IF I WERE A RICH MAN... diddle diddle dirrl dirle divleridlad dum!

March 16, 2015

[insert jewish salutation here]

So... I am super jealous of the talents of my baby brother that I haven´t even had the pleasure of seeing... WHY hasn´t some sort of video footage been sent this way?! 

This week was waaaay better than last week. Three important things happened. They are as follows: 

1) Thursday we had a wonderful zone conference with the President and his wife where we watched Conozca a los Mormones! Finally! It was wonderful! And so funny. I loved the football coaches wife. "WHY would you even do that, Chris?" hahaha gets me every time. Got a little teary eyed when the mom sent off her missionary... It is just a really good movie. I approve. 

We left really fast after the conference because our district leader was there and we wanted him to do some interviews. Didn´t think much of it, since the stake president was there having a meeting with president Morales. Then at like 10:15 I get a phone call.

 "Sister Moser?"

 "Yes president?"

 "...You locked us in the garage." (he means parking lot)

".....ahhahahahahaha I am so sorry!!! Do you need us to come rescue you?"

"No. I have my ways. But if you want to get rid of me, there are better ways to do it. I won´t forget this, Sister Moser."

hahaha Do you get it? The conference was in Cunduacán, so we were in charge of the keys. We had opened the gate for the presidents car to pass through.. and then we had locked it back up. hahaha whoops. Good thing the stake president has the keys. hahaha it STILL makes me laugh thinking about it.

2) Friday I went on divisions with Hermana Wood!!! My MTC companion! IT was so fun! It was awesome to see how much we have both progressed in the  last lot of months. I just kept remembering how we were the WORST in Spanish, and now at least we are understandable. haha It is AWESOME. The mission is AWESOME. There were also Reeses in the oxxo in her area, so that was exciting. 

3) Well, this part did not actually make me happy. Saturday night our lovely neighbors decided to have a party. It started at approximately 12:30 am and ended, are you ready? at FIVE in the morning. I was so ticked. Sleep is precious, and I was so sad I was awake that I cried. hahaha The music was just so loud! Like the walls were vibrating loud. Hermana Rivero slept through the whole thing. 

This week I will buy a camera. Promise. Well.. if we have time. It´s just that there´s no time! 

I love you I love you I love you! 

Hermana Moser (Sister of the broadway star Naflin Moser) (I´m serious about the video thing).

Granny Shoes

March 9, 2015

Soooo this week was a weird one. Felt like we hardly worked because EVERY DAY something weird happened that prevented working like I would have liked. But it is okay... (It took like three tries to write "it is okay." What is wrong with me?!)  

Tuesday the offices called and wanted a bunch of paperwork that involved running from the house to the ciber to the house to the ciber again and took a solid 2 hours of our day. 

Wednesday we had the consejo! AND I SAW HERMANA HILTON!!! IT was so much excitement! I could not stop smiling. President probably thinks we are crazy, but I don´t care. I have not seen that girl since we got here, practically, and so it was AWESOME to see her and also to see how much we have improved. We laughed and laughed about the MTC... Oh goodness those were good times! We got home at like 6 and then started working again... so not much was done in Cunduacán el dia Miercoles. 

Tampoco jueves, because we had the zone class. My poor companion was not feeling very well, and we asked for a blessing from the elders. One of the assistants to the president was the one who gave the blessing, but he had another brand new elder do the anointing. _He was so nervous. He said that he didn´t want to do it because he didn´t want it to not work if he said something wrong. haha It was precious. But then hermana Rivero told him that she wanted him to do it, and he did! I tell ya, when those three worthy young man placed their hands on my companions head the spirit was so strong. I am so incredibly grateful that the priesthood was restored to this earth! IT IS AWESOME!  

