FINAL LETTER

.... .... .... beep beep beep... .... ... .... beep beep beep ... ... ... My eyes open.  I look at the phone ...  6:30 already and turn of the alarm, on my knees and start my morning prayer.  End my morning prayer., look up, and get a "good morning" from my companion.  I just nod and grumble and try to become more awake.  I´m not much of a morning person.  I do some excercises, iron my shirt, and take a shower...  The waters cold.  If I have time to eat, I eat.  8:00 I study, 9:00 I tell my companion what I studied, 10:00 we study the language together.  10:45 we say a prayer together and bear our testimonies and state our purpose as missionaries.  We leave the house and go to our first appointment of the day.

The suns hot, i´m already sweating within the first 2 minutes of walking on the street.  We get to our appointment.  He´s not home,  good thing we marked a plan B!!  Not home either!  Start doing contacts in the street.  12 o´clock already.  We arrive at the members house where we are greeted warmly.  Eat with the family and leave a message about missionary work.  I can´t help but notice the sun beaming into the house.  "How is it that the sun is this hot" I think to myself.  I´m already sweating and i´m inside the house... 

Back to the streets, we pass the day teaching and inviting others to come unto the savior.  I learn a thing or two about who I am and what I can become.  I think to myself how I can help and bless another.  I cry during teaching sometimes because the spirit is so strong.  I feel the spirit speaking through me confirming all of my words to be true.

The day is coming to a close, i´m in the street still....  8:55, me and my companion are talking about our investigators and what we can do to help them as we walk home.

9:00 our knees hit the floor, tired and thankful for one more day that has been given to us.  We plan, and I take a shower, my body and soul are asking for rest.  I get ready for bed and one more time my knees hit the floor.... I close my eyes put the sheets over me and think... 

I love my life.

July 28

My week was really good.  To start,  we taught a lot.  32 lessons to be exact.  Went up from our last week of 20 lessons.  I feel like the ball is finally starting to roll in the area.  I look forward to the sucess we are going to have here in a bit.  We are starting to plant the fruits.  The lord has truly put a couple of elects in our paths.  I would like to thank you for praying for me and the mission.  I could definately see the results of that this week.  

I had a great spiritual experience this last wednesday that´d I would like to share.  We started teaching this women named Jane and her husband Anderson this week.  Jane is a less active that is 18 and is living with her boyfriend and his mom.  Jane lost her mom 2 years ago and she has a younger brother named Jasinto (14).  Anyways, we marked a day to pass by and we started teaching Jane, Anderson, his mother, and Jasinto.  I was on a split with an Elder from my zone and we taught a pretty good lesson.  At the end of the lesson we asked if we could do anything to help them out.  Jane said she had something for us to do.  She was feeling a bit sick and said that her little brother, Jasinto, started crying the other day.  He told Jane that he didn´t want to lose her and didn´t think he would be able to be by himself.  Jane started to cry as she was telling us the story and she said that she wanted a blessing of  health so she would get better and show Jasinto that everything was going to be alright.  

Me and the Elder from my zone agreed and he did the first part.  I was able to seal the blessing and bless her.  As I put my hands on her head to seal the blessing the spirit entered the room and hit me like a truck.  I had to stop to keep myself from crying because I haven´t felt the spirit fall upon me like that in a long time.  I could feel the pure love god had for Jane and her family.  Tears started to fall down my eyes and I proceeded with the blessing.  I don´t really remember what I said but I know for a fact that my portuguese was flawless and everyone in that room felt the presence of the Spirit.  

Faith is like a seed as described in Alma 32.  When planted and cared for it grows into a tree, consequently you may be able to grab the fruit that the tree of faith bears.  As you bite into the fruit, you realize that is sweeter than all that is sweet and more desireable than all that is desireable.  I tasted the love that god has for his sons and daughters and it was sweeter and more desireable than anything i´ve ever tried.  

I know that as we take care of our faith, and cultivate it with pacience, we are able to partake of its fruit thereof.  I´m so thankful that my faith has brought forth fruit.  It takes awhile to see at partake of the fruit, but when it happens, it´s a real treasure and a delight to the human soul.  

Our love for God and fellow men expand as we comprehend true doctrine.  Our faith becomes true and becomes a fruit-bearing tree.

Have a good week,

Elder Diamond.

July 15

As for me.  Yes I am staying in the area.  And yes i´m going to be Elder Smiths last companion.  I´m going to be his last comp then i´ll get one more companion.  He goes home on the 19th in august.  

 We are doing a lot more contacts on the street next to people who are less active and fallen away from the church.  Our goal is to get about three roads booming with investigators and less active people to teach.  We brought a couple less actives to church this week and we are trying to bring in more.  It´s incredible.  All it takes usually to bring a less active back to church is a visit.  Just one or two visits and they will start going back to church.   All members of the church should take upon themselves this responsibility to bring back fallen away members to full activity.

We have two people that are making good progress in the gospel.  Two women.  Clairta and Nete.  They are neighbors and best friends.  We got a reference from a member and we started to visit them.  They are both looking to streghthen their faith in God and Christ.  They didn´t really know how to do it and that is where we came in.  I love teaching.  It´s so much fun.  We don´t give people fishes but we teach them to fish so that they won´t ever pass hunger again.  We are helping Clairta and Nete create habits that will bring them closer to god and his son.  The simple things have the most profound effect on ones soul.  Prayer, Scribture study, and Church attendance help the faith one SKY ROCKET!  They feel the impact of the simple things in their lives.  I can see it in their eyes when we teach them.  The gospel is perfect and it´s amazing to see how it makes someones life that much better.  I´m not sure why, but we haven´t really gotten around to baptism yet.  I hope that these two will be baptised and choose to follow the savior.  It´s the right thing to do.

I´ve been studying a lot this week about the attonement.  I felt like I was close to having a spiritual break through these last couple of weeks and I finally had it!  The attonement.  I´ve studied it a lot in my mission but it seems like every time I go back I learn something more and my faith in, and love for the savior grow so much.  I´m so grateful for the attonement.  It gives me force to keep going.  It gives me strength.  Studying the attonement is like going to a cabin and looking out one window.  You can go to the cabin and look out the north side of the window and see the beautiful mountains.  But you miss the flowing creak that is at the south window.  Or even the garden that is to the east side.  To appreciate and understand the attonement it must be applied in all aspects and parts of ones life.  

