Great Fun, Spiritual Week!

Happy 4th of July everyone! I can’t believe this is the third 4th of July that I haven’t been in the USA. Today started off with a phone call from another apartment with 3 American missionaries (one a Texas hick) and an Argentinean singing "The Star Spangled Banner", it was hilarious.  The mission is awesome, what a great week we had this week. I can’t believe this is like my second to the last Pday, time sure has flown by.

We started off visiting some less actives, that I found out were great members here, and at one time really worked hard in building the ward here, spent hours upon hours visiting and working and strengthening the members. We are just trying to help them come back to church and help them remember why the came to church before.

At church we were taught about the 40 day fast or personal sanctification, where you start by picking a few things in your life that you either want do better at or stop doing or just things that will help you become more Christ like. So you do a prayer at the beginning about the things you have picked and ask Heavenly Father for help. Then you focus on doing those things and each day you pray and check your progress to see how you are doing. Anyways I decided to start my 40 day fast now so that I will continue to do the things and finish up my 40 day fast after I return home. It has helped a lot and I am sure it will help me with the transition once I am home.

I really saw the importance of keeping the Word of Wisdom this week, things that I thought were no big at home I have realized are an issue and I have seen members have problems and issues with. Also this past week I saw with absolute clarity the importance of keeping the commandments so that we can be happy!

We did a lot of work and taught a lot of lessons, it was a very productive week. We helped get Kaiane, Ayane, and Amanda ready for baptism. Honestly seeing Kaiane, Ayane and Amanda get baptized was awesome they were soo happy. Also almost all of them shared their testimonies on Sunday and it was great to see them up there. Seeing that we are all children of God and that Jesus Christ really does love us a ton! It is awesome to see how the gospel is being shared, E. Cardenas and E Franca taught and baptized the moms of the girls that got baptized. We taught their daughters, and now we are teaching their sister and her nephew and they brought their friend and her son to church.

So awhile back I planned a trip for all of us that came out at the same time, (Elder Keller, Blanchard, Bergquist and I along with E. Stahn) to go and get our visas updated. It was awesome, we had a great time. We laughed a lot and it was a fun time for sure I can’t believe we are all ending! Craziness! But we all enjoyed it for sure! We realized that we are going to be some awkward RMs (returned missionaries). For example I said Moses 3:19 and not Mosiah 3:19 because I translated it wrong and all 5 of us started laughing really hard, and then we realized we were laughing at a scripture joke and started laughing even more... #Weirdos #AwkwardRMs for sure. It was such a funny moment though.

It was a good week! A lot of emotions, but it was great! I want to be constantly growing in my testimony!

So some really awesome spiritual moments this week was when President talked about D&C 58:16 during our training in Zone Conference and we also watched Missionary Work and the Atonement, it was a lot of de ja vu moment! It reminded me of the beginning of my mission. We also had a great zone conference with “Rocky” about breaking Myths, it was awesome and super funny!

There are a lot of funny moments on the mission and a lot of them happened this week, I am glad I have these audio journals so I can go back and remember all of these great times.

I Love you guys a TON HAVE A HAPPY 4th of July. Have a great week,
Tchau!

Elder JT Moore

End of the mission reunion

The four of us going to get our visas updated

Baptism of  Kaiane, Ayane and Amanda

 Kaiane, Ayane and Amanda

Elder Moore "Selfie"

Working hard ALL day EVERY day

So I am loving being able to do normal missionary work all day. I am loving this area. The members here are great they are super willing to help in the work and they are super nice. I wish I could have served here for a lot longer it is super awesome! We are teaching a lot in this area, it is way cool to always be teaching.

So on Monday we had a Family Home Evening with Daiane and Iascara they are recent converts, we are teaching their children Kiane, Ayane and Amanda. They are going to get baptized this week. We taught them about the plan of salvation. Then they taught us in another FHE, they did everything. We had some other great lessons on Tuesday and Wednesday. We also meet with Brian, and we let him teach us lessons about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, he is an awesome kid that is only 14 but is preparing to go on a mission.

