December 30, 2016

Dear Brother and Sister,

We express our love and deep gratitude for sending your beloved son Elder Moss to the Argentina Neuquén Mission.

We have joyfully received your son and are impressed by how prepared he is. We are equally impressed by his desire to serve the Lord and His children of this part of the world.

We love you and promise to care for and guide your son in all that he needs during his time here in the mission.

Please, don’t hesitate to contact us with any concern that you may have.

Love,

Carlos and Rosario Casariego

Argentina Neuquén Mission

December 28, 2016

So many flights.  To atlanta, to buenos aires, then to Neuquen.  I am tired of flying!  Go here safe though!  Just got stuffed on empenandas! I had 4, but most had more.  Theyre like hot pockets on steroids.  So good!  Its pretty here too.  We are staying in a hotel (casabonita) just a couple blocks from the mission home.  At the mission home right now.  Anyway, don´t worry! 

LOVE YOU!

December 26, 2016

Dallin H Oaks Christmas Devotional

Significant events seem insignificant to many - only a few understand their worth.

We must be in tune with the spirit to recognize such miraculous experiences.

Only three groups knew of the birth of Jesus. The wise, the humble, and the Holy. (Terrestrial, celestial, exalted (Simeon and Ammon)).

We must lay before Christ our most precious gifts of a broken heart and contrite spirit.

With our disabilities, we are given strengths.

We will teach people who have no idea what the savior has done for them. We must teach them. 

We never sing a solo when we testify. The Holy Ghost will always testify as well.

Lord, I would follow thee

David Archuleta Devotional

God knows who we are. He answers our prayers.

Be willing to show Christ your weakness so he can make you strong and lift you up.

Don't be afraid of what you believe. Be willing to be ridiculed or misunderstood. 

Mary did you know, my little prayer, glorious, 

1. My zone after a skyball tourney

2. White Christmas!

It's crazy to think that my time here is gone and I'll be in Argentina in just a short little bit. :)

Last Tuesday W. Craig Zwick of the 70 talked to us.  He gave that analogy of the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee and how they both receive the same water, but the sea of Galilee has an outlet, but the Dead Sea does not.  SO, we must both receive and give.  He said that Christ is the ultimate light, so we need to face him so we can reflect his light to others so that they can see us in him.  

Other than that, pretty normal week with just a few things like In-Field Orientation and stuff. Super excited to get in the field!

Also was super excited for Christmas!  So awesome!  Christmas eve we had a nativity and watched some videos and stuff.  Pretty cool.  Then, back at the dorm, we just talked and played games and ate pizza!  So much fun.  We were gonna sleep out in the halls together, but the security Guard came and told us to go to bed.  Haha next year. ;)

Christmas was super swell as well!  Dallin H. Oaks came and talked to us for a devotional in the morning.  He had half of his extended family with him (which was a lot of people) and they did a lot of singing and musical numbers and stuff.  Elder Oaks and his wife talked to us shortly but basically just bore their testimony.  He also stayed for sacrament meeting.  We had a combined sacrament meeting with the entire MTC, it was cool. There was 9 tables total with the bread and water!  After, like 9 random people or so got called on to speak.  Cool hearing their testimonies.  Then Elder Oaks talked for a short bit.  It was funny cause he starts by saying that he saw some missionaries take the sacrament with their left hand.  He said it was his duty to correct us and he told us the importance of taking it with our right hand.  Pretty cool.  He then just gave a brief talk and ended with his testimony.

Then, Christmas night, David Archuleta came!  Super cool! he sang a bunch of songs (most Christmas) and talked in between songs about missionary work and his testimony.  I shook his hand after. :) Haha when he first walked in, all the sister missionaries were screaming.  You would've thought we were at a Justin Bieber concert or something.  Haha they were quickly shushed by the Elders. :)

Just want to let you know that I love this Gospel and know that it is true!  I know we have a savior who died and suffered for us so that we can return to live with our Heavenly Father forever.  It's funny as I've thought about my experience here at the MTC.  I've thought back to those 3 apostles that have come give devotionals.  And honestly, they were pretty cool and the spirit was strong when they came, but I feel the spirit so much stronger when I'm Preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and helping others to come unto him.  I love that so much! :)

Love your letter!

Dad and Brayden are putting together afan that will go on the fireplace. Davey and I are conquering the upstairs. We are packing all of your things and moving Davey in your room. 

After the rooms the boys will be installing two Badets for the boys toilet and ours. 

