E-mail and photos

Hola!!  Sounds like you all had a pretty good weekend there in Salt Lake!  Sounds like it was pretty busy, but it is good that you guys all got to get together!  Thanks for sending all the pictures again - I always enjoy them! 

     I had a pretty good week down here in Santiago!  It was nice.  The weather guy finally hit the switch and it cooled down a bunch this week - we had to use a jacket every evening so that was a nice change!  I feel like I can work a little bit harder when it isn't so hot outside!

     It has been fun being with my old comp again.  Feels like old times again but it has been great finally being able to teach together.  Companionship unity has not been too hard for us, so now we are just trying to take out the trash in our sector!

     Well Mom, it is kinda hard to send stuff from down here in Chile, so I just decided to have a baptism for your birthday instead, haha.  Patricio got baptized Saturday, the 29th!!  It was pretty sweet!  It was actually the first time that I have baptized someone outside of doing baptisms for the dead, so it was  a cool experience for me.  All of the other baptisms I have had in the mission, members have baptized the investigators, but it was fun to be able to do it once!

     Patricio has become a pretty good friend for me down here.  I was super happy to see him get baptized.  He has changed a lot in the last 6 weeks.  We first contacted him my first week in this sector.  And he is super committed to living the gospel and stuff.  He said he decided to be baptized because he saw how happy all the Mormons are.  So it made me realize that people really are watching us, so we've always got to be a good example and be happy, cause that is what people are searching for!  Just to find real happiness!

     I am getting pretty excited for conference this week!  It is better than Christmas out here on the mission!  We actually get to watch all of it and we get to watch it in English if we want in the High Council room!  So we can drink some mate and eat food and stuff,  so it makes it nice! 

     Pretty crazy that Nathan Heiner is already coming down here - feels like he should be in 8th grade!  And Kade is leaving next week - pretty cool stuff!  It is gonna be awhile before I see that kid again! 

     Well, I will send some photos on another email, but it was great to hear from you this week!  I hope everyone is doing good!  Good luck with those braces Cameron!! :)

I love and miss you all!

Elder Moser

Baptism of Patricio

E-mail and photos

Hola!!  Woo, Drew is already a deacon?!?!  Man I am getting old!  That is pretty crazy stuff! Cayden is gonna be heading off on his mission before we know it!  I feel like the new 18 year olds that are just coming in don't look much older than he is, haha.  That is sweet that you guys are all heading down to Salt Lake for Mom's birthday!!  Happy Birthday Mom!!!!!  I hope it is a great one!  You sure do look better than most 60 year olds I have see down here!! ;) haha.

     Man I was sure happy to see the temperatures cooling down towards the end of this week.  It was a very hot week this week, one of the hottest I've felt all summer long, so I am looking forward to it cooling down a bit! 

     So I was thinking, if it is Mom's birthday this week, that means it has been two years ago this week, that I got my mission call.  That is some pretty crazy stuff!  Can't believe how fast the time has passed by these last two years.

     This week was a pretty good one - started with a baaaaaad case of food poisoning though.  I think it was Thursday the four of us missionaries ate with a member and in the middle of the night at about 2 one of the other elders called me saying that he was super sick and was throwing up a lot and just felt terrible.  After that I was trying to go back to sleep and then it hit me hard - let's just say I was in the bathroom from 2 until 7 in the morning and all day the next day in the chapel.  The other two elders that ate with us had the same thing - it was bad.  Then that night at the chapel one of the lady's sons who we ate with called us and asked if we were sick, cause he and his 6 other brothers and the dad, had been super sick all day.  We had all eaten together the day before so we kinda figured what it must have been, haha.  We had eaten a Chilean dish called parrotos con masa mora.  It is beans in this corn sauce stuff, with some meat, but man that stuff destroyed us, haha.  It was an interesting day!

     Then Saturday I had a pretty good surprise - my old comp, Elder Caballero, that I was with in the office for three changes called me up and said that president told us we could go  over to the other part of the city to visit a guy that we had been working with before - he is the really rich one that lives in a penthouse in the middle of Santiago.  So we got to go visit him and it was a pretty good day.

     Then yesterday my comp went home!  And I had a pretty big surprise about who my new comp is.  We were sitting in the changes meeting and President announced that I was going to be a Zone Leader here in Cerrillos with Elder Caballero!!  We were already companions for 3 changes, or 4 and a half months in the office, so it was a huge surprise for us, cause stuff like that sure does not happen very often.  Anyway, were are pretty excited because we became pretty good friends when we were comps before, so it should be really good!  It still feels pretty crazy that we are back together again, but I think it is gonna be lots of fun! 

     Well I hope that you guys have a great weekend up there in Salt Lake!  Sounds like it is gonna be a lot of fun!  And about coming to get me, I think it would be good if I just came home. If you guys came, I just wouldn't have any time at home or anything.  I think it will work out a lot better if I just come home, so I will just plan on that! 

    I hope everyone is doing great - have a great week this week!  Happy birthday Mom!!!