The Bishop here Bispo Lopes, he is a GREAT Bishop! I have learned a lot from him in the short time we have been here. The ward reminds me so much of wards back home. They really all work together and help each other out. This week we had ward conference and it was really awesome, you can tell the leaders work really hard to make sure it was amazing, the choir was awesome, the talks and lessons were really spiritual. The building is not huge and it was jammed pack with members.

One thing I have definitely learned on the mission is doing all of the little things. If we pray, read scriptures, pay tithing, go to the temple, then we will be blessed and our life will be good. I also know that we need to study the scriptures daily, which will bless us and help us keep the commandments.

I am loving it here, I am finishing strong and working hard!
I can't wait to see you guys!
Love you all have a great week!

Elder JT Moore

Pushup for Donuts

Wow another week has flown by, I am loving this area. The ward is awesome! It is definitely moving quickly into the top 3 areas of my mission. We have taught a lot of lessons. Elder França loves to teach so it has been good for me to watch him more and try to simplify and intensify my speaking at times. I am learning a lot with him. He is an awesome missionary. The other guys are way cool as well we have had some really cool conversations about things. So we have been teaching Kiane, Aiane, and Amanda, they will be getting baptized on the 27th. We have quite a few others with a lot of potential that we have also been teaching.

On Monday we had an FHE with some families in the ward, it was good. Tuesday we taught some new members some more lessons, or should I say we had them teach us what they know about different topics. We have been teaching the family members of some recent converts, so we have had some good lessons. We are working hard and having good success. We taught a lot of people this week. We taught some more lessons on Thursday and Friday. Everybody is progressing really well. I love feeling the spirit so much in a lot of our lessons. I want to make sure when I get home that I continue to do the things here on the mission so I can have the constant companionship of the spirit. On Wednesday we went out with the Bishop, counselors, and ward mission leaders. It was awesome we visited 6 people in 3 hours and taught some awesome lessons. But they were great and it just showed me how productive we can be when we plan and do the things the Lord wants us to do.

In our zone meeting I taught about consecrating all of our time and energy to the Lord. I had the missionaries do a little activity that I borrowed called “Pushup for Donuts” . It was good, and I think it helped us understand better why we are out here on the mission.

I have been studying a lot in scriptures about the sacrament and the symbolisms of the sacrament. There is a lot there that I never really understood before. How truly important it is to partake of the sacrament each week and to remember why we come to church and what our Savior truly did for us. That is the true reason we we come to church!

I love you Justin have a great time at EFY and remember to truly go to EFY searching for a spiritual experience and a question in mind and I have NO DOUBT that you WILL RECEIVE an ANSWER by the end of the week. Justin seek to have spiritual opportunities and always have something to write with to remember those moments! I love you man!

I love you so much DAD hope you had a wonderful Father's Day, and that you have an amazing BIRTHDAY! I am eternally grateful for Heavenly Father who gave me to you to be my dad and teach me and give me such a great example to follow. I love you so much! These 2 talks always remind me of you. :)

Let us be Men
Fathers

I love you guys a ton! Read the Book of Mormon article in June it’s super awesome about having 2 eyes.

Also remember to always do the little things,

Tchau,
Elder JT Moore

First week in Jardim Atlantico

I can’t believe I only have 5 weeks left on the mission. This week went by super fast. It is nice being able to just focus on the work and not have to worry about anything else. This area is awesome, it is very diverse with some really rich areas and other areas that are not as wealthy. The ward is really cool it is great it’s a big fun ward! The Bishop is awesome, he is a great man and really understands the Lord and why we are here. In the short time I have met him he has already made on impact on me here on the mission. We have been teaching the daughters of the new members that E. Cardenas and E. França baptized last week. They are doing good and have a date set for the 25th if everything goes well. They also gave us a reference to one of their sisters and her son that we are teaching as well. We also have a less active and his friend, he has been coming back to church and bringing his friend, so it is awesome. They even had us over to eat lunch the other day.

