Elder Jared Moser has been called to serve in the Chile Santiago West Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He entered the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah on August 22, 2012.

We will use this blog to post his e-mails, letters, and photos from his mission, to record them for him and to share with his family and friends.

Feel free to make comments, but he will not have internet access and will not see the comments until he returns home.

For readability, some spelling, punctuation, and capitalization have been standardized.

Mailing Address

MAILING ADDRESS


Elder Jared H. Moser
Mission Chile Santiago Oeste
Casilla de Correos 149
Pajaritos 1921
Maipu, Chile

Saturday, September 28, 2013

E-mail

Hola!  Wow, Dad those are some pretty sweet pictures you took this last week!!  I am impressed!  The ones in Bedford with the snow on the mountains are super sweet.  Those should go in a magazine or calendar or something, haha..  Looks like you guys had a pretty awesome week this week with everything!  Speaking of snow, last week for p-day we went up to the Andes like I said we were going to do and we were able to run into some snow so that was pretty fun.  Made me kinda trunky to go skiing though!!  It made me realize how much I missed having fun in the snow!!  But it was a great p-day, and we were able to go with the President's son again so we had lots of fun.  The Mexicans were pretty excited to see snow for the first time!  And you went GOLFING????  Never thought I would hear you say that one!  How did you do?  You gonna switch over from hiking to golfing now?? :) 
 Well everything is doing pretty good down here in Chile.  Just been super busy signing housing contracts all over Santiago and getting all the houses ready and stuff.  I was able to go out to the coast yesterday and look at some more houses and everything is looking good out there!  It is getting a lot warmer down here now, looks like summer is coming on pretty good now! 
 Looks like you went to town bottling fruit again Mom!  A couple of weeks ago a lady gave us some bottled membrios.  It is a fruit that is native to Chile I guess.  It is kinda like a lemon mixed with an apple. Sounds weird but that is about the closest I can explain it, anyway, we walked into her house and she had a ton of bottles out bottling fruit - just reminded me a lot of all the stuff that you do. 
 Oh, kind of a cool story that happened yesterday when I was on the coast.  I was working on a contract with a guy and he is a member of the church and we started talking about missions and stuff and he said that he served his mission here in Chile. He said he was one of the first Elders that came into the Chile Santiago West Mission when it opened, and anyway I remembered you saying something about Kirk Hoopes doing the same thing, so I asked if he knew an Elder Hoopes from his mission and he said that he did!  He said he served in the same zone one time or something like that!  I thought that was pretty interesting!  It really is a small world in the church!!  His name is José Gajardo.
Well I am still doing great and loving the mission.  I am still learning a ton every day.  It has been a really good experience for me this last month or so.  I am glad I have been able to do this!
I hope everyone is doing good back home, Feliz Cumpleaños Cameron!  Can't believe your 12!!
Have a great week this week!

Elder Moser

Sunday, September 22, 2013

E-mail and Photos

Hola!  Everything is going great here in Maipu!  It was a pretty good week this week, pretty crazy though!  This week would be like the 4th of July in the States.  The 18th of September is the Chilean Independence Day, so we had a huge Stake party on Wednesday.  It was pretty sweet, there was tons of Chilean food and we played a bunch of games and watched a bunch of people do dances and stuff  like that.  They take the 18th as a huge deal here - it is pretty sweet!  The Chilean people definitely have a lot of love for their country!!  I have some pictures that I will try to upload so you will be able to see some of the stuff that goes on here.  The whole Stake here kinda just looked like the Bedford Ward though, haha..  Pretty small for a stake!!.  We had twice as many members there for the party than we did at Stake Conference three days before, haha.  Everyone down here likes to say that they are a member when the parties start and they bring out all the food!  But it was good to see everyone out and having fun.  It was kinda weird though because I really don't know anyone here yet cause we never get out to our sector, but I was able to meet some more ward members at the party, so that was good.  This week we also had the son of our mission president stay with us and work with us all week.  He is a fifteen year old kid named James.  It was pretty fun with him - he is a really cool kid, and already a great missionary!  He is gonna be on a mission for 5 years in a row.  That is a long time!!  He is gonna be a champ after all of that!!  Me and my comp took him out to the coast to go look at a bunch of new houses we are going to rent.  We had a pretty good day out there, and found some pretty nice houses to get.  It is kinda  weird - most missionaries measure their success by how many baptisms they get or lessons they are teaching, but right now me and my comp measure it by how many houses we are looking at and renting, haha.  We are going up 15 companionships in two weeks so it has been crazy trying to get everything ready for that.  But we are doing good.  We just about have all the houses we need now, but then it all starts again getting ready for the next change  - it just never stops!!  But I still have seen a lot of miracles here in the office, even though we are not out in the field working cool stuff still happens a lot and the Lord blesses us a lot.  I had a pretty cool experience happen to me a couple weeks ago.  Back in my first sector in Rinconada, we contacted this girl that was about 20 years old.  She really did not even seem very interested at the time or anything.  Just thought it was another contact we did that would not go anywhere.  She did not even live in our sector, but she did give us her address though so we passed it to the office of the mission so they could send out the reference. By the next day I had forgotten about it, and it never came across my mind again until I walked into church for the first time in my ward here in Maipu.  I saw this girl that I thought I recognized from somewhere, but couldn't remember where.  Anyways, it was fast and testimony meeting that day and she got up to bear her testimony.  She told of her experience of getting baptized a couple months before and how grateful she was the missionaries had stopped and talked to her outside the grocery store and had sent other missionaries to her house.  When she said that it clicked, and I realized that I was the missionary that had stopped and talked to her outside the store.  After the meeting I went and talked to her and she remembered me and was so thankful for just talking to her that day.  That was a pretty sweet experience!  Before I always thought contacting was a big waste a lot of times cause we could talk to hundreds of people and only see one or maybe even less of those hundred people accept our message and maybe get baptized.  I didn't really realize how much just talking to someone about the gospel for a couple minutes could help them change their lives a ton.  That experience helped me realize the importance of talking to everyone.  Even though I might not be teaching any lessons right now I have definitely been talking to a lot of people about the gospel and stuff.  We do talk to a lot of people everyday working in the office so it has been a good opportunity to talk to everyone about my mission and about the Church and stuff.  Lots of people just have the wrong idea about the whole thing, and just a little 5 minute conversation can help a ton! 
Sounds like you two had a pretty good week this week in all your travels!!  Pretty crazy story about the buffalo and stuff!!  That would be pretty sketchy especially there in Yellowstone!  There definitely are a lot of critters there!  But I am glad you guys got out alright!!
Today I think we are actually going to be able to get a little hike in!!  We are heading over to the Andes mountains to go to some snow with the assistants cause they are from Mexico and have never seen snow before, haha.  So that should be pretty fun!  Last week for p-day was pretty sweet too!  We went golfing!!!  Never thought I would do that on the mission!  It was actually pretty relaxing, and a great p-day activity!  Found out I am not a half bad golfer compared to Chileans, haha.  I don't think they get out to golf very much :)  Anyway, I am gonna try to get those pictures up and then we are gonna head off to the mountains.  I will try to get some sweet pics for ya!
Have a great week everyone!

