Made it to Freetown!

Hey family,

How are you guys doing this week? So first off, as you know, I am now residing in a new country and experiencing different things. I am learning lots of things and I have only been here for a few short days. Like, I carry a lot of money around here. I have 700,000 dollars in my bag right now. I know I am a rich man. Not! I only have small money. So the trip from Liberia to Sierra Leone man ~ I won't really be too sad if I do not ever do that trip again! Man, Markus is crazy. I don’t think he cares if we all die. We go like 60 mph down a trail through the forest. It is so fun but man you are on the edge of your seat the whole time. It is nuts but every one will go through it. Well most people. So back to when I was in Liberia one of my new favorite scriptures is D&C 123:16-17. It talks about the helm of a ship as sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father we need to stop trying to live up to what we think we can be but we need to live up to what our Heavenly Father created us too be. We are capable of being so much greater than we make ourselves out to be. We can be someone's hero, someone's best friend, someone's light of inspiration, just by the way that we live our lives. Life is great isn’t it?

So this week was eventful. Elder Taylor is having some fits with his comp but I know he will get over it and move on. I will miss the people over in the good old Liberia and it was fun but it is time for me to start a new chapter in my book of missionary service. So I am going to have to say that the worst part of my trip was that all of my books got ruined because we were driving through rivers of water and in the African rain forest. Man I was so mad that all my stuff got ruined but whatever, it is just material things. So the best part of my trip was I ate at a place called Sabs. Oh my freakin' heck!!!! I THOUGHT I DIED and went to Heaven!! It had real cheese and meat and French fries. I almost went into cardiac arrest. I may not like ice cream anymore but man I still love hamburgers. Without a doubt, I think that is one of the first things that I want when I get home. Haha but that is kind of far away. But I am climbing over the hill this week. One Year! I am pretty stoked! So upon my arrival to Sierra Leone, I got the opportunity to teach investigator class and then elders class. Man, it was crazy. I was dirty and I had a beard and I stunk but it's ok that doesn’t affect my spirit any more. So I had a great lesson in elders class. Man I decided to talk about fathers being a patriarch. They don’t know the importance of fathers in this world. They think they have no authority over their children but I let them know that love is the best thing that they can give. I told them (I am not going to lie, I almost got emotional, thanks for that gene dad) I was telling that my parents, my mom and my dad are best friends. There is no one that I love more than my family. I told them that when I get married, there will be no one on this earth that I will love morevthan my wife. She will be my number one and I will love and respect hervand my children will respect her as well because of my example. And I know that this works because that is how my parents are. My dad's best friend is my mom. After the lesson, a guy came to me and said that I'm well ahead of my years. I gave credit to my family.

Things are great. So I have some good pictures on the way for you, I just want you to know. I will send them in just a couple of weeks. Or this week. I hope that all is well there in stg. Don’t enjoy too much without me. So I am looking good 36/34 pants haha saweet! I will have a 6 pack or at least close, when I come home especially since there are plenty hills and no food. I love you guys soo much!

Love Elder Kev

TRANSFERRED!!!

Hey family,

How was your week this week? I hope that all is well with you at home. So this week we do have some changes. For one the district is changing. But I will save that for later. I think I need to do some business first, haha. I know I ask so much of you guys but I need to ask another favor. Because the lack of power and light I have been using my headlight a lot so I really need like a bopat load of aaa batteries. I also need some socks preferably Nike sports socks, they hold up the best, just don't send dress socks they really are terrible and I wear boots everyday. Also I would like a tide to go pen at if all possible. You know we have a standard to up hold with looking good I can't have these spots.

So this week we had some baptisms. Just 3. I felt kind of bad because 3 did not show up because they said that they are sick. Man I just don't understand sometimes. They don't fully comprehend the magnitude of the decision that they are making. But they will. Someday. Other than that it was a pretty good baptism. We are getting really good at doing them. We do them every week almost. I discovered that the Lord has over 50 conversions now with us. I guess that's really awesome, at least I thought so.

So this week we had a good program. It was about the Book of Mormon. I thought it was so good. We sang and Elder Lambson sang a solo. Holy smokes, talk about amazing. He takes your breathe away when he sings, he is so good at it. One day I wish to be good at singing. So I need to really practice if I want to steal the hearts of many with my voice when I return. Haha. Yeah right, that would never happen.