We had a wonderful Christmas! My highlight was visiting with you. I can tell you are having fun and learning a lot.

Hope everything goes well with you traveling to Argentina. Love you so much! 

Love you 

Mom

xxxooo

Bidets? Like the things that squirt water up your butt?

Why is Davey moving into my room? Oh, is Brayden going back to his room?

Yep, it will squirt water up your butt, haha.

Brayden wanted to move back so we started his room yesterday. We are almost done with Brayden's room - Davey has a lot of things to move. I'm hoping when you get back we'll have the basement done and we'll move you in down there.

I'm gonna be sending a package home with letters and stuff.  You can through them away if you want.  But don't throw away the part of me!  Haha you'll find out what I mean.

Sounds good - we'll watch for it.

 So is your PDay moved to today because you're leaving Wednesday or why? Mom told me that you were on in writing and I was a little bit surprised. It was so very good to hear from you yesterday. I hope you had a good Christmas. Grandma Moss called late last night and we talked for a while and part of that talk was about  you. Everybody sure missed you during this Christmas holiday. We practiced with mom and her phone and doing a three-way call so the plan on Wednesday will be for you to call her and then she will put you on hold and call me and then merge the calls – she think she knows how to do it.

I leave tomorrow. So we have just been treating today kind of like our
p day. So I leave here at 8:50 so I probably won't call until around
11 or 12. Hope that's okay. Should I call grandparents as well? What
are their numbers?

Mom just explained it to me, that you arrive there on the 28th but you have to leave tomorrow. So that makes sense as to why you're doing PD today.

Call whenever it is most convenient for you and when you have the time and can find a place to call from. If we are busy at work then will just try to make it work out. You can call the grandparents if were busy and then call us back. But I think you can count on us trying to make it work.

Mom just explained it to me, that you arrive there on the 28th but you have to leave tomorrow. So that makes sense as to why you're doing PD today.

Call whenever it is most convenient for you and when you have the time and can find a place to call from. If we are busy at work then will just try to make it work out. You can call the grandparents if were busy and then call us back. But I think you can count on us trying to make it work.

 I think that would be really nice if you have time to call them. 

Grandpa Moss 435-668-2528

Grandma Moss 435-632-2960

Grandma Coombs 435-215-6813

Grandpa Coombs 435-673-4941

 So, are you already to go, are you all packed up, any issues or problems with your luggage you're packing? 

Yep good! Turning in my iPad right now! See ya!

December 24, 2016

Are you still cool to do a drop off tonight at 9:15?  The time is

tricky because I don't want to cause a scene and I'm not sure exactly
when our special devotional tonight will get over.

K, we will do it.  Plan on going out there and looking around after the devotional.  If you can, check your email just before 9 in case of any updates but if not just go find them in the southwest corner of MTC by the fence and construction road.

I'm thinking just like 4 or 5 dominoes pizzas maybe. Whatever you think.

I've attached a map with my residence circled. The star is approximately where the fence is that is right by my residence. There's a road that follows the fence that goes kind of through by the construction of the new MTC. I think you can access that road because there are houses that are by it. The road is just northwest of the construction. (Southwest corner of the current MTC).

Let me know of any questions.
Also internet shuts off at 9 just FYI.

Okay will do.

Something else. The road that is by the fence at the drop off point is lower than the fence. So you have the road, then a grassy hill going up and then the fence runs along the ridge of that grassy incline. Just so you know you're in the right place. Does that make sense?

We'll do our best.  Planning on coming up the road, then go up the hill to the fence, then throw the pizzas over the fence. It has been raining so they will be in a black trash bag.

Okay cool

K, I think we got it by your building but regardless it is in the Southwest corner. There is a circle of stone seats at the edge of the grass with bushes, I think rose bushes, and a few trees behind them.

We dropped the bag at the fence line.  The picture was taken from where the bag is.  The cloth on the fence is drooping down where we dropped it. 

Merry Christmas, good luck, enjoy!

Awesome! Thanks so much! Hopefully I'll find it. :)

December 20, 2016

Haha this week has been really good. On tuesday Elder Holland came and spoke to us. We just basically studied through Alma 26 with him.  It was so enlightening! He talked about how this is God's work, but he needs instruments to do his work.  God's power can be limited do to an ineffective or dirty tool.  We must be clean and be the instrument that God wants to pick up to do his work.  Just like the instruments that a doctor uses must be in top shape - so must we be in prime condition.  He also talked about hard work and how we've got to work our tails off in our missions.  We have to also preach with the power and authority of god and be astonishing and speak with thunder.  Missionary work is so hard because the Savior had it hard.  Salvation is not cheap.  Every road to salvation must go through Gethsemane.  To conclude his talk, Elder Holland gave us an apostolic blessing he called it.  He said it's as if his hand were on all of our heads.  It was pretty cool.  He promised us a whole bunch of stuff. 

