Feliz dia de accion de gracias!

Hola Familia!

Feliz dia de accion de gracias! (Isn't that a mouthful? I mean.. really). How was everyone's thanksgiving?! I haven't heard anything from any of you yet so... I mean it's fine but I expect some letters real soon. 

Thanksgiving in the MTC is WONDERFUL. I shall walk you through the course of events, since I am positive you are dying to know:

First, we ate breakfast in the cafeteria on West Campus, because that's where we live. I had cinnamon toast crunch and banana bread. 

Second, we hopped aboard a bus to take us to Main, where we had choir practice from 8:00-9:00 am. We sang "Hope of Israel." It was be-awesome.

Third, we had a devotional. Hold on to your seats now... the "special speaker" was Elder Russell M. Nelson! It was so special. The best part is, well.. let me back up. For the last 10-15 minutes before the devotional starts, everyone sings the prelude. So when the general authority, or apostle, in this case, comes through the doors everyone is singing. There is something just so powerful about hundreds of missionaries singing the songs of Zion in unison when an Apostle of the Lord walks through the doors. I admit: a tear was shed. 

He talked to us of the importance of including ward missionary leaders and family history consultants in our work. He told us to begin praying to be led to those whose ancestors are have accepted the gospel and are ready for their work to be done. Is that not the coolest thing you have ever heard? I have never thought about it like that. It makes this work we have to do that much more urgent!!! 

Fourth, we had Thanksgiving dinner. It was DELICIOUS, but the cafeteria was the most crowded thing I have ever seen. It was terrifying to try to find a table, and I am not joking. But we had turkey, and pumpkin pie and that tasty broccoli-bacon salad that I love so much. There were also mashed potatoes, but they were really fake and the Idaho girl in me just isn't about that life. 

Fifth, we had a Thanksgiving program. I was worried because I thought it was just going to be musical number after musical number.. which is fine! Don't misunderstand.. it's just a little rough when you are super sleepy and you have to sit through pretty music for an hour and a half. Boy, were we surprised when President Roach announced the first number as "HEDWIG'S THEME FROM HARRY POTTER." I have no idea how that was allowed, but I have not been so excited to hear that song in all of my life. It is also probably why I had a dream about a Basilisk in our bathroom last night, but that is a story for another time. The program continued with the singing of Christmas carols, a skit about the first thanksgiving complete with costumes, and the testimony of a young man you had strayed from the church in his youth and was brought back to the fold by his commanding officer in Iraq. It was beautiful. 

Sixth, we ate our sack lunch dinners. Which is hilarious, because it's thanksgiving.. but they were actually really good. Me gusta.

Seventh, we participated in the service project which was filling bags of lentils for hungry children in the area. Rumor has it we did 350,000 bags. #missionarypower.

Eighth, we watched "Ephraim's Rescue" in the main gym. They even had boxes of candy for us! It was just wonderful. You know what is almost as good as singing with hundreds of missionaries? Laughing and crying with hundreds of missionaries. It is just so sweet to know we are all there united in purpose and testimony, and then to think the same thing is funny is just icing on the cake. I love that movie. 

And finally, we walked home. Therefore, we did not get home until 10:25. This is breaking the rules, as you are probably aware, but I don't think it really counts as disobedience since we really didn't have a choice. And I was still in bed by 10:40. And with 6 hermanas in one bathroom, that is no small task. 

Thus ended Thanksgiving 2013. 

The rest of my week has been the best one yet! Hermana Wood and I have found our "rhythm," I think, and our lessons have been so good. The spirit has been so strong. And our "investigators" are progressing nicely, I think. Por ejemplo: "Wayne" (the athiest) prayed this morning with us to know if God exists and if He has a plan for his life. Beautiful. 

A new district is "intermediate" because they have taken Spanish before. I think there is a test they have to take? No se. I just know they already know more than us. Esta bien. I ain't even mad.

CCM stands for Centro Capatacion de Misional. It's the Spanish MTC :) 

Thank you for the updates on everyone! They make me laugh and gasp and such nonsense. I'm sure my district just loves hearing about the life of my family back home :) Oh well. They can deal. 

