December 15, 2014

Linda família,

This has been quite a week, but so far I haven´t lost my mind yet and the Lord keeps sending angels of every kind to help me this week.  Training is definitely hard, but Sister Bunch is so great and has such a desire to learn fast.  She had a little moment of feeling overwhelmed by the culture shock but got over it fast.  We´ve been running in between appointments on the two farthest sides of the two areas that are now all ours,  I have to remember everything all by myself for the first time without a senior companion or two other sisters in the house, and all the while explain everything to my companion and make sure she´s doing okay.  But like I said, a lot of angels were on my side this week, and I´d like to name a few:

Fabio, a less active who gave us Laércio´s reference.  He´s been teaching with us and doing an amazing job of it, also following up with Laércio when we couldn´t this week.  He even asked what tomorrow´s lesson would be so he could study.  Laércio was baptized at the District Conference on Sunday, and was so happy.  He has so much faith.  He has been a smoker since age eight and just decided to stop because he had the desire to be baptized.  At the baptism he was all smiles and he said he almost cried from happiness.  He´s so awesome and humble.  

Felipe, my recent convert.  Thursday, it wasn´t even in our plans but I felt like we should visit him.  He answered the door with the saddest face I´d ever seen and had started growing a beard and just looked depressed.  He told us he had been feeling bad about his life and he had no desire to even leave his house or pray or read the scriptures.  I got so worried about him, he said he hadn´t felt that way in two years and the feeling lasted 6 months.  In that moment I told him he had ten minutes to get ready to go teaching with us and Larissa.  So he got up, came back all dressed and shaved and smiling, and we went to visit other recent converts.  He helped so much in teaching and bore testimony of the Book of Mormon.  He said he didn´t even know if he would be alive right now if we hadn´t shown up in his hour of need.  I just wanted to cry it was so spiritual seeing him teach for the first time and gain a desire to help everyone.  He´s such a great guy.  

 

Nino, a recent covert from my new area.  He and his best friend David who was baptized with him call each other Elder and help a lot in that area.  They used to be punks, and still kind of look like it but a I gave Nino the pamphlets of tithing and the law of chastity. They are changing a lot.  They´ve been the only way I´ve been able to keep up with the two areas.  I could not find Ariano, who was supposed to be baptized Domingo.  He ended up not going to church, but they´ve been taking care of everyone when I can´t.

Anderson, our ward mission leader who is super young and has been really going the extra mile to help me.  He´s the only one in his family who works which makes it hard for him to go on a mission, but he still finds time to help us.  Because of him the investigators and recent converts from the vila went to church Sunday.

Larissa, who´s come a really long way in her testimony from teaching with us a lot in the last transfer.  She´s 13 and has a tough family situation and stays with us because it´s better than her house or any other thing she could be getting into.  Sunday morning my companion woke up super sick so Larissa passed in everyone´s house who we couldn´t. 

There are a lot more, like our Zone Leaders, the Branch President and his wife and the Sister Training Leaders but everyone´s been helping a ton and it´s been amazing.  Pray for Ariano, Danilo and Douglas, our possible baptisms who have been to church several times.  

I love you all so much!  Make the last weeks count!  Remember how much God loves you and wants to help and just wants you to be happy.  Training has made me understand God´s love so much in just one week and I can´t even imagine the love I´ll have one day for my actual children.  Can´t wait to talk to guys and can´t believe how fast time flies.  Have an awesome week! 

Beijos,

Sister Moore

December 10, 2014

Querida família,

I´m training the first American Sister to arrive in this mission since MY group arrived!!  Her name is Sister Bunch, she´s from Parker Colorado and served for 6 weeks in Oregon, so she´s still very new. It´s really different not having someone who already knows how to speak Portuguese, but she´s awesome and has a lot of desire to learn fast.  I already love her like my own daughter.  She´s very deer in the headlights still, who wouldn´t be, but I know she´s gonna help me a lot. I knew right away I would train her when I saw her :)

So it was a perfect day, I was so excited for this transfer, then a bomb got dropped on us:  Rio Tinto II closed, Sister Cameron´s leaving and I have to take care of both areas and the whole branch ALONE.  I have never had to do so many things I don´t feel prepared to do at the same time.  Our areas are very far away from each other and I still don´t know how I´m gonna do it and teach with someone who can´t speak the language yet..  Just pray for me a lot.  

