Elise at temple

Elise at temple
Hermana Moser

Monday, January 27, 2014

¡MOSER! ¿¡TIENES HAMBRE?!


BUEnas tardes,

This week.. was an interesting week. I´m actually not sure how I feel about it. It was a hard, long, awkward week for mi compañera y yo, but we also saw success... #bienvenidaamivida

It was hard and long for many reasons, but the major reason was that no one was home again. All week long we would trudge from one side of town to the other, only to find that not a blessed soul was home. Or they were sleeping. Or they were sick. Or they were ocupado. I mean.. a hermana can only take so much. (´Specially a white girl with the Mexican sun blazing down on her). This lack-of-personas culminated yesterday evening when, after choir practice (of 5 singing hermanas and me playing the piano) hermana morales and I literally could find no one to teach. Gladys was sick; Johana was sick; Felipe was uninterested; Vincente was gone; Sheila, Mariana, Armando, and Lupita were gone; Mari--the rockstar member-missionary-- was gone. It was ridiculous. We ended up teaching only Hermana Laina, who is awesome because she always gives us cookies. She also usually gives us some sort of nasty beverage, but that is beside the point.

Enough complaints! On with the exciting news! ...drum roll please....SELENE HAS A FECHA BAUTISMAL!!!!!!! Did I tell you about Selene? I sure hope I did, because she is GOLDEN. I knew it right from the beginning. Well, actually that´s a lie.. but I knew it pretty quick. She is wonderful. SHE teaches US in the lessons, which is what can happen when the investigadora keeps her reading commitments. She comes to every lesson with not only her Book of Mormon, but her Principles of the Gospel book, her pamphlets, and a pen. She is a joy to teach. She is a little nervous about being fully prepared for February 15th, but she can do it. She can do anything with the atonement of Jesus Christ. She was sick this weekend, so she didn´t make it to church.. but everything else is on the up-and-up and we are really excited!

Also, Angelina was invited to be baptized this week as well. She told us not only does she know she needs to be baptized, but she wants to be baptized as well. That being said, she doesn´t feel ready to have a date. She has some things in her past that she wants to make sure are fully in the past before she moves forward. We´re working with her, and she´s keeping her commitments too, so we have faith she´ll come around. Also, her daughter (who is 10 and a member) straight-up prays that her mom will get baptized while we´re there. It´s the greatest. Her faith is going to work miracles.

And now for my incredibly awkward story entitled "The Time I Got Asked Out by the Ciberkid"

Once upon a time, hermana Morales, Johana, and I were headed out to Polo to visit Angelina. As we were walking to the main road to find a taxi, a young man on a bicycle 15 feet away started shouting "MOSER! HEY MOSER! REMEMBER ME FROM THE CIBER?!" It was a young man, who I think might be autistic, that I met in the internet cafe about a month ago. He still remembered my name, so that´s awesome. He wanted a picture with me, but we have decided that´s actually not a good idea. Don´t want to have someone showing their "American girlfriend" to a member of the church or something, right? So we graciously turned him down. I dodged his hug, and then his cheek-kiss, and continued to the street. It wasn´t long before he flipped another U-turn, and pedaled down the street yelling "HEY MOSER!! ARE YOU HUNGRY!? HAVE YOU EATEN ANYTHING?!" We thanked him, but told him we were late for an appointment. I dodged his kiss again, and ran into a taxi while he yelled "ADIOS MOSER!" Hermana Morales and Johana thought it was the funniest thing. Oh my life is so awkward. Seriously, just one giant awkward moment. If only you knew.

Also now I am nervous every time I see a bike. Which is a lot of times.

Well.. That´s about it for this week. Sorry that it is so short. Best of luck to ya´ll in all your endevors. Endeavors? Wow. I can´t English. I am praying for you always and love you bunches!

Also shouts out to cousins Nelson and Tanner for being honorably returned missionaries!! I sure appreciate your examples. :) Love you guys!!!

I love you I love you I love you!

