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:)

June 27, 2016 Week 70 Exchanges with Ontartio Sisters, District Meeting,

Hola familia!

This week we had lots of service opportunities, love these opps to serve! 

Tuesday we went to our ZL's service activity with the Primary kids!! We were asked to man 3 different stations they had all set up. The first was making little tags for all of them, then pretending to give them mission calls, at the second.  We helped them write letters to the missionaries serving from their ward, and at the third station, they got to eat some food featured from different countries around the world. It was so cute to be the guests of honor at this activity, all the kids looked up to us, literally! The closing song we sang was Armies of Helaman, and I stood up to sing it because I love that song so much. Although I was the only one out of 15 or so missionaries that stood up, I sang it proudly! I am a product of Primary and Young Woman success, I would NOT be here if it weren't for my dedicated leaders and teachers in my ward and stake. They have my profound thanks for helping me become the person I am today. Sometimes I wonder if they only knew how much of an impact they had, and I encourage all of them to keep up the good work, it makes a difference.  Afterward we went to see Melissa at her home. It was a bit awkward at first because we showed up without having set an appointment, but we stayed and visited for 2 hours!!  She is married to a member and has received the lessons several times, but she is waiting to be sure she wants to get baptized for the right reasons and not because everybody wants her to. Heavenly Father has been working with her for a long time, and she sees that getting baptized is definitely one of the things she needs to do, I am glad that she has the ability to recognize promptings fro the Holy Ghost and follows them! 

Wednesday morning we got up early and went for a walk with Pres and Sister Cannon! It was fun being with them and seeing them in non pros clothes. They are so awesome and we will miss them dearly.

Thursday we had another service activity and then we had exchanges with the Ontario sisters!! Vujich went with Webb in Ontario and her greenie, Hermana Rosales, came with me to Nampa!  We tried to see lots of people, but for some reason every exchange I have been on, nobody is home!  We ended up going to see Jeanet and when we got there she was super busy with her daycare business so for the first while we helped her clean dishes and make food for the kids until some of them got picked up and we were able to sit down with her. Knowing her since I was in Caldwell, I have a solid relationship with her. She was baptized with her family a long time ago, but has gone inactive due to falling out of the habit of coming to church every Sunday and has made some not so good choices.  Having wanted to address these things for a long time now, I waited until I was prompted to say anything. Turns out that that time was now! Speaking with words beyond my own, I allowed the Spirit to work through me. Tears running down her face we made a deal with her to help her get back on track again, starting with Church every Sunday. Which she came to!  I am so proud of her. If I didn't love her like I do, I wouldn't try so hard to get her to come closer to Christ. 

Friday we went to Ontario to exchange back and we also stayed for their district meeting. It was awesome! The district leader set up a situation where we all worked together to do a role play for one of his friends back home. It was so spiritual uplifting!!  

Sunday we taught Sharing Time in Primary about listening to the Spirit. Those kids are smart and I feel like I learn more from them that I actually teach. 

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

Hermana Moss:)

-- 

Week 60 June 20, 2016 Horses have humor, Zone Conference, President Canon's last MLC, Olympic training for our missions, Keep the focus

Hola familia!!

This week was busy with meetings and training and adjusting!  I say adjusting because on Monday we moved out of our old home and into a new one with Sisters Abello and Chevalier!  

Tuesday we went with our zone to buck hay for a service project. The place that we went to was Nampa farmland and it totally reminded me of being back in Ontario, they had horses and everything!  I would've gone out with the crew, but I was worried that their little girl, Paige, might get trampled amongst all the horses and that nobody would hear her if something happened, so I went in the corral and helped her brush the horses. I really enjoyed observing the horses, they have attitudes just like humans. As soon as we got in there, they tried to fight for our attention, petty horse competition neigh!  Anyway it was fun and the weather is perfect. It is getting hotter over here, I love summer time!!! 

Wednesday we had MLC. President Cannon talked a lot about getting the gospel inside of us and gave lasting advice for when we eventually finish our missions.  He also shared his testimony since this is the last MLC he will be a part of. Lots of tears, it was touching! This might also be the last time I will attend MLC since I am leaving halfway through the next transfer.  I love the Cannons so much and I am grateful for their service and dedication to the Lord. They have changed the lives of so many missionaries. I know that we are not only assigned to missions but we are also assigned to our Mission President. I am glad I was assigned to them.

Thursday we spent the day planning and training for our zone meeting on Friday. We were assigned the Conference talk of Elder Gary E. Stevenson's Your Four Minute Talk. He compared training for the Olympics to us training for our life, we took that and added training for our missions. Our lessons went well and the Spirit was abundant. I hope the other missionaries were able to understand it.  Afterwards we did exchanges with the Nyssa sisters!!  I had Hermana Mackenzie come with me to Nampa and we had a super fun time!!  I love her so much.  We are a lot alike when it comes to witty jokes and BYU puns. 