A little more on E. França, he is from Vitória da Conquista which is in the state of Bahia. He is in my group, but since he is Brazilian I didn’t really get to meet him much in the MTC. He also goes home a month later because he doesn’t have to worry about Visa. He is a great teacher and we work well together. Elder Ferriera is the DL of our house, he was trained by Elder Choate, who I trained. It has been a long time since I have been out all day proselyting and I LOVE IT! I have forgotten some of the things we did that were successful so I am trying to get back to it, what I love is this area the members help out a lot! They also feed us very well in this area! I thought I was going to lose weight this last transfer, I guess not. They are awesome about feeding us, so I am excited to be eating lunch with the members again and building those relations with them.

So yesterday at church an awesome thing happened, the first place I had lunch with a member here on the mission in Criciuma was at church, Paolo e Isidora, they were visiting her dad, who is in the stake presidency here in Florianopolis, the guy is awesome. It was so cool to see them again and talk to them, they couldn’t believe I was on my last area of the mission.

It is eye opening to be out in the field all day, I feel like I was missing a lot from being in the office. I have been just observing a lot and seeing what they are doing how the work is going. It is getting really cold here, and it is not even winter. They say it is the coldest winter they have had in awhile. It is nice though, just a long sleeve and a sweater.

Happy Fathers Day DAD! I love you!

Next Monday is your birthday you old man!

I love you guys so much!

Tchau,

Elder JT Moore

My new district E. Miranda, Me, E. Franca, and E. Ferriera

Member invited us over for a churrasco

Churrasco

With the member

Churrasco

E. Riddle you might remember this guy!

Last Transfer of the Mission

Hi All,
Well I get two Pdays this week since I am being transferred out of the office (Saturday and Monday). You guessed it right mom, I am going to Jardim Atlântico. I am going to serve with Elder França he is from Bahia, Brazil (I am taking Elder Cárdenas spot). Elder França is from my group, but he goes home one transfer after me. The other Elders in apartment are Elder Ferreira from Sao Paulo who is my grandson haha Elder Choate trained him. His companion is Elder Miranda who is also from Sao Paulo. Elder França has been practicing english and Elder Ferreira lived in the states for some time and knows english! So it should be a way fun transfer! I am really happy to get to this area, the ward is one of the best in the stake and a lot more of a family. They all like to help out with the missionary work. Elder Cárdenas did great here and worked his butt off so I am going to have big shoes to fill but I am really excited! Honestly I am excited to get out and work and truly simplify my duties on this last transfer. It stinks that Elder Cárdenas who I lived with for more then a year is going home and then I am no longer living with E. Keller who I lived with for 10 months, but I am excited though!

So Marcellus wasn’t able to go to church last week, so we moved his baptism to the 11th and Eliani is still progressing toward the 18th. Marcellus is doing great, he is living all of the commandments and doing everything he needs to do. He has great faith, we taught him to about the Sabbath day, he feels so bad that wasn’t able to go to church, but now understands how important it is to go to church. We have been teaching a bunch of other families that are progressing, that I am sad to leave. We have been working a lot with members this week, which is awesome for this area. It was a crazy week that went by really quick with getting everything ready for transfers. I am excited that Elder Aidukaitis is coming to the mission and we are having a conference with him before I leave.

So today being my last Pday in the office we ate lunch at Roseli, Amanda, and Lizzy house today because it was Elder Stahns Bday this week and because Elder Sarenz is going home and I am getting transferred. This week E. Stahn did everything in the office by himself, he dominated, so there is no need for me to be here any longer.

So from what I have heard the ward is super strong here in Jardim Atlantico and help the missionaries a ton, which makes me super happy. So Elder Cardenas and Elder França had 2 baptism on Saturday, but just baptized 2 moms for some reason. There are 3 children and a sister of one of the ladies that was baptized that they were teaching, and they also have another man who is named Marcio and I am not sure who else.

Here are some awesome talks I read this week!

Swallowed Up in the Will of the Father by Neal A. Maxwell

Desire by Dallin H. Oaks

According to the Desire of [Our] Hearts by Neal A. Maxwell

Love you guys, you are the best! Remember to do the small things!