Hermana Moser

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Happy 1 Month Anniversary to ME! 1/20/2014

Well howdy! Or as my people like to say, "BueNAS!"

Oh no. Every time I go to write one of these things my mind says "NOTHING HAS HAPPENED IN THE LAST SEVEN DAYS. BETTER JUST WRITE SOMETHING LAME AND GO HOME." Good thing I have my handy dandy agenda with me at all times (That´s a lie. Sometimes I forget it when we go to church) so that I can remember what happened. 

First of all, let´s talk about how incredibly important visiting/ home teaching are, shall we? This week hna. Morales and I visited a menos activa named Alondra who neither of us had met before. She was very sweet. She invited us in, and we just chatted for a bit about the gospel and about her children, husband etc. She invited us back for later in the week. When we returned, we shared a simple message on the Proclamation and invited her back to church. Not only was she in church yesterday with her two little ones, she brought her mother as well, who has been less active for quite some time. It just made me think... WHERE were her visiting teachers? These two good hermanas could have been brought back so much sooner if someone had only invited them. Or better yet, they could never have been lost in the first place. So I guess I finally have a testimony of visiting teaching. :) Better late than never, eh? 

Church yesterday was the best it´s been. WAIT. Let me back up. 

Before church yesterday, hermana Morales and I went to pick up these three young girls (13, 10, 8) that we have been teaching. Their aunt is menos activa, but the aunt and the grandma that they actually live with are not interested in what we have to say (we´re breaking down that barrier thanks to my mosquito legs. I am not joking, every single person in this city knows about them. It´s getting ridiculous). While we were sitting there waiting for them to get dressed, etc. an enormous chicken jumped at my face. It was terrifying. (Their kitchen is set up kind of camping-style. Outdoors and all. They cook over a fireplace, and sometimes they kill the chicken right there while we´re teaching about profetas. It´s really exciting). 

Anyroad, as we were walking to the capilla, we looked over and saw Angelina!! Who was walking all the way from Polo, bless her, with her three children. It was so exciting. Mi compañera y yo had been studying about faith all last week, and praying with all the faith we could muster that she would find the desire to come, and she came! Faith works miracles. 

Also in attendance yesterday was Selene! We met Selene last week at church, so that´s awesome. She is the daughter of a recent convert, and decided to try out the church because she´s been having some troubles in her life and her 5 year old daughter LOVES going to church more than anything. We taught her the first lesson this week, and showed her the movie of the Restoration. SHE is golden. I am not joking. She has been prepared to receive the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. She has so many questions, and is constantly bearing her testimony on what we are teaching.. It is the greatest. She wants to learn more before she makes the important commitment to be baptized...but she is keeping all of her commitments and coming to church and HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

So as I sat in reunión sacramental yesterday, I could not stop thinking about how happy I was. We had 6 (count ém) progressing investigators, one with a baptism date, and a recent convert that has been found worthy to receive the Aaronic priesthood. I just felt like I was going to burst. I still can´t speak their language, but I am loving the people more and more every day. And mark my words... I am going to be straight-up Mexicana by the end of this! 

Speaking of, we taught an investigator and her member son last night (remember Juventina y Carlos? No? There´s a picture of at least one of them...) and they were really impressed by how far I have come in my Spanish. That´s probably only because I haven´t seen them since New Years, but it´s good to hear that others can see my progress, even if I can´t. 

I have yet another food story for your enjoyment. It is as follows:
Once upon a time it was last P-day and we went to hermana Mari´s house for dinner. It smelled delicious, and I was starving. She dished it up. We sat. I looked in my bowl and saw what looked to be carrots, potatoes, and fat. I am not kidding. I looked around to see how everybody else was eating it... Some were cutting it.. some were wrapping it in tortilla´s.. some were sucking it right off the bone. So I tried each of the steps, and all of them made me gag. Turns out I am not a fan of the fatty texture, and I could not bring myself to finish it. I did my best to hide the unfinished fat-thing under my napkin, and heartily finished the veggies and rice. As we left the meal, I looked at mi hermana and said, "What did we just eat?" And she responded, "Pig feet." WHAT? Sick nasty. That would explain the black hairs that I was trying reeeaaally hard not to see. Oh bless her. Then, as we were walking to the store to buy supplies and such,I had some pig feet stuck in my teeth. So I said, "Tengo pig en mi dentistas." Sounds legit, right? Nope. Apparently, the direct translation of that is "I have pig in my dentists." So that´s a funny visual, but not exactly what I was going for. Hermana Morales sure got a kick out of it. 

