Forget About Yourself

Bradley sent us an original song! 1/15/2020


And if you're having the worst type of day
Better days will come
There's something that gives the courage to change
So try it and push on:

And forget about yourself!
Forget about yourelf.
When you're alone and you need help
Go and serve someone else.

If you're really trying to listen
The Holy Ghost can speak to you
Someone out there is needing
What only you can do.
So forget about yourelf.
Forget a bout yourself!
When you're alone and you need help
Go and serve someone else.

Forget about yourself.
Forget about yourelf!
When you're alone and you need help
Go and serve someone else.
Go and love someone else.
Go and love someone else.
Go and love someone else.

Khakhulu Food

January 15, 2020

With all the exercise we do, somebody pointed out to me that I am getting bigger...

Well on that note, we are having a lot of food still. We got dinner 3 times yesterday that we just put it in containers for the fridge. On my birthday, Wednesday, we even had a member teach us how to make curry. I don't know if I'll ever get the chance to cook it though because we don't cook here XD. I'll have to save it for when I am home.

Also, thanks everyone for the birthday wishes! The big 21!

We put in some good work recently. Let me share a few stories.

The first one we had with a man named Harri. Whenever we see him he isn't wearing a shirt and he always tells us he took it off because of the heat. A few days before seeing him, we dropped by to remind him of his commitment to read the Book of Mormon. When we saw him again, he had read and he even remembered. We had a good discussion and some of the concerns he brought up led into 2 Nephi 2. We read a bit with him and then committed him to read 1 chapter every day until the next time we see him again.

The next cool thing that happened this week was with the Govender and Pillay family. They stay right next door to a member that we visit. We decided to go and talk to them one day and they invited us to share something with them. The man of the home is a pastor, but just part time which makes things easier. We shared the first Book of Mormon video with them as an introduction and asked them inspired questions. The spirit led the discussion and all of us felt it. The pastor, Nathaniel, asked us if the Book of Mormon talked of the gift of tongues like the Bible, so we left them with Moroni 10 to read. Then they fed us a TON of food. The ushe (usual), ya know.

This week was really good. Wish my fingers had the strength to type everything up. Love Ya'll! have a great week :)

-Elder Moser

Hey mom! My birthday was much better than last years, that is for sure. My companion woke me up with a firecracker so I was woken up with a jolt haha. Good fun though. The day didn't have much to it, we just visited some people and then at night the RS president's family taught me how to make a proper curry.

I keep ripping my pants haha. They fit a little too tight now, I hope that isn't a problem....

I miss my siblings. Jess is telling me all the hype things he is doing. I also called Nathan on Monday. Oh, btw, I have my real P-day today because we had zone conference on Monday.

We have visited up on a lot of the people we visited last week. Kogie is going to come with us to church this Sunday. There is a baptism we want her to attend. There have been a lot of people here that when they talk about their church, they first mention how big the building is. Then, when I ask what they look forward to most in church, they say the people and things that they shouldn't be going to church for. We talk about Sacrament a lot. 

Crazy you saw K8. I have been communicating with her recently so I wonder if it is a coincidence you saw each other. I still really like her and hope she is around when I get home.

Love you mummy:)

Baked Potatoes

January 6, 2020

Well well well, is it any surprise that it is hot? I'm telling you. Why am I not used to this yet? Even at night! What's worse is that we have been getting load shedding so the power will turn off at the worst time of the day, like when it's time for bed, so we gotta sleep without the fans on. :(  But, this area is nice, and most of the time we get a cool breeze.

This week was fun. We took a lot of taxis places. We talked to a lot of people. I've come to the conclusion that Indians either don't want to talk to us or they want to be the only ones talking. I'm also finding that those who have been "saved" are the ones that usually don't want to talk to us. While trying to talk to a nice Christian man, we tried to share about the temple and he told us to please leave because he wanted to end his day on a good note...

But that's okay, we find rejection sometimes. I am able to bounce back from it pretty easy now. Being bold is fun in the weirdest way, because you know who you are doing the work for and Christ sure does help us. We have even been sharing messages with Muslims. I have no idea if I'm saying the right things, but bearing testimony of Christ makes me feel good.

We followed up and taught a lady named Kogie this week. She was gone for a bit during the Holidays, but she took the Book of Mormon with her and read the ENTIRE thing! She is staying with a Hindu lady and they both enjoy our visits. We taught them the Plan of Salvation and the Spirit was oh so present, but then the Hindu lady left and I was soooo sad... But Kogie really likes what she is learning. She will get baptized when she starts coming to church, but right now she just loves her own church too much.