On wednesday we hosted missionaries again.  It's always fun to do that.  We had our first skype TRC (lesson with a member) as well which was interesting.  Our lady was from Argentina and we basically could hardly understand her at all.  The connection was bad and she was speaking super fast.  Haha.  She got mad at me when I tried to ask my companion what a word was in spanish and when I tried to look it up in a dictionary.  She was saying stuff like, "Just say the word in Spanish.  If you don't know, then just think what it is and say it.  It's not hard."  I was about ready to say, "Miss, if it's so easy to speak another language, then why don't you just speak English with us?"  Haha she was trying my patience. :)  Got another Skype TRC tomorrow.

Our branch President - President Hyde has talked to us about some cool things.  One thing is a quote from Brigham Young about how there is no such thing as sacrifice.  It doesn't exist.  He said sacrifice is like we have an old, torn up, mangled jacket and somebody else gives a brand new jacket for the old one.  It's so true.  We think God ruins our life by having us go through hard things - sacrifices.  But in the end, we always end up better off then we were.  We need to thank God - not get mad at him.  President Hyde also gave us some insight on the sacrament.  He said every time we take the sacrament, it should be just as powerful as if it were an animal sacrifice.  In Moses 5 it talks about this and in the old Testament.  Adam was commanded to do animal sacrifices after being cast out of the garden.  He didn't know why, but it must have obviously been very gruesome to cut an animal's throat, take out the insides, then skin it and burn it.  Even an animal that was like their pet.  Then, adam is asked if he knows why he does that.  He doesn't.  He is told that it is in similitude of the sacrifice of the only begotten of the father.  At this point, adam is probably horrified.  He has been doing animal sacrifices for many days now and he just now finds out it is as if he is killing the son of God.  I don't think Adam would ever sin again after that - and neither should we.  Our sins hurt Christ and we need to remember that every week as we take the sacrament. Pretty cool

On Saturday we had a sub.  And during a break in class, at about 3, he asks me to stay behind to talk.  Haha he says, "Elder Moss, did you shave today?"  Hahaha I said, "yes, this morning."  (I really had.  I shaved right after our service project at about 8).  Haha I don't think he believed me but he was just like, "All right, just make sure you shave every day."  Haha

On sunday, the devotional was the Piano Guys!  So Sweet!  they each bore their testimony, especially about their missions, and John and Steven played some pieces on the Piano and Cello. One thing I liked that John said was, "Humility is a recognition of our constant dependence on a higher power.  It's how quickly we turn to God when we are faced with a problem." That's pretty cool.

I leave next Tuesday at 8:50 AM!  Fly from SLC to Atlanta, then to Buenos Aires.  Then probably take another fight down to Neuquen!  It'll be almost 24 hours of flying.  Haha can't wait.

Have a great week!  This Sunday will be so special to remember the Savior's birth as well as his atonement with the sacrament.  Look for ways that you can help others this week as you do the things the savior would. :)

Just some more selfies!

Representing Lehi with the Ping pong Shirt!  Haha

Flight Plans

Temple closed. Just got a haircut. For Christmas, I was thinking about

maybe some cool ties. A cool orange one that could go with my grey
suit and then a grey tie that could match as well. Maybe the grey tie
could go with my blue sweater you sent me since I only have like one
tie that goes with it. What do you think about a scarf? I'm worried
about the weight of my bags, and I kind of think I can buy a cool
scarf down there.
Oh and also any updates about trump and politics and such? What's the
status with Hillary? Anything else going on?

Yesterday  was the electoral college vote and Trump is officially the president of the United States now, well after Obama leaves in January. 

 The CIA and FBI have confirmed that the Russians tapped into Hillary Clinton's email and released emails through WikiLeaks in order to help Trump in the election but there's not much that can be done or that is being done or that should be done with that  as anyone contact anyone else's emails and find out more truth about them then maybe they want to be known – as is the case with Hillary.  Nothing much else political going on. 