Elder Moser











Saturday, September 14, 2013

E-mail and Photos

Hola!  Well it was a pretty good week here in the office, haha.  We were able to get out to our sector once for an hour.  Pretty cool how the Lord blesses us as office elders when we are able to get out to the sector.  We only had about 20 minutes, so we decided to go do some contacts.  We knocked on a few doors but no one wanted anything, and it got time to start heading home, so we were walking back and after a while we heard someone yelling "hey gringos" from a ways behind us. We just thought it was someone messing with us like usual, but we both had the feeling to stop and turn around and go talk to him, so we did, and turns out he just wanted to know about the Church.  He heard a little and his wife almost got baptized a few years ago but then they moved - anyway it was pretty sweet.  They are really awesome people and really interested - just got to find the time to go teach them now!!  It has been really crazy in the office this week cause we have been going on a mission tour with President and his wife.  They want to go see all the houses in the mission where the missionaries live.  It is a good idea but just takes a really long time!  So that is pretty much all I have been doing all week - just driving around with President!  It is fun to get to know him and his wife better though - they really are pretty cool people.  I also got to go into the richest apartment I have ever seen in my life to sign a contract with a guy - it was crazy!!  He lives in the top floor of a big apartment building in Santiago, and his apartment is the whole top floor, haha.  Wishing I woulda brought my camera that day!!  But everything is pretty good here.  I am liking it a lot here in the office.  I am used to it now so everything is good!  Ya, I received an e-mail from Kaden saying he would have to go home for a while - pretty sad about that.  I hope everything goes good there!  That has got to be tough!  Sounds like you guys are gonna have a pretty good trip in Colorado this week if the rain slows down a little bit.  Now more than ever I just want to get out and go on a hike!!  I feel like I just have not been outside very much lately- always in an office or car! Good to hear about BYU!  Elder Lewis was in the office looking at game scores and he got up and started shouting cause he was so happy when he saw it, haha.  That was pretty funny, and we always get the update on the games from him, haha.  He is a pretty big BYU fan!
Well thanks for the letter and pictures and stuff - always enjoy it!!  I hope everyone is doing good!!  Have a great week this week!

Elder Moser

Reminds me of Star Valley

My international driver's license
and my space in the office.

