Companionless...

Hola Mamá!

I am going to start right off with the funny story, because it kind of prefaces almost everything I will say after. But to understand the funny story, you need to have a very sarcastic mind:

As I foreshadowed in the subject, this week I was companionless..... let me explain before you call to the mission office with a montòn of questions. So this week was really weird, and I am going to have to repeat it for the next 5 days or so. As I have mentioned, Elder Rodriguez had to go home in the middle of his mission to have surgery on his knee, because he was having some problems. As far as I know, everything from the moment that he came back to the mission until about a week ago was just normal, but starting about a week ago, he has been having some bad pain in his knee, so he talked to the doctor while we were in Managua last Tuesday, and she said that he had to rest for 10 DAYS!!!! HOLY COW THAT IS AN ETERNITY! So this entire week, I have been more or less "companionless". 

Luckily our efforts to befriend the members were perfectly timed for this tragedy, because the only way that I was going to be able to continue to work in our area was if we had two Members (males older than 18 with the priesthood) to help accompany each of us. We called up President Bitanco, the branch president, and he organized us to work with two of the members, one that is a convert of 3 years planning to serve a mission here pretty soon, and the other who is a returned missionary of 2 years. So that kind of worked out pretty good. The first day that we worked with them was Wednesday, and that was a pretty good day. We were able to visit some investigators and contact to find some new ones, and it almost felt like a normal day. Meanwhile, Elder Rodriguez rested in the house with the other member. I was working with the RM so it worked out nicely because he was experienced and wasn't afraid to talk! haha So day one was pretty normal.

Day two of the ten days was a bit different and a little frustrating. We had been planning to bring some investigators to an activity that the branch had at a members house, and they were all committed to going, but a little hiccup in the plan almost messed us up. I set out again with Harold, the returned missionary, and Elder Rodriguez rested yet another day with Alan, the other member. As we were just heading out, Harold told me that he had something he had to do quickly at 4:30 and that it would only take a little bit, so at 4 we headed back to the apartment so I could wait while he took care of his business. Keep in mind the activity starts at 6. I am waiting and waiting for him to get back to the apartment so that we can head out and bring these investigators to the activity. He doesn't get back until 6:45... I was a little frustrated, but regardless, I still wanted to bring them for a little of the activity, so we headed out very very quickly for the investigators and they actually came! Sure they were about 1 hour and 10 minutes late, but no one here even cares. Half the time things start 30 minutes late anyway...haha 

Day three was pretty nice because we did divisions with the Zone Leaders, and so I actually got to work with a missionary, who has nothing better to do but missionary work. We proceeded as if it were a normal day, contacting and teaching, and all was well.

Day four was probably one of the worst days. It was a Saturday, so most of the members had stuff to do, and Harold was not available. Luckily we worked it out to get another, but he could only work until about 5.... the rest of the day, we did not have members to work with us, so I had to stay in the house and lose one of the most valuable days as a missionary in the week.... Saturday evenings when literally everyone is home. I was hoping to make up for that on Sunday buuuttttt.....

Day Five, usually we start out the day at 7 in the morning on Sundays to "round up" the investigators for church, but the members that we planned to work with didn't show up until 8:20...... That basically killed the entire point of the Sunday morning. But by a loot of luck, we managed to have a whopping 1 investigator at church this week. But hey, at least we ended the week with a really good dinner at the house of one of the members. That was a nice way to end the week, and even better, I got to do that with my real companion, and all the other elders in the area (3 companionships overall). Ugh, this week was a difficult one, and it is difficult for me to think ahead to another week that will potentially be worse because I think our options for members will be more slim... Hopefully we can just get through this.