So funny story, I don't know why Africans think that I am weak but I am not. He wanted to wrestle me. So I said no.. only if he and Elder Tims wrestle. Well he did it and to make a long story short, I made both of them tap out. Yes both of them and they wrestled me at the same time. The sad thing is he was a wrestler in high school. I have been working out every day so I can be ripped. It just isn't really working. Oh ya so I found a scale and I weighed 224. I know, I am still fat but I know the six pack will come with time. Just don't worry, I will get it. Especially with the new transfer. I am going to Freetown. I am pretty excited but I have come to realize that I have lots of junk. Man I have been doing food storage for so long now and turns out we have to eat it before I go cause I don't have enough room :( Sad day! But I am going to Elder Rochester. I think it will be good. I will see if I can whip him into my shape,Haha. No, I am looking forward to rolling my one year. I am an old man now!

Well I don't have much else to say. Oh ya, today we had a nice cake that I made it for Elder Taylors b-day. It was good and I had candles because my b-day package came about 2 months after my bday so… he enjoyed. Happy Father's day and birthdays to all. I love you all so much. Have a good week.

Love Elder Kev

Oh ya my branch is Kissy 2 - keep up the good!

Just Call Me a Pack Mule

Dear Family,

The week was really good.  I guess you could say I am pretty ready to leave this area though. I am getting tired of people just giving me the short end of the stick. So many lessons we have in the week. So many times we have the spirit reveal  answers to our awaited prayers. And so quickly we all forget the reason we were asking Heavenly Father for help. How can people pray and ask God for help and then not want to put in a little effort. You can't plant a garden without first preparing the ground.  What don't people understand about the concept that you reap what you sow.  I don't want to complain too much but I just get frustrated with people sometimes.  I feel like, if your not going to do what we ask, then don't waste our time by lying to us.

 

So a little recap on the last week.  You know I had to carry the propane tank back so we were kind of late.  This tank is like 100 lbs, really heavy.  So we had to travel a ways to get back to the apartment.  So in my infinite wisdom, I thought it would be safe to ride a bike.  Not just alone but with Elder Tims and the driver through the crazy traffic.  Holy smokes!  My abb was strained.  I had that tank on my back - stop, start.  Stop, start.  Man, people were impressed.  To be honest, I was impressed too cause I carried this thing for like 30 min on bike.  Then we got to my wheelbarrow lady (well that's what I call her - she sells bread and plantains to me every blessed day) and I got my dinner from her. Then we had to go again farther to our apartment. And this time it is only about 2 miles or less from the junction.  Normally, we take a bike but we had to get a 5 gallon tank of gas for our generator.  Once we got about ¾ mile down the road, we got the gas.  So picture - this a huge tank on my shoulder (about 3 times as big as the bbq one ) and then, cause my comp was feeling sick, I carried the gas too !!  Man, I looked like a mule or an ox or something.  All I know is that when I got home, I was pretty exhausted.   I decided to then read my letters which lifted my spirits.

 

We went out in the week and had some good lessons. I really am happy with this guy, his name is Stanford.  He asks awesome questions and you can really feel the spirit when you are teaching the man.  I am hoping that he will keep going towards the light.  I hope that we can get him and his huge family that would be so awesome.  Another pretty amazing thing that happened this week is while we were looking through the bush for some peeps to teach, we came across this wicked old lady and when I say old I mean really old.   I mean SHE MET HITLER!!! Man I didn't know Liberians could reach such an age. I am pretty sure that my life expectancy is like 40 years old now that I have lived here.  Ha ha, no I am just kidding, but it was cool to hear some stories about that from this old lady. She is muslim but….. we will get her through her children.

 

I told you that it was a bad Idea to draw water for people, well I am going to stick with that opinion. When you help people they totally take advantage of you. But it's ok cause I love to help the people here.  I love them.  So I have a pretty sweet pics that should be coming soon.

