Signs of the Loveland Family Times

May 28, 2012

Memorial Day 2012

We had a great Memorial Day today--a day on the lake in the sun with family...missed you today Zach! But I wanted to end the day sharing the gratitude I feel for the countless lives that have been given for the cause of our freedoms and our liberty. May we never take their sacrifice and the sacrifice of those left behind for granted.

April 23, 2012

Zach Has Always Been Good at "Winging It"

Dear Family,

Things here are going pretty well! Elder Matthews and I have another baptism coming up on the 26th of May. His name is James, hes a Vietnam vet, and seems pretty solid. He wants to stop smoking, which we have a program for. He's just waiting until the 1st of May to get some money from his Ex wife so he can buy a car to drive himself to church, and get the supplies he needs for the stop smoking workshop. I have faith in him, but you never really know until they've been dunked in the water.

We had a pretty good week, we got a few new investigators, and we did exchanges. Elder Bench was my companion from thursday until friday. Kind of slow I hate to say, but his heart is in the right place. Have I told you about brother Brodie? He's our next door neighbor, and he rides around in an electric wheelchair. He's a member but he can hardly make it to church because he has no legs, hence, the wheelchair. And he suffers from all sorts of pains and sicknesses. He gives us a hard time, so its like home away from home.

I enjoyed the packages! Especially the ones with smores.... mmmm.... smores.... So send as much as you want! As well as more goldfish. You can never have too much goldfish. Glad to hear Emerson and Payton are doing well, I miss those little turds. Oh yeah, Elder Matthews and I gave talk yesterday on the atonement and ressurection. Since the Branch is so small, there is no stake or branch business, we both had to talk for like 25 minutes. But Missionaries are pretty good at winging discussions, so talks weren't much harder.

Keep me updated on how things are back home!

Love,

Elder Mossman

April 16, 2012

Elder Keddington Forced to Work With "Pills."

Hello Family and Friends!

Well. I've survived another transfer. I just found out this morning that my companion Elder Emery is leaving me and I'm going to be taking over the area. Plus I won't be living with 3 other missionaries anymore. It'll be narrowed down to just me and my companion in quite the massive apartment. With my own Bathroom and Shower. So I'm kinda excited about that. :)

The ward is still a pill to work with and there are so many hoops we have to jump through in order for us to get anywhere and it can be a little bit frustrating but we're working out the kinks and we're pretty much doing everything we can to keep the Bishop happy. Which isn't easy. But the work continues on.

We've been teaching a lot of awesome people! But two weeks after we teach them they either move, become disinterested because they have to actually DO something in this church, or hear something negative about our church. Its for sure different from Little Rock. But I still like it here. :)

I hope all is going well with everyone and I'm looking forward to hearing from you guys!! Love and MIss you all! I'll see you soon!

Love

Elder Keddington

Elder Mossman: 1st Baptism & Confirmation!

Family,

Okay mom, favorite scripture, Moroni 10:4

This week has been pretty good, Elder Matthews and I had a babtism this past Saturday, and I did the confirmation on Sunday, and I was pretty nervous, considering that it was my first time but it went okay. We have a few progressing investigators who seem promising, but you never know until they are in the water. Even then, keeping them active is the real challenge because the branch doesn't really do their part in home teaching/visiting teaching or fellowshipping so we are trying to kick their butts in gear. We had a man that we taught on tuesday, we just read the scriptures with him and left with a prayer, and instead of saying amen, said, "i agree" which was hilarious. Some investigators have had some rough pasts, and we are trying to get them to trust in God again. Many people down here are stuck in their ways, such as smoking, drinking, law of chastity, stuff like that. The south. Elder Matthews told me a saying that im beginning to consider. He said, "The easiest way to convert people in the south is to burn it down and do babtisms for the dead," horrible i know, but funny all the same. Still waiting on the ipod, and the easter package you guys sent was delicious. Elder Matthews loved the smores. Kinda stale but still delicious. Feel free to send one every week! And be sure to send more goldfish, you can never have enough goldfish. I gotta get going. OH! That card Kroel sent was HILARIOUS! Although i cant ever let anyone else around here see it considering the truthfulness of the card.

Love,

Elder Mossman

April 9, 2012

Elder Keddington Sprints for Candy in Easter Egg Hunt! April 9, 2012

Hello Family and friends!!

Hoppy Easter!! Sorry if its a little early. Or late. Whatever it is
anymore. I can't even tell when it is anymore. Time is flying by
faster than you can even think. But. Easter was good! We spen the
evening at a member's house and had an Easter Egg Hunt. I'm sure the
padestrian's passing by were a little too judgemental of Mormon's when
they saw 6 full grown boys sprinting across an open field to be the
first to get an egg full of candy. I'm sure you can imagine how
amusing that must have been even for the members. But we had funand
there were only few casualties.

The work is still moving forward quite well. We're finding people like
crazy. And quickly finding that they turn to the internet and read a
lot of false doctrine. I really wonder what happens when people go
onto Google and type in, "Mormons" and they DON'T go to Mormon.org.
Sigh.... That darn agency. But! Life goes on.

I Love You guys and I'm excited to hear from you! I miss you all and
I'll see you very soon. Thanks for keeping me in your prayers and
thanks for all the money you send to me weekly. :) (Hint Hint.)

Love

Elder Keddington

Elder Mossman Catches a "delicious bass!" April 9, 2012

Dear Family,
I've had an awesome time here in Louisianna so far. My companion, Elder Matthews is an awesome trainer and we get along great. We have a lot of less actives we visit, and some investigators who seem ready to recieve the gospel. There certainly are a lot of people who are stuck in their ways but thats why we are here to help them out. My first visit i had, we met a less active who was going to another church, and her pastour or however you spell it, came in and started telling us about how he was converted to Jesus Christ, and to me it sounded like one big acid trip. Apparently his skin peeled off, like it was his old self and saw his skin in the bathtub. Weirdo. We get fed really well here, and im pretty sure mom would freak if she saw some of the stuff I've been eating. We just finished fishing this morning, and we caught a few bass, not very big though. Some of our neighbors are members and they feed us really well. And every one here is just as sarcastic as our family so i fit right in. We have a babtism coming up this saturday so im pretty excited! Anyway i gotta go write some other emails. I'll write again next week.

Elder Mossman

Here's my address to mail me:
123 brinson street
PO Box 668
Hodge, Louisianna 71247

April 7, 2012

Elder Mossman goes to the MTC

Well it's been nearly a month now since March 14 when we dropped Zach off at the MTC but I wanted to make sure I made note of it here. It was quite an experience. Different from the last 2 times with Jared & Andrew. The drop off process has become a well oiled machine. As you get close to the MTC you'll see traffic is being directed by men in suits and reflective safety vests. They direct you into the lane in front of the building. As you drive along the curb you'll see numerous young men wearing "HOST" badges all along the side walk. As you park at the curb behind the car in front of you and get our of the car, one of the "hosts" is there to greet your elder, make sure he's got his immunization forms and takes his bags. Before I knew it, I was hugging Zach for the last time and waving good bye. It was so fast! Now he is in the Lord's hands. What a bitter sweet moment. As Grandma Sawyer calls it, "Miserable Joy." That says it all. Stay tuned for more updates!