Monday, March 17, 2014

So today is Saturday, um, Saturday morning.  We just got done with our run.  I picked up my new companion today and he's from Lindon, Utah.  And we're up here in Northern Modesto now.  We are part of the Modesto YSA 2nd branch.  And we don't have an apartment yet so we're staying with two elders.  We've just been working hard, it's been really good.  Right after we picked up our companions we received some training and different things for some expectations we had.  And then we got in the truck and headed up north.  While we were heading up north we stopped and got something to eat at In and Out.  My companion is stinking awesome, he just goes up to random people - a new missionary - trying to get their addresses and everything.  He's really great, he's off to a great start.  We've been up here, we met with our branch president and he's really awesome.  This branch has about, well now it has, I think, 15 to 20 active members from what he said, and there's about 500 other YSA members that are suppose to be attending.  So we got some good work.  It's really spread out up here.  Just like the area is super far out and we cover the whole stake.  The furthest north we go is like Sonora, which is like an hour and half away and then down to like Modesto and cover Riverbank, Salida, and all these other small cities.  It's going to be awesome.  Today we got a great day planned.  We are just trying to see the members and we have one investigator we came up here to, his name is Dillion.  We're gonna meet with him next Tuesday but other than that we're just gonna try to work through the members just cause it's like so super, just so spread out.  We always stop to talk to every YSA that we see.  It's gonna be really great, we're excited.  Allright, love you all, have a great week.  Bye, bye.

Davey's new companion, Elder King

Good morning family and friends.  This is Elder Moss.  It is Sunday morning around 7:45.  So, just to report on Saturday...we had a great a day.  We went around and got to know some of the members.  We got to know our branch mission leader and some of the branch missionaries and just different things.  But um, the really cool part was that we found three new investigators yesterday.  God is blessing us with our hard work. So that is...that's just awesome.  We are super excited.  We set a baptismal date - coming into this month we were like, "Shoot, we gotta baptize.  How are we going to do it?"  Especially me, I was kinda stressing.  (sound in background) Sorry, I'm making breakfast right now, I'm making tortillas with ham and cheese.  Kinda like a mini cheese quesadilla.  So, going into this month we were wondering, really wondering how we were going to do it.  Then we met this girl.  She was waiting for us to come back - she was a former - and we set a baptismal date for this month.  She seems pretty solid.  She said that she was going to come to church so we'll still follow up on that.  Her name is Neisha, she's really fun.  So, we're just gonna be following up with her.  So, it's just been a really good day.  No complaints, so it was really really fun.  But, that is all I have to report on for now.  So, alright, love you all, bye bye.

Alright, so this is Elder Moss.  It is Sunday night.  We saw a really cool miracle today.  So, we had church and everything just went really good.  We met the members.  We have a branch of about 20-30 members.  It's a very diverse branch.  There's a lot of different members, some special needs.  But just a really good feeling and it's really awesome, I love it here already.  So, the miracle which we saw today was...so we went to visit a former investigator and she wasn't there, she was working.  So, we were like, "Let's go to our back up" so we went to our backup but then we decided to go visit...um, we have this big list of about 500 YSA that are throughout the stake and so we picked one out of the 500 and we went and visited her.  Her name was Kari.  And she is really cool.  She's gone through some trials but a really sweet girl.  She lives up here in Oakdale and we visited her and she didn't want to come to the YSA, she's kinda shy, she also has a calling in her home ward.  But we got her to come to the YSA, she said she's going to check it out if one of her friends comes too.  Her friend is named Mckenzie.  And so we like, "Ok, we'll go see Mckenzie right now."  And so Kari said she'll come if McKenzie comes.  So then we went to McKenzie and we only spoke to McKenzie for a couple of minutes cause she was taking a timed test and she said that she would come also.  And so we have McKenzie and Kari coming to the YSA this next Sunday.  And so that was really cool in how those two friends work out and now they're gonna come and check out the YSA.  But the miracle that happened was on our way driving back.  We were driving back and I saw these two YSA girls on the side of the road and I was like, "Alright, we gotta pull over."  So we pulled over and we talked with them.  And their names were Rachel and Sara.  And they know Kari and McKenzie.  They grew up and went high school and they like each other and they're like really good friends.  And so we talked with them and we set up a lesson with those two girls, Rachel and Sara, and they became new investigators.  And so we are going to meet them with Kari and McKenzie and be able to teach them.  And so, it was really cool how that happened just cause...followed the spirit and went with we need to and God put those people in our path, so it was really cool.  We know that when we follow the spirit miracles happen.  So, that was  really cool experience.  But I love ya, have a great week, alright, bye bye.

