July 25, 2016 Week 74 Last transfer, Investigator family comes to church, Happy Birthday Guti!

Hola familia!

This week was slow because it was my last transfer, but it was interesting because for the first time in a long time I wasn’t thinking or worrying about transfers!!!  I love my mission and everything about it, but I am about ready to come home.  However, if I was given another chance to go back out and start all over again, I would do it in a heartbeat!!!

On Tuesday I worked on MyPlan. This week it had me focused on self reliance. I loved a quote from it by Gordon B. Hinckley that I want to share, "You are moving into the most competitive age the world has ever known. All around you is competition. You need all the education you can get. Sacrifice a car; sacrifice anything that is needed to be sacrificed to qualify yourselves to do the work of the world. That world will in large measure pay you what it thinks you are worth, and your worth will increase as you gain education and proficiency in your chosen field. You have a mandate of the Lord to educate your minds, your hearts and your hands.”  This is going to be hard!!  The classes I am going to have to take are so hard, but I know that if I work hard and rely on the Lord, it will all work out. Afterward Vujich and I went to one of our new favorite restaurants called Tangos!! It is an Argentinian place that sells amazing empanadas, Dad, I am sure you could relate.  (I may have mentioned this in my last email, but it is so dang good that it is worth mentioning it again.) 

SHOUTOUT to Guti because Tuesday was her birthday!!! Wednesday we got a box together to send to Guti for her birthday!! 

Thursday we met up with Hermana Nora from Caldwell to help her choose a wedding dress. She and Juan are looking to have a small wedding before they go to Mexico. 

Friday we went to Ontario to surprise Webb at her last district meeting!!! They tried to get away with not singing God Be With you for the closing hymn but I insisted!!!! Props though, there was not a tear shed, not even from me!!! Then we had lunch with Dawn, Cena and the Websters. Gosh I miss them!! 

Saturday we got transfer calls, and I'm staying for my last 3 weeks with Hermanas Smith and Nichols!!!! Vujich is getting transferred to Ontario with Rosales and will be training!!!! Way to go Vujich! Then we spent the rest of the day packing and visiting people so they could say goodbye to Vujich. Sad times. I have come to truly love Hermana Vujich, this transfer went by way too fast for us!! 

Sunday we had a new investigator family come to church with Jeanet and Star! She was the same woman we did service for and when we came by to visit a week later, we invited her to church and she came!!

 I’ll end this with a funny saying I learned this week from some elders:

The Church is true

The Book is blue

God is Mormon, and so should you!!! hahahaha:))

Welp familia, I love y'all! Take care and know that there is an hermana misionera is praying for you everyday!!

Hermana Moss:))

Week 73 July 18, 2016 - Polynesian Dance, Miracle for Nick, District Meeting Rap

Hola Familia!

(This is the 2nd time I am writing this email because my computer is giving me trouble....)

Anyway this week was great! Especially in way of pictures! Did I ever mention that during the 4th of July I put all the Polaroids in photo albums?! I smile and laugh every time I open them haha:)

Tuesday we had planned exchanges with the Ontario Hermanas, but we got word that Hermana Rosales had a fever, but they still had several appointments that day.  So we decided to make a surprise visit so Vujich could stay with Rosales and I could go out with Webb for the day and complete their appointments for the day. By the time we got there, Rosales was feeling better, so we split up the appointments and took off! Our first stop was Kiwi Loco of course, it is a must!! I loovvee being with Webb, she is my smooth and steady. We saw Daniel, who has been inactive for a long time. But as of 2 weeks ago, he has been coming back to church!! He actually remembered me after all this time and insisted on taking a few pictures with us before we left. He is so cute haha!! Then I took Webb back with me to Nampa for the night.

Wednesday we had a district meeting, but it was no normal meeting! Our district leader raps!!!! He is so cool, and is probably one of my best friends. He took a bunch of random words and put them all together in a rap on the spot! True talent haha! After the meeting ended we went to the computers so I could do “MyPlan". This session was a good one, but a little different because it asked me to sign up for institute!! To my knowledge, BYU students don’t have to sign up for institute.

That night we had dinner with the Thurgood family. Although I have never met this family before, I knew their son in the MTC, which was super cool! Out of the blue, there was a knock on the door just before we were to say a prayer on the food. It was a guy named Nick that lives just across the street. (He is a remarkable young man for his age, he is already renting his own house and has a stable job, the only thing he lacks is the gospel.) So the family invited him to stay for dinner and the message, to which he accepted. Sure enough, it wasn’t just by chance that he knocked on the door at the right time, it was divinely inspired!! It was my turn to share the message, and apparently Heavenly Father needed me to tell him something specifically for him. This family has been fellowshipping him for a while now and that night was a pivotal moment in time where the Spirit was undeniably present.  This experience initiated his investigation to the church.  It was incredible, it was one of those moments where I can’t explain what happened other than it felt like everyone’s heart was about to burst out of their chests from experiencing divine intervention.  We left the house looking at each other and asking ourselves if that really happened, because it was truly nothing less than a miracle.

