Su Choca Misionera

FAMILIA:

Three reasons why I am now 100% Mexican missionary:

1) The thought of pants makes me want to cry. I see people wear them and I just think, "You know skirts are a LOT cooler, right? Like literally...WAY cooler."

2) I see people--especially older people and children--outside when we are walking home at 8:45 and I think "What are you doing?? It is time to SLEEP. Go home!" Also waking up at 6:30 does not even sound that early to me now. (Cue Dad´s shocked expression...now).

3) When I talk in my sleep (which is something that apparently happens frequently) I testify in Spanish. Which is kind of awesome... and also probably really annoying for my poor companion. Whoops.

We had a great week of missionary-ing! It was the last week of the transfer... which means nothing because all 4 of the hermanas in Deportiva are staying here. Hermana Lopez is going to be training and doesn´t meet her new companion until tomorrow, so she is here with us for the night! She told me to tell all of you hi. :) 

Anyways... We had a lot less rejection this week, and a lot more of just people not being home. I guess that makes 3 times in the year that the cities of Tabasco are frustratingly empty: Navidad, semana santa, y vacaciones de verano. There are no members, no menos activos, and no investigatores. Er´rybody has hit the road. 

We found some PRECIOUS investigadoras this week, though. We have Nelly, who is 72 and hilarious, and her daughter Solidad, who is 50-something. They are both Catholic, but they both also have a lot of problems with the Catholic church. Doubts such as: "Did you know that the Bible was translated a LOT of times? I don´t think all of it is correct.." When they presented this question, we humbly testified that for that exact purpose God didn´t give us only the Bible, but another book of sacred scripture as well. Nelly, who you HAVE to meet someday in order to fully appreciate, looked at me and said, "Donde?!" That´s when I pulled that lovely blue book out of my bag, and we taught those ladies right then and there about the Book of Mormon. We gave them each a copy, and Nelly was so excited! She just looked at it like she had gold in her hands, and promised that she would read it. She did read part of it, too.. but she was really confused. "Did you know that these are not the same people as the ones in the Bible? They have named like Nefi and Lehi... What is this book about?" haha.. Love her.

My testimony was fully strengthened of the Book of Mormon this week, and actually the church in general. We have one boyfriend-of.-an-investigator-of-gold that is really something, and I have to close my eyes and count to ten to avoid contending with him. As part of our conversation the other day, he asked me if I would ever consider joing his church, or any other church for that matter. Obviously I said no. He then asked me why I would then come to his home and think for one second that I would be able to convince him to join my church. We testified of what we know is true and did our best to be civilized and polite. 

What he said really bothered me, though. I couldn´t think of why I wouldn´t think of joining another church when that was exactly what I have been doing for the last 8 months... Asking people to change their beliefs and be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ. Well, today in my personal study (and this would be why personal study is important) I found my answer. I would never join another church, because I have received a witness not only that the Church is the only true church of God,. but also because I have a testimony of the book of Mormon that I will never be able to deny. A lot of other churches here have "profets" and "apostles" and they all believe in God and Christ and baptism and the Holy Ghost. What they don´t have, however, is the priesthood. Only The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has the authority to use the priesthood of God here on the earth, and the evidence that we have of that priesthood power is found in the Book of Mormon. If the book is true, then Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. If Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, then he really did receive the priesthood from John the baptist, Peter, James, and John. THAT is why I could never be persuaded to join another church. And THAT is why the book of mormon is the keystone of our religion. 

I love that book. I know it is true. And I know that the Church I am currently representing is the Church of God, and the only church that will lead us safely home to His presence. I know not because my parents know, and not because President Morales knows. I know because I have done as James directs... That is, Ask of God. 

I love you I love you I love you.

Have a good week!

Sorry there´s no pictures again...

Love, Hermana Moser

#PetitionthePres

July 14, 2014
Family!

