HE'S HOME!!!

We are happy to have Elder Moss back on American soil.  Enjoy the reunion photos!

The Final Email - Yippee

Hey family,

Things here are going great. I am pretty excited that this is my last email. Actually, I am more excited that I don’t have to use this internet café again!

The work is going great - transfers changed since I sent my last email. I didn't go to Elder Ngerem in Freetown. I am with Elder Despain on Sewa road which is still in Bo. So that means that I will be taking a bus back to Freetown at like 5 in the morning on Saturday. That should be fun! Elder Despain is awesome. It is too bad that I only get to spend one week with him. Maybe I will extend so that I can finish out with him. What do you think? Ha ha Just kidding. It is bittersweet - yeah - I am going home.

So I heard a sweet quote this week. It is really an awesome idea and really true. It goes like this:

 

I went outside to find a friend
But could not find one there;
I went outside to be a friend,
And friends were everywhere! —Payne

This is awesome. It makes me think that people need to stop waiting for blessings and go and be the blessing. I believe charity is what it is all about. If you want to make yourself happy then go and make others happy. I think that is one of the things that I really want to focus on when I get home. Serving others.

As for the work, it is great. I just heard an amazing story, about a man that I baptized named Emanuel Tarpeh and his whole family. I love him. He is great! I was just told that he and his family went to the temple, that one I knew for awhile, but the big news is that he brought 23 people to the temple with him!!!!! I can't even begin to tell you how happy that makes me feel to know that the gospel is finally sinking in. I love this work and I can't wait to do it at home.

So for my final week I have been transferred into the shlums. The apartment name is the dungeon or hell. It is rough, so rough that a general authority saw it and told us to get out now, ha ha. Anyway, I don’t think it is worse than the Kissy apartment that I stayed in for 5 months. So today my task was to celestialize the apartment. Wow - that was a project and a half. I cleaned years of scum out of the bathroom and threw away pounds of garbage. The elders are amazed that the place can look so nice. That is a trait I picked up on mission. I love to be very clean and organized. I have learned something about suffering in hell. It is in accordance to what you do in life that makes you suffer. So it makes me laugh when people call the apartment hell, it is because they are too lazy to clean it and that’s why it sucks. I understand that the apartment sucks and you can.t fix that but you don’t have to live in the dirt. Anyway, maybe some day they will learn to take some initiative and just do what needs to be done.

That’s about it. I love you guys so much. Thanks so much for all the love and support over the last two years. Take care of yourselves and I will see you in a few short days. Love you so much!

Love your son and missionary,

Elder Kevin Moss

 

PS keep the faith, never give up or let up!

Hey family,

So it's been another week! I guess that means I only have one more email after this one. Kinda crazy to think that I am actually going to come home. The work here is the same as normal. Honestly, I wish that I had something super exciting to talk about but nothing is coming to me. We didn’t have any baptisms this last Saturday but we did have an awesome meeting with the district councilman over missionary work. He had lots of great ideas that we can try to get the branches more involved in missionary work. Members here kind of forget the importance of helping missionaries. But we will try to rekindle the spirit of conversions in the branches. Well, others will because I am being transferred to Freetown so I can have a slow death in the apartment next to the mission office. Which might be nice because I think I will have water finally for my last one week. Maybe that will help my transition back to American standards. Honestly, I am going to be sick when I get home if I am not careful. You sent that package and the candy in it virtually put me into cardiac arrest. I was not feeling good after eating some few sweets. So if you plan on feeding me sweets and candy and stuff when I get home, you can take it easy for a bit so I can get readjusted so I don’t eat to much and pass out. Thank you so much for the package by the way. It is awesome to feel the love that I get form home. It is great to know that I have so much support. I just hope that I don’t disappoint anyone when I get home. I have changed but we will see how much people like me now.

So I guess the excitement for the week is that I got stung by a wasp. Ya, we had a wasp nest in our house in the hallway. Just one of the things you learn to deal with here. As you can imagine, everyone is too scared to kill them. So they multiplied until I found one in my bed and it stung me. I got vexed and went and grabbed a can of bug spray and matches and went redneck style on it. Yep, we torched them! Let me tell you, that is the best way to kill bees but they can get angry when you burn there wings off.

Wow - this week I almost lost it. I almost got into a brawl with 4-8 people because I was so vexed. And I am sure that I could have beaten the tar out of all 8 of them. You would not believe what happened. Here I am, sitting at the church, my companion is doing an interview and I look out the window and see people are gathering and watching something. I see this man with a whip, beating someone like he wanted to kill them. So I grabbed another missionary and ran out there to see what we could do. When I get there, there is a maybe 7 year old boy, hog tied and they are beating him like you wouldn’t believe. He was laying on the ground bleeding and looking half dead. Anyone who knows me can imagine where it went from there. I am not sure if I turned green or not but I am sure that I looked like hulk. I definitely acted like him. I started to untie him when someone tried to stop me, notice I said “tried” to stop me . . . I am telling you, I would have beat up all 8 of them if I was not a missionary. After I untied this boy and helped him to get up and go, we had a nice talk with the parents and the people there. Well, it wasn’t that nice but it was the truth. I couldn’t believe what was happening. I don’t know exactly what he did, but I know that he didn't deserve a beating like that. I guess the people there are lucky I showed compassion. Afterward, I went back to the church and cooled down. These people are lucky that there is not really anything like calling the police or they would have found themselves in a heap of trouble. Moving on . . . .

So since I am being transferred, I am going to miss the next baptism. Which is sad. We put lots of work into finding these investigators that are going to be baptized and my companion and I helped our zone to have around 20 so that will be great. We are hoping for about 60 baptisms for our zone this month. We have been working hard and they are doing great. I think the biggest thing is that we are doing what we are asked to do. Even president has recognized that because he is leaving the whole zone the same this next transfer except for me because I am going home. Like dad says, "don’t change something that works".

Anyway, things are great - thanks for the gifts and most of all, the love. I don’t have much else to say except I think I am going to miss this place. As much suffering as I have endured, I love the people here. I love this mission. I love you guys Talk to you next week.

Love Elder Kev

Bo West Zone
The Mission President and his wife on the left
The two Americans behind them are the APs
The couple on the right is the senior couple in Bo
And that cute American in the middle is Elder Moss
 ZL to all those African missionaries
The Lone American Missionary

Hey family,

So as you know Mother's day was SWEET!  It is always so awesome to talk with you guys.  I am sure people laugh at me after my phone call (even while I am calling) because I always have this stupid huge, cheesy smile that I can't hide.  It makes me so happy to talk with all of you.  I love it!  I can’t wait to be able to do it every day. I am what you would call trunky.  On the flip side,  I am still working my tail off. This week was full of business - mission politics kind of stuff.  We had meetings all week.  We had leadership training and zone council and the next day we had zone conference, my last one, might I add.  It was good, just a lot of stuff going on.  Something that I gathered from president was cool. It is a quote from president Packer. President Packer said "better to be one mile from hell heading away from it then 100 miles from hell heading towards it".  I think this is true.   if we are trying to find our way to heaven then it doesn’t really matter where hell is.  Lots of times people want to be that super hero, that one person that can have that fame. People always have that dream to save the world. The problem is people always go about doing it the wrong way. If you want to change the world, the best place to start is with yourself.  It bugs me when people forget about little things.  These little things are the things that make the big things.  I loved how coach Hos would always stress the importance of small and simple things. If you cannot do the small things then how can you ever do the big things

I am grateful for this mission.  It has done a lot of me.  It hasn’t helped my English at all but it has really opened my eyes to becoming the person that I want and know I can be. I don’t know of another place that I could have served that would been so refining.  Mission is something that you can pass through or it can pass through you.  The decision is yours, no one can make it for you and no one will force it on you. But I am glad that my mission is passing through me and making me a man.