Do you want to hear something profound that someone asked us the other day? They said, "Who was the better missionary: Enos, with his city so righteous they were all translated, or Noah, who was only able to convince his family to repent and board the ark?" The answer is they are both equal in the missionary work, because they were both equal in their effort. This work is not about numbers or about how righteous you can get your area to be. A successful missionary is measured by their effort. People still have the ability to choose. It makes a lot of sense to me. 

Also we talked about repentance this week, and how it is not a "checklist." True repentance is about a constant change of heart. Hermana Haws said, "You may have repentED, but are you repentANT?" Something to think about. And something that I think I definitely need to improve on. Oh there is so much to improve on. 

Thank you for your constant prayers, support, and love! I truly have the best support system known to man. 

I love you I love you I love you!!

Con amor, 

Hermana Moser

Hola mi familia! Comó estan!?

I am doing just fantastic here at the CCM. Actually I feel like there is a lot to say and not a lot to say all at the same time, so my mind is going a billion miles a minute and I am struggling with figuring out how to begin.

How about with this: Remember how everyone knows you get an investigator in the MTC, and how shocked I was when we found out we had to teach MORE than one lesson? Well.. around this time last week, Alfredo stopped seeing the missionaries. What all of the older districts had failed completely to warn us about was that once that first week is over, you get TWO BRAND NEW INVESTIGATORS. One is "Wayne." Bless him. He's a sweet guy. Reminds me of Alfredo. Except for he's atheist, so that's great. When he told us he didn't believe in God hna. Wood and I just exchanged a look of "Ooh no." and "I haven't the slightest clue how to address this in Spanish." Our otra investigadora is "Nancy" and she is very much reserved. She's 18 and only likes to sleep and watch Twilight and is struggling with understanding just how much God loves her. Entonces, needless to say, our new investigators are a handful. Pero esta bien! It's not about our relationship with them, it's about building their relationship with the Savior. We are just there as an instrument in the hands of the Lord. You know what? Missionary work is very humbling.

This second week has been more challenging than the first, and I think it's because we are expected to know more, and I get frustrated when I don't remember absolutely everything we have learned. They keep reminding us what a milagro it is that we can even speak this much Spanish after 14 days, but it's still really irritating for me. So, combine that with other triggers, and I just started crying in coaching the other day. Poor Hna. Haws was so kind to me. I really was fine, but I guess I needed to cry something out because the tears just didn't stop. It was super annoying, but everything is good now. And she taught me how turning to El Libro de Mormon in any situation can be comforting and an answer to prayer. (I recommend 2 Nefi 4. Es muy bonita). (Also, sorry for not using the accents. That would requite me to change the setting of this keyboard, and I'm just really not about that life right now). 

Our Sunday night devotional this week was given by Mary Ellen Edmunds and it was the best devotional every porque she was HILARIOUS. But she said something that I think was meant for me in dealing with things this week. She said, "All you can do is the best you can do." Sweet, right? It's so true. 

ALSO I watched a devo by Elder Holland where he said this:

"He said, 'come to the edge' and we said 'No, we'll fall.

He said, 'Come to the edge,' and we said, 'No, we'll fall.

He said, 'Come to the edge.'

We came. He pushed. 

We flew."

Miracles happen outside your comfort zone. And that is why missions are hard. :)

We got TWO new districts in our zone last night! It's very exciting because now we are not the youngest district! Of course, that doesn't really matter because the other hermanas that have come are intermediate, but I am okay with it. Esta bien. They still don't know where the mailbox is, so I've still got an advantage.

MOM! YES HERMANA HILTON IS IN MY DISTRICT! And she is hilarious and I love her. So you can just go back and hunt down her aunt to tell her that. She is like 7 feet tall and really good at Spanish. 

NATHAN! CONGRATULATIONS MY LITTLE EAGLE SCOUT! Loved those pictures. So wonderful. Me guesta. Actually, me encanta. Pictures are always really great. In any form. So... sending them is a good idea. (hint hint.) PS. NATHAN: You know what eagle scouts do? They write their sisters who are on missions. So, probably get on that. 

