November 17, 2014

Oi família!!

Everything is going good in Rio Tinto.. we´ve got some good investigators and the Lord will always bless our best efforts.  I´ve been learning a lot about how to trust the spirit to know how to say the right thing at the right time, with investigators and companions.  We have authority from God, but it can only be exersized if we are obedient, if we know the scriptures and if we love the Lord and other people.  I´ve been reading the 12 week training to get ready to teach, and there´s a lot of things I wish I had known when I had started my mission.  I feel like if I can successfully teach my filha these things, everything I´ve learned on my mission is worth it.  

It´s awesome to hear that your mission is doing so well!  Wow. How many companionships are there in your mission? I´ve been praying for your investigators and goals.  Our mission is hitting kind of a low, so you can know that your mission is surpassing what was one of the highest baptizing missions in the world.  Pray for Missão João Pessoa and President Nogueira.  He is a very inspired man that as a temple President really has a vision of bringing every convert to the temple and helping the missionaries stay active.  I know this calling has been incredibly stressful for him as someone who has never served a full time mission, but I know he really cares about us a lot, and his wife too.  

The miracle yesterday was a man, João, who has been to church a few times and came again yesterday by himself.  He was already baptized in his church and his family is really against it, but he loves the church and knows he wants to stay there.  Have you guys ever read ´´Member Missionary Work and Finding the Elect of God´´?  It´s really awesome and talks about helping people who think they don´t need to be baptized again.  It´s all just talking about prayer and not doctrine.  We were miraculously able to teach him without his family spoiling the lesson and marked his baptism for this Sunday and gave him the Book of Mormon, which before his family had rejected, but this time didn´t say anything.  Pray for João!

The other miracle is Vitória, who really wants to get baptized, but the area rule is that she has to wait 3 months because she´s only fourteen.  Or she has to be baptized with her mom, so we´re going to try to teach her but we already know she´s very catholic and doesn´t want to go to church.. But her brother, Reginaldo, is a less active member and is 19, so MAYBE we can reactivate him and get permission from Pres to baptize her before my mission ends.. She´s so cute and wants to bring everyone to church next week and go to the activities.  Isn´t that just life?  She´ll for sure be baptized though. 

Well, the church is still true and the book is blue.  I hope you all have an awesome week.  Does anyone have ideas for simple games to play at a branch family night?  Most of the people who go are the recent converts. We need ideas.  Also, does anyone have any requests of what they want me to bring home from Brazil with me?  Havaianas?  Chocolate? Cuscuzeiro?  Does cuscuz exist in the united states? It´s a staple of life here.  

I love you all so much!  

Beijos,

Sister Moore

November 10, 2014, "It's A Girl"

Querida família,

Let´s start with the crazy news!  So last night we get a random phone call from President, who NEVER calls Sunday night for anything, and he told us that I had been moved to senior companion to prepare me to TRAIN in my last transfer!  Generally you only find that out the day before transfers, but for whatever reason President was inspired to tell me now.  I didn´t really talk about this, but Sister Cavalcanti received the phone call last transfer that she would train and I was happy for her but really heart broken because training is 12 weeks and I thought it was my last chance.  I was really tempted to doubt my abilities and just hang back, but I´ve been praying more than ever for the Lord to help me find my purpose and progress while still being junior.  The phone call from president just came in exactly the right moment and was really a moment of my knowing that the Lord does everything in His timing and He´s aware of our desires and what´s best for us.  I thought of Elder Bednar´s talk on tender mercies, that nothing is coincidence and His timing helps us recognize His tender mercies.  I´m so excited to end my mission with my own little filhinha :)  

We are still in search of the super elect people here in Rio Tinto, but I know they´re out there.  We have one couple, G and G, who want to get married and get baptized so it´s just organizing all the complicated details with that, and helping G gain a stronger testimony.  He used to be a pastor and he was a little drunk in one of our lesson just trying to show how much he knew about the Bible.. but it´s my dream to marry and baptize a family so of course it´s gonna happen :)

I do love your emails, mom, I love emails from EVERYONE (hint) and love hearing how everyone´s doing.  Being a missionary´s the best, our house is really funny and everyone knows how to sing Adele.. Miracles are gonna happen this week, I know it!  Love you all!  The church is true! 

