I will NOT be 20 tomorrow. I refuse to give up being a teenager.

We dont get that much tyme to teach because we are in the office a ton. Things are pretty busy and Im having to deal with a bunch of junk right now. Another Elder whent home yesterday. He only had 3 more months to go on the mission and his daddy got really sick so he had to go home early.

The assistants baptized this past saturday. **Side Note** the assistants and the secretarys have the SAME area. Its not split, so we kind of all teach everyone. So when i say the assistants had a baptism, I got to take part (even though it was just a little part) in teaching and helping the young lady progress. She is 24 and her name is Carmilita :). I like her! And she has two brothers that we will continue to help and teach!

Did you know that we teach an english class every friday night? It is pretty cool.



- Elder Moore

Favorite General Conference Talks April 2012 Conference

The first, is the talk by one of my favorite speakers (and almost all missionaries favorite speaker) Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. His talk spoke to me and I understood a lot because of the scripture study that Ive have had the priviledge of doing! I actually studied the parabol that he spoke about not too long ago, and he helped me increase in my knowledge and understanding of this marvolous teaching story. The parabol of  The Laborers in the Vineyard. I got to thinking when i was reading this passage and at first, like Elder Holland states, it is natural to think of the Master as injust and honestly, kind of a jerk! But then when you ponder about this story, you can feel the wisdom and power - the justice and mercy in the Masters decision to give all of the Laborers the same wage at the end of the day. 

We need to think about this in our everyday lives. If we do, we will become far more greatful and start to appreciate the things that we have even more. At first when we think about our lives, we might see ourselves as the laborer who got chosen at the very first of the day. The laborers who are most likely the most physicaly fit, and able to do the jobs, as those are the people that would most likely get picked by the foreman who is looking for some workers and not just some kids to stand around all day. They will be looking for men who are probably looking a little on the rough side, but that they know have the strength and ability to work throughout the day in the hot sun and get the job done, and do it well. This we might think, is us, but sometimes, we need to look in the mirror more than once before we can really tell what we look like. 

If we see ourselves as this person, great! There is nothing bad about that, other than the fact that we might be a little more toward the PROUD side and scooting a little farther away from the HUMILITY side... and that is something that we can not afford to do. We should be willing to be the first pick and have the strength to do the hard work throughout the day (or our lives) but we should not see ourselves as the best and be upset if we ARENT the ones who get picked first. 

There are a couple more explanations about the other workers who got chosen to work that day, but i just want to focos on the two extremes. The first to get picked, and the last to get picked. The last to get picked had probably been waiting there all day, tired as heck, and just wanted to go home. But, they stayed to see if there was any possible way to get chosen and maybe make a little money for the day so that they could feed themselves, or maybe the family that is waiting at home. The finally chosen worked the rest of the day probably to their full potential and were tired from not a full days work, but work nonetheless. 

Then came the sweet part of the story that we all need to learn from, the Master came out. The master lined all of the tired and wornout workers up and then to all of their surprise, gave them all the full days amount of pay. Now this is the part of the story that we can take things differently from. If we are more towards that pride side, we might think, "hey! i worked all day, and these other guys just worked a couple hours!!! How the heck is this fair that they get the same amount as me?" Or from the other side of the road, "Woah, this must be some kind of mistake, I only worked a couple hours, but recieved a full days pay, what a blessing." I can imagine some tears rolling down some cheeks as the tired men who only worked a couple hours reveived more than they ever hoped for. They would be able to eat/feed their families. They could go home feeling good and satisfied. Probably even a little confused still as to why they recieved such a blessing in their lives. 

We know that these questions were asked and it was disputed as to why everyone got the same amount of money, the Master had one of the best responces that he could have given........“My friends, I am not being unfair to you. You agreed on the wage for the day, a good wage. You were very happy to get the work, and I am very happy with the way you served. You are paid in full. Take your pay and enjoy the blessing. As for the others, surely I am free to do what I like with my own money.”.............how awesome was his love and compassion on everyone! And better yet, was he not 100% right? It surely WAS his money, his gift, to give to any and all that he saw worthy. What mercy and what a lesson that we have to learn from this glorious man! 

I feel like this talk stuck out directly to me and i applied it directly to myself. Even if i didnt work that much and got to the field a little late, it is always up to the Lord to decide what blessings he will give, and when he will give them, to his children (workers). I know that I am not the best person in the world and that I have definitley done my fair share of wrong things in this world, but im trying to be better. Im trying to get to the field when my Lord and Master chose me and now I am ready and willing to work my hardest until the days end, but I know that our Lord is a merciful one and he will give the same gift to all men who work their hardest for him. It does not matter who we are, where we are, or what the circumstances, we can start now. We can offer ourselves up to the Lord so that we can be his workers. His laborers. We can work our hardest, and I dont think we can EVER do too much. At the close of the day, or of our lives, I suspect that while looking back on our lives, none of us will be expecting the wonderful and great things that lay in store for those who work with all of their might to share this work and build up the Lords kingdom. I want those blessings. I want to be worthy of those blessings. I love this work so much.