 My Zone and District

First missionary I met in Chile, now going home. 

Elder Manzano 

Elder Larsen, from Alaska.

Everybody calls us the redneck buddies. 

 All the missionaries in the Ward.

 Jose Gurrachaga and his paper city.

 Jose, his wife, Elders Moser and Caballero

 View from Jose's penthouse

 Jose's floating bed

 Sweet desk

Jose thinks I look like this cartoon character.

He bought it just for me, haha. 

Me and Jose's wild pig.

E-mail and Photos

Hola!  Thanks for all the pictures and stuff Dad, it looks like you are really enjoying those trips to Jackson every week!!  And man, that is a lot of snow up there still!  Or a really short sign!  And I think you are right about Cayden - I better get pumping those weights in the mornings or I am gonna be in trouble! 

      About the earthquake:  Yesterday we were in a lesson with a less active lady and her kids and the neighbor came running over and told us about the earthquake, because the husband of the lady we were teaching was in the town of Iqueqe where it happened so she started to freak out a little bit, but we called up her husband and said everything was fine.  Said it shook pretty dang good, but nothing bad happened.  He had to evacuate the city for a tsunami warning, but as far as I know nothing happened though.  But that was not the first earthquake that happened down here - I forgot to tell you about it last week but about a week and a half ago we had a pretty decent one down here in Santiago.  I heard it was a 5.8 but not exactly sure.  It was pretty funny though, because I was talking to my comp about why he sleeps in his clothes, cause it has been pretty hot at nights and I always sleep just in my underwear.  He always told me I was stupid for doing that, but he would never tell me why.  Anyway I found out why - I had to learn by experience!  He lives right next to Chile, so he has experienced quite a few earthquakes in his life.  But anyways, I was sound asleep and it was about two in the morning, and I started to hear my comp yell vamos vamos!!  And I was still pretty out of it and just said que te pasa or what's wrong with you??  Then I felt what was wrong, my bed was shaking really bad, haha.  Anyway, he was already opening the front door, so I took off towards the door, but forgot my glasses, and you all know how blind I am, and so when I was running down the stairs from our apartment building I realized two things - I couldn't see, and I was in my underwear, haha.  By the time I realized it I was at the bottom of the stairs and there was definitely more people than just my comp outside, so I decided the ground was not shaking too bad and took off towards the apartment again, haha.  Figured it would be better to take my chances than be out in my underwear, haha.  So I ran to my closet and started to put on some shorts and a t-shirt  but by that time the ground had stopped shaking, and my comp was back up in the room dying of laughter, haha.  Thought it was pretty funny stuff!!  Anyways, I learned why it ain't good to just sleep in your underwear here in Chile.  All my comp said was le dije jill, or I told ya fool, haha, then we went back to bed for the night.  It was the biggest earthquake I have felt in my life though, pretty cool stuff.  I thought a train was driving though our apartment complex, pretty loud stuff!  But after that one there were three or four more the next few days, a little smaller but still pretty strong.  It has been kinda fun!  And don't worry, I sleep in shorts now, haha.  Everybody thinks we are gonna see a big one down here in Santiago anytime soon so we will see what happens - just gotta keep living the commandments and I will be all good, haha. 

     Other than the earthquakes, it has been a pretty good week so far!  Patricio and Benedicto both came to church yesterday, and Benedicto is starting the process to quit smoking.  It is gonna be tough, but I am sure he will be able to do it.  He has changed a lot from the first time I met him drunk on the street!  And Patricio is doing good and wants to be baptized but is heading to the south for a while, so hopefully we don't lose him with that - I think he will be ok though.

     This week we were able to find some good new people doing tours of the chapel.  We did a tour with one guy, a big guy, probably 6 foot 3, and has to be about 350 to 400 pounds, but he was super interested.  He liked it all a lot, and wanted us to come by and share our message with the ELEVEN kids that he has.  Ya, think we found the jackpot with his family, haha.  We have a lesson with them Wednesday, so we will see how that goes!  He is a pretty sweet guy.

     Other than that it was a pretty normal week.  My comp goes home in a week, so he is getting pretty trunky, haha.  I'm just trying to hang in there with him!  He is getting pretty scared though, and it makes me nervous just watching him!  Oh by the way Dad, President is sending us home two weeks before the 9th of September.  It would be great for you guys to come, but not sure if there is time.  Sure would not have very much time at home.  Kinda wanna enjoy the mountains a little bit before I head off to school and stuff!  But what do you guys think?  It would be about the 25th of August when I would be heading home.

     Hey that is a pretty sweet pen that you made!  Getting pretty good Dad!!!

I hope everyone is doing great!!  Have a great week this week!  Les quiero mucho!