I am all aboard with petitioning president Morales for more email time. HOWEVER, I do not think he will take me seriously. He always just thinks I´m joking around... When we asked for a blender.. when we asked for AC... even when we asked for a moto. I mean, I know I´m hilarious.. but HELLO. These things are serious. 

Not that we need AC as badly now. I think we are FINALLY entering the rainy season, and I have actually felt cold a couple of times this week. #soychoca. The rainy season does, however, present problems with getting home on time because the lovely hermana Matilde will not let us leave her house when it is raining. It is actually not fair because the gates on the doors here are locked at all times, and we have no way of escaping. The only way we can get out is if we take her GIGANTIC umbrella or, if we remembered our umbrellas in an attempt to foil her plans, we are forced to wear huge red rainboots. Boy were we a sight to be seen walking home last night in the rain. I should´ve taken a picture.

This week has been full of rejection-type moments. Those are the best. We´ve had people laugh at us, people use reverse-psychology type nonsense (which makes even less sense in Spanish...), people shut the door slowly as we are talking, and people that "go to find someone" and never come back. So that´s been a change of pace. It is a little frustrating, but we read about Alma in The Book of Mormon this week, and as it turns out he was rejected quite a lot too. I am learning that it is not important how many rejections we face, it is important that we keep our faith intact and that we keep working with all of our HEART, MIGHT, MIND, and STRENGTH. We gotta keep our focus on those that DO accept to hear the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

And we have had successes too. Yesterday, por ejemplo, we met Marta. Actually, we surprised her by showing up at her door already knowing her name because her contacted sister-in-law gave us her name and address. :) She´s just had a baby, and her husband works a lot, and I could tell she was really tired. But she still graciously let us enter her home and share a short message. She told us that she has always been so confused about which church is really the Church of Christ and, well, we told her we could help with that. :) 

We also met Karina, who is the younger sister of another investigator that was sleeping when we went to her house. She is so precious, and she has had a rough past. She has made a lot of changes already in her life, but when we talked about how she could erase all of the damage done through faith, repentance, and baptism she just lit up. She--all by herself-- said that she wanted us to come back. "I am only here Tuesdays and Thursdays.. so can you come those days at  6?" she says. YES, Karina. Yes we can.

We also met another young woman, referencia de un miembro (LOVE those), named Nancy who is studying to be a doctor and is awesome. She came to church yesterday and we are about to have a FHE with her in the home of hermana Matilde. (The same Matilde as the umbrella and boots. Don´t worry. We are fully rain-prepared so that we can leave when we need to. Bless her).

SPEAKING of church yesterday: We teach gospel principles every Sunday because they still haven´t called a new one. We alternate between the two companionships every week. This week was our turn, and, wouldn´t ya know it, the topic was the law of chastity. That is fine! We are actually all about being chaste and virtuous, and I do not have a problem helping others see the importance of living this commandment. That being said, teaching a room full of investigators and recent converts is a liiiiitttle different than the normal teaching situation. To make matters even more entertaining, my companion said "And now we will turn the time of the lesson over to Hermana Moser." WHAT?!!! haha.. don´t worry.. My 3 lovely companions all helped me. They could see I was drowning with the comments that were being made.... You should ask me about it someday. It´ll be a great dinner conversation.

Well, I am glad that everyone is having a wonderful summertime! What is Jesse going to do all by himself, exactly? Start a fire? Start a flood? Spend time in a Turkish prison? Hope everyone has a good time in their respective camps. LOVE summer in Idaho! 

Hey. Do you want to know a good scripture that you all should read? Hebrews 12:1-2. It´s very inspiring. I LOVE THE SCRIPTURES.

Also hey: Did you know that Germany won the world series!!?? (And by series I do believe she means cup.)I was totally rooting for them. Actually, I was cheering Mexico. But then they lost and then I was cheering for the US. But then when they lost I was happy that Germany won. Feel like I have family there or something. :) 

I love you I love you I love you!

Have a large day! ;)

Hermana Moser

¡FELIZ 4 DE JULIO!

Buenas tardes a mi querida familia.. como estan?!