Saturday we exchanged back in Ontario and we stayed for their zone meeting and we were invited to re-give our training. (side note: there is a Justin Timberlake song called '4 minutes' with Madonna featured in it.. I was totally expecting someone to start singing it during our training, but everybody was reverent! haha!)  After we exchanged back I took the liberty of visiting some people in Ontario, then we went back to Nampa for our dinner appointment with the Navarro family!  Vujich made a deal that she would eat balut which is a aged fertilized duck egg.....and she did it!!! It was disgusting but I am so proud of her for keeping her word!!

Sunday we went to the welcome home/farewell talks of two missionaries who are the grandsons of a member from the Spanish Ward. The missionary that came home made it just in time to say goodbye to his brother who is leaving for his mission in a week!!  It gave me some ideas of what I want to say in my own talk when I return. I want to have the Savior's image in my countenance, as someone who has been changed by their mission for the better. I am so close to the finish line, it is sometimes hard to focus.  The sprint is on.  I won't stop until I finish!  It's go go go with the Savior by my side.  Pray for me that I will not lose my focus and that my service will be accepted by Him!   

Welp familia! I love y'all and remember that there is a hermana misionera praying for y'all! all the time!

Con Amor,

Hermana Moss:))

Week 68 June 13, 2016 Transfer Week, Goodbye to Elder Santos, Miracles for Veronica & Aurora has a baby boy!

Hola familia!

Phew I finished this transfer! 11 down, 1 and a half to go! I can do this:) I am excited for another go round with Hermana Vujich in Nampa, we are going to have a lot of changes come soon and I am glad that I will be working alongside President Cannon and his wife during this time of transitions. 

Tuesday we went to go see our investigator, Aurora, who was pregnant, and good news! She gave birth to a healthy baby boy, Antonio. He is so beautiful, precious, and straight outta heaven!! While we were visiting with her, we met her husband,  who made it back just in time to witness the birth of his 5th child!! Talk about divine inspiration!! We are now trying to teach both of them, but we are going to need a lot of prayers to help them keep commitments. 

Wednesday we had our last district meeting for the transfer. It was centered on Christlike attributes. I have heard this training a million times, but this time I was really touched by the sincerity of some of the comments of our district leader. This transfer, I have been somewhat lackadaisical in participating in our lessons and other things because my companion is a native speaker, but when I am with an english-speaking comp, my spanish really starts to flow better.  I have set a new goal for myself to always participate and try my hardest to pitch in at all times. 

Thursday we had another amazing miracle! Another one of our investigators, Veronica, has been struggling to make ends meet. She just found a new job but needs to sell her car to pay for her ability to work, but needs her car to get to work.  We have been doing all we could to get help for her, but nothing was coming through.  Later on, while we were at another appointment, we got a call from her saying that she ran into an old friend that loaned her the money just in time!!!  She has been so faithful in coming to church and paying attention in all the lessons, we are so excited that she had this miracle and that she sees the good in continuing investigating the church!!

Friday we had a service activity planned with our zone but we got hung up talking with RM's Homer and Hendrix! They came all the way from Logan, Utah to visit the mission! It was so sweet of them to stop and say hello, it was a wonderful surprise!  Later that evening, we had a Father's Day activity with the Spanish ward! The missionaries were in charge of the games and we played with all the kids and their fathers. The first one was a water balloon toss challenge/race. The next one was a relay race passing an egg only using a spoon! It was so fun to see the kids attempt to go fast, but they always ended up either dropping the egg or bursting the water balloon. 

Saturday morning we got transfer calls! I was happy to learn that I will be staying with Vujich,  I'm sad because a lot of my friends are going home soon. Gahh!! I feel like a dinosaur hoping to get hit by a meteor because all of my friends are already extinct!  I shouldn't say that because it sounds like I want to go home, but on the contrary, I love my mission and I would do anything for 6 more months. Saturday around noon we threw a little goodbye get-together for Elder Santos who will be going home on Tuesday. We will miss him, he was a hard-working elder and a good friend to me!

Welp familia! I love y'all! Remember that there is an herman a misionera praying for you!!

I love you!  Happy Father's Day Dad.  You're the best Dad in the world!

Hermana Moss:)

Week 67 June 6, 2016 Costa Vida, Surprise visit, Zone Leader meeting

Hola familia!!

This week is the last of the transfer..and you would think that being a missionary for so long that I would be able to predict transfer calls, right? Wrong!!! I have absolutely no idea what is going to happen and that is the scary part. But, the good news is that there are 3 new hermanas coming in!! So exciting to see new faces:)

Tuesday we had lunch with our Zone Leaders.  We went to Mancinos because the owner is a member and offers half off to missionaries! Afterwards we went outside to take some fun pictures.