 

The rain has been beating the tar out of us these last few weeks.  It is like we go swimming.  I have found myself wearing the sweet tie my beautiful girl gave me cause the rain doesn't ruin it. . . As for power, well we don't have it and for water about the same.  So that means that my headlight is coming in handy. Which also means I am using batteries. Which means I would like some aaa batteries, if you wouldn't mind. The ones the sell here are so crappy. They barely work.

 

So this coming week is transfer news. I would be pretty happy to go. I would love to meet back up with Elder Jenkins. I miss that man. He really is a good friend. And he would make my mission life easier. But in all honesty, it is going fast. I met a American family this week. Man I tell you it was so sweet. They are members. I love American spirit. I forgot what it was like to have a grown up conversation. This week I was thinking a lot about the atonement. I love the atonement. Christ really loves us. I was thinking about how much God loves us. People think that we just suffer and God doesn't care. But something I know is these people are crazy. If they don't think that God is sitting up there wincing in pain because he is watching his children suffer they are wrong. Go loves us so much. He loves us so much he would allow us to suffer to gain for the greater good. I hope all is well at home with the family. Things here are still truckin' along. We have enough water to drink and enough power from our generator to plan but that's about it. Don't worry about me. Just keep doing what's right and never forget to pray and help those around you.

 

Much love from Africa.   Love,  Elder Moss

 

 

When ever you think life is hard!!!  Just remember me :P

 

Dear Family,

How are things going over there? I bet that it is starting to get real hot. On one hand I feel bad but on the other I really don't, haha. So the week was nice and fast and long at the same time. I really am getting tired of the people giving me the shaft. Man, it is terrible. We had a baptism planned and this guy, his name is Jones, he has never missed church since he has been coming and I have been teaching him for a good 2 months now. The sad part is that I totally had his baptism planned for an earlier day and he said no he wanted to wait till June. I had a bad feeling about it. Satan loves to delay people. Yup, you guessed it, he missed his baptism. Man, after church we went to his place and he is lucky for a couple of reasons. One, he wasn't there and two, I was too hungry and thirsty from fasting to beat the tar out of him. Man people can chap my hide sometimes. So many people will look me in the eyes and promise me they will come to church and then they don't come. Oh well. I am so blessed to be here. Mission work is sweet. So that same day, we were lead to this lady and she was standing upstairs on a balcony and we were just bantering back and forth. Needless to say, I committed her to join our church. I really think that she will come too. I have that spirit of discernment, you know. This new curriculum that we are doing is sweet. It really breaks things down and gets to the point and it really forces us to rely on the spirit. So one of the things that we have been doing over here, at least in Liberia, is to fill out a record immediately after they accept the date. Man they really love that. People eat that up. It is like, at that moment, you can feel that that record we are filling out here on this earth is being filled out in Heaven. Man i love the priesthood. So Elder Taylor gave me a compliment. He said that I was one of the cleanest people in the mission. I thought that was cool. I really like to carry my load.

So I decided to do some service because I saw some people struggling to pump water. I decided to help. Man, I think that was a bad idea. The pump is hard to use so the kids thought a man helping to pump would be great. I pumped like a thousand gallons of water cause every kid and their dog came running to get water from a white man.

So the rain is officially here again. Holy smokes, I forgot what REAL RAIN is. Man you have no idea. When you get caught in a storm here, the amount of wetness is no different than if we went swimming. I guess it is better to be wet from rain than to be wet from sweat. So I will take what i can get . They asked if we wanted raincoats. No, I prefer the cool weather!! I don't have any other breathtaking story this week. I am really getting tired of this whiteman having money thing. I am broke, even the bike people tried to make a pact against us and charge us more. You can't do that to me. I will walk. Suckers, a little money is better than no money. They will learn.

So our propane ran out again. Guess who got nominated to carry the gazzilion pound tank to get filled - ya - you're right - it was me. Anyway, one more year and I won't do it again. Man, my english is terrible, sorry. So I can't wait to send some pics home. You guys are going to die when you see this nasty dead fish hanging out of my mouth. Once again, you take what you can get. So my comp, he is good but the over eager bluffing attitude is driving me up the wall. We have an amazing day and he has to blab it. I like to keep it to myself. I really do have good days, I just don't want to always talk myself up, you know?

I love you guys so much and thanks for your support. I miss you and I really miss power and water! Keep the faith!

Love, Elder Kev