December 28, 2015

This christmas was so much better than last year. I was a lot happier, And I just had better experiences. 

So basically this week, I went on splits with the zone leaders on Tuesday, then we got back to our areas and started contacting some of the contacts that had been made. Well, one of the contacts was named Gabriel. He is 20 years old, and he is awesome. We taught him the first lesson and he understood and really liked it. Well he went to church, and he accepted a baptismal date for the 9th of January!! It was awesome. An awesome christmas experience. 

And now we are going to keep helping him and we have to get back into the rhythm of doing 700 contacts a week which I am less excited about. 

Love Elder Moss

November 16th & 23rd

November 16, 2015
This week was pretty calm. We just worked, knocked on doors, visited people, and talked to people about going to church. 

Here is was pretty hot this week. Just sweating and sweating all day long. 

haha Theres not very much to say about this week.

Haha I heard there was a pretty bad snow storm in New York, and I had to stop and remember which month it was!

November 23, 2015

This week was very fast but stressful. On Wednesday we had English classes which was pretty normal, but on Thursday we had a ward activity that was awesome!... it was well prepared for and everything, just no one showed up. We had about 15 to 20 people there. It was planned for and everything by the missionaries. We even had to buy all of the material (and we will be reimbursed too) but that was stressful because we didn't have time to work all day. 

On Sunday we had a new investigator go to church, and we marked a baptismal date with him for December 20th. We got pretty excited about that.

Love Elder Moss

Monday, October 26th

Haha you and dad are now speaking Portuguese! maybe I'll write the message in Portuguese!

Então essa semana foi bom! O novo missionario que eu estou treinando se chama Elder De Almeida. Ele é de Pará, um outro estado aqui em brazil. 

ele ja serviu uma mission de corto prazo por 1 mes, mas ele ainda esta aprendendo. As vezes eu tenho que me relembrar de paciência. E tambem, nao da pra fazer todas as coisas nos precisamos fazer por que eu preciso fazer outras coisas que os Lideres de Zona falam pra mim. Eu estou gostando muito, mas eu acho que esse transferencia vai passar um pouco mais devagar. 

the google translate isn't going to explain very will because I used a lot of slang. 

This week was good! The new missionary that I'm training is called Elder de Almeida. He is from para! the same state as my other companion, Elder Portilho. He already served a part time mission for a month, but he is still learning a lot. some times I have to remind myself that I need to have more patience. Also, sometimes it doesn't work to do all of the things I need to do because I'm doing OTHER things the zone leaders ask me to do. I'm liking it alot, but I think this transfer will go by a little slower than the last. 

Its pretty good here in the city. I Think that next week I will have p day on Tuesday, because its ANOTHER holiday. Incredible. I don't like all these holidays on Mondays. Its the day of the dead. Everyone goes to the cemeteries and pay respect to all those that have died. So we know where we are going to be all day...

Love Elder Moss!

October 14th

     This week was interesting. It was just mostly work. We met some cool people, but nobody went to church. We started our first official English class. There were about 55 people there. I am helping to teach the advanced class. It doesn't have that many, but we actually speak English so that's cool. On Monday, I wasn't able to get on the internet because it was national kids day. Its like a second Christmas here. We did about 200 contacts in one day. We were exhausted. 

 Yesterday we had our multi zone conference. It was really spiritual. Our mission is finally going in the right direction that I feel like it will progress. We have this new idea of literally talking to everyone we see about the gospel. 

Haha I laughed when I saw my baptism photos yesterday.

Love Elder Moss

(These are the 2 pictures that were sent to James' Mission at their request for baptismal photo's)

Monday October 5th

Well This week went by VERY fast. We had things happening every day.
 Monday was p day

Tuesday was my first leadership counsel. It was good and very informal. I just didnt like the end of it when President started asking about what my numbers were for Sunday and Monday after p day. The numbers were really low, so haha I kind of was embarrased. Plus it was in front of all of the leaders on the mission. 

Wednesday was zone meeting in the morning, and I went on splits with one of the elders here in the district in the afternoon. We just worked a lot. It was good. 

Thursday was something else, but I forgot--haha so many things are happening.

Friday I went on splits with another missionary from the district. I helped him with new investigators. We met this guy that had received the missionaries for a long time, but he also said that he studied with Jehovah witness for 2 years, and with the 7th day Adventists. so we were going to teach about the restoration, but we ended up just talking about prophets. It was a very spiritual lesson. Its been a while since I had a lesson like that one. 

Saturday and Sunday were conference. They were so good. I personally liked the Saturday evening, and the first on Sunday the most.

 Mom, did you hear elder Hollands talk? If not, I would like you to listen to it, and watch it. It was one of my personal favorites. 

Love Elder Moss

We taught english to some kids this week and that was pretty cool!

and I reorganized space... I know my hair cut looks weird but I promise its just the way the light is shining off my hair.

