It's my Birthday! I'm an Old Man

Wow, I can’t believe I am not a teenager anymore, I am OLD!!!! It feels like I have arthritis in my knees and hips, and there is a storm coming in, it’s going to rain. Even my companion says I’m old, haha. Tell everyone thank you for the birthday wishes, they were very much appreciated. Had kind of a birthday party at the Godinhos, they are super awesome, anyway their daughter was also having her birthday, haha, so we shared the cake. Then on Saturday at lunch at Anderson and Sarah, they are super awesome couple, they made us a ton of maracuja which is my favorite, I am loving Joinville, it is awesome!

So Joinville is super huge, it is the biggest city in Santa Catarina, it is like Phoenix with a bunch of connecting cities around it. So needless to say we have a huge area, and it it seems like we are always on the bus. We had a couple missionaries in our apartment leave on an emergency transfer, so now our area and work has increased. Elder Keller is awesome, he is just like me in like everything, his only downfall is being a Seahawk and Huskie fan. He is super cool, we get along super great, and we are going to be really good friends from here on out! It's going to be an awesome time here! We are going to work a lot with the members. We have a huge part of Joinville and the cities up north above it, so we use the bus a lot. We organized everything this week and now it time to get to work. The only drawback so far that I have noticed is the people on the street don’t really like to stop and talk about religion. So it has been harder to find new investigators.

The ward is awesome, there are a ton of returned missionaries, both women and men. So there is super potential for member missionary work here. We will light a fire under the members and remind them that they are always missionaries. The families feed us really well too! I have been blessed in my past three areas.

So we were on the street this week walking and I saw this man ride by on a bike and I thought about talking to him but didn't and then a little while later, we saw him again, but we just said hello. Then as we finally arrived at the house of some investigators that were given to us from the emergency transfer, it turns out the that the other elders were teaching him and it was his house. The spirit is so real, I have to get a lot better at just going and talking to everyone all the time, but it was an awesome learning experience.

So here is something funny/interesting I wanted to share, so remember when we were in Spain and Justin bought that laser pointer and was messing with all the people. Well we have an issue with dogs here, and at night they become super annoying and always barking, so I bought a green laser pointer in Guaratuba. You point the laser at them and they stop barking, it pretty hilarious. Anyways we got caught by some people, it was pretty funny.

So the scripture for the week is Deuteronomy 4:28, Just talking to people you can see just how much the perception of God has been changed in their minds and hearts. I am so glad to know that he is my loving Heavenly Father who knows me and has a body of flesh and bones resurrected and perfect. We truly have the fullness of the gospel.

Love you all, remember to do the little things,
Families are Eternal,

Elder Moore

Leaving Guaratuba

My new companion Elder Keller

Bus rides are awesome

Celebrating my Bday on Pday

I'm not a teenager anymore,

I am a 20 year old man!!!

Elder Keller and I, we are not in Arizona that's for sure

Birthday with Ariane Godinho

Birthday with Ariane Godinho

My year mark, and Tchau Guaratuba!

Sunset at Guaratuba, Tchau!

So it’s transfers today and I am going to Joinville! It was a short time here in Guaratuba, only one transfer. What is cool is Joinville is only a short trip away and we will have to come back here for splits and interviews with investigators so that is good. I am sad to leave Guaratuba and Elder Sulivan so fast. Also what stinks is I was just getting comfortable here and honestly we were starting to see a change happening here, but I feel I did what I needed to do while I was here. I am excited for Joinville, I will be companions with Elder Keller, he came out the same time as I did, and he is from Gilbert. He went to Williams Field HS and played football also. So I guess we are going to be friends for life now, he is very similar to me, so it should be a fun transfer.

So I can’t believe I have been on my mission for one year. It feels like the time has really flown by like crazy fast. So on my year mark we had a FHE (Family Home Evening) with a member and and an investigator. Then we had a lesson with bishop and a friend of theirs on Thursday night, so we decided to celebrate and have a special dinner on Friday night. We went to Don Brot and ate an X-Tudo, which is a huge hamburger with fries had onion rings. We also had dessert which was a brownie with ice cream, it was super awesome!

So we had 4 FHEs this week. We had one with an active/less active family. It was great, we taught about families and the need of each individual member in the family to help and love one another. We also two on Thursday, one with the Bishop and one with another family. It was a good lesson and time spent with them. Then we had one where we focused on this talk by President Dieter F. Uchtodorf, “Lord, is it I?” It was great because in their family they were having some issues of not getting along, and you guys have to read it it helped me a TON when I was preparing the FHE and we had another FHE about eternal families. We also had a FHE with a family, who I learned a ton about what it means to serve the Lord. They have a son that is on a mission in Columbia, he is a beast of a missionary, definitely hard working. Anyways he has faced a lot of difficulties while out on the mission. After being on the mission for just a short time he was diagnosed with diabetes. Then this week he just found out that the cartilage in his knee is all gone so he has to get injections. They were going to send him home, but he was able to talk to his mission president and convince him to let him stay, and that he would ride a bike the rest of his mission. What is strange is that none of his family are members, from what I have learned about him, they will probably all baptized when he returns.