Tchau,
Elder JT Moore

E. Cardenas going Home

E Cardenas and E Saenz

The Elders going home

My new companion E. França

Return Missionary Tips

Hey family, what up you all?
Honestly it's a little weird to see time going by so fast but I am loving it so I'm very happy. Elder Stahn and I are working good together, he is good in the office and is going to dominate! We did a bunch of visas for Elders and Sister, and he did most of the work on the visas. Okay so the Sisters of the zone made me and E. Keller some planners for the last transfer and they are hilarious with a bunch of tips to not be an awkward RM. All of the tips are either important things to do or things that awkward RM have done with them when they were at BYU hahaha super funny! Ex. Tip #8 If you make a date for Saturday with a girl, you don´t need to check-up every single day. hahaha . It was a weirdo RM that did that with one of the Sisters. We have some really awesome Sisters.

So we have been working really hard and teaching a lot. We had a goal of teaching 40 lessons and making 70 contacts. That is what President wants us to do each week. It is pretty hard to reach, but we kept it in the forefront and were able to reach it. if you could pray for the following I would really appreciate it; Pray for Marcellus, Eliani, Edwardo, Renato, Paulo, Suellen, Anna Vitoria, Jose Maria, Aldacir, Urallen, Rosi, Sameli, Alice, Leticia, Tanya, Pamela, Fabio, Vanda, Elilson, Nayana, Niesa That all can truly receive an answer from their prayers. We found a lot of new families to teach this week so it was honestly a great week, with a lot of blessings from our Heavenly Father. We went out with Irama Lizzy of the ward and it was super awesome we taught like 4 lessons in a couple of hours. It was truly amazing. We went and visited Aldacir, and he did a lot of investigation of the church, he went online and watched a bunch of videos and looked up a bunch of stuff, he definitely wants to learn a lot more. He came to church on Sunday and was excited. We taught Eduardo, he is a super smart guy, I would describe him of like the “Ken” of “Ken and Barby” of Brazil. He is just a big buff guy with good looks who is super intelligent. He is in real estate, technology, and a bunch of other businesses. In fact we found out he is Mr Brazil, so it was cool, but he said it so nonchalant. Anyways we taught him about the Book of Mormon and he said he would read a pray about the Book of Mormon to find out if it is true. We also had an awesome lesson with Renato. He is a man that has extreme knowledge about God and the scriptures, and it was great teaching him, because he knew all about the Plan of Salvation even before we started to teach him. Hopefully he follows the promptings of the Holy Ghost as he reads and studies and prays.

I really liked dad’s email about the 5 parables of rain. Number 3 “Into Every Life A Little Rain Must Fall” - The rain, the floods, and the winds beat not only upon the house which had been built upon the sand, but also upon the other house, which had been built upon the rock. Both the person who serves the Lord as well as the one who disdains Him live in a world ruled by the same laws of nature. Physical suffering is not evidence of wickedness, nor is it punishment for sin. We will all be tested and have trials, but like the scriptures say if your house is built upon a solid foundation then you will make it through the trials. Because without rain there wouldn’t be rainbows! The last few weeks we were really having lots of success and we were not having any problems finding people. I am grateful for the time were we did get told by a family with their pastor in the room, that they would not be going to our church this week. This event let me reflect on how blessed we have been these last few weeks.

Oh so you asked about the Zika virus and mosquitos, so we really don’t have any problem with mosquitos, if you use long pants you won’t get bitten on the legs. If you use long clothing then your good.

Hola Yaya e Yayo os quiero mucho! Espero que estais bien de salud y felices. Yo estoy muy bien, yo estoy leyendo un poco del El Libro de Mormon en Español ahora y esta ayudandome para mi espanol. Solo queria diceros que os quiero mucho y estoy muy agradecido por todo la ayuda que vosotros me estais dando. Besos!

Justin I hope you have a great Aaronic Priesthood Camp, I wish I would have gone to ours. Make sure you make the most of it, and remember the things you learn.

