Cachoeira

Don´t have a lot of time to write today. 
Monday to Thursday is a complete blur, I am pretty sure I wrote down what happened in my journal, which I am just managing to get a hang on again. Ever since we had a two week division in Pelotas, I haven´t been able to catch up, and then the first few weeks here were super hectic. 
Thursday we went to the only district in our mission. Cachoeira (Waterfall) We held a training there with the missionaries in the zone about weekly planning.  ( SOOO inspired, a lot of missionaries hate it, but I love it!) I am so grateful to have learned to be more organized and to make goals and plans here as a missionary. I am stil not the neatest person in the whole world haha, but I am doing much better. I clean up a lot. 
Anyways. It was my first time going there. It was great. After the training I passed the day with Elder Amorim, one of the zone leaders in the area. He is a good guy, really committed and works hard, very optimistic as well. We taught a great family and talked to a lot of people in just a few hours of work. 
Yesterday we took a trip back to Porto Alegre, it was nice to travel with Presidente and Sister Castro, I think I am going to use that time to ask a lot of questions. He is really fun, but has a reverent happiness, he uses many moments to teach and I enjoy hearing his council. Sister Castro is just a joy, always smiling and she talks really fast because she speaks in Spanish half of the time, especially when she is with President Castro. 
Last night we walked A LOT and taught Helena about The Sabbath day, she is really progressing well, it astounds me! Elizabete is going to be baptized here in about an hour! WOOHOO! 
Today we went on a tour bus through Porto Alegre, I hope you enjoyed a few of the pictures. I will try to send more later. It was funny being in normal clothes. 
I gotta get off now. But just really quick. We are teaching a really great couple, but because of hard times they ended up on the street. Daniel and Pricilla. She is five months pregnant! We are doing everything we can to help them out, please keep them in your prayers. As well as my friend Elder Amaral. He has had some really rough times in the last little bit of his mission and this last week found out a family member (VERY close) had been shot and killed. Please keep them in your prayers. 

I have been learning a lot with the scriptures and had some really great learning with The Spirit about prayer. I will try to share what I learned next week. 

Love,
Elder David F Morgan

Zone Council, Divisions, Old Friends, Type 1

Óla! 

Hey there. 

So on monday we had a good day. We spent most of our day in a meeting, and then out of a meeting (which was an extension of the first) we taught a lady here in the office and then went back to our meeting. I don´t really remember what we did that night haha. 

We had Zone Council on Tuesday. It seems like we just had the other one, so weird how fast time goes by. We gave a training on my first day for the trainers and the new missionaries showing up, but this was my first time for the leadership group of the mission. I felt a little humbled because I felt like anything I said, anybody else in that group could have, plus we didn´t have too much time to prepare and go over what we were going to talk about, so it was hard for me to feel " in tune" or on the vibe with Elder Singelo. Plus i am not really used to giving training at all. We tried to pass some of what Elder Bednar had taught to us. It was interesting to have a moment when President was inspired to modify a little bit the practice (role playing) that we were doing and it made ALL of the difference. I love President Castro. 

I went on a division with Elder Amaral this last wednesday. It was great to be with one of my really good friends on the mission again. He was my companion for only six weeeks, but it seems like six days. But, he was assaulted on his first day that he left that area and it was pretty heavy, he hasn´t really been the same since. It was good to talk to him, and I could tell that as we talked that it helped him out a bit. I feel honored that he trusts me and opened up a lot, I also had a lot of things on my mind to talk to him about, he is really wise and a great guy, his opinion means a lot to me. 

I learned the importance of being an example, and being a hundred percent all of the time to help lift others. 

I went on exchanges with another companionship in a close by area. Eldorado do Sul. I stayed with Elder Barros in his area. He is really calm and a spiritual giant. It was great to be with him. We didn´t have to much sucess during the day. Just one lesson, but that was really good. Ha but during part of the lesson I was having a really hard time keeping my eyes open. The Lord works in misterios ways. I prayed for help to stay awake and asked what I should do, and an odd idea came into my mind,.. yup, I started descreetly yanking leg hair to get myself to wake up a bit. Weird, but effective. 

