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