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

Monday, February 24, 2014

Good morning family and friends.  Today in California it is Sunday morning.  Just a little recap of the week. Starting with Monday, we've had some really great lessons with our investigators.  We had one with Sara and with her boyfriend Austin who is a member.  Her only hold up is she wants her boyfriend to baptize her and the boyfriend is not worthy to right now.  So, it's really hard cause she is so ready to get baptized.  So, we're trying to put righteous pressure on the boyfriend but we can't really do to much about that.  One of the things we are also doing is setting up Ultimate Mission Plans with all of our YSA members.  It is basically their plan on how they're going to share the gospel.  It's been going good, we've had about four of them so far, out ward is slowly getting rolling.  We also have been teaching Adrian, he's awesome.  He has a date for March 8th.  I think this is one of the people I was suppose to find while being here in Academy; been working with him a lot.  Also, we're teaching Lacy who's awesome.  She's having a hard time believing in God but she's still reading she's still meeting with us.  She's really cool, she's a friend of a member also.  Then there's Nick.  Nick, he would get baptized any time but he's on probation and so we got to get him interviewed by President Gelwix and our stake president and then send in a letter to the first presidency.  So, that's kind of annoying, but oh well.  We've had six actuals in our zone, so six actual baptisms and so we're just working with them.  Something that was fun that happened - I went on an exchange with one of the members of our zone that has been struggling and we went up and knocked on this door and this Pentecostal guy came out and he was like, "Let me pray with you."  And so we were like alright.  It was super good prayer I've got the utmost  respect for him but he was like screaming and he spoke in tongues supposedly - it was kinda weird, it was hard for me not to laugh.  Our exchange was super good.  We've just been finding new investigators all around the board.  We had FHE which was also good.  It was a really great exchange and we found a new investigator Wednesday night that was from a less active member.  She brought him to church - FHE - Family Home Evening where we played kickball.  Oh no, it was indoor soccer, sorry.   So, yea, that was really good.  He's really cool.  He has a date right now for the 29th of March and he's progressing really well.  I was in the biking area on the exchange and oh my gosh, I love biking.  It is so much fun, you can talk to so many people.  But I like YSA areas better, you know, they're just a lot of fun. Today for church we are expecting 6-8 people to come to church, non-members.  Hopefully a couple of less actives we've been teaching.  It should be really good, a really good day.  Just been seeing miracles all around, being able to, as I've just been teaching I've been really able to tune into the spirit and teach to the person's needs.  Just really cool.  I love my mission, it's the best.  This is my report, Elder Moss, and I love you all and I hope that your last week was amazing.  And I hope everything went great, those things that you had planned.  And this next coming week, I hope that it's even better and that you have a blast and see the hand of the Lord in your lives every single day.  I love you all, all right, bye bye.

Monday, February 17, 2014

So, good morning, this is Elder Moss.  Today is Friday morning.  I have like weekly planning and a lot of stuff going on today.  We got a big meeting with all the zone leaders.  But, I just thought I'd call and kind of check up.  A little bit that happened last week that I forgot to mention to you that I loved was that it rained a ton.  Holy Cow, I just love falling to sleep to like the rain and thunder, but it didn't thunder, but the rain was still good.  And it rained a lot and we went running in the rain in the morning and just a bunch of different stuff and I just love it so much.  This past week we had preparation day and we just played basketball and volleyball.  We had a lesson with a member's friend in his house which, by the way, is the best way to do missionary work - is for missionaries to come over and teach people in your houses.  It's just powerful, it's awesome.  Umm, we've been having a lot of lessons at the institute which is awesome.  We've just been doing a lot of work.  We had FHE Wednesday night and I guess that was indexing and so we just stayed with our family, er our ward - sorry, and we just kinda just mingled with them and helped them all.  But we also had president's interviews this week.  We had ours yesterday.  It was actually my year mark yesterday. That's pretty crazy to think that I've been out a year now.  Yea, we had our president's interviews and it was pretty good, I loved it.  And then president came out with us that evening, so Thursday evening he came out with us and we taught two lessons with him.  One which went super well, the spirit was strong and we discovered a concern that we never thought of.  We also taught a lesson at the Fresno City College Library and the whole time during the lesson we had to whisper and it was the hardest thing I've ever done.  It was just frustrating.  Yea, this week is just going super well.  I'm just really excited, I don't know, it's just going really well.  Yesterday was a great day and we taught a lot.  Today is going to be kind of a longer day because we gotta get some Stake Correlation done and weekly planning and we got an interview we've got to go do for some missionaries.  Other than that it should be really great.  Valentine's day is coming up, oh, I guess that is today, today is Valentine's day, and I guess...happy Valentine's day.  Shoot, but yea.  Love you so much, have a great week.  Bye bye.

Good morning friends and family.  This is Elder Moss and it's about 7:15 in the morning and I just got done eating breakfast.  We had right around 3-4 eggs and a piece of toast, umm it was good.  Today is, I mean it's starting to look like it's gonna be a good day.  We're planning on having, I think, five investigators at church.  So, hopefully that will all turn out and be able to be extremely well.  So that last time I recorded was Friday.  That was, it was, Valentine's day I believe.  Our dinner for Valentine's day was a family, well he was YSA but he was with his family, they took us out to eat at this whole in the wall Mexican Restaurant which was pretty good.  Really unhealthy but really good.  So Saturday we had to do a bunch of weekly and stake correlation, well weekly planning and then stake correlation.  Cause our meeting with President Gelwix and the Stake Presidency is today.  Then we met with a high councilman yesterday, Brother Crowsy, he's the high councilman over missionary work.  So that was good.  It was a really good meeting.  We also went to a baptism, we tried to get some investigators there but no one showed up so hopefully we'll get them next time. We also met with this kid named Brandon.  It was super funny.  We met with like on the side of the road at like a coffee shop.  And we were just talking to him and stuff and a member came rolling up and he was stopped at the stop light and he rolled down his window and he was like yelling, "It's all true, what there telling you is true, believe them."  Oh my gosh, it was just so funny.  It was just...it made my day, but it was really good.  Then we had dinner at the Wadsworth family, it's just a really great family, there just doing awesome.  Ummm, let me think.  I think that's pretty much it since Friday and on.  Just been able to continue to find, teach, and baptize...so yea.  That's it.  Hope you all have a great week.  Hope your Valentine's day was awesome.  Love you so much and I know this church is true.  Allright, God bless you, bye bye.