Beijos,

Sister Moore

November 3, 2014

Querida família,

The transfer did start out with a baptism.  I kind of just arrived to baptize but he is a very cool guy named Leandro.  Rio Tinto is a very small branch so it´s awesome to baptize a future priesthood holder, who owns his own business and has a lot of potential to be a leader.  He was a reference from the District President who just had to open his mouth and share his testimony with a man he saw all the time at work.  Leandro already studies conference talks on lds.org and has great questions.  The only problem is his wife, who can´t understand still why he wants to leave the catholic church and they´ve been having some issues, but she´ll come around when she sees the blessings of her husband having the gospel.  

Last night we went to a fireside by President Carbone, who directs the institutes in all northeast Brazil and is one of President Nogueira´s counselors.  He literally knows everything about the scriptures and it was an awesome fireside.  He talked about how there can´t be iniquity in a branch or it won´t grow.  Members who don´t understand the doctrine keep the church from growing.  It was pretty much calling the district to repentance but afterwards he did question and answer.  What I got out of it was really that there exists a big connection between the temple and missionary work.  The key to success is just to keep and honor your covenants.  I read a talk this morning by Elder Nelson called ´´covenants´´ and he say the best compliment you can receive is to be called a covenant keeper.  When the Lord talks about covenants, he is usually reminding his people to lift up their heads and rejoice, because he always remembers his promises.  That´s the source of our strength that binds us to God and no other church has authority to make these covenants.  

My companion is very different from any other I´ve had but she is super dedicated.  She´s from Florianopolis, in the south.  It´s been a little hard finding my niche in our relationship; we´re both ending our missions and have a lot of ideas that are very different.  But she´s a great missionary and I know we need each other and the Lord will help us.  The other Sisters we live with are from Argentina and Australia.  Yep, the first Austalian to serve in Brasil.  We´re trying to teach our companions English, both already know a lot, but it´s always a fight between the two accents.. Speaking English is really hard these days haha.

Our house has horses, cats and monkeys.  It´s everything I´ve ever dreamed.  Someday you´ll see pictures... but it is not this day.

The church is true!  I love you all a lot.  I´m praying for your goals!  Make it rain!!! :)

Com amor e carinho,

Sister Moore

October 29, 2014, Rock n Roll in Rio Tinto!

Família minha!

Well it looks like I´ll be dying in the area with the same name as the stadium where I saw Paul McCartney, Rio Tinto. It was destiny.  It´s beautiful here, out in the middle of the jungle.  People baptize like crazy in this zone, Zona Mamanguape. People call this area the city of Enoch, so I guess it´s gotta be good haha.. My companion is another Brazilian, Sister Marshall, and this is her last transfer.  She´s from Santa Catarina. I´m sad to leave Santa Rita but I feel particularly good about the work I did there and feel the Lord is happy too.

I´m having trouble sending pictures again, but I was baptized!  She was so happy and excited to do personal progress, go to seminary and everything.  She already wants to go on a mission.  All of our recent converts in that area are doing so good, being taken care of and giving referrals and growing their testimonies.  We also planted a lot of seeds there.  Sister Cavalcanti got to stay and is training her new filhinha.  I knew all week I was leaving which was the worst thing ever, President told me at interviews.  

It´s been a great month for the Moore missionaries!  I love Andrea´s story.  She´s so brave to go against everything her family´s taught her to follow the truth.  I wish everyone had that courage.  We just have to teach in a way that we add to the truths they already believe and not take anything away from them.  

A lot happened this week.. but after transfers my mind goes a little blank.  The church is still true.  One of my favorite conference talks that´s helped me on my mission is ´´Accepted by the Lord´´ from April 2013, by a seventy who´s name I never can remember.  Always seek the Lord´s acceptance above everything else.  I have been focusing a lot more lately on really what the Lord expects of me, and I´ve been really grateful to see that a lot of promises in my patriarchal blessing and my setting apart blessing have already happened.  I don´t always understand the Lord´s mind, but every experience I´ve had has helped me to be a better peacemaker, be able to boldly share my testimony, and prepared me for the future things I´ll face in life.  

I love you all so much!  Have an awesome week!

Com amor,

Sister Moore

October 20, 2014

Querida Família!

