Monday, June 28, 2010

Cody's News 6/28/2010

Hey !
Well my new mission president is President Humphrey he is from California and my new companion Elder Denis has only like 3 months until he goes home to the states. So some times he likes to talk a lot about home. You don't have any weird reactions to horse meat it is just chewy but I had no problem eating it. I like the music on the ipod it is good. How many packages did you send? 2 or 3 because I got 2 one full of presents and other with the ipod I wasn't sure if you wanted me to wait for the packages so I opened them anyway Elder Denis says that he is quite jealous of my ihome but when he goes home he wants to buy the iphone 4. I hope that you all do great up there in happy ole Mapleton I saw a picture of Utah the other day and I was like ugh how ugly haha but I love it up there so we will have to see how I react when I get back. Yesterday for lunch we had mashed potatoes and brisquet I belive because it tasted just like it and I died of deliciousness.
Elder Cody Moss

Amber's News 6/ 28/2010

Well ok are you ready for this,
This week I was riding my bike and a Rotwiler started chasing me. It was a good thing there were not any cars in the road because I was all over it freaking out that this dog was chasing me oh geez I almost had a heart attack.

We baptized LUCUS! man his baptizm was super bueno. I felt bad though cuz the water heater wasn't working so the water was really cold. We asked him if he wanted to wait for next week to have hot water or to have cold water that day and he said he still wanted to be baptized that day. I was so happy that he really wanted to be baptized yesterday but then his dad who is in active never showed up for his baptism but his mom and sister were there. His mom was happy for him and she is also inactive.

This week I learned a lot of really great things about faith and following the spirit we were able to find 4 new investigadors! They are all really great and now we just have to work on helping them all progress. So we should be pretty busy this next week and then the next Monday we have transfers I will stay here in Lampa but I will have a new comp and I will be directing all of the work so that should be interesting (more like a opportunity to grow). I also learned that no matter who your comp is no matter how bad your spanish is if you follow the spirit and have faith you can have success.

Well it really is chilly here honstly I can't believe how cold it is and winter just started a couple days ago. Hna Papenfuss said that it was 25 the other day whoa. Needless to say I'm always bundled up with a bufanda y todo (scarf and all). I think this will suffice I'm going to buy gloves here too cuz I hmm kind of lost the right hand glove of every pair that you gave me. It's cuz I have to take my glove off to write down contacts and then I lose it but I'm going to buy a pair that has the finger tips cut off and the flap that you can pull back so then I can write. Well this week is Hna Papenfuss last week. Today we are visting all of her converts. And next Monday I will have a new comp.
A member does our wash but told us the other day that she wants us to dry it in our house becuase of something, I don't know cuz her husband told us and he talks amazingly fast. And the food hmm isn't as good here as Los Andes but that's ok I'm still living. We cook for ourselves two days of the week and we pay a member to cook for us.
Well next week I will be directing the sector and all with my new companion so pray for me..really hard ah I'm a little nervous to tell the truth but I will be fine. Ah the other day I had pink eye for like two days that was fun.
Love, Hna Moss

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Cody's News 6/21/2010

Hello Everyone!
Here in Bulnes it is a small branch so we are working on getting some more lessons and we have 3 people that we are teaching. So I ate something a little awesome horse. The meat was just really chewy but it didn't have a bad taste it is not super delicios like cow and that is why we don't usualy eat horse it is just a cheap meat. And I would eat it again. I will tell you what mom I am missing some of your cake especially your sour cream cake ahhhhhh delicious. On Thursday I am going to Concepcion for the conference so I will get your packages Elder Denis is pretty excited for those (the candy, and my ipod) but I am going to eat some hotdogs soon, here in Bulnes we can buy giant hotdogs. Bulnes is awesome yesterday we had 23 people in the branch so it was sweet I like small congregations but also it would be nice to help the branch grow. So things here in Bulnes are great, we have only three investigators and so Elder Denis and I have been working at getting some more. Elder Denis is from the land of Dads birth, Las Vegas. I would say that I have a decent grasp on the Chilean language but now that I have Elder Denis it is like a night and day difference between how much spanish I was talking to now. Ya we are going to have our last conference with President Chavez on Thursday, I am excited for a new President and we will get to see how he will lead the mission. In our mission we are asked that we do 140 contacts every week and I was excited because last week was my first week that I reached that we got 141 but I am working on improving the contacts so that we can get more people that give us time to visit their house so we can teach them and help them. In the chilean culture every one gives each other kisses when you meet them well not the men with men (that is Argentinean) but us missionaries give people handshakes and we teach the people so they know that but yesterday Elder Denis and I were talking with a girl and she asked us if we would walk with her through the park because she saw some guys in there that scared her. So we walked through with her and we got her address to pass sometime and talk with her and after when we were saying good bye she gave me a kiss on the cheek and that was pretty weird because she was just so fast at it that I could not tell her that that is not what we do.
Have a great week,
Remember who you are and what you stand for,
Love Elder Moss