But as far as other things go, Elder Rodriguez and I are getting along just great, and he just wants to start working again. As missionaries, getting a day off isn't really a blessing because there's not much we can do, and we would rather be working anyway. Sometimes it crosses my mind that I would like a day where I could just stay in the house and rest, but then I remember how terrible it was when I actually had to do that. Don't get me wrong, I love reading the Book of Mormon for 16 hours straight.... but I would rather go out and teach :) haha

I don't really know what happened with all of our investigators from the past that appeared pretty positive, but they all kind of fell off the wagon, and we haven't had a ton to work with this week, regardless of the limited time. And it also didn't help that all of our efforts of contacting new people didn't really provide many new investigators either. But I have faith that this week will be better! haha I will just have to work harder!

You asked if I have ever felt unsafe and to put your heart at ease, I really have not felt unsafe at all here. Things here are really mellow and low key, and in general the people are just kind of lazy haha so I haven't felt unsafe hardly at all. 

Elder Rodriguez and I had an interesting experience that influenced my spiritual thought this week. We were at our lunch appointment, and some kid comes to the door crying saying that one of the kids of the family of our lunch appointment threw a ball full of rocks (yes, really) at another kid, and some problems arose between the kids. This gave way for some punishment, and things are a bit different here than in the States. Across the street, the father pulled out a whip that they use for horses, and used that to punish his kid. In the house that we were in, they pulled out a long stick, and took the kids into the other room... All I heard was screaming and crying, but I took that as my cue to leave! I am not going to judge how they discipline their kids, nor will I tell them how they should do it, but all I know is that I am glad that was not practiced in my home! And I am also grateful that the law doesn't allow that either...

Spiritual Thought:

So yesterday, Elder Rodriguez and I had an interesting conversation about anger and holding grudges. We talked about how when kids get into a fight, they are mad at each other for about 5 minutes, and then they completely forget everything that happened and continue to play again with each other as if nothing had happened. But as adults, it is the opposite, we let our pride get the best of us, and when we get mad at someone, we let that stop us from having a good relationship with that person a lot of the time. I don't think it is a coincidence that many times in the scriptures, it councils us to become as little children. We should always make an effort to become as little children, submissive, meek, humble, and willing to submit to the will of our Heavenly Father. Children are an example to us, even when we don't realize it. 

Love you and Have a great week!

Love 

Elder Moser

Pics this week...

Hola from Esteli! August 18, 2014

Family and friends,

This was a good week! So basically this week we worked pretty hard to find some new investigators and also spent time gaining more confidence of the members to help us in our work. And that started on Monday, last week. We were at the house of the President of the Branch, and his son lives directly next door, so afterward, we payed a visit to his son Alejandro (sometimes it brings to my mind the lady gaga song... I don't know how I feel about that). Alejandro is a very active member in our branch with his wife, and so we were just paying them a visit, but there was something significant about this visit. After visiting for a little bit, they invited us to have some dinner!! That has never happened with the members that have been in the ward for a while. Whenever we were invited to eat dinner it was at the house of a recent convert, but now with Elder Rodriguez, things are changing. We have a better relationship with all of them! That was a pretty exciting moment. 

Also we were invited to eat at the house of Gabriel and Maria Jose and their family yesterday night (Sunday) to help celebrate the birthday of Gabriel JR. While we were there, two couples in the ward visited them to teach them a lesson, but that is not the point at the moment, the point is that we were set up through some cunning words of Elder Rodriguez to have dinner for the next two Sundays at the houses of these two couples! So basically our reputation here in the branch is already getting better.

                                     Elder Rodriguez!!! we were eating dinner at Gabriel´s house!

 

They're crazy

I don't know if I have already explained, but we have a lunch appointment that we pay for, and then we have to fend for ourselves when we want dinner and breakfast. So most of the time I don't really eat either of those meals, I just eat snack kind of stuff because that is mostly what they have here. But lately when we are heading home we have been eating at this place that serves rotisserie chicken for super cheap, so my eating has improved! 