Wednesday we had exchanges with the trio in our zone. I went with Sisters Chevalier and Abello and spent the day in their area. We had some luck finding people at home, but no big miracles to report on this time. That night we came up with alter ego Disney names for all the missionaries in the zone haha, that was fun:)

Thursday we didn't have anybody signed up for dinner so Vujich and I decided to go to Costa Vida for dinner. This is a big deal for us because we do not have a lot of money to spend on food, but we really like CV, so we splurged. We were easy to spot because we were wearing skirts and tags, but spotting members is slightly more difficult. We walked in there thinking we would pay for our quiet meal and be on our way. But as soon as we walked in, this lady came up to us and offered to pay for our meal because she has a missionary out in the field. Wow!  People are so kind.  Then after we sat down, another family came up to us and introduced themselves and told us they have a daughter who is going to report soon. Then as we got up to leave, another woman stopped us and asked if it was okay if she took our picture and posted it on the Missionary Moms Facebook page because she has a son serving too!!! It was anything but a quiet meal haha. I'll tell y'all what though, I said an extra special prayer that night for all those families. They have no idea how much their kindness means to us after having a long day. 

Saturday we had blitzes with the West Zone again. I took Sister Robinson with me for this round. After knocking on 2 doors we came this house with a gate locked by some string, so we unlatched it and went straight to the door. An older gentlemen opened the door and let us in. We were surprised because at first he didn't look like a member and because he didn't address us as sister missionaries. We sat down and talked with him for a bit, but we had to really speak loudly because he can hardly hear anything! We asked about his family and what he was up to, when all of a sudden we smelled something burning from the kitchen.. Then we hear the the fire-alarm go off! It made me laugh because he can't hear at all, and he at first thought the sound was the phone in his pocket and he got it out to answer it, but didn't realize that it was fire-alarm! hahah!! We said a quick prayer, made sure everything was ok and said goodbye, and even though we were far down the street we could still hear that alarm go off! Then after we left, we decided to go visit this couple we both met on exchanges over 8 months ago!!! They are still inactive, but doing well and were happy to see us. And honestly I was surprised that they remembered us.  It was fun to see them.  They are awesome! 

Sunday, Vujich and I were in the middle of dinner when we got a call from a member in Ontario, Dawn, to see if we could meet up with her. I agreed and we met her in the mall parking lot because she doesn't know her way around Nampa. I smelled something was up the minute she called and it turned out to be a beautiful surprise. Nana, Seth and Sophie came to see us! They were in the area to pick up Sophie. It made me so happy to see them!!!!! I miss them like crazzyyy:((  And even though they live only 30 minutes away, it seems like thousands of miles away.. Haha! But I know they will keep visiting me before I leave my mission. 

Congrats Elijah on your graduation!!! Have fun at Philmont, Liam!! Make this experience count! 

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

Hermana Moss:)))

Congratulations Bro

Week 66 May 30, 2016 Last Zone Conference with President Cannon!

Hola familia!!

Welp, this week was successful in the way of numbers and visits. Being in Nampa is hard because it tests my patience and my mental stability, but onward I must go. So don't be surprised if I come home  brain dead from exhaustion haha!  I wouldn't trade it for the world though.

Wednesday we had zone conference and it was fantastic. President Cannon addressed us about getting the gospel inside us and in particular he talked about the story of Peter who walked on water toward the Savior. Where were the rest of the apostles when this was happening? They were back in the boat and Peter was the only one with enough faith to get out and actually TRY! After Peter began to sink, Jesus picked him up and they didn't swim back, they WALKED back together! This important detail caught my attention because there are times where I completely fail at life, but He is always there to lift me up and help me conquer my trials when I try and ask for help. This totally reminds me of the poem, Footprints in the Sand, and thankfully I have it here with me.


"One night I dreamed a dream.
As I was walking along the beach with the Lord
Across the sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,
One belonging to me and one to the Lord.

After the last scene of my life flashed before me,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that at many times along the path of my life,
Especially at the very lowest and saddest times,
There was only one set of footprints.

This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it.
“Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,
You’d walk with me all the way.
But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life,
There was only one set of footprints.
I don’t understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me.”

He whispered, “My precious child, I love you and would never leave you.
During your trials and sadness.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you.”


This will be President Cannon's last conference that he will conduct as our mission president.. It's so sad that he's leaving the INM! On a more surprising note, the Boise mission is being split and we are inheriting half of it in July along with a new MP! This also means that we are gaining the Meridian Temple!!! Gah I'm so excited! The only disappointing part is that the temple won't be finished until next year, after I go home.  Look's like I'll be visiting once it is done:)

After the conference, we went on exchanges with some sisters in the Nampa West Zone, it was fun being with them and working in their area.

Friday we had the English Class graduation for the people we help teach English to. They were so cute.  Some of them gave their speeches in English.  I wonder if I sounded like them when I was trying to speak Spanish? haha!

Saturday we had a tracting blitz activity that went really well. I normally hate tracting because it is not the best way to find people to teach, but we started talking to a few people and it was great!

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


Hermana Moss:)