The poinsettia bowl in San Diego is tomorrow and Davey is going to be on the pregame broadcast at studio C.  He is then going to watch the game on the 27 foot big screen that they have in the studio there and get football) treats and a half time meal there.

 We went to Rogue One on Saturday everyone including Katelynn and Jeff but Davey didn't go as he had a date. Last night I met his date, Lydia, and she seems really nice – this is the third time they have been on a date, I guess we'll see where it goes.

Wow.  Okay cool. That's crazy with the Russians.  Haha keep me updated with like the inauguration and everything.  

I've been trying to run a mile every day.  Right now my best time is 6:36.  I want to get below 6 so bad.  It's hard though.

I'll try and remember to keep you updated.  I need to remember you are more interested in that than me.  

Good job on the running.  Keep it up, you'll get there.

Sorry, I haven't been on.  I had a 10am meeting and then we had staff meeting from 12 to 2pm (Christmas party).

I will be calling at 4 on Christmas! 30 minutes. No Skype

I am SOOOO excited!!!

Also funny note. When our choir director got done leading the music at
the devotional with elder holland, and was walking off stage, elder
holland slapped his butt. Haha

That is FUNNY!!!

Hey is there any way that you can think of to get some pizza here on
Christmas Eve? I want to do something for all the elders in our zone
for Christmas and I thought pizza would be sweet. Like dominoes. It's
probably not possible what with the security and all but I thought I
would ask.

I'll try, but all of my students say it will be almost impossible.

Mom

Yeah don't worry about it. 

Nothing is impossible with DAD!  If you want it we'll make it happen.

Devotional tonight by w Craig zwick of the quorum of the seventy!

Can you get out at night onto the grounds of the MTC where we could drop off pizza on saturday night at like 10pm or is that too late?

We are going to st george for grandpa Moss 's birthday on the 23rd and will be coming home late, after dinner there on christmas eve.   

That is unless we have a grand baby during that time. 

W Craig Zwick Devotional

Jan Zwick: We must first acknowledge our dependence on the Lord, and then we must invite him into our life.

The Sea of Galilee is very beautiful and picturesque while the Dead Sea is dull. The Sea of Galilee and Dead Sea are both fed by the Jordan river. However the Sea of Galilee has an outlet whereas the Dead Sea does not. The Sea of Galilee both receives and gives. The Dead Sea only receives.

We must reflect the light of Christ to others. We must turn ourselves to him - the greatest light.

December 14, 2016

That looks great! Perfect matching with the tie!

-Mom

Elder holland will speak tonight

Sorry, typo on the notes. The road to salvation goes through gesthemane. :)

December 13, 2016

So how are u. I think your learning spanish faster then i am. So not fair. We all really miss you here at home. How was your birthday. I love u

Love you too man! I'm doing good! I think you can learn a language
faster while on a mission because you're doing it for the Lord, not
for yourself. You know? You got to keep practicing and do good in your
classes though so we can talk in Spanish when I get back. You, dad and
me will all be able talk together! ;)

Chase,

Thought I would share the post in Facebook about Brayden's Eagle Project. We'll be delivering them tonight....I'm sooo excited!

"Fifteen beautiful quilts are done, ready to be given to fifteen wonderful children of God. I'm so proud of Brayden's hard work. His drive to do service for others around him amazes me daily. He wouldn't have been able to do this project without many hands of love. Thank you to those who helped!"

Love ya -

Mom

xxxooo

That's so cool! I'll miss being in that eagles nest! ;) 

Here is your funny for the day.

We were reading my scriptures this morning 2 Nephi 11, Brayden was listening but he was in the guest bathroom. Davey told Brayden he was goingto quiz him after the chapter to see if he was really listening. When the chapter was done Davey asked Brayden who was speaking in the chapter? Brayden's response was, "it was the brother of Jared." It was hilarious!! Sooo funny, we all laughed!

Love the humor in our family!

Love ya 

Mom, xxxooo 

Hahaha that's awesome. Made me laugh. :)

I had a typo Brayden said, "brother of Jacob"

Oh even better! Haha that's awesome. 

Here's some pics. You should send me one of all your students or just of yourself. :)

Let me explain what i queen about my subject line.  Haha, we just had another district leave from our zone.  In total we've had 3 leave and 3 are here right now.  My district has now been in here the longest.  Not that that really means anything.  I can't wait to get to Argentina though!  On wednesday we hosted the new missionaries which was a lot of fun! We get to host tomorrow too!  I hosted two missionaries, one going to Stralia and another going to Cambodia!  Pretty cool.