Elder Moser

 Ward Baptism

 Painting

Family from Bolivia 

Stylin'

E-mail and photos

March 10, 2014

Hola!  Thanks for all the pictures Dad - some pretty good ones!  One of my buddies saw them and said, shoot man, your parents sure are trying to make you trunky!! haha.   Made me laugh a little bit, but man, I do realize that I miss the mountains a little bit, especially the one of snow king, and I sure am excited to strap some skis on again!!   And I am not sure what is cooler, Cayden with Steve Young or Cameron with the huge bass!!  Haha, pretty sweet pictures! 

     Well this week down here in Chile wasn't too bad.  Nothing too exciting happened, but nothing bad happened, so it was pretty good!  I was able to do divisions a few times this week.  It has been fun getting to know some of the newer elders that are coming into the mission.  I haven't really been able to get to know a lot of them really well, but those 18 year olds are doing pretty good!  Feels like these young guys are learning the language faster than us old guys did, haha. 

     There is a lot of excitement going on in the mission and stuff so that has been good.  Our numbers are way higher than they have been in the last ten years and we are shooting for more baptisms than we have had in the last ten years too.  It is cool to see how this big wave of missionaries that came in really is pushing the work forward.  I feel like the excitement is pretty contagious!  It is a good time to be a missionary!!

     Benedicto, our investigator that was an alcoholic, has been doing pretty good this week.  Still has not had a drink of alcohol, and it's been a pretty long time since he has stopped.  We are pretty excited about that, and this week we are gonna start the processes of getting him to stop smoking.  He has been able to understand a lot more about what we are teaching and he is getting pretty excited about it all.  Yesterday we taught lesson 2, The Plan of Salvation, and when we were finishing he started crying and said, "I can do it, I can make it, I will do whatever it takes to make it to the Celestial Kingdom, the place of happiness, I am sick of living in misery."  I thought it was pretty cool, and helped me realize how hard I need to be working so I can make it to that place of happiness!.

     Patricio was still on the beach all week, but should be coming back these next couple of days. 

     We also had a wedding in the ward on Friday, and then they got baptized Saturday, and it was pretty sweet.  They are awesome people and are gonna help the ward out a lot.  We had 153 people in Sacrament Meeting yesterday - think that was the biggest Sacrament Meeting I have been in here in Chile.  It was pretty cool - it is nice to be part of a strong ward again. 

     Well I am doing great in everything else.  I hope you all are doing good up there!!  I love you and miss you all!  Have a great week this week!!

Elder Moser

 Cleaning Benedicto's house - it was nasty!!

 Cooking lunch in the mud oven with Hermana Roxanna

 My breakfast every morning

The wedding

E-mail

March 3, 2014

Hola!!  Thanks for the letter and all the pictures and stuff!!  I was pretty happy when I saw the weather forecast - looks like it is cooling down a little bit!  It has actually been getting pretty cold at night, and all the houses are made of brick, so it gets pretty chilly during the nights.  I have been enjoying it though.  I can sleep better for sure!!

     This week turned out to be a pretty good week!!  Full of lots of good things!!  Our investigators are doing pretty good.  Our strongest one went to the coast though so we have not had contact with him for a few days, but he should be coming home this week.   He is still doing really good and progressing a lot!  A pretty big miracle happened with our other investigator, Benedicto.  He did not drink a drop of alcohol this whole week and it has been 8 days.  We were talking to him more and he has been drinking every day of his life for the last 1 to 2 years.  He doesn't really remember, but at least since his wife left him a year ago. Pretty big miracle - we did not really see that coming at all - he was such a heavy drinker - pretty crazy that he stopped cold turkey.  He actually stopped right after we gave him a blessing, and has not had a drink since.  Definitely strengthened my testimony of blessings too!!

     We also had another pretty big surprise this week.  Friday night the assistants called and said that the whole mission was gonna have a big meeting combined with all the other missionaries the next day.  So Saturday we got up at five and headed into the center of Santiago for the meeting.  It started at 9 but we had to get there super early because there were about 1000 missionaries there.  The speaker was Elder Evans.  He is in charge of the missionary program of the church, but man it was a good meeting. The first session was for everyone, and he talked for 4 and a half hours straight without stopping - felt like 30 minutes - went by so fast.  It was so good.  Then the Zone Leaders stayed for lunch and we had another special meeting with him.  It was even better.  He talked in that one for 2 and a half hours straight.  So it was 7 hours of him talking.  I was so spiritually drained after the whole thing.  I learned a ton from it, and got pages and pages and pages of notes.  All he talked about was chapter 31 of 2 Nephi  in the first meeting and the Proclamation to the Family in the second meeting.  He just taught us the doctrine of the family and how important families are and about marriage and everything, and he explained how important it is to baptize families and to bring families into the church.  He had to apologize to the Mission Presidents after for making all the missionaries trunky to get married though, haha.  Anyway he was a great speaker and I learned a ton from the guy.  I have not felt the spirit that strong for so long, in a long time.  It was pretty cool stuff!!.

    Well I've got to get going for today.  I hope everyone is doing good!!  You should send some of that snow down here Dad!  I haven't seen rain or snow in such a long time!!  I hope you all have a great week this week!  I love and miss you all!!

Elder Moser