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