BTR once said... 12/27/2021

December 27, 2021

I never thought that I'd ever say we're halfway there!  I hit 9 months on Christmas Eve. CRAZY!! MERRY (late) CHRISTMAS! We had dinner with Bishop and his family plus many others from the ward. Basically my favorite people were there. 

Some highlights:

-We got to watch season 1 of The Chosen.

-We made cookies with Deb and her granddaughter, Janet.

-We got a 1 lb. chocolate bar.

-I got to see a lot of missionary friends!!

-There was no traffic on the 24th or 25th. HALLELUJAH.

-We drove through a really nice part of town and the ENTIRE STREET was covered in lumenarias. It was magical!!

-We had a zone Christmas breakfast.

-Our recent convert named Barry has been absolutely amazing! He introduced us to his friend and we are going to start teaching her and her son. She is amazing and already has a strong faith in Jesus Christ. 

-We taught Don the Word of Wisdom. He is so excited to be baptized and is doing his very best to worthy. It is so cute. We taught him, and he just kept saying that it made sense. I can't wait for January 22nd!!!

-We gave our friend, Bonita, a Book of Mormon, and she is so excited to read it. 

-We took Robert off date. Please pray for him that we'll be able to get in contact with him again.

I found a book full of BYU speeches from 1973. I read one by Harold Glen Clark. He talked about faith and obedience. He first talked about how God gives us plenty of room to exercise our agency, but we have to be willing to listen to and follow Him in the first place. This speech was filled with many insightful things.  "And if we know Him and His Son, Jesus Christ, in this manner, we may have life eternal, which is to live with Him forever, because we will feel comfortable in His company and He in ours." This line specifically stood out to me. I want to be found worthy to be with Him by continuing to learn about him. What do you need to do to really know Christ?

(In case you didn't know...BTR was my og boy band. They reunited a couple months ago, so I thought it was a fitting subject line :))

Our failed cookies.

1lb of chocolate

Pres and Sis Weathersby 

Watching The Chosen.

Part of the old Haines gang.

Welcome to the MEGA zone.

 Luminarias!! (imagine an entire street like this)

Jambo, jina langu ni dada Moser 12/20/2021

We were all over the place trying to get Hermana Ellsworth off to Argentina. She eventually got there after a very stressful couple of days. 

If you can't tell with all the pictures, this week was awesome! A recent concert named Barry. He's the best. No cap. He got to baptize his wife Brenda. It was a beautiful moment. I got asked to sing with a service missionary named Sister Frank. 

We were able to meet with our friend Don. He said he was baptized 50 years ago in the Philippines. There was no way to find his record, so we invited him to be baptized!! He was so excited because it was also his birthday when we invited him. He kept saying that it was the best Christmas/birthday present to find out he can be baptized again!!

Some highlights:

-We had our Christmas party, and Santa came.

-We went to a delicious restaurant named Slapfish.

-We got Christmas decorations which meant a photoshoot!

-Found out Mary from White Rock has a baptismal date and imma cry.

- absolutely adore Hermana Wells.

-We planted more flowers, but the weather is making them bloom already.

-I got to play Santa by delivering a bunch of packages to missionaries. 

-I got to clean the temple today!!

I'm reading the Book of Mormon again. Man, it is amazing what stands out to you every time. As I read, I use a really old Book of Mormon manual. I read through 3 Nephi 12 this week and there was a quote that stood out to me. It was in reference to verse 48. "Our Father in Heaven is infinite; He is perfect; He possesses all knowledge and wisdom. He's not jealous of His wisdom and perfection, but glories in the fact that is is possible for His children who obey Him in all things and endure to the end to become like Him." Wow. What a blessing to know that we can become like Him!! Keep being obedient, and have hope that you can and will become like Him. Don't get discouraged. You got this.

P.S. subject line translation: hello, my name is Sister Moser (it's Swahili)

My bracelet broke.

Brenda's baptism.

Zone picture.

Kevin being weird.

The Best Worst Week 12/13/2021

This week we met with Joseph in person! And he is so cool! We had a really good discussion on the Word of Wisdom, temples, and repentance. Joseph is showing a lot of potential which is AWESOME!! I loving getting to see miracles from Facebook. 

Remember how I mentioned in my last email that when I start laughing, it is incredibly hard to stop? Yeah...that happened again this week lol. I can't help it. Hermana Wells is a freaking comedian. And I am so excited to spend the next 7 weeks with her!!!

We got a call Wednesday night saying that we were going to be in a trio for the night. Well, that was a lie, so we are in a trio for a week. Our honorary companion is Hermana Ellsworth. Her original assignment is Argentina, so she flies out on Thursday. 

Our goal this transfer was to hit standards. AND WE DID!!! We put Leandra on date for January 15th! I am so excited for her to take this step in her life. The other person we put on date was Renee. She was actually a gray dot (meaning she had met with missionaries before but they stopped teaching her) It was a crazy moment because we had an amazing lesson with her then hung up. Sister Wells goes "I was gonna invite her to be baptized." We all looked at each other and went "call her back!!" So we did and bam. She's on date for February 5th. Miracles are happening!!