Tuesday I had the opportunity for the first time to work with Elder Alvarado, one of the Zone Leaders. After a long day of contacting and trying to find the chosen people that are ready to hear the Gospel, we ended the day with a few new investigators. One is worth mentioning in the moment. The parents are Jose and Jamilet, and the kids are Margarita(22), Lionel(20), Francisco(19), and I think Jason(18). The dad, Jose is actually already a member and when we found them initially, the parents were home listening to a Jehovah's Witness. But as soon as we arrived, Jamilet began intently listening to our message! Not much happened with the JW, she tried to bash us a bit, and we listened politely, after all was over, we offered a prayer and left. When we returned to teach more we discovered that Jose was baptized in the States, and he was super excited to come back to church. He couldn't come this Sunday, but he was well committed to come the next (this upcoming). So through this, also his family was actually pretty positive about coming with him to church! So that was a super positive find this week!

We had a multi-zone meeting this Thursday in Matagalpa, and a lot was taught, but the biggest thing that  I took from it was from a story. The story was centered on the fact that as missionaries, we cannot be afraid of anything, or to talk to anyone, because we are representatives of Jesus Christ and we have been set apart to do His work. Elder Uchdorf gives a talk about an Elder Strong who was this kind of missionary. From the moment he got off the plane in his mission, he was 100% dedicated to serving the Lord. He did everything right and had soo much success. He was never assistant to the President or Zone leader, but he trained many missionaries. In a mission where it was common to baptize 2-3 people over the course of a two year service, he baptized more than 100 people. I know that I have room to improve with the idea of not being afraid of anything. My biggest problem is that I am afraid that I am not going to be able understand people sometimes, but I have made it a goal to put that out of my mind and think more on how I can help the people I am serving. That was a really great boost for me.

So at the end of the week, we always kind of measure our "success of the week" in the number of investigators we had at church, and also the attendance at church for the week. Lets just say this wasn't a great week for either of those...We had Dahomi again( she is going to baptized this coming Saturday), and she brought a friend which was really cool, so that was good, but we didn't have any other investigators that we worked with this week at church. Also the attendance during sacrament meeting was down like 25 people from what we had last week, so all in all, not our best week. I was just a biiiiit disappointed, but then something really cool happened Sunday night.

I briefly mentioned it but not in much detail. While we were at dinner with Gabriel and Maria Jose, two couples came to visit them. They weren't able to attend church that Sunday because they were sick and stuff like that, so these members were coming to check up on them. They invited us to stay, so we did, and they taught a super cool and powerful little spiritual thought. Now yes, Gabriel and Maria Jose are strong members and they only didn't go to church cause they had a good excuse, but the point is that the members of the branch were helping them out and checking up on them. This gave me hope that we actually have members in the branch that want to help us in the work. Soooo this is kind of my thought for the week.

Spiritual Thought:

I don't remember which prophet said it, but the quote is , "Every Member a Missionary". This is a small quote with a large demand. Looking back on my life before the mission, I was a terrible missionary, I'll be the first to admit it. But now that I am on a mission, I see with different eyes the importance of the help of the members in the work of the missionaries. Can the missionaries do it on their own? Yes, yes they can. But it is a million times harder!!! There is a reason that the prophets have been saying for some time now that every member is a missionary, and that is because they need to help. Having investigators that are friends with a member of the church makes the work so much easier, and having members that are willing to get to know your investigators does the same. So, my spiritual thought is more of a challenge at this point. Think about what you can do to help the missionaries this week, month, year, and more. I will help you start. Think about some friends that you have that you think would maybe be accepting to talk to the missionaries for a bit, and also make some time to go out with the missionaries and get to know at least one of their investigators. Maybe you can make time to visit that particular investigator with the missionaries frequently, and you can be the difference in that person feeling comfortable at church. That is my challenge :) 

Have a great week and be safe!

Love Elder Moser

Pictures this week...

So there is a really rich area in our area, and we decided to try to contact in it this week... Lets just say that those people have hard hearts... haha the only ones that gave us the time of day to say hello were the people that didn't even live there. They were just the ones taking care of the houses while the people were away working. But the area is super cool and there are more houses being built there all the time. I think that this city is in the process of developing to become a nicer area.

  One of the nicest houses in the area.