So the week was good like I said.  We had a baptism.. which was a challenge all in itself, but worth it when all the headaches are over.  We had an awesome baptism.  In our zone alone, we had 30 baptized.  It was a good day, lots of conversions.  Even though we are always having baptisms, for some reason I am never satisfied.  I think it Is because I want to see more souls come unto Christ. I can't even imagine how Christ and Heavenly Father are feeling.  I KNOW that God is not satisfied with 50 percent of his children returning to him.  He can't be.  He loves us all and he wants all us to accept the gospel.  He loves baptisms but he wants more conversions.  He will only be satisfied if all return to Him.  That’s why I wish I could do more sometimes. I want to walk away knowing that I have done all that I could do.

Well I really don’t have much to say except that I feel sorry for the family.  I know Caden is coming home tomorrow and I know that is going to make mom so trunky!  She is going to make you guys nuts!  I love you guys so much and thank you for the love and support that you give me. Let the Lord always be your light.

Love Elder Kev

PS I don’t sound like an African.  I blame it on the phone :)

Hey Family,

Bo is good - mission is good.  How is life over in the states?  I bet you are getting excited for me to come home :) because I am definitely getting excited for me to come home! So I don’t have much to say.  We had a great baptism this week.  It was a zone baptism and it was small but spirit filled.   It was 11 people. The baptism was great but I tell you this drought is kicking my butt left and right. We suffered to fill the font and when we finally got it filled, it was really dirty, like too dirty to see the bottom.  But it is ok.  The people were very happy to be able to make sacred covenants with God. Next week will be a big baptism.  I think we are having like 26 people or something so we really need to pray that everything goes well.  We are praying for rain.  Speaking of rain,  I swear every time it rains outside, it rains in my bed as well.  It really sucks!   Two nights last week I was driven from my bed on because I was soaking wet from the rain. The dilemma is if I close the window, then it is too hot and if I open them, then I risk getting rained on.  Rain is good.  It is the means by which we fill our buckets to drink water, take showers and even to wash our clothes. So I guess it Is bittersweet when it rains.  Soon I won’t have to worry about these crazy weather patterns.

This week I have learned that my competitive spirit is still very much a part of me. We played some football, well soccer, and it got a little heated. Sometimes Africans can make me crazy but whatever, I just let it go. So I have been thinking that when I get home I want to train for a triathlon. I know I am still fat but I would love to get fit enough to do one.

The week was filled with lots of business.  I went on exchanges back to one of my old areas and that was fun.  They seemed to really miss me over there.  Had food in surplus. Everyone wanted to feed me. It was a nice reunion. Also this week we had the opportunity to watch conference, which was good.  People here just don’t understand the magnitude of watching a living prophet.  They need to realize that we have a living oracle of God on the earth.  They need to understand that the purpose of prayer is for seeking help  I am glad that I have the Lord in my life.  It is so much different when you use His help.  It doesn’t mean that we have to be super weird or different or change our personality to be Christlike but it does mean that we need to do what's right. Always - no compromising.  Prayer is something we need to always remember to do it. I can't wait to start it in my own home and always pray morning and night.

Do what is right, the day dawn is breaking.  I was thinking today about soccer.  Many times people stand around and wait for the ball but the good players are the ones that go and get the ball.  Don’t wait for blessings to come but go and be the blessing for someone and then the blessings come your way.  I think dad, you are a great example of that. Thank you.  Dad you remind me of yes man.  Whenever someone asks for help, dad says Yes! Yes! Yes!   Thanks for you example.

Love all you guys.  Sorry this is scattered and crazy but love ya!  See you soon!  Talk to you Sunday -  woot woot!

Love Elder Kev

Hey family,

How are things over there in America the beautiful? Things in salone are just dandy I guess you could say. The  Lord really wants me to grow the last few weeks that I am serving.  It seems as if there is zero of the basic facilities that missionaries need.  So far our generator is down and our well is dry.  This week we had a few hurdles we were faced with.  Lately we are the only place that has had water in our little community so the children love to come and fetch water.  Unfortunately, in the process our hand pump could not handle the excessive pumping that it and it broke.  It is interesting how the thing was built (you know me I have dad’s genes so I had to take it apart and see what I could do).  In the process of dismantling the pump, I found the problem.  It was a broken chain link.  The pump works much the same as a jack pump.  Like the ones they use to pump oil.  But this one is man powered.  Anyway, luckily I had my leatherman and a crescent wrench and a "can do attitude" to get the job done.  So we got the chain out, after many years of rusting, might I add.  So now it was off to find the part.  To my surprise, it was very hard to find.   It is amazing that I could not find it considering that these pumps are everywhere here.  So we finally found one and now the next problem came.  The price.  Because the church did so much well work here people think that we had money so up the price went.  I did my best to talk him down.  When I finally got him to a reasonable price, the next step was to get president to approve.   That, my friends, is a task all in itself.  After about 2 hours of waiting for approval, we went home and we got the pump fixed. So finally we had water again!  Nope - shortly after the pump was fixed our well ran dry - that's our luck!   So needless to say, I am sitting here with somewhat of a beard and I am smelling mighty fine. But I guess that’s what happens when there is no water. What can you do…. Towa! Or endure! All these things give you experience. This water issue is a problem throughout Bo and I believe, throughout the mission, but the worst here.  It is even the reason that we had to cancel a baptism of about 20 people.  What a headache that was.  I can say that I did everything that I could possibly do to put on this baptism but nothing was working for us. Our well at the church was torn up and they were having a wedding at the church that night plus it was a holiday weekend so no one wanted to lift a finger to help.  I wish I would have had more personal money.   I would have shipped us all to the river outside of town but I didn’t have the means of changing it on such short notice.  Our only option was to cancel the baptism and pray that this weekend works out better.  It is crazy the type of things that we have to deal with as missionaries here. I never thought in my life that I would have to organize a truck to pump water from a river from another city to come and put it in our font.  I never thought I would have to shower with a bucket, that’s when I have water.   Even though I have to do all these things, I have learned that it is not have to anymore, it is I get to do these wonderful things.  I get to help change the lives of people for ever.  I get to be refined and perfected.  What a great opportunity it is to be a part of this mission.  The only time success comes before work, is in the dictionary.  No matter how much we pray for better lives or pray for things to happen, nothing will happen until you put in your dues.  Sierra Leone has done a great and marvelous work in my life.  Forever I am grateful! So I guess mission, all in all, is good. Don’t get me wrong. I am stoked to come home but mission has been good.