It is for this that I am on my mission. So that I can share what I KNOW to be true with as many people as I can. As often as I can. And I do know this work and this Church to be the one and only true church of God. Jesus Christ personally reigns as King and Ruler over this church and it is only through him and revelation that we know what we are supposed to do so that we can be worthy of those great gifts that are waiting to be seized by us. 

I love you all. I love this work. I love the Lord, and I wish you all the best,

Com amor,

Elder Moore

April 2nd, 2012

What a week!

Well, not too much happened this week, but then the end of the week was spectacular!!!! I love General Conference so much and I am so glad that I got to watch it! Also, Im so glad that I am a member of this church and have the knowledge of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

I loved a ton of talks a lot but I did however have some favorites! I think i will write another email later saying which talks are my favorites and why they are! Yup, i will devote a whole email to that. Sounds good! :)

I want to meet these guys that helped Dad come to know of the Gospel!! Man.. 

Im so jealous that you guys got to go to conference! I kept thinking that whole time "My mommy and daddy are there... :)" and im pretty sure that i said that to some people as well.. :)

As for today, the transfer was today! As you will find out, i will stay in the office for the next 6-9 months... so im not really gonna have any new news about switching areas for a while until presidente switches the areas of the assistants/secretary's! I will however get another companion here in another couple months or so! I think i will say with Elder Berg for this transfer and then he will train a new secretary to take his spot, then me and the other secretary will be together for a good time! 

So what were some of your favorite talks? How was it to be in the room with all of those powerful souls?! Did you just cry your little heart out? 

I havent given up on my goal that i made 6 months ago to be in MOTAB one day! Listening to them these past couple days has just strengthened that desire!

Well, I love you so much!

Com amor,

March 27 2012

Que confusão de uma semana!

Im so jealous that you guys are going to conference! but i think that i will get to watch it in english this time! im so excited!!! Im sure i will get to see all 5 sessions. Im so happy that it is only  a week away!

well a normal day we get to the office at 9, i do a whole bunch on stuff (everything on a computer) and then we leave at about 6:30 or 7. Im actually back in Torreão (the area that i was in before being a secretary) because a missionary had pneumonia and he got out of the hospital after being in there for 9 days last week and im his companion/mother right now :) haha

so we dont really get to work that much at night for now because he is still recuperating from everything. Poor guy. His name is elder moat and he is still in his first transfer here in Recife. He doesnt really speak anything of portuguese and it pretty shy. but that is okay because we are helping him come out of his shell! i like him a lot and it will be cool to see him grow in his relationships with others and develop his talents even more so that he can be of good use to our Heavenly Father during his time here on the mission. 

I have been doing a couple divisions with Elder Batschi so that i can get out and work some and see some of the families that we had been teaching together. This past week i went to visit the family of Robson! They are so wonderful and i have an extremely deep love for them. They get visits from the missionarys almost every day and they are soaking up all of the knowledge we have to give them! But that is a very good thing. OH! Something really cool happened yesterday at church! Robson recieved the arronic priesthood and now is a teacher. Then he got made the 1st counsiler of the teachers quorum!!! Im so happy for him. Also, his whole family was at church and his little sister will be baptized this wednesday night! Im so extremely happy for them all. His mother (Selma) is such a sweetheart, but is one of the most timid people I have ever met! She is now working on getting legaly married with her husband so that they can enter the waters of baptism too. I love them!

I havent gotten any packages yet! But i will wait patiently... kind of. :) I will know the exact moment that it gets here though because im always in the office now!

Love you all so much and have a wonderful week this week!

Com amor,

Elder Moore

19 March 12

Hello! Another week in the office!

So, this past week I feel like Ive learned a TON and the information keeps washing over me like the big waves im close to now! The office is a blast and it is really a great experience to be so close to President all the time! He is a great guy. And a pretty big guy! I will have to send yall a picture one day. He is from Curitiba, Brasil and was a sealer in the temple and part of the Curitiba Temple Presidency before his call as Mission President of the Brasil Recife mission! I dont know what else you want to know about him!

Yes, we have air conditioning in the office! It is really weird to not sweat all day, but one thing office members tend to do...is get fat! That will NOT happen to me! I refuse! 

Awesome that you guys got to meet with Elder Anderson! I still havent seen an apostle in my life, but we will all get the chance in a couple weeks to hear all of them :D im so excited for that!

We DO have some good investigators! And our area is awesome!!! It is RIGHT on the beach so I get to see the ocean almost every day... that may or may not be a good thing. I miss it! Haha :)

It is really weird, because we leave the office at about 6:30 and get home (in our area) about 6:45, and it is already really dark, so we only get to work for a couple hours each day before we go home! As you can imagine, it is a little dificult to mark meetings with our investigators, but the Lord blesses us for our dutys and somehow it still works out! A couple weeks ago a girl named Stella got baptised and she is so cool! She is 15 and a little fireball! Always has something to say and usually it is something good :). We are working a lot with her family and her sister who is 17 wants to get baptized, and we are working on her mom and dads legal mariage (that is a huge thing in Brasil).