Just a pic from the church building in Matagalpa. The area is super cool there and the building is super nice, nicer than the one we have in Esteli by a looooot. Maybe I will serve in that area one day? haha 

                                Another good pic to give you an idea of what my comp looks like.

                                          The Main highway that goes through the whole city.

                                         The front view of the apartment complex that I live in!

                                                 The street on which my house is located.

Hola from Esteli! August 11, 2014

Hello family and friends!

So yes, this week was kind of weird and I don't know exactly what to think about it. Basically it was a lot of figuring things out. The whole week was basically me showing Elder Rodriguez around our area: where the members live, where the recent converts live, where the investigators live, the good places to eat, the dangerous areas that I like to travel through more frequently to keep my life exciting, and other important things. It was weird because I almost felt like the Senior companion, but I'm almost as far from being that as a missionary can be.... I am the junior companion in training, and my companion is the District Leader... so he actually has some rank in the mission ;) haha but he is figuring things out just fine around here.

I presume the big question of many is, How is the new companion?!?!?!?!?!?!?

I guess I will answer that. He is from El Salvador, and he is 23. He is super awesome and I already know that my time with him will be really great and I will benefit a lot! He has been out here in the mission for almost 20 months. Sometimes he likes to say 31 months cause he had to go home for a while to have surgery on his knee, and so if he counts the time (he likes to count that time to impress others) than it is 31 months haha. He only speaks Spanish (YESSSS!!!! for real) so I will really have the opportunity to speak Spanish always and improve so much quicker. He also likes to talk a lot, so that is good too, we are always having some sort of conversation, and it is normally about nothing. In this process, I have discovered that I am very proficient with my Spanish. There are some things that I don't know exactly how to say, but I can always find my way around words that I don't know.

My new companion Elder Rodriguez

                                   

Elder Rodriguez has brought with him many expectations from his area in Managua. Lets just say Managua is a bit stronger in the church, probably because there are a ton more people in Managua. But regardless, something that he did a lot there was work with the members, and that is something that I have wanted to do here, buuuut Elder Alfaro didn't exactly have the best relationship with the members, so that was difficult. But as soon as we got to church yesterday, Elder Rodriguez began to change that. By the end of church, thanks to Elder Rodriguez, we had about 4 different days planned to work with some members in this week! haha SO all in all, I think things with him are going to be very good.

Having 20 months in the mission, he is very slow to do things. haha I have found that when he walks, it is super slow, when he teaches, it is at a slow pace. So that is something different than Elder Alfaro. I don't really know if that information is something you would even care about, I'm just writing stuff about him :) haha

Anyway, this week was really eventful. As I mentioned (I think) I was working on Monday with another missionary here in my area so that we would not have to wait around in Managua, which was nice, except on Tuesday we had to meet up with our companions in his new area, about an hour south of Estelì. So we left on a bus at 7am to go to their area to meet up with our comps. They said they would be there around 8:30 but they were not there for a while. We had to wait an hour and a half on the side of the street because they didn't show up until 10. Anyway, we finally got back to Estelì and Elder Rodriguez unpacked and we had a deep cleaning of the ``Bunker´´ our room. It was really needed because Elder Alfaro decided that since he was leaving, he could just leave all of his trash and stuff everywhere. So we cleaned it alllllll. The room actually feels slightly bigger now haha. 

Most of our days this week were spent helping Elder Rodriguez get to know the area and people like I mentioned, so there isn't a whole lot to report in that respect. But all week we had been preparing a boy named Kenneth for baptism for last Saturday, and things were going super well. We were also working on helping the mother to reactivate in the church. All week she had such a good attitude. That is until Friday night when we had the baptismal interview planned. Then she seriously got super negative and told us that she didn't want him to be baptized and that we needed to just leave. That was really surprising, and really sad too, because her son really wants to be baptized, but just because she was having a bad day, she won't let him.