Love and miss you all so much,

Tchau!
Elder JT Moore

Me and Elder Stahn dominating  "The Office" 

My Planner the Sisters made me

Return Missionary Tips on being successful in dating

Tip # 24 Don't do Comp Inventory after a date

Tip # 8 You don't need to check up every single day

Tip # 1 It's not the Bishops office

Tip #41 Make sure they know you were the Executive Secretary

Tip # 12 If you feel like your being creepy, your date already noticed it 10 minutes ago

There is no growth in a comfort zone, and there is no comfort in a growth zone!

Time is flying bye, so I have decided to get up earlier to get more time to study and its been good my body was definitely used to sleeping 10:30 to 6:30, so trying to break out of that now and get back and be in a good rhythm. I am doing good though!

Today on Pday we went and taught Marcellus with Irmao Aresene and Keller and Salomão and their investigators. It was awesome. We have been trying to help him get his answer to know that this is God's church here on the earth. He has a lot of faith and believes that it is, but has never prayed to have a certainty. We also have been teaching Eliani. We have been teaching her and she said she knows God sent us to her because she has been searching for a church. She also has a lot of faith that this is Christ church but lacks the certainty as well, but her baptism is marked for the 4th of June. We have been working like crazy to find the elect and love them enough to invite them to get baptized in Christ church and it is amazing how the Lord has blessed us! This week we have already found 8 people! When we ask we asks for his help he will answer our prayers but we have to go after it as well to demonstrate our faith as well!

Honestly the work has been amazing these past 3 weeks, all the missionaries in the district have been working hard and many miracles have been happening. I am amazed at how real the Lord is when we have faith and works together!

The one thing that has been the same the entire mission has been that when you feel that I everything is clicking at all cylinders, then it’s time to go learn the next thing. That is one of the big things I have learned we need to constantly need to be getting out of comfort zone. I learned it with a parable a sister missionary shared. So when we work out we try to get stronger, so we lift a weight and do reps, but after time that weight gets really easy and we start to plateau, so we add more weight. With this new weight we may feel like we are not doing as many reps but we know we are growing a lot more. We work out as hard as we can to do as many reps as possible with this new weight. We do however come to a point where no longer have enough strength to do a full rep that is where a spotter comes in. And a good spotter, is one that when you work out, you go up as far as you can and the spotter gives just enough help for you to do that extra rep, and then you do the next and you do as much as you can and then the spotter gives the needed help to finish the rep and so on. Never does a good spotter do the entire lift for you. He lets you lift as much as you can and only gives a little help necessary to finish the rest of it. Heavenly Father is a loving Father who wants to see each one of us progress and grow. We cannot be satisfied doing a 10000 reps with a 2lb weight, he will slowly add the weight on to help us grow and progress in our mortal lives so that we can too one day become like he is. Yes there will be times when we may feel like we cannot get the next rep, but we have the best spotter in the world who knows exactly our strength and to what point we can lift it and where He needs to enter in to help us lift the rest. He will never let the weight slam down on us. I know that we need to realize that to grow we need to get out of comfort zone. One of my favorite quotes is; There is no growth in a comfort zone, and there is no comfort in a growth zone!

Please read this talk I love this one. One of Hollands best
  English Version
  Spanish Version

Word of the week picareta = pickaxe

So I truly have learned we need to love people more and invite them to come unto Christ. I am so greatly for you guys always paying tithing and knowing that when we pay than we are blest. I know that this is a promise from our Heavenly Father who love us so much. God always is teaching us. Search to see what he can be teaching each one of you.

Justin I want you to know that I love you a lot man and I love hearing from you and how you are doing. And make sure to work hard in school I am not sure if you already finished or are about to but finish off strong. I love you a lot man, and can't wait to see you again! You're going to probably be like 3 times bigger than me. But we are going to work hard together! I love you tons man! Always remember you got me here when you need me.

Remember how much love I have for you guys. And always work to find the Lord's hand in your life daily at the beginning it may seem hard, but I have started doing this for awhile and it is such an awesome experience now I see His hand so clearly in my day to day life.

I love you guys and I know that when we all learn together we will be an eternal family. Remember we are all working together to become an eternal family! Please make sure you are doing family and personal prayer, Pray for the families we are teaching. Also plan to go to the temple and do the little things and search for missionary opportunities.

