January 26th

I actually miss going on hikes.. That's not something I thought I would miss with all the walking I do, But  its true haha. I actually miss waking up  early and going on hikes. 

THANKS FOR THE BIRTHDAY WISHES!! :) haha I am excited, but I know that the day is going to be a normal day. Working :) I don't think we will have a baptism on it, but we are trying.

This week was actually really good! The multi-zone conference was good, and I learned some really good strategies. Usually missionaries are scared of saying the word baptism, but after the training on Thursday, I think my companion and I are saying it like 30 times during the first lesson. None of the people we teach are wondering what our purpose is. 

I have been thinking about what my last day in the field will be like. Will I be sad that its ending? Im thinking that I want my last day in the field to be the most productive and I am going to want to teach the most people. So I have been trying to make every day ´´the last day in the field´´ and I have been so much happier to work, the time is going by faster, I'm not dragging my feet, and I feel like I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing :)

Until Next week, 

Elder Moss

January 19th

So this week was your average: wake up, work, get sunburnt, work more, and go home, kind of week. 

I'm more excited for the next two weeks than I was for this past week. We are going to try and have 3 baptisms on the last Satuday of the month (because this next Saturday is stake conference) which happens to be my birthday!! I hope that we can make that happen because I really want that to be my birthday present. 

I will see president twice this week! once at the multi-zone conference and once at the stake conference! I think He is extremely proud of my zone, because my zone has 10 baptisms for this month and that was our goal, and we still have 2 weeks left in the month! right now we are the highest baptizing zone in our mission. I hope we can keep it up there!

Love Elder Moss!

January 12th

I miss my senior year of high school. I miss only having to go to school one day a week for exams, going home, taking a nap, watching football and basketball. I was wondering who will be in the Superbowl! I'm a Green Bay Packers fan so that was great to hear!!

 I'm extremely jealous about the weather. I would give anything to have weather like that. Or at least anything under 100. This week, every day has been above 40 degrees Celsius. Yesterday was about 46. That's hot. At that point, It doesn't really matter what you are doing outside, you just burn and are wiped out. 

With the seasons, I do think it will start to get cooler starting at the end of Feb, beginning of March. but who knows what cooler is. People say that last ´´winter´´ was actually really hot. Some people are saying taht this winter will be the same, and some are saying that it will be really cold. I hope for the latter. 

So my week was good. Things are really looking up for my companion and I.  We are starting to joke around more and that's definitely helping our relationship. 

So on Wednesday we had a Zone meeting, and there was one envelope, like 20 letters and one box on the table. ALL of them were mine! :) 

The box was from grandpa Deshazo, and I absolutely loved it!! :) The tie is sick! and I love the snacks that momo sent. I am spacing them out so I don't eat all of them at once and get sick haha.

 The letters were fun! Most of them were just Christmas cards with family pictures and a little message, But the envelope.... I didn't know what or who sent the envelope, so I waited to open it until I got home. I opened it and immediately started crying. It was the Christmas present from the ward!

I loved all of the pictures, and the merry christmas tree decorations, but most of all, I loved the thought. 

Being here in Brazil has been changing my views on taking your calling above and beyond the minimum. 

I never realized how wonderful our ward was. The thought to make those envelopes and send them to the missionaries was extremely thoughtful. I cannot express how grateful I am to have grown up in Durham Second. You guys really do know what it means to make a ward a family and strengthen everyone. You don't just do your job because its your calling, you actually have a desire to help other people and make others happy. That's what the church Is really about, strengthening other peoples faith and helping others come unto Christ. I really cant describe how thankful I am for the support, but Thank You anyways. I think that The Durham second ward is the closest to Zion that you can get.

So that was on Wednesday haha. Then we worked and worked and worked. After you get a present like that, you really are motiveated to work. I am working so hard. We got 8 investigators to come to church... 8... Thats a lot! We had a baptism yesterday!!! It was an extreme miracle that she was baptized. 5 months ago she was living a depressed life, the right side of her body was paralized, and she was the last person that anyone would think to be baptized. But the missionaries gave her a blessing, and she was doing so much better the next day, but lost contact with the missionaries. We found her again, and started teaching her again :) 

Anyways, We will be working with our other investigators this week.

On Friday, we marked the wedding and baptism dates of one of our families! But that won't happen until feb. 

Until Next week, 

Love Elder Moss

January 4th

This week we worked a reasonable amount.  I say reasonable because for some reason, no one really likes to work the last week of the transfer. But we worked, and had some investigators go to church that haven't been in a while. Tomorrow we are going to this building to mark a date for a family that we have to get married. A lot of families here in Brasil are ´´married´´ meaning that they just live together, They have rings and live together, but not many people in this town are legally married. So one family that we are teaching will get married here in the next month, and they already want to be baptized. We will make their baptism for the next Saturday after their marriage. 

Another investigator said that she really liked out church a lot, and was a place where she really felt the true spirit of the lord. We invited her to be baptized this Saturday, and she asked if she could be baptized on Sunday instead so all of the people she is getting to know at church will already be there! haha So that's fun. 

So I'm talking to my other friend who lives in our house, Elder Patterson. He was in my district in the CTM.  One thing I would like to do this transfer is learn to use the bible a lot and get to know the restored gospel using the bible. Elder Patterson said something on new years eve which made me really rethink of how I will use this next year to learn the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He said ´´This year I'm not going to ask why, I'm going to study it´´ I'm already starting to do this, and I'm really enjoying it.

Not much else is happening, but we have some pretty good investigators, and some families to contact that I have hope for. 

I will look out for your boxes and letters the next few weeks. Normally we get everything within the next few days after a transfer, but with only two people leaving our zone, I don't know if we will get our boxes until the next multi- zone conference, which is in the middle of this month. 

Thanks for everything! 

Love Elder Moss