“Your life is carefully watched over, as was mine. The Lord knows both what He will need you to do and what you will need to know. He is kind and He is all-knowing. So you can with confidence expect that He has prepared opportunities for you to learn in preparation for the service you will give. You will not recognize those opportunities perfectly, as I did not. But when you put the spiritual things first in your life, you will be blessed to feel directed toward certain learning, and you will be motivated to work harder. You will recognize later that your power to serve was increased, and you will be grateful.” - President Henry B. Eyring

Monday, March 10, 2014

Chase:

hey davey its chase. i just got done listening to your voice mails and its fun to hear all you are doing.  3rd quarter for school just got over and we are going up north tomorrow to spend spring break up there.  have you heard about any mission calls? a lot of the high school kids are getting there calls. BK is going to Moscow Russia and there are like 15 more but i dont know them all and i dont know if you know the guys. But BK is the only one from 9th ward so far

i don't know any of them haha but dang that is a crazy mission call he will do great how are you doing bro?

good.  we have our priest quorum trip to california on may 27 so that will be fun.  everything is going good. i just got done with preference and senior ball is in april so that will be fun.

that is so awesome bro i love ya!

thanks this week at school is BOTS week and i am sure the guys will win even though they rig it to the girls. we have so many funny posters and stuff. they have different activities throughout the week worth different amounts of points and on wednesday there is a ping pong tournament against boys and girls and it is worth the most points out of everything and im pretty sure the guys will win. i am going to enter and see if i can beat out some girls... which i will ha.

no way haha we have got to play some ping pong when i get home your probably will beat me since i haven't played! but i loved bots week it is the best how is your scripture reading and preparing for a mission and everything going?

well i read every night and i have been going to mission prep where we learn and we roleplay so we are like the missionaries and the teachers pretend to be investigators

ya i role play every morning! it is so important  your awesome chase! keep it up

Mom:

Hey are you on.  How are you doing?  I am at work and it is crazy busy!

i am doing great i love being a missionary i just sent the voicemails! 

They just came through.  I won't be able to listen to them until I get home, I'm bummed.  The boys and I will be heading up north tomorrow after I get done with work.  It is spring break and I was able to get off a few days from work.  Dad got us tickets to the Jazz and I'm not sure what else we will do but just relax and enjoy Dad, Katelynn, and Jeff.

that sounds so much fun and hey mom you did not need to send me all that stuff from melaluca i love the protein and the granola bars but the other stuff i don't need i have plenty! so please if you are ever going to send me anything just do protein bars and don't spend so much money! i am doing great here i love you and thank you so much.

That is a Mom's privilege to spend on her boy ;)

Your brothers are putting the phone up to your voicemails  and I just got done with Monday and Tuesday.  I'm sorry you aren't feeling well, but happy you are having success.

I will try to remember the protein bars and drinks.

You sound so good!! I heard from Rachel Burnett that you gave her a blessing.  She didn't go into details but did express her appreciation for you and be willing to share your priesthood with her.

Mom

ha i love you so much mom but the money can go to a better cause! ha and ya it was really cool and by the way i am getting transferred this wednesday in the voicemails is when it explains where i am going so you have to wait to hear! 

