just a quicky

Oi!
So I know we just talked yesterday, well most of us. But I just wanted to send out a quicky today.
I think this is one of the strangest Christmas´  to have ever passed. At least for me. But one thing amazing about being a missionary during this very special time of the year. Is that I really (I mean REALLY REALLY) had time and the state of mind to focus on what is often called ´The True Spirit of Christmas´
The angel who spoke with the sheperds was completely right when he called his news ´Tidings of great joy!` Though I have always felt a reverence during the Christmas season and the joy that comes from being gathered together as a family during the holiday season, I don´t know if I ever took the time to think about the great joy that accompanied the birth of The Savior. To be honest, I don´t really know where I am going with all of this, but not only have I felt a great reverence, and gratitude for the birth, life and sacrafice for The Savior Jesus Christ this year. I feel a profound, peaceful joy that has filled my heart with love for Him, and a desire to share this feeling with others. The thought that I now get to bring those tidings of great joy to others is such a privilege.
I hope you all had a great Christmas, let your thoughts and feelings linger a little longer on The Savior and His birth this year.
It was a great week we had. Very tiring to be truthful. But great. I won´t crowd this email with too much.
All of my love. Feliz Natal
Elder David F. Morgan

He handed me his cigarettes

So week two has already passed in Camaquã, but strangely enough, today I am walking the same familiar streets of pelotas and sending email from an internet café I have already used a bunch.
We are going to have our Missionary Christmas conference tomorrow and we are preparing some songs etc. as a zone today so Elder Almeida and I took a bus last night and we are going to be here in pelotas until probably Wednesday because the conference will end late and there won't be a bus leaving for Camaquã until then.  But as far as our week went, it was a lot better. I am starting to get a feel for things here and feel a little more comfortable. I think the worst part is that I don´t have anything constructive to think about, so my mind just starts to wander and I am having trouble focusing. We havn´t been able to follow up on almost anybody we are teaching yet, so I don´t know their needs and how to help them.
  We do have one.. well two people we are teaching though that I am really already growing to love and have I have a great desire to help them. A lady in the branch here has been less active for years at church. Before I got here the Elders managed to talk to her and her husband and he has been listening to us and reading The Book of Mormon! It was kind of funny, he works in construction and kinda has that really closed off expression always and seems like a pretty hard guy. I asked him about work and we started talking about construction. I am in NO WAY an expert and have the most minor experience working construction (thank you Dad) but for some reason I was just talking away with him and he pulled out old picture of construction projects and he opened up and it was just really neat how it all came together and miraculously I manged to have a conversation about construction... in portuguese. It was really important I felt to build that foundation of I guess friendship and establish some trust and common ground before we just started teaching a bunch of information about The Gospel. 
   We taught them about The Word of Wisdom that night, and promised him that by living this commandment he would be more receptive to The Spirit of The Lord in his life and to finding answers to questions he has, especially that our message really is true. We asked if there was anything we could to to help, or take with us that would help them, and he pulled out a packet of cigarettes from his pocket and handed me his cigarettes! What faith!
   Yesterday we shared a short message with them and we committed he and his wife to pray together every night before going to bed. To just kneel down as a couple and one of them can offer a simple prayer. I know that will help them SO much. They accepted the invite and when we go back to Camaquã this week we will check up on them. I am really excited to go back and see how it has been going.
  I thought about it a lot yesterday, about the habits we have in our family. Praying before meals, as a family in the morning and evening. Daily scripture study. Just these little things have been such a big difference in my life and our family. Granted I was asleep for the majority of our morning scripture study :P I remember that we HAD scripture study and I am grateful for the habit and the love for the word of The Lord in our home. I know those little and simple things will be such a blessing in the life of this family and of anybody who applies them.
  I also thought about the tradition with the candles for Christmas a few weeks to late! GAH! will for sure be doing that here next year! Kills me that I forgot. It is because it in NO WAY feels like Christmas here.
  Well, I am going to go. I love you all. I can´t to talk to you in a week! FELIZ NATAL!
Seu Filho, Irmão, e amigo
Elder David F. Morgan

Pictures

Once again Elder Morgan sent pictures without any explanation or names. But here they are for your viewing pleasure.

Camaqua

Well, I guess when the Zone Leaders told me I was staying in Pelotas they just meant within the general area...ish. So my new area/ city is called Camaquã, it is about two hours north of Pelots and is part of the Pelotas North stake. My new companion is Elder Almeida, from Vitória, Espirito Santo (Isn´t that where Jordan and Keenan are headed?) He a very good missionary and I am glad to be working with him. Ha he speaks a little different so I am adjusting to his accent, it is kind of fun meeting missionaries from all over. There is just the two of us here in Camaquã and the city is not small; I would be lying if I said I didn´t feel a bit overwhelmed. I have been thinking and praying a lot about why The Lord sent me here, and how can I help.
 I felt a bit like a green missionary this last week, luckily i can actually speak now. I feel completely lost in the city that we have completely to ourselves and is very different from being in just a specific part of town. I hope I can adjust quickly to working in a city. There is a branch here too, it has been a branch in the church for a dozen years now and like is Simões Lopes they have been thinking a little bit bigger and want to start working towards becoming a ward and having a proper chapel. Right now we are just meeting in a building downtown. I think the things I learned in Simões Lopes should be a big help in that regard, but that includes teaching the members how to help themselves, the fire has to come from within them and be something that they REALLY want.
   So we live right in the middle of downtown in an apartment that looks right over a really beautiful park that is all lit up because of Christmas, but there is also a LOT of bustle, I got accustomed to being in the quiet part of town in Simões so I am still adjusting. Basically a lot of adjusting going on here, I hope I can handle it well.
   I am already getting put to use on the organ (keyboard) on Sundays and I feel fairly confident that will now be a weekly assignment. I´m not complaining.
It is just now starting to feel like Christmas because of the music that plays in the park across the street, however Christmas isn´t Christmas until Kathy Mataea (how do you spell her name?!) is playing, so I started singing what I remember to help myself ease into the Christmas season. Also, it is REALLY starting to warm up, it feels a little weird to be roasting in December but it is also very nice out. We are working very hard to give our best gift to The Savior this year by bringing souls unto Him.
  I hope all is well. Enjoy the gift of the Holiday Season.
Com Grande Amor
Seu Filho, Irmão, e Amigo
Elder David F. Morgan

Transferred

Oi! There is so many things to do today, and such little time to do it.
So today we received a phone call. Elder Palandi, Elder Hansen, and myself were all transferred. am still kind of struggling with how I feel about that... probably will write about that later.  Elder Falcão will be the only Elder staying here. i don´t know where i´m going to yet, just that i will be staying in Pelotas, I don´t know which area yet though.
Yesterday I was sitting in church and we had another investigator with us, Patricia who is VERY interested and really has been prepared by The Lord to hear The Gospel, she understands everything very well and we were really excited to have her there. Trust me you never pray harder than when you are at church as a missionary with somebody that is just getting to know the church. I was sitting there praying with all my might that she would have a good experience, i was also thinking about The Rochedo family because we are still trying to help them ´settled´ and when i was kind of ´struggling in The Spírit´as Enos put it. I just felt this really calm and realization come over me. The Lord is in control. He REALLY knows what He is doing, and we can feel peace in that. I am tyring to hang on to that same feeling today. With both E. Palandi and I leaving, there won´t be anybody to introduce this are to the knew Elders. We are going to try to leave as much information as we can, I kind of felt a bit of ´ARE YOU CRAZY?!´ taking away both of us at the same time. But my trust is in The Lord, and I know that He knows, better than I do.

  So know we are just trying to prepare the area for the new Elders coming in, and say some goodbyes. So I am making this email really short because, there is just so much to do ha. I love you all, take care.

Seu Filho, Irmão, e Amigo
Elder David F. Morgan

Batismo da familia Rochedo

So to clarify once again. I DID have a worm, no I Don´t know what kind it was. I don´t know where it got started that it was a tape worm ( without any evidence I blame Shaun) but I´m fine now :) They took care of me just fine.
   So there really is only one thing to talk about this week. Well, maybe more. But of The most importance. The ENTIRE Rochedo family (except for the 3 year old, cause she is too young) was baptized and confirmed this last weekend!!! :) The baptismal service was WAY good, super strong spirit. One of the main focus´ they have is trying to establish a home and a family where love abides so Elder Wilcock (zone leader) and I sang love is spoken here. Bishop Marcos gave a good welcome and there was a lot of members there to greet them and help them feel welcome. Our biggest goal now is to integrate them with the ward, because someday us missionaries are going to leave (that day is coming next week for me probably) and they need to have a solid foundation with the members here and not just us. But they are very determined and good hearted people, I have a lot of hope and the members are really coming together to help them feel welcome.
As we walked back home with them, Catia started to show me places on the street where she used to ´live´and talked about her childhood. It really touched me and I saw the depth of character she, and the whole family possess. I just know that The Gospel, applied in their lives will bring all the things they are looking for and they will be a blessing to so many others as well.
  I could spend all day talking about them, but I am already almost running late. We have transfers again next week, pretty much I know for sure that I will not be in Simões Lopes after next week. It will be very strange to leave here.
At the begining of this transfer I expressed gratitude to The Lord and President Swenson that I was able to stay a little longer. President Swenson told me I had unfinished work here still. I laughed and asked him if he could tell me what it was, all he said was (go figure) ´The Lord will show it to you´  Well, I feel like I found what that work was. I felt like I was going to leave this area and I couldn´t look back and feel like I had made much of a difference, that there was something missing. I think The Rochedo family is at least part of the reason why The Lord saw fit to let me stay here just a little longer. It is a good thing His wisdom is a lot greater than mine. I feel ´at peace´ now. that sounds a little lame, but I do, I feel calm and I finally feel like I could leave Simões Lopes and look ahead with hope and faith.
  So, my time is super short. My spiritual thought for the week is. The glass really is, half full.
I love you, take care. Happy Holiday season. I am getting roasted in December. Love you
Seu Filho, Irmão, e amigo
Elder. David F. Morgan