Saturday, September 7, 2013

E-mail and Photos

Hola!!  Ya, sorry about not sending a short email earlier in the week last week.  I kinda forgot to do that, haha.. And the Sister Lewis that you got the pictures from is one of the  married couples that are serving here.  Here in the office there are 8 of us.  4 missionaries and 2 married couples.  The Lewis' are from Pocatello - Elder Lewis served his mission here in Chile a long time ago and then the other couple is the Bertagna's.  They just arrived here a week before I got to the office, and they don't speak a lick of Spanish, so it has been kinda fun watching them, haha.  There aren't too many jobs a person can do here without Spanish.  I think they just write their family all day long, haha.  But they are both really awesome and I have made pretty good friends with them. It has definitely been a huge change for me here in the office, but I have gotten used to it a lot though.  We still have not had the time to go out to our sector yet, but we should be able to tonight.  It has just been super crazy the last two weeks, and we still have a ton to do.  There are a bunch of new missionaries coming in next change - a bigger group than has ever come in before, so there is a lot to prepare for!!  But like you said dad, we are trying to schedule some time in to go out and work - I miss that part of it quite a bit!!  I live in an apartment complex with the other three office elders - it is about a 5 minute walk, so that has been nice being that close..  Here in the office we do only eat with members on Sunday, so that has been a weird change.  I am used to eating with them every day!  So I have eaten a lot of fast food lately - good thing KFC has some pretty good salads, haha..  This week I also learned how to drive stick, haha...  The first time was pretty sketchy - the Plaza de Maipu is not the best place to learn, but I am sure I learned faster that way!  Lots of honking at me, haha..  But now I pretty much got the handle on it - makes driving pretty fun :)  Yesterday we got to go to the President's house for a big leadership council - that was a pretty cool experience.  He lives in a super nice house over in the east side of Santiago.  I feel like I went back to America when I went over there - it was weird!  I just got the picture of all the girls in Salt Lake - looks pretty fun!!  Looks like the same picture they have taken for the last ten years, haha..   You're gonna have quite the collection of those!  And thanks for sending the package!  I am looking forward to it!  We do get mail faster here, cause we get it right when it comes in, so that is nice..  Well thanks for the email and pictures and stuff dad, it was great to see all the family pics.  I hope everyone is doing great!!  Have a good week this week!

Elder Moser
Visit back to the coast.




 Apalonia's Baptism!! :)
This lady was the first door I knocked in Llo Lleo.. 
I was pretty excited to see her baptism!! :)

Sunday, September 1, 2013

E-mail and Photos

Hey!!!!  Sorry about not getting a letter earlier on in the week this week!  It has been a crazy week, and the busiest week of my mission for sure!  A lot has happened this week!  Saturday night last week I got a call from the zone leaders and they said I was leaving my sector.  I was kinda confused because I had not been there very long at all, but anyway, about half hour later I got a call from President.  He told me that I was being called to serve in the office as the pensionist of the mission!!  I really did not understand what that meant at the time, but now I get it, haha.  So anyway I came into the office and started working on Monday!  My comp is Elder Stewert, and I have been friends with him for a while.  He is training me right now as the pensionist and then next change he will leave and I will be on my own.  I know it sounds kinda nerdy but it is sweet!!  My mission changed a lot for sure though.  Went from full time preaching to full time real estate agent for the church, slash repair man.  Right now with the huge rush of missionaries it is super crazy.  We have been opening up a lot of sectors, so that means getting a lot more houses.  I do everything - go search for the house, write contracts and sign them, get the house all set up, agree on pricing, and pay the people that own the house.  Never thought the church would trust a twenty year old kid with so much money and responsibility like that, haha.  President does not look at the houses or anything, so it is all me and Elder Stewert right now, haha.  So anyway I pretty much have a full time job right now.  We have not been to our sector to do missionary work once yet, and probably won't.   We have to find about 14 houses to rent in the next 5 weeks - it is gonna be crazy!  But I am loving it a lot.  It is super fun what we do, and we are also in charge of maintaining the 60 houses that we already have in the mission.  President said that since I was from Wyoming I probably knew how to fix stuff, haha,  I sure hope so!  We will see!!  I am also in charge of putting all the numbers together from the mission and making power points for the assistants with those and also of all referencias in the mission.  We come into the office at about 10 every day and we get home usually after 11:30 at night.  This week has been super crazy because of the changes and stuff so it should slow down a little, but we still have a lot of work to do!  But the cool part of all this is I get to drive!!!  I am pretty excited for that.  Shoulda taught me how to drive a stick though Dad, haha.  Maybe should of bought that Camero a few years ago :) haha.  But looks like I am just gonna have to learn here, haha..  So anyway my mission has changed a whole bunch for the next 6 months - completely different focus now!  It has been weird but I am kinda getting used to it.  It should be pretty fun!! Also it has some perks working in the same place as President.  We had an interview last week on the coast, but then I got transferred to the office.  But President gave me permission to go out to it today, so that is gonna be awesome! we are leaving here in just a bit to go out for that - pretty excited!  Man, looks like you guys had a sweet hike this week!!  That is awesome!  You guys are gonna have to take me back to all of these places when I get back!!  That is awesome Megan got some new exchange students!! That should be a lot of fun!!  And Tyler Jenkins home from his mission????  When I first read that I wondered why he came home early!!!  Man that went by so fast!!  Crazy stuff!!!  Well, I got to get going!!  I did get your email after you resent it.  I am not sure what happened the first time..  But I hope everyone is doing great!!!  Have a great week this week!!! 

Elder Moser








Ward Mission Leader family 

 Josefina and sister and cousin


Grandma Gatica 

Family Soto 

Family Castro 

My new job in the office!!!
Hey, so, I am not sure if I mentioned it but my p-day
 is on Saturdays now that I am in the office!