But on the bright side, we have also been working with Dahomi this week, and she has finally accepted a baptism date of the 23rd of August. She is also going to participate in the choir that they are going to have for the district conference here (like stake conference, but with branches). And she is going to start up in seminary too! soo super cool!

On Thursday, I had a really interesting experience. Elder Rodriguez had to go to Managua for a meeting and one of the other district leaders did as well, so I was companions with an Elder Cayax here in Estelì for the day. Something interesting about him, he has been here in Nicaragua for a grand total of 5 days. Yes he is brand new, and he is a latino. He was super funny, because he was always asking me what we were supposed to do, like every 5 minutes. It was funny at first, until it got really annoying because he literally did it all day..... I really wanted to say to him not to worry about it, cause he was in my area so he didn't need to preoccupy himself about it, but I withheld :)haha I figured that would be a little rude. But it was really weird to work with someone that had less time than I did in the mission... I really was the senior comp for the day, and I was the one with more experience haha. I kind of liked it, but at the same time, I felt like there was a lot more pressure!

To keep you informed about the other investigators that we have, we really haven't been having a lot of luck with all of the people that we found last week, so really we have a few investigators that are progressing, but like always, we have to keep finding!! The beauty of missionary work is that when you don't know what to do, there's always one solution, find more people to teach! haha

The rain has been staring to come pretty much every day consistently now, and when it rains here, it raaaaaains! haha luckily I never got tooo wet, but it is really hard to avoid the rain here unless you are inside a house, because the wind blows in every direction, so the rain goes everywhere haha. pictures to follow :)

The rain was craaaaaazy haha and flooded the street just a bit!

Also, this morning I got my first haircut here in Nicaragua and it was much needed!! haha I have been meaning to get one for like 2 weeks now, but things have always caused that I was not able. But I forgot to get a picture.... whoopsie :) haha sorry bout that one.

Funny Story:

This week I guess I have been a little stressed or something, and how do I know that? Well, I talked in my sleep, apparently, according to Elder Rodriguez. He said that he was awake at like midnight, and all of a sudden he heard me talking in my sleep. I said ``El problema es que yo conozco el area muy bien, pero no conozco donde viven los miembros.´´ (The problem is that I know the area really well, but I don't know where the members live.) YES, IT WAS IN SPANISH TOO!!!! haha I was so proud of myself! haha That is the second time in my life that I know of that I have talked in my sleep! haha

Spiritual Thought:

So this week I read about the stripling warriors and how they were so faithful. I was thinking about them, and how they were taught by their mothers to be exactly obedient and always have their trust in their Father in heaven. I have seen that here in Nicaragua that is a problem with some people. They are good members of the church, but in two instances that I have seen, something difficult happens in their life, and they decide that they don't want to go to church anymore! This is a problem no? They are slightly confused, because when they are having these problems, they ignore God and the help that he can provide. They think too much about themselves. In reality, when we have times like this, we need to be stronger, try harder to have a better relationship with our Father in heaven. Go to church looking for spiritual comfort, remembering that it is through faith in God that he can help us. Remember this , like the stripling warriors, (the sons of Helaman as he calls them,) remembered when they were battling with the Lamanites. They were all preserved through their faith that God would be with them in their obedience.

Love you all!!

Elder Moser

Hola from Esteli! August 4, 2014

Hola family and friends,

My week was pretty eventful. I started the week with Elder Cope, an Elder that is leaving on Wednesday for home. It was pretty cool to have that opportunity. Elder Alfaro had to go to a meeting, and the companion of Elder Cope had to go as well, so we stuck together for Monday and Tuesday this last week. He is super cool, and I really respected his willingness to work hard in an area that wasn't even his, on his last week in the mission!! haha We did a lot of contacting on those days (aside from the pday stuff on Monday of course) and sadly, our efforts seemed to have very few results. 

Then on Wednesday, the zone leaders´s decided that they wanted to work with us, so I didn't work with Elder Alfaro again!  I worked with Elder Fanger in their area.  