I would say sorry, but I'm not

Óla familia e meus queridos amigos!
So, to clear things up. I basically had a constant stomach ache for about a week, and uh.. some unpleasant bathroom experiences. And after that I started trying different things to help myself out. Different types of tea etc. Plus people started telling me I used to be prettier and that it looked like I had thinned a little bit. So I decided to finally call our mission presidents wife and ask about it. She told me I had a worm. ( I named him Scott by the way) and ya, she told me what kind of medicine to buy. I don´t really know what type it was but he was a fighter, I took the medicine to kill him and he hung on for a few days, poor guy. But I´m better now, took another medicine for another type of critter a few days ago too, just to make sure. Feeling fine now, just trying to fatten up at this point :) I would say I´m sorry for sneaking that in there like I did in my last email, but I´m not.
   This week has had a whole lot of. This is so amazing I can´t believe how blessed we are!/ I am so dead tired I can´t hardly pick my feet up. We have a half hour to exercise every morning, I just did a lot of stretching this week, didn´t really have the energy to do anything else. I am getting more pumped up though, trying to get E. Palandi in on that too. We have a GREAT weekend planned!
  About a week ago we went to the chapel in Fragata (not our chapel, but its closer... so I don´t know why we don't have church there, but I´m not in charge) with the family of Igor and Katia. We taught them about The Plan of Salvation and how families can be sealed together eternally, after this life too if we live worthy, we then invited them to be baptized and they all accepted! Igor, Katia, their three kids, Ellen, Eric, and Tiago, plus Katia´s mother Loreci will all be baptized this Saturday! I wish you could all know this family personally, they are so special and have such great faith and trust in The Lord, it makes me re-evaluate my life and what I need to be better. Ha, Igor has never put on a tie in his life, and he went out and bought a white shirt and tie because he wanted to be dressed up for church, what a guy. I want to tell all the stories but there just isn´t enough time. Ask me about it someday, or I can show you my journal entries. Basically they were both kids of the street, and where everybody else ended up in drugs, they grew stronger and more humble and want to end the cycle of abuse and lack of love in their families. Really, I wish you could all meet them.
  Everything else I could say just seems really trivial. We have only known them for about three weeks now and we are already so close, they are very special people. 
  We had training w/ President Swenson this week, it was good, great man.
Elder Falcão is better now too, back to his very happy self. So our work is getting back in a good rhythm again.
Elder Palandi and I are still working hard, we are seeing a lot of miracles at work in our area, we will be having transfers again in two weeks (where does the time go) and since me odds of staying are about 1,000,000,000,000,000 to 1 It will be a real bummer to have to leave Simões Lopes. I am excited for what The Lord has in store for me though elsewhere. Well, that´s all for now.
Oh just one more thing, nobody is obligated, but since several people expressed a desire to send me packages for Christmas, If that is your desire, I suggest sending it like.... now. The mail service here is not the greatest (nor the worst, can´t complain) so it would be good to get that all set if that´s something you are interested, again. No Obligations, I am perfectly content.
Okay, rolling out, work to be done.
Love you all, spiritual thought for the week is ´just keep swimming´ it will all work out okay. Sometimes I have a hard time believing that, and work hard, but have fun doing it.
Much love,
Seu Filho, Irmão, e amigo
Elder David F Morgan

Who can speak too much of the Lord? Also,the gospel should be fun and simple. 11/11/11

Oi!
So, from the fact that my email has an actual title this week, there have been a few things on my mind. I will start with the less serious as to end with some kind of spiritual thought.
Does anybody else realize the historical significance of what is going to happen this week?!?! I have honestly been waiting for this exact week for the majority of my life! This Friday it will be 11/11/11! and at 11:11 this Friday it will be... 11:11 on 11/11/11! I thought about trying to make eleven contacts in eleven minutes, having a moment of silence, eating eleven something I really like, we will see. But The truth is on this day, I am going to be doing exactly what I want to and that is, be in Brasil sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There will be some sort of... brincadera....nope, don´t know that word in English. 
SO, we realized our teaching was getting a little robotic, and we needed to simplify, simplify, simplify. True intelligence is to take a subject that is great and mysterious in itself, and expound upon it and unfold it until a child can understand it. (John Taylor, paraphrased... and not the John Taylor who lives in Medford that is The MAN, but the one who was a prophet of the LDS church in the 1800´s, also The MAN haha)
So, we decided to try something new. We simplified our lesson and we came up with a few object lessons to use to help people understand. We have found two that are particularly effective. One includes using a little plastic colored ball that comes apart. We use each part to represent a part of The Gospel, and to show particularly how prophets and authority from God to act in His name (priesthood) are particularly important and also unique to our message of The Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. It almost seemed a little ridiculous but it has been SO effective. We have been seeing much of the fruit of our labors this week finding new people who are prepared by The Lord to hear The Gospel, we used this method to explain and the amount of comprehension in those we are teaching has been amazing. Patricia, told us she had listened to the missionaries many years ago but didn´t really understand the message and gave up but that when we explained she really understood and by the end she was basically explaining to us about why the things we were teaching are important and make sense. This is just one example, we also have been showing people how to get a cooked egg into a water bottle with alcohol and a match and without hurting the egg or forcing it and how that represents baptism by water and The Holy Ghost.
Really living The Gospel should not only be rewarding, and bring peace and joy, but be FUN and enjoyable, and it REALLY is. I love it! It is also incredibly simple, if we focus on what is truly important and take time to open our hearts the beauty of The Gospel is the simplicity of it.
Finally, I have been once again struck with awe at the love of The Saviour Jesus Christ for us. The willingness to descend beneath all things, so suffer, shame, pain, and sorrow, for our sakes fills me with wonder. This Sunday morning I had some time to ponder and I couldn´t help but think of the Hymn. ´ I Stand All Amazed´ I think it gets the closest to summing up my sentiments.  I cannot say enough or sufficiently put into words the feelings in my heart that I have about the humility and love He demonstrated. I invite all to come unto Christ and to learn more of Him, His love, and His Restored Gospel here on the Earth.
Have a great week.
Elder David. F Morgan

I struggle to find titles to my emails

óla!
I think I should start bringing my journal with me on mondays when I go to write email, I don´t even remember what we did two or three days ago, it is just one solid space of time. I think I talk about that a lot, the missionary time warp. I want to send some pictures but Elder Palandi is using my camera and cord right now so maybe next week.
We are still working hard. We found a new family this week and I have a lot of hope for them, the father used to be a pastor, he was asking a lot of questions and also had some very good insights for us as well. I am REALLY praying hard to teach and baptise a family, especially here in Simões Lopes, the ward is definetely more like a branch that we are desperetaly trying to strengthen. I am really happy to be staying here, I am also thinking that I need to figure out what The Lord´s purpose in keeping me here is. I really hope and pray that with all of my faults and weaknessessessessess (HOW DO YOU SPELL THAT?!) I can be of service to the people, the ward, and The Lord and that I am making an actual contribution.
João Pessoa Missão pra Louie! Sweet! My district leader in the CTM and a few more members of my district went there, I will tell them to look Louie up when he gets there. It will be a great mission. SO PUMPED. I can´t believe so many of us are coming to Brasil. Grant is right, now Jared just needs to come haha.
Sorry I am running out of time and so I will have to keep this short.
We are really starting to teach a lot more here and it is slowly but surely that our area is progressing. I hate to say it but we are doing some damage clean up and now that we took care of that it is really starting to come along well.
The other Elders baptized this last week. Felipe. Ele é O Cara! I am sending a picture.
Ya, I got nothing more. We are going to make a sweet video this week to help less active member come back to church. Okay! gotta go, sorry.
Much love
Elder David F Morgan

p.s. scroll down for last weeks email as well. I missed posting it. so sorry.

WHAT! Transfers again?