We also had our first companion exchange thing this week! Just among the four of us. I was with hermana Cuevas for a day. It was terrifying to go without hermana Morales, especially since we had some important lessons we were planning on covering that day with Selene y Angelina. Then I read in my MTC notebook something from a devotional we watched: It´s not your lesson to give, it´s His. It doesn´t matter which missionera is there--what matters is that both misioneras are in tune with the Spirit, and are willing to do and say what the Savior would do or say if He were giving the lesson. After I thought about that for a while, I felt a lot better. And the day was all sorts of wonderful. :) (Except, as a result of this day and some changes made by President Morales, we lost quite a few of our investigators to the other hermanas. One of these is Leidy. I know. I was crushed. However, I trust hermanas Cuevas y Wood. Just don´t expect any more stories about one of my favorite people).

I was thinking this week about how much Brad..and probably Nathan...would LOVE living her. For a variety of reasons:
1. Everyone rides "motos." These include motorcycles, motorbikes, 4-wheelers, scooters... There is no speed limit or laws about how many people can actually ride on the moto. 
2. There is a tienda on every corner that sells candy and pop. 
3. There was something else.. but I can´t remember. I just remember thinking that my brothers would have a HAY DAY aqui
 Bananas really do grow upside down.
 Lady in the middle is our powerhouse when it comes to inviting her friends to hear the lessons.
 EEEK!
 Why yes. I did eat that whole fish. Minus the head.. although Hermana Olga had not a problem in the world with sucking out the eyeballs and brain. Not me. Not in this lifetime.

#themealthatsmiledback #wholefish
Well.. I guess that´s it for this week, folks. Remember who you are and what you stand for. Do your visiting teaching, read your scriptures, and pray. Thank you so much for all of your prayers, love, and support. I have the best family and friends in todo del mundo. 

I know this church is true. God is our loving Heavenly Father and he loves us enough to send us here to be tried and tested. He also loves us enough to send a way for us to return: Jesus Christ. Take advantage of that gift every day. 

I love you I love you I love you!
Peace and blessings, 

Hermana Moser

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Semana de Pollo y Mosquitos


¡Buenos Tardes!

How´s it goin first of all? Good? Good for me too..I´m okay. (This is a musical reference. 10 points to whoever gets it). 

Actually this week was a really good week. Hermana Morales is the sister training leader for our zone, so she and I were able to go to Villahermosa for a training conference thingy. (Which, coincidentally, fell exactly over the two days of my brethren´s birthdays. HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!). I was really excited initially, because I thought I was going to get to go to the temple and learn all these things.. pero, nope. I was put with three other hermanas and told to pound the pavement! I was terrified because I had no idea what was going on, but it turned out to be the best thing for me. 

Hermanas Weaver, Ayala, y Martinez were PROS at hablando con todos. (Talking with all). We met so many random people on the street, and never left a taxi without giving a pamphlet or a pass-along card. Hermana Weaver, who is also very American, did not let her limited knowledge of the language deter her in the least. In fact, she was almost always the first to start a conversation. "Que le gusta hacer?" She would say. She couldn´t understand the answers, but her example of faith over fear inspired me, and when we got home from Villahermosa I felt like my Spanish had improved 100%. 