Well.. turns out I was right about how Mexicans celebrate American independence: They don´t. And everyone I told was like, "And that is important because.....?" Bless them. Someday they´ll understand. It was really funny, though, because we had zone conference that morning and EVERY American was there in red, white, and blue. It was the best. Didn´t even plan it. Just that national pride showing through. Even the elders had their ties all color-coordinated. Except one elder, but then I remembered that he was from Canada. So that explains that. The dressing up was the only real celebrating that got done. I had bought a rootbeer (that I searched high and low to find) last Monday, but my companion drank it right in front of me without asking and so I did not get any on the 4th. I took it as a trial of my patience, and just let her drink in peace. But next year, I´m goin all out on the root beer. #prepareyourselves

Glad to hear that your 4th was awesome! Carrie Underwood!!! She is so cool! And also swimming... What I wouldn´t give to jump into a pool at any given moment. Just gotta make do with drowning yourself in agua and paletas. That is the only way to keep the headaches at bay. haha.. That, getting enough sleep, and drinking this nastiness they call "suero." I don´t know what it is, but I do NOT enjoy it. They tell us to drink one a week. Do we even have that in the US? 

The national day of indepence in Mexico, contrary to popular belief, is not 5 de Mayo. It is actually 15 de Septiembre, so I am really excited  to see that. The wards are already preparing their dance spectacles. :) Quien sabe where I will be two months from now, but it is really entertaining to watch the practices of Barrio Deportiva :) 

I am really glad that Prep is okay!! Man! What a couple of years that kid has had! I will be keeping him in my prayers.

This week has been frustrating because people have been rude. I don´t even know why, because it is not even nearly as hot as it was last month. All we say is "Hola" and they say "I´m Catholic, have a nice day." One afternoon was particularly disheartening. We had been doing our best to talk with everyone and have our 2 new investigadores that the president has challenged us to find daily, but no one wanted to talk to us. They literally said, "No quiero nada de ustedes." (I want nothing from you.)  I was ready to just go to a recent converts house, because they are always really welcoming, but my companion was unstoppable. She just went up to this house that had the door open and started talking to these two old people. At first, they were very not interested either, but we did not let them get away that easily. We kept talking, and eventually our girlish charm won them over. They invited us in, they gave us some juice, and we talked about the basic beliefs of the church for a while. We went back yesterday and taught the restoration, and they accepted to read the Book of Mormon! They are just precious, and we are hoping they don´t get called away to work any time soon. (They work in plataforma. When the call comes in, they´ll be gone for 20+ days). Just goes to show that you should NEVER get discouraged, because you never know when the next person you talk to will be the one that accepts. 

Don´t know if you heard about the earthquake that we had here in Villa. Clearly, I´m fine. Didn´t feel a thing. Probably because I sleep the sleep of the living dead here in the mission. The president told us that we need to tell ya´ll that we are fine, that nothing happened to anyone, and that you should not panic. He also said that some parents had called when they heard the news. Hope it wasn´t you, because that would be embarrassing. :) haha  (IT WAS NOT HER MOTHER.)

Hey, remember that package that you were gonna start putting together? If you could find my baby English hymnbook and send it to me, that would be great. We sing in English in all district and zone meetings here, and, as it turns out, I don´t have all the songs memorized. So thanks :) 

Other fun facts about this week:

-I made a cake in the microwave

- Our golden investigator Pedro made a comment about how heavy his granddaughter was that had me laughing real hard

- We got a lavadora!!! (washer) It is really tiny, and there is no secadora, (dryer) but I am so excited! Next week I will send pictures. (we´re in the ciber with computers that I don´t know how to operate...)

- When it rains, we don´t have any water. #irony

- I was in a trio for half a day while our companions were at the consejo de liderazgo (leadership council). We walked all the way to Cura Hueso.

That is all I can remember. The days are blending and the months are flying. 

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!

I love you I love you I love you!