I know that Jesus Christ is the savior and light of the world.  His attonement is perfect.  He went below all things to bring all back to the presence of the father that accept through faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end.

Elder Diamond

july 8

The week was a bit strange, a bit difficult due to the fact that i´m STILL sick.  i´m getting better though so it will be fine.  I expect to be better here in another couple days.  Me and Elder Smith are trying to help the ward get more involved in the work, but it seems like nothing is really helping.  I´m hoping that the ward starts helping us with references and things like that.  It makes everything flow A LOT easier.  

We are still trying to find some new people through contacts but nothing really went our way this week.  We are going to work even harder so that we can be blessed by the lord.  We really want to baptize a family. 

Transfer calls came yesterday.... Elder Diamond.... Staying!    Wooohhhh i´m finally staying in an area for more than a month and a half.  I think i´m going to end my mission in this area (beira rio) which i´m quite content with.  I´ll be Elder Smiths last companion as well because he is staying too.  It´s going to be three months that we will be together by the times he goes home which is August 19th.  I´ll try to keep him the least amount of trunky as possible.  We gonna work hard this transfer

I love the mission.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is the formula for happiness and all should abide by it.  I know the savior is the light of the world and we should give our all to help him and his kingdom grow.  I´ve been reflecting a lot about how God works and the best I can come up with is through small and simple things.  It´s the small and simple things that we all do that show our character and who we really are.  The works of God are wrought through the weak and meek.

Elder Diamond

july

The week gave a lot of work.  I enjoyed it though.  To start,  Brasil has A TON of pride for their country.  Basically the whole city shuts down when Brasil is going to play and everyone on the street is wearing Brasil soccer shirts or Jerseys.  Then the game starts and everything shuts.  When Brasil scores a goal everyone in the city starts to scream and start to light of TONS of fireworks.  It´s quite a sight.  It´s funny, because you know if brasil made a goal.  You hear one person scream because their tv got the goal a little faster then the others then the whole street is just screaming YEAAEAAAAAEEEAAHHH!!!!

Teaching was a little bit of a pain because brasil was playing 2 of the 7 days of the week and one of the days Spain and Italy played in Fortaleza, so all the stores had to shut down because of the game.  No one really wants to talk because they are all watching the game >.>

We have a couple of investigators with potential to progress.  We did a lot of contacts this week because of lack of references we are getting from the members.  It was good though.  I´m a little bit sick because it rained really hard one day and we didn´t have an umbrella with us, so we had to run around in the rain.  Hope it goes aways soon.  Raimundo was confirmed.  He even came to church in a white shirt and tie!  Suprised me!  He is progressing super well!

Thanks for the support and love I recieve.  I know this is the work of God and we should all try to further his work

Love,
Elder Diamond

june 17

The week was a lot better then the last week.  I had a good time this week.  I´m really starting to enjoy Beira Rio.  The only annoying part is that we have NO investigators that are at home in the afternoon.  And the sun is BLAZING in the afternoon.  So we are trying to do other things that usually involve walking and not teaching in the afternoon.  When the sun goes down is when we start having more things to do.  I´m liking my comp Elder Smith.  We get along pretty well and i´m pretty sure i´m gonna end up being his last comp.  He goes home 6 weeks before I do.  So i´ll probably just have one more companion after him.  We talk a lot at night and sometimes don´t get to bed until like 11 because we are just talking about random stuff haha.  We need to get better about that.  

Can´t believe fathers day already came and went.  Didn´t even remember it, because the brasilians celebrate it another day.  We are just so focused on the work that we kinda forget about some stuff sometimes xD.  HAPPY FATHERS DAY TO ALL THE FATHERS DAY ONE DAY LATER FROM ELDER DIAMOND!  Sunday was good though.  We had some investigators and church and we should have a baptism this next sunday!  Raimundo (32)  he is going to be baptised and we are reactivating his wife and some other family members.  It´s pretty great :)  Pray for him please so that everything will go right and he gets baptised! 

We had interviews with president this week.  Always love the good old chit chat with my President.  He is just the man.  I always walk out of the interviews feeling better and wanting to work harder.  The man is like a spiritual giant.  He gave us a paper that shows us how and why we should plan out our LIVES.  Not like the next month but like a life plan.  President Souza has a life plan.  Like weekly plans, monthly plans, yearly plans, decade plans, etc.  It´s super cool.  This man is super organized.  I´m so gonna take some of his teaching home with me.  I really need to plan my life.  Like they say if you fail to plan you plan to fail!  

I´m enjoying the mission and kinda just letting these last couple months come as they are.  I´m trying not to get to freaked out about going home.  I get a little scared when I think about going home.  So I usually just put those thoughts out of my head a get back to reality.  I´m excited to go home sure, but the mission has kinda become my life.  It´s a weird thought to think that it´s almost over.  You kinda just fall into the routine of thinking the mission won´t ever end.  But it will.  I throw those thoughts out of my head haha.  I think i´m in the first step...  Denial haha.  Oh well.  I love you!  The savior lives and I know that a mighty change begins with small and simple things.  We should share the love of christ with others through small and mighty works.  

Got to teach about the attonement a bit this week.  I love the attonement.  It´s amazing.  It´s appliable in everything we do.  I learn something new about it everyday.  

Night never had the last word.  The dawn is always invincible. -Hugh B Brown-

Elder Diamond

June

The fortaleza temple is still on hold.  The property that the church bought is giving A TON of problems and the church is trying to resolve it.  It hasn´t even started construction yet.  I think it´ll be AT least another four years until it starts working.  Glad to see that Cade is having a good time.  I hope he is happy.  I can´t believe he is on a mission.  Time is just flying by mother.  I´m loving it!  

 

The week was a difficult in the feeling of teaching people.  EVERYTHING like fell through.  Raphael was busy studying for finals so we didn´t talk with him this week.  And just nothing was working.  Two days were basically taken out of the week because one of the days we were stuck in Aldeota at a dermatologist appointment.  The other day was Zone counsel.  I not a huge fan of zone counsel because I have to wake up at 5:30 to get to the Church in Aldeota so we can recieve training from the assistants to pass to our zone.  Good thing the food is pretty good at the end.  We got back into our area and had a meeting with the Stake President of our Stake.  He is American so that is pretty cool.  I remembered him and asked him if he remembered me from last year, but he said he didn´t haha.  