So first things first. YYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! glad I got that out. That is for Louie and Shelby going to Brazil! (I can´t really say im suprised though) Ha funny is that I thought about Louie TODAY and wondered about where he would serve and when he would be getting his call. At this point it is pretty much a guess as to where in Brasil they will be heading to. I am trying to think of where his mission would be from where it was described. It Could be Vitoria or Salvador, maybe something else though. Let me know which mission por favor next weak, I would really like to know. Either way that are going to one of the best missions in the whole world. I am so stoaked to be speaking portuguese with my best buds when we are all back someday.
   So our new transfer of six weeks starts tomorrow. We were all anxiously awaiting our phone call today from the Zone Leaders about transfers. Pretty much everybody was already saying goodbye to me and I was ready to start packing my backs. Ha our bishops wife told me it was a pleasure to know me yesterday. Turns out that everybody here in Simões Lopos is stuck with me for at least another month and a half because I and everybody else in our apartment/district will be staying this transfer. YES! From all the New missionaires who assigned here in Pelotas the same time as me, I am the last of them to be staying in Pelotas, everybody else has been transferred, including some of the guys who got here after me. For the record, this transfer, FLEW by. I can´t actually believe that it is already transfers again. (I can´t believe the competition is finally here) We all worked really hard and time just shot past.
  We taught a lot this week and we have been finding more people to teach, the other companionship (forgot that word in english for a moment) baptized this last week too. A teenager named Felipe, who is a stud and a half. Love him, we found his brother Ivan forever ago who was baptized 12 years ago and long since stopped going, he has been coming back to church and they started teaching his whole family and are really accepting and have a lot of faith, plus they are just great people and a lot of fun to be with.
   By the way, I had a realization this week about why so many men within the church are bald. It is because they served missions. You spend every moment working and sweating and worrying about someone you are teaching, how you can help and what they need. It is exaughsting, but so great! So I will be returning in two years with white hair and a receeding(however you spell that) hairline.
   But I did have another actually spiritual revelation about hope and faith. I always had trouble figuring out which comes first. It is hope, but hope is also the biproduct of faith, but it is a different kind of hope, let me explain:
With hope there is hope that has a hint of uncertainty within it, as in I hope it doesn´t rain today, or I hope lunch is good. BUT there is also that hope that comes from knowledge, a ray of light in the darkness, it is a quite assurance, a knowing that everything will turn out right. SO!
Our hope(type 1) that there is something more, something better, that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world and restored His church through living prophets causes us to ´experiment upon the word´(see Alma 32) the moment we begin to do this our hope becomes faith, and our faith it WILL grow if we continue to exercise it and come to know The Savior. So, when we have faith in the Savior and REALLY know him, we have hope(type 2) a quiet (or not so quiet in my case) assurance that everything will turn out alright, that he really did overcome death and sin and that through him, we can be saved and hope for a better life with peace and happiness in THIS life as well.
It makes more sense in Portuguese and with the SWEET diagram I made, but I hope you get it. I have been struggling over that one for a while now and I got WAY exciting when it finally clicked. I also have a sweet anology with being a missionary and knowing if lunch is going to be good or not that REALLY is a good comparison, but I won´t get into that.
WOW I just looked at how much time I used up, it passes so fast, DON´T WASTE IT.
  I really like Taylors insights on Patience and Tolerance, thank you for sending me his letters, please continue to do so, they actually really inspire me to be better and have helped me a lot as a missionary this transfer, I hope he is doing well. Can I get his email so that I can write to hime please?
So this week was a LITTLE rough, but it isnt the worst that there could be. Elder Palandi just got a little down because we worked SO hard this transfer and we really don´t have much to show for it in what we call (results) but I know i grew immensly and I have never felt happy happier as a missionary than when I have this transfer. I feel that The Lord is also trying us, to see if even when we are not blessed the way we think we should (which happens a lot by the way, but He knows a lot better than we do what we need) He wants to see if we will keep going, keep pushing, just because, it´s the right thing to do and we love Him.
I have a lot more to write, but I will stop now. Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers on my behalf.
Com Grande Amor, Seu Filho, Irmão, e Amigo.
Elder David F Morgan

Connie Lou

Seriously, I am just so tired.
Oi! So this week will make six months here in Brasil, that is ridiculously hard to believe, it passes so fast.
We had interviews with President Swenson this last week... or maybe it was the week before, I don´t really remember anymore. Ha it was pretty quick. We talked about old junker cars for a little bit, I expressed my sadness over the news of  *Connie Lou´s demise.
It was a nice day today, I set up my hammock and took a good nap, it felt SOOOOO good. We just changed to ´summer schedule´ (Day light saving time) We jumped forward, so we lost an hour of sleep Saturday night and it was hard to fall asleep last night. Does that put me five hours ahead of home now, or will it be six when the U.S changes time?
I am sorry, this is looking like it will be another short one.
I did a little study on gratitude this week, I was feeling like kind of a schmuck so I had to burn myself a little bit. Presidnet Monson gave a really good talk on gratitude a year ago in conference that I went and read and was humbled and filled with gratitude for how richly The Lord blesses me.
http://lds.org/general-conference/2010/10/the-divine-gift-of-gratitude?lang=eng&query=,+%28name%3a%22Thomas+S.+Monson%22%29+%28collection%3a%22general-conference%22%29
(That is the talk I read, highly recommended)
Anyways, time to head out for now.
I love you, take care.
Seu Filho, Irmão, e amigo
Elder David F. Morgan

*Connie Lou is the name David gave to our old blue Ford Contour that was recently totaled.

Simplify

Oi! Sorry this will be very short this week.
We had a great week, lots of hard work, we are really starting to get the members helping us with out work and are trying to really unify our ward here.
Since we didn´t get to see conference we read ´The Man´s´* talk for a companion study about focusing on the things that are the most important. I would encourage EVERYBODY to find it and read it. It is very good and very wise council to just steady the course, slow down our mind a little and focus on the things that REALLY matter. We have been trying to apply that principle to our work here and really just focus on the things of greatest importance instead of trying to do it all at once.
Turns out a member of our ward is from Haiti and speaks five languages. That is cool, we had lunch with him today. He is a stud.
Sorry, but that is really all there is time for today.
I love you all, take care.
Seu Filho, Irmão, e Amigo

Elder David F. Morgan

*By the way, "The Man" is Elder Uchtdorf. For those of you who don't belong to my church he is one of our church leaders.
We have a prophet at the head of the church and 12 apostles. Elder Uchtdorf is one of the 12 apostles.

We need a miracle

Oi!
Wow, I am just beat, so tired, but SO happy, funny how that works. But seriously I am tired.
So we had a great week. We found, we taught and we testified.
We really struggled finding new people to teach though. I had really been having a hard time just opening my mouth and talking to people, talking to people on the street, the store, wherever. I didn´t get it, I just REALLY felt so uneasy about talking to people. (this was last week.) I had been praying so much for the strength and courage to just trust The Lord and talk with people and share what I have to offer.
It really happened, The Lord's promise that our mouths will be filled with what we need to say. I just started going to talk to people and it seemed like before I new it I was talking and writing down address and the words were just being put in my mouth. It is still kind of scary, but sometimes there isn´t a magic pill that makes things easier, your just square your shoulders and do it, and The Lords promises to be with us.
I have really learned a lot this week, especially about always having a prayer in your heart. I always thought that was kind of a funny expression and how could you be always praying. I feel like I am somewhat starting to figure out what that means, Sometimes ( maybe even usually) it is just the yearnings of our hearts and not actually the words that are our prayers.
So I only got to watch conference on Saturday OR Priesthood session so I never saw ´The Man´speak, I was more than a little bummed about that but we could only go if we had people investigating the church to come with us (and we didn´t) everybody we are teaching went Sunday. So we spent the day trying to find new people to teach. It was kind of funny, we spend the whole day (we started earlier than usual too) trying to talk to everybody, going to the houses of the people we contacted that week, talked to people on the street, knocked doors, went to references we had received, EVERYTHING, and nobody accepted us Saturday, but I felt so good just knowing I had done my part. This is where this weeks miracle comes in. Sunday we spent trying to teach or getting people to conference. Conference was really good by the way, it was kind of funny to have it dubbed over in Portuguese but I understood just fine, I am really starting to gain more confidence with the language, but I have to actually focus. If I actively listen I get the vast majority of what is going on, especially in a gospel setting. I didn´t have any problems at conference, I just have to tune in, I can't let my mind wander.
So yes, this weeks miracle. We got back into Simões at about 8 and we had a half hour to find people. We just walked across the street and knocked on a door. Elder Pàlandi turned to me and said, we really could use a miracle. A man opened the door and we gave a short message and asked if we could come in and share more, much to my surprise the response was, ´sure come on in´(not something that happens often) It was a good lesson and I felt blessed and they were great people and we are going to return and talk to them more this week. I thought, wow miracle, someone actually let us in, sweet. It was almost time to go home but, we decided to knock a bit more. We got rejected at one and then we stopped at another. Elder Palandi said again, we really could use another miracle, and two more people to teach. A man answered the door again and much to my surprise let us in to talk with he and his wife ( TWO more people to teach) They were very receptive and we had a great conversation with them and they invited us to come back again. I really felt that they were people honest in heart and doing all they can to follow The Lord. Que Milagre! We had put in all of our effort to find people to teach all week and had come up with nothing. When we showed The Lord we were willing to go until the last minute he blessed us to be lead to people who would accept us and hear our message.
We are really working hard here and I love it. Plus I sleep like a baby every night.
Okay, I will wrap this up. I hope everything is going well back home. Sounds like dad had quite an adventure getting to Salt Lake,
Much Love
Seu Filho, Irmão, e Amigo
Elder David F. Morgan

New Address

We've been given an updated address for sending packages to Elder Morgan. I'm assuming it's also for letters because as of now we don't have a direct address for sending letters.