This week was a roller coaster, but all ended really well and we baptized C and her three youngest kids, R, R and R.  Her husband R has some issue with baptism that we still can´t figure out because he won´t really talk to us other than to say ´´I don´t want to be baptized.  That church is different than the other ones´´.  He even agreed to go to the interview and talked to our zone leader for two whole hours.  He still just doesn´t want to, even though he read the Book of Mormon, prayed, got an answer, prayed about the baptism, God told him he was ready.  We´ll just have to figure him out this week and throw him in the water.. But other than that going to the interview with them was a great experience.  While he was in the interview, we stayed outside and kicked around a soccer ball with C and her kids.  When we got tired we just sat talking with her about her interview and I just felt like a part of her family in that moment, just having a calm moment in front of the church.  The baptism was great and the ward is receiving them really well.  

On the way back we ran into A and L AGAIN who had disappeared so we hadn´t even gotten to talk to them that week.  It was a miracle because if we hadn´t run into them they wouldn´t have gone to church the next day.  They loved the meetings and the baptism and payed attention to everything.  Afterwards we went to answer their questions about church and follow up.  They have actually been reading the scriptures and praying and have decided to live the law of chastity!  They still aren´t super decided yet but we marked their baptism for this Sunday.  I seriously love them, I feel like they´re a brother and sister to me and one of the only investigators I´ve had that I just want to stay in their house chatting.  It´s so good to really have trust like that with your investigators and to see that they´ve been changing.  I can see A as an Elder´s Quorum President and Bishop someday.  Pray for them!!

As for I and K, some drama went down with the youth and K´s mad at everyone and says she wants to stay in the church she was in before.  It´s so sad because she really did receive an answer that the Book of Mormon is true and was more excited than I to be baptized, but when you´re 13, you forget all that really quickly.  I at least still wants to be baptized but there was also some drama there and in the end she wasn´t baptized yesterday because she was SLEEPING.  Kids these days.  

Pray for these people and for us to find some more of the Lord´s elect this week.  But things are going great which means I´ll probably be transferred.  Transfers are indeed next week.  Time goes by so fast it doesn´t make sense.  

Sounds like you always get to do really cool things on your mission.  I want to hear Elder Holland talk in the Sacred Grove.  I´ve always wanted an apostle to come to this mission.. Have you guys seen the video the church made about missionary work in Brazil that has Elder Anderson and Elder Nelson in it?  They´re in Fortaleza which is really similar to here and I think you can find that video on the church website.

You knew I sang ´´I Come to Him?´´ in the MTC with two other sisters in my district right?  I love that song.  I sang ´´This is the Christ´´ at the baptism yesterday, which I found in portuguese this week in an old Liahona.  

Have a great week!  Make miracles happen!  The church is true!! I love you all so much.

Abraços e beijinhos,

Sister Moore

October 13, 2014

Querida família!

Parabéns for the baptism!  That family looks so happy.  I love that you went to lake Winnepesaukee.. I was actually thinking about that movie this week.  A lot of people need to untie their emotional knots.  Did you strap dad to the boat? haha

The Lord has been answering our prayers.  If we have righteous desires, He will always grant them to us, in His time and His way.  We brought a family to church, a completely crazy but totally elect family.  So C and R are a married (actually married!) couple who look like mother and son and go to different churches to visit almost every day.  Just let me tell you about the first lesson with them.. I finish telling the first vision and I ask them if they believe that Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ and C responds:  I believe, I saw Jesus once too... then she goes on to explain for 30 minutes (I counted) about her experience when she was completely awake and had this crazy vision being lifted up in the clouds in an elevator and seeing Jesus but his face was invisible and all this other stuff.  Here in Brazil, these kinds of things are pretty normal.  So the story of the first vision lost a little effect.. but hey.. she told us she knows we´re messengers from God and she wants to be baptized.

The miracle was in church.  It was testimony meeting and we had joked about how she was probably going to get up and tell everyone her 30-minute overcome-by-the-holy-ghost story.  Well, she got up, but it was to say that in 41 years of being Evangelical she had never felt so good inside any church.  She said she prayed for God to show her that this was the true church and felt immediately that it was and now knows for certain that this is Christ´s church.  Pray for this family!  She, R and three of their kids can be baptized this Sunday.  She is positive she wants to get baptize, now it´s just helping everyone else be just as secure.  