THAT being said, Villahermosa (as in, the actual city) had even more mosquitoes than here. I have not a clue how that is possible, but apparently it is. I came home with SO MANY mosquito bites, and they were all solamente on my legs. (The count this morning was over 100). Saturday, they were itching so badly that I couldn´t hold still. We bought this cream stuff, but as I was putting it on my legs hermana Morales (who is training to become a nurse) got concerned. These didn´t look like the average mosquito bites. So she made me go to the doctor, which was... an interesting experience. I don´t think I have ever wanted my daddy so badly in all of my days. However, my trainer is all about faith, and as I walked with trepidation to this foreign doctor, she bore testimony that God has called me here, and that He will take care of me. God will bless the doctor, and everything will be fine. OH she is the greatest. I was still a little scared... and the doc was still a little sketch.. but the medicine she gave me has made my legs feel so much better, so apparently she knew what she was doing. God is watching out for His little Mexican hermana :) 

 Also, we ran into a few members of the barrio in the pharmacy, so naturally yesterday every member I talked to asked about my legs. :) No secrets aquí, verdad? 

Last week I forgot to tell you a VERY important story. Actually, it´s not that important.. but it is sick. Once a week we eat with this family. The sweet little grandma, who is still very active, always provides the food and it is always delicious. Last week was no exception. I was thoroughly enjoying my chicken and potato stuff. That is, until I looked in the bowl to prepare my next bite, and saw a tiny little chicken heart smiling back at me. A CHICKEN HEART. I´ll tell you what, I almost had a heart attack. I didn´t know what to do. I just kept trying to make eye contact with hermana Morales without the family noticing. I tried to cut it into smaller, more manageable chunks, but it turns out hearts are really tough. I knew I couldn´t just leave it in the bowl.. and they didn´t have a dog... so I just scooped it up with a gigantic piece of potato and shoved it in mi boca. (It took a couple tried to actually lift the spoon to my face). Ugh. I´m gagging just thinking about it. But you know what? It tasted like chicken. And now I have a chicken heart story, and that´s pretty neat. 

Oh mom.. you are so perceptive. I was not as enthusiastic last week, and for that I apologize. These emails are written in my mood of the moment, so you don´t really get the full spectrum of my emotions. Sorry :) Every week has it´s ups and downs, but last week I was really struggling with feeling like I don´t have a personality here. As I was wrestling with that one morning during personal study time, I read somewhere... PMG?...that we are here to represent the Lord, not ourselves. It was then that I realized how utterly selfish I was being. How dumb is it to worry about myself and how nobody here knows my personality? SO DUMB. I am here as a representative of Jesus Christ. The personality of Elise doesn´t matter anymore. The whole purpose of this journey is to become more like Christ : to do what He would do, and say what He would say. And so that is my new goal. And I´m sorry if I was a downer last week. :) 

Investigators... We have so many WONDERFUL people we are teaching, and we found like 10 nuevos last week, but only a few of them come to church. Work is a major obstacle to overcome on Sundays. It just makes me so sad, because I know how much attending church strengthens and uplifts and maintains. But, we are teaching a wonderful woman named Paola, who is really excited to learn. She just sits and stares with these wide eyes, and is constantly asking questions. I LOVE teaching receptive people!

And then... there´s Leidy. I love her, and she is wonderful. We taught a lesson with her on the atonement this week, and the Spirit was incredibly strong. The cool part was one of her.. "challenges"...participated in the lesson as well! We talked to both of them about Jesus Christ, and how they can achieve peace and joy only through repentance. It was awesome. I explained things that I have never before explained in my life. At the end, I felt really strongly that I should invite them to baptism. I couldn´t actually ask my companion if that was okay... so I just did it. Leidy said YES!!!! I mean.. we don´t have a date, because there are still a lot of challenges ahead...but I have so much hope. 

Also, you should know that yesterday I gave my first Spanish talk in church. I wasn´t even nervous! Probably because my entire talk was written down.. But I also think that when you truly believe in your message, and you can feel the love of and for the people, it´s less scary. At least, that has been my experience so far. There has been an exceptional lack of nerves. 

Well.. I don´t know what more I can say. Thank you thank you for all of your prayers and support. I have felt them working miracles in my life.  Remember there is still a lot of missionary work to be done at home! There is not a single calling in the Church that does not have some role to play in sharing the gospel. Do ALL you can! This is the restored Church of Jesus Christ, and every single one of our brothers and sisters needs it! HABLAR CON TODOS! :)

I love you I love you I love you!