I can´t remember why I put "type 1" in the title. Oh, now I do. So we had a specialized training yesterday, or at least we were going to. I felt really bummed, we got to the office running, and we were getting things ready, and me and my type one brain (has anybody seen my keys?) forgot a few important items behind that made it pretty hard to get our training rolling. We ended up having to improvise a LOT (okay but it wasn´t completely my falt) and we are going to have to do the training again another day. I felt really dumb for having for forgotten. I am going to have to make a list to help me remember the things that we will need when we have meetings. 

I like the story of Joseph in the bible. Wherever he went, things just always worked out and The Lord was with him, he had lots of faith, never complained, and the Lord was with him. 

I think I need some positive energies, (always with the negative ways Moriardi!) gotta think of some hopeful and righteous things! 

I have been learning a lot about the study of the scriptures and its importance. I know fairly well the story of the scriptures, but the doctirnes, and principles, I haven´t even gotten to the surface to be able to scratch. I would write more, but I am going to try and take a quick power nap! 

Loves

Elder David F Morgan

Fiji?!?!?!

Óla! SAYWHAT?! 

Ha, I just see Shaun walking around in a grass skirt and a white shirt and tie. That is so dang exciting! I can´t believe it too, but seriously, without words, that will be so exciting and who speaks fijan? We had a missionary in our ward from Fiji right? Congrats to you Shaun, we will have about a month and a half together before you leave. Man, I am so excited, I am sure I will be telling everyone where you are going. Ha, my heart gave a great leap when I read your email. I am so grateful for the blessing that The Lord gives us to serve. I can promise that you will be richly blessed. 

Wow, I don´t really know what to say now haha. Man, but thinking about you leaving makes me sad thinking that my own mission is winding down, it passing by so fast. I always tell people that growing up in the church, I never doubted that someday I would be a missionary, I always wanted to be. I could have prepared better and clearly there are always things that when you finally have a good perspective you can´t go back (the importance of following the teachings and councils of Apostles and Prophets and the commandments, they protect us from regret) but, like I was saying. Growing up, everything in my life was focused on being a missionary someday, every Sunday school lesson, priesthood meetings, everything. Now that it would be coming to an end, I don´t know what to do...Ha, it is like the end of The Princess Bride, Inigo Montoya, spent so much time in the revenge business, that afterwards,he doesn't know what to do with his life. I love you all back home very much, but honestly the thought of going home, scares me to death and makes me really sad. Ha sorry. Wow, I just got really happy and very sad all at the same time. 

Well, another wonderful lady that we are teaching will enter into the waters of baptism today. It is so interesting her life's story. She was REALLY rich, traveled all over the world, lived in Europe, the United States, in the north east of Brasil, huge house, swimming pool, she left it all behind and started a new life here, has a little tiny apartment and is so at peace with her life and so willing to follow The Lord. Ha she is already inviting all of her friends to visit with us and to go to church with her, we are teaching her neighbor Helena that as a baptism marked for the end of this month. It is so great to see people excited about The Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

We had a little less success this week that we had hoped for, but we are working way hard. I still don´t like getting transferred because I have to get to know the area and I don´t contribute as much as I would like to, but I just don´t what streets are close to others, plus I have five weeks to learn the whole area and eveyrthing to do here in the office to be able to teach my next companion.

Our ward mission Leader here is way great. Marcio, he is really dedicated, and really works hard to keep the people who are baptized integrated with the members of the church and strengthen the people who are getting taught. I will be sure to take a picture with Elder Singelo here soon to send to you all. He is great, full of energy and gas still to work hard until the end of the mission. I am grateful for him and for the work that he does. 

The other day we went on exchanges with the missionaries of Medianeira, (where I served two areas ago with Elder Alencar) it was great to walk the area again and be with Elder Capistrano there, a missionary that I have known for awhile and that is a good friend of mine. We taught a wonderful couple that they had talked to on the street. It was a great lesson, they accepted the visit of the missionaries because there relationship is basically being held together by the fact that they have children together. I was so pleased to tell them with ALL the surety of my heart that The Restored Gospel when lived and applied blesses immensely the family and that they would be blessed. They were really receptive and I could tell that The Spirit was working in them. 

I didn´t get to see Alex and Adriana there, but I saw Josiane and also Jorge and Vitor that I taught and baptized there. 

It is REALLY hot here, I was melting this last week. Ha, Elder Singelo is trying to lose weight and I am trying to gain ( if you thought I was skinny before, I lost a bit here from always being on the run and I got a sick in Medianeira and I couldn't manage to eat much and I never managed to recuperate the weight that I lost there) so he is helping me eat a lot.

