4th Week Liberia - Guanacaste Province

Family ~

This week has been great! We have been able to find new people and serve them! My Spanish is coming along too! I have been blessed here with the ability to play soccer. The Ticos love it when this white Gringo comes up in a white shirt and tie and plays soccer with them. Especially when I usually can show them up. (Not all the time ha ha). But soccer has been a great way for them to get to know me and trust me and open up to me. Plus its always fun to stop working for 10 minutes and play soccer for a little. We have been able to find lots of new people through soccer!  And playing 10 minutes with some Ticos has helped us find people that would like to hear our message! 

I have been out here for a month now and I love it more and more each day. I am slowly starting to call this place my home! We have a lot of work to do for the Lord and I cant wait to be able to become the best instrument in his hands.

One Book has changed my life. This Book is the Book of Mormon.

Today I finished it again and I want to testify of the powerful message this Book has. The Book of Mormon is another Testament of Jesus Christ. Similar to the Bible. The Book of Mormon talks about the people of America. Just like Christ came and taught the people in Jerusalem. Christ came to the Americas and taught them too. 

After being able to read this Book again. I have been able to gain a strong testimony of the truthfulness of it. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. That Joseph Smith translated it. And since I know that this Book is true. I know that Joseph Smith was called of God as a Prophet to restore the Gospel here on the Earth. I know that we have the true Gospel here on the Earth and that we can receive revelation from God. I know these things because I fulfilled the commitment in Moroni 10:3-5 which says if you read the Book of Mormon with real intent and a sincere heart and having Faith in Jesus Christ. If you ask of God of its truthfulness. He will tell you these things through the power of the Holy Ghost.

I challenge each and everyone of you to read the Book of Mormon. And ask for yourself if it is true. This Book has changed my life and I know that it will change yours. 

-Elder Moss

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!

3rd Week Liberia - Guanacaste Province

Family ~

What a week! No one ever said a mission would be easy!

During summer sales whenever Marcus, Jordan Smith or I would have a hard day where we didn't sale anything and were disappointed. We would stop at a gas station on the way home and get candy. That was our remedy to feel better for the next day. With that being said. I have bought a lot of candy lately. 

My companion and I have been working hard on two people in particular. This one Hermana had a baptism planned this last Saturday. I was so excited for her and couldn't wait for her to enter the waters of baptism. About an hour and a half before the baptism she texted us saying she couldn't go because she was out of town. A little disappointing because it was so close but I still had Faith that she could do it the following day or next week. Anyway Sunday came along and she texted us again saying that she couldn't make it to church and that she doesn't want to be baptized anymore. It was devastating to hear this. My heart broke and I had never felt such a feeling in my life before. It was like not making a sale for a few weeks times 10. She was so close to being baptized. With this experience I took the opportunity to learn from it. I know that Satan tempts us stronger and stronger as we get closer to coming to Christ. I have experienced this in my own life with baptism, going through the temple, and temple marriage. It hurts my heart to see how close we become but get tempted at the last minute. There is a battle going on in today's world. We all have to get up and fight back. As I put my trust in the Lord I know that through true conversion we all can return back to our Heavenly Father. We all picked His plan before, so I need to trust that others will pick His plan again here on Earth. 

With our week feeling as a failure there is only one way to look. And that is up. We must look towards God during all times. No matter the success of the week or failure of the week. One of my favorite things in reading the Book of Mormon about the ancient wars between the Nephities and Lamanites is that the righteous would pray to God asking for strength and after they received that strength they would praise God for the help. 

I cannot stress enough to everyone that we need to put on our Armor of God. There is a war in the world today and the enemy is in our homes, streets, and school. The enemy is everyone and if we don't put on our Armor of God we will fall to temptation. We can put on this Armor of God by reading scriptures daily, praying daily every night by ourselves and with our families, and by going to Church. The Lord will strengthen you if you show Faith in him and act. If we have already been captured by the enemy and fail to temptation there is a way to make it back home to our Heavenly Father. This way is through the Atoning Blood of Christ.

I know that we will all be able to return home to Heavenly Father. I know that Christ lives and that he atoned for our sins. I pour my heart out and cannot stress enough about staying on the straight and narrow path and never falling away. Hold on to the rod and help others stay on!

I love you all

-Elder Moss

Personal Letter to his mother:

I went to San Jose for a day to go to immigration. Ended up being away for a few nights with no change of clothes, food, or bed, or shower. Sucked but it was nice because I realized how much I liked living in my apartment.  I was able to buy peanut butter and bread but the peanut butter is about 6 dollars and I went through a jar in a week so I might have to change that.

Jacob will be home in 5 weeks or so. Its hard but so worth it to be doing this sacrifice. We ALL receive so many blessings that it all makes these two years worth it.

We walk everywhere, there was one day it rained so hard so fast that the water on the curb was up to make ankles. That made it fun! Ha ha my companion was walking in flip flops that day! Once it stopped he dried off at our cooks house and put on regular shoes!

I love you and miss you so much! I am so grateful for everything you have done for me and all the help you did even when I wasn't grateful! Because I sure am now!!!

Liberia and San Roque Missionaries

2nd Week Liberia - Guanacaste Province

Family -

P-Day hike to waterfall.

This week has been great! We had a zone conference with President Wilkinson and it was raining on the way there. Anyway just a side story here in Costa Rica they are pretty crazy drivers. On motorcylces they sometimes have up to 4 people and have little babies on them too! Super crazy. But on the way to the church we were walking in a neighborhood and a car pulled out in front of a motorcycle. Long story short the motorcycle hit the front of the car and crashed. I ran and picked the bike off of the guys leg (It was twisted under it in a weird way). He was wearing a helmet but he had a 10 year old girl on the back who wasn't. After I got the bike off of him he sat there whimpering and I started helping the girl. She scraped up her leg and had some bad mud on it so I cleaned it up and helped her a little bit. By that time lots of people were coming to look and help so me and my companion went to the meeting. Now I know why my mom wouldn't let me buy my bike. (Even though I did). 

