He Is On The Right Path Now

Basically just two big pieces of news this week. First, we got a car! I did a little selfie with our brand new 2015 Toyota Corolla when we first started driving it. We rode to McAllen with the YSA sisters on Wednesday to get our car. The sisters car was finishing its mission (it reached 50000 miles) so they were also getting a new car. Theirs was a replacement, but ours was simply a new addition. The mission actually got assigned an extra car for us to be able to get it. Brand spanking new. It had 5 miles on it when we got it. It makes me kind of nervous to be trusted with it.

Then on Sunday, we baptized! We helped Mario Deleon (10 yrs) make the decision to be baptized. His family has been reactivating for a couple of months now and his dad also recently got back from Mexico. When we were originally starting to teach him he was saying he wanted to be baptized on Christmas Eve, but later on he decided to get baptized when his dad came back. After his dad got back from Mexico a week and a half ago he was much more willing to do it. He was still pretty stubborn about it and wouldn't commit to much. Once we decided for him that he was going to get baptized, we taught him and interviewed him to be baptized, and then he was on board. We did the interview on Saturday with the mindset of him being baptized the next day and  Elder Ward did a good enough job that Mario decided to do it and then he picked Elder Ward to baptize him. I never expected it to be so difficult to baptize a ten year old. He is on the right path now, either way.

Mario is the one right next to me, directly in front of his dad.​

The YSA sisters also baptized yesterday. They have been working with Steven for 3 and a half weeks. They found him and he came to church that first Sunday and was ready to go from there. We did his baptism at 4:30 with Mario's scheduled for 5. Long story short, Steven's went late and Mario's was hectic anyways. It was a super stressful couple of hours but we made it through and all is well.

We hung out with Pako a couple times this week. On Wednesday he took Elders Hess and Hancock and me and my comp out to lunch. And then we saw him on Sunday down in Los Fresnos at the baptisms.

Me, Pako, and my comp, Elder Thompson

That's it for this week, folks! See you next time!

Elder Larkin Moss

Just Full Of Crafty Things

Hooray, it's Monday!

We had interviews with President on Wednesday! I learned a lot from all the trainings we had and especially from the counsel of President Maluenda. I learned that my confidence has grown a lot since the beginning thanks to Elder Worley. Elder Worley is one of the APs right now. I actually met him on my first night here in Texas back when he was a ZL in McAllen, therefore I know just how great of a missionary he is. For the first roleplay (practice) we did, Elder Worley asked to be my partner and I had no hesitation to do it. 

After inteviews, we started a zone exchange! I went with Elder Alonso on Wednesday and Thursday. On Thursday, we did a cool zombie apocalypse activity. We were each given 11 envelopes with missions within. As we completed each one we could open the next one. They were fun things, such as using the word brains in a contact or 'helping someone build a shelter' by doing service. I liked it because it was like completing missions in a video game. And I'm good at those. Elder Alonso and I were the first to complete all 11 by the way. We were in my area so I made sure we could finish all of them quickly. I had a lot of fun.

On Saturday, all of our plans from 2-5 fell through when our ride cancelled on us. Instead, we got to do service for President Goodman of the YSA branch (Pics 1&2). We have the YSA sisters in our district, and Pres Goodman lives in San Benito in the other sisters' area so we just made a district service project out of it. We did a bunch of work on Sis. Goodman's craft house. It's almost like a little schoolhouse that is just full of crafty things. We organized some fabrics and tools, etc. Elder Thompson and I help finish the table (in Pic 2) and install some shelves. We also did some climbing and lifting. Overall, it was very fun.

Now it's time for me to recuperate to do it all over again. At least the Monday thru Sunday part, there will probably be a lot of differences but the names of the days will be the same.

Have a good Monday to Sunday again! 

Elder Larkin Moss

Hold To The Rod

It's Monday again! I don't even know what there is to report this week; it has just been too crazy.