The boys let me listen to the third one and I found out.  How do you feel about being moved and new responsibilities? Will it be more busy then you have been know?

ya it will be way more busy haha it will be great though

Good positive attitude, I like it!

I'm home know and I get to start packing for going up north.

The house is clean and the boys aren't fighting do they must of had a good day ;)

It is hard to leave them home all day alone and on a vacation week. They are sure good about me working.

Week:

So, today is Tuesday, March 4, it's in the night time.  I am going to try and start doing this every night and do a little recording of what happened during the day.  Well as of yesterday, preparation day, we uh...since I wasn't feeling too well, I was kinda under the weather, we played a board game called Risk.  It's a really fun board game.  So that was a lot of fun.  Then we had dinner at the Brunswick's house which is a member family and which they're really awesome.  We tried to set up a member home lesson with one of our investigators but it didn't really work so we just went and taught a new member lesson to Joseph Kiddo, my last recent convert.  But today, Tuesday, we had a lesson with Adrian and he's doing really awesome.  He relapsed on the Word of Wisdom so his baptismal date is gonna have to get pushed again.  Which stinks...we keep having good lessons with him, so...  He's going to get baptized but he just needs to... it's just going to take more time for him.  We'll just keep giving him love and righteous pressure and different things.  We also taught Dathan.  Dathan's awesome.  He uh, he's ready to get baptized.  We taught him in a member's home with two members there and we taught him the law of chastity incorporated with the plan of salvation - just the first half though - we didn't teach too much.  But um, he's really awesome...committed him to live it and yea, he's going to get baptized on the 15th of March.  He's still looking good for that.  And then we had dinner with the Woodbury's.  They're related to Mrs. Woodbury, my second grade teacher.  Yea, they have like a picture of her and everything.  And so they know her, I don't know if I told you that before.  But yea, it's brother and sister Woodbury, we had dinner with them.  We had pizza.  They just always cook us pizza cause they're lazy but they're so fun.  And then we found two new investigators at the institute when we went down there for a lesson and it fell through.  There were some kids playing some games and we challenged them and talked to them and they're both Orthodox and from Ethiopia.  But they're really cool and we have a lesson with them again this Thursday so, it should be good.  Yea, tonight was just a really great night.  We taught five quality lessons and found two new investigators, so that was our night.  Love you all...that was Tuesday and Monday, bye bye.

Allright, this is Elder Moss and I'm recording this for the last few days, Wednesday, Thursday, and today Friday.  So Wednesday we had a zone meeting and it started at 10:30 in the morning; Elder Gain and I, we give the training at zone meeting.  It was really awesome.  We also had our Stake President, President Ness, he came and he did, just kinda like said some few remarks at the beginning, so that went well.  I gave a training on talking with everyone.  And Elder Gain gave a training on working with the members, they were both really good.  Then we went and taught Adrian, again, we are trying to teach him everyday.  He's living the Word of Wisdom right now.  But he still has trouble with different things.  And then we went and taught Jordan, who's a less active, who's going to be coming back to church.  We're helping her along.  And then we had FHE that night.  And it was awesome.  We were doing the opening exercises before Family Home Evening and we had two non-members, two of our investigators, Joseph and Daniel, the were there and they were sitting on both sides of me and we go to sing the hymn and I pull out my little small Hymnbook and they have no clue what the song is and so they are like leaning over me like to see the little words and they just sound horrible singing.  We were all just like totally off key.  And it was just so funny.  It was a good time.  I'll remember that for awhile.  So that was my Wednesday.  So my Thursday, we taught Adrian again.  We taught Dathan, Dathan is still looking good for the 15th.  We had dinner with Dennis, he's an awesome member, he'll be leaving pretty soon.  Then we had a really strong, we set up a really spiritual lesson, and had it with one of our members and set up a mission plan with them.  Then we also taught Joseph and Daniel again.  It's just been a really good week so far.  Today we, today's Friday, and we met with...we'll we are actually on an exchange right now and I'm with Elder Larsen.  He's just awesome, I love him so much.  And we are on exchanges right now.  We went and taught Vanessa.  She's a former investigator.  And before we were on exchanges we went and taught Adrian and Kalley.  And so we're working really good right now in the Academy ward for what we're working with and we're just seeing miracles everyday.  And so nothing to complain about.  Um, so, yea, love you all.  have a great night, bye bye.  

