Bigger and Better Things

The verdict is in. I am leaving San Benito. My companion is too. Also, on that note, Elder Harker is not my companion right now. When I say me and my companion are leaving, I mean me and Elder Enriquez. He has only been here 2 days, but the area is being closed so we are both out of here. 

Thursday morning we received a call from the APs and they told Elder Harker he needed to pack his things. At 4pm he left and went north. I was without a companion for Thursday night and Friday. (I even did weekly planning by myself on Friday) On Saturday, I received another surprise call from the ZLs that said my companion was waiting for me in Harlingen. We went up to get him and now I am with Elder Enriquez. He will be in the same zone up in Harlingen, and he will be with Elder Tomasi (my MTC companion). :)

Another thing about Friday night, normally the APs call missionaries that are about to be trainers or become a DL so they can go to a meeting on Saturday. Nobody got called. We assumed he would do the meeting today and call last night... no calls. This morning, 2 hours before the regular transfer info, I got a call directly from President Maluenda's phone. In this mission. that almost never happens. He isn't one of those buddy-buddy mission presidents; he is basically a general authority to us. His system is the grapevine (Pres to APs to ZLs to DL to missionary). He proceeded to extend a District Leader call to me and said he would see me tomorrow (who knows what that was supposed to mean). Then we found out that I would leave. :( I guess there are bigger and better things for me to do out there. 

​I will be a district leader in Laredo South zone. Rio Bravo city. I am excited.

I think that is all for this week. I guess we had a worldwide missionary devotional on Wednesday. Like, 100% of the missionaries in the entire world watched it live. (Delayed if it was the middle of the night) So that was cool... but the Harker left and it became one big mess...​ Yay!

​I hope life isn't as crazy for y'all!

Elder Larkin Moss

Me and Elder Enriquez

A Wonderfully Crazy Baptism

Well, I think I told y'all last week about José Luis. He did get baptized. We had a wonderful baptismal service this last Friday. 

In the pictures, (above) we see Pepe with his daughters + his sister's family (members) and with Bro Lerma (below) who performed the baptism. It was definitely a wonderfully crazy baptism. 

Pepe's daughters and nieces and nephew are all crazy. They seemed to only be quiet for the actual ordinance. The rest of the service was pretty wild. And yet somehow we all still felt the Spirit. Baptism is pretty cool in that way.

We had interviews with President Maluenda this week. There will only be one more set of interviews with him in April. He ends his mission in Early July. He always gives reading assignments during the interviews and this time I was told to read Jarom. The rumor in the mission is that Jarom means District Leader. The APs and the Zone Leaders both told me so. On Friday we will find out the new trainers and District Leaders, so who knows?

I think that is about it. Not much else to report. Baptism is a pretty big highlight, I would say. 

Click this link to watch a great video!!!

"So wake up and do something more...​"

Have a good week!

Elder Larkin Moss

Refiner's Fire

I'm on strike from washing dishes so I've run out of normal utensils... whisks don't work very well to eat cake. 

Just kidding about the strike. I did eat the cake with a whisk, though.​ Just for fun.

Well this week was one of those faith testers. In the end, I came out stronger, but it was tough. I will share two examples of the unfortunate blessings.

Example One: on Tuesday Elder Chamberlain took my spot in the area. He and Elder Harker found a lady named Ana who seemed to be really cool and wanted to be baptized. The return appointment was for Friday, but we stopped by really quickly on Thursday to meet her husband. The next day, Friday, when we brought some members by for the lesson we found a note that said she was done meeting with us.  That usually just means that God has someone else for us to teach, so I'm not too worried. 

Example Two: José Luis (Pepe) Hernandez has been preparing since the beginning of December to get baptized. He is the brother of a member and has been progressing almost perfectly since we started teaching him. We were working for Jan 17th for his baptism. A week ago on the 3rd, we moved it up to the 10th. The problem was Wednesday (the 6th) when we had the Interview. We stopped by to see if his interview was still going to happen. He said yes, but he also said he didn't feel ready to be baptized; he said that next month would probably be good. That might sound okay, but from a missionary's perspective "sometime next month" means never. One month later means Satan has 4 or 5 more weeks to change their mind. 

Even after the baptismal interview he still wasn't wanting to do it. We had another lesson with him on Friday with his sister (member) and another member, with no effect. He wasn't even willing to say a prayer for us. So basically Friday night was a bad night. We weren't too stoked that night. But we did not give up hope. After fasting and a lot of prayer we had the necessary revelation to plan a great lesson on Saturday that led him to choose the 15th as his baptismal date. The original date was the 17th, so the 15th is a wonderful date. It is a thousand times better than "next month." The next day, Sunday, Pepe was at church more than 20 minutes early. He was there before we were. In a new button up shirt he bought for church. Basically, he is doing great now.

I kind of feel like this lady, but not really... same idea I guess. I hope I learned something like she did.

The Refiner's Fire

​I love you all, have a​ great life!

Elder Larkin Moss

Happy New Year!

It has actually been cold this last weekend. The thermometer didn't get below 45° F, but with the humidity it cuts right through coats. I was double layered up to my neck and still trying to keep from getting frostbite. Okay, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but it was cold, especially on the rainy days.

For New Years Eve we watched Polar Express. It was nice. 

How about I share one miracle we saw this week. Yesterday, a lot of plans fell through. We basically didn't do anything we planned. That's always a sign that God has something else in mind. We went to a house in our area, where the lady had told us to come back "some other day", to see if they had any interest. This time a man was outside and he was  working on a car engine; as it turns out he is a mechanic. We began to get to know him and he began to reveal that he has gone to our church in the past (in some other city), he knows some members somewhere, and he had been taught by the missionaries before. As we talked about Joseph Smith he basically told us that he already believes it and wants to be baptized as soon as he comes to church and finishes learning. He says he would have been coming if he had known where the church was.

Part 2, he then explained to us that as he was working on that car, he had the thought, "Darn, it probably is not working because I haven't been to church in awhile... okay, if it starts up, I will go back to church." And right after it started working, we showed up. 

I know God has a plan. I also know that I am part of that plan and when things don't go your way, then God's way is trying to intervene. 

Here's a nice thought from the Mormon Channel:

What Makes a Successful New Year's Resolution

​"A Goal without a Plan is just a Wish."

Have fun everybody, sorry for no pictures...

Elder Larkin Moss