Monday, January 27, 2014

Good morning family and friends.  Hey, this is Elder Moss reporting from Fresno, California.  It's like 7:30 in the morning here.  It's Sunday morning...and...just some things that happened this past week:  We've been meeting with President Gelwix concerning transfers and different things that are coming up.  So, that was really fun.  We've been teaching a lot of people.  A lot of less actives and their friends and just different people like that.  It's been a lot of fun just seeing them progress and to come closer.  We went on an exchange this week with the Visalia zone leaders.  I went with Elder Matani and it was fun.  We set up a basketball game with a less active kid - I was so mad - we were up on him, we beat them the first game, killed them the first game.  We did like a three game series and if we won then they had to take the lessons. They have a non-member brother.  And so we're playing them - I'm not even go to butter this up at all - But they are not very good and we were a lot better than them.  But, we beat them 15-4 the first game.  And the second game came around and it was 10-1 and we got super prideful.  This is where I have a testimony of the pride cycle because it's so true.  They ended up winning the second game and then they ended up winning the third game.  But, yea, it made me super mad because they weren't that good.  But oh well, we're going to challenge them some other time.  So, for transfers, I am getting...not transferred...just kidding, so I will...no I'm not, I'm going to be staying here in the Fresno East Zone.  I'll be a zone leader still and I'm staying in the Academy YSA.  So I'm not getting transferred.  I'm going to get a new companion and he's coming up from Porterville, he was a zone leader down there, to come up and be with me.  He played basketball in college so it'll be a lot of fun.  We also had a baptism this week for Joseph.  I'll send you some pictures on that but it was a great baptism.  He's awesome and I just love him.  He is going to get confirmed today.  So, that's this week.  It's going to be awesome.  Well I hope you all have a great week ahead of you and I love you so much.  Have a great week.  Love you, bye.

“A man who is full of love of God is not content with blessing his family only, but thinks about all of the people in the world, anxious to bless the whole human race.” - Joseph Smith

one thing that was really funny that happened that i didn't add was joseph the guy that got baptized haha we had a fun experience that made us all laugh so hard.

we were all sitting there on the couch he was getting interviewed for his baptism and his mom and little sister were sitting on the couch and we were just talking to them and we asked the little sister if she wanted to get baptized also and she said "well what do i have to do, what is a baptism like?" and by this point joseph came out and he passed his interview. and his sister a little aggravated said "well what do you at least wear to the baptism!?" and we said (joking around) you don't wear anything you go naked..and she got a huge creeped out look on her face and said "joseph you are going to be NAKED!?" and joseph all calm was just like "they ain't ready for that yet" hahahahahahaha oh my gosh it was so funny! but then we explained that we were just kidding but man it was so funny but ya that was the funny story!

hey everyone we are about to head out i love you all and hope you have a great week email questions that you have or if you want me to talk about a certain topic or anything in general i love ya Elder Moss

so a couple of things that happened we first of all baptized joseph! which was awesome! 

the second was we were teaching our investigator and committed him to live the word of wisdom and so we took his cigarettes from him and threw them away!

DAD:

Hey, how are you?  Mom is at work and I have an appt in a few minutes.

i am doing just great i love being a missionary but i am tired all the time! haha

Why are you tired all the time?  Are you going to bed on time?  You should be in bed at 10pm and up at 6am so you get 8 hours sleep.  Are you doing that?

its actually 10 30 and up at 630 but yes i am doing that i am exactly obedient 

Good.  So, again the question...why so tired?  Do we need to get you into a doctor to see if there is something wrong?

what the? ha uh no i am totally fine i just work hard so i am tired 

Congratulations on the baptism.  That is so awesome!  You are doing so good (don't get prideful with that comment like you did in the basketball game).