One day whilst contacting, we sat on a curb to take a rest. A man pulled up to us in his car and asked us what we were doing. He asked us to come visit him the following day and then gave us a lift home. I have never come so close to death as he pulled out in front of a speeding car in an intersection. I was the only one who saw it coming. But we visited him the next day and he apologized to us and treated us well. It was him and his wife, but then his daughter and granddaughter came as well so we were able to share a lesson with all of them in the sauna of a room:')

New Years here in Phoenix was very cool. Literally millions of fireworks everywhere. We spent like 5 minutes watching and then went back to sleep.

While walking around a taxi rank, a drunk man holding a can B-lined it for me. I saw him coming and tried to move out of the way, but he came at me so fast and shouted in my ear something like "VOT" and it scared me so bad that I stumbled a bit. Luckily only me and Elder Russell noticed so we had a nice laugh.

My English is getting terrible. I'm relying on spell check a lot right now. haha, I'm laughing!

Love you all:) Have a good week.

-Elder Moser

ps to Mom:  I'm okay Chelsee got married. I got over it a long time ago at the beginning of mission. Haven't really talked to any girls since then because there aren't any. My companion wants me to write some of his friends though. I wrote a letter to K8lyn Bird as well...

We went rock climbing today. I really liked it, I think I will do it more when I get home. My body is in pretty good shape right now, with running and lifting weights and stuff. I kinda depended on my leg muscles today while climbing, and right off the bat, the lady that was helping us was like "Woah, those are some muscles!" So, not to toot my own horn, but my legs are getting too big. They even asked me for my leg exercises lol.

We Men, Russell and Moser

We found a big box that was frozen themed and were the only ones inside. 

Letter to Mom

December 30, 2019

Thank you for remembering to email me xxooxxoo

This week was wild. It seemed like there was so much preparation for Christmas, then the day came and was gone again in the blink of an eye. We made sugar cookies to give to people and we also wrote our testimony in the Cover of the Book Of Mormon to give out to people. We didn't have any good time on Christmas to be able to give them to people, but we have made up for it by handing them out the other days of the week.

Speaking of which, I knew it would be hard to give the books out, so I prayed in the morning for one meaningful person to give a book to in my morning prayers. Near the close of the day, we were walking to an appointment that was really far from where we were. As we were crossing the street, I looked up to see a guy in a Nissan Champ asking us if he could give us a lift. We hopped in and he started to talk to us about how he was supposed to be a pastor like us, but he got too immersed in the world and has been having trouble getting out of it. I gave him the book that I had written in and told him it would give him the help he needs and he invited us to come back and see him. I look forward to it.

We spent a lot of time in an area called Palmview to try to meet new people, but just about everyone was Muslim or Hindu. We had a Hindu guy let us into his home and his daughter and son-in-law here there, and they were Christian. We shared about temples and fasting with them and I could feel it is exactly what they needed. How cool it is to have a temple so close by to teach people about. 

I'm happy, Mom! And don't worry, I'm very obedient:)

love you lots!

-Breadley boops

ps I have ripped 2 pair of slacks since starting to run. SOS

"We are all afflicted till the conflict is o're"

December 23, 2019

This title comes from a lady in our ward in Phoenix. My companion told me before we met here that she sings this hymn every time that she sees the missionaries. Sure enough, that's what she sang. Haha, this area is so cool.

This area is very cool but does not feel like I am in South Africa anymore. At all. Everyone is Indian. It feels like when I was in Belize with dad, but more hills and temples everywhere. There are actually a lot of Christian Indians who live here, so there are a lot of churches as well. What I have experienced so far is that everyone here loves to talk. Hard to get a comment in when everyone wants to preach to you. Super nice though!

Speaking of nice, we don't need to buy food here... My first night, we received 3 meals from our neighbors. I was eating some fruit in the kitchen when somebody started whistling at me from the window to ask if he could give us food and chocolate cake. Our fridge is filled with leftovers. People just want to give us their curry to be nice! Even if we tell them we have eaten! The people here are so nice. I have started working out twice a day to combat what could potentially happen to me this transfer.

Me and Elder Russell sang a song in church this Sunday. I got to play the Ukulele and we sang a duet to that song that my brother Nathan and I did a few years back. The ward is super cool and everyone wants to help us.