Saturday was a solid day though.  We taught some new families and one of them went to church!  We are gonna start working with these families to help them get baptised.  It´s kinda funny how my mission kinda evolved.  I started my mission not really knowing what I was doing and just teaching whatever thing that moved.  But the focus of the mission and I started to mature as a missionary.   Now we basically just go after families.  I love teaching families.  Families are like the focus of the gospel.  It is what Heavenly Father wants. So we should look for families :)  

And also don´t be afraid to preach the gospel.  The gospel needs to be preached to every person on this earth.  Every one needs the blessings of the restored gospel.  How will the people who can´t see find the fountain of life?  Answer.  Someone who knows where it is and ISN´T blind will take them by the hand and show them where it is and they can choose to drink from it or not.  I love you all and I am so grateful for this oportunity that I have to represent the Savior and help Heavenly Fathers sons and daughters return to his presence in the middle of a fallen world.

Elder Diamond

Summer..

As for the week.

The week was good.  IM 21 NOW!!  That´s super cool.  People tell me I look like I turned 15 though.  Not sure what I should think about that.  I don´t think i´ve changed to much physically in the last year and seven months.  Unfortuantely.  We went to burger king today that is close to the mission office in celebration for my 21 birthday.  Got a double whopper and a bk shake to go with that.  Went down realll gooodd.....  Sister Souza called me and told me to make myself a cake.  I told her to make me Guacamole.  We will see what happens.  

Yeah, I pretty much love my new companion, Elder Smith.  We are always laughing in the street and we just talk to eachother in English.  I love the English language.  It´s kinda weird because talking English is kinda bettering my Portuguese accent.  So it´s good right?  I like getting to know a new area because everything is new.  I´ve actually been to Beira Rio a couple of times before (like last year)  because I would do divisions with the Elders that used to be in this area.  Some people recognized me which was pretty weird to say the least.

I did a division with the Elder in Cidade Oeste (my first area) on wednsday and got to go over there.  That made me super happy because I got to see everyone that I used to know.  People were tripping out!  I would be walking in the streets and people would be like saying "it´s diamond!!" .  I got to visit some of my converts.  I was talking to a couple and they are still strong in the church!  I was super happy.  I was talking with some people when I saw in the distance Isac (first person I baptised) coming home from school  he came up to me and we gave eachother a hug and started talking.  He is totally the man to say the least.  He wakes up at 5 o´clock every day to go to seminary.  Almost started crying with joy when I heard that!!  He grew a ton.  His voice is a lot deeper now ha.

Unfortunately not ALL of the people that I baptised are still active in the church.  The couple that me and Elder Reis baptised has fallen away, which kinda made me sad.  I was talking to them and they said that they haven´t even been visited by ANYONE except us while we were their (super sad)...  But the good thing was that the husband hasn´t picked up alchohol since his baptism.  And that made me pretty happy.

I´ll keep visiting some more times Cidade Oeste during the transfer and i´ll see how everyone is doing.  I totally loved going over there and visiting these people.  I missed a lot of people.  Forgot about how many friendships I had made in that area.  

The rest of the week was good.  Me and Elder Smith just working hard tearing them streets up.  We got a good reference from the bishop.  His name is Raphael(21)  .  He was a Jehovas Witness he has visited the church in another ward a couple of times and wanted us to teach him.  We taught his family and his dad wouldn´t accept the fact that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and his son, Jesus Christ.  I bore testimony that I KNOW that Joseph did see what he saw and he was called to be a prophet.  At that moment I realized that my testimony grew a ton since the first day I stepped into the mission field.  The conviction was different when I bear testimony now.  Almost as if it is stronger.  His dad has a hard heart and didn´t want to believe.  But at the end of the lesson Raphael was taking us to the door and we were talking for a sec on his doorstep.  He told us how he was confused about what he should do or what religion to follow and he prayed and asked for guidance.  As he closed the prayer the door knocked.... It was us.  It´s good to know how the Lord helps prepare people for the gospel of Jesus Christ.  

I´m so thankful to be apart of the masters work in helping bring souls unto him.  I know very well now that the worth of the soul is great in the sight of god.  That we are all children of the living god and we all have divine potential.  I wish more people would realize what that truly means.

I love you!!

Elder Diamond

link...

This week was pretty good.  Last week in Juazeiro :/  yeah got transfer calls friday and i´m being transfered.... AGAIN.  Anyway had to pack up all my stuff and say goodbye to every one which was kinda sad.  I only got to stay in Juazeiro for five weeks.  I´m still very very thankful for the oportunity that I had to get to know the wonderful people.  Transfers happened.  I´m staying in the mission FORTALEZA!!! WOOOOOO!!!    I´m now in the Zone called Litoral!!!!  The zone that I started my mission in!  I´m with an Elder named Elder Smith!  He´s from Pennsylvania, and he´s been out on the mission for 1 year and 8 months!  His skills are the following:  Words per minute typing.. 50.  Certified in CPR.  and...  he ran out of skills to say hahahah.  I´m pretty excited for the transfer.  The area is called "Beira Rio".  It´s apparently super dangerous.  I like that kinda stuff.  Maybe i´ll see some guns while i´m here haha.  Oh well!!  That´s about all I got to say this week.  I´m sure Heavenly Father has good things in store for all of us.

http://www.lds.org/media-library/video/mormon-messages/mormon-messages-2013?lang=eng#2013-01-002-earthly-father-heavenly-father

Watch it.

Love you,

Elder Diamond

photo

mid may

My week was really really good.  I´m pretty anxious for next transfers which will happen next week.  I´ll explain why.  Sooooo.  We had Zone conference this week and President, and the assistants came down from Fortaleza.  It was an awesome conference.  It is always nice seeing President.  The conference started off with some announcements.  Sooo basically the Brasil Fortaleza mission is going to divide on July 1st.  It´s basically going to be divided in half.  BUTTT unfortunately the Juazeiro Zone is going to go to the mission Brasil NATAL(christmas).  So...  Elder Oxborrow is definately going to be transfered to go back up to fortaleza next week.  President said that in the conference.  He also said that next monday if you stay in Juazeiro you are going to stay and be part of the mission brasil natal.  So I feel like i´m gonna stay here and become a part of Natal.  I´m pretty excited about it I guess.  I´m said that i´ll be losing President and Sister Souza but at the same time, excited to see the church grow.  If I stay in Juazeiro i´ll get a new mission president.  but it´s alright i´ll only be with him for like 3 months!