We are really trying to find new people to teach here, being down town a lot of the people we talk to are from all over the city, or the state, so we are struggling a bit to find people that we can actually teach, but for sure The Lord will lead us to them as we seek diligently. 

On the day of transfers a missionary gave me the address to a couple that are members that haven´t gone to church in a long time. It took us awhile to get there, but all yesterday we had planned to go there and we weren't getting around to it. An appointment fell through, and we remembered that we needed to go there still, but we were really far away, either way, we started in that direction. It was a little hard to find the apartment, but when we got there, Catia, this sister in the ward, started to cry and tell us how she and her husband had gotten into a fight that morning and that she had prayed so much that The Lord would help her, and then we got there. Like I have said before, there is nothing better than knowing that The Lord used you to answer someone's need, or someone's prayer. She is really humbled and desirous to go to church again and live The Gospel. 

Well, that is all I have time for. I love you all so very much! Please pray for us to be able to find people to teach. 

Com Amor

Elder David F Morgan

Good week, Elder Bednar, SO tired!

Oi!

Well, we have recently left our conference with Elder Bednar, it was amazing! But I won´t start there.

 

So, I got called and asked to come to the office on monday instead of tuesday to get training ready and to prepare for transfers. I managed to visit Catia in Simões Lopes and Wanda ( some of the first people that I met and baptized on my mission) I  sadly didn´t get to say good bye to anybody in my actually area in Princesa Isabel, but maybe when we are on exchanges with the Elders there we will be able to pay a visit. I was sad to not be able to say goodbye, there was a really speacial family that we are teaching that I really wanted to be able to see, so for sure when we are there I will go and visit them.

 

Tuesday was really actually kind of fun. First things first we went to the airport with President Castro and the family to go and pick up the new missionaries at the airport. They were all there waiting around not knowing what to do when me and Elder Singelo got there. First they called over to us and I could tell they were all really excited. I remember meeting President Swenson at the airport and feeling excited to finally know him personally. Our phone stopped working that morning so we had to switch our SIM card, but it didn´t have our contacts so we couldn´t call hardly anyone, it wasn´t a really easy day for our phone to stop working but it was alright.

We gave a quick training to the new missionaries and to get them excited I taught the Baptismal Haka ( I don´t know if I spelt that right, but it´s that polanisian dance :P but not really, just something my trainer had made up. ) We next went and gave a quick training to the new trainers. It was a really good group of missionaries. I had been a little disappointed in the past with a few trainers but I looked on our group there and I feel really good about all of them, I´m sure they will do really well.

 

The work here is really doing well. Elder Dawson and Elder Singelo have done a great work here already. Kenia, a young woman (25) they have been teaching for a few weeks was baptized yesterday! She is really special and understands really clearly what is being taught and is studying and seeking a lot. We also have been teaching Cevanir, that will be baptized next week. When we taught her she talked about how so many people need this message and that she had invited her neighbor to church, then went and invited her to hear our message. So we started teaching Helena. When we were teaching Helena (the neighbor) Cevanir ran into another friend and marked a day for us to go visit her. We don´t really spend to much time in the office thankfully and we have been getting out and going to work a lot, I really like Elder Singelo a lot. Honestly he had slept in our house a few times in Pelotas and I wasn´t too impressed haha, but I like him a lot as a companion.

 

I forgot to mention ( don´t know if anyone will remember him) but Elder Falcão finished his mission this last transfer. When I started my mission he was in Simões Lopes with me. I feel like the last leaf on the tree. He is a really good missionary and was a great leader. I will miss him a bunch.

 

Well, today was our really special conference with Elder Bednar. I don´t really want to attempt to pass along what he taught us cause it won´t come out right, especailly in writing. But we talked a lot about acting and not being acted upon, it was really spiritually motivating and we learned about having our own spiritual experiences instead of waiting for others to help us to have them. He gave a council that was interesting, but I found it insteresting that I had already received this council from The Spirit before, but he reminded me of it. When we go to a meeting we don´t need to take notes on what is being said, the true teacher is The Spirit, so we should pay attention and write down the impressions of The Spirit the come to us when the message is being conveyed. This came to me during last general conference. I was taking notes and I felt really dumb all of the sudden because I new that in a few weeks all of those talks would be sent our in the monthly Liahona, so why would I bother writing down every word he they said, there is already somebody else doing that. So I decided to see what The spirit would impress me to change about my own life as the speakers were talking. It is a much better tactic, I suggest that everyone try it. The true teacher will always be The Spirit, so we should write down what The Teacher teaches.