We had a crazy awesome zone meeting on Tuesday in which we did a "Hold to the Rod" activity. The leaders blindfolded us and as we followed the rope they distracted us and tried to get us to let go. We all eventually made it to the end which was the baptismal font. We then discussed our goals of helping people find their way to baptism.

On Wednesday, Elder Thompson and I made it to the border! We had a member drop us off 2/3 down our area and then we biked the rest of the way to the far corner. Turns out it would be about 1.5-1.75 hours instead of 1 hour. My bad. As we were biking southeast toward the bottom corner we looked across the road and saw the big brown fence of the U.S./Mexico border.

Near one of the members down there in La Paloma (little bitty town without a post office at the bottom of our area) we found a horse! He was very nice.

We have seen a lot of miracles in finding this week. The entire zone has been working toward baptizing this month. We've all put together plans with all those that could potentially be ready by the end of the month, the biggest requirement being attending church enough times. As we have prayed and worked hard we have found former investigators, and others that have come to church before, pop up all over the place.

Also, I forgot to mention it last week but Elder Hess (from Aloha, OR) and I are in the same zone now! In fact, I'm sitting directly across from him as I am writing this email. Today, I found out that we are only two weeks apart in age! How crazy is that? And I'm older, haha :P

Two funny things I found this week: There is a neighborhood in our area called Liberty Estates based on good ol' America. There is a Washington, a JFK, and a Freedom street. 

I also found one that sounds more like a freestyle dance team than a street. I think somebody needs to learn how to spell. Also, they are probably colorblind. 

I also saw some very inspirational graffiti

That is about it. There is actually plenty more, but that is all the words I have the energy for this week.

Elder Larkin Moss

They Make Us Lots of Cookies

Well, I got transferred again. I'm in the same zone though. I moved down to San Benito. It is a 10 minute drive from my old area. I'm now with Mr. Elder Thompson. We whitewashed the area (both me and my companion are new). We have no idea what is going on but I think we are figuring it out.

Elder Pope had this one of me and my comp, right when we got dropped off at our apartment, first day together. It's really weird because Elder Thompson is actually taller than me.

The apartment used to be a 4-man (2 companionships) but as we moved in they closed the other area. The other area was the car area and the Elders that absorbed the area need the car, so we have no car in our apartment. Also because it was a 4-man, there are 2 bathrooms. We each have a bathroom. I like it.

It's funny, because the sisters in our district have 4 girls in one bathroom. And yes, our district is 6 people. 2 Elders and 4 Sisters. I love it. They make us lots of cookies. 

Our bike area is absolutely massive. First, we live 10 minutes outside of our area. Then, we have a good sized downtown area that is a very reasonable bike area. Then we have a huge outskirts area. One of our main neighborhoods is a 30 minute bike ride from our apartment. The bottom of our area (the U.S./Mexico border) is about an hour on the bikes. It's fun.

I haven't seen the bottom of our area yet, but I've traveled to the distant neighborhood everyday so far. I think today will be the first day off. 

Yesterday was the greatest. The first thing we did when we left was ride 40 minutes to go to an appointment with Sis. Garcia. When we got there her daughter told us that she wasn't there. We then made calls and found nothing else to do down there. We got to ride all the way back to the mains of our area before we sat down. :)

It's been great though. We have had plenty of time to practice fun ways to ride our bikes. I especially enjoy when the wind is blowing directly against us. Which is all the time. 

On the bright side the Sisters in the branch baptized! Fernanda Colmenero is now on the path to salvation!

Also, our members are great. They feed us plenty and some will feed us any time we show up. Especially the branch president. The only problem is he lives halfway down our area. I haven't been there yet.

For anything that involves getting to Harlingen, like P-day and Meetings, we get picked up by somebody from Harlingen. The rest we have to do on our own. We bike to district meetings and get rides to and from church. It's great. I really hope we get a car soon. 

Elder Larkin Moss

 The sisters are great. They decorated our bikes!​