Friday night our bishop bought us pizza (He´s kind of awesome) annnnd it made my companion sick again. Poor thing. She was up alll night long, and then felt terrible Saturday morning. We studied, but then she felt like she needed to go back to bed. She slept for SIX WHOLE HOURS. I do not think I have ever been so bored in all of my live-long days. I cleaned the house, I painted those paint-by numbers you gave me for Christmas, I organized all the letters I have received, I watched the district.... and together... and a movie about the Salt Lake Temple... I blew about a thousand bubbles... I tried to decorate something for Estrella's baptism that I KNOW will be in the near future..I wrote a talk.. I read a lot... Oh my goodness I was going crazy. I CANNOT be in an enclosed space for more than 3 hours without loosing my mind. But then we left and we worked a little in the night and I felt better.  

Sunday I gave a talk! I talked about the promise all of us made before we were born to take the gospel and the sacerdocio to ALL THE WORLD. And your prayers must be working, because we had 9 ( NINE ) investigatores in sacrament meeting. They are all progressing.... buuuut none of them want a fecha. We are concerned about that, but we know that faith is stronger than doubt. We just have to help all of them realize the answers that they have already received!  

Also we finally found an investigator that we taught back in January last week. He said that he had read "more than half" of the Book of Mormon and had some questions. So we went and talked about his questions. He says he has no doubt that the book is true, but he still hasn´t made the connection between the Book of Mormon, the restoration, and priesthood authority. We are going to see him tomorrow.... But then at the end of the lesson, just out of curiosity, I asked him more or less where he was. He showed me: "ummm..... Por aquí... Moroní 8." I´m sorry... WHAT?! HE READ THE ENTIRE BOOK OF MORMON IN ONE MONTH! I will keep you updated. We were really excited about him. 

Also fun thing that happened this week: Ate iguana. Tastes like chicken, but if you think about it too much you start to gag. Trust me.

Took your advice, too, and bought myself some new shoes. Not sure how I feel. They look like 5 year old girl shoes. Missin' the granny shoes right now.

I love you I love you I love you!

Hermana Moser

Las muelas del juicio

February 23, 2015

So.. sorry that I am writing way earlier this week. I know I am catching some people (coughparentscought) off-guard, but my companions wisdom teeth will hopefully be taken out this afternoon, and so we decided to write home before she is in a lot of pain. 

This last week was AWESOME in the part of that ENRIQUE GOT BAPTIZED!!! YAY! It took him a thousand years to accept a baptismal date, but once he finally did it her never looked back even once. And it was one of the most spiritual baptisms I have attended in my whole mission, too. Not that anything was really different as far as the program, but when the person being baptized is really ready and they want to be baptized and they understand exactly what it is they are doing.... the spirit is just really different. It is the best feeling in the whole world, and I never want to stop feeling it. His face when he came out of the water was PRECIOUS. He was beaming from ear to ear and even gave the bishop (who performed the baptism) a big ole hug. And that´s weird for him... Enrique is a pretty serious guy. But he was so happy and so content and it was a wonderful evening. 

And Estrella, Blanca, and Zuri came too!!! After all was said and done they were talking about their OWN baptisms. That was when we told Blanca and Zuri that they have to go to church before they can be baptized. They weren´t going to be able to go because Estrella´s mom got really sick suddenly and they were going to leave early Sunday morning to go visit her. But then we had that conversation and Sunday while we were saying hi to the members IN THEY COME!!!! ALL THREE OF THEM and of course Enrique. We were so excited!!! They are progressing so well and we love them SO much!! I feel like I am with family when I am with them, and that is a big deal. Not every house feels like that. haha.. I am really excited for when they get baptized. :)

I was assigned 2 new companionships last night, and I am really excited about it because in one of them there is Hermana Pasley and in the other one there is Hermana Wood!!! YAY!! hahaha I am ridiculously excited about my new assignment, even if it means I have to travel a lot more all the way to Villahermosa. ugh. It is one of those tender mercies that my Heavenly Father has given me. :)

Nothing else really happened this week. It was just another week SUPER weird for Hermana Rivero and I. We travel a lot. We are in charge of all the ranches around Cunduacán and also Jalpa de Mendez. We went ALL the way to Rancho Nuevo and then back home and then to jalpa and then back home in ONE DAY. And all the traveling was done in combis. We were exhausted. We even had to buy hard candy to keep ourselves awake through the last few lessons of the night. haha (I know that whole paragraph probably makes no sense to you. Someday I will explain. I have a map).  

