Dear Family and Friends,
This week was pretty dang
awesome if I may say so myself. This last week we had the incredible
opportunity to have Elder Ballard (Yes the Apostle) came to our CCM and talked
to us 40 missionaries. He was in Chile a week ago in a meeting with all the
South American Mission Presidents in the area which our mission president
attended, and then stopped by our MTC. Sadly, he only had like an hour here so
he simply walked in, gave a talk, and had to leave but a few interesting things
happened first. First of all, one of my teachers (We have two) was his
translator for all the Latinos which was awesome for him. My teachers are
awesome. The one that did this and interpreted for Elder Ballard knows
Portuguese, Spanish, and English. He is so funny, knowledge, and just the man.
He also gave all of us an Apostolic Blessing which was incredible. Then before
he left, our Hermanas had the opportunity to sing to him personally, meet him,
take a picture with him and hug his wife. He had no time for us Elders but
that´s okay. I sat like 20 feet from an Apostle, received a Apostolic blessing
and it got us out of class for like two hours. It was so sweet.
Tomorrow we have one of the General Authorities from the First Quorum of the 70
coming to talk to us also which will be awesome! His name is Elder Evans if you
want to look him up. He is apparently the one who is in charge of all the MTCs
in the world. Which is the best MTC? Obviously the Buenos Aires MTC.
Last time I told you guys that we met a Catholic named Auriel and we had a
lunch appointment for next week which was last Saturday. So that was a
hard, but incredible experience. I was very nervous that whole week because I
didn´t know how it was going to go but it was awesome. He lives with his wife
and two daughters in a home which is basically four brick walls and a roof.
They had no bathroom in the house, no dividing walls, no upstairs; they had
like a 30 year old TV, a few beds, a refrigerator, and a stove/oven combo. He
had like no money, but they still fed us Mormon missionaries, three of us, a
beef dinner with Potatoes, tomatoes and juice with a coffee replacement
afterwards because they knew we can´t drink coffee. As we found out, they had
the missionary discussions before and the wife read parts of the Book of
Mormon, prayed to know if it was true and ¨received¨ the answer that it isn´t
true. She was baptized at 30 days old into the Catholic Church and has been one
ever since and feels the Spirit stronger at her church. That was hard hearing
that but they absolutely loved us, what we are about, that we are out there
bringing people to Christ but didn´t want to convert. Even though they knew
they didn´t want to, they still fed us, listened, and talked with us for almost
three hours straight. It was so great. I started tearing up when they said she
said she knew the Book of Mormon wasn´t true but you just push through. So I
just shared one of my favorite scriptures from Romans 8:16-18 I believe. It
talks about how our sufferings are nothing compared to the glory thereafter so
that was good. They really appreciated it and I felt the Spirit and I think
they did too. Before that lunch appointment though, we had great discussions
with random people because one of my companions fasted the day before. He
prayed that we would do better this time since last time didn´t go very well.
It was like a miracle. He spoke Spanish as if he was fluent. Me and the other
companion just trailed behind, marveled, and let him talked. It was awesome.
He´s awesome.
This week, the power went out on Sunday right before our fireside so we just
opened up the windows and had it in the sunset with birds chirping in the
background, Palm trees bending to the wind outside and listened to an
incredible talk from a local Bishop. Then we had some extra time with the power
being out and played some games, sang hymns with the Latinos and had a great
time. I forgot to mention we sing all our hymns in Spanish. We also write a
talk a week and then 30 seconds before the first person gives a talk, they
announce who is talking that day. Five people give talks every Sunday and this
last Sunday was my first time where I gave a talk in Spanish about the
Restoration which was tough but good. We all struggle so it works. So far I
have 3.5 talks written. Just 2.5 to go!
I don´t know if I wrote about this last week but we had an Elder that was a
professional soccer player (Played for a club) in Paraguay and playing with him
was truly embarrassing. He was incredible. But now we are alone again and have
seen two groups of Latinos and one group of North Americans leave. More Latinos
arrive today and that is the group we are leaving with! It is hard to imagine
it has already been four weeks. The first week legitimately felt like 2 months
and now it feels like it´s been one week. Funny hour that works.
Coping without music has been tough but eye-opening and a learning experience.
Learning how to deal with emotions without music was tough since I relied on it
for the past 7 years so heavily but it´s cool. I still sing my music all the
time but also church hymns and what not so it´s good. I also am trying to pick
up piano a bit when I have a bit of time which really isn´t much.
I currently have three massive bed bug bites on my feet which suck. My shoes
rub them so they keep getting bigger and itchier so that´s cool. I guess. We
played Soccer yesterday for exercise time which was hilarious. North Americans
are awful at this game. I am the only semi decent player so everyone thinks I´m
great and I am just like uhh… no. I suck at this; you guys are just like
terrible. They play it like volleyball mixed with karate mixed with soccer. I
was laughing the whole time. They didn´t understand why which made it even
funnier. Also, my companion was going for a Frisbee the other day and didn´t
see the fountain in the area that we play and he fell into it with all 40
people chilling and playing there. It was beyond funny. People not watching
were like, ¨where did Elder Wilson go?¨ and then he just popped out of the
fountain. It was so dang funny!
On this Saturday we go proselyting again to a new area so we will see how that
goes! I hope there are just as many drunk people. They are hilarious to talk
to. We asked one guy if we could share a message with him and he just said no
no no, and motioned to his huge bottle of alcohol he was carrying and said
another time. The slums are kind of sketchy and sad, but they are awesome.
People are either really receptive or not at all. But I love the atmosphere.
Mother knows how much I complained of people in the States and I am pretty sure
I am right. People are completely different here. Maybe I will just move to a
Spanish Country and reside there till the end of my days. One of the daughters
of Auriel, the guy we had lunch with, was like 16 or 17 and she was beautiful.
It was awesome. Maybe I´ll just finish up at BYU and then move to a different
country, find a wife there and reside there till the end of my days. Who knows?
Other than that, it´s awesome here! I love you guys dearly, and
hope all is well for you. Let me know if anyone needs anything that I can do.
You guys do so much for me, I would love to return the favors. Just let me know
what I can do and I will do it. You guys are all awesome and I thank you all
for what you have done to get me out here. I´ll make you all proud as well as
God. People need the gospel, don´t forget to share it with people! They need it
more than they think! Hope all is well in the land of the free. Wish I could
write more,have a good week!
Love,
Elder Moss
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