Brazil Porto Alegre South Mission
Elder David F. Morgan (they want his full name)
Av. Princesa Isabel, 342-B
Santana-Porto Alegre, RS 90629-000
Brazil

Priority mail is still required.

(no subject)

Oi!
So once again another week has come and passed and I don´t know what happened too it, and it was full of ups and downs, mostly ups.
I am REALLY trying to remember what happened though, it is all in my journal and no longer in my head. We had a specialized training on i think Tuesday but I won´t bet any money on that. It was very powerful and very inspiring. We talked about being diligent and really acting on our faith and I felt very energized to just get out there and talk to the whole world. It was though a fairly hard week. We had a few people we were teaching tell us they didn´t want to meet with us anymore and that is always very heartbreaking, when you know what you have to say will bless their life and their families and they turn away from it, but you can never force them. Especially one of the young men we are teaching Rafael, he is our buddy and we really love him, but he really isn´t interested in our message anymore, I think he got a lot of opposition from his family. But I won´t dwell on that.
SO excited to hear about Grant being out in the mission field. WOOHOO! Sounds like he is hitting the pavement well. That is what it is all about, I am learning that myself. Despite having a great meeting earlier in the week, we did struggle a bit this week. Elder Palandi and I are still adjusting to teaching together and how all the personalities in our apartment fit together. He is a really good guitar player too, so after planning and everything at night, we play the blues sometimes.
We also met some really good people this week too, and are shifting a lot of our work to a new part of our area that a lot of the missionaries before us ignored because it is really hard to work downtown. I feel very strongly that the people there need to have the same opportunity to hear the message of The Gospel and that yes, it will be hard, but there are people there being prepared by The Lord to hear His Gospel. Life wasn´t always meant to be easy anyways.
I am trying to think of a funny story for this week, but I got nothing except trying to explain to E. Falcão what the Blues were.
Oh! So I also finally met Elder (stole my name) Morgan, he is from Salem, we wondered if we were possibly related. His name is Daniel. He keeps getting my letters ha, Auntie-Ria´s letter to me had been opened and read by the time I finally got it.
About miracles, you will find them if you look for them. We definitely had a few this week. I hope one of them was meeting our goal to have 120 people at church this Sunday! I don´t know what our number was this LAST week of the month. We REALLY struggled having investigators at church (this means we had 0 by the way) and it looked like it was pretty close!
I will finish my rambling for this week I promise. We talked to Tamiris (Vanda´s grand-daughter) the other day. She is SOOOO prepared for baptism and a half. It is so neat to see the changes that The Gospel makes in the lives of people. There is just a light about her now, a confidence, she just needs to recognize it in herself. We are going to meet with her tonight and talk about The Temple with her. We are also going to invite her to GENERAL CONFERENCE!! WOOHOO! I guess this will be the REAL test of my language skills, I have noticed a lot of improvement lately. I really have no problems understanding anything at church. I understand a lot more than I can say now. When I hear a word, I understand it, but I need to incorporate them into my own vocabulary too.
I think I still need to spend more time focusing on others and not on myself so much. That is a real problem with humanity I think. Well, not a problem, just something we could all stand to work on, especially me. I encourage you all to diligently seek for something to do for somebody else on a daily basis, pray for opportunities and the sensitivity to recognize them. Okay, I really am finished. Except for this. After the four minute mile was broken, within 3 months 17 other people broke that record. What changed? People believed they could do it now. Don´t wait, be the one to break the record. Believe you can.
I testify that God loves and knows His children and is mindful of each one. Have a great week. I love you all
Seu Filho, Irmão, e Amigão


Elder David F. Morgan

(no subject)

òla!
Well, still here in good ole Simões Lopes. My new companion showed up last Tuesday and we have been hard at work ever since. Elder Palandi, is the greatest fake out of any missionary you will ever meet. When I met him I didn´t want to ask him where he was from because you just can´t tell if he is just a really good speaking American or just a funny speaking native. He is from São Paulo but looks like he is straight out of California ( which we tell people he is). He just has been here for long enough and had enough American companions to really mess with his accent. He is our district leader here, so he replaced E. Gramosa in that regard too and he is doing a great job. Elder Hansen stayed here and we got E. Falcão as well, he is from Fortaleza, and also a great guy, I am really excited for the work that will get done in our district here and our zone as well.

   So today makes five months as a missionary, I arrived in Brasil Five months from tomorrow though. I can´t believe it, the time really does go so quickly. To think that in another month I will have been here for six months just blows me away. It is fun to get Taylor's letters and to hear about how he feels closing in on the last six months, and I can´t believe that Jordan is already home! I really won´t dwell on the time though.

We had a good week, a lot of good work done, we have a lot of plans of how we can help our area improve and it will really start to take off when E. Palandi knows the area a little better. I can already see improvement in having a fresh pair come in though and the progress we are making.
We only have one more week to go in trying to make our goal to get a chapel for the members here in Simões. I really feel like we will make it, but it´s not over until it´s over. Now we just have to keep it up, demonstrate that we always need to be working this hard and inviting others to come unto Christ and it can be fun haha.
We starting teaching a family this weak too and I am really excited to be working with them. We had been teaching the son (Nicolas) for a little while already and he is very interested and a REALLY intelligent kid, he blows me away sometimes and we are now teaching his parents, they have a lot of questions and we are going slow but I have a lot of hope for them.

I have had a lot on my mind this week. I was reading a talk in my study and a swimmer was quoted when asked about how he had become the great athlete that he is today, the reply was. ´I kick when I don´t want to kick, I stroke when I don´t want to stroke´ I thought about how this applies to missionary work and our lives. We can either go with the flow and become what life makes us, or we can have a vision of who we want to be and work to that end, it won´t always be fun or easy, but the results will be worth it. If we can ignore that ´natural man´that says just stop, give up when it is hard, master that, and do difficult things, it will be worth it. I hope that makes sense, it does in my mind but I don´t know if I am writing it down correctly. So when It is hard I think that very phrase. ´Kick when I don´t want to kick, stroke when I don´t want to stroke.´
It is all about doing things diligently, that will yield the best results.

We have Zone conference in a few days, that is always really uplifting and I always find something I can do to improve.
Well, I am going to go play soccer now. I love you all. Take care, Pray always.
Love, Seu Filho, Irmão, e amigo.

Elder David F Morgan

The Newest Pictures

Elder Morgan says "Us with the most awsome kids in the world:

Older Boy, Eduardo

Younger Bruno

Girl with Dark hair. Marcella

Youngest girl Bela"

Elder Morgan holding a dried out armadillo.

Elder Morgan and Elder Gramosa.

Elder Morgan and Elder Gramosa messing around before a district meeting.

In Elder Morgan's words: "Us and the Gauchós making churrasco."



Elder Morgan and Elder Gramosa with Vanda.

156! Independence Day! Transfers. BATISMO!!

Oi familia e amigos!
Today is transfers day and it is weird. We just saw E. Gramosa and E. Lopes off at the bus station. I am really going to miss Elder Gramosa a lot. What a great guy, great missionary, great friend. It is a weird feeling to say goodbye to somebody that you have spent almost every waking moment with for the last 12 weeks. I am having a really hard time summing up my feelings about this, so I will leave that for my journal ha.But I am staying here in Simões Lopes and two more Elders will be coming to replace E. Gramosa and E Lopes. I am excited for this next transfer.
So we also had another zone division this last week too. I was with Elder Rogers again, what a guy. We had some way neat experiences teaching. We always have a good time together too, it was really neat thing too because last time we started teaching a couple, it was our first meeting with them, and I got to go visit them this last week too and they are doing great.
oh ya, and we made chocolate peanut butter smoothies too, so good.
So a really exciting part about this week was last Sunday! So our goal is having 120 people in sacrament meeting all this month. We had 156 this last Sunday! The ward is just REALLY coming together, I was a little worried that we would lose the fire after last week but we didn´t at all. Two more weeks! Really I just want September to never end, keep this up always.
Also, this last Wednesday was Brazilian Independence day, we had a great time. We ate Churrasco with a recent convert and her family. Seriously, it was just a blast and I felt great.  And then we had a service project helping a lady in our ward. She has two small kids and is a single mother so we went and put together a bunk bed, fixed a sink, cleaned up. ETC.
ALSO, the Simões Lopes District had TWO baptisms this week.
E. Gramosa and I baptized a lady named Vanda, we have been teaching her for most of this transfer and she was just ready. Going to church consistently and then we invited her to baptism. She had planned to go on two week travel, she put that on hold and declared that she was going to be baptized this week.
So a lot went on this last week. It was a good week too, off course we had some hard times and disappointments as well, but I just look back on it and it was great. I was super exhausted though whew.
Well, I am going to run. I am with E. Hansen for the day and we need to get ready for the new Elders to come here.
I am really struggling to have one definite spiritual or insightful thought to share this week. So, go to the scriptures and find one, apply it. I love you all. Take care.
Seu Filho, Irmão, e Amigo.
Elder David F. Morgan

Pictures (a little late)

Several weeks ago Elder Morgan wrote about his first baptism and also about eating raw sugar cane. He sent some pictures but I had a hard time opening them and saving them to my computer. But I finally figured it out so here they are.