We had a good lesson with Bruno this week with Bishop, we also found two really awesome families that I am sad that I am not going to be able to teach. Our two investigators that were ready to be baptized, began having issues and we have had to postpone their baptism date. They both know it is true, but are just getting nervous about making the commitment.

Yeah so I love the mission because it is honestly awesome to feel the spirit during a lesson, sometime it's like super strong and honestly I am so grateful for the HOLY GHOST. When we are doing what we need to be doing and are worthy we can have it as our constant companion! I love you guys I am short on time this week because I gotta go catch the bus to Joinville in just a little bit, talk more next week!

Love you all,
Elder Moore

Azevedo and Adeliade 2 awesome members

One Year Mark Dinner

One big Burger and Fries

And dessert

Joao and Daniel two young men we were teaching, they are awesome!

FHE with Tafarel and Arions families

I can't believe it is already going to be a year!

So another quick week went by here in Guaratuba. Let me share a quick recap of the week, it was a good week.
So on Monday we visited with Joao and Daniel, the two young men we are working with, they also brought a friend to listen to us. We taught them about the purpose of the Book of Mormon. Then on Tuesday we went to Andre, Irineu, Noemi and Sofia (they have a son on a mission in Columbia). They are not members yet, so we taught them the importance of prayer. We taught Wellington the Plan of Salvation, he also went to church on Sunday with his sister so that was good. He has some good young men friends in the ward, so we will see if he is ready to get baptized this week or not. We also visited with three young men that got baptized a little over a year ago, they never received the new member lessons, so we taught them, and we are hoping to teach their family, so we can complete them and help make them an eternal family.
We also visited Vinicius this week and he is doing good, we have been working a lot with him on personal revelation and it has been helping a lot. He went to the baptism and also to church, we know with time he will get his answer he is just has to recognize the spirit. We also visited and taught the family that lived in the Miami for like ten years. They are really good and have lots of questions. The mission president wants us to keep lessons around 20 minutes, so that we we are able to visit them more often during the week. They just have so many questions it is hard to keep them at 20 minutes.
We have been working with Adriana and Lucas and they have a goal to get married before the end of September! Then they are ready to be baptized. They are awesome and love doing family history work already. We also have been working with Lucas and he has stopped drinking coffee. Bruno is doing great, we just need to continue helping him with his desire to stop smoking. I can see a change in the ward and their involvement in missionary work, it is exciting. I hope I don’t get transfered because I love it here, but I am the newbie of the area so I don't think I will leave!

Sidenote: So this week we were walking down the street and we heard the radio playing some music, I had no clue who the singer was, so yes I am officially on the mission and out of touch with the world.

So my year mark is right around the corner. It should be fun, we actually have a busy day on Thursday, we have a FHE planned and a couple of lessons scheduled. I did buy a box of chocolates for the year mark celebration, hahaha!

So Justin, man its crazy to think I haven't seen you in almost a year! I miss you brother, but sounds like you are doing great in football. Thank you for sending the scriptures, I will read them this week and see how I can use them in our lessons. I hope you are working hard in school and getting good grades man! I can’t wait to be back there seeing you in your senior year. love you man, I hope you have a great school year and be smart! Always prepare each week to bless the sacrament! I love you like crazy man! Tear it up in Football and School! I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!

Love you all!!! Remember to do the small things for one another! Go to the temple, do everything you can to be an eternal family!

Love,
Elder JT Moore

Waiting at urgent care

City in Brazil called "Don't Touch Me"

Some of the young men in the ward with Wellington in the back

District Meeting

The Book of Mormon, Read it Daily!

Well another week has come and gone, it is interesting out here the days go by long, but the week goes by fast. I can’t believe that this transfer is almost already over. I can’t believe that I have been out on a mission for almost a year. It doesn’t feel like I have been here in Guaratuba for already a month. So we are continuing trying to work as much as possible with the members. We started doing a 40 day fast as a ward and it is paying off. We also have a FHE with the Bishop on Thursday, which should be really good. Some of the awesome families that we have meet here are Miriam and Antonio and their family, also Cleber and Loane are another awesome family. The Father's day activity was awesome and was a missionary success since we had 12 investigators there! So the most spiritual event this week was Rafels baptism, it was awesome! The baptism helped excite the members about missionary work, I am really excited because we also had a good group of investigators at the baptism. Then we had a really good lesson with Vinicius on personal revelation. We had a great lesson with Wellington, he is a great young man. He went to church last week, and he went to soccer night with the ward, also he is going to seminary. He also brought his family to the father day night! We had a great lesson with him and marked a baptism with him on the 22nd of August!

I love my district, we are doing awesome and are working really hard. Honestly this district is great. a lot of newer missionaries that are willing and wanting to work hard. I couldn't ask for a better district! Elder Sulivan and I are having a blast, and I hope and pray that he doesn’t get transferred.

So this week we went to Joinville. It has the first chapel that was built in all of South America. It was built in 1931. We had zone conference and we had interviews with the mission president. I learned a lot from him on how to study the scriptures better!