Anywayyy  the rest of the conference was great.  The assistants gave training about how to teach the Lords day a lot better.  I´m really thankful for the blessing we have to keep the day of the lord.  I love being able to go to church and rest after (even though you don´t really get to do that on the mission).

We had a good testimony meeting before lunch where all the missionaries in the zone could bear testimony.  It was AWESOME!  Their is something different when missionaries have a testimony meeting.  The spirit is really REALLY present.  Everyone was crying pretty quick ha.  I love my zone and am so glad to be part of it.  

President Souza ended the conference with his testimony.  He explained that sometimes he gets calls from missionaries that he has to talk to the person who wants to be baptised, but have a problem with question"4"....  Which is basically the question that asks if you have commeted a crime, had an abortion, or been involved in a homosexual realationship... We, as missionaries, can´t pass someone with a problem from question four.  Only President and his counselers.  Sometimes he gets a call that he can´t go and talk to the person face to face because of the distance.  He has to talk to them on the phone.  As he does he asks the person if they believe in God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy ghost.  To which they say yes.  He asks some more questions to get to know them better.  

He told us a story of how one day he was interviewing a woman over the phone.  He was driving, stopped the car, and got out on the side of the road to talk to the women.  Sister Souza stayed in the car.  Because Fortaleza is so hot he walked to a tree.  While talking, he usually paces back and forth.  During the interview he asked the woman if she believed that through the power of the attonement she could recieve forgiveness.  At that moment he looked down (at this point in the story he got a little bit emotional) and saw a nail....  He showed us this nail at the conference on the pulpit.  The spirit entered into my heart with a lot of force in that moment.  The nail looked exactly like the nail that Christ was putten on the cross with.  He ended his testimony testifying of power of the attonement. 

I hope you understood that story.  If not I can tell you when I get home.  It truly was special and i´m thankful to have heard it.  I know with even more certanty than before that Christ lives and he does watch over us.  I believe he teaches us all through the small and little things.

Elder Diamond

spring photo

may

Tuesday was fine, we ate lunch at this really nice house.  The Brother has a coconut tree!  I got some pictures of it that hopefully i´ll be able to attatch.  Then went out and worked.  We got two families that we are teaching that have a lot of potention.  Anesia, Fransisco, Tiffany, and João.  Elder Oxborrow and his last comp were already teaching them when I got here.  They went to church this sunday but only stayed for sacrament meeting!   The other family is Moacir, Rosa, Monalisa, and Ramon.  Moacir ( the dad ) ate something and got a super rare vermon in his stomach.  It´s so potent that Moacir can´t walk and his talking slowed down a ton.  It´s so painful that he is taking like 15 bits of medicine a day!  It´s kinda crazy how god prepares people to recieve the restored gospel.  We started teaching him and he was super receptive.  He is on the look for the true church and is investigating a lot of churchs.  This is good but unfortunately it messes a little bit with out teaching.  He pulls things from each church and makes conclusions that aren´t really reasonable to say the least.  Super nice guy though.  He and his family went to church sunday and really enjoyed it.

Wednesday was a good day, kept teaching (or tried and failed haha)  no one was home!  and we had to go home at 6 to pack our stuff to go to fortaleza for the day.  The bus left at 10:15 and we got in fortaleza at 7:30.  I was super tired.  Sleeping in a bus is TERRIBLE, a tiny bit better than sleeping in a plane but still. 

Friday, and saturday more work!  Sunday came and I it was fast and testimony meeting.  I usually dislike the first sunday of the month.  But this fast and testimony meeting was a lot different than the others.  I really felt the spirit during sacrament meeting and could feel a lot of authenticity of the members´ testimony.  I was truly enlighted hearing the words and conviction of others.  I´m loving JUAZEIRO!!  The people here are SO receptive.  Which is kind of a suprise because it´s like 90% Catholic,  I seriously am super happy I got the opportunity to come down here. 

Hope everyone is doing well in all aspects of life.  . . .Spirtually Physically and Mentally.  Stay healthy :) 

Love,

Elder Diamond

april 29

Ok,

So this week was super fun.  To start and clear things up.  YES I was transfered.  I only stayed 6 weeks in Tancredo Neves, kinda sad buttttt, I´m in the zone called Juazeiro.  This zone is the farthest zone away from the mission. 10 hours to be exact.  Me and another Elder were transfered down there.  The secretaries already have the passes bought and we took a bus down there on monday at 9 at night.  The bus ride kinda was lame because I couldn´t sleep to well.  My legs are so long that I had to fold them in an ackward position.  My companion is named Elder Oxborrow.  He´s been on the mission the same time as my last companion Elder Dean, which is 1 year and 9 months.  I´m only going to stay with him for a transfer though because you can´t finish your mission in Juazeiro.  So i´ll be getting a new comp here in another four weeks.  I´m pretty sure i´m gonna stay down here for a couple of months.  

We got in Juazeiro at 6:30 in the morning and Elder Ox and another Elder were their waiting for us.  We put our bags in the taxi and went to the house.  The house is pretty nice it just has A TON of mosquitos which is super annoying.  my body is already like covered in bites haha.  The water is so. so. cold.  I fight with my self every morning before covering myself with the water, and I often let out a loud shriek when my skin hits the water haha.  The weather here is quite nice in Juazeiro.  It´s a lot less humid and more dry, which is good for my face.

The people here in Juazeiro are AWESOME like the coolest people on the face of the earth.  Everyone is REALLY nice and really friendly.  The only kicker is that every one here is super catholic.  The guy who like founded Juazeiro is named Padre Cicero.  Apparently he like cured this girl of a blood disease and the people considered him a saint.  They tried to make him a saint but the catholic church rejected him HAHA.  But basically a picture of him is in every house and they have strong traditions of being a catholic.  I hear this phrase a lot "i´m going to die Catholic".  But we have some good people we are teaching.

The focus here in Juazeiro is a bit different to.  You don´t really teach women that much.  Juazeiro is still a district that is trying to become a stake.  So... What´s missing for it to be a stake?  Men and families.  SO basically we just teach families and men.  We don´t teach women really unless it´s a reference.  Why you might ask.... Well it´s got some history.  