 Elder Morgan eating raw sugar cane.

Elder Morgan at his first baptism. Left to right: Elder Gramosa, ?, Willain, ?, Elder Morgan. (I'm working on filling in the blanks.)

126! and French

óla! I don´t think it is possible to fully express just what it is like to be a missionary. It is full of ups and downs, every hour, of everyday. Constantly changing and adjusting plans and trying to do the best we can with what we have. This was such a week. UP and DOWN.

I will stick with the up. So we have really been trying to get the members involved in the missionary work here and come together to bring people to Christ first of all, and second of all, to get a chapel so it will be easier to get to church for the members and investigators. Sunday came around yesterday and we had been doing all we could to get our current chapel filled and to get people to church. We need to have a lot of attendance at church this month to try and demonstrate that the people here are ready to have a chapel. I have never seen the ward come together like this. People were inviting friends, bringing family. Getting in there cars earlier to go pick people up and coming to our rescue to help us get our investigators to church too. It was such and outpouring of unity.
We had a really powerful testimony meeting and The Spirit was really strong. However looking around I didn't think we had met our goal of 120. Then Bishop got up at the end to share his testimony. Tearfully he announced that we had 126 people at church that week! Now the goal is just to keep this fire, this unity, and build on it, let it grow. It was a great day.
We also had a ward lunch afterwards. I dropped and broke two glass cups in front of 125 people. That was cool. Ha funny thing is I didn´t really feel embarrassed, just loved.

Our focus this week will be getting the people who didn't go to church this week, at church this coming week and also maintaining who we did have. On top of that, our teaching pool is REALLY shrinking we need to start finding more people to teach.
Our district also has three baptisms planned for this week, maybe even a fourth. We have two young men who really want to be baptized but their parents won't let them. So we just continue to teach them and spend time with them.

Also, neat story. So we were doing a service project this week at a member's home. They had an old french Book of Mormon lying around. So I picked it up and started to read. I can understand a little bit of french. I had heard I would be able to do that with Portuguese but it was fun to put it to the test. I am sure if it was a book I wasn't familiar with or if someone was speaking it I would get nothing. But hey, it is a start right. I totally knew what was happening and where I was in The Book of Mormon while I was reading.

Also, Willain gave me a hammock this week as a present. I was pretty excited. When it stops raining and we get some sun. That will be a P-Day activity for sure. It is really warming up now, very humid here.

So my spiritual thought for the week. It is about prayer. Often we think of prayer as either, when we are in a bind and need some help, or like we are calling in our pizza delivery order. We sort of, place our order and then hang up. Yes, Heavenly Father delivers. But not like that. Something I had to think about was if I was really having a conversation with my Father in Heaven or just placing an order. I have been trying to give myself time to think and meditate before prayer. Take time to really have a conversation about what I feel and what the needs of the people here are. ´Let´s all just remember to have a conversation with our Father when we pray. not just place an order. Don´t really know if that counts as a spiritual thought, but it is something I had been thinking about these last few days.

Well I hope all is well back home. I love you all. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers on my behalf and your letters of encouragement. Take Care.

Seu Filho, irmão e amigo. Elder David F. Morgan

:)

óla familia e amigos.
  You know what? Life is hard sometimes, but it is just so great at the same time. From reading emails this week I am really just full of joy! I have to start of by saying congratulations to Sally and Josh! Laila looks real cute (thanks for the pic mom) I am so happy and excited for you. It sounds like Mother and baby are healthy and well. So exciting to be welcoming a new baby into the family. How did you guys choose the name? Anyways, I am so happy for you, ha I will probably print of the picture and show it to some of our investigators who knew I had a sister who was pregnant ha.
   To top that off, to hear about Andrew being ordained to the priesthood (or to be ordained soon, sounds like we are waiting for mom or Dad to get back into town) I just couldn't keep the biggest grin on my face... it is still there in fact. I really don´t have the words to express what I want to right now. Pure joy.
   Well as usual, I can really only remember what we have done in about the past three days and the rest of the week has just blended together with everything else, time here in the mission is really just weird. Especially in Brasil. Everybody leaves in the middle of the day for lunch, takes a nap afterwards and the world doesn´t wake back up until at least three, and then everybody is back sleeping by eight thirty or nine. The most active parts of the day are very different than in the states.
   I can´t believe I have been here for four months already, two of those here in Pelots. Transfers are going to be in two weeks. It is weird knowing I will be getting a new companion. I will really miss E. Gramosa. I can't imagine what it would be like knowing you only have two weeks left as a missionary after serving for two years. Ha a guy in our ward here just got home from his mission recently last week he told us. Fique na missão cara, fique na missão. ´Just stay on the mission man, just stay on the mission´. Ha I guess it is a really weird transfer to normal life again afterwards.
    I also really hope I stay here in Simões Lopes. I trust The Lord and where he wants me but I just look at what could still happen here and I just want to be part of it. The chapel here is really far from the members homes and we have a goal to get a chapel here in Simões so it will be easier for the members to get to church but we need to be having a lot more people attending church for that to happen. (kind of a catch 22 or something, a chapel would help having more people at church but we need to more people at church to get the chapel too.) But we are all trying to REALLY exercise our faith and have a vision for how we can increase attendance at church each week so the members here can have the blessing of a chapel closer to their homes, I would really love to stay and be a part of that; we have a long way to go but I feel like it can be done with faith and a lot of hard work. I know it can be done.
   We started teaching William´s family yesterday. He was recently baptized and we have a really good relationship with his dad too and we just started talking with his mom and they accepted the invitation to hear our message. They are really great people with great hearts and looking for answers and I am so excited that the Lord has opened the door for us to be able to share The Gospel message with them as well. It is amazing how much you really can just come to love and care about people. Ezequiel told us that if the chapel was closer he would already have visited, he really has a lot of respect for us and is very interested. But his mom is really sick and he just can´t leave her for very long. Another reason why I REALLY want to help get a chapel closer to our area.
Can´t believe Grant will be heading out to mission field soon too. I am really excited for him. Ha teaching real people is way better than fake people in a recorded room haha. How cool is it to have to be teaching the same great message as your best buddy? I think about missionaries all over the world sometimes. I think it was Elder Anderson who said this. The Sun never sets on righteous missionaries testifying of Christ. Pretty profound.
   Well, now it is time to get rolling. I am trying to think of a Spiritual thought I can share and the only thing on my mind is what I have been thinking about and studying, and what we are really talking about as a mission right now. Consecration. The Lord doesn´t just want a part of us, He wants everything, every little bit. If we turn our lives over to The Lord, we will find out he can make a lot more out of us than we ever could for ourselves. Offer yourself, everything. Sometimes we are tempted to hold a little bit back, but then we just live in constant discontent with our own lives. Ha, so just give up. I don´t remember the reference but The Lord teaches that whoever wants to save his life will lose it and whoever loses his life will live. Just forget about yourself. Do what The Lord wants you to do and help others.
I love you all, take care.
Seu Filho, Irmão e amigo.


Elder David F. Morgan

The Lord Knows Each Of Us

Óla family and Friends.
Where to start this week I am really not sure. It is amazing how a short period of time can be filled with so many different experiences. Ups and downs, and everything in between too.
Can I take a moment though to express my gratitude and testify of living Prophets and Apostles who The Lord inspires. The Lord knows each one of us and our needs and he has given us everything we need to learn and to grow and he puts things in motion just for us. I received the General Conference addition of The Liahona this last week and I can firmly say that though there are many reasons that the Lord inspires the leaders of His church to speak about what they do. I know that one reason was that He knew in April, that in four months, A Brazilian missionary would have doubts, questions, and be feeling a little down and that the written words of Prophets would provide strength and council to that missionary. The Lord is far more interested in our success and happiness than we are for ourselves and He knows exactly what we need. As many as the Lords loves, he is going to test, try, and push to the very limit, but He does not leave us alone. That is how we grow. Especially when we endure it well with patience and humility.
I think far too much I ask  ´ what am I going to gain from my mission?´ I am not hear to gain anything. I am here to give EVERYTHING. I can testify that we will find far more happiness, peace, and success in this life when our attitude changes from what will I get? to what can I give? In life, success in our relationships with others is far less about finding the right person and much more about being the right person.
We had some hard experiences this week, but also experiences that were very neat and touched my heart, but they only came after the trials and enduring.
Thank you everyone back home for your thoughts, prayers, love and support. Thank you for keeping me updated on what is going on back home.
I hope Tom made it back from Mexico alright, I guess I would have heard if it was otherwise huh? Sorry this is a short one but I have got to run. Haha, Soccer time! We are bringing two zones together to play.
Have a great week everyone. Remember to work hard and play hard. Jenn sent me a letter and it had something that I thought was very important and I  had been thinking about too. It was about resisting the urge to do nothing. Anyone who knows me knows that I can enjoy my time to loaf. But seriously, resist the urge to do Nothing. Find SOMETHING. There is a difference between being idle and relaxing.
Okay, Have a great week. I love you.
Seu Filho, Irmão, e Amigo.
Elder David F. Morgan

