Moore on a Mission in Florianopolis, Brazil: He knows each and everyone of us

Well another week has come and gone, and it was a great fun week. The assistants stayed with us almost this whole week to get ready for the Christmas conferences, so it was fun talking and hanging with them. I am enjoying the office very much and I am getting pretty good at all of the stuff that I need to do. In fact just this upcoming week I am in the process of renewing 3 visas and 2 are going to be done with the new procedures, but I am honestly very calm now and now I don’t worry too much. We prepared for the Christmas conferences most of the week on top of our normal tasks we have to do. With Christmas being on Friday, we have had to move up on transfer preparations which are on the Monday following Christmas. We need to have everything done beforehand. This is going to be a big transfer with 17 coming in and 9 going home.

First off, Sunday was great we had 7 investigators at church it was really good. We are only currently teaching a few of them so we have a lot of work of ahead of us. A lot of them were friends of members or family members of active members. Our ward mission leader, Pedro, is on fire, he talked about the ward mission plan, he is awesome and is a huge help with the work. He goes with us on a lot of our lessons and is just a big help. While we were out early in the week we met Leia. Later in the week we had a meeting with her, she is super cool and we had a really good lesson, we talked about eternal families and she really really liked it. We talked about the Book of Mormons we set up another appointment with her, and we are going to go back to see if she read the Book of Mormon.

We had a good FHE with a few different families in the ward. We talked about “A profile of a prophet” by Hugh B Brown. I really like this talk. Here is a really good story that happened prior to that FHE.

God really knows each and everyone of us and knows our sorrow and our pains, and knows how to lift us up. At this time in the mission, the mission is awesome, the office is awesome, but the missionary work lately has been tough. This whole week has been tough as far a missionary work has gone. A lot of our appointments have fallen through and it has just gotten me down in the dumps. Anyways as we went to the FHE, and as we were walking down the street I was feeling really down, and as we approached the house for the FHE a song came on the radio really loud in the house next door. This was the same song that helped me out so much back in eighth grade when I was going through my weird depressed stage, when mom would have to come pick me up from school because all I wanted to do was sleep, and we would go to Wendy’s, it was a song that helped me out a lot during that time. Anyways when I heard this song it was a moment for me that really clicked, God knows us so well, he knows me so well! and what I needed at that moment. Out of all of the songs that have ever been made in the whole wide world that song would be played in a country that is thousands of miles away, a song that is really old, in a house right next to me, I was like I know God knows me and loves me, and this is how simple it was for him to lift me up and cheer me up, it made my week!!! I am so thankful for a loving Heavenly Father!

So the mission Christmas conference was similar to last year and was a blast. We went to the office and got all the stuff for the conference. President gave a great spiritual message, then he went over our ward’s missionary plan, that he is going to use for all of the wards in the mission, titled “UM” POR FAMÍLIA EM 6 MESES, (A Family in 6 months). Then we did the white elephant gifts. Super fun, I love playing that game. I ended up getting a mug with the Floripa logo on it. We had a ton of fun seeing everybody, some companions I haven’t seen in a long time. Our zone made matching skirts and ties, we have great unity. We played the normal Xbox games, board games, checkers, and ping pong. So I realized I will definitely need the gym when I get back! After playing tennis on the Xbox Kinect and finally beating my mission President, my shoulder is super sore just from playing. I am SOOOOO out of shape. But I did beat the President (2 out of 3), which no ever does, so my mission is accomplished. The unwritten rule is whoever beats him gets to pick the next area he gets to serve in, however the Mission President said I would choose the office! hahaha.

Mom I just want to say that I am very grateful that you always write me a TON of questions, I know it means you worry, care, and love me so much!!!!!!! But truthfully I am very healthy, so don’t worry anymore.

We are going to President's house on Christmas eve (what they celebrate here more than the actual day) and then Christmas day with a family in the ward and having a BBQ!

I can’t wait to talk with you all on Christmas day, one of my last two calls before I see you in person. We will do Google Hangouts at noon our time in the office.

Love you all very much! Remember to always do the little things! Share the Gospel!

Besos, Tchau, Tchau,
Elder JT Moore