Thoughts about his Christmas call home and new calling.

Oh it was soooo good to talk to you guys yesterday! And I did get pretty homesick when I talked to Adam. I love you all the same you know but he is my twin. I told my self I wasnt going to cry when I talked to you guys and I did a good job but when you guys brought Adam in on the laptop I was like ´´oh I didnt prepare for this!!!´´ Hahahah but yeah it was so great thank you so much for the package and all the things you sent. :) I was skyping from the house of a member. My language yesterday was a mess I couldnt focus and stuff and when John Luke started talking with me I kind of went blank. I still have a hard time underdstanding people on the street. But I hope I am getting better. Its kind of hard without living with Brazilians anymore. Oh and you will love to hear that every mission house here in the mission has a DVD player that plays DVD´s and CD´s. SO I listen to that CD lots. :) I thought of Joseph Smith today while listening to praise to the man and I thought of the quote that ´Joseph Smith has done more than any other man, save Jesus only, for the salvation of mankind and he sealed his works with his blood´´ This isnt the quote but its in D&C 130...something I cant remember. But I just started crying and thought that I have been so selfish thinking of my problems and how am I going to do this, when Joseph Smith and the Savior really sacrificed much more. (Especially the Savior obviously) But the holy ghost just bore testimony of these things to me this morning and it was really great. I am praying for more people to open their gates and let us in and for more members to ask around and ask people for references and have been praying for the people in our ward that were baptized and are struggling right now and this work we are in requires alot of Faith, in fact, all the faith we have, beacuse anything less will not sufice. I love the Savior and Joseph Smith more than anything and any time I think that what I am doing is impossible I swallow my selfishness and try to think about everything they did. We all can do so much more in this life then we are doing right now. Like Pres. Monson says If everyone is doing their best, they with a little bit of teaching, can do better. The lord doesnt want me to seal my testimony with my blood but he does want me to seal it with all my heart might mind and strength so I can stand blameless before God amd our Savior in the last day and they want exactly this for all of us. This is where we will save lives and seal our eternal freedom and theirs too. I love you all so much and look forward to hearing about the lives you are trying to help. :) (Because thats what you should be doing):)

Elder Joseph Wilford Vincent

First Transfer, Very overwhelmed.

Well four days ago the hardest day of my life began..... This is very difficult for me to explain. The day started out normal and I was with Elder Vasconcelos and we were walking to a house of a recent convert we baptized and I received a call that I was being transferred. Now transfers were already over so I was planning on at least six more weeks with Elder Vasconcelos. I learned that I would be training a new elder. Now the earliest trainer this mission has ever seen was two transfers and he was a Brasileiro who could speak fluently. But I will be training a new American.....Now I was freaking out. I couldn´t think and my head was spinning. How is this possible? Training an American when I can't speak fluently? With only a month and two weeks in the mission? But I heard that I would be moving to Morado do Sol with Elder Fonseca and Elder Walker. So I met my comp and the move happened. However, that morning I recieved another call that we were to be transfered again to an area that is new and we would OPEN the area and live in a house by ourselves. Now this was almost unimaginable for me. And then later that day they informed me that I was to be the new district leader in this area. I know that this is a calling of God and somehow is possible. I pray for faith and strength more then I ever have in my life. I need your prayers too. I know this is possible but I am just trying to find the door. I need your prayers more then ever in my life. Please pray for my companion and I to learn fast and have success. We don't have to have success but please pray for us to be able to do what it takes to have success. That is all we need!

My favorite soccer team. Faith Precedes Miracles.

Minha Mai,

The Lord wants you to have faith. As you know. But no where in the scriptures he says he wants you to worry. In fact last general conference Elder Holland spoke about it. Look at his talk. :) If you doubt the package it will not come. If you have faith (along with the will of the Lord) then it will. Same things with miracles. Miracles dont produce faith, faith produces miracles. I will put a section for him at the bottom. Well like Adam said Corinthians won and they are really good. They are my second favorite team. :) I decided I needed to pick a team from Sao Paulo like John and Adam. :) But I like the Corinthians because elder Vasconcelos convinced me but I will admit I am a flamengistaaaaaa! (|Flamengo) :) Anyway there is soccer for you. Well a member that had special abilities died this week and it has been very hard for us. And every week I see a different crazy animal. And I am trying to study portuguese but never have time with my other things. Its hard. Well we baptized the cousin of Iago and Igor and that was great. His name is Geanderson and he is boss. :) Well I am trying to chug along. And I love you mother and please tell everyone else. I dont know what else to say. I always think of crazy things to write about throughout the week and then when I get time on the computer I´m like uhhh bitty uhhhh. :) But I love you mother and I spiritually felt your hug. Love you forever Elder Vincent

You don't need to be a lost sheep to feel the Savior's Love.

Things here are very different but I am starting to get use to it really quick. As of right now we have five dates for baptism. People who have committed with a date. And three more we are working on. We preach the gospel every single day and I still have a super hard time understanding the people. But that's okay. I will get better. Well on Saturday Elder Silva and Elder De Lima had a baptism and that was fun to attend. I am trying to memorize all the priesthood ordinances an Portuguese and this is kind of difficult because as John knows Portuguese is written one way and said another. At least formal and scripture wise. But yesterday it monsoon ed. And before the storm I saw a flock of Macaws. Hahaha pretty sweet to see those. Our branch is great. Eleven of our pesquisadors (investigators)came to church on Sunday. Our biggest problems with baptism is that nobody is married and nobody has money to be married. This poses a very big threat to us and is constantly our enemy hahaha. Well stories will have to wait for when I have time but I just want to say that this Gospel is the only thing that will bring us true happiness on this life and in the next. I see people every day who do not have the opportunity to have to gospel in their lives. And this is where we as missionaries come in. The people in this world who are struggling or who take the gospel for granted in their lives need to see the people who have never had the gospel in their lives and their views will change. See how much this Gospel really means. See the light of the people as they change finally find the true purpose of their life here on earth. And remember people, sometimes we thinks the Savior only cares about the lost sheep. A few years ago I was in this Boat. The savior does care for the one lost sheep and he loves that sheep very much. But we need to understand that before the Savior discovers one sheep is lost, he says 1,2,3. . . and counts EACH ONE of his sheep before he goes to find the lost one. There is no need to become a lost sheep in order to have the Saviors love. He loves each one of us the same. Remember that we are children of God and need to act in a way that represents him. I love the opportunity I have to spread this Gospel and look forward to the day I can speak portuguese fluentemente. :) Love you all. Elder Joseph Wilford Vincent