Three great videos to watch;
Your Potential, Your Privileges

An High Priest of Good Things to Come

Shower of Heavenly Blessings

Love you all very much,
Tchau!
Elder JT Moore

Pics of our "New House"

Pics of our "New House"

Floripa Me Encantou

To make the most of Time - We need to Plan

I can’t believe we just talked on the hangouts last week, time is flying by, it went by super fast, I love you all a lot and can’t wait to see you. I am super happy right now, I love the mission and working with people and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. I love studying the scriptures every day and having that time to ponder about everything. I LOVE this place, it is honestly the greatest time of my life, the mission is divertido, I just love it! So we continue to work hard and have made it a goal to find a new person to teach each day. So over these past five days we have seen a miracle and the Lord has shown his hand super in the work and we have found 11 new people we are teaching. Elder Stahn has learned everything, now we are just basically reviewing things we do in the office. We kicked butt again and got a bunch more visas done. We are just filling in the cracks of little things we do in the office.

One of the biggest things I have learned on my mission is the importance of planning and preparing. I want to make sure I keep all these habits when I return home, I don’t want to fall back into bad habits. Everyday when I talk to you I go back to my planner and look at what we had plan and what we did.

We found a family we were teaching and it was awesome to see that they are progressing well, they are reading the Book of Mormon, they came to church, it was awesome to see them progress. They went to the ward activity it is was good. Then on Wednesday we had a FHE with Paulo and Suellen and Daniel and Leilane, we talked about putting your priorities, it was a good lesson. I used the example of putting food in a container, oranges, macaroni, and rice. I liked the talk by Dallin H Oaks, “Good, Better, Best”. It helps us to remember how we should be prioritizing things in our life, and looking for the best thing. We have continued to teach Marcellus and he is doing great. He truly got the importance of the part of this being Christ's church on the earth today. With the Authority to baptize people. He understands the restoration of the Church. He has a desire to be baptized.

So today on Pday we went up to the Morro da Cruz again with the new group of office Elders because almost everyone is new so that was really fun. And the miracle of the day was we got to the bus station to grab a bus to go to the Morro Da Cruz. When we got to the top of the hill it was sprinkling, then like 2 minutes later it stopped and it was beautiful. We took a bunch of cool pictures and had some fun up there, then we went to go catch the bus back down and we didn’t know when the next one was going to come (Sometimes they are like 45 minutes apart) anyways we literally waited like 1 minute and the bus arrived, it was super awesome!

Thanks Dad for sharing that part of the talk about understanding God’s for for us and the resurrection, where did you get it from. That totally helped me understand the principle of LOVE. GOD has sooooooo much LOVE for us. I really need to study more the importance of charity! That is going to be a big key in my life. I love you all a tons. The gospel is simple and life changing. It works by doing small and simple things. This is Christ's church. The proof of that is the Book of Mormon. I know that the Trinity is real, God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost! ALMA 36:6-7

A really cool parable I found about TIME!

Imagine there is a bank account that credits your account each morning with $86,400. It carries over no balance from day to day.
Every evening the bank deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day. What would you do? Draw out every cent, of course?
Each of us has such a bank. It's name is TIME.
Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds.
Every night it writes off as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to a good purpose.
It carries over no balance. It allows no overdraft. Each day it opens a new account for you. Each night it burns the remains of the day.
If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is yours. There is no drawing against "tomorrow."
You must live in the present on today's deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness and success!
The clock is running!! Make the most of today.

To realise the value of ONE YEAR, ask a student who failed a grade.
To realise the value of ONE MONTH, ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby.
To realise the value of ONE WEEK, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.
To realise the value of ONE HOUR, ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.
To realise the value of ONE MINUTE, ask a person who just missed a train.
To realise the value of ONE SECOND, ask someone who just avoided an accident.
To realise the value of ONE MILLISECOND, ask the person who won a silver medal at the Olympics.

Treasure every moment that you have! And treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time with. And remember time waits for no one.

Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why it's called the present.