 

We were sent a few talks to read in preparation for the meeting, and it really helped, we talked about Learning by Faith. That was have to step just a little bit into the darkness and the path is then illuminated just a few steps in front of us to continue walking, most of us want the path illuminated all at once. When we ask for a confirmation of what is right as an answer to our prayers, we must be comitted to following the answer that The Lord will send to us. Again, I´m not really paraphrasing, just explainging what came to me during the meeting. My experience has been that usually, we receive a testemony from The Spirit  by living acording to the commandments and The Spirit confirms to our heart and mind that what we are doing is pleasing to The Lord and will bring us happiness. Faith is much more than just believing but it truly is an action. Man, I love The Gospel. I have started to do a study on The Spirit, how he teaces us and how i can be guided in all I do and be worthy of His company, it seems like The Lord really attended my prayers to learn more by sending one of His special witnesses to teach us today.

 

 

The Lord really does love us. Because of this love, He usually gives us the means, and not the end, so that we grow and learn during our experiences. I love The Savior and His gospel. I also love you all back home, but I honestly don´t think about you too much :P just every now and then. Thanks for the package. Wow, I will be 21 tomorrow, I just remembered that haha.

 

Elder David F Morgan

Transfers....say what?

Óla! 

Sorry I am writing so late today. We had transfers and I got transfered, but instead of having to travel tomorrow like usual, I had to travel today. Uh, I got transfered to Porto Alegre again in the 3rd Ward, I also got assigned to work here in the mission office as the Assistant to the President, so I had to get here "early" today to get some things ready for transfers and training that we will do. It was kind of a suprise cause I don´t really have a whole lot of time left, also I really wanted to stay in Pelotas with Elder Ewer, what a great missionary, I love him so much. 

 

I hadn´t notified you guys either, but this weekend we are going to have a visit in our mission from Elder Bednar! Only, the missionaries from Porto Alegre are going to be able to go, so maybe that is why I forgot to notify everyone, but it will be really neat! 

Also, my P-day is on Saturday now, so expect my letters on Saturday and write me before Saturday to get replies. 

My new companion is Elder Singelo, great guy. Kind of crazy ha, but a good worker and I am excited to work with him. 

Carlos and Edna asked us to not visit them any more. It was pretty sad, but everyone has agency and who knows but us meeting them was a way for The Lord to prepare them to receive The Gospel in the future. We also had some neat experiences finding people this week. 

 

When I was walking to church I was really trying to not get discouraged and to believe that The Lord would open of another opportunity for us. He did! At church came a young man that we had invited once and he went, and then we never managed to meet with him again, but he came to church a second time and he lives pretty far and he had to wake up early to go. Also, a young man in the ward has been bringing his sister to visit church for a few weeks and we managed to talk to her and set up a visit. She doesnt live in our area, but her mom does and she is ALWAYS there on the weekend, so she would only be able to go to church there and has and adress there. Potential. The Lord is really good to us. 

That is all I have time to write I think. 

Please continue with all the prayers, I am really grateful. I love you all

Elder David F Morgan

Lots of stuff going on

Óla,
Man, this was a really long week. We went to Porto Alegre, and passed P-Day traveling and in the mission office.
Did I mention that two short term missionaries are here with us? Yes I believe I did. Elder Sanchez is my companion. I really like him a bunch, but I also miss Elder Ewer already, even though I see him every day. I actually met Elder Sanchez on my first day here. I was walking with Elder de Almeida, and he was with a buddy, and came up behind us. He put on a face of being a stoner and asked. " Hey dude, what do I do to be mormon?" and when I responded about baptisms etc, he asked " Could I get baptized today?" haha, then he told me he was a member here. So it was funny when I found out he was the member being called to be my companion. He sings a lot ha.