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Amber's News 6/21/2010

Hola,
We didnt teach much this last week which was a bummer but this next week we are going to do better.
Speaking and understanding are coming like always (really it depends on the person im talking to) people tell me that I speak good but I don't know if they are lying to me or not I think it's only because my accent is a little better than other peoples.
Today we started winter wow. With Hna bair I said wow winter is cold here and she looked and me and said winter hasn't started yet lol. But Los Andes was colder than here well now it's getting colder here in Lampa. Here they don't have insulation in the houses so even though we are inside we can still see our breath when we talk to people. At Thanksgiving I'm going to have a lot of things to be grateful for when I get home. Just wait it's going to be a huge list. Like I don't have to go out side to light the water heater. And when I go to the bathroom I won't wish I had a coat. Ya know I always thought that was so funny on Christmas vacation when the girl says I like your house Clark you don't have to put on your coat to go to the bathroom. But now it has new meaning for me. Also I learned really quick here that you don't look at the newsstands or your going to see porno I heard that it's worst in Europe than here but I'm grateful for the laws we have in the states. Here in the mission my eyes have been opened at how bad the world is and it makes our message and the things that we are teaching even more important. So these people too can enjoy the blessings of the gospel. I think one thing I'm learning here on the mission is how to talk with everyone and how to enjoy things like that. This week we are going to be having a baptism for Lucus yeah he is super bueno and super excited for his baptism. He is 10 years old and his parents are inactive. Biking in a skirt? hmm I was thinking about this question yesterday and I decided that it is like biking with pants...but colder lol. Really it was a little difficult to mount and dismount but I have the hang of it now. For a long time I wanted to swing my leg over the back to get up but it is not really possible to do so in a skirt lol. The other day I hit a big pothole (there are a lot so it's hard to avoid) and I almost flew off my bike. Hna Papenfus told me a story of her comp before that someone opened their car door and she wasn't looking and she hit it and flew over the top of it lol. Well tell Whit that she needs to come to Chile to check out the mall we were just in it and it is hugh! It has like 5 floors it's pretty cool. The mission is tough...harder than I thought it would be but I'm learning a lot and growing. At times I don't feel like we are helping very much cuz a lot of the people won't listen and we don't really have anyone that we are teaching besides Lucus. I'm sure that I need to change something but I don't know how or what really. I like what I have been reading about faith it said that even though we have a lot of weaknesses we need to trust that God will make up for our weaknesses and we will be able to do what we need. The Language is a big barrier but I'm improving. Also I have been hearing a lot of negative things and it is starting to weigh on me.


gracious su hijita Amber

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Amber's News 6/14/2010

HOLA mama yes I got the garments thank you so very much they are super toasty. Thank you.

Oh yeah the Temple.... it was so beautiful! And I got to see Hna Bair jajaja. OH yeah if you think it's hard in english trying doing it in spanish with only 6 months of spanish I know I had someone helping but their accent was not very good so it was hard to understand but hey I made it. But the coolest thing was the celestial room has a big window so when I walked in I was blinded I don't know why but I thought it was neat and the temple was so clean and quiet I think I really miss those two things because the city is neither.