Justin BEAST IT UP YOU THE MAN DO WORK MAN! YOU DA MAN!

Love you guys, you are the best! Remember to do the small things.

Tchau,
Elder JT Moore

Happy Mothers Day!!!!

This is for you mama! I Love YOU! (Click to see video)

So this was another great week here in Florianopolis. It went by really fast, I can’t believe it has already been two weeks since the last transfer. We are tearing it up in the office, Elder Stahn is learning so quickly. We did 5 visas this week, they really like us over there now and they help us out a ton. We are honestly finding constantly! We found a bunch of new people/families to teach this week. Our goal has been to find at least one person per day, and the Lord is really blessing us with finding people to teach. It is awesome, and we are always inviting them to baptism on the first time teaching them and it is ridiculous how the Lord is showing His hand in our work so clearly in helping us find people and them accepting our commitments! Mark 10:21 Jesus loved the young man and asked the him to sell everything and come follow him. When we teach someone and we love them we can’t be scared, we just need to have the same love Jesus had and be bold and invite them to come follow Jesus. I learned a ton this week it was awesome! What is the true meaning of loving someone, it is not trying to sugar coat things so you think it won’t hurt them, but be bold and love them enough to invite them. Honestly I am having a blast and working my butt off, I am enjoying the mission, and the work is going great!

Another thing I learned this week is getting out of our comfort zone. Elder Bednard talked about the scripture in Matthew 14:22-31, where Peter stepped out of the boat responding fervently and immediately to the Savior’s invitation. With his eyes fixed upon Jesus, he stepped out of the boat and miraculously walked on the water. Only when his gaze was diverted by the wind and the waves did he become afraid and begin to sink. We can be blessed to conquer our fears and strengthen our faith as we follow the Lord’s instruction: “Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not” (D&C 6:36). As we have came across people who before I would have never approached, I decided to step out of the boat and get out of my comfort zone and trust in the Lord, and all I can say is WOW, we have been able to go and teach people I would have never thought to ever invite.

So the other day we were teaching a young man, Elias, well we thought it was over because his uncle didn’t want us coming over to teach him anymore, but he told us he would come to the church on Thursday at 3 to be taught. Well after 3 had come and past, I figured it was over with him, but a little while later at 3:30 as we were working in the office a lady who was cleaning the church came over and told us a young man was waiting for us. We went and taught him the plan of salvation and used the parable of the “House and the School”. It went great, then we asked him to come to church, and he wants to come really bad but his uncle is being a hindrance in him being able to do anything.

So dad when you were talking in the audio on being super overwhelmed I thought of two things. The first was actually in a FHE yesterday we talked about the importance of time and one of the Irmas in the ward was talking about that. How her life was getting super busy and she was feeling overwhelmed, or overladen and then she decided to wake up more early to study the scripture and more frequent prayer. The other thought I thought about was a quote I learned from Elder Stahn. "When you feel like you are drowning in the waves of life, remember that your lifeguard knows how to walk on water"

Justin I hope you had a fun time at prom!

Mom I love you a ton, when I get home we are going to have to go the temple a lot okay!

I love you all a ton, if you have any more questions then you can ask them tomorrow! I can't believe tomorrow is the last time I will be skyping you guys on the mission. It has gone by super quick. I can't believe it!

See you tomorrow,
Love,
Elder JT Moore

All of the Elders (Office Elders) and our New Home

Nice View of Floripa

May the Fourth "Star Wars Day" Elder Stahn

The Zone

Elder Cardenas what a Stud

Ask with Faith, and get out of your comfort zone, and things happen!

So this was a great week in Floripa! Kind of chaotic and hectic at times, but overall a very successful week. It is finally getting cold here in Floripa. I am loving the weather right now! We are still getting the house together, furniture is being delivered and installed. Everything is getting into place, today should be the last day to put together everything and organize the place, certinho. It is a nice place and super close to the office.