I´m really lovin the mission, happy, weathers good, some quality investigators, can´t really ask for anything more ;)  Just gotta work really hard.  

Love you mom!

your son,

Elder Diamond

april 15

As for the week!

The week was pretty good.  We didn´t teach as much as we usually do but it´s alright.  We are teaching a lot of couples still!  I know that a couple is super close to being baptised.  The lord is preparing a family.  I can feel it!  

My companion Elder Dean is awesome,  I´m so thankful I have a good companion like him!  He is super solid and a great worker!  He has a year and 9 and he is still going!  He isn´t giving in to stopping or burning out ha.  We are both pushing eachother a long.  I talk with tons of explanation points because I´m super excited and super happy!  This is like becoming the best part of my mission.  I´m super close to pushing my self to the max to end my mission on fire bringing souls to the master and preaching his gospel!  I, and all of us need to give more to Christ!  We need to show him that we are his true disciples and bring others into the fold through our example!  

I learned something great this week.  That through calling others and service is how the works of God are made manifest.  We need to have the right vision as to what why we are here.  We are here to make it back and live with Heavenly Father again and our families forever!  What matters more than that?  I think nothing!  We need to forsake sin and come unto the Holy one of Israel and partake of his love.  If we come unto him he will cure us.  I know that is true because he is curing me and I feel it every day that passes.

I know that Jesus Christ is my savior and yours and he lives.  The mission is the best thing that has ever happened to me and my family.

Love,

Elder Diamond

As for the week,

This week was pretty fun.  We finished out this last p-day playing volleyball (which I LOVE), then after that got some lessons in.  We´ve been teaching a lot these last couple of weeks.  We are beating out the pattern of excelency in the feeling of lessons, so I´m pretty happy with that.  Totally loving this area.  The members are super super nice and receptive.  I almost wanna ask president to stay in this area until I end my mission haha. 

We are teaching like 6 couples and families which is super great.  Our teaching pool is pretty great right now.  We still could find more though.  Their is this one couple which names are Crisvania and Alixandre.  They are super receptive and have identified that we are servants sent by God.  We taught the lesson about baptism this week and invited them to prepare, Crisvania said that she wants to be baptised but they have to get married first (this like never happens that someone UNDERSTANDS that they need to be legally maried).  So that was just fantastic to hear.  It truley amazes me how Heavenly Father puts the elects in his missionaries path.  Some other couples are pretty elect too.

We aren´t having to much success in the feeling of immediate 2 week baptisms, but we are having sucess in the feeling of finding families to teach and invite to follow Christ.  I´m extremely happy with the work at the moment, seeing as i´m working my face off.  Striving to be more obedient each day.  I loved conference this week.  The spirit was extremely strong in each session.  I loved a lot of the 70´s talks this conference, which is something a little bit suprising.  The twelve Apostles were ten as well.  The Prophets talk about obedience was wonderful.  I´m so happy that heavenly father calls inspired men to guide us in these latter days.  I hope you all got something out of conference this week, I sure did.

I know this church is true and I know that Jesus Christ is the savior of the world.  I´m so grateful for his Atoning sacrifice which helps us come back to the path when we wander.  Gods plan is perfect, as is his son.  

Elder Diamond

New posting

The week was up and down.  Me and Elder Dean worked A TON this week.  We were really trying to hit our goals this week.  We ended up hitting the pattern of excelency in the feeling of lessons taught, which is rare, like hardly any missionaries are hitting it.  And we almost hit the pattern with new investigators as well.  The kicker was that we were teaching a ton this week and sunday comes along and NO ONE goes to church.  Everythign feel through!  Hate those days haha but oh well the lord is preparing these people.  We had 3 couples that were going to go to church.  The first couldn´t go because his car broke down and he HAD to fix it that morning ( Great excuse haha ) .  The second couple said they couldn´t go because their kid was sick, so that is understandable.  Our third couple, which was super good and has a TON of potential, didn´t go because the member that we asked to pass and grab them for church didn´t pass >.>......  ugh,  Elder Dean had to give a talk in sacrament meeting so we couldn´t just leave the meeting and go and loook for them.  We went after but they had already left.  Darn!

I enjoyed this easter though,  I loved sitting in church thinking about the ressurection and the sacrifice of the savior.  I feel so happy and good when I am at church.  The sacrament is such a wonderful ordanence.  I get to actually think and reflect about my saviors sacrifice for me in utter silence.  In brasil, easter is called Páscoa.  It is almost the same thing with the feeling of eggs.  But their is no egg hunt or anything like that .  The stores sell really big chocolate eggs that are like 20 bucks to buy and they are full of chocolate and goodies.  It´s kinda cool.  As me and Elder Dean were teaching this week I kinda got sad.  We would invite people to go to church and remember the Savior for Easter and they would decline and say "no i´m going to the beach" or "i´m traveling" things like that.  I hope we remembered the true meaning of easter that it´s not just a holiday to go egg hunting and take pictures to show off, you can do that any day of the week.  Easter is about the ressurection of the Christ.  Not sure about you, but my easter was wonderful and I recieved no eggs. 

I´m excited for this next week.  We have some good investigators coming out of the woodworks.  I feel my gods love for me more and more each passing day.  I can safely say that i´m happy and I know what i´m doing is right.  Even if people aren´t flocking to be baptised at the moment, i´m still going to give my best.  I love and am so thankful for my savior.  I´m not worthy to represent his name, I don´t have the words his truth deserves... but he trusts in me so I will go and do what I am comanded to do.  Onward onward youth of Zion!!!  

Love you!

Elder Diamond

March 25

HAPPY EASTER!!!  

I´m like 90% sure easter is this next sunday so happpyyyy Eastterrr haha.   My week was pretty good.  Me and Elder Dean are workin hard!  I´m loving this new area!  Tancredo Neves is super legit.  It´s a small area, so I don´t have to walk around a ton, the members help, AND give references.  I love references.  The members like love the missionaries.  They do EVERYthing that they can to prevent lunch from falling through.   The sisters give lunch here in brasil to the missionaries.  So we always are at the members house eating lunch.  It´s super nice!  