Ronaldo was baptized!!  He is totally crazy but he has the ten commandments memorized,keeps all his commitments, comes to church by himself and is always early.  Sunday was such a miracle.  11 investigators were at church!  A lot of them have to get married, aren´t old enough to be baptized the next week or don´t want to get baptized, but we have one solid investigator who wants to be baptized Sunday, Laércio!  He was a referral from Fabio, a less active who was also a miracle.  The sisters that were here before just found him by chance one day and he was baptized a long time ago in Natal.  Now he´s returning and helping us teach and everything.  We´re also teaching his niece Grazi.  Pray for Laércio to be able to completely stop smoking, he´s already cut down A LOT. He´s so elect!

Raul went to church with his friend Lucas, and just doesn´t want to get baptized still.  His day will come..  like so many others.  We have a really great family as well who came to church, Juliana and her sons Ikaro and Isaac.  Her husband studies theology and is a tough nut to crack, but Juliana loved church on Sunday so he at least needs to marry her legally for her sake and for their kids.  Isaac already asked his mom to buy church clothes for him and wants to keep going every Sunday.  So cute! :) 

This transfer will for sure be a challenge, but I just need to rely more than I ever have in my life on the Lord and my leaders and the members.  Also my companion, she read to me last night the scripture in D&C that says ´´look to me in every thought, doubt not, fear not´´ that Sciammarella always read to people.  She´s so full of that new missionary spirit and I know it´ll help me a lot.  My priority is just to help her do all the things I wish I had done better and for her to have the best mission ever.  

I love you all so much and am excited to see you again, but very sad that this is the last transfer. Have an awesome week!

Um abraço bem forte,

Sister Moore

December 1, 2014

Querida Família!

WOAH.. That´s so awesome that your mission baptized 100!!!  Especially because it was because everyone was doing it the way of the Lord, not just to baptize.  That´s so inspiring... and I feel a little lame now... haha

I tried to send pictures and I hope you can open them and that they don´t infect the computers you´re using..  The first is Iasmmy from Santa Rita then Leandro and then me and Vitória.  Felipe got baptized yesterday and I´m sending his picture in this email.. he is so awesome.  He likes to read the Book of Mormon just opening to random pages and he marks everything he likes.. even when it doesn´t make sense like circling the Zoramite prayer in Alma 31... he knows that´s not how you pray haha..  He´s 28 but gets along more with the youth.  One big miracle in this branch is how suddenly we have young men.  They´re all investigators, recent converts and less actives that are returning, but there were basically 0 and now there´s a classroom full.  Felipe can be the new YM pres :)  He came to the activity on Tuesday and participated more than anyone!  We played the newspaper game, charades and mafia and everyone loved it.  Best by far.  

The other visitor at the activity that was a huge miracle was Jean, who´s visiting from São Paulo to get some things his recently deceased father left him.  His little cousin, Bianca, 10, has been coming to church every week and brought him with her.  We talked to him afterwards and he had gone to the Mormon church for 3 years as a teenager but was never baptized.  10 years later he has a family and has changed a lot and basically asked to be baptized.  We wanted to just baptize him here, but he´s not quite ready yet so we´re sending him to the missionaries where he lives to teach his whole family.  Sister Marschall will keep in contact with him when she goes home and he knows where the church is.  Some lucky missionaries have been fasting A LOT... :)  I can´t wait to see what happens.  He leaves Tuesday.

It´s hard to not be trunky in a house where everyone is ending their mission.. but I´m trying to take advantage of the time I still have and the things I´ve learned in these 16 months.  Miracles are going to happen still!!  It´s Christmas time! Right now our possible baptism is Ronaldo, an old man who we did not expect to come to church.. haha he likes to burst into song when we teach.. pray for him.  Every child of God needs to be baptized!  Vitórias doing great, she wants to be baptized so bad.  

Doing everything the Lord´s way is worth it.  He knows where the families are in this area who want to be baptized.  I´m so grateful for His love in my life and for being able to do a little to help His children feel that love.  

I love you all so much and I hope December brings even bigger miracles!  Remember that gratitude breaks the pride cycle.  Keep working!  

Beijos!

Sister Moore