Elder Joshua Sheffield

Me and my ex-companion Elder Silva I can’t tell you how great the zone conference was. I learned so much!  The new mission president was announced; Elder Paulo C. and Nadia M. Loureiro.  We talked a lot about things that are changing in the mission. My current President, Pres. Lacerda and I had a good talk together, man I love that guy so much. He is so loving and Christlike .  He loves rock and roll and his vinyl collection ,  but he loves nothing more than missionary work and the gospel. The new president arrives in July. I’m excited but I am going to miss my president. I played piano in sacrament (and I only messed up a little).  It was the first time in I think 5 years since the last time I played, so that was exciting .  Now all the members are asking to start a music class to learn to play. So we’ll see if all my years growing up singing and playing piano will pay off haha.  I’m staying here another transfer and my new companion will b...

This morning I woke up made some hash browns for breakfast and then  person study .  I don’t think I ever told you that I found an old beat up a guitar in the  chapel. I’ve used every p-day cleaning, retuning, shining, sanding,  replacing screws and parts and making it look all brand new. so I have bought a new guitar but we’ll see if they let me take this one. hahaha So this morning I played some hymns and did some guitar practice. Next, cleaned the house . C leaning here is different because everything is tile you just get a  bucket of soapy water and just throw it everywhere; walls, floor etc  and just scrub it with a broom. Then wash it down the drain, rinse, wash repeat ( a lot easier than dusting, vacuuming sweeping then mopping haha) I leave  tomorrow  for Juiz de Fora. We have zone conference with zone L eopodina, zone Juiz de Fora and zone Lafeite .  All of the other missionaries in the nearby cities are coming today  to...

14jan19  This week we moved all of our mattresses to the main room in the house, to share the one fan we have.  I’ve been taking freezing cold showers right before bed so I can sleep. MariLisa, a women we are teaching, literally has a jungle in her back yard with 10 dogs, mango trees, avocado trees, a few lemon trees and  a jack fruit tree .  We marked a baptism date with her and taught a lot about prayer and the  importance of God’s plan for us. At the end of the lesson she gave a bunch of fresh  mango and a giant jack fruit .  Elder Santos is going to make us jack fruit burgers that he claims they  taste just like beef, haha but we will see. haha Marcelo got in a motorcycle crash a year ago this week and it broke  both his legs and his femur in three places.  He hasn’t been able to leave his bed since .  He says he just wants to play with his son as he’s growing up. And he’s  so ready to just walk . He’s got a b...

So this week marks 6 months since I left home!!!!    This week really put a lot of things into perspective for me. But first-off H appy Birthday  EMMMMMM! We had a family night and a barbeque with a member for New Years and  it great. We played some Brazilian card games. I’ll teach you guys someday. They got a little intense and a little competitive, hahaha. The president gave us a new goal to have 10 investigators in  sacrament every Sunday and so this week was focused and really crazy . We were  always calling someone and confirming someone else for Sunday. It was  great. I loved Sunday family night. We made cookies and went to a members  house to be a part of their family night and it was so great we watched  a Mormon Message and shared some scriptures and talked about “vem e  segue-me” (Come Follow Me) We talked a lot about the day of the Lord how important it really is . I t’s like a tithing of the week and it’s sooo extrem...

31Dec18 Christmas was great. We got to sing Christmas songs and I played some  Christmas songs on the guitar. We had a churrasco Brazilian barbeque (like they do at the Brazilian restaurants at home) and it was great mmmm! It rained every single day this week which was good to cool down a  little bit. But with everyone traveling for the holidays, there was no  one home or in the city to teach or talk to so it was one of those  slower weeks. My companion, Elder Silva’s grandma passed away Thursday. So that was  a rough day .  Every day we say a pray together and bear our testimonies before we  leave the house. And the next day he bore his testimony about how  strongly he felt the love and comfort of Jesus Christ. Sunday was good. I’m still trying to fix up the old organ in the chapel,  to use during sacrament meeting, but until then it's a'capella.  We had some investigators (super awesome) in sacrament meeting and out  of now...