I hope that all is well at home.  Thanks for all that you do.  I guess my thought for the week is work. If you want anything in life, work for it.  Family, as you know, is important for me.   I am glad that my parents worked to make the family that we have.  I hope and pray that I will be able to do the same one day.  Family is the most essential and important thing on this earth.  What a blessing it is to have one.  I love you guys so much.

Love Elder Kev

Hey family!!

Well it is another week gone. Things here are the norm I guess you could say. I am not too sure what I need to say or what I should say, except that I am an old man - 6 weeks until I can kiss the promised land.

I guess the first thing is HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY AWESOME FATHER!!!!Sorry I can't give you a hug or anything but just imagine it. And Caden, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU TOO. Love ya man - see ya soon.

So for my week hmmmm, as a person I have learned an important something about the way you treat people. Most especially I have learned the type of father I need to be and it is a proverb. It goes something like this: if you treat a man how he ought to be, he becomes what he ought to be, if you treat a man how he is, that’s how he is. Sometimes you have to treat people in a way they don’t understand because they don’t know what is best for them. And because you love them you are willing to do what's right, regardless of the consequence. If you expect someone to fail, and you don’t give them a chance then they lived up to your expectations. You can't be scared to lift someone because you think they are going to bite you when they get to the top. Charity is an awesome thing. I wish that everyone had charity in this world - imagine what it would be like.

The work is going. It was nice this week to experience investigators running to us instead of away from us. I love to see people asking us and wanting us to come rather than when we feel like we force lessons on them. For me, one of the things I love is learning about the scriptures and doctrine. One of the things that you can learn is that the original church of Jesus Christ was known as “the way”. Obviously, it has it's different symbolic meanings. The obvious meaning for it is "the way to go". The less obvious one is that you "can search and see". For example, dad knows that in machines, they have guide ways, which direct in the way the table of the machine moves. It does it precisely. Look and seek revelation for yourself but see how Christ is "the way." It is interesting to look in the scriptures to see the different times that Christ uses it and also the apostles. Christianity was later given as more of a nickname to the church and the later accepted. Now Christianity really doesn’t mean a whole lot any more because every one and their dog calls themselves Christians but to be a Christian, a true Christian, means you are following Christ. How can you follow Christ if you are not fully living his teachings? So don’t be LDS and not a Christian. Anyway, I am getting off of my soap box. I don’t care if someone calls me non-christian or anything as long as they know that I am on the path back to my Father in Heaven. I love the symbols in the scriptures. It really brings new meaning to things.

This last Sunday I was in charge of sacrament again and that stunk. I never like doing that. I gave a talk and it was good I guess. I love to talk about Christ like attributes and my family, the two greatest things in the world. I also received a phone call from president telling me that he is sending off one of the people that I baptized on a mission. So it is cool. I think that makes two people now that I have baptized that are going to the field.

So for living conditions, it’s the same - my bed or my foam mat is on the floor (what I would give for one of those Costco foam mats, you know, the red and blue ones.) We don’t have power again - our generator is broken and our well keeps going dry but its OK. I am happy. Worldly things don’t so much give me pleasure any more. If I have my family, I have the world. I have heaven, I have everything. It's what it is all about. I will continue to say it until I cant anymore. Family is number one no matter what. Even family came before church. But because God loved the family so much that he gave us something to help them and that is church. How blessed we truly are to live in a dispensation where families can be eternal, and how we have living prophets to direct us. I can't tell you how much I love you guys. Keep the faith. Enjoy the journey, and LOVE YOUR FAMILY!!!!!

Love Elder Kev

Hey family,

How are you guys doing over there? The week for me was great and, actually, it went by really quick. How about for you? This week we had some good lessons. I wanted to thank you for the money that you have sent me. I wanted you to know what I have been doing with some of it. I have not been using it for food or personal things but I have been using it to buy things for members or recent converts. For things like hymn books and Book of Mormon stories, triple combinations, Bibles and so forth. I have really found it quite rewarding. It is awesome to be able to spend what little money you have to see someone light up when you hand them a brand new set of scriptures. For some people here that is something that can take them months, even years to be able to buy. I am just sacrificing something I want for something I want more, and that is for the people here to be able to learn more about our Heavenly Father. One of the things that we got to do was take this Book of Mormon stories book to a guy who is having a hard time and cannot really read. What a great lesson that was when we taught him the hymn "I am a child of God" and sang it before we prayed and began. It was awesome! We have been finding investigators that just don’t want to leave us alone. We can't teach them fast enough. I love it and wish that we could have even more of them (I know, a little greedy).

This week I woke up on Friday and I could not remember what I had to do. I was walking around trying to find out what I was forgetting. I knew that I had to do something. Anyway, I was trying to get it figured out. Well I just prayed about it and….. nothin' so I went and exercised and got ready, and still was filling uneasy, like I was forgetting something. So I prayed to open my personal study and I sat in my chair. Then I lifted my head and there was my answer. The emails that you had sent me for the week. I remembered the significance of that day and what I needed to do, so once again I knelt down and I prayed and this time I thanked Heavenly Father for the answer to my prayer and also to start my fast. I had a great day fasting and praying for my bro and sis. I hope that all went well for them. It is amazing how prayers are answered. Sometimes the Holy Ghost racks your brain so that you can figure something out, and then the answer comes as you search.

Yours is a mission you alone can fill.
Whether it be to build or teach or till;
Your goal may still be hidden from your view,
But somewhere God has urgent need of you!

This poem is awesome! There is a need for everyone somewhere, no matter how big or small, there is still a need. Something I learned in doing mission work is to pray as if it all depends on God and work as if it all depends on you.I am doing my best to keep the pedal to the floor. There are trials, of course, but we have to man up and bear them. In this mission and in life, we can choose to be offended and do our own thing or we can choose to do the right thing. Many people in this world choose to be offended by another member or a friend or whatever and they choose to stay away from church and also to stay away from all the promised blessings in the church. All because they chose to be offended. Mission work is full of this, any missionary can attest to it but it is all about our attitude. Like I said in a prior letter, if we always look for crap then that is all we will see. On the contrary, if all we look for the good, then that is what we will see. We are powerful as human beings. Sometimes we neglect our own power and essentially we choose to do anything we want, whether to succeed or to limit ourselves. Like the doctrine of faith, if we truly exercise our faith then there are no limitations. If we choose not to put our whole faith in the Lord, then we limit the things we can do. Sorrow or happiness, it is all a choice. It is physically impossible for anything or anyone to offend you. You have to allow it. Let's choose to be happy! Let's choose to smile! Let's choose to keep the faith and choose to receive blessings from our Father in Heaven. Christ has done it all for us. He has paid the price and now we need to do our part. That’s what I tell myself. Become better - don’t let things get you down. Trials will never go away. Accept them and grow from them. I love you guys so much. Have a great day and week.