My companion is from Idaho falls and he knows Porter Williams, and I know his friend Lauren. We connected stories and it turns out that we have actually met each other. What a small world hey? We have made some good goals and plans for the next 6 weeks and we are optimistic for what we will be able to accomplish!

Love ya'll! Have joy.

-Elder Moser

Hi mum! Miss you lots right now!

Man, I miss eggnog. My companion is from Idaho falls and we talk to each other about a lot of stuff, one of them being eggnog. We want to make it. I was worried who my companion would be for christmas and my birthday, but God is mindful, I tell you what.

We have been super healthy. Working out twice a day and eating mainly fruit.... and Curry! haha. I did get some shoes and we have been running. I'm so sore right now, but I still have the form. Just gotta get the endurance up again. Running in humidity is no fun, but it feels nice to work out. I weigh less than I did when I came on mission!!! Give me some smoothie recipes to do, we have a blender.

Christmas is going to be the same as last year. Work and talking to you in the evening. The misson is to spread out to do any sort of activity unless we did a lot of planning. All is well though, those kinds of things exhaust me!

love you mum:)

Going Back to da Ocean

December 16, 2019

Wellllll...l I got transfer news and am going back to Durban Zone. I guess that's the place to be for me. The area I am going to is Phoenix, which is mostly Hindus and Muslims. It doesn't even feel like I'm in SA anymore, more like Bollywood. It's gonna be rough, but I know the Lord wants me there for a reason and I'm willing to align my will with his.

This week was rough. We have been tracting in an area trying to find new people to teach. There are also some members who stay there that we visit as well. Following up on people is hard in this complex. Well, they have a group chat that they talk to each other about the problems of the complex.  This week it was about "two white guys going around and judging everyone for drinking." One person even said we made her feel so guilty that she was thinking about quitting drinking entirely. Funny thing is that we didn't even say anything about the alcohol, that was just the spirit.

We also had another "Whatsapp" group talk about us in another area, and one of the members responded to let us in to "share the truth!" I realized in Sacrament meeting this Sunday that one of the most important roles of members is to give the missionaries hope and encouragement. Satan is working so hard everyday, so if we don't exceed his efforts, the work will fail. Do what you can to help!!!

We had exchanges with the zone leaders. I got to be with Elder Bezerra again, just like old times. We met with a guy named Stephen, and when we rocked up (arrived), he had been drinking. He was just a tad tipsy, so we shared with him and his girlfriend Light the World. They liked it and invited us back. On the way home that day, we had not one but TWO people stop us on our bikes to talk to us about how what we believe is false and we need to only read the Bible. I could tell they didn't want to fight, they just didn't have the right information. Don't discredit the Book of Mormon if you haven't read it. One thing I can testify about this week is that the spirit really does give you utterance in the time you need it most.

You can do it. Light the World isn't always the easiest thing to stay on top of, but I reckon you just do it as early in the day as you can. That way, it will be on your mind the whole of the day and you will be mindful of the other opportunities that will come:)

Love you all! Don't Forget to LIGHT THE WORLD!!! And have joy while doing it :)

My comps sores from playing paintball today! It was so much fun. Paintballing was approved,
but some elders were being dumb and decided to shoot each other really close without shirts on.
Don't worry, I didn't encourage nor did I participate.

Me with the Kambolo family!

Me with the Manda familly!

P.S. I'm glad the mission office likes me. I love them, especially the Howell's. They are like my parents away from home. We pranked just about everyone in the office haha. Remind me to tell you about it when we call, because it's some good stories. Also, I will be calling on Christmas day. 5:30 my time, which should be around 8 for you. Just always be ready though, just in case. I will call over facebook.

Light the World

December 9, 2019

Yeahhh, I was kinda worried that maybe you thought I would be in the hospital or something. Everything is fine, its just that last monday everything kidna went wrong. Our email place was down, so we couldn't email. We were given permission to email during the week but never found time.

Christmas this year is pretty good so far, and the weeks have been good as well. I am loving Chrismas a lot more this year. The weather is just as bad, but the christmas spirit is wonderful.

The light the world campaign is so cool. We have been trying to use it a lot these past few weeks. One miracle I have seen is when we were knocking a TON of complex doors. We gave a pamphlet to a family, but the mom was home with her small kids and she was busy, so we left our number. about 30 minutes later, when we were about to leave, we got a call from the husband who told us he just got home and wanted us to come by if we were still around so we dropped all of our stuff and hustled over there and it was a beautiful thing. They are from the Bluff as well so that was kind of a tender mercy. 