Monday, February 10, 2014

“When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest, in that moment God will endow us with power.” - Ezra Taft Benson

hey all ya'll sorry i am not sending a voicemail i totally forgot this week it has been different but great so this past week we have been struggling finding people well we find a lot of people but we are not finding solid ones that progress we have some sweet ones that are doing really great so far which is awesome but ya no worries everything will be great! we had 3 people at sacrament this past sunday which was sweet. we also had leadership training which was great we received a lot of revelation and had fun. then that same night we had FHE and we had some investigators come to that also. we had a dinner with a member and she invited one of her agnostic friends and he was so skewed with different ideas and things that different make any sense so it just boosted my testimony but didn't help him cuz he wouldn't listen to anything we had to say haha but oh well. we also had a zone meeting and i started it off by talking about our true potential and shared a mormon message "our true identity" and it was powerful! then we had awesome trainings by our district leaders and it just was really great. then we had friday forum and met a lot of non members there and had one lesson at the institute and it was just a lot of fun. my companion is so prideful he was a college basketball player and personal trainer and weight lifter and it is so annoying we don't fight but i just am being tried with this companion haha so hopefully it will be great i will make it good and work my hardest! well valentines day is this week and i wish you all a great valentines day! i love you and hope you have a great week! 

love elder moss

Monday, February 3, 2014

“I find that when I get casual with my relationship with divinity and when it seems no divine ear is listening and no divine voice is speaking, that I am far, far away. If I immerse myself in the scriptures, the distance narrows and the spirituality returns. I find myself loving more intimately those I should love with all my heart, mind, and strength.” - President Spencer W. Kimball 

It is so crazy i am coming up on a year! and my birthday haha it is crazy but it is also awesome i love it so much! 

Hey Davey, I'm glad you are finally on :)  How are you doing?  We are doing so good!  Did you get our crazy voicemail

i am doing great! and i haven't listened to it yet haha but i am right now! i heard your super bowl was great and no we don't get to watch the super bowl haha 

Oh, Chase said that is something you might get to watch today for your pday. I guess I will tell you that my team won, haha. The Seahawks won, I decided to rout for the underdogs and that was the Seahawks. The Broncos got creamed!  It was a lot of fun! Dad had made an amazing spread of food, full of chicken wings, 4 different kinds of dips, pizza, and chocolate cake. (I'm sure I am missing something.

What have you been up to today.

i have just gone shopping played some sports and did laundry and cleaned haha and studied

I thought you had someone that does your laundry? When did you start doing your laundry?
I too can't believe that you have been out for almost a year. So what tie will you cut up on your your mark?

ya we do have someone do our laundry we just have to drive awhile to get there and haha no we don't do that in this mission thats not very representative of Jesus Christ ha how are you doing i am just loving it our here! 

Do they do anything fun to represent you being out a year?  Just remember it is important to finish strong - to the end.

ha ya i know i will finish super strong or i will just stay out for a year! and no we don't really do anything to signify we are out for a year haha so i don't know

You are absolutely right we are on this earth to learn and grow, sometimes it is really hard! You don't need to send us anything to ease our stress, this is just another thing we can experience in our life to help us grow.  I know I look forward to hear from you each week they always brighten my week! That is all I need! Thank you for thinking of us! 

Weekly Letter:

Hey family and friends, this is Elder Moss.  So, I had my other reporting all done and everything but it wouldn't upload so I am here at the church now.  We just got done playing basketball and I don't have my other planner to tell you about my last week.  I'll try to go off memory but no promises.  Last week we had a big meeting Thursday, MLC - Mission Leadership Council, and that went really good.  We just always receive super, a lot of, spiritual impressions.  Wednesday was transfers as we know.  I got my new companion, Elder Gains, he's awesome, he's huge.  We haven't taken any pictures yet...so, I don't know if I can help with that or not.  He's from, I think, Wisconsin.  He played college basketball.  He's awesome.  He's also 25 years old so he's older than me by a lot.  We also helped out...we gave a training to the new missionaries, all of them that came in, that was a lot of fun.  And then we also transported them to go to their new areas, like up to Modesto and down to Porterville.  We were gone all night.  So that was extremely long.  It was just a blast this week.  We also had FHE as always.  We are getting a lot more members out to come to the activities and different things.  We played basketball that night.  That was just a blast.  Of course it was superbowl week and we went to teach the hmong family, these two hmong YSA kids, and we went there and their whole family's drunk.  Oh my gosh, it was so funny.  We tried to teach them but it didn't really work out and once they started offering us vodka we thought we should get out of there, so we left.  We have just been teaching a lot of spiritual lessons.  We had one investigator come to church.  His name is Miguel and he's still preparing for baptism, so that's awesome.  Other than that we just keep working hard, seeing a lot of miracles, teaching small lessons all over the place, and ya, our zones awesome, we're doing a lot of work so it's going to be great.  Alright, have a great week, I love you all, bye bye.

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