As for the work.  It was pretty good.  ME and Elder Dean are trying to find a really prepared family.  Some good investigaters are coming out of the woodworks, but nothing super super promising yet.  We are still going to keep looking.  We teach well together and we bring in the spirit pretty quick to testify to the investigators.  

We had a meeting with the stake president this week.  He is super happy with the stake and wants to divide a couple of areas.  He called us to pass this information to the missionaries in our Zone.  He wants to divide two areas in me and Elder Deans Zone.  So we got some work to do and a lot of divisions haha.  He wants to have 30 baptisms in a part of the area that is difficult to have baptisms and is SUPER far away from the church.  But hey 1 Nephi 3:7 haha.  It was really cool seeing how revelation works with the stake president.  The spirit like leaks out of Stake Presidents, it´s great,  We walked out of the meeting SUPER excited to get to work and pass this info to the Zone this week in district meeting!! WOO!!  haha

I hope we all remember our savior this easter and all he does for us.  I´m so thankful for all he has done.  I know the attonement is real and it can cure us and clean us.  I know Heavenly Father loves us so much,  he sent his son to die for us.  When we realize what that sacrifice means, we will finally be able to change our lives for the better.

Happy Easter,

Love Elder Diamond

March 4

Oh by the way some new news.... MY MISSIONS DIVIDING!!  The mission Brasil Fortaleza LESTE is going to be opening up on the first of JULY.  That means that the mission will be spliting basically in half.  I´m very interested to see what´s going to happen and i´m SO HAPPY that I get to take part of this truly remarkable experience.  Who knows I might get a new mission president??  Sure hope not I love President Souza haha!  

The week was good, as usual.  The start was a little bit difficult in the feeling that we weren´t teaching to much.  But it got better as the week went on and sunday we taught like crazy.  We also had a baptism friday which was GREAT!  Sister Ismênia was baptised!  She is 61 years old and i´m telling you she is super elect.  We started teaching her through a reference, she was actually baptised in the church in the year of 88 but never recieved the holy ghost and so it wasn´t valid.  She didn´t have any dificulties accepting the invitation to be baptised again.  Friday came and she entered the waters of batism.  It was so great.  Sunday she was confirmed, I was blessing the sacrement so I had a view of the audience and I caught a glimpse of what was happening to her after her confirmation.  She was weeping tears of joy.  I´m SO SO thankful that Heavenly Father let´s me be apart of these peoples lives.  I meet so many special people each day and I know that God prepares each child of his for the restored gospel.  

My testimoney has grown a lot this week.  1 year and 4 months kinda hit me big this week.  I only have a little bit longer to keep representing the savior and his church.  I´m going to keep going and finish right.  My goal is to "return with honor"!!   I know without doubt that Christ lives and that this is his Church.  I love love being a missionary and helping people.  Super excited for this week.  I´ll keep you posted on what´s happing in the CE (the state of Ceará) :)

Have a wonderful weekend,

I love you

Elder Diamond

Feb 25

So as for my week,,

This week was pretty productive.  Started off pretty good.  I enjoyed my last p-day.  Was able to rest a lot.  Prepared me for the week because the week was nuts.  Tuesday was a dificult day, EVERYTHING fell through so we walked around and made contacts and tried to teach.  The week got better,  Thursday we had Zone Conference!  It´s always fun going to Zone conference.  You learn so many neat things and are able to make your teaching skills that much better.  I saw Elder Pinheiro!  Needless to say I missed that little man!  It´s great seeing old friends and seeing how they are.  

The rest of the week went pretty good.  We started teaching a lot toward the end of the week.  We ran out of water and still don´t have water in the house.  So we walk every night to the other missionaries house to take a nice COLD FREEZING shower.  I miss hot showers but luckfully I can still shower.  Their is an area in the mission, well a zone, that is in the interior that they are having major water problems.  They go 4 days with water 3 days with out.  The elders have to take baths with Buckets!  I´ve done it a couple of times it´s quite fun haha.  Oh the mission, definately the best two years.

Went to Aldeota today to go renew my visa today.  Woke up at 6 a clock and didn´t get back home until 3:30 in the after noon.  Total drag but i´m glad I got it over with.  I can sleep next week I guess!   I feel bad for the secretaries of the mission they don´t even get to have pday, they are to busy working and helping the missionaries out.  :S

Our teaching pool was big, but we cut a lot of people who just aren´t progressing.  We should have a baptism this week.  Pray for us.  I enjoy the mission a lot.  I enjoy the routine of waking up, studying, and proslyting.  It´s like the highest of highs and the lowest of lows all in one experience.  My testimony grows each day!  I can feel the saviors prescence in my life.  I´m thankful for the support I recieve and help from each person.  Thanks SO much for the prayers.  I know god hears and answers them.  

Me and my companion, Elder Guimarães, are having a good time.  This area is pretty fun.  The members are very receptive the the missionaries. 

Love you more,

Elder Diamond 

Feb 18

This area is pretty great.  It´s really calm and doesn´t have a lot of noise in the street.  Here in Fortaleza it´s legal to have a HUGE soundsystem in the back of your car, so people usual drive in the streets BLASTING music.  It´s quite annoying.  But here it´s more calm.  The nearest market is 2 minute walk on foot.  So it´s not to bad.  It isn´t a walmart or harmons or anything but it has food haha.  This area is a really safe area apparently.  NIghts are very calm.  Most of my teaching pool is in a condominum.  We are trying to find more families.  I want to baptise a family haha.  I still haven´t gotten the camera yet.  Maybe this week i´ll get it, the card as well.  

This week was good.  The start marked the end of Carnavel.  I dislike carnavel.  It´s a wicked holliday but it ended ha.  We couldn´t find to many people at the beggining of the week but we managed to get some lessons in those first couple days.  Wednesday marked the end of it.  Thank goodness.  We found a couple of people this week but nothing to crazy.  I´d just like to share an experience I had this week.

We were marked to pass by and teach this family on Wednesday ( end of carnavel ).  Ends up we start hearing a ton of yelling yada yada yada.  Basically the husband was kicked out of the house because he gets super jealous easily yada yada yada....  They live in an apartment upstairs and the husband came down and was sitting on the stairs.  We talked with him for a couple of minutes and tried to calm him down.  Went upstairs,talked with the wife, she was pretty mad, it was a mess.  I didn´t really know what to think of the situation.  I was led by the spirit and ended up giving some advice to the wife, but she didn´t want  the husband back in the house.  We walked out and talked to the husband and he had no where to stay.  I thought about his consequences for his jealousy that he made up.  We tried to help the family but it just didn´t seem to work out in that moment.  We walked out and passed the next day to see how they were.  The husband was back in the house.  Not sure what happened but I believe something we had said helped the wife forgive the husband.  