We also met some people who are very against God and want us to come clubbing with them. Some people haha..

Another thing that we got to experience was how God provides opportunities for us to serve if that is our desire. Even in the rain. Even when nobody is in the streets. There is always at least one person to help.

My testimony this festive season is simple. We learn in the Gospel through experience and through sacrifice. If you want to be happy living the Gospel, learn those two things sooner than later. That is when our Heavenly Father can help us to change.

Have joy and light the world!!  

Apparently waffles in this county are considered desert, so imagine the looks we recieved haha.

Showing off my sweat...

Bettah week

November 25, 2019

This week was a good one. we have had a lot of blessings.

Not much time but I just wanna give some highlights. We were walking home one day and we found this guy sitting on the side of the road taking a smoking break. Without saying anything to each other, me and Elder Gomez walked towards him and started talking to him. His name is Khanya. He allowed us to come teach him a few days later and he told us our first visit really made him think and it helped him with his studies. We are seeing him again tomorrow, which will be his last day in bloem, but a healthy seed has been planted.

We also met a kid who happened to have a Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet given to him sometime last year. He explained to us that it helped him get through a really hard time. He is super interested in the book of Mormon and wants us to teach him more!

I love how even when things are hard, the Lord always strengthens us to do HIS work. It only happens when we align ourselves to his will, which is hard sometimes, but always the best.

Be Grateful for everything this week and show your gratitude in some way! Love ya'lll!

-Elder Moser

Pics:

#1 We caught this frog on a fly rod

#2 I'm actually back in Idaho rn. nah mean

#3 This picture is for my sister Elise. :)

I'm a no gud fisher guy

November 18, 2019

Hello family and Friends I consider family. How was the week?

Turns out, I'm no good at fishing. We woke up at 4 this morning and finally had the opportunity to go fishing. I didn't catch anything. In fact, it felt like one of those trips where the fish are just mocking you. Like they are well aware you are trying to catch them. We tried for a solid 5 hours, but nothing. Today I felt like God was trying to teach me something. I don't think he was trying to keep me from fishing or having fun, but it was almost like a reminder of the scripture on my mission plaque. " Straightway they forsook their nets and followed HIM." I left my rods home to do this work. We are out here to become fishers of men. I still like fish- fishing though c:

Speaking of being fishers of men, this week in comparison to the actual fishing is pretty much the same. We tried talking to lots of people, taught lessons, and when we set appointments to come back, nobody ends up being home. What on earth? So many times this week when something went wrong, the only thing I could think in my mind was little sis Amanda saying "Sweet Gloria!" Sweet Gloria is right. 

We taught the Moshoeshoe family how to make Corn dogs, but I kinda messed up on the recipe and they didn't turn out the way I wanted them to. Afterwards, we wanted to work in the apartment complex they stay in. The sons told us it was a bad idea because the people that stay there are picky and might kick us out. Mahlapane, who Was just confirmed last week, suggested we do it because otherwise they may never be able to hear the gospel! We decided to give it a shot and met a couple named Sam And Atlehang. They were super welcoming and we shared the restoration with them. Afterwards they seemed like they closed off a bit, but I still have faith that it touched them somehow and that we will be able to see them again.

We went back to see Luaan yesterday after church and he again told us we couldn't see him anymore because his mum told him no to us teaching him about the Book of Mormon. Maybe he will pick up an interest after he graduates.

We had a lesson with a guy named Junior this week. We shared law of Chastity and Word of Wisdom with him, and turned out the spirit revealed to us that we needed to share it. He learned at his church some stuff regarding sexual purity and wanted to know more about it. he was so awestruck with what we had to say that he even came to church with us yesterday. We walked all the way there, a little over an hour. He really enjoyed the class, but felt a bit distracted by the kids in sacrament meeting. I could tell he was really trying to listen though.

Love you all! Have joy this week and don't be ashamed to share what you believe! Be Bold!

-Elder Moser

Pictures:   Can you see me?  Look at what I am fishing in XD  Where is the water?

The long HAuL

November 11, 2019
This has been a long, hard week.

I've recently re-committed myself to be exactly obedient to the mission rules. It feels good and I'm looking forward to it. Blessings follow to those who make sacrifices to be obedient. We have played the game of Mow with members recently. Everybody gets really frustrated because the rule of the game is you don't know the rules. We found a good way in teaching a gospel principle: sometimes we don't know why we follow rules, but we do it anyways because they are there for a reason and we will be blessed if we follow them. 