Our lessons with investigators are going pretty good.  Finally got Ivette to read the Book of Mormon with us, and when she did, she said it was beautiful.  The spirit is so strong during the lessons with any investigator (even if they're members).  :)

I really love D&C 68:4 how it says that if we teach by the spirit, our words become scripture.  Really inspiring and good motivation to always strive for the spirit.

The devotional on Tuesday was by Elder Craig C. Christensen of the Presidency of the Seventy.  He talked about how we need to learn about Christ and then follow what he did by serving others.  Also that we need to yoke ourselves first to Christ, then to our companions, then to the members.  We must be in sync with each of them or else we won't progress anywhere.

Sunday devotional was by the BYU Men's Chorus.  Super beautiful.  I recognized Hayden Anderson, and the twins that I worked with at Tuacahn.  They're music was super powerful and just cool.

After the devotional, we watched Open your Mouths by Elder Holland.  Super awesome.  Some highlights are that the only offensive part of the armor of god is the sword of the spirit.  And the sword of the spirit is the word of God.  So our words, what we say, is super important.  We have to talk to people.  We have to pray for the spirit to have utterance and know what to say.  When joseph Smith prayed to God in the Sacred grove, Satan, it says, bound his tongue.  If satan could have, he would have killed Joseph Smith right there to stop the restoration.  But he doesn't have the power to kill people.  So, Elder Holland says that Satan did the next worst thing to killing Joseph Smith - He bound his tongue so he couldn't say words.  So he couldn't use that sword of the spirit.  Pretty interesting.  We can't just do the will of Satan by voluntarily keeping our mouths closed.  We have to open our mouths.

Tonight everyone thinks we'll have an apostle speak at the devotional.  The general consensus is President Uchtdorf.  Haha I think it's kind of funny how hype everyone gets about the thought of an apostle coming.  :)  We'll see tonight, and I'll let you know next week!

Chase,

I feel like I totally missed visiting with you last week. Tuesdays are really hard for me to visit, since this day I have my meetings. I'll try to do better when you start to get online.

Last week wasn't as busy as the week before...my stress level is a lot lower.

Dad and I went to the Mortimer's on Wednesday to visit and give gifts to the missionaries in our ward. It was sooo much fun! We also had a meeting at Willowcreek for Brayden. We met with the school counselor and went over what things the students needs to be aware of for graduation as well as summer school (getting ahead). Brayden really wants to do summer school so he can get ahead, plus he thinks it will be fun. Later that night we also had the BYU basketball game. It was a great day filled with a lot of fun.

Thursday was my day of service... I was able to go visit two sisters in the ward (visiting teaching). Have I ever told you how much I love to do visiting teaching? I love going into the homes and sharing the gospel while visiting with them.

Friday was my rest day... I  didn't have anything to do but be a mom. I LOVE those days!!!

Saturday we had a lot going on. Brayden had the football awards banquet, Dad and I both were able to go. The food was great as well as being with Brayden! I love how we walk in to the school and the boys greet Brayden saying, "Hey Moss". It makes my heart to feel good that he is liked with his teammates. After the banquet we dropped Brayden off and went to the BYU game. Dad and I have invited Dia and her husband to the game, since Davey had a dance and Brayden wanted to decorate his Christmas Gingerbread house. It was a great game...pretty close, but in the end BYU won by 8 points.

Sunday was so awesome! I loved the talks in church. The one that really stood out to me was given by our High Councilman, "Am I a Follower of Christ?" It really hit me...am I a follower of Christ? He said to be a follower of Christ we need to love others, learn to compliment others, give of yourself, etc. After church I had the family sit at the dinner table and ask them what they learned at church and then asked them to set a goal to be a better follower of Christ. I also told them they could come to Dad or I for any kind problems they may be having. I wanted them to know that I won't judge, but only love them (This goes for you too). I know I'm the corny one of the fam. We then went to Teri's home for Megan's birthday dinner. It was fun to be with everyone and eat yummy food. We had funeral potatoes, ham, rolls, and a yummy salad. I also went visiting to the other lady I visit.

OH... you will be getting a package either on Monday or Tuesday, please open it now!!! This is kind of a prequel to your Christmas, but I don't want you to wait to open them because you can use them now. Let me know if you get them and if you are okay with them - I had Davey's help.

Can't wait to visit with you tomorrow!

Love you and pray for you always!