I don´t have dental issues right now.... buuuuut my camera is broken. I will try to find someone to fix it, but they say the nearest place is Villa. So don´t expect very many pictures in the next few weeks, okay? Alright. 

I love you I love you I love you!!

Hermana Monse

Monday again?!

February 16, 2015

Buenas tardes!

How was your week? Ours was good... A little weird, but no bats were involved, so I guess that´s a step up, right?

Rodelmar and Laura did not get baptized. :( They suddenly dropped in their excitement and we are not actually sure why. We tried to see them every single day, but usually only succeeded with Rodelmar. Laura always avoided us. Rodel did get his interview---and passed!---but he wants to wait until he knows he has the full support of his wife. We are super bummed, but we haven´t given up hope. We are going to back off a little bit and let the ward to their thing this week. Then we will go back and talk to them and see what all of this was about.

 

We do have another fecha for this week! His name is Enrique and he is AWESOME. He has been ready to be baptized for forever, but this week he finally accepted a date! We had a super lesson with the bishop and the assistant ward mission leader and the spirit was so strong. Members are SO important! SO IMPORTANT! And now the bishop has just taken him under his wing like his own personal little buddy... We are very happy. :) Enrique´s mom is also thinking about being baptized. She had been to church 2 weeks ago, but then last week she hurt her back really bad and couldn´t even get out of bed. She wanted to go to church but couldn´t, poor thing. But then Sunday after church we went with Bishop and the mision lider and they gave her a blessing. (Enrique said that when he left his cousin and her daughter, who we are also teaching, asked him what the incredible peace was they had felt. He told them it was the Holy Ghost. They are progressing MUCH more now). The next day Estrella was standing, and by Saturday night was walking around like nothing had ever happened! IT IS AWESOME! The priesthood is such a real and powerful thing! I am so grateful that it has been restored to this earth. What would we do without it?? So she came to church as well on Sunday, and we were very happy to see her. :) 

Her husband (who is also named Enrique, confusing, I know. Welcome to my life. We are teaching like 3 Marios too) is progressing slowly, but surely. The first time we were there he didn´t leave the kitchen. Then he was sitting at the table.... then the next visit he was sitting in a kitchen chair by the couch... then the last time he was sitting ON the couch with the rest of his family! He doesn´t say much, but I can tell he is feeling the spirit. Estrella told us that she didn´t come to church when we invited her the first time because she was afraid of what he would say. But then she talked to him about it and he said, "Save yourself first. You save yourself...I'm right behind you." AH! QUE BENDICION! 

So I guess that´s it. We are very happy to be here in Cunduacán. The heat is starting again, so that is unfortunate... but I guess that means that time really is moving forward. Sometimes it feels like I have lived in Mexico my whole life and that I will always continue to live here. It is a weird thing, mission time. I did not get any flowers from strange men this year on valentines day, but I did get a zebra necklace from a very old woman. Mexico is awesome.

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

Hermana Moser

nananananananana BAT GIRRL!

February 9, 2015

Hola!

Do you want to hear a good story? It is a really good one. BOY will you ever laugh.