That being said, we are trying harder.

We have been visiting lots of members, trying to get referrals, but we must be doing something wrong because it isn't very fruitful. We do tracting where we have space. We met with a family that was super promising and we were super excited about. They even invited us back the following day. We went, planning to read the book of mormon with them, but they told us they were fine with their own church, so they didn't need more. We did leave them with an Afrikaans book of mormon. Hopefully they read it.

Yesterday we had an appointment with a young guy named Luaan. He came out to meet us and told us the only reason he agreed to meeting with us was to tell us he wasn't interested because he prayed about the things we shared with him before and he didn't like the Idea that we think we are the only true church. We talked with him for a bit, not wanting to give up, and he agreed to let us to come and read with him in the book of mormon every week. Hopefully we can plant some good seeds and fertilize it properly.

We had two more baptisms yesterday. Nkopane and his fiance Thabisile. We had a brother in the ward try to baptise them, but he wasn't strong enough, and so one of the brothers called me into the hallway and asked if I would be able to do the ordinance. I didn't have any towel or anything to change into, but we decided we were gonna do it for god, so I quickly changed and was able to do the ordinances. I had to sit in a room with a fan for 30 minutes to try and dry off. I ended up changing in my wet garments and you could see the wet spots on my slacks haha. luckily we ride bikes, so it dried off quickly with how fast we were riding. I felt bad for Thabisile because she was dunked around 7 times, but when I talked to her about it afterwards she was so happy and said she felt BLESSED to be baptised multiple times. All about perspective people.

Today we got to go to a rugby field and toss the ole pigskin around. We also had a rugby ball and got to toss it around too. I'm wearing a springboks jersey, so I feel like a Springbok veteran. It was rainning too, so that felt pretty good in this dry, dry place.

Love you all. Have joy this week!

Elder Moser

You would probably believe me when I say that I have been singing hymns up the ying yang. I even sing them in my head before I pray at night so that I'm not all over the place. I have been needing to sing them in the area because The days are getting harder. We get into houses sure, but the next visit is always a let down with somebody telling us to not come back. Sometimes we need a bit of extra encouragement. I tell myself "this is good" to everything that happens, whether it be good or bad.

This week I recommit myself to be more obedient. I'm trying to follow the rules exactly and it really helps in motivation. I have 7 moths left and don't want any excuses. I wanna work as hard as I can. I have been reading the white handbook a lot more. I read the whole thing in 20 minutes the day I recommit. 

Dit Gaan Goed

November 4, 2019

I'm trying to learn more Afrikaans, but It really isn't going anywhere haha...

Today has been another one of those days where my computer doesn't work, so I'm quickly trying to write an email to everybody. Sorry to those who don't get a reply :((

This week was much better than last week. We tried visiting a lot more members to see how we could best help out with the work and try to get referrals. This town is MUCH more townish than the Bluff, and will be a lot harder with tracting. We have tried knocking on houses and have got into maybe 2, which is really hard after looking at what we have done, but the work must continue. Neh?

We met with a less active member named Lemohang, who has never really been in the church because he was baptized at 8 and then soon after his parents passed away. He raised himself in what he believes to be true religion according to the bible. He doesn't believe in the Book of Mormon because it says God has a body. We met with him and he told us of all the crazy things he has prophesied. As long as he lets us come back, we will continue to see how we can help him really progress.

We have been getting fed a lot because of how many members we have visited. We never expect to get fed but it is "rude" to go into a home and not be fed. It's nice, until you get 3 full meals, one after another. You have to start running up and down the stairs in order to free up some room.

Everyone we have talked to this week is struggling in their own way. I have never used the scriptures so much to help people. My companion thinks it's because the temple is so close to being finished that satan is really pushing right now. We are trying to build the faith of these people. We are fasting with many of them this week. 

Mahlapane got baptised this week! I don't think I have ever been so happy before. She is amazing and is so faithful already. She brought her sister and son all the way from Lesotho to watch as well. They loved it and we are gonna send their details to the elders that side:)

Everyone go and read Alma 58 this week. It talks a bit about fortifying ourselves. The war chapters in Alma are really cool because applying its teachings takes a little bit more digging. But what I've realised in this particular chapter is that the Lord will strengthen us, or fortify us, where we need it the most. Fortification in our weaknesses and temptations. We have to constantly improve and get stronger everyday.

Love ya'll! Have Joy and Do some good! :)

-Elder Mose Pose