Entering the MTC

     My last experience leading up to my mission was going into the MTC, Missionary Training Center, on August 17, 2011. This was a very bitter-sweet day. My entire family traveled all the way to Utah with me so they could be with me up until the very last second. We had to take a bunch of pictures before they dropped me off at the MTC. That was not my favorite but whatever makes mom happy right? We walked around the Temple grounds there and then headed to the MTC.

     When we got to the drop-off spot at the MTC we didn't really get much time to say goodbye, but I did get to hug everyone. It was a little hard but I was ready to go. I walked away with all my luggage and that was the last time I saw my family since I started my mission. Since a mission is only two short years, I will be able to hug them again in no time at all. I am grateful to have a family that I love so much. I can't wait to be with them again, but at the same time I don't want this time to go by too fast, as I love what I am doing here and know it is very important.

Setting Apart

     That same Sunday that I gave my farewell talk at church I was set apart as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Getting set apart basically means that I was given permission to be a minister for the Lord in preaching the Gospel to all the world, well technically just the Nashville Tennessee area. Anyway, this was an awesome experience because my dad and a few of my leaders that I respect so very much were able to be a part of it. My dad was able to give me the blessing which sealed the deal. I guess that is not very common, but I thought was pretty cool. After the actual setting apart, which consisted of the blessing, everyone in the room was asked to give me some advice for how to be the best missionary I could be. Some were silly like not forgetting to email my mom every week, which I may have done once already, but they were all very helpful, that is another story. The room was filled with all sorts of emotions and tears, but overall very happy feelings. I am happy to say that at that moment I was officially a full-time servant of the Lord and that was very exciting for me.

Farewell Talk

     On August 14, 2011 I had to get up in front of all the members of the congregation of my church and a bunch of my friends and family and give a talk the Sunday before I left on my mission. They have everyone do this who is going to be leaving on their mission. I was asked to speak about 15 minutes on whatever topic I wanted. That is not always a good thing for me because not only do I have to prepare a talk but I have to find out what I want to talk about, and then give it. I had a bunch of friends from out of town that I have met at various times in my life come to hear me speak, wish me luck and say goodbye. This was definitely a hard but great day and really put things into perspective for me once again; I was going on a mission.

Farewell Party

     The Saturday before I left on my mission, August 13, 2011, I had a huge group of friends come over and just chill one last time before I left for 2 years. This really had nothing to do with preparing for my mission but it did show me a lot of the support I have from my friends. Quite a few of those people were people that I worked with as well as other friends from the more distant past. I think the biggest reason I wanted to write about this is because a few of my friends that are not members of the LDS faith came and were dressed as what they thought a missionary was.

     When they knocked on the door and I saw them standing there I could not help but just laugh. I had to get my mom and show her who showed up. She couldn't help but laugh and of course had to take a picture. I am glad she did. I know I have some great friends because they care enough about me to dress up like a "missionary" to my party. It was quite funny. I am so grateful to know that there are people back home that truly do care about me. It was pretty hard to say goodbye to all my great friends.

Mission Prep. Class

     Every second and fourth Sunday after church we had what was called a missionary prep. class for all of us guys who were preparing to serve a mission. I went every once in a while when I turned 17 and pretty religiously the summer before I came out on my mission. I remember always getting an assignment to teach a specific principle the next time we met and I always dreaded it. It is funny now to think about how hard it was for me to teach about a simple principle such as faith back then, and how easy it is to teach something like that now. I am very grateful to have such great leaders and teachers who have taught me so much and helped me be able to teach like I do now. I know that this has helped me a lot in being able to share what brings such great joy and happiness into my life with all those I come in contact with.

Exchanges

     When I was back home I loved to go out with the missionaries and watch them teach and help them in any way I could. Looking back on it, it was probably one of my favorite things I did during that summer. I really enjoyed seeing them bare their testimonies to all those they came in contact with. I even enjoyed the time that we spent knocking on doors and the few times they had me do the talking. It was a very fun experience and I would not trade it for anything. It also helped me a ton to understand what being a missionary is really like; some of the best preparation I did while still being at home. Elders Anderson and Castillo were the greatest missionaries I was able to work with that summer and I learned a lot from them.
     Now that I myself am a missionary I think I understand how much they appreciated me, or at least I would like to think they did. I know that I love it when members come out with me and help me with the work so I can only assume it is the same for all missionaries. I know that when I get back home I will continue to help the missionaries with all that I can.

Packing

     Everyone loves packing! Let me be the first to tell you that packing for a mission is just as stressful as packing for anything else, if not worse. I had to make sure I had everything that I would need for the next 2 years in 2 suit cases and a backpack. Oh, and they both had to be less than 50 pounds. You know, in all seriousness the packing wasn't too bad because my dad did most of it for me and let me just say, if anyone knows how to organize it is him. It also might have been a little less stressful if I wouldn't have waited till about a week before I left to really start worrying about it.

