes.  During the week on dayshift we go to school with them and just sit in school from 8am to 2pm and observe their interactions and discipline in school.

dang that is cool and you see some cool stuff going on i love you dad i hope you know that and i am proud of you and you are an amazing example to me. i love you

Thank you!  I love you too.  More than you will ever know.

well i am going to go tear it up you can always count on me. i will never slack off again!

I love your attitude.  Go get em!


Weekly Letter:

Well this week has really been great miracles always happen!  i hope your life is great right now and don't worry if it isn't i pray for you so don't worry it will pick up really quick i love you so much and am so greatful for your example to me we have gone on 2 exchanges this past week to help out our zone some of the companionships are struggling so we helped them out and had a great time! we have had to hand off a lot of referrals to other missionaries due to we thought they were YSA but they actually weren't cuz they have broken the Law of chastity and have now kids and it is sad cuz they aren't married even so a lot of the time the husband leaves the wife and kid and i just want to slap them cuz they need to be the role model and look out for his family. but the world is a wicked place that is why i am here to call them all to repentance! i love it, but really if people truely understood the atonement of christ then they wouldn't hesitate to join the true church so they could partake of the blessings that are in store for those that truely accept christ as there savior. i have  2 Nephi 33:3 experiences a lot i water my pillow for my fellow brothers and sisters that are living lifes without the gospel. This is the great work of salvation i was such a dillweed before my mission but now because i have overcame obstacles that have allowed me to grow and be the child of God i am today. this is one of my favorite quotes "God is preparing people to receieve your testimony of restored truth. He requires your faith and then your action to share fearlessly what has become so precious to you and those you love." -Henry B. Eyring

Today for preparation Day we are having a quad zone activity and are playing sports i am super excited and cant wait! i love you and hope you have an amazing week become better than you were the day before.

Love Elder Moss

Mom:

Hey Davey,

It was fun to see the pictures, although I felt bad that I haven't written you a "letter".  I've shown the house a handful of times which can I say is a little hard.  I love my home so much and it is hard to here comments about how they would change things.  I keep telling myself that it is only a material thing and not important.  There are other things that are more important.

I got some pictures from the Burnetts.  I loved seeing you making cookies, did you get to watch AFV? (lol)

How are you doing?

ha no i didn't watch AFV that would be apostate mom ha and it is fine i havent gotten a letter no worries at all we just thought that was a funny picture. and i bet it would be hard to leave the home it was a great place and i love it and know you do too. i am just great mom! ha a little down we were supposed to have a baptism yesterday but he called us and told us that he couldn't come cuz of his dad so that stunk super bad but he still wants to get baptized so that is awesome!

Well things will work out with your baptism. Tell him that he will be blessed and his life will be so much more happy! I am so proud of you and even though this might be a set back it will be okay. The Lord will bless you in your efforts and he will be touched in a way that he will get baptized.  I'll pray for him.

It is getting colder? The weather is starting to change here and we have a big storm coming in today and tomorrow.

ya yesterday it is getting colder ha but dang that is crazy about the storm

Brayden had his Last primary program on Sunday.  He brought tears to my eyes, they songs that they sang and the whole meaning of the program was wonderful!  You would have been proud of him.  He smiled most of the time he sang.  

Chase was texting me a bit ago... and said that he loves you and wishes you the best.  He tried to get me to get a redbox, he does just what you did. When he gets a text from redbox he sends it on to me. Then he will text me... "so mom what do you think? Movie tonight?"  He is funny.  The other day he did a Davey... he totally scarred me then with his cute smile he said oh, sorry mom. Then laughed.  All I could do was smile and laugh.

I love to read about what you are doing on your mission. 

chase is so amazing he is going to be a far better missionary than i am i am so proud of him and of brayden they are just examples to me i pray for you all everyday expecially them i love them so much they are my best friends i hope they know that..and mom you are the most amazing women i love you and will always be there for you! 

Love you so much

This is dad - I read that last one to mom while she was on her way to work.  She started crying.  She loves you.