De Volta Para Pelotas

Óla!

I think beyond being a missionary and zone leader I have another calling: clean the apartment after messy/dirty missionarys. When I walked into our apartment on tuesday night, I informed Elder de Almeida that we would not be leaving the next day, because I don´t even think Satan would want to be in our apartment, much less the Holy Ghost, and we are in great need of The Lord´s guidance. So the next day after lunch, we bought some cleaning equipment and went to work. We managed to clean the bathroom and most of the kitchen, but there was still a lot of a mess. I think I am paying for the hastle and mess the I used to leave at home hehehe :) So now our apartment is slightly messy, but at least clean.

I was worried about what would happen when we got to Pelotas, because we got on the bus in a hurry, the secretaries didn´t know up with our tickets and the bus was leaving, then we found out they hadn´t bought enough, so we were scrambling. We didn´t have a phone on the bus to call ahead to Pelotas to see if someone would be waiting for us there. Luckily they were and it all turned out alright.

For now we don´t have a real teaching group, we are basically opening up the area here, but at least E. Almeida knows the area a bit and the members, he has only six weeks here. We went around getting to know the members, leaving a missionary message with them, and asking for referals, we managed to get a few that look promissing. This is my first time working in a down town area, lots of buildings, stores, and apartments, so I am a little bit a a loss of how to conitnue with the work, but I feel that working with members, and former investigators will give us much sucess.

It was fun to see some people from Simões at the chapel, but on sunday we were in a rush as we left and so I didn´t get to say hi to everyone. I hope to be able to next week.

Wow, I almost just lost this whole email and I am already in a rush. I love that google saves the email along the way. Just saying.

For now that is all. It will be challenging, but I am sure with The Lord´s help we will be able to do great good here.

Elder de Almeida, (new companion, from São Paulo) is way great, I already like him a bunch. We didn´t really have that kind of awkward getting to know you phase, it seems like we have already been buddies for a while. He reminds me of Shaun a lot ha. Oh and it is his birthday today. :) 20 years old.

Please send us your thoughts and prayers, we are needing them.

I hope all is well back home. I try to remember to pray for you all :P but sometimes my mind is so fried at night that even a simple prayer is a real struggle, I am still sleeping like a rock at night. Lots of love to you all.

Elder David F Morgan

I Never Imagined....

Oi!

Well, I would have never imaged, but I got transfered. :( I am Really sad because I won´t be here for Alex and Adriana´s baptism, or Fran´s. I could have sworn I was going to be released as a zone leader and train a new missionary, or that I would be here for another transfer w/ Elder Alencar. Anyways, I am being transfered back to...... Pelotas! The city where I started my mission, I will be ten minutes away from Simões Lopes where I started. I would have never imaged. Except for this morning during exercising, It suddenly came to my mind that I was going there, and then the assistents called and told me where I would be going. So weird, exciting, and very sad to be leaving... again.

So! JORGE and VÍTOR were baptized and confirmed! Due to some happenings in Jorges past, it was necessary to have our first counselor from the mission, Pres. Yamasaki interview him for baptism, and it was very special. The baptisms looked like it might be a small turn out and a little rough, our ward mission leader had to go to the hopsital with his step son, it was raining like crazy, but lots of members came to support them, we asked people on the spot to help out in certain things and it was actually REALLY spiritual He is very happy, he knows that this is the best place for him to raise his sons.

It is basically a river on the street outside, so Alex couldn´t come to church, there is now way he could got off that giant hill in that kind of weather, next week I hope we can get a ride figured out for them.

We managed to contact a lot of referals this week. I never passed in an area where I had SO much success than here with E. Alencar, (another reason why I am sad to leave) We are working side by side with the members and they are really trying to help us, and we are obviously receiving The Lord´s blessings for that. I am very please. There were 7 people baptized in our zone this week, with more coming. It is so great to see so many people repenting, and so many missionaries working hard to help these people. We have a goal of 17 baptisms in our zone for this month, and I really believe that it will happen. There is a real attitude of faith and success in the mission.

Okay, I am going to be saying goodbye to everyone tonight, so I am going to go.

I know that The Lord hears and answers our prayers, and that we can be an instrument in His hands if we let Him, and there is nothing that brings more happiness.

Elder David F Morgan

Lots happened in the week

Óla!

Soooo much happened this week.

Tuesday we had zone leaders council. It was really spiritual and fun, we talked about the importance of our purpose as missionaries and speaking with everyone. I have been trying to get better at that, talking to people on the bus, at the bus stop, store, etc. It is fun to have meetings cause you leave with so much excitement and go talking to everyone.

On Wednesday we prepared a training that we were going to give to our zone that was in Elder Alencar´s words ´Jedi´´ Later that day, we had the experience of getting assalted on the street. It was actually really tranquil, not how I would imagine being assalted, we shook their hands and invited them to church afterwards haha. Then we left and they (there were two) started following us, so we picked up the speed and turned onto a road and waited out in a members house for a bit. They only took 9-11 Reais that I had, So it was fine.