Love Elder Kev

Travel Papers - Check!

Hello family,


Things here in Bo are great!! So you are probably wondering why I didn’t email yesterday. Here in Salone they come up with any excuse to take a day off from their busy schedule of doing nothing. So the holiday was …. Easter Monday! I think they should have an Easter Tuesday as well. Anyway, so you get your email today.


The week was great and bittersweet. Some good friends are going home but it is ok because they must first go home for me to be next to go home. I am trying to keep my foot on the gas. I am just hoping the car doesn’t run out of gas. No, things are good. We had a really great Easter program with a great attendance of 174. It was a great turn out with lots a of spirit. Another good thing that happened was I got a great telephone call from the office couple telling me that I will be going home on June 3rd, SO SWEET!!!!. I didn’t know that Elder Emanuelson was going home a little early too. It will be great to travel together!


We also had a great baptism this week. Her name is Isata. That was great. I love being able to baptize. It is a big testimony builder. I got to baptize 5 people that day. Also I got to do some confirmations on Sunday. I feel all tough here cause I can talk in front of people with out getting nervous. I think it will be a different story when I get home because there will be like 400 people at church instead of 150.


We also got transfer news I and am staying in Bo - the same companion - nothing really big happened except…. This is my last full transfer! Wow, I am trunky but I am working hard at the same time. I just hope I don’t annoy my companion with telling him every day how many days I have left. My mission is so sweet and I love the work but my family is sweeter and I can't wait to see all of you guys. Thanks for everything. I don’t have much to say - sorry - love you so much!



Love Elder Kev

Happy Easter

Hey family,

How are things going over there? Things here are going great. The week had its struggles but you know I was reading some of my newsletter pages and I am noticing that I don't sound too grateful. I don’t really talk too much about all the positive things that happen so I even though my mission is rounding down there is still time to change. The good things have been happening all along and those are the things that are changing my life. The cost of obedience is nothing compared with the cost of disobedience. That’s something that I love. The Lord has provided us a road map. The road map consist of trials, commandments, easy roads and rough roads and many other things along the way, but the special thing about this road is that it leads back to Him. Life is great when on the road to Christ.

So brother Neves was accurate about the mission but hey, no worries, I have less than two months left. This week was funny - so we have been teaching this guy, ironically his name is Joseph Smith. He is the only guy in a house of like a million woman. But he is awesome and is progressing really well. Anyway, the grandma and the sisters were cooking so we took the opportunity to offer our services. Unfortunately, in the process of cooking, my pants got covered in fufu something equivalent to flour. So the grandma comes out with a rag and starts talking she says grap, TINAP!! I say ok she then starts to speak to me in mende telling me to turn around. So I did and then she started to clean my pants with a rag. Tells me to turn and continues cleaning. I don’t know if you have ever had your pants cleaned while they are on you by a old lady but I tell you, it is awkward! Well that is not the most awkward part - it was the return appointment. We were at another appointment and we often sit down on big stones on the ground or tree stumps or anything we can find, so your butt gets dirty. Well this lady always comes out of no where and SPANKS ME haha . It is crazy! I have to be careful when I am around there. I always have to make sure my pants are clean so she doesn’t try to help me by spanking me.

So we have come up with a method here for the people who cannot read the Book of Mormon but still feel the spirit and gain a testimony of it. What we have come up with is to have people underline words, such as family or God or Christ or Heavenly Father, etc. We write them in the front of the book and explain the words and then we have them search for the words in the book. It gives them two major things - one a good assignment and two, they can see how much the book talks about Christ and God and families.So we saw some real success with it this week. We gave the assignment to this lady a few weeks ago and she never really tried. Anyway, she got sick and was laying in bed and picked it up. Well that’s when the spirit took control. The next time we saw her she said "elders, I love the Book of Mormon. It is so true." I get a big smile on my face and I asked her to let me borrow her book. So I picked it up she had underlined the words Lord and God and Christ almost for the entire book. I was so impressed. It really touched my heart.

Easter, what a great time of year. It really is the best holiday. We, as children of God, need to focus more on Christ. Year round instead of just on holidays or Sundays. I have really come to love Christ. I have been studying on symbols in the Book of Mormon and in the Bible and let me tell you something, WOW!!! The scriptures really come alive when you understand symbols in these books. I can't even begin to tell you. For example, the robe of Christ or robes in general, are normally symbols of authority or power. Along with colors… so when things are said like the woman reached out to touch the hem of his robe or his clothes, it is a symbol priesthood blessings. As well as the red robe symbolizes the atonement and sacrifice etc. Christ saving us from sin through authority. Also like bread is a symbol of life. Christ is the bread of life. The list goes on and on but I don’t want to bore you with these. I really look forward to studying the scriptures with all you guys when I get home. Anyway, my studies have been so great and I am learning so much. I can really see the scriptures coming alive. This church is true and the more you study the more you understand. I am so grateful for life and the time to be here. Thanks for the support have a great week. Also thank you for the birthday wishes and Happy Birthday to Sharon. And transfers are this week so I will let you know what happens. Happy Easter!

Love you guys!!! Remember Christ did it for YOU!!!!! And it wasn’t easy even for him.

Love you -Love Elder Kev

Hey family,

How are things over in the good ole USA? Things here are trudging along. I heard a good poem and thought I would share it with you all it is about prayer!!

PUSH

Pray

Until

Something

Happens

Living the Way we Pray

I knelt to pray when day was done

And prayed. O Lord, bless everyone

Lift from each heart the pain,

And let the sick be well again.

And then I woke one day,

And carelessly went on my way,

The whole day long I did not try

To wipe a tear from any eye.

I did not try to share the load

Of any brother on the road;

I did not even go to see

The sick man just next door to me

Yet once again when day was done

I prayed: O Lord, bless everyone

But as I prayed to my ear

There came a voice that whispered clear:

Pause, hypocrite, before you pray:

Whom have you tried to bless today?

God’s sweetest blessing always go

By hands that serve him here below.

And then I hid my face and cried:

Forgive me God for I have lied,

Let me but live another day.

And I will live the way I pray

I really like this poem, it is reality and it is something that most of us do in this life.

Nothing really too exciting this week. As you know, we have been suffering for new investigators so prayer is key. One of the days we were frying our brains trying to get new investigators so I just was praying please, just let someone talk to us. Low and behold, it worked. My first impression was great. I prayed and God sent me a drunk guy. At first I was a little ticked but then I started talking to this guy. Come to find out, he had attended church in Freetown and just never became a member because there were no missionaries to teach him. We also found out that this guy loves the bible and he even started his own church. He knew that his church of small 50 or so members was not a really true church. He knew in his heart that the LDS church was the only true church on the earth. He made it clear to us that he wants to join the church and leave his habits and even to try to get his old members to followhim to the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was blown away. If we would have turned away from this guy because he smelled drunk we would have never had such an opportunity. We haven’t had a chance to meet him again but we will see what will come of it.