Hermana Moser

PS.. there´s an incredibly annoying rooster in our backyard that wake me up at exactly 5:45 every morning. I hate roosters. Just thought you should know.

Monday, January 6, 2014

HOLA!

Well.. This has been the longest short week of my life. Sometimes I think "Wow. This week is taking forever." And then I think "Wait, last week was the great and terrible tarantula incident. That seems like yesterday." Time is a weird concept here in the mission field.
Por ejemplo: That picture of mom sledding really freaked me out, because I actually forgot it is winter time. It DOES NOT feel like winter in Mexico. That being said, there are people cuddled on rocking chairs in quilts. I mean.. it got a little chilly for a day or two.. but quilts? I just had to laugh. It made me think of Grandma making fun of those Californians that think they´re gonna die when it gets below 60 :) 

Weather update: It is currently raining really hard. And our clothes were almost dry. Guess not. Actually, things here are damp most of the time. Or all of the time. Things have started to mold. And I am not talking about mere food items, although those have been victimized as well. No, we´ve had various articles of clothing, the plunger, a scripture case, and my zinc-things succumb to the nastiness. So if anyone has tips on how to prevent that from happening, let us know. 

Mom asked a couple questions, so here we go:
Fruits and Vegetables: We eat them...just not with every meal. And sometimes there is a day in between, seeing as we really only eat one real meal a day. Most of my fruit intake comes from the DELICIOUS fresh squeezed juice (today was guava) and vegetables are usually cooked or cleaned with the bottled water. I think that a lot of the time the people are either too poor, or it is too much work to provide vegetables. Also, during the holidays they have this incredible thing called ensalada de manzana (Mom, that means "salad of apples." It´s okay.. I´m still here to translate for you). It is currently my favorite holiday tradition, but it is wreaking havoc with my insides. I mean, the lack of vegetation probably has something to do with it too.. but we´re all feelin´ a little unusual, if you catch my drift. 

Do I need things: Mother, yes I do. But not bad enough to go and find them, because that is a complicated task here and ain´t nobody got time for that. The thing that I want most in my life right now is a fitted sheet, so if you want to send me one of those that would be great. I´m thinking that if I find a family in great need, I will donate one or two of my four flat sheets. They use those for a lot of things here, so I think that would be a great help.  I just ask for your prayers that their hearts will be softened, and that these people will have desires to attend church! They have to go 5 times before they can be baptized, and right now this area is struggling quite a lot with that. 

Which brings us to church: Church starts at 10 am and guess who the lucky ward pianist is?! HERMANA MORALES! haha... just kidding. It is me. The bishop got real excited when he found out I could play the piano, so every week at dinner he re-asks me if I will. It´s wonderful, and also really hard because nobody knows the real melody to any of the hymns and the keys stick. Even so, I have had a couple kids come up to me after sacrement meeting and ask if I could give them lessons. Maybe I could use this as a missionary tool somehow??.... hmmm...  After sacrement meeting there is sunday school, and hna. Cuevas y hna. Morales usually teach the gospel principles class. I just sit there and focus really hard to try to understand what is being said. After that is relief society, where everyone talks at the same time. So I do my best to understand, but it doesn´t really work in that situation. In most situations, time doens´t mean a blessed thing...but in church, the Obispo starts at exactly 10 o´clock. 

It´s funny you should mention pure testimony in your e-mail, because that´s exactly what testimony meeting yesterday was made of and it truly was life-changing. The people went up together as families, and one by one bore testimony that Jesus lives, that God loves us, and that this is the restored church of Christ. There was not a testimony over three minutes long, and there was no pause. It was wonderful. I felt so much love for the people. Hermana Morales looked at me and said, "Vamos," which here means "you are about to bear your testimony in Spanish in front of the whole ward." But you know what? I wasn´t even nervous. I have never not been nervous in that situation before, but I was so calm. It was like I loved the ward too much to not share my testimony, even if I knew everyone younger than 16 would laugh at my Spanish. There were so many friends and smiling faces in the congregation, and at least two of them were mouthing words that I could remember in my direction. Mexican´s are the greatest! 