Last week was high 60s. I guess New Mexico finally decided that it was December because the high was 27 at one point this week. Say what?? 

So...Satan is real (he can go sit in a river) because the past several weeks have been rough. Not for our area, but for me. I was feeling really discouraged and unmotivated for the week. At district council, we watched the suffering in Gethsemane. I knew that watching the video was an answer to my prayers because it helped me feel motivated again. That Christ knew how I felt at this very moment, and He wanted me to remember that. It was a tender mercy for me.

Bowling as a district.

 Breakfast burritos w/ Bear Canyon sisters.

We are in a temporary trio.

Why Are Subject Lines So Hard 12/6/2021

This week was crazy busy and felt sooo long! When Sister Wells and I looked back, I thought it had been 2 weeks. Here are some highlights:

-I have watched the Luz de Las Naciones devo like 5 bajillion times...mostly because my brother Nathan is in the last musical number #biggestfan

-We planted irises for our friend Serena 

-The weather right now is not December weather 

-We had pho (pronounced fuh) with Kevin

-I ran over to curb on our way to get custard.

-Sister Wells got a new bed.

-I legit couldn't stop laughing multiple times because I accidentally said a word in an Australian accent.

-We flipped around just to see a whole street COVERED in Christmas lights.

-We watched the Christmas devo with Deb and Karl.

-I got a letter.

-We tried to bribe the vehicle coordinator into letting us drive a van. It didn't work :(

-Zone conference was this week. The trainings were so good!! We were discussing goals Let's just say a certain missionary was not...being kind which ended up with another missionary sending in the "Beware of pride" talk into the group chat. Crazy. 

MIRACLE STORY!!! We have a new friend Leandra. She messaged us out of the blue and asked if we could help her find Jesus. We had no clue who she was because we didn't have her number in Area Book. We just rolled with it. She is so solid. She has an honest desire to know God, and we have only met with her twice. We are going to put her on date this week!!!

As for Robert, we had our recent converts Deb and Karl on the call. Both of them bore some fire testimonies, and they effortlessly brought up baptism. I was shocked! I think they really clicked with Robert! Yay!!!

This week I read a lot of the war chapters. The manual that I am using has really opened my mind. They talk about Captain Moroni's love and passion for freedom. Then they talk about why these wars were included. The question they brought up was how can we see Christ in these chapters. I was like bruhhhh we can see Christ in these chapters. It was something so simple, but really changed my personal study of the Book of Mormon.

Carrying boxes on our heads.

Christmas lights.

NM drivers at their finest.

After Zone conference.

Our row of irises.

Kevin took this picture and posted it on his story 

CHRISTMAS TIME 11/29/2021

This week was sooooo long. We got exposed to Covid last week and had to self isolate for 5 days. Rip us. No Thanksgiving plans, but Hermana Wells made it fun! Our Thanksgiving included 2 turkeys, the best stuffing I have ever had, sweet potatoes, corn, beans, tortellini, potatoes, carrots, sandwiches, 3 pies, calling family, a dance party, 4 puzzles and a phone call with our friend Jonathan. Jonathan is a recent convert and had no plans for Thanksgiving. We made a few calls and bam he got plans for dinner. Gotta love the bishop. 

We have been meeting with a member that wants to come back to church. Holy Hannah! He is a spiritual giant and very inspiring. I have loved talking to him these past couple weeks. 

Our friend Timothy was at church! And his accent is the cutest. He's from Texas and absolutely LOVES the church. We are so excited to start meeting with him.  As for Robert, he is still on date, but we weren't able to meet with him this past week due to the holidays. He is still progressing though! Please keep him in your prayers :) We have had some news from the page this week. Some of them are very promising. On of which has started calling us. Every day. She loves us and really wants to improve her relationship with Christ. 

I read "What Lack I Yet?" by Elder Larry Lawrence. It is one of my favorite talks! One of the things that I have been marking are the questions. There is a reason behind it all. There are no coincidences! That is a theme that 8 have seen a lot this past week. That Heavenly Father really is aware of each of us. And He let's us know through little every day things. It truly is amazing. Start paying attention. 

There are 25 days until Christmas eve. The Christmas playlist has been playing, and we are jammin'!

Our negative Covid tests.

A member crocheted me an astronaut giraffe and Sister Wells a chameleon.

 we tried to take a picture of a car in front of us, but it turned and we caught this beauty instead

Boom! That just happened! 11/22/2021

This week was the best week evah! Our friend Robert is on date for January 1st! Ahhh I am so happy for him. He came to church yesterday. A recent convert named Barry was like "what's up brothah" and hugged him. Man, it was a good day

This week I posted about laughter for my gratitude. I legit could not stop laughing this week. It was so bad!! Especially since my goal is to drink more water, But I can't help it! Hermana Wells can just laugh and then go dead pan so fast. We were getting ready to go pick up dinner, and I may or many not have peed my pants a little #embarrassing 

This week has been CRAZY! Not only did we put Robert on date, but we got 3 referrals all within minutes of each other. Plus several others throughout the week. WILD. Social media is awesome!