Mom, xxxooo

I love the sweaters and the ear muffs! Ear things are a lifesaver and so comfy! And my district says the sweaters make me look like mr. rogers haha. I take that as a compliment though. 

Forgot to charge my iPad. At 2 percent. Sorry. I'll email later today at a computer and check every now and then. Haha. 

I guess we have a new nickname for you... "Mr. Rogers"

I can't wait to read your email! I'll try to be patient.

Love ya,

Mom

xxxooo

Love it!  Got onto a computer in the laundry room while my ipad is charging and just sent out my email.

If I need to send a package home, where should I send it?  Home, or BYU? 

Either 

Home

388 S 630 E

Lehi, 84043

OR

Office

Tamara Moss 

HCEB 236

BYU, Provo 

It might be free to send it to my office.

Love you, 

Mom xxxooo 

We went to Iceberg - had fun

That's awesome. Love Davey's face.

Just so you know, I'm making a list of all the times you go out to eat
so we can go when I get back. Haha :)

Funny....it's a deal

1 & 2 in Laundry room.  Elder clegg and Elder Noftle in background.  

3 & 4 in computer room emailing

There‘s not really anything exciting at the MTC so all my photos are selfies haha :)

Sorry, busy today.  You got this letter.

Oh yeah I saw that. That's really cool. I've finally got all the stuff
memorized in the temple. But today was probably the last time I'll go
for two years. Haha oh well. Love the temple

Did I already send that letter? Mom says I'm getting old cause I keep forgetting things (I forgot to eat lunch today). 

Are things better with your companion? How about homesickness, how are you doing? 

 We will be ready between 315 and 515 on Christmas Day for you to call. You can call either my phone or mom's phone, well you can call anyone's phone for that matter, but we'll be anxiously awaiting. 

Yeah you did. No worries. 

They are about the same.

Not homesick at all. 

Cool. I'll call moms phone

Sometime between 3:15 to 5:15 on Christmas Day, I will have 30 min to
telephone home.

I'm so excited!! I'm going to love the phone call! 

Love you -Mom

Chase,

How are things going? Are you healthy and happy?

Mom

Mom,
Things are going well. I've actually been quite sick with congestion.
I wake up every morning with super thick, dark yellow snot and I have
to blow my nose constantly throughout the day. But I'm doing good.
Chase

Are you using your save? Or pills we sent you? Do you need us to get you a Nettie pot?

I've been popping pills. I'm almost better. No Nettie pot is needed. 

Let me know if you can hear the voice recording

I can, but only from my phone. 

-Mom

Elder Holland Devotional 12/13/16

Book of Mormon was the first thing the lord wanted or needed to restore. Don't do anything else until you have translated the Book of Mormon. The first gift of the restoration. D&C 5:4

The Book of Mormon is the best and most important tool in missionary work. Keystone of our religion. Either Joseph smith is a prophet or a fraud. Nothing in between. 

Leave with the Book of Mormon and come home with it, and use it and teach it the remainder of your lives.

To be converted, you must read the Book of Mormon and gain a testimony of it. 

Be the best you can be, but be yourself. And give all the glory to God. 

It's God's work, but he needs instruments and tools. What kind of instrument will we be? God's ability can be limited due to a poor instrument. Be the instrument that God wants to pick up to do his work.

I've got to work my tail off. Holland worked construction during the summers, but a mission was harder. 

Must have the power of the word within us. Preach with power and authority. Go astonish someone with your message. Be astonishing. Speak with thunder. 

Only those who are repenting can bring others to repentance. 

Missionary work is hard because it was hard for the savior. Salvation is not cheap.  The road to salvation goes through salvation. 

Elder Holland's apostolic blessing: We will see in our hearts that this message is true. To have faith in missionary work. To be safe and healthy. My family will be blessed. I will have answers to my prayers. To have an impact on my companions and work with them.

Alma 26

December 6, 2016

Going to the temple!

I'll be in a meeting until 11am. I'll check in after your meeting.

Hope you enjoyed the temple :)

Love ya,

Mom

Hey I was just wondering how you're doing how's the MTC are you getting Spanish down? I miss you and I love you.

I'm doing good bro! Spanish is hard but coming along okay. Come es tu

castellano? And tell me all about school and everything! Good job on

your talk!

I have meetings today at 10am, 2pm, 430pm, 630pm, and 830pm.  I will be checking in when I can between one meeting ending and the other starting.

Well, how was your birthday?  What did you do?  Did you get everything?  "Thanks for the gifts, really great" isn't enough detail.  If you don't know by now, mom and dad want details about things.