New Years was weird. We had to be in the apartment by 8, just like Christmas, because of all the drunkards in the street. We had bought a pizza to celebrate the occassion, but we couldn´t eat it because we had already eaten so much that night. So I think we just kind of sat and talked and laughed then went to bed. 

I´m really excited the holidays are over, because that means we can get back to work. The last two weeks have been a tad difficult because everyone and their dog...actually, the dogs stay here and there are thousands of them...was on vacation last week. #noesta. So maybe prayers that everyone will stay home this week would be appreciated? haha... Goodness.

As for Spanish-- it´s coming. I feel like I´m so close to understanding how the language works, but I´m just barely not close enough and that´s really frustrating because I have a lot to say. I didn´t realize just how much I talk until I lost the ability to communicate effectively.  President Morales visited us last Monday with a Christmas microwave, and while he was here he compared me to a baby. He said babies take a long time to talk, because they just kind of sit and absorb everything. They learn, they try, and THEN they start producing. So.. I´m in the baby stage. I actually can´t wait to be a toddler. 

Well.. Shouts out to Aunt Jana, Aunt Lori, Aunt Susan and Chase for being born! Thought of you while I was trudgin the streets of Frontera.

Also shout out to Baby Browning for being Born! Man, that´s exciting. Picture? Grashus. 

ALSO SHOUTS OUT TO NAFLIN AND BRAD!!!! Sorry I can´t call you or whatever on your birthday, but I´m sure you´ll be fine. :) YAY BIRTHDAYS OF MY BRETHREN!

I love you I love you I love you!!!!!

Hermana Moser






 
 Hno Russell (Alfredo/Wayne),
  Hno. Vargas (From Mexico City. Hilarious),
 y Hna. Haws (Nancy)


Our other favorite district of elders!



The delicious cake we received for New Years, and the wonderful ladies that made it for us.

 Hermana Flor! (Her house is the skyping house, the laundry house, the house of delicious food... you name it. Love her).

This is the Obispos way of making American food. It was DELICIOUS.


There is a tradition here that has something to do with baby Jesus in bread.. I don´t know. But I found two of them, and apparently that means tamales. So yes, Dad, sometime in the next month I will be learning how to make tamales. You´re welcome.

 The young man in the middle is a recent convert, and the young lady on the left is a new investigator! She is really receptive and we´re really excited to teach her! The only problem is that her grandmother doesn´t like the church. :(
 
 

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Christmas Photos-Fontera



1 & 2- Christmas decorations.  3.  This is where we do our laundry--and yes those are smelly, nasty birds in the background.

Flooding in Fontera!  Welcome to my flooded street.
Christmas Eve Dinner.
The Tarantula of death!!!



Feliz Navidad!

¡Hola!

Well, it happened. The inevitable finally happened, and it wasn´t pretty. 

This morning we arose, we prayed, we "exercised". Then, as we were sorting our laundry, Hermana Cuevas called out: TARANTULA!! That´s right. You heard me. You don´t have to read it again. This morning, crawling amongst our various sprays and lotions, was a gigantic tarantula. I was on my bed (the top bunk) in about 2 seconds flat, and Hermana Wood was right behind me. I figured the natives to the area would know what to do, but they really didn´t. They just got a bottle of bug killer and sprayed it real good, but that just made it run faster. We eventually got it with a broom, and called an hermano in the ward to come take care of it because we didn´t know what to do. OH it was frightening. And now we are all terrified to return to our humble abode. Ugh. 