We had our zone training meeting on Wednesday and we really felt like it went well, it was also about always fufilling our purpose and inviting everyone to come unto Christ, so our getting assalted and inviting them to church still was a kind of comical but good example ha. We went on splits with Elder Gull and Elder Soares, to do a baptismal interview in their area. It was on a holday, the independence of Brasil. 7 de Setembro. We taught so much and I got home dead that day.

We remarked Jorges baptism for this coming Saturday becaue he is REALLY progressing well and feel like he is ready.

Alex is already walking around with crutches and he said he is training so that he can go to church this sunday. I already love him and Adriana, we are going to teach them tonight and I am SOOO excited!

Sorry this has got to be short, we only have one computer and E Alencar still needs to write.

Also, we need to move from our house and have about two weeks to find a place in our area and arent having much luck, please pray for us to find a new place to live.

Lots of love.

Elder David F Morgan

 

 

Just Because I Have More Time Now:

 

Óla.

So we managed to get a little bit more time.

I think I already summed up most of the week but just another strange/ sad experience. We were walking home last night after visiting Alex and Adriana, they live way far away and it was pouring down rain. Coming up close to our house somebody called out to us that we didn´t recognize. As he came closer and presented himself I recognized it as Lucas, a guy we had contacted on the street the other day, marked a visit with him and when we went there he wasn´t home. He looked pretty beat up and his cheek was all swollen and had a black eye. He told us he had been on the street for four days, because his cousins roughed him up and expulsed him out of the house. I happend to have some bread and some crackers with me that a member, and Adriana had given us, so we gave it to him. He then went on his way, but we called him back and told him to come with us. We have rules about having people in our house, so we told him to wait at the gate and we would be right back. We got together some water, and a way warm blanket, and a change of clothes ready for him and brought it to him, asked him if he had somewhere dry to go and he said he did. It was so sad to see. Clearly I don´t know the whole story but it just reminded me why I´m doing what I´m doing, there is so much sadness in the world and bad things; only The Gospel, when lived to it´s fulness has the power to change that. I am sure of that. So a little bit at a time, we are trying to make a difference.

Just that.

Lots of love. Please remember to serve one another, and forgive others their trespasses.

Elder David F Morgan

Semena

Óla!
So we had a good, but also very slow week. Elder Alencar has been having problems with his lungs still and just now got some medicine, the medicine about knocked him over and he was falling over on the street, so we had to bunk at home for the day. We asked Sister Castro if there is a funeral plan for missionaries ha, because we´re not sure if he will make it the whole two years, he also busted his ankle pretty bad on Saturday and was told to go home and put it up. It seriously swelled up quite a bit and was purple. So we studied a lot, updated our area book better, and printed off a giant map of our area and put it together to try and stay somewhat productive.
Our zone really took off this week. Lots of baptisms being marked and miracles happening. We have a goal in the mission of 100 baptisms this month and everybody is really excited to work our hardest to make that happen. We have a goal of 17 in our zone.
We got to go the temple this Tuesday. It was so special to finally go again, after more than a year! Bishop da Cruz from Agronomia was there too and so that was special, it was really great to see them again! (him and his wife) I really tried to recieve inspiration and also just feel the calm that there is in the temple. The temple is the same model as the Medford Temple and so it almost felt like bein' home. It hit me that The Celestial Kingdom will probably feel the same way, just like going home.


Alex (who broke his leg last week) is finally home. We went to go visit him yesterday, we about fell over on the floor laughing, so he is in good spirits, he has sworn off the motorcycle forever though, said he was going to by a pony with three good legs and one gimpy one, and if it gets over 30 Kilometers per hour, he is gonna give it a smack on the ear. He has lots of time now to read and we are gonna leave him some church films and magazines etc. But there was a serious moment too when he expressed to us how much he thought about his life and that he as swapped bullets with people before, but never felt so afraid to die, and he took a good look inside. He REALLY is more intereseted in having his family forever now. The Lord works in mysterious ways.


We have been teaching a man and his sons named Jorge, and his kids are Vitor and Igor, they are progressing SOO well, has gone to church twice already, threw out his coffee, and hasn´t been smoking, and is praying everyday. He doesn´t read so well so his sister helps him to read the scriptures. He is simple and not very learned, but he wants to change his life and be happy, and so he is humble enough for The Lord to be able to do that in his life.


I had a really neat experience this week too. I bought the movie ´On the Lord´s Errand´ the film about the Prophet Thomas S. Monson's life, and in the end he says something like this "I know no sweeter experience than to feel a prompting and act on it, and then later find out it was the answer to someones prayer or need." I thought about that and the next morning I prayed to be the answer to someones prayer. At our District meeting that day, I saw one of our Elder´s who is training and will be ending his mission here soon, I felt like I should talk to him and just called him over and I asked him how he was etc. He has had a hard time staying focues and is wanting to finish his mission well, but it is being pretty hard. I listened to him and gave a few ideas and I just talked it out and offered to pray or fast with him, and we could give him a blessing. Later that night on the phone I experienced that sweet feeling that President Monson described, as Elder Geovoni told me that the things I had said was what he needed to hear and that he will be able to put it in practice, he had mentioned earlier that he had been praying a lot about that. It was indeed a sweet experience, and I hope to have more of them.


That is all I´ve got time for now. I hope that all is well. Remember that miracles really do happen. :)
All of my love
Elder David F Morgan