Speaking of marriage... THE TAYLORS ARE GETTING MARRIED?! Woah! Didnt see that one coming, but that is cool! Tell them i wish them both the best and that i miss both of them! It is so weird! 

And yeah Derek will be home in a couple weeks too! Then James. Then all the boys from my class, then me! But that is so far away! And i dont really like how fast the time is going... If i come home a transfer early, Ill be coming home in a year a couple weeks... i dont like that... I need more time here! The more time I have on the mission, the more i realize how tiny 2 years really is.. it is ridiculous how fast time flys and how happy you become the more time you spend in the service (right now a little bit of a different service) of your fellow missionaries and all the people around you! It is also really strange that every time you leave an area, it seems like you are leaving home all over again. At first, it was my home in Garanhuns. I loved it there. I changed so much in the time i was there and made a lot of great friends that i hope i will keep in contact with forever! Then it was Torreão, the unlikely home... because when i got there the ward was a mess and it didnt seem like we would have success at all, but with an amazing companion, we got the job done and i felt like i left a bit pre-matuely there (im really sorry for the spelling). We were teaching a WONDERFUL family of about 12 and i only had the opportunity to baptize one amazing young man. I hope and pray every day that that incredible family will come to an understanding of the things that I know to be true and be baptized and take that step in becoming an eternal family! 

Now, I am here. In the ala pina. The ward is great and I had the opportunity to give a talk yesterday! I think that i have become a lot more comfortable with speaking in public since ive been here! I never thought that i would do this, but i forgot to look at the clock during my talk and finally got a card slipped onto the podium that said "seu tempo acabou, muito obrigado!" It also had a little smiley face on it. In translation, "Your time finished, thanks!" I looked at the clock and had been talking for about 15 minutes (seemed like 15 seconds) when i was asked to give a short 5 minute talk. It was kind of funny, but i wasnt done talking! :) A little more about my area right now ----- it is right on the beach and it is wonderful to be here, but it is so HOT. The sun just roasts you, but now im inside more than outside i think because of the office! We share the area with the Assistants and we live with them too. Being in the office, I know EVERYTHING about the mission now. Sometimes, it is awesome. Other times, it is not too awesome knowing that bad things occur in missions. I would like them all to just be perfect! :)

Well, that is about it for this past week or so! If possible, time is going even faster now that im here in the office! There is always something to do or something that needs to be fixed! 

I love you all and hope that everything is well!

Com amor,

Elder Moore

5 March 2012

So, it hasnt been that long since i wrote to you guys, but i feels like forever! Yup, the Temple was GREAT and i love it so much! Hope everything goes well with Dave and he gets to feelin better soon! Yes I want more details about the mission! I want a TON of details from everyone! You should give me an outline of what happened on you missions (what area - what companions - and what leadership responsibilities - and for how long!) :) i know it sounds like a lot of work, but i konw you can all do it!!! :)

 

So this past friday we got a new companion! Elder Jensen. He is 19 and had 5 months on the mission. From Brigham City, Utah and just looks like a Utah boy. So we went out on Saturday and worked (we won the contact contest by the way) (by a lot...) (cause we are AWESOME.) and then we had two more missionarys sleep at our house on sturday and sunday night (one of the Elders hadnt gotten his patriarchal blessing yet so they came here to get it Sunday) so we had a full house for the past couple nights!

 

Everything was good, but then we did something this morning that no one wanted to do. We took Elder Jensen to the mission office this morning so that he could go the airport. And go home..

 

It was one of the saddest things ever and i felt terrible.

 

We didnt know when we picked him up Friday night that this would be happening, but the idea was in the back of our minds for a while..then the phone call came and we knew what was going on.

 

So that was the past couple days, now im a little bummed out, but we just gotta get back in the work and do everything we can for the little time that we have.

 

One happy thing that i thought of yesterday. ITS ALMOST GENERAL CONFERENCE!!! Woo hoo! Im way excited for that but cant believe that its been 6 months since the last one! How weird!

 

Well, I love you all and my assignment for you this week is to go read Chapter 5 of Alma, it is just SO GOOD! I love it alot. I love all of you alot also!

 

Com amor,

Elder Moore

29 Feb, 2012

So, this week was pretty good!

 

Sorry im wrighting so late! Our pday got switched to wednesday this week cause we went to the TEMPLE! It was so great and something ive really been needing. So im wrighting today because we didnt have time yesterday, so this will be pretty fast!

 

Good things that happened this past week...and a half... OH! For this week we made a competition in our District because we are all really good friends! We are having a contact making competition! None of our areas really have a bunch of investigators so we are doing as many contacts this week to try and get more! The two losers will bring cake and or juice to district meeting next week so everyone can have a fun party! Pretty sure we are gonna win though...  :D

 

This week was just good! We had the baptism of Robson this past sunday and he chose me to baptize him so i was defintily happy about that. We are also gettting really close with his mom and dad and 3 younger siblings and I know that they will take the step and follow our Savior and Master and be baptized too! Love that family!

 

Well, sorrry this is so short this week, but I love you all and will wright again on Monday! Until then,

 

Com amor,

Elder Moore