Being sick, it isn't fun

Oi! So, this week has been a little ridiculous. We all took turns being sick here and it was rough. It was a flu/cold that I really can't describe. Elder Gramosa started with it in the beginning of the week and then I picked it up. Elder Hansen picked it up the day after and now Elder Lopes is down and out too. We have been doing a lot of splits this week so we can always have at least two of us out there working, and I think we did alright for the week but sadly we just weren't much of a power house this week. On Wednesday I really woke up feeling awful so after some time I needed to get some more rest. We went to our lunch appointment which was pretty pretty quick. When we got back I was really feeling sick and we had a bit more time for lunch so I thought I would grab a few winks before we went back out to work. I woke up five hours later. Elder Hansen was even worse off than I was and got an ear infection too so the others just left us to sleep and went out and got some work. Truth is I felt way bummed about not getting out to work at all that day, we had a few hours when I woke up but Elder Hansen was told not to go out in the wind, so we made chicken soup to drown away our sorrows and we swapped some stories.
     I had a lot of time to read this week too. I finished The Book of Mormon, and I made some good progress in Jesus The Christ. I am reading it alongside The Four Gospels to try and understand more about the mortal ministry of The Savior. Once again, I am filled with wonder about the sheer majesty of The Lord Jesus Christ, over and over again. Especially in the compassion he showed to others. I am still learning how to show that kind of compassion to others. We had a really special experience this last week regarding compassion and impromptu service that really was special to my heart. Sometimes the circumstances that people live in here can be heartbreaking and we had an opportunity to involve some sisters here in the ward and come to the rescue of a family in need. It made me very grateful for my own family and the circumstances that we are blessed with.
I really wasn't planning on sharing what happened but I feel kind of impressed to, so I will.
On Thursday, we got a call from the other Elders to come to the house of somebody that had recently taught, and to hurry. Turns out the mother of this family had been in the hospital with the youngest child since Sunday and the four smaller kids hadn't eaten in days, or been bathed and had their clothes changed. I won't mention why the father hadn't been providing but I am so grateful to live in a church family where there is an instant system of support. With a few phone calls there was some sisters from the ward there to help with bathing and changing and getting some food ready while we set about cleaning the place up. I had been to the house many times but never been so struck by the circumstances that the family was living before. But more than just the sheer poverty, while the food was being prepared Elder Gramosa and I especially just started playing with the kids, they were really leery of us at first, but by the end they were hanging on us and having some good fun and I was so filled with gratitude for growing up in a family that never lacked in fun and love and some hugs everyday. I don't know how often these kids get much of that, and I just wanted to show them all the love I had in my heart and more. The Lord has an incredible way of showing us just how blessed we really are, and demonstrating how we need to share that with others.
We had stake conference here yesterday too, it was really good. In my impeccable foresight I brought candy to share with some of our younger more squirly investigators. It was also Fathers day here yesterday so it was a little rough as far as having investigators at church. I missed having some waffles and omelets after church, but that night for family night we made pancakes for a family so that is kind of like it. Ha pancakes are for our family night here. We offer to make some American food and people love it. It was some good fun. I have been trying to work hard out here, but I think work is supposed to be enjoyable too. It is. Life is meant to be enjoyed, not just endured. Yesterday I was reminded of a phrase ever present in my life growing up thus far and I wrote it down and posted it on my wall in front of my desk. it reads: "You don't have to, you get to."
I am so glad that I GET to serve here as a missionary and I get to wake up at six thirty every morning and exercise and study. I am so grateful that I Get to struggle in learning a new language and learn and grow.
I hope all is well with everyone back home. I also love getting Grant's updates from the CTM. Enjoy the last of summer there. Get and do something fun this week. Take care, I love and pray for you all.
Seu Filho, Irmão, e Amigo.
Elder David F. Morgan

Primeiro Batismo

Oi familia. There is bunch to write about this week and I hope I can get it all in, but the first and most exciting news is that William, one of the young men we have been teaching was baptized this last Saturday (which I performed) and was confirmed on Sunday! I was so happy, I am really excited for him. Ha the first thing he said after coming out of the water was. Oh, legal. (wow cool!) I had to laugh a bit inside. He is a joker, but really committed to The Lord. His father also came to see the baptism and I am excited to see how he felt, ha Willain's sister asked if she could be baptized too, she was so bummed when she found out she had to wait until she was eight.
   Also, we had our first transfer out here in the mission field this week. Elder Amaral left for Porto Alegre and we had  Elder Hansen come here. He is a great Elder and I am grateful for his being here. He wants to speak a lot of English with me though and I am trying to keep my mind geared towards Portuguese so probably going to ask him to speak to me in Portuguese.
Also I got the package this last week. Thanks a million. When I saw the box said cookies, I didn't expect homemade peanut butter cookies vacuum sealed for freshness! So excited. They haven't lasted long, I was sure to share, a few mysteriously disappeared too... I also got a healthy dose of letters with it. Thank you Heidi for the pictures too! Ha and the bubbles. The peanut butter just was wonderful, and fruit snacks just topped it off. Why have we never eaten the Welches kind before, they are so dang good.
So, I also had some interesting cultural experiences this week. Elder Gramosa found some sugar cane and so it was naturally brought home with us. And we cut up some sugar cane and had that for the past couple of days. I felt pretty cool eating wild sugar cane with my companion from Bahia.
So also, we ate capibara at a member house last night. Essentially it is the world's largest rat. It lives here, and Irmão Paulo had killed it a few days ago and we had churraso last night. This is a rodent about three feet long from what I understand. I only saw a drawing of it in the dictionary. It was actually really good. But I will eat almost anything.
When you are feeling down, count your blessings. I have really tried to write them down before, you don't have enough paper, trust me. I really felt full of gratitude this week. I know I have it good. And amazingly, I don't mean that in a material sense. Yes there is a lot of poverty here and I am grateful for my material blessings, but especially I was overwhelmed with the blessing of being born into a family that has the Gospel. Where we love each other and my siblings are my best friends.
The Lord also saw fit to humble me this week, I won't tell the whole story, but I had a moment when I really let my pride get the better of me this week. And somebody that I don't usually feel like I would want to take advice from really helped me out.
I read that same day, about The Savior being tempted of Satan, the temptation really wasn't in hunger, or falling off a building. It was in the word IF, to prove something, to satisfy pride and to prove a point. The Lord submitted to the will of the Father in all things. Just the majesty of His perfection astounded me this week, how easy it is for a split second to give in to our pride, and not once did He.
   Well, we passed up our goals this week, so now we are headed off to eat churraso and play some sports today. Pretty sure we are going fishing next P day too, so that is something I am WAY excited for. Only been a few times with dad, but I really like it.
I love you all, have a good week. And just another thought, if you have to say something, make sure it uplifts, or if there is a problem, speak with who you need to speak with. NOT anybody else. Okay, take care, I love you all.
Seu, filho, irmão e amigo. Elder David F Morgan

1.21 gigiwatts?!

Oi everybody!
So truth be told, this was actually a pretty rough week. As a general statement, that is really all that will be said about that, it´s not cool to dwell on it.
However, there was a ray of light for the week ha. We had divisions, so I spent a day with one of our Zone Leaders. Elder Rogers, he is a way cool guy and a great Elder, I believe he is from Jordan Utah. Anyways, I went to his area of Pelotas and we had a service project to start the day off ( cleaning mold off of a member ceiling, pretty common here) But they fed us afterwards which is always a plus, plus it was kind of fun. Anyways, we got some good work done and taught some good lessons, and a recent convert was talking to us about going on a mission, I was so excited for him. I have to be honest though, the best part was just actually being able to talk with someone, about whatever. Usually around American missionaries I still just speak Portuguese, but we talked a lot in English together, and it was really good just to talk. I can get kind of lonely sometimes I guess in an apartment with 3 Brasilians and our conversations are pretty limited. Ha so with Elder Rogers when we were waiting on our dinner (pineapple cake) that night, we just started talking, about sports, music, what we liked to do, and he mentioned something about Back to the Future being the number one movie of all time. Ha, I let him know that my family is definitely a fan of Back to the Future as well. wow not sure why this font just changed to bold, whatevs. It was kind of a good ZEN day, I think i needed it.
The language is coming quite well though, ha I am such a nerd, I carry around a little notepad in my front pocket and when I notice a word being used a lot that I don't understand, I ´jot´ it down and ask Elder Gramos about it, or look it up when I get home. Also, been reading the Liahona and translating conference talks, way sweet. Somebody guessed that I had been here six to eight months last week, so that was a good confidence boost, and last night we were swapping jokes and I actually translated into portuguese. Still, at times it is super frustrating, ha especially when I know I am the topic of a conversation and I have no idea what is being said about me. But I keep plugging along and praying a lot.  So because I feel that this email is kind of all over the place this week, I am going to finish with a Spiritual analogy I had in my mind this morning. It was about faith, I was studying about how to study and why we study the Gospel. Really to study is an act of faith, that is going to build your faith. Sometimes we compare faith to a seed, but I think it is more like a muscle. We have to use it everyday, or else it is going to go weak. If we put it in a sling it will especially go weak ( if we are not supporting our own faith) And like a muscle grows by breaking it down and we build up stronger. When our faith grows most rapid is when we are being tried, and tested and pushed to the max, and sometimes it stinks, but when we endure it well and really push through. We will be stronger when it is all over and we are built back up. So I guess this is a mixture of a thought about study, faith, and our trials. Enjoy, I hope all is well.
Love, seu Filho, irmão, amigo. Elder David F Morgan