Upon returning to my area, Elder Alfaro informed me that he and Elder Alvarado (the other ZL) found two positive families to teach. Honestly in this moment I got a little discouraged. In my head, I wondered why I could not find positive people with Elder Alfaro, but as soon as he worked with Elder Alvarado he could find positive investigators. Looking back, I realize that I was kind of being harsh on myself, but that is how I felt. This discouragement grew and grew until I finally broke down during personal study. Yes, I, Elder Moser, cried.... let us have a moment of silence for this one.............okay. I talked to Elder Alfaro about it and he just said that I shouldn't be so preoccupied with it and that I should really try to enjoy every moment of the mission, regardless of the results. 

I think I was most discouraged because we had been working so hard for the past two or three weeks, and being super obedient, so I wanted to be the one that helped to find a super positive family. And we had been working for 3 weeks like this, and all of a sudden he finds more people with Elder Alvarado. (ps Enrique and Lupe were found with Alvarado tambien) So I got super discouraged that day, until we visited one of the families that I found with Elder Cope. That was the changing moment. In that visit they were super positive, and they even accepted the baptismal invitation! Now we just have to follow up and teach them well.  Anyway, this was a major boost in confidence, and Elder Alfaro said to me, after the lesson, ``And the best part is that YOU found them!!´´ Haha

On Friday we worked on divisions AGAIN!! This time I was in my area and I was with Elder Sotay, companion of Elder Jacobsen. He has been in sort of a slump lately in their area, so he also needed a confidence boost. We were basically contacting most of the day yet again, and after 6 hours of absolutely nothing, we almost gave up. But then the prophesy in Alma 26:27 came true for us in that moment.

27 Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the [Nicas], and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success.

We found a family that was sooooooo soooo positive!! It was such an answer to both of our needs!!

I feel as though I am in slightly a similar situation this week as you guys with the Smith's moving. Not as extreme, but slightly. I have a new companion! We found out that Elder Alfaro is LEAVING ME!! mid training too! We had changes today and Elder Alfaro has been assigned to be a ZL in a zone in Managua!!! how crazy is that?! He has only been out for 4 months and he is already a zone leader!! That is pretty much the fastest you can move up the line!! The change is honestly pretty sad, because I feel like Elder Alfaro and I got super close in just one change, and I don't really feel like I want to have a new companion yet. But that being said, Heavenly Father knows me better than I know me, so I'm sure that it will all work out. I will be staying here in Estelí so don't you worry. My new comp is from El Salvador I think and his name is Elder Rodriguez. I really don't know much about him yet, except that he has been out in the mission for about 19 months now. So he will be my second trainer. Anyway, that is the big news of this week!

Spiritual thought:

OOOOOKKKK soooo this week was pretty spiritual and if there is one thing I learned, it is: If you want something, cry about it and you'll get your way ;) Just kidding!!! For real, this week I really felt that Heavenly Father uses trials as a way to help us grow. I really experienced that this week. I was working hard for two weeks to have some sort of miracle, and just when I wanted to give up, I was humble enough to realize that it was through the help of the Lord that I was able to find these good investigators. I think that this experience was to teach me that I need to recognize that I am merely an instrument in the Lord´s hands in this work. Nothing I do is because I am a ``Good missionary´´ or because I am ``better than someone else´´. All of the success that I will have and that other missionaries have is from the help of the Lord. We all have trials and these trials are meant to help us! So instead of asking why you are having a hard time in your life, ask for comfort and ask to know how you can grow from this experience.

Love you all and hope this week is better than the last!

Love,
Elder Moser

Pictures of the week...

The cutest little puppy, owned by one of the recent converts in the ward. And the good news, they actually feed it!! haha!

                                 A random herd of cows walking the streets of Elstelì with Elder Sotay in it.

                                         Picture two has the cow´s owners, who wanted to pose for a pic.

                                                              The church building here in Esteli.

                                           

                                                                       Pic from inside the fence.

                                                     Across the street from the church building.

                                                         Pic of the baptismal font in the building.