Ok that was a long story that doesn´t make a ton of sence.  I´ll sum up my thoughts about it ha.  1)  Don´t be jealous, that ruins relationships.  2)  This whole mess would have been avoided if they would have been rooted in the gospel of Christ.  I´m SO thankful that i am able to have an eternal family.  And have a well functioning family.  I´ve learned a ton her about how to be a better person not only for my wife but everyone I come in contact with

We had a baptism this week!  It was pretty good.  Kairo (10).  He was baptised and we are teaching the family.  I´d attatch photos but i´m without them at the moment.  His family went to the baptism and they seemed to enjoy.  Who knows maybe i´ll be the missionary to baptise this family :D  i´ll keep you all updated.  

Love 

Elder Diamond!

Feb 11

As for this week,

I love throwing things in my suitcase to be transfered... Not.  Ha but seriously i´m liking my new area.  The area is called Conjunto Ceará.  It doesn´t really have to many markets or anything.  We don´t even have a bank in this area.  Oh well.  My companion is Elder Guimarães.  You can call him guimi.  He is a pretty great Elder.  He has been on the mission for 5 months, i´m his second companion.  He is really dependant on his companion. I´m going to try to help him prepare to be a lider and seniorin this transfer.  He doesn´t really have to much confidence in his teaching ability.  But hey that´s why we have preach my gospel ehh??

I gave a talk this sunday about reverence, inspiration, and revelation.  Was pretty fun.  I was up there talking portuguese like a boss.  I didn´t realize I gave a fifteen minute talk and I was still talking but the bishops counseler hit my leg to close the talk.  Ha.  I think I officialy don´t have any fear to give talks in church anymore.  It´s actually pretty fun trying to inspire my brothers :D 

We taught some good lessons this week.  We found 22 new investigators.  SO that should be a pretty nice addition to our teaching pool.  I got here and they only left me kids to teach. I was like oh heck no we finding families.  Started contacting up a storm and found a couple. Unfortunately this week is a holiday called Carnavel.  It´s such a stupid holiday.  Just another excuse for people to get drunk and throw eggs and flour on eachother.  and not go to church. >.> ugh.  Oh well.  We should have a baptism this saturday of a kid named Kiro.  He is pretty good kid.  I need a family though.  Baptising families ROCK.  Actually any baptisms ROCK.  

I´m quite happy it´s  p -day though.  I´m going to eat and be happy and charge my body for one more week of work in Fortaleza.  I love this gospel,  I love this mission!

I Love you,

Elder Diamond

pics

Feb 4

The week was pretty good aside from dificulties.  As for what happened.  I got sick with a cold the first three days, so that slowed the work down.  I´m still a little sick.  As I get better to be able to start working.  Elder Pinheiros wisdom tooth decides to come in.  Didn´t help to much.  I got worried a lot because we weren´t able to pass Karina and Rafael to close out the baptism.  Had a good experience though.  The day we passed and talked with Rafael.  He only smoked 1.  His progress is awesome!  Karina accepted baptism and was finally baptised sunday.  Very spiritual baptismal reunion.  That family is almost complete, just two more kids!

So as for the transfers,.... I got transfered!  I´m not sure how I feel about it yet.  I enjoyed my last area.  I heard though that this new area is good.  Seems to be booming with sucess.  I´m in the Caucaia zone, in an area called Conjunto Ceará 1.  My companion is a greeny, just got done being trained.  He looks and reminds me of my bishop in my first area that I passed so much.  He has a lot of will to work.  SO i´m going to have to help him out a lot this transfer.  I´m going to definately miss being in my last house though.  It was nice.  

This last transfer was a lot of fun with Elder Pinheiro.  We had some good sucess and passed through a lot.  I´m glad Heavenly Father gave me the opportunity to train him.  He reminds me a little of me in the form of his heart.  They are basically the same thing.   Some times it was difficult but as you reflect on memories, until as far back as the start of the mission, the bad parts don´t appear.  Me walking in the blazing sun everyday, sweating so much, doesn´t clogg my memories.  What cloggs my memories is all the laughing and fun I had helping people recieve the restored Gospel.  Watching the miricles happen each transfer.  The person growth that happens to one during the mission.  The Testimony i´ve gained and the doubt turning to knowing.  

I know that only better things lie in store for me.  Never look back.  People don´t even take into consideration that the fact that the new could be something even better than the last.  Heavenly Father is always giving us opportunities to be better and to find even more happiness.  I know the Gospel, when put in practice, brings miricles to the lives of each person.  I was in church sunday and I was reflecting a lot about the Spirit and it´s role.   I know God lives and loves us and I know he is a God of Miricles, just look at me! 

With love,

Elder Diamond

Jan 28

The week was hmmmm how can I explain it.  A week haha.  Elder Pinheiro, as a part of is training, is now taking control of everything.  He plans, chooses where to go, what to teach, who to pass, etc.  So it´s been kinda fun being on the backburner this week.  Unfortunately our numbers weren´t to high and not much results came.  But it´s alright he is still learning.  It´s kinda cool though seeing my growth as a missionary.  Because I used to be alot like him.  After a while though you learn how to become and effective missionary.  I´m excited to work these last nine months.  Next week are transfers and i´m eager to know if i´m going to stay 5 more weeks or go to another area. 

Daniel and Jonatan were confirmed yesterday.  These kids are awesome.  When we passed their house at 8:45 they were already ready waiting for us at the door.  They are even bringing their friends and that gives us an opportunity to teach other peoples families.  I know  with out a shadow of a doubt that your example truly does affect others.  So do something nice.

I´ve been putting in my diary lately the things i´ve been learning every day.  The message this week is to keep a diary.  It´s fun looking back on the things you passed and laugh on them.  Seeing how much you´ve grown or how far you´ve  come along.