Didn't do anything different. Just a normal Sunday as far as things we did. Taught a b of m lesson after church, ate dinner, then went to the Christmas devotional. I kind of fell asleep during that. But I did hear all of eyrings talk. I have a hard time staying awake in church and the temple as well. Every time we've gone to the temple I've fallen asleep. It's terrible. I try so hard too. 

But we ate the cake after the devotional which every loved. Even shared it with some people in our zone. Wore the birthday boy ribbon around too and got happy birthdays from a lot of people :)

We went to the Christmas devotional also.  Davey got 6 tickets and we all went. Davey took a date and we also took Katelynn.

You have been there 3 weeks now and have 3 weeks left - you are half way.  How are you feeling about it?

Pretty good, I can't wait to get out of the CCM but then I'm nervous to get to Argentina and not know Spanish haha. 

My teacher served in Mendoza Argentina and he said he ate beef all the time for super cheap prices. Also he said he ate pasta, pizza, and empanadas. (Argentina has a big European influence). He said he never ate beans and rice. Thanks heavens!

what is CCM?  

Don't worry about not knowing Spanish.  You just have to go there and jump in and do your best and then all of a sudden you will realize that it clicked and you will do fine.  Just keep trying to speak and ask as much as needed, "Que? No entiendo."  People will help and understand when you are new.  Even now, in fact yesterday, I talked to a person yesterday and I said, "Solo hablo un poco de Espanol, pero creo que podemos comunicarnos."  After saying that they laugh and say, "Si, habla bien."  Then we go on and they know if I don't understand something that I will ask and it is not awkward.  You will get to a point that you are so much more fluent than me that you won't have to worry about that at all - maybe six months - so just endure till then and, like you said, you really won't start learning until your down there, at least that is the way it was for me.  I thought I was so great at Spanish and then I arrived and felt like such a beginner but that is OK.

Thanks, that's hopeful. ccm is MTC in Spanish. Don't know how training translates to a word that starts with c though. 

I just learned a new word - capacitacion,  Centro de Capacitacion Misional - center of missionary training

Oh cool! 

I just sent this to Davey but I'll share it with you too.

We taught a lesson to our TRC and asked her at the beginning if she
read the Book of Mormon. She said she didn't because her dad said
there is only one bible. She showed us that verse in revelations. We
were prepared and told her that john was just talking about that book,
and not the Bible. She was convinced he was talking about the Bible
though. We explained the Bible was compiled after he wrote that, but
she wouldn't believe it. Then I showed her 2 nephi 29 verses 3 and 6
and 7. How it says that god wouldn't just have one Bible and all that.
But after we shared that, she said "I don't like that book". I think
we might have offended her with those verses. So we just testified
about the Book of Mormon to her. I'm still unsure about what to do
next lesson though. Don't know if we should bring it up again or just
teach her the next lesson ( the plan of salvation)

What about teaching out of the Bible, James 1:5 and then testifying that there is nothing wrong with believing in the bible - and we do - and Joseph Smith did and so he acted on that belief.  That led Joseph receiving an ancient record and through the power of God translating it.  

Also, In the bible we read in John 10:16 - other sheep I have which are not of this fold.

After translating the BOM Joseph Smith, and all of us, learned in 3 nephi 15:21 that the people who came over to the americas from the old world are the other sheep of which Christ was talking about.

Oh okay yeah that's cool. Thanks a bunch!

Just remember - you can't prove it to them.  Get them interested in knowing, testify, and invite them to find out for themselves.  Some will, some won't, but that is OK.  

Getting them interested can just be as simple as saying, "would you like to know if God communicates to all his children in all times?"  If they say yes, then testify that he does, has, and still does and invite them to find out for themselves.  If they say no, still testify that God loves them and does communicate and if they want to know they can and leave it at that.

So thanks so much for all the gifts. Really great. Taught a B of M lesson and found some cool quotes.