This week was really good. We had a visit with Soledad to see how reading and praying had gone and she told us that she had prayed about Jose Smith and that she had really good strong feelings in her (pecho) chest. At the time I was a little...stunned lol I guess more in aw I didn't know what to say because I was so happy but after a minute I told her yeah I know exactly how you feel because I have felt that too not just one time but the spirit has confirmed it to me multiple times. Wow it was so wonderful to see someone receive and answer to a sincere prayer. A lot of times people will say that they prayed but nothing happened or they pray and forget to ask. But Soledad really wanted to know. It was awesome I was on a spiritual high dispues (after) even now thinking about it too wow. We don't have a date for her to be baptized yet because she is living with her boyfriend but she is going to pray about weather they should get married or separate. Tuesday we have an appointment with her again.

Yeah Lucus is 10 years old and really wants to be baptized I had to laugh the other day. I asked him what were some of the things we could do to be nearer to Christ and he said prayer then I said and read the scriptures and then he shouted out and baptism. He's a really good kid. Oh and in the sector I was in before with the Hna Bair they had a baptism yesterday for Jose and Jose is a 15 year old that Hna Bair and I found so I was pretty excited about that too.

Lol ok so Lampa is a special place their are a lot more drunk people here than Los Andes. My first drunk contact the other day asked me if my eyes were green or black lol ....we told him black. The second drunk guy was walking along and I pulled up on my bike and said hola ¿como esta? and he said I'm lost he then stumbled over and I realized he was drunk so I pulled out a pass along card and gave it to him and told him that there was a web site he could go to and see a mensaje (sorry I forgot the word in english I think it's message I don't know sounds weird) just for him. He got so excited and said a mensaje just for me. I replied yes a mensaje especial for you. lol

Oh wait I almost forgot my other funny contact lol this one was funny ok so again on my bike I pulled up to these two men and they were trying to read my name tag and so I helped them out and said mas and one of the guys said oh mas hemerosa (most beautiful or wonderful) after he said that I said chao. lol en verdad (really) when we pass corners their is always someone saying "I love you" in english. It's probably the only thing they know how to say. Its funny though because of their accents. I asked la Hna Papenfus and she agrees that this happens at least once everyday.

love, Hna Moss su hijita

Cody's News 6/14/2010

Hey Mom how are you today? Things are peachy here in Talca tomorrow I go to a place called Bulness it is pretty small it has about 20 thousand habitants so it is like Springville. Wednesday I should get the packages. Do you want me to wait to open up the birthday package because I still have a month and a half until my birthday. You know what I have been dying to eat? Wheaties oh that would be soo good and also a good turkey sandwich. Martin went back to Sweden but I gave him my email adress so he might email you could look and see if he sends a email my way you could talk to him. He speaks really good English. ya I don't know what more to talk about maybe that now I am going to eat hotdogs with avocado and tomatoes and ketchup mmmm yummy!!! oh also I weighed myself the other day I have lost about 20 pounds while here in Chile from 207 in the MTC to 198 with all my clothes on so I think that I am about 192 or right about around there. Well love you mom and keep a smile on :)
Howdy Dad,
Seems like every one is doing fine. Tomorrow I am going to my second area it is called Bulnes it is a small hick town I believe the google map doesn't show any streets so I think it is pretty small. I will be changing from a ward to a branch (not like it will make a difference we have 70 people that come in our ward.) Mom said that you talked about your experiences with personal revelation I want to hear some of those. We will be getting a new President of our mission in a few weeks his name is President Humphreys he is from California. So Maritin after 6 months in Chile went back to Sweden to enjoy the summer up there. I hope that everything is going well up there and that it is starting to warm up. It has been raining the last few days down here and I am going farther down south where it rains even more.
Love, you Elder Moss

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Cody's News 6/7/2010

Hello from Chile,
Things are good I ate blood sausage the other day all I could think about afterwards is that Jews don't eat blood and neither do the Jehovah Witnesses and that line in ground hogs day when Bill Murray says that weird people like blood sausage. It was ok but the people wouldn't tell me what it was until after I ate it. Well Elder Bordolli and I have been working and finding a few new people but the lady that we have that is closest to getting baptized does not have any support from her husband or her family so it is taking her a while to make the final decision. The father of Claudia is crazy it is hard to share with him but he is starting to come around little by little. We are going to have the transfers this next week so I think I will be leaving Talca after 6 months I really like it here but now I think I am heading out but we will see if the Lord gives me some more time here in Talca. Yesterday we confirmed Juan Carlos and he received the Aaronic priesthood but the only problem is, that he doesn't like to wear ties so we will see how that goes if he can bless the sacrament one day soon. It was interesting before the baptism of Juan Carlos we always had to teach him in a different house but now this last week we were able to enter into his house and talk with his wife.