Elder McKay of the Seventy came and spoke to us this week. He is a powerful speaker. We talked a lot about the difference between the flock and the fold. Did you know the fold is the enclosing that keeps domestic animals safe?? My mind was blown. Elder McKay related the fold to the church. Then we talked about the baptismal covenant and how people make it complicated. I learned a lot in the 3 hours we were there. 

We met with a lady named Natasha this week. Boy was that interesting. She looooooves the children's Book of Mormon, but absolutely does NOT like our church services. Sis Wells and I had a discussion about how the church is not "worldly" enough for her because she loves the upbeat Christian bands and lights. 

Oh! Miracle story! We got this text from a lady that was going through some stuff and wanted help coming closer to Christ. We both looked at each other and said....I don't know who that is. Turns out she was in contact with missionaries a while ago. Well, we had a lesson with her and will be dropping off a Book of Mormon to her this week!!!  God really is a God of miracles, and we get to see that every. Single. Day. I love being a missionary!!

Sunset

Exchanges with Sister Wallace.

The nasty spider on the wall.

I did a puzzle!

The old Haines gang.

Caught this beauty of Sis. Wells and died laughing!

Get DUNKED 11/15/2021

Wednesday was transfers, so say hello to my new companion Sister Wells!!! Talk about a spiritual weekend. Sister Wells has already blown my mind, and we haven't been together a week yet!! She is a spiritual giant. She has a lot of insight, so I'm trying to soak it all in! She is also freaking hilarious!! I haven't laughed this hard in a long time. We were trying to send a 20 second video to a friend, and it took us a solid 10 minutes to stop laughing. I mean it makes sense for those who know me. When I start laughing, there is no stopping. It also doesn't help that Kevin is funny. I literally could not breathe when we had dinner with him this week.

We had lunch with our new friend Robert. Homeboy needs to get DUNKED!! We were so close to bringing up baptism in our first lesson. We are meeting with him again this week!! He almost went to church yesterday, too!! He walked in and didn't feel comfortable only wearing a collared shirt, so he said next week he will come because he'll have a suit. I would ask all of you to pray for him. He could use the prayers beforehand. He is definitely prepared. 

Sadly, Patrick is feeling a little stressed, so we won't be meeting with him for a while. He said that we can still message him and share spiritual messages because it will keep him motivated to meet with us again. 

We had this gray dot that was referred by a member, but we didn't know what member (we only had a last name). We called one of the members with the last name. She was very appreciative of us calling because she had just prayed to have someone to talk to. She told us that she was going through a hard time. We were so happy that we had followed that prompting to call her. God is in the details.

This transfer we are doing our very best to clean up area book. We actually got in contact with several members. One of which was a less active and wants to come back to church!!

Yesterday we had a really good relief society lesson. We talked about our foundations and what we can do to make them stronger. We talked about how we can do that by going to the temple. The teacher pulled out the temple picture (see photos) and talked about how everyone's journey to the temple looks different. Dang. That line plus the photo was so powerful. Thought I would share. 

Meet Sister Wells!

 Sketch of all the temples drawn on top of each other (absolutely love love love this picture).

Last night's sunset.

Last selfie with Sister Long...

We got blocked in by the elders and got this close when we tried to back out.

We were on a meeting and Elder Flake just popped in with THE most confused look.

I've Got Good News & Bad News 11/8/2021

Sister Long is leaving. I am so sad!! I absolutely loved meeting her and serving with her. She's going to do amazing things in Paradise Hills. As for me, I am staying in Haines and my new comp is Hermana Wells. Yep. Imma be in a zebra companionship (when one comp speaks English and the other speaks Spanish). I'm super excited!!

Miracles are happening in Haines!!! Our new standards are 7 news, 6 at sacrament and 3 on date. Well, we found 10 news!!! And some actually look REALLY promising. A lot of people are wanting to find God right now. Plus 2 of our referrals got back to us!!! I always say crazy, but it is God's work. We are doing our very best to be instruments in God's hands.

Our friend Don is progressing really well :) He has been to church for a solid 4 weeks now!! He said he was baptized....50 years ago. We are trying to find his records right now. If we can't, he is a perfect candidate for baptism. 

We didn't meet with Patrick at all this week. The stupid cold is making it's rounds. Hopefully we can meet with him this week!!

We made a video for the greenies coming in all about the Ziad (the NM flag). We had wayyyyy to much fun making that video. It's only 16 seconds but the funniest thing ever. I wish I could send it to you, but it's not allowed in our mission.  My mom has it, so ask her.

My spiritual moment would have to be following a spiritual prompting. We did mass texts last week asking to share a message. As we went back thru to start calling people, we realized we had skipped over this one member. We decided to message him. He immediately messaged us back, and we set up a lesson. He shared his life story with us and it was...heart breaking. I won't share his name, but please pray for him. He really really needs the prayers. He was trying everything to make his life better and he just felt hopeless. Yet he still signed up to feed us tonight.  Why is he the nicest human being ever!!!?? 

I was in a trio for a day.

Dinner with Kevin.

Sisters of the zone.

New Mexico flag!