September 20th

This week was awesome! So Tuesday was my first district meeting. It went pretty smoothly.  After it, one of the assistants came up to me and he said that it was one of the best district meetings that he has had here in Brazil. 

We did this one contact with a woman on the street on Tuesday, went to talk to her on Friday. So we get there, and she told us that she had been looking for a church that most represents Jesus Christ. Well we start talking about the restoration, and I started to get nervous because she started asking questions and ended up telling us that she grew up Jehovah witness, and so we were kind of fighting that for a little bit.

 But she started crying when she was telling us about how hard her life is right now. She is unemployed, and is being kicked out of her house and she doesn't know where to turn. I offered a priesthood blessing, and she said she never let people put hands on her head because she is always scared that someone unworthy will give the blessing and something bad will enter her soul or something bad will happen. So we talked a little bit more, and when we had to leave, I asked if we could pray on our knees. She said yes, and after the prayer, she looks at us and says ´´ I think I want one of those blessings on the head´´ so I gave her the  blessing, and It was such a spiritual experience. When I finished, she was crying, and she said she wanted us to come back so that she could get to know the church.

Well I think Friday, I ran into a tree and hit my head pretty hard. and that was funny to everyone in our house for the next hew days. 

Saturday, my companion and I were chased by swans.... It was the weirdest but scariest experience in a while. I literally didn't know what was happening, because swans are NOT normal birds here. and it just started running at us with its neck stretched at us...

This week was just as great. I hope it stays like this. I just hope everything goes well for that investigator we have. She said that if she doesn't find a house or a job this week, she has to move to Sao Paulo. so keep her in your prayers. Her name is Kelly. 

There is a chance that I could be in the newspaper this next week for English classes for free by Americans. 

Love Elder Moss

  

About the Pictures:

1) picture of piracicaba from my area

2) the river! its actually full now!

3) the assistants to the prez. 

4) something that reminded me of Durham!

5) we taught abunch of kids about english! and they made poster for us. These are some of their teachers

6) a cool bridge

September 14th

Yeah I remember testing on the trumpet for the first time. I felt so bad at it. But it helped to laugh at myself. haha that made other people laughing at me not so bad.

So this week was actually 100 times better than I thought it was going to be... It started off rough, but after like Wednesday or Thursday, it became awesome, because ´´everything is awesome when you're part of a team!´´ - JC and Robert (and dad) name that movie.

So I work like I have always worked. My area is complicated. Its tough.  We still have to do a ton of contacts every day and work a lot. The only new responsibilities that I have is that I have to call every companionship in my district a few times a day to see how their day is going. I also have to plan and conduct district meetings every Tuesday morning. This means I have to prepare trainings for the 10 Elders in my district. Which is what stressed me in the beginning, because my district has the assistants to the president, and 4 old zone leaders. So they already know basically everything I can have to offer. 

But what I learned this week is that I absolutely love all of the elders in my district. They are all awesome. The said that the district lacked union in the past, and I am realizing that my personality is truly fit for where I am right now.

 Anyways, I am happy where I am. I am excited for this week, and I have faith that we can do what we need to do when we are called by God.

Thats actually a pretty cool experience that I had this week. So in the middle of the week, I was stressing alot. Like it was hard for me to sleep. I knew if I were going to do this, I needed help. I prayed and asked God for that help. I knew and still know that if I want this help, I have to be worthy of it. I really have to try my hardest. I have seen God's hand in the last week helping me when I need help. I am starting to change a few wrong attitudes that I had at the beginning of the mission.

So Elder Portiliho, my old companion from Poços de Caldas, he was transferred like two months ago to Piracicaba, the 3rd ward. I didn't know this until this Sunday, but my ward and his ward used the same chapel! So I will be seeing him like every day until the end of his mission. He was a great companion.

That's basically what happened this week

Love Elder Moss

June 22nd

I miss those long hikes and cliffs! I have a few long and hard walks of my own, but they are all up hill and on a road. 

So this week, the president challenged the entire mission. He said that all the people that have above a certain number of lessons, and indicator keys, will have a special lunch with him. So my companion and I worked... and worked.. and worked.. I am physically exhausted and practically dead, but we got those numbers.

 I was disappointed because the only thing we missed was the investigators in the church. We needed 8, and only one decided to go. That was hard, but it was good to work a lot. We learned some new techniques, and we talked to the zone leaders, and apparently my companion and I were some of the only ones that got even close to it. That felt good haha. Only one companionship actually got the goals. We were so close, but the investigators in the sacramental got us. We taught over 40 lessons.

I think this week (today) I am going to buy some indoor soccer shoes. we will see some prices and I will try out some pairs. 

But this week we will keep working our hardest.

Love,

 Elder Moss

May 18th

This week was long, then it was going by fast.. then it went by slow again. I went on splits with the district leader, and I didn't like it. His area is horrible, because its so hilly, and I just didn't find myself enjoying it. My companion and I had two or three good days in the middle of the week, and then on Thursday, everyone in the district went to the area of some sisters to help them out with finding new investigators. Then Friday and Saturday  were slow... again...