I heard a funny joke this week. This guy was talking to us about America, like people always do with me, and he is telling me that he has to get to America before he dies. Even if he dies immediately after he gets off of the plane. I looked at him and said why would you just want to die there? He says “America is only about 2 miles away from heaven while Africa is only about two miles away from hell. The road to heaven is much shorter from America”. I was laughing. It is amazing how bad people want to get there.

This week I met a guy from San Jose. He lived there for over 30 years and came here for a visit. Anyway, he was talking to me and he was happy I was a Lakers fan in Utah. We invited him to church and one of his children came and liked it so that’s cool. I am trying to think of excitement. But it just is not coming….

This makes about a month of no power and we're still getting water by hand. Oh well, 9 weeks to go, right? Yup, president called me this week and said he is making the arrangements for 30 days early!! So that’s good. Also, tell brother Cox thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I got his package. It was really nice of them to send that for me.

Things are great. Mission is good. Oh and my companion's first name is David. (I found out because he wrote it on a record haha). He really doesn’t like me but it's ok because I love him. If only I was not an American, things would probably be better between us. Lots of Africans here as missionaries just don’t like us Americans. They feel intimidated for one reason or another. I don’t know.

Well, I love you guys- have a great week!! Oh ya, a good scriptureespecially for me, Mormon 6:20 - sorrows don’t bring return….

Love ya - have a good week. And let everyone know I love them.

Love Elder Kev

Hey family

How are you guys today? As for me, I am doing good. Not too many complaints.

Holy smoke - it is so crazy that Hintze is home. I am pretty sure that we went more than 2 years without writing a single thing to each other. Man what a crappy friend I am. That goes for all of my friends that are on missions right now. I am sorry I haven’t written you, I do have a small excuse. I am in the jungle and it is hard to write since I have no light and I can’t just walk to the mail box and send them. I would love to write people more but it is just hard. So I am sorry friends and family. I do love you guys though. Anyway, all these people that are coming home, could you please tell them hello and that I love them.

As for my week, it was filled with patience and learning. When you think that you have exercised an extreme amount of patience that is probably when you are wrong. This week we had a practice for our Easter program. It went well except I don’t understand why nobody will take you seriously during practice. During our practice, it was as if I was in primary trying to get everyone to be quiet so that we could do something. So what we did was just embarrass them so that they would practice on their own, ha-ha. We knew no one had practiced on their own so we made them sing in front of everyone. It was amazing how much better they sounded the second practice.

So this week was rough with trying to find investigators. I feel like sometimes I am just walking around trying to get anyone to talk to me. I don’t think I would do well in a stateside mission. I would get too angry when no one wanted to hear what I had to say. So we hope that the Easter program will help and we can start getting some referrals, just in time for me to come home. It amazes me how things in one area can be so busy and then the next area it is terrible. So that is the work. We struggled to have 20 lessons this week. I know that is crazy for some people but we can normally have like 25 or 30 in a week.

So we got our generator back!! Yea - that means we can charge things again and plan in the light. But the rather unfortunate thing is that something died in our well. I think it is a lizard. I really don’t think that I am meant to have good water on my mission. If it is not one thing, it’s the next. Dad you are lucky on this one because the hole on the top of the well is too small for me to fit in or otherwise I would be down there getting out the dead animal that is in there. Also the well is really deep so I don’t really want to go in there. Someone is going to have to get this problem fixed so we can take a shower (or what we consider a shower). Another one of those sacrifices we make as missionaries here in Africa.

Today was good. We got a bunch of missionaries together and members and recent converts and had a soccer game. It is so awesome when we can go have a clean match, have a prayer and see our converts become friends with the branch. Also, we got a referral today in an area where we need investigators so I know that things are starting to pick up. Sorry if I am too negative all the time, I don’t try to be!! Also, another thing that made the match great was we won! Today was good and things are getting better. I don’t have much else to say. We have this guy his name is Chris and we just baptized him. He is so good and he is also very good at soccer. He won the golden boot. He is practically a national player but he wants to go on mission rather than go and play now. Another thing that I love about this guy is that he really respects his mom. That is something that is big for me.

I am grateful to be here and to serve. I love you guys have a great week.

Love Elder Kev

Another Week in Paradise!

Hey family!

How was the week? How is life? Things here are rough, but whatever, thus is life. If I was to tell you all that is going on you here would really either laugh or cry, I don’t know. Our area, as you know, needs a lot of work but that is not the biggest problem. Our zone is slowly falling into apostasy so as the new zone leaders, we are trying to stop that as fast as we can. It was kind of like the missionaries that we replaced didn’t care too much about what was going on. So lucky for us, we get to fix it. The biggest problem is my companion doesn’t really seem to care. It is hard because I am trying to love him and get to know him but he won't open up to me. I mean it is so crazy. I don’t even know his first name or his age or anything about him. But I have been trying to look for the good. This week I have been looking for things that I am grateful for and it always comes down to family. I am so grateful to have been raised in a home that has moral values with parents who love and care for me. Can't begin to tell you how much a child here would love to have their parent say I love you or I am proud of you. I don’t think that I have ever heard a parent here tell their child that they love them. It isn’t fair to the children here. I just wish that things could be different. I guess that is why we are here.

This week has been really busy. We are starting the planning of the Easter program. We are combining both of our zones so we have to work with the other zone leaders which is fun and nice because it is Elder Stott and Bennion. They are good guys so it is fun. It should be a good program. And another benefit about planning it is that I don’t have to sing a surprise solo or anything!

We had an awesome baptism this weekend. I really liked it… probably because it was huge! I love big baptisms. I think it really brings the spirit. It had to be like 30 people. Wow, it was fun. I wish I had taken pictures but, unfortunately, there is no way to charge my camera on account that our generator is broken and also no power from the power company. Anyway, it was great. We had a fun time rushing around fixing problems like filling the leaky font, meeting with the district president and other things, like trying to get the branch to stop hating our sisters. Man, sometimes I wonder about those sisters. The comments they make to people. I would be ticked too if I was in the branch. They make comments like "this food is for goats or this is for monkeys. I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard such statements. I mean, in there defense, the food really is for goats but you don’t have to tell the people that. They are sharing all that they have when they give you food. That really hurt us because it loses the trust between missionaries and members. Which really sucks because, as it is, we are having enough problems trying to find people to teach.