Mom and Dad, your emails are the best things in this world. I laugh out loud at them frequently and then have to run and share with the other hermanas. I think they are getting sick of hearing about my family. :) Pero, that sounds like a personal problem porque I LOVE my family! 

Buenos suerte in school and work and the show and everything.

I love you I love you I love you.

I promise to try to send pictures this time :)

con amor,

Hermana Moser

 

 Ps. my card is not working with this computers. So it is looking like I will have to try again next week. I'm sorry :(

It's P-Day! P-Day! Getta Letter on P-Day!

Hola familia! Como le va??

Wow. Crazy. This has been the longest and shortest and weirdest and bestest week of my life. I have only been here for 8 days, yet I have seen so many miracles and tender mercies. 

Por ejemplo, let's just take a gander at the first day, shall we? ...

After I said goodbye and stopped crying, they gave me my name tag (YAY!) and my books (which are like one thousand pounds) and escorted me to my room. (I live on West campus, by the way, not in the main MTC. I'm in the Wyview apartments). Who was my escort when I stepped off the bus, you ask? Hermana Woodland! My roommate from last semester! SO exciting! I almost cried with joy. Except for I didn't because I had just stopped crying, and so that would have been counter-productive. 

Then, after Hna. Woodland gave me the dirt on how things operated at the West Campus, I was swept away to my classroom. The nametag on my desk was written in GREEN marker. This is probably not a big deal, but it really just was. (Her favorite color is green.) I also found out that mi maestra, Hermana Haws, is related to Aunt Sharon! Ella es mi prima! :D I just can't get away from all these Mosers. My goodness. 

The first two hours in the class were spent totally in Spanish. It was hilarious. Nobody knew what was going on. She even took us on a tour of the campus, but that was a funny joke because we didn't understand her. We still get lost all the time when we try to find things. 

My district is all Hermanas! The first one ever in our zone! And I have been called to be the District Sister-Training Leader, which is kind of like a normal District Leader except for I'm not a boy. And I think there are Elder District leaders over us. Our poor branch presidency doesn't really know how to handle an all hermana district. I guess we just have to shake things up a bit :) I love these girls, though. I literally feel like I have known them my entire life. Mi companera's name is Hermana Wood. She's from Arizona and we get along really well. She gets the bottom bunk, I get the top. This is a little bit of a problem in the morning, because we all know how "with it" I am at 6 am, but esta bien. 

Funny story about how long the days are in the CCM:

Last Thursday we were sitting in our classroom, because we are always sitting in our classroom, and we were studying. But actually we were talking and getting to know each other. Then I looked at my watch and said, "Hermanas, we have not even been here for 24 hours yet." And then everyone looked at each other with looks of awe and wonder because it felt like we had been there for at least a week. Those first 4 days are no joke. 

Everyone had been telling us we just had to make it until Sunday and then the days will just fly by so fast it's scary. I did not believe them. Well, now I do. This week has been ridiculously speedy. The Sunday's here are WONDERFUL! We wake up, do our thing, have breakfast, study study yada yada.. and then the sisters get to go to Music and the Spoken Word. It was awesome this week because it was celebrating Veterans Day. It was all patriotic, and I'm all about that life. Then we have Relief Society. AKA a general auxiliary leader comes and talks to all the sisters. This last week we got to hear from the 2nd counselor in the general primary presidency. She's a gem. After that I got to go to meetings, cuz I'm a leader, and the zone leader asked me to give the opening prayer! In Spanish! Bless my heart. But I did it and it was fine. That night we had choir practice, and then a nice evening stroll up to main campus for a devotional. THEN we came back to west campus and watched a devotional Elder Bednar gave called "The Character of Christ." It is the best devotional I have ever heard. And he does an impression of the cookie monster, so I highly recommend it. He talked about how Christ was constantly turning outward, even in situations where you or I would have turned inward. After he suffered beyond what any mortal could imagine in the Garden, he turned outward and healed the guard's ear. He told us that it is NOT about what we want. It isn't about what we want for ourselves or our investigators, it is about what God wants for them. We have to be constantly turned outward in selfless service, or our mission will be a waste. It completely changed my perspective on a lot of things. oh It was so good. 