You sound like you want a transfer, is that the case?  Are you tired of being in only two areas for half your mission?  It is OK.  Like I said, you are doing well.

haha ya i thought for sure i was getting transferred but i know since i am not that i am supposed to be here and continue to work hard

We had a great weekend.  Mom had a show up here in Salt Lake on Friday and Saturday and so she brought Brayden up with her.  She dropped Brayden off at Katelynn's and Jeff watched him on Friday since he doesn't have a job and both Katelynn and Jeff spent time with him on Saturday.  Mom stayed here with me on Friday night and after her show on Saturday we drove down to Orem and picked Brayden up and took Katelynn and Jeff out for dinner at Sizzler.  We then came back and mom and Brayden spent the night here with me.  Mom was sick Friday night so I gave her a blessing and she was able to work on Saturday and was feeling better.  Sunday she slept in and Brayden and Joni and I went to church.  I got a text during church from mom saying, "Where is everyone?"  I told her we let her sleep in and we were at church.  After church we came home.  Brayden wanted to play Pinnochle so we did that before they left.  Brayden and I stayed up late Saturday and got up early Sunday morning so I could teach him how to solve his Rubic's cube he got for Christmas.  He is a very smart boy as he had it about figured out.

haha that is sweet i am glad you had a great week!

Monday, January 20, 2014

Davey sent a recording today for weekly letter, it is transcribed below:

here ya are! (attachment)

Hey Davey how are things? We are over at grandma coombs getting their garden ready for them.

i am just doing amazing we had a great week as you will hear about in the voicemail. how are ya?

We all doing really good.  We will have sold our house and be out of it probably by February the 21st. I am not sure what's going on with our life after that. Dad and I have talked about lots of different things, I'm still working at tuacahn and my job is getting more fun and more relaxing they are giving more responsibility with making sure my sells are up and marketing which have been fun. Brayden is having a lot of fun and basketball and doing amazingly well.  Sorry we just noticed you were on. We really didn't think you would be on since it is a holiday. We love you miss you I'm so glad you're doing well and I'm looking forward to hearing your voice mail.

wow that is cool. sounds like everyone is doing very well and sounds like you and dad are going to be stressed! hey watch the mormon message called "moments that matter most" 

We will, thank you for the encouraging words. We're doing good we're doing everything we should be doing and we know that we are being blessed with you being on a mission. Dad and chase wants to know if you got the voicemail?

haha ya i got the voicemail of chase it was awesome i loved it
 haha i love it so much chase you are the best i love it and nice day date i love the fourwheeling bro nice job! ha so what else have you and the whole family been up too?

We also just sent you a couple more voicemails so before you get off hopefully you'll be able to listen to them um we've got one from the whole family and one from the boys.

hey hey i got your voicemails and i loved them haha ya i kinda knew what the x box 1 was but not everything about it but it sounds awesome so ya i am glad you are having a fun time as a family together that is awesome, i love you all and chase all the missionaries in the zone here with me thought you sounded like me haha (your finally growing up) ha just messin. thanks for all the prayers you say for me and all that you do for me i loved the new years package i got from you all it was awesome and i finally got through all the fortune cookies so that was good! we got to go to the hospital yesterday which was cool because we got to give a blessing to a lady we have never met someone just called us up like always and asked for a blessing it is really cool to be able to hold the priesthood and minister to people.  well have a great time eating i love you all have a great day off! 

Love Elder Moss 

Alright, good morning family and friends, this is Elder Moss talking.  Hey, I just wanted to send you a voice recording this week. I mean nothing super huge has happened, no differences or anything.  But um, it's just been a really good week.  These past few weeks we've just seen a lot of miracles in our area, our area is just on fire right now.  This past week we found ten new investigators; one investigator, his name's Joseph, he's getting baptized this weekend on Saturday and so that's going to be really awesome, you'll hear more about it next week I guess.  This past week we had specialized training with all the Fresno zones, so I think there was like four, yea, I think four Fresno zones.  We gave an accounting and just learned a lot was edified and uplifted by the spirit.  I'm with Elder Bettinger right now, we're driving to go pick up some missionaries.  We just got done shopping and eating lunch - today is our preparation day of course.  At one o'clock we're going to be playing dodge ball with the zone, so that should be a lot of fun.  Also, something cool - there's like this part member family that we met out in the country and stuff and they have two like super-star kids: one's like the MVP in football and the other's super good in basketball.  One of them isn't baptized so we challenged them to a two on two basketball game today and if we win then they take the lessons...so, yea pray for us right.  But we got it in the bag, Elder Bettinger's the best, so he's going to be doing it.  Ummm, what else happened this week?  Yea, we've just been finding like crazy and just seeing a lot of people.  We went on an exchange and I was in a bikin...wait no...it wasn't biking we had a car too.  I went with a new missionary who was waiting on his Visa and we had such a really great time, saw a lot of miracles and just met a lot of cool people so...  I think that's about it for this week (can you think of anything else? nope, alright). Well I love you all, the Church is true and always live it.  I love you so much and I just hope you have a great week and just everything goes good.  Love you, bye.