But to more important things: 
This week was Christmas (obviously) and it was wonderful! Except for the part where the entire town of Frontera flooded. hahaha.. oh dear. There was water up to our ankles just about everywhere, but we were troopers and got through it. We taught one family-- that has a crazy dog-- about eternal families. I love visiting them because they have a son that is EXACTLY like Jesse, only Mexican. I´m serious. He looks and acts just like my baby brother. It´s weirdly awesome. Little kids are the greatest, too. They have no trouble laughing at my Spanish. The adults can generally pick up on what I´m trying to say, and they want me to feel good about it.. but little kids usually just laugh. And this "Jesse" straight up looked at me in the face and said, "No entiendo nada." and ran away. Bless him. 

We also visited a lady named Leidy (right?). We were originally going to finish lesson 1, but she had a different conversation in mind. She knows the church is true, her son is a member, but she isn´t married and doesn´t want to have to give up parts of the life she is currently living. The change scares her. So... we chatted a bit about acting on our faith, and about obedience. She looked at me and said, "How has God helped you in your mission?" (Or something to that effect). So I testified that because I am obedient, and because I am acting on my faith daily, I know that God will help me. God is helping me learn Spanish because He wants His children in Frontera to have the Gospel, and he has called me to help bring it to them. I know that if I am worthy, I can expect a miracle. (At least.. that´s what I think I said). She just looked at Hermana Morales and said "Wow". I don´t know about anyone else, but I could feel the Spirit really strong. It reminded me of that section in Preach My Gospel that talks about what a successful missionary is: "When you can feel the Spirit testifying of truth through you." Oh.. I just want her to make the change!! We also helped her shell peanuts. 

That night we ate at Nageli´s house, and it was DELICIOUS. There was chicken, and this potato stuff, and "spaghetti".. and this dessert that was heaven sent. I was so happy. And the family is the sweetest ever. The husband sat us down and told us that because we are all brothers and sisters, his house is our house and he wants us to feel welcome there any time. It was the best. :) 

However, at this point it was still raining (It had been going for about 24 hours strong) and we needed a taxi but there were none in sight. So we called someone, and out of nowhere this minivan shows up with an open door and we all clamber inside. (It was the van of a member family in the ward. You can fit 11 people in a 7 seater van, just by the way). They took us to their house, where they fed us AGAIN.. something that looked a little like dogfood and was hard to get down after already eating a ton of food. Oy. I literally thought I was going to die. But I didn´t, so it´s fine. 

But let´s just talk about how terrifying the drive really was. The roads here are all the size that two cars can barely squeeze through side by side, and there are no speed limits or stop signs. That´s a lie.. there´s probably like 5 stop signs. It´s ridiculous. So picture that kind of driving in a tempest the likes of which I have never experienced, and you have part of my Christmas eve. 

The next morning I don´t really remember what happened but I GOT TO TALK TO MY FAMILY! AND IT WAS AWESOME!. In fact, I am probably repeating a lot of what we talked about, aren´t I? Oops. That´s my bad. But it really was the best thing ever and I love all ya´ll with all of my heart :) 

I also got my first sunburn this week. I looked outside on the first day without rain and I said to myself, "I´ll risk it." And when I came home I thought "That was a bad idea." It´s not the worst sunburn I´ve ever had, but I feel I stick out like a sore thumb even MORE now that I am various shades of white and pink. And also polka-dot, because I literally have over 40 mosquito bits on my legs. (Any advice on getting rid of mosquitoes would be appreciated greatly). 

Well... I think that´s about all for this week, folks. I always feel like there is so much that I want to say, and then I get here and I can´t remember all of it or any of the order of events. The time here kind of blends together, and sometimes it feels like I´ve been here for months and others just a couple of days. Thank you for your prayers and support, and for all of your love. :) I´m praying for ya´ll, and thinking especially of the Moser side this week. How blessed we are to have the Plan of Salvation in our lives. WE ARE SO BLESSED! 

Also I´m SO glad to hear that Uncle Brent and the boys are safe. That email scared me for a minute. 

Shoutout to Amanda for doing baptisms for the dead this week!!! So excited for you! Also to Aunt Melissa and Grandma and Grandpa Browning for their Christmas cards. :) LOVE YOU

Okay.. I´m done. I love you I love you I love you! 

Hermana Moser