     This was also one of those moments where I had to stop and think about how close I was and really make sure I was ready to go. It was definitely too late to start preparing so luckily I didn't wait to do that. All my stuff was packed up and ready to leave, but was I? I don't think I was ever completely ready, nor do I think I could have done anything to be completely ready. Needless to say, I was so excited to finally be packed and can honestly say I was so excited to be going. 

Mommy!

     So I have decided to take a quick little break from my normal routine and devote this post to my mom whom I love so very much. Like I said before, I love my mom so very much. Without her I would not have come into this world. I would not know how to tie my shoes. I would not know if there were snakes in the park. I would not know why Ben, my brother, had a crayon. I would not know how to do dishes. I would not know that sitting inside all day is not okay. I would not know how to make Macaroni and Cheese, and the list could go on forever. Yes, some of those were inside jokes that I have with my mom and others were just silly, but no matter what I still appreciate all those little things as well as the many other things I did not list. I am so grateful to have the best mom out there and I love her so dearly. Thanks for all that you do for me. Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

     I Love you so much, Mom!

Sacramento Temple

     A few weeks before I left on my mission I was able to go to the Sacramento California Temple and see the beauty of the house of the Lord there a few times. In the temple we make sacred covenants (promises) with God and I was able to go do that for the first time on July 13, 2011. It was a great feeling to go there because it really feels like you are removed from the world for a bit and you can just focus all of your thoughts on our Heavenly Father. It is a blessing to have such a beautiful place to worship God and have the Spirit with you without any distractions. I was also very happy to be able to go with a bunch of friends and family that I look up to very much. I love the temple and can't wait to go again when I get home!

Wisdom Teeth

     In order to go on a mission, you need to make sure you get all your shots done as well as any other medical procedures needed to be taken care of. Yes, that includes getting your wisdom teeth pulled if it was necessary for you. I was one of those people that had to do it. My dad is my dentist so he was able to do it for me and because of that I was also able to plan it on the my least busy day that summer. It was the Tuesday right after my last swim season ended, August 2, 2011. I had to pray that all would go well because I would be going into the MTC 2 weeks later and didn't want to have any problems. All went well and surprisingly enough there was actually no pain...well, at least until the next day, which lasted for about 2-3 days. I don't remember it very well and I have no real funny stories, unless my family is hiding them from me and laughing at me behind my back...very possible.

     Anyway, the reason I wanted to include this is because this was technically the day that I really had nothing left to do until my mission. I was off work for the whole week, swim team was over, and I really had nothing much left planned for the summer. I was coming down to the wire. I really had to cram now. It felt exactly like waiting for the last few weeks of the school year to study for your final exams. The worst part about it all was, I was stuck on this stupid couch and couldn't even enjoy some of my last few days at home in fear I would get a dreaded dry socket. Oh well, It makes for a great picture...haha.

Spencer's Call

     My best friend Spencer received his nice big white envelope on August 8th 2011. He was just as excited to get his call as I was. He had a much bigger group of people come over to his house to watch him open his call. He was lucky, unlike me, and got to open his the same day he got it. The hype was just as big and when he opened the envelope and read the letter and said South Dakota Rapid City Mission the cheers were just as crazy if not more so than when I read mine. He is also going to be speaking English and he went into the MTC on December 28th 2011.

     Being there for this was so awesome because I was able to support my best friend in getting his mission call just like he did for me. I was also going to be leaving for my mission in just a few weeks after that so it reminded me of how much I still need to prepare to be completely ready to go (the funny thing is I was never completely ready to go). I am so grateful to have friends out around the world serving missions and for the examples they are to me which also gives me the added strength to continue mine and work my hardest till the end.

Mr. Mac

     Something I had to do to prepare for my mission was get clothes. I don't know many teen guys that have enough white shirts and ties to last them every day for at least a week, and since I am not one of them I had to go get some stuff. It's also one of those things that helped me to know that I was really doing this. My mom, dad, friend and I went to Mr. Mac to get my suit, and other things. My friend's aunt works there so she helped us out quite a bit and gave us a good deal, so we got all of the clothes I needed. Suits, nice shoes, ties, and shirts are not cheap so knowing someone helped us out a lot. The guy that helped us out with all the sizing and what not told me that I was going to go to Boston Massachusettes. He told me if he was right I had to buy him lunch but he was wrong so his loss. Getting my clothes was a huge step that made me realize I was a lot closer than I thought. Tennessee here I come!