Hermana Moser

Just remembered there are a thousand questions from Mom. Here goes:

Sunscreen is good. Forgot to put it on me on the 4th, and got a nice burn line. Didn´t hurt, and it felt like a real 4th of July. haha. I do not get headaches, thanks to the water that we drink. And also the sleep we get. (Something is telling me you don´t get 8 hours.. Call me crazy..) My granny shoes are the BEST. My feet don´t even hurt! I am officially all about the granny life. I am about a 10 minute walk away from the offices. (Which means nothing to me since I NEVER get mail. No pressure.) People are friendly, but sometimes not. I have just learned  not to make eye contact with men. Is that all? Hope so, cuz I´m about out of time. BESITOS!

HAPPY 4th OF JULY!!!

Don´t know why I am so excited for the 4th of July... It is not going to be anything special. We can´t even play with fireworks or anything, which is really too bad since someone gave Hermana Zimmerman a nice homemade firecracker. :) hahah

 

Sounds like er´rybody is exhausted after RAGNAR. Serves you all right for being so awesome and crazy enough to run that thing. Bless your hearts... Loved the pictures :)

This week we had intercambios with other hermanas.. and the hermana that I worked with for the whole day was AMERICAN. Not just American.. but from Preston Idaho, so that was fun. We sure got some stares, though. I think some people thought we were lost. Anyroad, it was a great day! We contacted, we taught.. we hit up dairy queen.. It was a day of success. It was really fun to see how much we have improved since our MTC days. We still had our moments of "I dunno what they just said" and "What?" and "Nope. No entiendo." But overall, #éxito.

We had our "real" zone conference with the president this week. It was even better then the one before! We have a new culture in our mission. What is this exciting new culture, you ask? Calm down! It´s fine! I´ll tell you! 1. We leave our house everyday pretending like we do not have anybody that we are teaching. We need to have 2 new investigators every day! So that´s an exciting challenge. And 2. We are learning to use silence as one of the tools of teaching. Turns out, the Spirit cannot do his job in the lessons if we don´t let him. He needs us to stop talking so that he can touch their hearts and help them know right there that what we are saying is true. We have had some really special moments as we apply this technique. We also talked about how important the Book of Mormon is in conversion. OH it was great. I love President and Hermana Morales!

So, Karl sounds like a champ. I approve. As long as he doesn´t replace me in your hearts, everything is fine. Just remember still you have a loving (and still sweating) misionera here in Mexico. 

I love you I love you I love you!!

Con amor, 

Hermana Moser

Una carta de su misionera mexicana

 June 23, 2014

Buenas buenas buenas a mi querida familia!

 

This week has been mentally exhausting. We have taught so many people, and have found so many people that want to listen, but it has been really hard work.

 

We went to a zone conference so that Hermana Ayala could talk about how to contact people effectively, and then we stayed for the whole thing. We learned in the practices how to teach the first vision, the book of mormon, and receiving an answer through the spirit. It was AWESOME, and we were so inspired to go out and start teaching. We visited a new investigator named Marta that afternoon. Marta is beyond willing to listen to what we have to say, and is completely receptive to everything... but she is Catolica. She has been studying with a Testigo de Jeovah for over a year, and tells us that she only wants to listen so that she can learn more about the Bible and things like that. That is fine! We will teach her about the Bible.. and also about the Restauracion del Evangelio de Jesucristo. So we taught her the restauration, and the Spirit was so strong. We applied everything that we had learned in the conference. We explained things, we used the scriptures, we used our new whiteboard, and we testified with everything we had in us. At the end she said, "Wow. That is great. I believe everything you have said. I believe your church is true. But I also believe my church is true and that all churches lead us to the same God." I wanted to cry. We do not know what more we need to do to explain the need for priesthood authority, but believe me... we are studying real hard to be able to help people understand. We will also be visiting her again.

