MIRACLE OF MIRACLES

My dear, beloved family,

I can´t even comment on anything else because I am SO EXCITED TO TELL YOU ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK!

Remember Ericka? And also remember how she fell off of the face of the earth for about two weeks? We had called, texted, and dropped by her house....nada. So we finally just decided to give it a rest and when she is ready she will call blah blah blah. THEN we were done with visits in on colonia and decided to go to another. As we were walking up the hill, this vehicle with a strange man pulled up next to us with his window rolled down. We were like "waaaahh?" and then Ericka´s precious little head poked around and said hello! They had followed us into the colonia because she wanted to apologize for not being in town all last week! (The man was her husband, who is also a walking piece of gold). She said that she missed us and needed to have another lesson and asked when we could come. Obviously, we played it cool and set an appointment for Saturday night. However, when they drove away we started jumping and squealing and IT WAS A MIRACLE!!! So, Ericka is back. Thank you thank you THANK YOU for your prayers in her behalf. :)

There is also another investigator named Raul that has been in the missionary picture for a couple of years. He´s gotten married and everything in order to be baptized, but he hasn´t been able to stop smoking. I think he´s gotten pretty discouraged, and so he stopped going to church for a while. He is also really into making deals with the American missionaries. Por ejemplo: If I can perfect the "rr", he will only smoke one cigarette a day. He likes the type of teasing banter that I can definitely handle. Sometimes I feel like I´m talking to Jace :) haha Anyway...long story short, he and his wife and son came to church yesterday! Almost didn´t recognized him all cleaned up with his hair slicked back, but there he was--coke in hand. We are certain that he is going to be baptized soon!

 

Spanish is definitely better. I feel like I have bits of my old personality back, but sometimes normal conversation is still a little awkward. But... awkward was definitely a feature of my old personality. haha. It is AMAZING to see how far I have come in a short 6 months. Sometimes my mouth opens and all of these things come out and the people seem to understand me and I just think "Woah. That was not me." It is SO COOL to be a missionary!! To be the tool that the Lord uses to help his children return to Him! There is seriously nothing like it. 

 

CONGRATULATIONS to Todd and Chase!! AHH! I kind of forgot how old they are. It´s freaking me out that time is moving without me back home. Anyways....Study hard, brethren!! I don´t have a doubt that you´ll both be excellent missionaries!

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

Hermana Moser

I don´t know what to sayyy....

Buenas tardes mí querido familia!

It´s been so long since I´ve talked to you! hahaha... Actually yesterday feels a bit like a dream. So much anticipation and then BAM. It´s over. Hermana Lopez and I were like "What just happened? Did we just talk to our families for reals? whaaaaaaaa??" hahaha But it was SO WONDERFUL to see your lovely faces and hear your even lovelier voices and I LOVE MY FAMILY! I definitely got the best one. :) 

However.. now I don´t have a blessed idea what I am going to say. I feel like I told you everything that happened this week yesterday. Por ejemplo: That I had to speak yesterday in church with approximately 15 minutes notice. WHAT? Hermana Weaver (the other Americana en the ward) also spoke. Hopefully the people could understand our Spanish... and hopefully the Spirit taught them, because I´m not sure how much they really could have gotten out of our last-minute talks. haha. Oh goodness.

We had a baptism on Saturday! Not us... Hermanas Romero and Weaver..But it was the sweetest thing ever. Her name is Hermana Dulce Maria, and she is now 80 years old. She was asked to give the closing prayer, but she got up there and just bore her testimony instead. :) She talked about how she now feels like a completely new person--completely filled with love. How wonderful would the world be if we all could remember the love that we felt on our baptism day? Or any other day that we make covenants with our Heavenly Father? It´s so true that those are the days that we feel true joy and love for everyone around us. It was a good reminder to hear from this "dulce" sister. (see what I did there? haha. I crack myself up).

Fun fact: I just turned all of the computers on this side of the cyber off by touching the cord under the table with my foot. #highquality. Actually, there´s clima (A/C) so... I´m not complaining. 

BROOKS AND TANNER AND NELSON ARE ROOMMATES IN REXBURG?! What?! That sounds like the best party ever! Tell them that they can´t go anywhere until I can spend a semester up there with them. Obviously, not as roommates... but in the same ward, maybe? Por favor? haha Also.. you can tell Jeren and Lauren that I will for sure come for a visit because I happen to love Virginia and so that suits me juust fine. 

Congratulations to Marlayna for gitten hitched! I LOVE the wedding pie. It does not surprise me at all. Marlayna looked beautiful! But it is still really weird that another one´s gone....hah

Well.. Seriously can´t think of anything else. Know that I love you and I am praying for you every day! 