Tuesday was the Chaotic crazy day with Elders and Sisters heading home. One flight was canceled, so we had to switch flights at the last minute. Another Elder had a few issues with connecting flights but it was find in the end. Then another Elder heading to El Salvador got “lost” in the Sao Paulo airport, so we worked with his family and our travel agency there in Sao Paulo to make changes to his flight and find him in the airport. It was a crazy morning, lots of phone calls, lots of changes to flights, but in the end everything worked out and everybody got home.

So Elder Stahn is awesome and we are getting along super well and totally killing it in the office and doing the work outside the office. He is from Idaho Falls, Idaho, he played football and did dance. He is learning the office job quickly and allowing us to get out to do work. We have been finding some great investigators with loads of potential and are doing great with that. Also the people we already are teaching are progressing very well! It is awesome! Faith is the key to get anything! That is what I have been learning a ton we need to have faith and just run behind it and the Lord will help us get it. It’s super simple!
1. Ask with Faith to God
2. Run behind what you asked for and get out of your comfort zone
3. It Happens!!!!!!!!!
The work is going awesome, in fact we have a ton of appointments today so we are going to cut Pday short to be able to visit everyone. We have been also trying to get out of our comfort zone this week and we walked "7 steps" out of our comfort zone and found this huge family that all accepted to be baptized. Also Urallen and Rosi said they will get baptized (just have to get married first). Also Marcellus said he wants to get baptized. It was an awesome week!

So the new word I learned this week was altruista = selfless. Still learning every week. So the funny thing that happened this week happened on Friday. Good thing I learned and got in the habit to take showers in the night time, because this didn’t happen to me, but everybody else in the house. So on Friday morning before the district meeting the power went out and Elder Keller, Salomão and Stahn had to take showers with cold water. They were all working out before hand so they would be all hot and sweaty before they jumped in the cold shower. Elder Stahn was singing “Eye of the Tiger” before he turned on the water and when he turned on the water he stopped singing immediately, it was super funny we all died laughing.

Dile a tía Mari Fe Feliz Cumpleaños de mi parte! Dile que la amo y echo de menos a todas ellos.

I can’t wait to talk and see all of you in a week. Let’s plan on doing hangouts at 3 pm Floripa time. I am so excited!

So, I honestly don't know how life is on a day to day basis at home, but during these two years here the weekly emails are always interesting. It is kinda like reading the Book of Mormon, with a family that has its high and lows. I can imagine it being close to the end of the school year, work, sports, and the business of things day to day can be stressful. But if there is one thing I have learned during my time on the mission that I truly want to apply when I get home is the importance of doing the little things. I wrote a talk that I used on the importance of doing the little things. When you study the Book of Mormon it totally shows the importance of doing the little things and how when the people did the little things that they were blessed! Keeping the commandments, praying, scripture study, church, temple, hard work, charity, patience, those were the things that made the Nephites flourish at the beginning of the BOM and that is what can make our family flourish. I can see on the mission when I am paying attention to the small details my days run a lot smoother, without so much turbulence. I love Pres. Uchtdorf's talk on the importance of keeping and living the Gospel in a simple way. Remember to always smile because 2 Nephi 39:9 (The scripture I have been pondering this week. Spiritually Minded Is Life Eternal, while physically minded is death.

Always smile and remember how many blessings the Lord has given us and that we live in an amazing country where the church is strong and we live very comfortable lives. We have the true gospel of Jesus Christ, with the knowledge and certainty of many questions that others fear or do not even want to take the time to think about. We have a family that is sealed in the temple. We have a Savior who loves us very much, who suffered all the pains we will ever face and is there to help us every step of the way. We have a Heavenly Father who really does loves us and gives us so much.

I am so grateful for my awesome family, remember to always do the little things!

Love you tchau!

Elder Moore

Urallen and Rosi at church

Everton and Cleide

Irmao Arsene

Lunch at Irma Roseli, Lizzy and Amanda

Last lesson with Elder Cardenas, Paulo, Suellen, Ana Victoria

One of the soccer teams in Floripa

One of their rivals

A little fruit called acerola, so good and grows a lot her

Elder Dos Anjos heading home

Elder Funes heading home

Sister Silva getting things ready for the missionaries heading home

My new companion Elder Stahn