But it doesn´t stop there; the other miracle this week was I and K, two sisters who are also going to be baptized on Sunday!  I had already gone to church for a long time and almost was baptized, but she felt pressured and didn´t want to anymore.  A member gave the referral to us, and instead of her we found her younger sister, who we taught and afterwards she had a dream about being baptized.  When we finally taught both of them together, I told us she still wanted to be baptized, and she remembers EVERYTHING the elders taught her.  These girls are so cute and are already friends with the youth in the ward.  They are so solid, they already picked out what kind of cake they want at the baptism :)

We just need to have patience, and the Lord will bless us and answer our prayers.  I know this isn´t just an answer to mine and my companion´s prayers, but to everyone´s prayers in this ward and everyone who prays for the missionaries.  Thanks :)  The church is true.  

About A and L, they´re making things a little more complicated than they are, but still want to get married and get baptized. Keep praying for them to make the right decisions and just stay in their own houses at night... sheesh...  But they are still our friends and the spirit is always there so strong when we teach them.  Everything is so much simpler when you just keep the commandments.

I love you all so much!  Have the best week ever!  The church is true!

Com amor e carinho,

Sister Moore

Monday, October 6, 2014

Querida Família,

General Conference was so great.  I´m definitely going to be in the MoTab at some point in my life.  I made another list of things to do better in the next 6 months after conference, but left it at our house... basically we all just need to use the Atonement a little more in our life to help us do the things the Lord expects of us.  It was cool hearing one speaker without a weird voiceover, and I loved his talk and the question if we´re living so that the promises in our patriarchal blessing will be fulfilled.  We don´t have excuses to not know what the Lord expects of us and we need to be prepared to do it.  

The women´s conference, in April and this last one, have just made me cry the whole time and I have no idea why.  The mission just makes you so emotional and things like that just bring an overwhelming spirit.  The temple is one of the things I miss the most.  I´ll never forget the feeling of love I had the last time I went in Campinas, it was literally like a hug from the Lord sending me out on my mission.  His promises are sure.  I´m so grateful for our covenants. When the scriptures tell us to lift up our heads and rejoice, they are usually talking about our covenants.  After this conference I want to make the sacrament more of a concious act of keeping covenants and repenting. 

Our AP´s really want us to focus on our personal study and memorizing scriptures, that went really well with this conference.  We need to become familiar with the scriptures to recognize the shepherd´s voice.  I´ve memorized on my mission all of 2 Nephi 31 and I´m working on all of the scripture mastery verses.  It really is worth it and the Lord helps.  

 The Lord´s been blessing us a lot and helping us find complete families to teach.  Right now our progressing investigators are A, 20, and L,16, a couple who live separate but already have a daughter. A lives with his parents, who are very interested and want to get baptized (like, really badly) but aren´t married.  They need to clear up a few things financially but they´ll get married soon... But man.  THIS FAMILY IS ELECT.  The Lord wants these people in his church. We found A in August and he gave us the wrong address so we dropped him, but ran into him again, then a third time when he talked to the other sisters in another area and they passed his name as a referral.  So we went and taught him and his family the restoration and they understood and accepted everything SO well.  These are people who were waiting specifically for me and Sister Cavalcanti to teach them.  Several other churches have told A he needs to get married but he told us we´re the only people who have actually listened and tried to help them instead of condemning them.  Teaching them has been such a testimony to me of how the gospel blesses families.  They came to conference and said they will continue to pray to see if they will be baptized next week.  They just need to really understand the law of chastity and L needs to really have her own solid testimony to not just get baptized for her boyfriend, but pray for these people!!  

Pray for us to baptize a family this month!  I know God hears our prayers and if our desires are righteous, He´ll grant them to us!

You guys have some amazing stories, especially Andrea.  You are amazing missionaries and I hope you´re cherishing every minute.  Life´s good here in Santa Rita.  We´re gonna go to a members house today and I´m gonna teach them how to make cookies :) I know how to make them by memory, and if I can make them in Brazil with our match-lit ovens, I can cook anything in the US haha..  

I know God is aware of us and knows us by name.  Christ paid for our sins and our sorrows.  I know Joseph Smith saw the father and the son and that Thomas S. Monson is God´s prophet today.  Family is always first in the gospel.

I love you all so much and hope you have an incredible week!  Believe in miracles!

Com amor e carinho,

Sister Moore