I love you I love you I love you!

Hermana Moser

VILLAVILLAVILLA!

What is up, my dearest family of mine?

My mom told me that I have to write before I read anything else, and so that is why am apologizing up front if I neglect to answer any questions or mention anything else that might be super important.

Villhermosa is ONE HUNDRED percent different than Frontera. First of all, there´s a Walmart. I don´t care how "anti-walmart" you are... Just try going without it for 6 months. It was like walking right back into Blackfoot. Actually...the Wal-mart here is way nicer than the one back home. There´s also like a giant mall right next door... Pizza hut... Mcdonalds... everyone has a car...There are traffic signs and people follow them... Basically I feel like I´ve come back to the 21st century. We travel by foot, unless we are super late for something and then we take a combi. And if there are no combi´s we take a taxi although they are WAY more expensive in the big city and it is ridiculous.


We live in the house that I slept in our first night in the mission! Remember? The one where we broke everything? Yup. The very one. It is SO much nicer now that hermanas live there instead of elders, but now I know why we broke everything. The one toilet tank has to be readjusted every time you flush,otherwise the water will keep comin on down. Also, if the water stops while you are in the shower you have to yell for someone to turn on the "bomba" (pump) so that you can keep showering in peace. I think the elder that showed us to the house that first night might have shown us all of the tricks to the house... but he was speaking Spanish so... #problem.

People do not speak the same, either. I can understand everything so much easier here, but I think it´s because most people moved here from somewhere else. If they are home-grown choco it´s still a bit of a challenge.

 

And now I will tell you a story that will knock your socks right off, because that´s what it did for us when we lived it:

     About a week ago, Hna Lopez and her old companion were stopped on the side of the road by this wonderful lady that asked who they were, what they were doing, and if they could come to her house to teach her more. I mean... HELLO. What?! That doesn´t just happen. But it did. And then the changes happened and I came along, and so I got to be there for the first lesson. Erika lives in the NICEST community I have ever seen in all of my days. We think that some seriously famous people secretly live there, because wow. The houses are huge and beautiful, and we didn´t even mind that we got lost because it was so fun to look at all the houses.

     We finally found hers, and her maid let us in. I did not even want to sit down because her living room was so perfect. It looks like a magazine. Erika came in apologizing for being late, and asking if she needed to get her bible, and what about her markers for marking scriptures that she likes,and would we like some water, etc. She is precious. We sang "Soy un Hijo de Dios" (I am a Child of God) with her, and at the end she was crying. She told us that she had always felt like she was a daughter of God, but here in her hands (himnario or hymn book) she had the affirmation that it was true. So we talked to her a little bit more and she told us about some of the challenges that she´s had in her life. We showed her Ether 12 and talked about faith, and she just looked at me and said, "Where can I get this book? Do you sell it?" And I said, " Hermana. I have one right here in my bag that is for you, free of charge." She started crying again, and it was the best feeling ever to watch someone that knew nothing about the Restoration feel so strongly about receiving more of the word of God. She was so excited to receive more direction for her life!

     Two days later we returned and taught about the Restoration. She had done her homework, had a ton of questions, and was really receptive to everything we said. long story short, she told us that if she receives a witness like we have she will be baptized at the end of the month!!! WHAAAAT?! She is perfect.  Two days later that appointment fell on Saturday night. Hence: we were fasting. We walked in to find two plates of perfectly placed muffins right in front of where we were to sit. Awwkwaard. So we just thanked her sweetly and ignored the muffins while we taught her. Don´t you worry, we took some home with us. Along with a big ole tub of fruit salad that she made for us because she was worried we wouldn´t have time to make anything on Sunday morning. I am NOT joking you, she is wonderful. So please pray for her. :)

Other than the amazing people that I am meeting... nothing much is new. :) hahaha Just kidding. My whole life has changed except my wardrobe. OH! BUT MY BIRTHDAY PACKAGE CAME!!!! And so actually now I do have a new outfit. Thank you thank you thank you for all of it!!!! I love all of you so much! I love going through packages and realizing how well ya´ll know me. It´s a real good feeling. :)  

FELICIDADES TO JESSE!!!!!! For making his first covenant with Heavenly Father! How exciting! I thought about you a lot on Saturday! I hope it was a really special day,and I hope you wrote all about it in your journal. :) 

And well.. I think that´s all. The plan is for me to call home at 6 local time.. which is I think 5 Mountain standard time.. on Sunday night. So be ready! And also close to your email...cuz I think I might have forgotten my skype account again...

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

Love, Hermana Moser