 

 

One of our big focuses in our zone is to recognize the reality of the living Christ. It is something that I think can really help missionaries and other people outside of mission. As we realize that we have a living Savior, we can recognize the daily blessings that come into our lives. And when we see these blessings, we are happy. We know that someone is there to help us. Mission is great! Easy, most defiantly not! Every companionship is filled with love and sometimes hate trials, success and sometimes failure, good ideas and bad ideas. It is all about the attitude that we have during the experience. When life throws you lemons you can either suck the bitterness of the lemon or you can just make it sweet by adding sugar. Nothing comes easy in life. It always takes extra, it always takes a little more. Something that I have found is that the only time success comes before work is in the dictionary. The journey of a thousand miles always begins with the very first step. As most people know, in my mission, I have had to carry a fair share of trials but I don’t expect it to stop. When life gets to easy it means we are not learning from any trials and if we are not learning then what is our purpose in life? Everything is about our attitude. So I guess I need to put this out there. People keep asking me about the Sherissa thing, wanting to know if I am ok. Asking me why I am not complaining. The reason is because there is no reason to cry and there is no reason to look back. I just need to focus on what is ahead of me and not what is behind me. I am truly happy that she is happy. That is what I always wanted. For her to be happy. What kind of loser would I be if I didn’t want that. I know the Lord will work something out for me. My purpose right now is not to look for a wife but to bring families unto the gospel. To recognize that God is there and loves them. So thank you everyone for the concerns and the support. All is well in Africa.

Oh, I got the package today, finally. I haven’t really gone through it yet, I am really busy. I am trying to make sure lots of work gets done from generator repairs to the water pump installation and other things. Don’t worry, I will try to refrain from spending lots of time in the well. I love you guys have a great week!

 

 

Love Elder Kev

Hey family,

As you know, it has been another week. It was a long one for sure. Honestly, for the first time in my mission I sat down under a tree and did not know what to do. I was completely out of ideas. Every single person that I even knew in the area did not want to see us. On top of it, the people that I did not know, did not want to see us. It was the first time I had a "door" slammed in my face. So I just hung my head for a minute trying to get my brains to stop frying and I decided that I just needed to pray. Wow ~ that was a good idea. It was like someone turned on the fire inside of me and I got up and told my companion "let's go and find some people". So we did and the best part is we just went looking and the first person I decided to talk to will be getting baptized on March 31st as well as the second person that I met. Talk about inspired ~ it was cool! I don't know if you know, but the crap really hit the fan these last couple of weeks. Our generator is broken, our water pump is broken, me and my comp are new in the area so we had no investigators and, man, we are in the thick of dry season. So it is not easy but the church is true. We are having problems a little with the members liking the missionaries because of our sister missionaries. I just don't know what to do with them. They are prideful and the members hate it, which doesn't help us elders much. Anyway, we will try to work it out.

So the last week was a grind and it was long and filled with contacting and teaching trying to build a new area so sorry I don't really have much to say. The missionaries here are great. We went and played some football today and that was fun. It has been a while since I have played so it was fun to get my mind off things and go and have fun. Unfortunately, I am competitive so I got a little road rash and skinned up a little but it is not bad ~ just a flesh wound.

So this last week I decided that I need to step up the exercise a notch but I swear I can't lose weight. I have been running 3 miles every day and nothing happens. I am down to 225. I swear I just can't get it to go. I did surprise myself though. My African brother and I ran 4 miles in 28 min. I was impressed. It really helps that we are at sea level though. Anyway, that's about that.

My comp is a little guy and his name is Elder Essel. He is really quiet and he is from Ghana. Like so quiet that I don't even know anything about him. I don't even know how old he is. He is kind of stubborn but I will learn to love him. It's funny because he won't tell me his age or anything about him. He says it doesn't pertain to my salvation so I don't need to know. Sometimes it drives me nuts but mission has taught me to deal with all sorts of different things. I think that the whole girlfriend thing was good. If anything I am just a better person now because I choose to grow from it. I know God won't fail me. I just need to turn to Him. I pity the people who turn away from God in their times of trouble or when they curse Him for their trials. That's the time when we most need his help, in my opinion. So thanks for the support. I am good and all is well and my luggage is much lighter too since I have a whole lot less pictures in there now haha.

Have a great week. Remember always Christ loves you God loves you and there is no alternative to happiness except to love them back and to love others as God loves you.  Love ya all.

Love Elder Moss

Just Another Statistic!

Hi Family,

Not the greatest day. Got the dreaded email. I am now among the DJ statistics. As for the week and the new area, well - no water in the apartment and or power, no Americans in the area or in the zone for that matter. I was white washed into an area so I have to find all new investigators and learn all the members plus everything else I have to learn about the zone. Oh yeah, and teach the new district leader in our district. Hey, it's all good. This is the beginning of a new day. God has given me this day to use it as I will. I can waste it or use it for good. But what I do today is important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it! When tomorrow comes this day will be gone forever leaving in it's place something that I have traded for it. I want it to be a gain and not a loss, good and not evil, success and not failure, so that I shall not regret the price that I have paid for it. The highest possible reward for my toil is not what I get from it but what I become by it.

The week was great filled with lots of learning!! Thanks for the support have a great week. Love you all.

Love, Elder Kev

Elder Holland is Amazing!

Hello family,

How was the week? Mine was pretty good, just seemed kind of unproductive. We had a good week before our long trip down to Freetown. We really did not get much accomplished except we had a few lessons and I got our distribution all figured out, it had been screwed up from previous missionaries that did not care. As you know, we started our journey to Freetown Thursday. Unfortunately, they let us know our travel arrangements on Wed. night at about 9:30 and, even more unfortunately, president wanted me to be in charge of the group of 6 missionaries that he wanted to take travel on the government bus at 4 in the morning. It was rather enjoyable trip and the other missionaries got a kick out of the lady that was hitting on me on the bus. Lucky for her she got my number (the number I gave her was the mission phone in the area she lives in haha). Man I feel bad that I kind of lied but I really don’t cause i am a missionary and it is weird that she was trying to hit on mean. She said she wanted to add me on facebook but she will find out quick that I won't add her cause I don’t get on facebook! I think these African women are looking for a white man to get them out of her because this is a regular thing. Now all I have to do is figure out how to get the woman to flock to me like this in America! Not only am I an African chick magnet but I think I am also a drunk man magnet too. I am always having problems with drunk people wanting to fight me and telling me to go back to America. I think it is funny but my companions get scared when they get all up in my face. I have learnd to stay very cool. I just walked away. I know, I know you are very impressed. Anyway, back to the trip - after we arrived in Freetown, we met the assistants and they took us to Godrich mansion!!! Holy smokes - those people are enjoying American luxury. That is where elder Andersen stays. He is a good guy. He is from Bloomington and lives in Grandma and Grandpa's ward. I spent the weekend with him. He really has a good attitude about the work. I love when people are here to work and work hard and not just because the are a missionary but because they love the gospel.