Late I know

 Sorry, I know this email is way late in the day. More so than usual. When I email really just depends on how we have scheduled our day. So if you want me to read your email, probably gotta to get it in by Sunday ha, or it can wait until next week. Speaking of which, I don't know if everyone knows this, but everyone is allowed to email me, not just family, however I can only send hand written letters back, so if you email me, give me your home address too and I will be sure to write back. ( I should note that this doesn´t relieve anybody from written letter duty :p)
 I hope you all enjoyed the picture I sent. Ha we snapped the photo of Elder Gramosa and me while we were running out the door to email, so sorry it kind of stinks. There is also one of him at his desk, he is fixing a shaver. When I found out he would be my companion another elder told me ´he is always creating things´I didn't really know what that meant. I do now. Most people when they don't have something, they buy it or do without. He just makes it. For example, our MP3 player broke. So using a plastic can and some spare parts, he made us a new one, with a sub. and everything. He made rope out of a tie, and the other day we were making pancakes, but we don't have a spatula, so he made one out of a tin can. Pretty much I feel very blessed to have him as my companion, I am really going to miss him once he goes home, what a stud.
  We had a good week, but I did manage to acquire another injury. I wish I had a better story, but truth is, I was opening a door while E. Lopes was closing (trying to rope the door closed) and the door handle broke and sliced my hand pretty good. I think it looked worse than it actually is, but it was pretty nasty, ha E. Amaral got sick when he saw it.
So we had a really good week, we had four of our investigators at church! and we have a really great teaching pool right now. Ha get this, Sunday morning those young men we are teaching, actually called us at like eight in the morning wondering if we were coming. Gosh they are awesome. We played soccer and some football with them today. That was an up, but as far as everything else, this week was pretty slow. We had to go on a lot of splits and it was really crazy. We also had a big bummer, we had two baptisms set for our district this weekend and both of them backed out. We are going to keep working with them, but we were still bummed.
  So as some of you may know, I talk in my sleep. I am just putting that out there. My first day in the CTM I told E. Goldsberry that I do, and was giving him fair warning, I told the Elders in my district the same thing when I arrived here in Pelotas. Ha so apparently I usually talk in English, but last night they told me I was speaking in Portuguese in my sleep, and that I didn't have an American accent. I was pretty pumped, its like getting extra practice while I sleep!
Ha speaking of the language, I was on splits with another Elder, an american and we were walking back to our house at night and he told me. Okay Elder, we have to speak only in Portuguse now, people think that Americans are rich and they might try to rob us. Ha I would only have a few bucks to give them if they did, plus I am pretty sure people can tell we are Americans even if we are speaking Portuguese or not. Our area is way safe I think, I have never felt in danger, ha Elder Gramosa told me later that he is a little afraid of our area. Don't worry mom, our area is totally fine.
So for something a little more serious. Elder Bednar said once that the purpose of the Gospel is to comfort the afflicted, and to afflict the comfortable. I definitely saw both sides of that this week. When I was way bummed about our baptism this week, I found comfort in the scriptures, and council for the work that I am doing. I also had the pleasure to comfort the afflicted this week with our message. We started teaching some people that are really receptive and I could tell the Gospel message spoke peace to them. Ha and I also had to afflict some comfortable people this week too. I taught a lesson last night with Elder Amaral to a woman and her son. She was so receptive and really is a sincere seeker of truth. He was rocked to his core. I don't mean to sound like we were being mean, we taught the same message we always do, and the Gospel is also to comfort those people who have been afflicted by it, if they will accept it. I could tell that The Lord was really with us as we taught, he really was interested and said he would pray about it, but he was also very up in arms and kind of wanted to argue with us. We just calmly explained our message like we always do, we invite people to come to Christ, but we can force anybody, and arguing never helped anything. Elder Amaral said he was the same way when the missionaries first taught him when he was fourteen, so I have hope for him.
  Well, I am glad to hear about how everything is going on back home. Sounds like there is a lot of change going on, but a lot of good things. I appreciate the shout out from the people from C/TMTO and to hear about how everyone is. Please keep it coming. Thanks for everybody's support, thoughts, and prayers. It is a great strength to me. I think that is all for now. I love you all. I read about charity this week, about loving people just for being them, because they are children of God. I have been trying to work on that, I am not there yet, but I am trying. We refer to charity as ´The Pure Love of Christ´ but what does that really mean? I can really only put it like this. I think it is when we are finally able to love others more than we love ourselves. Just something I thought about this last week.
Take care, much love. Seu Filho, Irmão, e amigo.
Elder David F. Morgan
p.s. I learned how to do a ´rainbow´ with a soccerball this week. I feel pretty cool.

Luckily our soccer sister Krista was able to give us an explanation of the "rainbow": It's when you flick the ball over your shoulder.  Basically you take the ball with your right leg lets say, and hook it up to your left heal.  Then you use your left heal to actually flick the ball up your backside and over your shoulder and then you catch it on the other side with your foot.  It's a pretty difficult trick, one that I definitely don't know how to do.

New Pictures

David didn't actually explain the pictures he sent so we are going with assumptions here.

Here is Elder Morgan with his district.

 Elder Morgan with Dallas Cluff (from Ashland). They were in the MTC at the same time for a couple of weeks.

Elder Morgan with his first companion in the mission field. (I'll have to look up his name).

Good Week

I'm so sorry that it took me so long to post this letter. I have been so busy I didn't realize until today that I had forgot. Look for this week's letter in the next day or two.

Oi!
Whenever I get to Monday and I actually email, I can only remember what we have done in the past maybe three days, everything else kind of runs together.

We had a good week, lots of solid hard work. We started working with some youth, I really can't think of the right word. Young men? I don't know what to call them, ages from about 12-15. Here it is Rapaz, I don't know if we have a solid word for it in English. Anyways, they are really receptive, very intelligent, and just fun to teach too. One was a referral from a member to teach, then his friend came by during the lesson, and so we invited him to listen too. Then after our second lesson they had another friend passing by that we taught. Pretty much it just keeps growing and it always helps to have friends in the Gospel. I am really excited, and we are hoping and praying to be able to start teaching their families too. It is also really good because all these kids play and hang out in the street all day, so when we pass by we can check up on them, see how they are doing and so we have a really solid relationship with them.

I am not a huge fan of just running, I prefer to have an activity that goes along with it, but the food here is just heavy. Beans, rice, fatty meats, and butter. I just had to start running in the morning. My suggestion to anyone that feeds the missionaries, first of all, please do it, we are SOOOOOO grateful for it. Way better than we make for ourselves, I am very grateful that we have lunch with someone almost everyday. As young men we are seen as human garbage disposals, I hear almost everyday. ´Come mais Elder´ a sua vontade´ ( eat more elder, at your will) Usually by this point, my will was two desserts and a plate ago. Ha, trust me, I can pack it down, but man, these Brasilian women just shovel food on my plate and I feel rude saying no or not eating all of it. So, if you feed the missionaries, and there is excess food, feel free to offer, we do want to be polite by not eating too much. But if you offer and there is excess, we will eat IF we are hungry. But man, I never have put so much food down in my life, ha all these Brasilian women are so sweet how they feel so concerned for us.
ON the running note, I can't do it anymore anyways. I managed to have half of my big toe nail on my left foot almost ripped off this week, it is hanging on barely. I wont go into details, but I did send a picture. It is pretty gnarly. We were helping a family in the ward move this last Saturday. After we helped them move they insisted on feeding us. In the mean time a game of soccer started, because the sister preparing didn't need help with anything and there really wasn't much space in the house with boxes and everything so just sit and visit so we were outside. My socks had been hanging out to dry the night before and we have another thunder storm and so they were soaked, and my one dry pair I wanted for when we went proselyting later, so I was in tennis shoes with no socks. Long story short, my feet were soaked, we were running around and there was pain. The shoe came off and there was my toenail hanging by a thread. Sweet huh? I really am just an injury magnet I think.
Anyways, we are always here about two steps forward and one step back, I think that is how the language is, But I keep rolling forward being patient. It is hard, but I can see progress. Still can be frustrating a lot. Ha but I said a prayer in English for a family because they wanted to hear. A few Portuguese words slipped in, it felt weird. I really just never use English except for emails so I had to flip the switch in my mind back.
Well, I love you all. I got to run. Take care.
seu filho, irmão, e amigo. Elder David F Morgan