Once upon a time, we (hermana Rivero de la Guarda de la iglesia de Jesucristo de los santos de los ultimos dias and I) were doing our daily studying. I thought, "I need something from the bedroom." So I got up and walked into the bedroom. When I opened the door two huge creatures flew at my face and almost knocked me over before flying out the window. I thought to myself," HOW did birds get in here?!" Then I looked to my right, above the bed where sleeps my lovely compañera, and there were bats. BATS. Dangling there like they owned the place. Well I commenced screaming and turned on the lights, which only made the bats scared and they started flying again which made me scream more which made my companion wonder what in the world was happening.... It was quite a good time. I think I have had just about every little unexpected creature crawl into my room. YEAH Mexico! haha

I am sure you are now wondering, "But HOW? How did bats get in there?" I will tell you the other side of the story: 

We live in one of the upstairs apartments, and there is a full house downstairs. No one is renting the house downstairs because they want a ridiculous amount of money for it. But the owner was there the other day cleaning it, and when he turned on the lights he spooked all the bats that had mad their residence there. So then the bats flew up through the hallway and in through our window that has a whole in it where we keep the invisible clima (air conditioner). He had thought that they had flown away away.... Until he heard the screaming. :) Then he came upstairs to save our lives. 

So that´s the story. 

This week I was called to repentance repeatedly. First, in the consejo de liderazgo that we had with the zone leaders and with president. We talked about how to be better leaders and better missionaries and I felt like I have definitely not been doing enough. I have been super selfish and that is not okay. We will see what will happen  with the cambios this weekend... I feel like my days as a leader will be over since the only other companionship of hermanas in the zone are going home and their area is closing. So we will just have to see what happens. Hopefully I get the chance to make restitution so my repentance can be complete :) We also got to go to the temple and it was awesome! I love the temple. It never gets old, and I did not want to leave. 

We had a baptism on Sunday! Of a sweet little girl named Johana whose parents are being reactivated. Her dad talked with the bishop, and he said that he could baptize his daughter! SO that was really awesome! They are the sweetest people. They just love instantly and are so humble. They live about 1000 miles away, though, so it is hard to see them. (It´s like a 20 minute combi ride). She will be confirmed on Sunday.

We have two more fechas for this weekend, and we are SO hoping that they come to pass! Their names are Rodelmar and Laura and they are so funny. The other day Hermana R. had this idea out of the clear blue to go see if we could find an investigator named guadalupe (who is Roder´s brother). So we get there, and Laura is sitting outside! They had just finished a reso (no se como se escribe) for the dad that passed away 5 months ago. I noticed that she put her drink down really fast, and so I asked her what it was. It was coffee! haha But it was still full. She said they had just barely handed it to her and she didn´t know what to do. And then when her husband got there and saw a cup of coffee on the ground he was like, "But the missionaries are right there!!" and started laughing at her bad fortune. hahaha it was really funny, actually. We are working hard with them and praying that they will stay strong for Saturday. We love them so much!

The people here are awesome! I love the work! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!

I love you I love you I love you!

Hermana Monse. 

FEBRERO!

Feb. 2, 2015

HOLA!

This week we FINALLY had our interviews with the president. I have been waiting for a very long time. The actual interview was actually really short and there are no problems and I didn´t even cry! He helped me a lot with some super difficult investigatores that we have and he is just the best mission president ever. His wife is super intimidating, though. While we took turns going to the interviews she gave us a special training. It ended with this crazy game that was terrible. hahaha It was a dice that had a different terrifying question on each side. One side was "memorized scriptures" (because we all have had to memorize 2 scriptures for cada principio of the lessons) and another side was "Predicad mi evangelio." The worst side was "30 second contacts" where she would give you a material and tell you to contact someone while she timed you. The best side was "personal questions".. but one elder was asked about his family and he couldn´t remember anything! hahaha.. He is about to finish his 2 years, bless him. It was a good time. 