Friday we checked up on our investigator Eunice, but to our surprise we were informed by her sister that she took off to California for the next few months. Welp, now we know why she hasn't been coming to church the past few weeks haha!!

Saturday we went to a luau at one of the English wards in the West Zone. We primarily went because we knew that all the missionaries in that zone were participating in some polynesian dances. It was... EPIC!!  We had so much fun swaying to the music and taking videos. I am so excited that BYU has a group dedicated to Polynesian performances.

Welp familia! I love y’all and don’t forget that there is an hermana misionera praying for you every day!!

Hermana Moss:))


PS. I can’t believe that Jason H. is home already?!?!?!? Awesome!

Week 72 July 11, 2016 The Infinite Atonement lesson, Exchanges, Tender Mercies for Aurora, Tracting Blitz, Mud Volleyball

Hola familia!

This week was great! I wanted to start off with something I learned from my personal study about the Savior's Atonement. I was reading from Alma 34:10 "For it is expedient that there should be a great and last sacrifice... for it shall not be a human sacrifice; but it must be an infinite and eternal sacrifice." Then I read an article from our Timeless Treasures called "The Fall and Infinite Atonement" by Spencer J. Condie. Y'all I kid you not I felt like a genius for making these connections haha: "An atonement which could satisfy justice required the sacrifice of an innocent person who would vicariously suffer the punishment for the sins of others"; we perform baptisms for the dead by proxy (aka vicariously) for those who did not have the opportunity in this life to make this covenant, so in other words we are helping them participate in the Atonement!! "The sacred record of the Savior’s appearance to the ancient Nephites is an essential, additional witness of the true nature of the Son and of his relationship to the Father and to the Holy Ghost. After introducing himself as Jesus Christ, he who had taken upon himself the sins of the world, he warmly invited the multitude to 'come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet'. The resurrected Christ had a glorified body of flesh and bone as certified by a multitude who 'did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands, and did know of a surety and did bear record, that it was he'". In other words, Christ allowed his apostles and other witnesses to touch him so they would gain a true testimony of a necessary Fall, a completed Atonement, and a glorious Resurrection!!! This is the plan of salvation in its purest essence, and all they had to do was touch him, it must've been wonderful.  I also thought this was really cool: Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has explained that “real, personal sacrifice never was placing an animal on the altar.  Instead, it is a willingness to put the animal in us upon the altar and letting it be consumed!”

Monday was the 4th of July and we had to be in by 6pm. After we emailed our family, we played mud volleyball with our zone!! It was way fun, but the rocks at the bottom of the water really hurt my feet and I had to get out. Then we went home and got to see the fireworks from our backyard. T'was a beautiful sight, I love America!:)

So for missionaries that are returning home within 6 weeks, there is an online program called MyPlan that is supposed to help prepare them to go home and continue a righteous life, etc. It has been available on my account for a couple weeks now, but I haven't wanted to do it because it hasn't hit me yet that I am going home and I really don't want to, but I figured that I would do it eventually.  On Tuesday I got on and started working on it. It is not that bad! I took a lot of notes.. haha!  Tuesday was a successful day contacting all of the referrals we have been getting, and today they were finally ALL home!!  We had dinner with the Waite's, and it didn't register until after 30 minutes had passed that Brother Waite is Sister Waite's son!!?!  She was the lady I lived with back in Caldwell for 3 months. Turns out it was her birthday that day, so he gave me her number so I could call her and wish her a happy 83rd birthday! It was so nice to hear her voice on the phone, she is doing well and now lives in Idaho Falls with another son. These little tender mercies happen to me all the time, haha!!

Wednesday we had interviews with our new Mission President, it went well! He has to learn over 400 missionary names and get to know them personally.. talk about rough callings! Just like there is no preparation for becoming a missionary, there is no real preparation for becoming a mission president either.  President and Sister Sorenson were only in the MTC for 3 days?!?!?! UGH that's stressful.  Later, we had exchanges with Hermana's Bertolino and La Luz from Caldwell.  I took La Luz with me to Nampa. She is such a peach and so adorable!! Although she has only been out for 3 weeks, she is a natural teacher and testifier. The next day was weekly planning and since Vujich wasn't with me to update records or fill out progress sheets, I was at it alone for 3.5 hours!!!!!! Paperwork... that is probably the most irritating part..good thing I don't mind it! :)

Friday we had some pretty sweet miracles! Our investigator, Aurora, sleeps on a bed with her husband and all 5 kids, so she asked us if we could keep our eyes open for a bed as well as washer and dryer. Knowing we had planned to see her that day, we made some calls and found all 3 items that day and got them set up in her trailer!!! We also worked on reactivating a member named Jeanet, whom I've know since Caldwell. All of her steps of progress make me beam with pride, especially when she tries to read the scriptures with her 2 sons. A couple weeks ago we gave her a Spanish triple copy so she could have some scriptures with her when she comes to church and tries to participate. Last week I ordered her a brand new English Quad and got her name engraved on it, but I didn't think it would get to me so quickly! It came in the mail not 3 days later, and I gave it to her Friday evening. I placed it in front of her backwards and told her to look up a certain scripture since she has to relearn how to look them up. As she was flipping and looking at the little tabs, she finally saw whose name was on it. She stared at it, then looked at me and her eyes welled up!! It's these moments that make my heart want to burst with joy!!! I look back now and realize that one of the people I came on my mission to meet and help was Jeanet. I love my mission!!