Honestly, this week just wiped me out. We didn´t really have a p day, so we came home to a messy house, put two more elders in a small apartment, and we divided up our area and went to work. We had some really good moments teaching this week, and experiences where we felt very guided by The Spirit, but it seems like everything went wrong this week. But that happens sometimes, The Lord tests our faith a little bit, but you just dust yourself off and keep going.
We had a lot of people comitted to coming to church yesterday, in the end, the only one who came was the least likely, a 15 year old kid that we contacted on the street Saturday night and invited, his name is also Matteus. I´m not sure why Matteus and Rejane didn´t go, and we haven´t been able to talk to them yet, but we are going to go there tonight.

Yesterday we were walking past an apartment, and I saw that the window was open, I passed and then the feeling came to me that we should go back, I´ve learned that it is important to follow your "hunches" as a missionary, so we did, and we ended up having a great lesson with two local students here about The Plan of Salvation.

We are seeking to work with the members here to find new people to teach and I know that we are on the right track. The zone has gotten much better too, I feel good about that. I can tell that even if we haven´t seen the results we have hoped for in our area, the change in the zone and the missionaries has been quite mighty. I hope and pray that The Lord will bless us soon to have some fruits of our own and help the ward here. We found Carlos again, he is really great, understand well, and has a lot of desire, but it would appear that he has a drinking problem that gets him down, that is why he didn´t go to church yesterday.

Our area is getting an intensive overhall with two companionships here and I am sure that this next transfer we will have a lot of new people to teach. Loves. I am so excited to hear that Shaun will be serving in Brazil when I read his email this next week :P  Ha ha (note from the Mom, David is hoping Shaun will go to Brazil, we are still waiting for his call)

Loves!

Elder David F Morgan

Ola!

Óla! 

Man, we had a really good hard week. New Years Eve we taught a less active member Vitor, about The Restoration, it was way good, we used a lot of scriptures that Elder Ewer has found lately and shared with me. Man, can I tell everyone again how much I love my comp, he is awesome! 

Our apartment has a few problems with leaks, it rained buckets that night and it was dripping water all over until Thursday, we are going to have to talk with someone about that. 

We have been working really hard, talking to lots of people and planning how to work better with the members. We went on splits on Tuesday. It was way good, we taugt a lot ( I was with Elder M Nascimento from Simões Lopes) He does a great job talking to people on the street and really being excited to talk to them. At the end we talked about things to do better and what we did really right. We have been having a lot of holidays and conferences, but The Lord has blessed us that, even with all of our coming and going we have managed to teach a lot and contact. 

Luis Fernando hasn´t come back from the holidays yet, we are planning on how to invite him to be baptized this month when he gets back, he is more than ready. 

Matteus e Rejane are really well. We had a family night with our first counciler and his family that are way great. We had a really spiritual lesson with Rejane about The Book of Mormon the following day and then we taught them about The Plan of Salvation and Chastity on Saturday. They accept our invitation to marry and to continue going to church. The next day a member went to acompany them to church and they didn´t answer, we went there later and they also didn´t answer. I was a little bummed because we had worked really hard all week and nobody was going to come. During the Sacrament meeting I was praying really hard trying to understand and be taught what we could do differently, I won´t really go into details, but it was a very reverent moment with The Lord. When it all finished, we got a phone call, we went outside to see who it was (never know right?) it was Matteus and Rejane, they said they had accidently slept in and wanted to know if they could still come to church! What a blessing it was, we also ended up having 3 less active members we have been teaching come to church this week!

 

Carlos and Edna, man, broke my heart, Carlos is gung ho and full of The Spirit and is excited to hear us, but Edna poor thing, is already old and tired and doesn´t want to make any life changes, so they chose not to participate, but we are going to pass by every now and then and try to teach him and get The Spirit working in him again, please pray for them.

 

Eliane´s parents won´t let her go to church, they said it is too early in the morning and it is dangerous to be on the street at first. ( she lives on block away from the church, it starts at nine, and there is a family that they know really well that could pass by) Then the father talked to us alone. Ha poor guy, he is worried that if Eliane goes to church, someday she will want to be a missionary and go far away. Iago´s mom still won't let him be baptized and he is getting really discouraged and it is getting hard for us to teach him.

 

We got some weird news the other day. Turns out that two local members will be serving as short term full time missionaries and will be on splits with me and Elder Ewer for the next TWO WEEKS. Honestly it is not that exciting to me because I love Elder Ewer and I want to keep working with him, but we will see each other at night and in the morning. I hope we stay another transfer together too.

Well that is all folks. Loves!

 

Elder David F Morgan