Soooo, as you know, Elder Holland was here in Freetown. Man, I never knew he was so funny. He was making us laugh the entire time. It was interesting because he was here along with the African west area presidency and Elder Snow and others. It was a big weekend. One of the things he said was so true. He said, "the road to salvation always goes through Gesthemene." I love that one. Ir is one of my new favorite quotes. He told us that we have a “real” mission here in Africa. I am sure he tells everyone that but it was cool. He commended us for our obedience and success. It was a good conference. Look out for me in the Liahona or Ensign or something. I had lots of pictures taken of me and was with the camera men helping them carry stuff (one of the joys of being big). So Saturday was a free day - well not really. We went and had Elder Andersen looked at (he was not feeling good). It was lots of traveling to see this doctor. Anyway,he seems to be fine (tell his mom not to worry). I just think the problem is that he is just not used to the fact that this is Africa not America. It is going to be strenuous on your body. Anyway, Sunday was good. I was in the main hall with Elder Holland because I was the usher at the main door into the hall making sure no crazies did anything. Just kidding. I was just trying to direct the mass flow of traffic. So I was standing at the door for a few hours listening to the apostle and it was so sweet. I decided that it would be so awesome to be a bodyguard for an apostle so I am going to have to figure out how to get that job! After the conference, we went back to Bo and here I sit. Oh, how could I forget that when I got back I had to pack because transfer news came early. I am going to Njagboiama branch (which is still in Bo) with Elder Essel. It is going to be interesting to say the least. Busy busy busy. We are both new in the area. He pulled Elder Essel from Freetown and me from another branch. We are whitewashing the area so I have a lot to learn In the next few days before the missionaries there leave. But I am happy cause I am not a district leader any more. Man that is a headache being a dl. Alright, now I am a zone leader - we'll see how that goes. President said he wanted me to "help the elders to see the face of god" and to teach them the fundamentals of teaching. We shall see . . .

So I had good studies this week. I learned more about my father in heaven. I made an interesting connection about how much Heavenly Father knows us. I never thought about it like this but when ever Heavenly father appears to someone or Christ he calls them by their first name. I thought that was cool. It just shows how much he loves us. Another thing I thought about was what really makes heaven, Heaven? I think what makes heaven is eternity with my wife and family. That is heaven all in itself and with out that heaven would cease to be heaven. I love you guys. Have a great week!

Love Elder Kev

Preparing to meet Elder Holland

Hello family,

How was your week? Mine was another good week. We got a lot accomplished. The beginning of the week started out great. We got the whole apartment clean, spic and span, on Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday were great and then there was Thursday! What a good morning, not! The generator broke, the toilet broke and a sink broke. So my morning was busy. Luckily, I am pretty handy so I got it all fixed. It is just not something I like to do in a white shirt on a proselyting day. I had the toilet all torn apart and the sink was broken and the generator was apart and the senior couple wanted to drop off some stuff, like tracts and, lucky for me, they decided they wanted to do an apartment check. I was like "oh come on. This place is normally the cleanest place in the entire missionand the day you come check everything, it is destroyed." Anyway, I got it all fixed, after running around Bo trying to find the parts. It blows my mind how everyone has a generator but no one sells parts for it. And when they do have it, they try to charge me an arm and a leg for it because I am a white man. But then I start talking boldly in Krio and they shut up real quick and give me the real price. I have to be really careful on what I spend money on because they just gave us a lecture on wants and needs, which kind of blows my mind because we are in AFRICA. It's funny how sometimes they think we want too much. I don’t know what else they want me to give up. I think I have given it all. I guess I could eat nothing in the day and wash my cloths by hand with no soap - no, it's cool. I understand that I can live pretty cheaply now. Missionaries here do kind of take advantage because there is this Americana restaurant and they sell real American food so every once in a while they go and eat there. So they told us now that we have to record every leone we spend and what we spend it on. We have to be careful how we spend our “consecrated funds”.

The weekend was busy. I did a lot of interviews which results in a lot of baptisms. The problem is the branch funds have had a hold on them because the old branch presidents liked money too much and they thought they needed it for themselves. So the church stopped that. So the crappy thing is we have to fill the font by hand because they don’t have money to run the generator and the pump. The font is probably only around 6-700 gallons when full and about 100 yards away from the pump. That was fun. The way it works is a hand pump and buckets. After about four hours and lots of sweat, we got probably about 500+ gallons in the thing. That was good exercise. I pumped for 2 hrs without stopping. Then I carried lots of buckets. Needless to say, it was a humbling sacrifice for our beloved investigators. We had a beautiful baptism consisting of 23 souls coming into the fold, followed by their confirmations on Sunday. The happiness you feel when all is done really cancels out all of the suffering that we have to go through.

As for the mission work, things are going great! We have some good people preparing for baptism and lots of paperwork and other things to do to try to keep the church in order. I am hoping the church doesn't go up in flames considering we wont be there Sunday because we will be in Freetown with Elder Holland. They will probably start the service sometime around 10:15 when it is supposed to start at 9. They will do what they want because we won't be there. Right now all the missionaries are gearing up to meet Elder Holland. We have been cleaning our dirty yellow shirts as white as we can get them, getting our hair cut ~ you know, the whole shabang! We are hoping to get him to talk about us in the next general conference! It is pretty funny to see all my “Nealehle” brothers gearing up to see their first general authority. Myself, I am getting pretty excited too. We are going to have a big break from mission work this week since we will go to Freetown on Thursday morning and come back on Sunday night. It should be fun to see all the other elders in Freetown and see my old converts. Anyway, things here are great - no complaints really. Just kickin' along trying to finish with my foot on the gas.

Happy Valentines day tomorrow. I hope Brooklyn will be my valentine! Love ya guys!

Love Elder Kev

Hey family

How are you doing? Things here in Bo are going great. In all honesty it was kind of a hum drum week, nothing really exciting happened. Except one of my favorite investigators was baptized this week along with his son. It was another good baptism. I am getting pretty good at putting baptisms together.When were were at the baptism this week, we ran into Elder Mensah. I don't know if you know him but he is a 70. It was fun to talk to him. He was pretty angry at the time though because he had just come all the way from Ghana to have a meeting with the district presidency and none of them showed up to the church. When we tried to help him get them to come, they tried to cancel him. Wow, that was a bad idea on their part. He was pretty heated when he got on the phone. It all ironed out I think.

My weekend was really busy, our district has been killin' it in the mission work. We are an example to the mission. I love it but the problem for me is that it makes me super busy haha. This week I did over 20 interviews in one day so needless to say my Saturday was pretty long. My Sunday was good, fast Sundays are always a good but a challenge. It is not easy to go 24 hours without water here but the sacrifice is worth the blessings from heaven that's for sure. Even though we don't always immediately see the blessings I know that they will come some time or the other. Testimony meeting is always good. It is much different than home. No one ever cries!! The reason being, if they do cry then others make fun of them later. We will see how I do when I get home. I think my tear ducts are all dried up but I do love to feel the spirit. The only major problem now is that we have our church is not big enough. We cannot fit everyone inside of our classroom. I know woe was me - but it is such a headache.

For the mechanical part of this week, I had the privilege of fixing our well. The genius that did the plumbing did it during rainy season when the water table was up so when the water table dropped the pipe for the pump was no longer in the water. Luckily I have a keen ear to hear when a pump is sucking air. I heard our pump outside sucking air and turned it off and went to work. We had a length of pipe so we made it work. Nothing like hanging upside down in a small hole above a 25 ft well. It was nice to have the knowledge and my head light. Oh the joys of Sierra Leone Freetown mission. Really don't have much to say except that I am doing great and I am back on the weight loss program and I am down to 223. I just need to keep it going so that my return will be triumphant. I love you guys. Have a great week.