Love Elder Moss

May 4th

So this week was interesting haha. It was the last week of transfers, and my companion thought he was going to leave, so we spent practically all week visiting members and investigators and spending a little more time with them. It was good, but I'm glad that this week wont repeat for another 6 weeks. 

At one of these houses, I was half asleep on a couch, and a cat decides to sit right beside me, and pee. I woke up immediately because of an unusual warm sensation on my back.... that was a first.. haha. I was peed on by a cat... one more reason not to like them. But it was okay because I was able to go to the bathroom and clean my shirt.

So I forgot to take pictures, but I made monkey bread for that family! the don't have canned biscuits here, so I had to make the dough out of hand, which was complicated, but it turned out really well. Like if you google monkey bread, the bread that I made looks like the pictures on google images. 

Wow she got my letter now? I sent it a long time ago. The mail here is slower than I thought. 

So I was thinking, and at the end of this transfer, I will only have a year left here in Brazil... time is flying!

My companion will be getting glasses this week, and I talked to them, and they said that I can bring my old glasses( my first pair, that I brought as backup) and for 40 reais they can put new lenses that are the same prescription as the glasses that I use now, which is about 12 dollars. I think I'm gonna do it haha. Its a pretty good deal. 

So my companion and I talked, and our goal for this transfer is 4 baptisms. Its a lot, but he told me that he knew he was gonna be transferred, and so he prayed and told God that if he lets him stay, he will baptize 4 (which is an unusually high number) and so now we are going to work a lot.

Anyways, I'm excited for Sunday!

Love Elder Moss

April 20th

Don't worry about me missing out on the allergy season. It feels like I haven't stopped sneezing since I got here in this city.

So this week was very stressful, but it payed off. We were at a families house last Monday, and the girlfriend of a teenager that we baptized a few weeks ago shows up and she tells us that she wants to be baptized! So we talked to another friend of theirs who has been kind of flaky the past couple of weeks, and we got to baptize them both!! It was awesome! It helps relieve a lot of stress when I baptized. The mission puts a lot of pressure on the missionaries to baptize, and when you don't baptize, you feel like poop. So I'm glad I've been having decent luck here with baptisms. 

My teeth are doing great. I haven't gone back to the dentist yet to get the other three cavities worked on, the ones that showed up because of the glue that the ortho didn't remove. I need to bring the piece of paper that said I already payed for them, and I always forget it.. and I'm scared haha. But I will go back. I won't waste money. I will go back to get them fixed. 

My shoes are great! I ended up buying boots that will last me for hopefully the rest of my mission. And they were actually pretty cheap. 

I don't need anything else. I want to send home with a few shirts that I got here and I don't want to keep packing them up. I just don't use them. but i want to save them for after the mission. It wont be that expensive. 

Love, Elder Moss

March 30th

I will be watching general conference in the other ward here in the city, and hopefully in English. 

This week was full of emotion, in a good way! It was the first week that I worked a full week with my new companion, Elder Portilho. He is Brazilian, which means that I have been blessed to have all of my companions be Brazilian. They all have different accents, which makes it good to get to know Portuguese better and more intimately. 

So on P day, we went to this nature park called Fonte das amores, or the fountain of lovers. The only reason we went is because we heard that there are wild monkeys that come down from the mountain to mooch off of tourists with bananas. So we got there with tons of bananas, and immediately started feeding them! It was so cool! they slowly get really close to you, and take the pieces of banana out of your hand. So that was really cool.

Then on Tuesday, we went to a family who my companion baptized a couple of weeks back, and we were talking to the older brother, who wasn't baptized and didn't want to be baptized. We had some serious and spiritual talks to him and the family, and he said he wanted to be baptized this weekend! So we worked with them this entire week, He was baptized on Sunday after church! And we were working with some of his friends and girlfriend, and we are going to baptize His best friend in between general conference sessions. The only thing with that is that we have to do is talk to his grandpa because his grandpa wants him to be baptized into his church, but we are going to talk to him this week. I hope he listens. We will be also working with the girlfriend and her mom. Their problem is that they hear a lot of stuff that talks junk about the church. 

This new area is extremely hilly! I mean I love it because it is beautiful and is cooler in temperature, but I'm finding my self just physically exhausted at the end of every day. Its so hard to wake up on time because it feels like 8 hours of sleeping doesn't recharge my muscles enough. But my area is the area close to the house. the other area for the other companionship is 1.5 hours walking, just to get to the area. Their furthest neighborhood is 3-4 hours walking from our house, and just as far a way from the church, which makes it hard to get investigators to come to church. They have a lot more hills, too. 

Other than that, this is my week! I hope you guys have an awesome time at the outer banks, and make sure to send me tons of photos!

Love Elder Moss