Then afterwords.... CHRISTMAS CAME! hahaha I think it´s hilarious that everyone is smack-talking the mexican mail system the week that it finally arrived. :) You all out-did yourselves this time. The elephants... the handmade necklace.. . the recipe book...(subtle haha)... It was all so exciting to unwrap! And then...a book. I was really confused at first because I was thinking, "Ah..bless them. They sent me a Christmas book IN ENGLISH. How will I share this with people?" And then I realized what it was. And then I pushed the little button. And then I cried because all of your voices came out at me from the tiny speaker. And then I laughed because when Nathan says his name he says it really funny. It is the best gift I have ever received. Thank you VERY much!!!!

And let´s stop bashing my country, aight? No one got their Christmas packages in December. I think they were just super overloaded. Also... They say that it is good to send stuff through the US post. They are the ones that never get opened. So good job, family. :) 

We have an incredible ward here in Cunduacan. They members are super excited about the work! They have been giving us references like crazy. And our mission leader loves us! And he goes on visits with us! Last night he taught us right from the scriptures in our correlation meeting, and it was awesome! I love this ward. I am just afraid of messing it up. haha

I am trying to think of other funny or random things that happened this week... but I can´t. Tengo prisa. Sorry about it. I will write things in my journal and we will read it together someday. :) 

I LOVE YOU I love you I love you!

Hermana Moser

Lovin' the Pineapple

January 26, 2015

BueNAS!

I apologize for what I am sure will be a super lame email. I do not know what is wrong with me. I feel like every day is monday and that there is nothing new to tell... I probably should have read my journal or something to freshen up on the happenings of this last week but... I didn´t. So let´s just hurry and remember things, shall we? 

On Tuesday we had divisions with the sisters in Comalcalco. They are so fun! The hermana I was with has SO MUCH HAIR!. So much. And it´s huge and curly and awesome. Kind of like the princess in the movie Brave. It made me feel a little weird with the um... less than a lot hair that I have haha. She was really nice and I learned a lot from her. Both of those sisters are about to end their mission in 3 weeks. I know that I am the one that is supposed to be helping them, but I really just feel like it´s the other way around. They are totally the ones teaching here. Hermana Rivero and I are always like "SHARE YOUR WISDOM!" They are great. 

One object lesson that hermana Hernandez taught me we used with hermana Bertha. Have I told you about hermana Bertha? No? Well let me just tell you... She is a lovely daughter of God, but she is a piece of work. It is exhausting to teach her because sometimes she is just in a mood and will back talk every little principle you teach. It is awesome. But she wants to get baptized and she is the wife and mother of members.... We are practicing patience with her. She is wonderful, really. She gives us food all the times, and blankets too because it has been FREEZING these last few weeks. Gracias a this new object lesson and also the spirit that was there, she actually agreed to read the book of mormon! This is enormous progress with her!!! YAY!

Speaking of crazy neighbors.. We have this neighbor who is Adventista (I am not sure what religion that is in America). She is trying to convert us and also trying to marry us off with her sons. THAT is not going to happen for a plethora of reasons, pero bueno. She is super nice and always willing to give us food. She believes that everyone can be a prophet and that Saturday is the Sabbath. She is not currently progressing.

We do have two investigadores with fechas though! For the 14th of february. They are precious. We taught the first lesson this week, and they asked all the right questions and gave all the right answers and didn´t even hesitate to the baptismal invitation! YAY!!! We are so excited!

I have a food story. Ahem: 

Yesterday we were eating some tacos. Normal, right? I was DYING inwardly because something was super spicy and I could not for thelife of me figure out what it was! I tried the meat with only the salsa... the meat only with the other salsa.. the meat alone... Do you see where I am going with this? It was only when I tried only the meat and the PINEAPPLE that I realized what was killing me slowly. THERE WAS CHILI IN THE PINEAPPLE! Who  even does that? That is sneaky sneaky. hahaha Hermana Rivero and I got a good laugh about that afterwords because she had done the exact same thing with the taste testing. Listen... I can eat chili... but not THAT much chili. WHOO. 

WElll.. I am happy and healthy and I hope you are the same. 

I love you I love you I love you!

Hermana Moser