love,

Elder Cody Moss

Amber's News 6/7/2010

Hello All,
Hey if your wondering the time goes by a lot faster in the mission then at home.
The bike was here with the apt but it's a piece. We ride pretty slow some times because it does not work very well. For example sometimes the brakes touch the tires when your moving and your not even touching the brakes so it is slowing you down. lol We have an investigator progresando his name is Lucus and he is 10 years old his family is inactive but his aunt gave us the reference for him and brought him to church this week. He is super bueno and excited for his baptism. Well the other lady we found last week we were not able to teach at all this week. And the other family is not progressing so we are going to drop them. So right now we are working on finding people. Man Lampa is way more campo than Los Andes in order to bike to Lucus it is 20 mins man I about die cada vez or every time. But my leg muscles are pretty sweet. lol It is a lot dirtier here and there are a lot more rude people but there are also a lot more people that are ready to hear the gospel. So I'm growing a lot but it is really hardddd. Gee whiz but I can see how much I have grown in the last 5 months and I'm really glad that I'm a better person but estoy en el fuego ahora. I"m in the fire now. It is a little hotter I guess that just means I will grow even more.
El fuego is what Hna Bair told me this last week cuz I got a letter from her which was really good to hear from her and I got one from Chandler so that helped me a lot this last week. Hna Papenfus and I are getting a long and all it is just different but she wants to work and do what we are supposed to so that is good. This friday we get to go to the temple! I think I'm more excited to see Hna Bair though she's like family to me lol oh wait she is family! I am glad that you are praying for me l need prayers I'm trying to learn how to take charge and speak my mind more it is hard to change but I know I can do it. I am going to focus more on that this week. There is always just so much to do and so many things to work on becoming a better person teaching better helping the people gain their testimonies and all. Then there is learning another language but with time I will get it.
Love, Hna Moss

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Cody's News 5/31/2010

Hello All,
Did you know for some weird reason in the chilean culture they call their children goats. I don't know why but that is what they call the younger generation. Well we call children kids too and a kid is a young goat so I guess it is the same. More or less. Things down here have cooled down it has been like this for about 3 months or so. Look at that, Amber is in her second area and I am still in my first but we will see in 2 weeks if I am leaving or not. I don't want to leave but as the song goes "I will go where you want me to go" We will see also if I get another latin as a companion that would be nice. We had a baptism and I sent the photos to mom and so you can see those. We have another lady that we hope can get baptized on the 13th. We will see then how that goes. hmm Wow it will be crazy to see Aubrey driving when I get back. Well the weather up there seems a bit weird. The people down here have been talking about how 15 years ago in this time of year all it did was rain but now it only rains about once a week but we will see how things go the farther we move into winter. haha I have been teaching this guy that is evangelical and he is crazy! He is the dad of a lady that I baptized and he just loves it when we come by his house to talk with him about the word of God. Last week we invited him to church and he came and he was having some heated discussions in the gospel doctrine and priesthood classes. I did not think that he would come this week also but he came so we will have to see how things go when we visit him. I will have to write down a few of the disucssions that we have had with him so we can talk about Luis when I get home. Yesterday we had a baptism of a guy named Juan Carlos. Next Sunday he is going to receive the Holy Ghost and the Aronic priesthood! YES! hmm be sure to tell everyone hi for me at the reunion and that the saying actually comes from Dad he is the one that taught it to me. Oh and ¨Sometimes you have to do things whether you like it or not.¨ the other day I learned a new saying it is "chicotee los caracoles" (whip the snailes) It means that your trying to force something that goes really slow faster. Well now that it is cold we have been eating a lot more soups and things that are warm. We eat a lot of noodles and recently we have eaten a lot of completos (hotdogs with tomatoes and guacamole.) and yesterday we ate milanesa (it is a food from Argentina) it is like a meat like chicken not to thick not to thin that is battered and baked or something like that it is really good. The thing is for me is that Chile is normal for me I find it hard to find diffrences for me yes there are some obvious ones but other than that I don't have a huge culture clash I like it down here. (although people could use houses that are insulated but that is a different thing.) Elder Bordolli and I have been finding a few people and we think we have a few good prospects that we could start teaching so we will find out.
Love,
Elder Moss