I fought a ton with sleep this week.  It´s more and more difficult each day to wake up at 6:30.  I don´t know how I do it.  Pretty sure Heavenly Father is helping me haha.  Hoping to have two baptisms this week.  Rafael ( 20) and Karina (14)  they are brother and sister the family are recent converts and Rafael has a problem with smoking and drugs.  But he is getting a lot better.  He only smokes 2 a day now compared to 20.   I can see the atonement working  in him.  Karina just has a problem with taking our her piercings.  Reminds me of my hair haha.  But the church does take a stand against piercings and not hair is the only difference.  Pray for her so she may take them out and have that change of heart.

Love you

Elder Diamond!

Jan 21

The week was pretty great,

Had interviews with President.  It´s always great talking to President Souza.  He truly is so inspired.  Always knows what to say.  We made a goal till the end of my mission that I would be able to learn the technique of goal setting.  I really want to learn how to work with goals and learn how to master the technique of setting a goal and achieving it.  Our numbers weren´t too great this week because of the interviews being one day and we had to clean the baptismal font emptying it by using BUCKETS.  Took three hours >.>  But it was worth it. 

We had two baptisms this week.  Jonatan ( 15) and Daniel (13).  Was super awesome.  These kids are awesome.  They come from a family of 12 and the dad walked out of the family one day.  But they have an amazing spirit that anyone can feel.  I´m so SO blessed to help these people and know them.  They really do strengthen my testimony.  I can´t believe i´ve been here for 1 year and 3 months 9 more and i´m home.  Let´s just think of it as a pregnancy.... Nooo that´s kinda weird!  

Ha anyway, this week me and Elder Pinheiro are gonna work RLY hard to help these sinners!  Pinheiro is at the part of his training when I let him do EVERYTHING..... This week should be interesting... :D  sweeeet.  The transfers come a long quite well to say the least.  Two weeks left in the transfer and we are hoping  to baptise a couple of more souls. They are precious!  

Love you all 

Elder Diamond!

Jan 14

Anyways this week was pretty good.  We had some ups and downs, as usual.  I´ll start with the bad.  The bad part was that 3 of the 4 baptisms didn´t work out.  The better news is that they should work out this week.  Raneire (33)  was baptised this week.  I got kind of emotional at his baptism yesterday.  I alomost started to cry.  I remember vividly the first time I taught him when he didn´t want nothing with nothing.  When he walked in the church last night to be baptised he shook my hand and gave me a hug.  That family is now complete in the gospel.  MIricles exist!  

I´ve been really tired this week.  I´ve been staying up a little bit past 10:30 due to divisions and things like that but it´s good.  I already got my beauty sleep on pday!  SO GREAT!  

Sorry the letter is short but i´ve just been teachin some and baptisin some,  kinda what I do ;)  

Have a good week LOVE YOU!

Jan 7

The week was up and down but ended REALLLY good.  I woke up one day this week, forgot which day, without the will to do ANYTHING, I was so tired.  It was a pretty difficult day.  I decided that we all have those days.  When just nothing seems to make you happy.  But the day everything went back to normal.  Like eclasiastics 3 says "everything under heaven has its determined time".  Without sadness their would be no happiness!  Anyways I saw a lot of miricles this week.  

To start, we got a reference from a recent convert.  His name is Pedro ( 14) .  He went to church this last sunday and we passed his house on wednesday this week and invited him to be baptised.  Passed thursday taught him the word of wisdom.  Was baptised yesterday!  It was awesome!  The service was great.  We have a great ward mission leader that just got called recently that has a lot of plans to help us.  As for other investigators, i´m going pretty crazy with whats happening.  My teaching pool, at the moment, is full of prepared investigators that are progressing.  We are aiming to have 4 baptisms this week!  Reniere (35), his family are members and he is the only one not baptised.  He has a problem with drinking but he is going to church every week and is trying his best to stop!  I´m excited to see the miricle of seeing him be baptised this week.  I passed by there my first transfer here with armoa but he didn´t want ANYTHING to do with  the church.  Not sure what happen (the spirit of the lord), but he changed!  Rafael (23)  he is a young man that is the son of a recent convert.  We were walking to pedros baptismal service and I was talking with him and asked him if he wanted to prepare to be baptised for this week.  He accepted!  Jonatan (15) and Daniel (13).  They are both brothers and live in a really poor area.  Including them, they come from a family of 12 brothers and sisters.  The mother is alone raising the kids, but most of them are older.  The mother isn´t quite ready to leave her church to go to Christs church and so we are hoping that Daniel and Jonatan will be an example to her and that will get her to go to the baptismal service!

I absolutely love this gospel and I know what I am doing is God´s work.  This is the lords church,  I love you all, 

Elder Diamond

New Year

The week was great.  Back out working after christmas.  I was starting to get ansy.  I truley enjoy missionary work.  It´s the most tiring thing i´ve done in my life, hands down, but it´s very rewarding.  We are working a lot more with doing contacts.  The zone i´m in has a goal to do 70 contacts a week.  For a lot of missions that is basically nothing, but in Fortaleza you don´t really need to do contacts, you are always finding through members and recent converts, well that is how I work at least.  Not baptisms unfortunately this week.  Lauriçete left AGAIN for the new year.  The holidays are a drag to bring people to church and repentance.  I almost feel like the whole holiday of christmas was turned into a drinking fest here.  As well with the new year.  I still don´t understand the whole concept of spend the last day of the year drunk and not remember it the next day >.>  OH well, they have their agency.  

We had a cool lesson sunday.  Taught me how the spirit works and how God allows people to be born with challenges the bless the lives of others.  We did a contact with some people who couldn´t hear.  We ended up entering their house and shared the message of the restoration of the Gospel of Christ.  It was pretty fun trying to use sign language to get  our point across.  I could feel the spirit working through me, and through them to understand.  I knew that they wouldn´t go to church and get baptised or anything but it was nice leaving a message with them about god.  They understood the message and we invited them to pray to know.  It was pretty special.  I walked out of the lesson pretty happy and feeling blessed for being able to get to know such humble people.  

As we go on to the new year I hope we set reasonable goals that we may be able to achieve.  This is one of my favorite stories in the bible and I hope you may all watch it and have awonderful year.  http://www.lds.org/media-library/video/mormon-messages?lang=eng&query=new+year#2010-12-21-new-years-look-not-behind-thee 

Look not behind thee

Elder Diamond