Hi, this is Elder Moss again. Um, I totally just spaced it.  But um, we just got done tonight and while we were planning President Gelwix called me and he asked to speak with me privately.  I am now, I just got released as a zone leader so I am no longer a zone leader.  But then president called me to be a trainer.  And so I'm going to be training again and I'm going to be a district leader and I'm going to be opening up a new area.  And so I got a lot on my plate right now.  So keep me in your prayers, it should be really good.  I'm really excited for it.  It will be a good change.  I'm going to work my stinkin' hardest.  (Voice in the background) Hey, I love you Elder Moss's family he's awesome.  See, Elder Larsen, I told you at the beginning, he's the best.  So, yea.  I thought I'd just mention that and let you all know about it.  I'm sure you'll hear more about it as the week goes on.  But, yup, have a great day and I love you all, k bye bye.

WHHOOOOEEE!  Holy Cow!  This is Elder Moss.  We just got our transfer calls and I found out where I'm going.  Today is Saturday.  Saturday evening, it's almost ten o'clock and I just found out I am going to be going up to Modesto North, the Modesto North Zone and I am going to opening up the Modesto North YSA ward.  Oh my gosh, I am opening up a stinking YSA.  It's going to be so awesome.  I am so excited.  And I'm a district leader.  And I'm training a new missionary.  It's, oh my gosh, it's gonna be so much fun.  I was kinda bummed at the beginning cause I was leaving a YSA but I'm going to go open one up.  It's gonna be awesome.  Oh my gosh, I am really happy.  It's gonna be super hard and difficult and everything but I know I can do it now.  I have total conviction that we're gonna be working hard but we are gonna be doing work and it's gonna be awesome.  Yea, our day was great today.  We just got done with our exchange and we exchanged back.  We had dinner with our investigator Zena and she's doing good, she's gonna get baptized soon, but she still just doesn't know when.  I'm leaving Academy this coming Wednesday and it's gonna be great, I'm really excited.  Well I'm not excited to leave this area, I've been here for awhile.  It's gonna be great cause I'm leaving it strong and there a lot of people that are going to be getting baptized soon.  I'll hopefully get to come back and see them.  Yea, so, I'm just really excited and I love you all.  Thought I'd give you the good news, I'm going up to Modesto North to open up a new YSA.  All right, love you, bye bye. 

All right, so it is Sunday night and this is Elder Moss.  Just giving you the low down on what happened today.  So, the whole ward found out that I was leaving and they were just like freaking out.  They're gonna miss me a lot but It'll be good.  We had church today and we had one investigator show up and one who was a former showed up.  Dathan came to church so he's still on track for his baptism.  And yea, it was pretty cool.  And then we had dinner with the Petriges clear out in Sanger and then we went back and went to a homecoming of a missionary that was in our ward and so we went and said hi just for a little bit.  And then we went and tried to contact a girl that we found, well she wasn't home but while we were trying to contact her this kid came up and talked to him and he invited us into his house to eat food and we go in and we find out that he is from Saudia Arabia and he's a Muslim and everyone there, that's living there, is Muslim.  And so we teach them, we talked to them and we had a really good discussion.  And Muslim's... they're crazy, but these guys were really respectful, nice, and genuine and it was just a really good discussion we had with each other.  So, I taught three Muslims tonight.  It was crazy, but we do have to report it to president cause technically we are not suppose to teach Muslims without his approval but it was kinda like a spur of the moment type thing, so yea.  It was a really cool experience tonight, but um.  So, that is pretty much all we did today.  I'm just talking to everyone and we see miracles, even those of crazy faith and religions we were able to teach, I mean it was like teaching to a brick wall, but we had a discussion and they asked us questions.  They told us what they believed and everything so it was a really good discussion and it was really worth it.  Hopefully some good will come out of it.  They were great guys, all YSA.  So yea, but, I love you all and you're going to be getting this tomorrow and I hope you have a great day, well a great night, I'm gonna go to bed now.  All right, love you all, bye bye.