Elder Cuevas gave me this soccer shirt, pretty cool.

The work here has been going great. We've have had lots of downs but hopefully this next week will be better and we can have a baptism this next week. Lots of people here accept our message and love it but they never follow through. One of their favorite sayings here is "Pura Vida", which means pure life or do whatever you feel like. It's really a cool outlook on life but sometimes they do exactly whatever they want ha ha!

One night we had family home evening with a family. Right when we were leaving they turned on some music and started dancing together. It was so nice to see how happy they were and see the love in that family. I love how relaxed they are and how much enjoyment they get from listening and dancing to music. Especially since this family is going to be getting sealed in the temple soon I had so much love for them and felt right in. I love how the Gospel blesses families and makes them become closer than before. I love that we have temples on Earth today that we may be able to do things such as being sealed to your spouse and family! The Gospel truly is the greatest blessing ever!!!!!!

It has rained here a lot this past week. Did I think that it rained hard it North Carolina! Boy was I wrong! It can rain so hard here! That is especially difficult because I lost by umbrella in a taxi the first night here! I will need to go buy a bigger one anyway!

It's crazy Jacob gets home in 6 weeks! I wish I was there to say Hi but I have more important stuff to do. It will have to wait for another 2 years! I love you all!

-Elder Moss

Jungle Friends

Elder Ferrin dropped an empty coconut and this
little buddy fell out of it.

1st Week Liberia - Guanacaste Province

Family-

 You all are probably wanting to know about Costa Rica and everything about the culture here. So I will share all of that and a few personal experiences here.

HUNGRY- There hasn't been a day that goes by that I am not hungry. I am in Guanacaste. It's in the Northwest side of Costa Rica. In a town called Liberia. Everyday we get one meal from a cook. (Which is the best) but other than that the rest is up to ourselves and we really don't have that much money in the first place. Everything up here is super expensive.

Liberia in Guanacaste Province, CR

The people here are super nice and welcoming. You really don't understand what you have at home until you have been to a place where you don't get too much. The area I am in is very dry for Costa Rica. It hasn't rained once since I got here. With that being said we don't have air conditioners running because they are really expensive and can't afford it. So I am in a puddle of sweat for practically the entire day. It's nice having cold showers here to cool off. But that is only because we don't have heated water. 

It hasn't really been what I expected of Costa Rica but every area is different. So I will experience a different place every time I switch areas.

The roads here are all dirt roads that are torn apart. Not everyone has a car so there is a lot of walking and biking. And if you do have a car you probably are a taxi or very lucky.

Elder Cuevas and President Wilkinson

Wednesday morning I had a really good breakfast at President Wilkinson's house. It was awesome. Found out who my companion is and he is great! Only been out here for 3 months and is from Chicago. Elder Cuevas is currently the District Leader - luckily knew Spanish before the mission and English too so it is great to communicate with him. He is an awesome Elder and I can't wait to learn from him.

My Spanish is coming along. Lots of the natives say it is really good but I don't know if they are just saying that to make me feel good.

From San Jose it is about a 4 and a half hour bus ride here. Very crazy bus ride for they are crazy drivers here. About 4 hours in I did not feel well at all. I prayed so that I could feel better and about 10 seconds later I threw up. (Didn't help with the hungry part). It is a very good thing Mom sent me two extra towels at the MTC because I threw up in one of them. (The fast drying towel). Had to throw it away. Also a good thing that Mom sent me another pair of flip flops because the other ones I have stay wet and it is very easy to get fungus here on your feet. I think God must have packed the package mom sent when she sent it because it was everything I needed. When I received the package I looked at it and thought to myself " Why did she send that?"

Elder Cuevas and Elder Moss

However with that all being said. I would never want to be in a different place in the World. Even though this week has been tough, I have most definitely been humbled. Seeing the joy that the Costa Rican people have is truly amazing. They can just sit outside and listen to music and be the happiest ever. Also seeing the joy the Gospel brings to families is awesome! Everyone in the World needs the Gospel because the Gospel makes "Bad men good and good men better".

The blessings the Lord has given me are indescribable. I have become grateful for the necessities here. Food, water, shelter, clothing, family. When times get tough like they have been I think about what Jesus had to go through. Words cannot describe how grateful I am of the atonement so that I can become clean again of my sins and be made perfect like Christ.

Elders Lohberg & Parker.  Elders Moss and Cuevas

God loves his children. I know this to be true. Even though at times it may be tough and you might wonder to yourself why doesn't He help me. In the end he actually is. As you work to become like Jesus your weaknesses become strong through the atonement of Christ. A talk given in General Conference said, "A God who makes no demands is the equivalent of having no God". Sometimes when we think that God demands too much of us we can know that He is just being a loving Heavenly Father. Without these demands we can't learn and grow and gain truths about Gospel topics. God blesses us more then we think and once he does bless us we owe him more of ourselves. We are all beggars and need to know that if we humble ourselves to God we can become better people.

My testimony is simple but very strong and growing more and more. I know that Christ lives. I know that through Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Spirit, and Enduring to the End. We all can return to live with Heavenly Father again. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true church that is led by God himself. I have received so much joy  and blessings from having these truths that I can't wait to share it with others and see their lives change through the atonement of Christ. I KNOW these things to be true in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

I love you all at home and hope all is great!

-Elder Moss