Love Elder Kev

Hey family,

How are things this week? Here in Bo, they are the norm - nothing to new to talk about. I am going to do my best to give the details of what might be interesting. So this week started off a little rough. To make a long story short, I think I broke my hand. Luckily, it was on the punching bag and not on a wall or a table or someone. After I relieved my frustration on the bag, my hand hurt but I went back to work and all is well. So in the wonderful words of the prophet, choose to be happy.

On a more positive note, the work is pressing forward here in the small village of Bo. Lots of people are ready for the gospel and lots of people are really, really naïve. I have come to find that here I spend so much time just trying to get people to understand the concept that there is only one true church on this earth and not all churches are going to get you back to heaven. So many people here love the church and they just think that the church is wonderful but they think that the church that they are in is good enough. Which honestly blows my mind because I don’t know how people can believe that God is two faced and he doesn’t care what we do here as long as we call his name and go to church. People are blinded by the ways of the world. Satan has such a tight grasp on the hearts of the people that it is truly sad and yikes, the things that people believe. Every mission has their own challenges and I know that one of the ones here is that the people completely disregard the law of chastity. And it is terrible. I would say that probably the average age to be a mother here is 15 years old, maybe 16. The problem is because of the societies and the traditions of their forefathers. People completely forget about the Lord's commandments and do whatever they think is right. And when they are living in sin, they wonder why they are also living in poverty. When the light of knowledge comes to you and you completely reject it, that is his condemnation. People are digging their own graves. They wonder why they live in trial but they neglect to do the things that the Lord requires of us. So remember, remember always follow the commandments and reap the blessings from heaven.

Well the week continued on and as usual, we have been focusing on teaching families because it is the best thing to do. The problem with that is that families here don't live together. People just sleep wherever there is shelter from the world. Some homes are filled with people from different tribes and countries. So what we do is call the people living in that house a family. Anyway. we have been working with brother Patrick and his family. He is doing great and I love talking with him. He and his son will be baptized on this Saturday. Hopefully, his wife will follow shortly.

We did lots of contacting this week but I am getting tired of these crafty people always leaving me hanging. We found some good people. Unfortunately, our turn out at church was not that great. We only had 4 investigators on Sunday. So we will see what we can do to get that turned around.

So we also had interviews with president. Which went well. I was supposed to get a new temple recommend but he forgot his book so it will have to wait. I don’t ever want to not have it. I always want to be ready to go even if I don’t have a temple. Can you believe it has been two years since I got my recommend ~ man that’s crazy. Anyway, he talked to me about splitting the branch because the building doesn’t have a big enough capacity. Uh, so that makes lots of work for us. He wants us to draw up some new boundaries and look for people that could be leaders and yadda yadda yadda. Overall, the interview was great. He gave me some good info and I think that he doesn’t really want me to play football and I don't know what is up with that. I want to play football so I guess I will take his advice for what it's worth - what is it worth?

But anyways mission is good. After the interview we got a freezer!!! Ya ~ so sweet ~ no, not really! It is a nice storage unit because we have no power to turn it on unless we use the generator and we use that for important stuff. I guess beggars can't be choosers.

So after interviews, me and my companion wanted to get some food so we went to, what used to be, one of our favorite places. Cheap and good. Until this particular day, when we found some kind of animal teeth in our food! Luckily, I didn’t find it in my mouth but my companion did. So I think since we found bush meat in our food, we are going to limit our eating there.

My week was good so if you have questions feel free to ask. Love ya all!

Love Elder Kev

PS Caden, Justin and Cody ~ love ya too! Keep the faith

Dear family,

How is life? Things here are still going great except I think that I am getting fat again. Unfortunately I am around 230. But I think that I am gaining my weight because I am getting pretty strong again. I am lifting boku!!! (That means a lot) I am thinking about just going on a orange diet because I have really come to love oranges. It isa food that I can buy most anywhere and it is relatively cheap. I can get three for just 1000 leones. It is nice and economic.

So the work here is pretty great, nothing to really complain about. The actual work is so awesome. It is the living conditions that takes a toll on your life. It's no wonder that people don’t live to be very old here. It is because of what they do to themselves just to live. But the work is so sweet. Strict obedience brings forth the blessings of heaven. It really does. I would admonish all missionaries to check themselves and see if they themselves are worthy of the blessings of heaven. If we are not doing our part then we cant expect others to do theirs.Something that I have learned this week is not to fear that we are inadequate but rather that we should be powerful beyondmeasure. It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us. The Lord gives us power to overcome any obstacle. This week in my studies I was reminded of something that Nephi saw. It is so cool because most people only describe how the Holy Ghost feels but Nephi describes how he looks. I think he is the only one to describe seeing him. That is in 1 Nephi 11:11. It is interesting. You should go look.

This week at church was great for investigators. My district blew the doors off the charts - not really - but for six people we had 50 plus investigators at church. We are really trying. We are making it a point to be the best. The motto that we have had or that I have carried around in my mission is to work smart. I always tell missionaries to work smart. I love when people catch on and they start to see success. My other motto (thanks dad) is "People honestly don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care". It is one of the truest statements that I know. This week we met the Misale family. There is this old guy, his name is Patrick and he is a stud. I think that we will baptize his whole family here soon. Every time I turn around, there is another child that he has. The count now is like 6. I don’t talk about people much because I leave people out and then I feel bad or it is just personal, but this guy is awesome so I thought I would let you know about him. He is a retired military man and his wife is a cook, and defintely one of the best herb/ plant cookers I have ever eaten from. They say that by their meals you shall know them. The problem with teaching lots of people and becoming good friends with them is that the food becomes very abundant and that is not good for my diet. It’s a sacrifice I will make for the work! I bet the food would not be to bad for you here because it is all plants but the problem is that it is soaked in oil. When I come home I am going to have a heart attack because of the good food, but like I said before, it will be a happy sickness.

I don’t know what really to say and it seems as if you have heard it all before so if anyone has questions please ask me and I will do my best to answer. Sorry I haven't written as often but I am in the bush and it is hard to send mail. Oh yeah, I almost forgot to tell you (maybe I shouldn't tell you) but this week when I was brushing I got bit by some bug or something because I developed this gnarly infection on my leg. But don’t worry dad taught me well. I took alcohol and a scrub brush and even bleach. Wow, it reminded me of laying on the counter while dad scrubbed the stones out of my back. But don’t worry it is clearing up now so no problems and no worries. I have had survived so many life threatening diseases while being here - it is quite the accomplishment! I can say I had malaria twice and typhoid and some other crazy diseases. Ya I am proud of it. When my football pals complain about joint pain or anything else I will just say hahaha try having malaria and typhoid then tell me you feel sick. Anyway, I am healthy and strong and working hard. Sorry for rambling on and on. Have a great week!

Love Elder Moss