Monday, March 3, 2014

OK, so, these past couple of days have been awesome.  So yesterday we had MLC which is Mission Leadership Council.  It was just a great day.  We got to go to the temple and we baptisms acutally.  We did baptisms for the dead and I got to do confirmations.  It was a really great day.  Just feeling of the spirit and being able to recognize it and being able to follow it.  It was an awesome day.  And a great birthday present, couldn't have had it any other way.  And then we had dinner that night with Carsen, he's a member, he just took us to Chipolte and I got a really big burrito, it was really good.  Oh, and at MLC, it was so funny.  We were like split off with our companion and we were just doing some FIO time, which means Figure It Out, just on our area and different things we can change, and one of the assistants, Elder Pinnock, came into the room and I was like, "What the heck?"  And they closed the door and Elder Gain pinned me down and Elder Pinnock gave me 20 spankings for my birthday.  And he has a bruised hand now and my bum still hurts.  It was not enjoyable.  But, it was kinda fun.  But then the whole Mission Leadership Council, they all sang to me Happy Birthday which was a lot of fun, I really enjoyed it.  And then later that night, we have been teaching Adrian still, and he's moving along and keeping the Word of Wisdom and we're really helping him and he has a date for the 15th.  And then today, Saturday, we met with Adrian again and talked with him about agency and freedom to choose.  Then we had dinner with the Burnetts.  And it was an awesome dinner.  They bought a $56 cake, a cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory, Oh my gosh, it was the best, it was just so good.  And then they bought me a $25 gift card to SaveMart.  They're just the best, and truly just a blessing to be able to feel love from them.  And also to feel the love I would have felt if I had been with my family.  I really miss you all.  I saw that you texted Sis. Burnett back, or it was Bro. Burnett, I don't know, I can't remember.  It was just a great time.  So, something cool that happened that day was we got an investigator to come to a baptism that night.  And he has a date for the 29th and he felt the spirit super strong and we committed him to live the Word of Wisdom, that's the only thing that he really struggles with is chewing tobacco and alcohol.  Tonight we took away his chewing tobacco from him and he committed to getting baptized in 14 days.  He's coming to church tomorrow.  His name is Dathan and he is awesome.  He is just on board with everything.  He's a friend of a less active member.  He's just on board, it was just so awesome.  We just took everything away and challenged him to get baptized in 14 days.  He's just on board with everything, he believes the Book of Mormon's true.  It is just really cool to be a part of it.  He's just so prepared.  Those are the major things which were awesome this week.  We had a great week of course.  We got to teach a less active, he had dinner with us.  We were able to... there was a family who took me out for a birthday lunch, The McDonalds, they took us to a really nice expensive place.  You get pampered when you're on a mission.  I'll tell you what, the members are amazing.  They love the missionaries out here, especially the rich members.  But it was awesome.  We went on an exchange and saw a lot of miracles.  We were able to help a lot of people.  We're teaching a less active girl named Jordan and we're helping her come back to the gospel.  She's moving along really great.  It was just a week full of miracles and just a great time.  Tomorrow, Sunday, I might send another voice recording but we're planning on like having six investigators at church, some solid ones, and it should just be really good day.  Everything is just going great here in Academy.  We're seeing a lot of good things and we should end off the month with right around three baptisms for us: Adrian, Dathan, and then we're going to get one more.  We don't know who it is yet, but we're going to get 'em.  This is Elder Moss reporting from California, Fresno.  I love you all so much.  The date today is March 1st and just ending off my week, tomorrow's Sunday.  I love you all, have a great night and see the hand of the Lord in your everyday week, or everyday.  Love you all, bye bye.