Photos of Davey's Companion's, Elder Bettinger's, Birthday Party

Monday, January 13, 2014 (it took me a few days to find time to post this)

Good morning family and friends.  Over here in California it's Sunday morning.  We're about to start our studies and get ready for the day - get ready to go to church.  This morning for breakfast I had a fruit smoothie that I made and it's really good; just like anything that I make.  This past week has been really good, we've just taught a lot of lessons since Wednesday since that was the last time I talked to you.  We found a lot of new investigators.  We have about sixteen in our teaching pool right now.  Thursday we had FHE and we found two new investigators that day and they both came to FHE so that was really cool to see.  But there was just a bunch of games that played there; so that was good.  We were going to go to the vineyard this last Saturday with our ward but we had a lunch with a non-member that invited us to go to Doghouse Grill which is a really good sandwich place, so we went with him.  Also, this past week we went out to eat with some missionaries and we went to Applebees which brought back a lot of good memories like with friends and just with loved ones and stuff, that was a fun time, that was my first time going to Applebees on my mission.  And then Friday night we had dinner with President Gelwix and Sister Gelwix and they took us out to Cheesecake Factory, that was really good, just a great time spending with President, it was just really cool.  We are going to be starting up in the mission what's called a Preach My Gospel Project.  That's pretty much where you read through Preach My Gospel and you look up all of the scripture references and so you get to know Preach My Gospel better.  I think that's going to be starting this coming week.  Chase and Brayden, whoever else, but specifically Chase right now - you should be doing this project with me, I think it would be really great for you to do this Preach My Gospel Project and get to know Preach My Gospel and prepare for your mission.  It's going to be awesome.  And all of you should already be reading your scriptures every day and if you don't I'm calling you all to repentance cause that's so important, our daily spiritual preparation is one of the most important things that we do.  I know I stunk at it before my mission but I've learned that and that's so important that we can't do a day without doing it.  So, I hope that you're all doing this.  Last week, like today, we have our Stake Correlation Meeting with President Gelwix, Stake President, and we give an accounting of our zone and what's happening in the missionaries' lives and what's happening with each of the wards.  So, that's pretty much it.  Just been teaching a lot of people and seeing miracles.  Alright, love you all, bye bye.


“The good works that really matter require the help of heaven. And the help of heaven requires working past the point of fatigue so far that only the meek and lowly will keep going long enough. The Lord doesn’t put us though this test just to give us a grade; He does it because the process will change us.” - President Henry B. Eyring

This life is hard but it will be worth it if we live ALL of the commandments and enjoy the company of the spirit as it leads and guides us throughout this life. 2 nephi 31:20; Mosiah 2:41

This life is a time for us to change OUR WILL to change and to be in line with GOD's WILL once we do that life is going to be so much better and the blessings from on high will be poured on us. Its amazing to see that once we align our will with gods we obtain more freedom and more opportunities to do good and we obtain TRUE happiness. 

I love you all, 

Elder Moss

Wednesday, January 8

Davey had P-day on Wednesday instead of Monday on account of them going to the Temple on Wednesday for their P-day so they had to work on Monday. When we didn't hear from him Monday or Tuesday we didn't know what was going on.  It was good to hear from him and hear that all is going well and that he got over his sickness.