It was very nice timing too because our lessons with our investigator were not going very well. That's right. LESSONS. In the plural. I assume you have heard new missionaries teach a lesson in their mission language on the 3rd day? What they don't tell you is that keeps happening. So far we have taught "Alfredo" 5 times. But do you know what is awesome? I can understand what he is saying. Do I know how to answer him? Nope. I have to get really creative with how I word things using my limited vocabulary. But what a miracle to know what he is saying and what we need to study in order to answer his questions. Anyway, our first lesson was fine but our second lesson was kind of a disaster. He just kept asking questions that didn't make sense and I was getting really flustered. So on Monday, I just went in there with the mindset of teaching by the spirit, relying on the Lord, and trusting that all would be well with the lesson and it was! It was such a wonderful lesson. Even though he's no a "real" investigator, the spirit was so strong. I was able to combine words in ways that probably have never been combined before in the history of Spanish grammar, and he was able to understand what we were trying to say. The gift of tongues is real! As long as the Spirit is the teacher in the lesson, it doesn't matter that we can't perfectly communicate. It was a really neat lesson to learn so early on in this journey, which is probably why they put us through that kind of torture. Not torture. Just.. it's really scary, that's all I'm' saying. 

Gym time is great. Mostly Hermanas Wood, Sundberg, Hilton, and I just walk around the apartments in the fresh air, but yesterday Hna. Sundberg got a jump rope in the mail. It was like we were 8 years old again. And then Hna. Hilton and I went and played lightning with a bunch of elders and some really impressive sisters. I did not do very well. These people are professionals. But it was really fun. 

Tuesday we had a devotional with Elder L. Tom Perry! It was so wonderful. We were singing when he walked in (they start singing prelude hymns 15 minutes before the meeting here) and I think it made the Spirit just that much stronger. He is hilarious. He taught about companionship and testimony. My favorite part was when he challenged us to "never leave a congregation without bearing your witness of this gospel." Powerful. 

I am so glad to hear all the missionaries in the Philippines have been found and are safe! That was something Elder Perry talked a lot about. He said there were a lot of miracles associated with those missions. I am inclined to agree. 

My days usually go like this:

6:00 wake up because we have one bathroom and 6 girls and this senorita needs to shower

6:45 breakfast

study study study

8:00 teach Alfredo

study study study study study study study

11:20 lunch

CLASE CON HERMANA HAWS

4:20 dinner

study study study study

gymnasio!

study study study 

Plan

Zone prayer / song

journal time / companion prayer

10:30 bed. 

Exhausting, right? We get a little loopy sometimes during those long study session. Por ejemplo: the other day I laughed until I cried because I realized all the pictures in the Spanish pamphlets are different from the English ones. It is hilarious. En serio. Go check it out. 

Good luck on Sunday, Nathan!! Wish I could be there for your Court of Honor! I'm so proud of you!

Thank you for the dearelders. They are seriously the best things ever. I love them. So feel free to send as many as you want and spread the word! :) 

The church is true! I love you I love you I love you!

Hermana Moser

PS:  This morning in the temple I realized that Justin would be 18 right now...the age to serve a mission! Isn't that cool? I am serving on this side of the veil, and he is serving on that side. We're working together for the Kingdom of God! Hurrah for Israel! :)

 November 4, 2013

Just moments before I was set apart a missionary 

by President Robert Jenks. 

This is mi familia.

8 p.m.

November 6, 2013

 Last meal with my family for 18 months at Mimi's in Provo, Utah.

 12 noon.

It is getting serious now...the MTC is one block away.  I can see it.

1:10 p.m. 

One last photo with Madre and Padre before I leave.

1:13 p.m.

 We are greeted by an energetic gentleman who instructs us where to park (Curbside #15) to say our very last goodbye's (whatever we could accomplish in 2 1/2 minutes).  He also informs us that I was one of 631 missionaries entering the Mission Training Center today. 

 Hurrah for Israel!

1:20 p.m.

And So It Begins....My Mission!