 

And priesthood authority.. that´s another thing. The nephew of a menos acitva that I adore was there at her house the other day. He is studying to be a preacher or something at another church, and he is always excited to chat with us. We were talking about hte book of Mormon, and that led into a discussion on el sacerdocio. He believes that because God created man in His own image, and gave Adam the priesthood, that all the sons of adam automatically it. He doesn´t believe in the laying on of hands. It was just thing after things after thing, and he wouldn´t even let us really talk. He treated us like little girls that are trying their best, bless them, but that don´t really know what they are talking about. So that was a frustrating afternoon.

 

Contrast that with dear, precious hermano Pedro. He is the sweetest man! He is only 53, but he looks a lot older because of his ilness. He´s a good sport about it though. He makes jokes about it all the time. We gave him a Book of Mormon the other day, and asked him to read and pray about 2 Nefi 31. When we returned the next afternoon and asked him how it went, he told us that he felt "alegria en mi corazon." He and his brother in law, Ignacio, came to a FHE that we had at Matilde y Leudy´s house where we talked about the repentance process and the atonement of Christ, and he also came with us to a baptism saturday night. We are praying really hard for him so that he will remain interested and that he will continue to accept the doctrine of the restored gospel. He is so ready! It´s amazing to see how the Lord has prepared people!

 

Speaking of Matilde.. We ate at her house yesterday. Do you want to know what we ate? Rabbit. Dad will be so proud. I did NOT know that it was rabbit. Poor little thing... It tasted real good.

 

The cabin looks great! I love the door! And also.. I still don´t have my new debit card. And so after the month of July it won´t matter if you put money on my card...

 

And also can I get more information on the exchange student? I care more about my new brother than about my room, to tell you the truth. DON¨T throw any of my crap away, porfa. I will do the chucking when I get back :) I can already tell it will be a chuch-fest, but I still enjoy going through old stuff like that :)

 

I love you I love you I love you!

 

Que esten bién (especially those running ragnar)

 

Con amor,

Hermana Moser

FELICIDADES A MI PAPA!!!

Bautismo de Matilde y Leudy! (Who, by the way, are on FIRE with the references. Love them!)

Translation: The climate of Tabasco is lovely and fresh... what happens is you can´t feel it because of the HEAT! hahahaha... hilarious.

Add This is President Morales singing with the Mariachi band they brought in for the Ward Father´s Day activity last Monday. He´s the coolest! :) haha

Found a friend with a Capitán America shield.

Talked my companion into buying Capitán America soap :) It smells delicious.

We invited the whole band to church. None of them came. #howrude

Templo!!!!!!

BueNAS!

FELICIDADES A MI PAPA!!! TE QUIERO!!! I am glad they all treated you well. :) Love you!

... I´ll be honest. I don´t really know what to say. I apologize if this turns out real lame.

Deportiva is wonderful, and very safe... relatively speaking. They lock the gates more for the safety of the vehicles than anything. A lot of things get robbed here so... hence the lockage. I think it happens more here than it did in my last area because they´re a little more well-off. Plus, all the people see is well-dressed and good looking people entering a beautiful, clean building. But don´t you worry... We are 100% safe. 

Yesterday we visited a menos activa (who is ALWAYS entertaining) who says that she can´t go to church because she´s scared to live her house alone "with all the wickedness in the world." So we shared the scripture about the wise man and the foolish man and upon what we should build our house. After she read the scripture I asked "Which house does the scripture say was stronger... The house built on the rock, or the house built on the sand?" And she said, after thinking for a little bit, "Well, probably the house on the sand, because if there´s an earthquake the rocks are just going to crumble." hhahahahaha... Oh good ole Leticia. Love her. She never did quite get where we were going with that scripture...

Last week was WONDERFUL but exhausting. We had the Consejo de Liderazgo (Hermana Ayala has been assigned as Lider Capacitadora... the 4th of my 4 companions to have the assignment) so I had divisions for half a day, zone conference, annnnndd I went to the temple twice in one day. :) The first was because the misioneros from the consejo were going to go that night, and another hermana that hadn´t gone in a long time needed a companion. Thus, I was assigned to go with her in the morning. Then, that afternoon we were going to go do baptisms for the dead with the youth and recent converts. As it turns out, missionarys can´t do baptisms, so we were asked to do a session instead. It was wonderful! but also exhausting. I love the temple! There really is no other place where you can feel the spirit quite as strongly. It is amazing the peace it brings. 