Hey family and friends, this is Elder Moss.  Today is Wednesday.  Today is our preparation day and I'll get to it in the end, don't worry.  So this last week was a lot of fun, it was super, just a great time.  As you know there was New Year's Eve and what we did for that - we had Mission Leadership Council, that's for all the zone leaders.  That was a blast, we went over our goals, like what happened in 2013, what were going to change for 2014 - just like different things, did a lot of brain storming, and sought out Heavenly Father's guidance.  For New Year's Eve, President got us all together and we like, it was pretty much just like a party night.  We went and got in our normal clothes, we played games, we watched the movie Ephraim's Rescue - it's like the sequel to 17 Miracles - it was pretty good, I like 17 Miracles better.  It was just like a blast, we stayed up till like 1am or 2am just like talking and just having a good time and taking pictures; it was a blast, I didn't get any pictures cause I forgot my camera, hopefully some people will email them to me.  That's what we did Tuesday for New Year's Eve.  On New Year's Day we had another meeting, it's called Leadership Training.  It's for the District Leaders, the First Transfer Trainers, and the Zone Leaders; that lasted all day, so that was really long.  Last week it was pretty hard.  We went and tried to see some of our investigators. One of our investigators that was suppose to get baptized on the 11th, she didn't come to church, she's been having family problems so that's been a bummer, she's not going to be able to get baptized then.  But, we are going to be meeting with her soon and resetting her date.  Also, like this week - why I'm emailing today - Is because we went to the temple this morning so we had our temple day, that was just a blast.  I love going to the temple so much, it is just like one of the greatest things we get to do as missionaries and just so spirit filled.  Today we are going to go play some volleyball and basketball with some people so that should be a lot of fun.  Just like the rest of the week, we just had a bunch of appointments.  We are getting a lot of new investigators so we're just getting set up for February.  We have one date for the 18th right now.  We have gone on splits twice this week with some members in our ward and we've had...like yesterday we were suppose to have nine appointments, we had nine set appointments, and then the day before that we had seven set appointments and so like we were suppose to be teaching all day but they kinda fell through, a lot of them.  We did find four new investigators that are looking pretty sweet.  One of them has already read the whole Book of Mormon and the other one, he was going to get baptized into the Mormon Church but he like lost contact with the missionaries and he got baptized into a Christian church instead of... so he's going to be coming to church and FHE.  And like I said, we have a date for the 18th of this month, her name is Zenya.  She's still deciding which ward she wants to go to.  Her sister goes to Heritage, we've been working with her for a while trying to get her sister to come to her home ward, which is the home ward of the YSA - kinda confusing but...  I don't know, it's just been a really good week, we've just seen a lot of miracles and just worked really hard.  In district meeting the other day, one of our district leaders, Elder Tongsinga - he tore his ACL and MCL and miniscus playing basketball last week - and we gave him a blessing of healing yesterday.  And he goes in soon to find his results.  He was walking today without any help or support, he was doing it all on his own, so it's pretty cool.  We believe that he is going to be totally healed and totally fine and so we'll find out tomorrow and I'll let you know on that.  But, other than that it's just been a really great week.  Nothing up and coming I don't believe.  But, that is it for now.  I love you all so much and I'm so grateful for being able to be out here on a mission my Lord and my Savior, it's been really fun.  But yea, I love you all, have a great week, I wish you the best and that everything goes great.  Keep standing up for the truth and what's right.  Love you all, bye.

Davey also had a baptism this last week.  The Hermosillo family got baptized on Saturday.

STARTING THE NEW YEAR. Here are a few inspirational/motivational quotes to start the New Year off with:

• "Whether it is the best of times or the worst of times, He is with us. He has promised 

that this will never change." - President Thomas S. Monson

• "Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you. Never excuse yourself. Never pity yourself. Be a hard master to yourself -- and be lenient to everybody else." - Henry Ward Beecher

• "In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure." - Bill Cosby

• "Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit." - Vince Lombardi

• "A half Truth is a whole lie." - Yiddish Proverb

• "A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment." - John Wooden

• "[The Lord] has invited His children to consecrate their time, their means, and themselves to join with Him in serving others." - President Henry B. Eyring

• "When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free." - Katherine Ponder

"Above all, have faith in the Savior! Fear not! As we diligently live the gospel, we become strong in the Lord." - Elder Robert D. Hales

Love you all have a great year! 

-Elder Moss