Amber's news 5\31\2010

HOla mommie, ¿como esta?
Well Lampa is a little bit different than Los Andes which I miss a lot. The food in Los Andes was way better that what we are eating here. We cook for ourselves 3 days of the week so I just eat a orange with some bread or something. Or I have oatmeal. The apt is really dirty it was sad to walk in because Hna Bair and I had spent a lot of time cleaning our house and it looked really good and now I have to start over again but it's ok I guess, I swept today and had a huge pile of dirt. So it's a little better but it will take a little bit of time to get everything in order. Any baptisms lined up? Hmm we have 4 people with dates for baptism but I haven't met two of them so I really don't think they will be baptized we found Lucus this past week and he has a date for baptism but I don't know if he really understood our Spanish or not. So we will keep working with him but it's going to take a lot. And Evalyn has a date but we can never find her so we will probably have to drop her. There is another guy named Damis that came to church but he's not married and is living with his kids and their mom. So they don't have a date to be baptized and I feel like we are wasting time with them because she doesn't want to be married but he does. I don't think he really wants to be baptized I don't know I just walked into this situation it's all weird. Their situation is sad too because he lost his job and now they have nothing not even for food and she wants to buy cigarettes but he wants to buy food so he and the kids can eat. He did find a job this last week but still dose not have much money. My new comp is from ahh Washington or Nevada somewhere I don't remember. This is her last transfer in the mission. Biking in a skirt is pretty different well my butt hurts and we have to bike a long ways. It is pretty boring. On the upside my contacts have improved a lot I'm able to get peoples directions. For the first 5 days everyone was saying no and wouldn't even talk to me but now I can get them to stop and talk and make an appointment. So that is good my social skills are improving too because I have to do a lot of the talking now with people. Also in lessons I need to improve on starting and explaining but I think with time I will get the hang of it probably in another couple weeks I will see a big difference. I was able to see a big difference with contacts because we do so many every day. And Hna Bair is really good at contacts and showed me how so now I'm trying to put into practice what she taught me. It will take more time with lessons and what not cuz they are a lot longer. I miss Hna Bair a looooot man alive. She was so funny it was good when we were together cuz even if we were having a hard time we could still laugh and work though it. So Hna Bair helped me a lot with my accent and when I left her it was a lot better then when I arrived but now I fear that I am going to lose it cuz I am with another ginga and my accent is better so people can understand me better but she can understand other people better than I can cuz she has more time here. But when you listen to other people all day your accent can change so I have to try really hard all day not to change.

Yesterday I presented myself in church and shared my testimony it was really good. I could really feel the spirit. In the night we were with a convert and his wife told me that he got really emotional during my testimony. It was a big thing for him becuae he doesn't cry very much. Well he received the holy ghost yesterday in sacrament. It was really good to hear that he felt the spirit when I bore my testimony. This family is super great though they have a daughter named Isidora (4 years) and she is so cute and funny when we are trying to teach she is always saying Hna Moss, Hna Moss look and then she has to show me something. And then they have this other daughter named Roisse 11 and she loves to pray and her prayers are so good so thoughtful and spiritual and she always offers to say the prayer. But man I want kids just like them they are awesome. Their Dad Juan that was baptized two weeks ago had been smoking for 25 years but had a week were he decided he really wanted to know if he should continue with the church or not so he prayed and was filled with the sprit and just started crying and couldn't stop. Thats their story I came in a little late for the baptisms and all but it is ok there isn't as much pressure teaching people that have already been baptized. Good luck with the reunion and all lol actually Lampa reminds me of Rockland except their are a lot of people it is weird how their are so many people but yet it is campo.( Campo means country)
Love, Hna Moss