Ezra Taft Benson declared that “the whole Church [was] under condemnation” because Latter-day Saints were not studying the Book of Mormon enough or giving enough heed to its teachings. He said: “The Book of Mormon has not been, nor is it yet, the center of our personal study, family teaching, preaching, and missionary work. Of this we must repent.  We have not been using the Book of Mormon as we should. Our homes are not as strong unless we are using it to bring our children to Christ. Our families may be corrupted by worldly trends and teachings unless we know how to use the book to expose and combat falsehood

“I feel certain that if, in our homes, parents will read from the Book of Mormon prayerfully and regularly, both by themselves and with their children, the spirit of that great book will come to permeate our homes and all who dwell therein. The spirit of reverence will increase; mutual respect and consideration for each other will grow. The spirit of contention will depart. Parents will counsel their children in greater love and wisdom. Children will be more responsive and submissive to the counsel of their parents. Righteousness will increase. Faith, hope, and charity--the pure love of Christ--will abound in our homes and lives, bringing in their wake peace, joy, and happiness” (Ensign, May 1980, p. 67).

How is family scripture study going? You could tell me where you are studying and I could join you. Also share insights to. Love your thoughts mom.

I'll send a pic of my Spanish b of m compared to my other set. It's taller and just slightly wider. 

I was wondering about getting a brown sweater? One that has buttons down the middle or something so I can leave it open or close it.

Also I was wondering about a like slip to go over my ears. I don't always like wearing beanies because they mess up my locks so just like a slip that would cover my ears and not ruin my hair. :)

Also a pocket size b of Mormon in English and Spanish would be nice. Just b of m, not the other ones.

I just started reading the Book of Mormon with the kids in the morning we started were we left off 2 Nephi 6.

With the ear muffs do you want some like Davey? Or will you trust that I'll pick you some good ones that won't mess up your amazing wavy hair?

With the cover to your Spanish Scriptures... I've heard you can get a really nice cover when you get to Argentina. Do you want to wait or would you like us to still get you one? (I'm okay with whatever)

Mom

I can wait till Argentina. I don't care. It'd be cool to some cool looking ones. Some like daveys or just like a slip (like a workout headband thing, but to cover the ears.) whatever you think. You can send me pics too 

Had our first TRC (lesson with a member present) this last week.  Went all right.  We were told we would have 45 min, but then when we got there, we got cut down to 15 min.  That was super hard.  15 min is just not long enough to have a decent conversation about the Restoration.  Oh well, we made the best of it.  :)

Our second TRC was 25 min and we just talked about her (Ivette) concerns about the Book of Mormon.  She brought up that scripture in Revelations about not adding to the book.  So we just explained it all to her and read Ezekiel 37 and 2 Nephi 29 and the Intro to the Book of Mormon.  She's pretty stubborn though and by the end of all that discussion she just said she doesn't like the Book of Mormon and refused to read it.  When she said that, it felt like Satan was in that room with us.  But we testified of the Book of Mormon and that bad spirit immediately left and the Holy Ghost was with us.  Pretty cool.  The Book of Mormon is so powerful and I'm so grateful to have it in my life.

We taught a lesson on the book of Mormon in Priesthood on Sunday too.  It went good.  At the end, our Branch President shared his thoughts.  He said he as like 2 PhD's in English and Literature, and another one in Spanish Literature or something like that.  He said he's written books and read tens of thousands of books.  Then he explained that from a scholarly point of view, the Book of Mormon is 100% true.  There is no way that any human on earth could write such a book like it with all of its complex structure and everything.  That was pretty cool.

We had another Lesson with Angela and we asked her if she would read the Book of Mormon.  She said no, so then we testified of it and I shared my testimony of the Book of Mormon and the spirit was again super strong.  She committed after that.  :)

On Friday, we sang christmas songs to the Branch Presidents in the MTC.  It was pretty cool.  

And on Sunday it was my birthday!  Pretty great day.  I turned 19 on my 19th day in the MTC.  Haha super nice to have it on Sunday because we didn't have class all day.  Thanks family for all the decorations and gifts and candy!

1. and 2. outside with the pretty mountains

3. got bored in class

some old pics from my camera.

Thanks for the sd card reader!

Some of it is pretty boring, but here you go. I went off on a rant

about elder barmore on pages 10 and 11 haha he can still be annoying
and not motivated really very much. Oh well, he's doing a bit better.

 Any news on the basement?
Any bids for drywall?
How about my room? Did you clean it out? Is Brayden off the floor?

We haven't had time to work on the basement or your room. Brayden has done some cleaning and is sleeping in a bed, not the floor. We are trying to find time for the basement, but it will take time.

Did you get any pictures of your birthday cake and party?

Love ya, Mom 

Cool keep me updated. 

I didn't take any pictures other than what I shared but I think the hermanas did. I'll have to try and get them

Thanks Chase - sounds like you are having fun...love the Disney song, but it definitely needs work (haha).

Love ya,

Mom