Hermana Ayala is wonderful! She is like a combination of all of my companions. :) She is from Monterrey, she´s 20 years old, the youngest of 4, and has 10 months in the mission. We have found so many amazingly prepared people this week! I am so excited to work this cambio!!! She is REALLY good at speaking with everybody. Sometimes we pass a person and she just stops, flips around, and starts contacting. I am going to learn a lot from her. :) 

Good luck with RAGNAR this week, to all who are crazy enough to participate. I´ll definitely be praying for you :) 

I love you I love you I love you!! 

Con amor, 

Hermana Monster

PS WELCOME HOME ELDER WITHERS!!!!

...drum roll... CAMBIOS!

Kidding! I mean.. not kidding. We really did have cambios today, but I am still very much in Deportiva. Hermana Lopez has left for some place that I can never remember how to pronounce, and now I am here with the lovely and talented Hermana Ayala. :) Should be a good cambio. Excitement is in the air.

Anyroad, Buenas tardes familia mía! 

Sounds like you´ve had all kinds of adventures! It´s really unfortunate that Nathan didn´t get a full nights rest the night before Boys State. Rumor has it that you do not get a lot of sleep there. And then if you nod off in class... well.. The punishment is you get even less sleep. So let´s hope home-boy is having a good time. haha

Also, I don´t believe for a second that all the children wanted to write me out of the love and good intentions of their hearts. They just wanted to get out of painting the fence. (Don´t deny it. Been there, done that, used that excuse). But i love them anyway and can´t wait to hear from them next week. :)

Since it has been a while since I have given you a good food story, please sit back and enjoy the following: 

One time, Hermana Lopez and I went to the home of a lovely menos activa that was having a rough moment in her life. In most homes, they offer us some sort of beverage while we are there which we accept gratefully because we are sweating all day. The hermana offered us some "agua," we said "por favor," and out came two tall cold glasses of some sort of chunky liquid. Upon tasting, I realized that it was chunky cucumber water with juuuuust enough onion to give it a good kick. A good enough "kick" that we pretended to drink it all through the lesson, and then offered to "wash the cups" and pour it down the sink. Bless her. Cucumbers and onions do not belong together in liquid form. 

I spoke again in church yesterday. They lock the gate right at 9 for safety reasons, and then open it again right after the sacrament for whoever comes late. Yesterday at 9 o´clock there were 4 missionaries, 5 recent converts, and about 3 other families. So Bishop Hermandez asked Hermana Lopez and I to speak, and the other misioneras to bear testimony. Good times. 

 I had this week that opened my eyes quite a bit in regards to the atonement. We went to visit another less active sister the other night with the plan to share a message on the Holy Ghost. When we got there, she was watching a movie about the bible and the life of Christ. Well, the movie was terrible, but we didn´t know how to ask her to turn off a movie about the very message that we bring.. so we just whipped out our himnarios and asked if we could sing a hymn. "Should I turn off the movie first?" "Yes, hermana.. I mean.. if you want to.." We sang "Asombro Me Da" ("I Stand All Amazed") and then simply bore testimony of the reality of the Savior and his Atonement. All the way home I had the words of that hymn going through my head.

 "I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me; confused at the grace that so fully he proffers me. I tremble to know that for me He was crucified.. that for me a sinner he suffered, he bled, and died. Oh it is wonderful that he should care for me enough to die for me! Oh it is wonderful, wonderful to me!"

It truly is incredible the LOVE that Jesus must have for every single one of us. It fills my heart with such joy to think that each individual is so loved and so remembered and so worth it in the eyes of God. OH it is WONDERFUL! Wonderful to me. 

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

Hermana Moser