Hey Davey its me and Brayden. We just listened to your voicemails and it sounds like all is going well.  We are envious of the cheesecake but not of the spankings! We love you and all that you do and are.

haha it was so good!

so we were giving service and i ripped my pants while putting a couch down haha

then also this is dathan he gave up tobacco and is getting baptized on the 15th!

So you ripped your pants? What's up with that? 

Are those a pair of pants we bought you from the missionary store?  If so those are supposed to be covered your whole mission.

no they arent ha

Well Good you sure know which ones to ripe ;)

What color are they and remind me the size you are?  Do you want the same color or do you want a different one?  Are they dress pants or jeans?

oh no we are sewing them up no worries they were just my black ones so don't worry to buy any others

Let me know if it comes down that you need me to buy you a pair.

i will thanks again!

Thanks for the pictures!!!! I love them and boy you sure need to go into acting, the expressions in the photos are priceless!

Did you get my voice mail?  How are you doing?

i havent listened to it yet but i got it! and i am doing great how is everyone doing where did you move to?

We are living in Grandma and Grandpa Moss' basement.  We are doing really good and feel very blessed to be able to have a place to live and feel that Heavenly Father has his hands in our life.

I love hearing your voice mail and also feel the same way about the Burnetts, I will never be able to repay all of the things they have done for you.  They are such a celestial family!

I'm glad you had a good birthday!  

Are you healthy?  

Coley will be coming home this week, crazy!  I keep thinking that he just went, but he is on his way home. Returning with honor :)

dang that is crazy he is coming home and i am great i got sick but now i am better 

I told your brothers that you sounded sick or you got chocked up over you birthday.  I'm sorry you got sick, what did you get?

How did you like the book?

i loved the book and i just got a sore throat thats all but the book was awesome!

I am so glad I will let dad know.  I have sent you a package from Melelueca and it is all for you.  I got thinking you might be running out of a few things and hope you can use the items I made for you. 

I also hope you swabbed your throat with Melelueca Oil and drank a lot of water.  

If I was to send you another package is there anything you are wanting that you may have a hard time getting?

no don't i am fine i dont need anything really i have plenty of stuff if i need something i will tell you but i am fine now stop wasting money on me please ha

Davey, you have to realize by now that what moms do. (Ha ha) Love you

ha i know but i don't need it i love you too

Okay how you and you're companion getting along?

we are good he is crazy! 

Well crazy can be good. I'm glad things are going good. The boys want to know If the cheese cake was the best you have ever had? And if you were kidding about how much it cost?

i wasnt kidding about how much it cost. and it wasnt' the best i love your homemade better

Oh, you are so sweet. If you were home you would get a huge hug from me and I might make it for you.  Ha ha

ha i don't think you would take the time to make it if i were home haha

Davey,  

Don't know if I will get to talk to you any more, I'm leaving work and heading to the rental to have someone look at a plumbing issue so I won't be able to write you as easily as I am know.

Love you so much and may God bless you and take care you.

Mom

"As we act in faith, we often find that the blessings from the Lord are different than we expected but much better than we imagined." - Elder Neil L. Andersen
“The Holy Ghost, a member of the godhead, bears witness of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. He is the source of personal testimony and revelation. He can guide us in our decisions and protest us from physical and spiritual danger. He is known as the Comforter, and he can calm our fears and full us with hope. Through His power, we are sanctified as we repent, receive saving ordinances, and keep our covenants. It is through the influence of the Holy Ghost that we receive knowledge of Heavenly father and Jesus Christ and feel Their power, goodness, and love.”

"Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all." - Sam Ewing. "Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out." - John Wooden

thanks for the voicemail it is good to hear you all are doing so well i am grateful for you and all you have done for me! 

Love Elder Moss