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

Monday, December 30, 2013

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

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

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

Here are some Christmas pictures he sent:

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

And some thoughts he sent:

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

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

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

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

Love Elder Moss

Tamara asked that his audio file be transcribed:

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

Week of Christmas 2013

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

President Gelwix

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY BAPTIZING NEW YEAR!

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

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

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

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

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

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

does around 5pm?

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


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

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

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

(yes i am using it)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

love you!

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

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

Monday, December 16, 2016

Weekly Letter:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Elder Moss

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

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

Monday, December 9, 2013

We received the following note with a movie clip:

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

Conversation with Mom:

this my zone after a christmas concert that we did! 

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

haha no no mommy

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

Let me know what packages you have received?

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

The one from Katelynn have you opened it up?

yup i have!

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

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

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

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

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

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

How are you doing? Are you staying warm?

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

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

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

What are your plans on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day?

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

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

defenanly it will be good but who knows right?

Is there an area you would like to go to?

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

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

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


Weekly Letter:

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

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

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

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

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

I love you so much 

Have a great week! 

Elder Moss

Monday, December 2, 2013

Alrighty!

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

Love Elder Moss 

November 25, 2013

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


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

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

How are you doing?

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

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

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

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

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

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

i cant send it

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

no i already deleted it 

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

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

You were making it on your camera?

yup thats all i have haha

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

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

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

Weekly Report:

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

Love Elder Moss

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

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