Sweat, Stress, and Mini Miracles

Oi! this week was full of ups and downs, I feel that is kind of a trend in missionary work, and probably in life too. We did a lot more contacting this week than usual and we are probably going to step it up even more this week, nothing happens in missionary work until you find somebody to teach so that is really where it has to start. We started teaching a new family this week and I am really hopeful for them. I mentioned to dad in my last email that Sunday may be a day of rest for the rest of the world, but it is anything but that in the life of a missionary. This Sunday was no different, but there were quite a few neat experiences. The first of which just reminded me how awesome my companion is.
Saturday night we had a dinner appointment (Which doesn't happen much) and so we forgot to buy food for Sunday. I woke up Sunday and remember that we had nothing to eat, to my delight E Gramosa was already making homemade bread when I came downstairs (which consists of a kitcehn/dining room. when it was finished I saw that he had cut it in half, I figured half for us, half for the other companionship. It would be meager but we wouldn't have nothing until lunchtime. Ha, the bread wasn't even for us at all. Our investigators from Urugai we found out had been been sleeping on the street for the past five days and he wanted to make sure that they had something to eat when we went and got them for church, and also, we bring some recent converts every week with us, a seven year old, a twelve year old and a fifteen year old, they come from a pretty poor circumstances, so he wanted to have something for them after church. I felt pretty humbled, here I was thinking about getting some breakfast and he was making bread because others didn't have anything. What a guy.
anyways. to top it off, we had four of our investigators at church!
I really just wish I felt more involved in their progress, and was more aware of what they were feeling and how they are progressing. I know it is going to come, but the language barrier is a killer. sometimes i feel like i am doing really good and other times i just wanna cry because i have no idea what is happening. Ha we were at the house of a recent convert and one said. Elder Morgan why aren't you talking very much today ( ha not like I am a big chatter box right now anyways) but it is really just because if more than one person is talking, it goes right over my head, and then it is just hard to focus and try to get what i can from the conversation.
So i spoke too soon about the weather, it must have just been a weird week, because it has been high sixties or maybe even seventy with a cool breeze for pretty much the past two weeks, and we are in winter. love it. The breeze can be chilly, but nothing a sweater doesn't solve really quick. really only the morning waking up, and the evening i use a coat, but it has been pretty nice.
We are teaching a lady who her kids were baptized and she wants to be, but she and the father only live together (very common here) and in order to be baptized she has to be married to him, not just living together, but he isn't really interested in that at all, but we aren't just going to drop her or anything, so we still teach her and talk to her and she comes t church. But we are trying to get him involved too, so that at least he will marry her so she can be baptized, I would love to have him join the church too. We were watching a church film and the Spirit was really strong and we actually had him watching with us. suddenly the lights went out, not uncommon and not the first time that night, or that day. I really wanted him to continue to have the chance to feel the spirit, especially because in the film a man was just kneeling down to pray about the Book of Mormon, usually the lights are out for about twenty minutes or so, I just said a little prayer that I knew that Heavenly Father could give us power again, and to please help us we could keep going. The lights came right back on and we started the film again without much of a hiccup. We didn't have power for maybe thirty seconds, within a minute we were back in the film. Mini miracle. pretty much what I think most of our lives are made up of.
I don't know if he even felt anything, He actually asked a few questions, most of which were irrelevant and trying to get us defensive, but maybe it wasn't for him, maybe it was for me, or Elder Gramosa, or Maria, who knows, but miracles are everywhere when we are willing to notice them and recognize the hand of The Lord in everything.
Goodness, I cant believe that Grant is already leaving, today is his last day in Medford, well full day, ha and in US for a good two years. Please forward me his emails every week. I have been thinking about him that is for sure. I don't really feel homesick, but there are things here and there that always trigger a quick memory or feeling. I made french toast this week and it reminded me of Shaun, ha except with Shaun i was waking up at nine and he made it for me. Anyways, it is hard to believe that things that are going on back home. Somebody, or everybody, give grant and extra big hug for me. Grant, if you have time to get it, or somebody get it for you, but Head and Shoulders shampoo, something about Brasil is different and everyone wants that stuff when they get here, and bring your own shaving cream because it is dang expensive here. Ha and be prepared to have your digestive track redefined. Love you buddy, you are going to love the CTM and Brasil, I am so happy for you and I cant wait to hear from you. Much love.
Much love to everyone, seu filho, irmão, e amigo. Elder David Morgan

Elder Morgan Arrives at Mission Home

Elder Morgan officially arrives in the mission field. Here he is at what I'm assuming is the mission home with the Mission President and his wife.

Also, for whatever reason, Elder Morgan is not able to recieve mail at the address where he is currently living so all letters need to be sent to the mission home until further notice.

Segunda Semana

Oi!
Wow, another week already finished in Pelotas, time sure is weird, I wake up and after my body really wakes up and gets rolling, it seems I am already back at our apartment getting ready for the next day. One thing that is taking some adjustment for me is that the Almoço, or lunch is the most important meal of the day here. So we wake up, exercise, eat, and get ready. Then between personal, companionship, and language study it takes me right to lunch time. Then we have an hour for lunch. The thing is, here in Brazil, lunch and the hour after might as well be sacred. Everybody goes home and takes a nap and nothing opens again until 2. If I wasn´t a missionary I would probably be all over that, but as a missionary it is killer, because you just DO NOT bother people in their house after lunch, and so if there a few people on the street we can try to talk to, but other than that, the day doesn't really get rolling until about 2. But people are up later, and dinner isn´t such a big deal. We are allowed to take an hour for dinner too, but usually we just work until it is time to go home. We grab some food on the way home for `dinner´and our breakfast the next day. Plan for the next day and then go to bed. Lights are supposed to be out at 10;30, I am really good about that one ha. If I have it my way I am laying down before 10.
Also, speaking of breakfast. I have graduated. From Ham and cheese to tuna, or just butter. Ha we also buy this really good bread called Kuca, I am too lazy to describe it, but I like it. Ha, a few days ago there was ham and cheese that E. Gramosa bought. I just couldn't do it. I put some butter on some straight cold bread and that was breakfast, ha.
We really didn't get to teach that much this week, it was kind of rough. A lot of people were not at home, didn't keep commitments, and we didn't have a single investigator at church Sunday. We also tried to get some members to help us out with getting our investigators to church and everybody fell through there as well. But yesterday was Fast Sunday and I could really feel the Spirit at church, I felt renewed to go out and work harder this week. I really just feel at a loss as to how to help our investigators progress. But I am sure this will not be the only kind of bummer week. We did contact a mother and daughter who are less active in church this week though and met with them twice, I have a lot of hope for them, they seem to be really great.
Ha, also, I mentioned this to Krista last week in my email to her, but we are teaching a couple from Uruguai ( I don't remember how to spell that in English to be honest, Urugway?) Ha, so they are talking to us in Spanish and we are responding in Portuguese, and I understand a surprising amount. Gosh it still is just killing me that I cant understand when more than one person is talking. I had a whole conversation with a lady at church the other day, she almost fell over when she found out that I had only been here a week and a half. Then her husband came up and I had to follow more than one person speak and I was totally lost.
Anyways, about our Urugaian couple. We just teach them on the street because right now they live in a motel, they are street jugglers, ha he gave us a private demonstration. At night, he juggles flaming torches, under the legs, putting them on his head, whatever it is, he can do it. Blew my mind.
I am glad to hear about how everyone is doing. Keith is in Prague?! Sweet! Also, if I am not mistaken Tom left (or leaves) today for Mexico right? Crazy.
So just cause I thought of it and it is a fun little fact, here in Brazil, the plumbing isn't efficient enough to handle toilet paper, so you take care of business and just throw that in the waste basket. Fun huh? haha. I am glad this is my first area, living here is kind of an adventure. You would not believe how many animals just roam the streets. I see probably around a dozen people riding around town in horse drawn wagons on a daily basis, and there are a few sheep to that just chill around here. I think they belong to somebody.
I had heard that Pelotas is the second most humid city in the world? Can somebody check that for me?
So regarding the name. Nobody told me what they think F Morgan or Fredrick. Don't know why there cant just be two Morgans, but they asked me to choose, nobody is really making a big deal out of it though. But in case push comes to shove, let me know. I am kind of leaning toward F. Morgan. I think I want to have my families name represented. Not that it really matters anyways, everybody here either calls me OAmericano, or O Gringo, because, I am the only one around. I teach and English phrase here, an English phrase there and people just love me ha.
Well, everybody. I love you. I really mean that. Please take care. Much love
Seu Filho, Irmão, e Amigo.
Elder David F Morgan

Selection from Elder Morgan's letter to his mom:

I have been thinking about the same thing ironically this week. Even as a missionary it is much easier said than done to keep and eye single to the glory of God. Especially in a strange new and exciting place. It is definitely helpful to have much less wordly influences here though. I love when I catch myself thinking about our investigators, The Savior, and that when my mind wanders. It still wanders to The Gospel. I had that same thoughts though too about how often we think about ourselves, thank you for sharing that quote with me about just prepare yourself and then don't think about it again during the day.
I think this was a blend of reading about how the Nephites new the true purpose of the law of Moses, and reading about The Savior's miracles and a lot about the Atonement this week. I was thinking about how we just give The Lord what we can and He takes care of the rest. He didn't just make wine, He asked for water and He made it wine. He blessed loaves and fishes to endure, they didn't come out of nowhere. Whatever it is we have to offer The Lord, he asks of us, and if we give it and trust Him, He makes it more. He doesn´t fill and empty cup though. But that is kind of a thought I was having this week, felt like I should share that with you for some reason.