The down part of the week was we went to visit Vinicius again, he was supposed to get baptized but he got cold feet, he still came to church on Sunday so that was good. I guess it is better that he truly wants to be baptized and that he understands the importance of it, then going and getting baptized and later go inactive.

Mom, no worries, it is super safe here in Guaratuba, people actually really respect the missionaries here, even the crazies of the town always compliment us. I am taking care of myself we went to urgent care this week and spent 3 hours waiting to get x-rays on my sinuses. They gave me a shot, and some medicine, and I have been doing well ever since.

Some of the blessings we saw that happened to us this week, when we left the LAN house last week from emailing, a man approached us, he was from the state above Santa Catarina, anyways he took all four of us missionaries out for lunch. Then a member called us and cut all of our hair, she also did my eyebrows too! We are so blessed as missionaries!

Some scriptures that I studied this week are 1 King 19:12 and 1 Nephi 17:42. They talk about how to truly recognize the spirit, it is a small voice. We have to have our surroundings in line to be able to hear that still small voice in our lives. I have been studying a lot about personal revelation. It is key to our progression here on this earth!

Alma 43:45 we need to be always in a good cause. That cause is this gospel, we need to love it, live it, and share it! I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior, He is the only way to return to live with our Heavenly Father, The Temple is the house of the Lord, and families can be eternal through the temples. The Book of Mormon is the Book of all Books. We need to read from it daily to truly be strengthened and be in tune with the Holy Ghost, I PROMISE YOU THIS!

Love you guys have a great week, read the BOM everyday, it will help with any problem that we have!

Love Elder Moore

The Bay!

At a members house, nice view of the Bay

View a little way from our apartment

Our Lunch

Our Zone at Joinville

Joinville, the first Church built in South America

The Joinville Church

Awesome man that got baptized, Rafael

Father's Day in Brazil, awesome ward activity

Baptism of Rafael

FHE with Miriam and Antonio Family

Working with the Members

So this was a good week of work in Guaratuba. So things are honestly doing really good, all four of us in the apartment get along well, we have fun at the house and work hard and we are enjoying it here. Both companionships are seeing the blessing of working with the members. Getting the members to help us out is changing missionary work here big time! We are working with quite a few families and a lot of part member families so that is good, we are trying to reactivate members and baptize the nonmembers of the family.
Elder Sulivan and I are having fun, he is super funny and we goof around a lot, but we know when to use the switch and get serious and work!

Here is a quick recap of my week.
Monday - We visited Dico and Rose, a family we are teaching and taught about the intro to BOM. It went well they said they are searching for the truth and we invited them to read, ponder and pray. We also visited Vinicius and talked about Baptism. He said that this upcoming Saturday is the day, we are super excited for him, he is a little more reserved but we are trying to help him come out of his shell.
Tuesday - We visited Edson, he is an older man. The elders have been teaching him for almost 2 months now and he has read all the way to Mormon in the BOM! He says he knows these things are true, but just never goes to church! We need to work better at getting members there! We also visited with João and Daniel, the two young men we are teaching and taught about prayer and scriptures. We are trying to help them get more motivated to read. We also visited Rafaela and are going to start teaching her all the new member lessons because no one ever did that. We are going to teach them with her BF too. We also visited Dico and Rose again!
Wednesday - We had FHE with Bruno with Irmao Azevedo and Adelaide and Irma Miriam talked about being pioneers in our lives. We visited Adriana and Lucas and talked about word of wisdom. We also visited João a new investigator and tried to help him out with all of his questions.
Thursday - We visited João and Daniel again. We went by and visited Luis, he is a little different, and he was telling us how his wife left him and it was all our fault, anyways I couldn’t tell if he was serious or not, but he was just joking. It was definitely a funny and weird experience. We finished the night off by visiting Gabriel and Leidiane.
Friday - We had district meeting, and we discussed the importance of the scriptures and studying them daily. We visited Vinicius, Bruno, and Joao
Sunday - So it was awesome, and we had some miracles happen. We ended up having 4 investigators go to church this week. Between the two companionships we had 9 investigators at church! Some of the investigators that were there were some friends that members brought. That was awesome. We have just begun the 40 day fast as a word, and we are already seeing blessings.

Yeah so Guaratuba is a good area, this week was a small glimpse at the true potential this place has, I am really excited to be here. There is not much of a bus system here in Guaratuba, but we primarily stay within 3 km of the church so it isn't bad walking. We probably walk around 8 to 10 km per day. I am going to start using the pedometer again to see how much we walk. This week we found an older couple, that lived like 10 years in Miami and are now living here. We had a great lesson with them although we didn’t get to teach a ton because they had a ton of questions, and he gets super animated with them. Also another man we are teaching, he is super cool and he always gives us meat sticks when we walk by his mini restaurant, hahaha we are loving life here, we are fed very well here in Guaratuba!

Love you guys do the little things pray together everyday! Have a fun week at school Justin! Enjoy your Junior year man! Tear it up in school and sports! :)

Love,
Elder JT Moore

Walking the streets of Guaratuba

Look what I found! El Madrileño

Thanks for the package! I love you!!!!