Saturday we had a tracting blitz in our district that we call 'The Gator Scramble" and we went to one of our areas that we felt hadn't ever been tracted. We met 2 new people that we hope to start teaching in the near future. After we went to a service project and bucked hay, Vujich and I were asked to go way out in this swampy part of the property and cut some tall red colored weeds.. haha I examined the shears they gave us and you could see straight through them they were so dull!!! After that, we helped Jeanet's sister's friend (Star) move stuff from a storage unit to a new house on the other side of town. We were smelly and exhausted at the end of the day!!! Did I mention that I love my mission!!!

The Nashville Tribute Band came again this year with David Archuleta, Marie Osmond, and Alex Boye, and again we weren't allowed to go:( But Sunday night we went to a YSA devotional where just the Nashville Tribute came and they sang some of their songs and we even got Star to come!!  It was amazing!!!!!!

Welp familia! I love y'all and don't forget there is an hermana misionera praying for you!!

Hermana Moss:))-- 

July 4, 2016 Week 71 Happy 4th of July Y'all, Pres Cannon depart

Hola familia!

This week was awesome! Not necessarily in way of lessons, but in staying busy and involved in our ward. 

Monday was the last day for President and Sister Cannon, very somber for all of us. We went over that night to say goodbye and pick up our journals we had left for them to sign. We stayed for a little bit and talked about their plans and what they think it will be like for them to go home, and before we left we sang God Be With You (side note: a couple weeks ago at MLC the closing song was Called to Serve and everybody was like, umm this is obviously the wrong song, but President Cannon didn't want to get weepy, so he chose a different one.) I was somehow able to keep my cool, but Vujich lost it during the closing prayer. We said our goodbyes and walked out of the mission home knowing that President Sorenson will be living there for the next 3 years starting the next day. It was a weird feeling because I am so used to the Cannons and it seems like nobody can possibly replace them. They will be sorely missed and in my prayers forever!!

Tuesday night we had visits with ward missionaries, bishopric, etc around 7:00.  Normally we would be a bit late, but for some reason we were there early. As we were walking up to the front doors Vujich gasps so loud that it makes me look up, and I then suddenly make the same gasp because we see President Sorenson coming from the opposite direction!!!! It was amazing, because even before he got to shake our hands, I felt the strong confirmation of the Spirit indicating to me that he was God's chosen servant to preside over this mission. He just glowed, and I was so excited to meet him because technically, we were supposed to meet him officially on Wednesday at the Meet the President meeting, but this took us off guard and we were all smiles! He was coming to attend the AP's WML meeting and had no idea where he was going. haha it's funny because he is a greenie just like I was when I first came out! After our visits, we pulled Elder Summers, one of the AP's, aside to show him our t-shirts that we had made in his memory! Haha, it's just an embarrassing picture of him that a member found on Facebook. He is one of those business formal guys who underneath the suit he is a goofball, so I am sure he appreciated our funny gesture:)

Wednesday we had the official Meet the President meeting with all of the Nampa and Kuna missionaries in attendance. Later that day we went to a God and Country concert where Danny Gokey was the main performer. He is a country singer that was on American Idol a couple years ago, but he also sings a lot of religious songs that we listen to in the car. It was a lot of fun, we also invited Jeanet and Star because they love concerts, and we especially love it if they are free! haha:)

Friday we went to a wedding reception of a couple that just got married in the ward. They are a cute pair, and seem to be the happiest people alive. Saturday morning we went to our Bishop's wife's baby shower. All the decorations were in yellow because they don't want to know if it is a girl or a boy. That anxiety would destroy me haha, but props to her. This is her #5 baby so you can say that she knows the drill already. After the shower, we did some service with other Spanish missionaries and painted this less active lady's house. I quickly realized that I am not cut out to be a professional painter lol, so I hope nobody tries to hire me to paint their house when I get home. For dinner we didn't have anybody signed up to feed us so we called Juan and Nora from Caldwell to come and take us out!! They are so adorable.  I love their spirit when they come around, it's all smiles and laughs:)  After dinner we had an appointment with an investigator named Irma, and I don't know why but we always get super sleepy every time we go into her house. Maybe it's all the cat hair circulating around the air, but we need to figure something out before one of us actually knocks out in mid-sentence with her!!

Sunday we had an early morning meeting with the ward council. These meetings come around every month, and the last one we completely forgot about and showed up really late!!  So this month we decided it was time to redeem ourselves and show up early!  But it turns out we got a little ahead of ourselves and showed up 30 minutes early haha! We also had to teach Primary this day, the lesson focused on making choices for future life decisions. The Corona family signed up to feed us dinner that night and for our message we watched the Book of Mormon Movie. I remember going to the premier and meeting Noah Danby in person!!! It makes watching the movie that much better lol!

Welp familia! I love y'all and don't forget there is an hermana misionera praying for you!!

Hermana Moss:)