Swim Team

     Another thing I did over the summer to keep me occupied was swim team. This helped me stay busy quite a bit. I rode my bike to practice most of the mornings which required me to get up around 6:30 A.M., great preparation for my mission, and in the evening when I wasn't working. Unfortunately I am not able to swim while being on a mission, so this did not condition me for anything really, but it did help make the summer go by faster so I could start my adventure as a missionary. I included this in my series of experiences because like work this was a great experience in which I was able to answer a bunch of questions people had and what not.
     I was also able to live my beliefs like I do every year by not participating in the Sunday events of our end of the season Championship meet. Every year Championships lands on a Saturday and Sunday and every year my family and I do our best on Saturday to help our team but we never show up for the Sunday events. Without fail we will lose to the team that got the next place up by 2 or 3 points, which is hardly any for championships. This and the fact that my favorite and best race, breaststroke, is on Sunday makes it very difficult for me to live this principle each year because I know that my team is going to tell us at the awards ceremony the next day that if we were there we would have gotten the few points needed to go up a place. With all of that we still miss it anyway and find that it is never as important to us as we thought it would have been. It was great to be able to be that example of living out my beliefs to all of my friends.

Lifeguard

     After I got my call, and since missions don't pay for themselves, my need and desire to go to work every day increased. Well, maybe not so much my desire, but it did get me to work every day and even pick up a lot of shifts that I probably normally wouldn't have under any other circumstance. I worked as a lifeguard for one of the pools in the city. I know, I know; working as a lifeguard is sooo hard. All you do is sit in the sun with your shirt off and tan and watch people swim. I have heard it all, but you have to think it is still a job and it is still not the most exciting thing. Well, it gets pretty exciting when you have to get in and save some little kid from going into a spot that you told them 3 minutes earlier not to go in, and when you do save them the parent comes running over at you yelling at you that their kid was fine and didn't need help. That gets old fast. Plus, where I worked the exciting stuff only happens once in a blue moon.
     I bet you all are wondering why the heck I included this in my experiences. Well there were a couple reasons. First, like I already said, because of the money so that I could afford to go. The second reason is that I rode my bike to work almost every day. As many people know and have seen, us missionaries ride our bikes quite a bit so I had to get some practice to make sure I was in shape enough to be able to do it on my mission. As good of a reason as that might have sounded that in shapeness that I might have had when I left is all gone now so all that work was in vain. The real reason I included this is actually because this is where I technically started my mission. Every day at work I would be overwhelmed with hundreds of questions about what I can and can't do as a missionary and what I believed and all sorts of other questions. As annoying as they got some days, I look back now and realize how fun it was and how much I was able to help those people I worked with understand a little better about what it was that I was going to be doing. Let me tell you, some of those questions were pretty dang out there, but I am glad that I was able to experience all of that back home before I came here to the good ol' Bible Belt.

Called to Serve

     So I have decided that for this month I am going try something new. I am going to share some of the experiences that I had while preparing to go on my mission. I am going to start of with getting my call to serve in the Tennessee Nashville Mission.
     As many of you know, young men in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, at the age of 19, generally go on a 2 year full-time mission to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who will listen. For as long as I can remember I have wanted to serve my mission. At a very young age, so young I couldn't tell you how young I was, I decided that I wanted to be one of these cool guys that were called "Elders," and what do you know, here I am in the good ol' Bible Belt. Sometimes I as myself, "How did I get here?" Well, about one year ago exactly at BYU, I was approaching the time where I needed to send in my papers, a bunch of forms that you need to complete and send into the Church Headquarters so they can know a little bit about you, in order to get my call to go on a mission. (For further detail about this process read this link.) Well, I got my papers finished and got all the interviews I needed and my papers were sent off.

     Most people get there call letters withing 2-3 weeks of sending their papers in. The few weeks before I got my call letter, my mom made this big map and had everyone and their dog guess where I was going to go. Well, I was one of those many people who got their calls 2 weeks later on a Thursday afternoon and I was so happy, but then it hit me... My parents were on a field-trip to Yosemite with my little brother, Blake, and they would not be home till Friday evening and I promised my mom I would not open it without her. That large white envelope sat on my counter all day and all night and all day the next day and the only thing I could do was read "Elder Blair Vernal Moser III" on the front. There were times where it was just too tempting so I had to just walk over the my best friends, the Smiths, and hang out with them, but still all I could do was think about those few words on the front address and where I could possibly be going.
     My parents finally got home but I still had to wait even longer. The Smiths came over and we used just about every phone and cell phone we had in order to get a hold of all the different family members and what not that were not close enough to come. This is probably just as exciting of an event for us members of the church as is the last minute of the world's greatest super bowl game. I finally got to open it. I pulled out the many papers and other such things in the envelope and found the letter. I guess it is tradition that you have to read the whole thing you can't just skip to the place you are going to serve. I started reading and my hands were shaking, even my voice was shaking, and I don't even know what I read until I said the words "Tennessee Nashville Mission." After that all I can remember is screams from everyone all around me. After about 5 minutes of straight cheers I finally got to continue. I was going to speak English and I would report into the MTC (Missionary Training Center) on August 17th 2011.
     I am going to be honest, at first I was a little bit bummed because I wanted to serve in Australia or in South America and learn a new language, but the more time went on, the more excited I got. I also came to realize that I am serving in Southern America and I have to learn how to speak Southern English so God did give me what I wanted...haha.