Hello! So, we are having transfers this week. I found out that I will be headed to Oakland, PA. It is right in downtown Pittsburgh on the University of Pittsburgh campus. I will be in a YSA too. It will be exciting for sure. It is a lot different than what I’m used to. I figured at some point in the mission I would be in Pittsburgh so here I go. It will be cool to be there during Christmas and be around all the lights and stuff. Also, fun fact, Oakland is where they filmed the Dark Knight Batman movies so I will be in Gotham! I’ll take some pictures at those spots eventually. Indiana has been good. The branch has really turned around it seems in the time I’ve been here and it is great to see. There is a lot of potential here in Indiana this next transfer, it’s been fun to see so many people growing in faith everyday! My companion Elder Bale, who I’ve been with for 3 transfers now, is staying in Indiana. This will be his 5th transfer which is pretty rare to be in an area that long. He will be here for 7.5 months by that time. Elder Dinehart our new guy is also staying because he is still being trained. We got more snow today and it looks like a snow storm is coming our way! I’m gonna miss the people here. That’s the hard part of being in an area for a while then leaving, but that’s how it goes! We had a lesson with a family we’ve been teaching for a while now this last week. It is a widowed mother with 4 kids. One of her kids is named Ariana, she is I think 6 or 7. She likes to tell jokes to us. We had a lesson at our church building, so when the lesson was over and they were backing up out of the parking lot, Ariana jumped out and ran over to me and gave me a hug, lol. It was pretty funny and her mom was laughing. I think that was my first hug in about a year! Have a good week! Read the Book of Mormon. Have fun! Love, Elder Souza

Hello! This week went well. I thought I would tell you a little bit about this central PA area. I serve in a branch and most of Central PA is made up of little branches. One of the problems the last few years has been the relationship the members have with the missionaries. It hasn’t been the greatest so a lot of our time is devoted to strengthening that relationship. So we meet with members often and it has been working out better. When I first got to Indiana a few of the members didn’t even really talk to us, but now things are going really well. They seem to really enjoy helping out with the missionary work and they are more friendly with us. I like working with the members though and helping the branch out and hopefully one day these little branches will grow to wards! We had Zone Conference this week and it was good. I pretty much say everytime when we have Zone Conference I enjoy it because I get to see more missionaries and we learn alot. So that happened again this week. We also got about 6 inches of snow on Tuesday and still did service. I enjoyed it and it was fun to see my 2 Arizona companions adjusting to the cold and snow, lol. The highs have been about 32 degrees the rest of the week and that’s how it will be for the next few months! Today we got together with our district and played board games and soccer outside, it was 25 degrees. We have to do stuff outside if we want to get together because COVID is on the rise here again. We’re getting pretty used to the cold and snow again. We did service this week as well, also in the snow. We turned compost and harvested vegetables in it. Also Elder Bale (from Phoenix, AZ) built his first snow man, haha. Transfers are next week so by next PDay I will know if I am leaving Indiana or not. Make sure you all #LightTheWorld this month and watch the Christ Child video, it’s pretty good! Have a good week. Read the Book of Mormon. Have fun! Love, Elder Souza

Hi everyone, Happy Thanksgiving! We had a good week. Surprisingly had a lot of lessons still this week even with the holiday. I was able to follow along with President Nelson’s invitation this week to turn social media into our personal gratitude journal. I enjoyed making posts for that. I don’t normally do that but I thought it was important and I got to join in on something special. Focusing on gratitude really does make life better. Life is happier and I found myself not thinking of the negatives as much. President Hinckley says that life should be enjoyed not just endured and I believe that. Life will still have challenges but regardless I think an attitude of gratitude makes the journey more enjoyable. We had a good Thanksgiving. Between my mom sending me stuff and a couple of members we had a lot of turkey and mashed potatoes. We also had about 4 1/2 pies and it was all delicious. I’m excited for December. Light the World is coming up and it will be a great way to keep the momentum going, lift people’s spirits and end 2020 on a good note. The bad days make the good days better. Elder Holland said, “I testify that the future is going to be as miracle-filled and bountifully blessed as the past has been. We have every reason to hope for blessings even greater than those we have already received because this is the work of Almighty God, this is the Church of continuing revelation, this is the gospel of Christ’s unlimited grace and benevolence.” I echo that! Have a good week. Read the Book of Mormon. Have fun! Love, Elder Souza

Hello! This was probably the busiest week of my entire mission. So much has been happening. We are getting ready to kick off Light the World and have been doing a lot of planning for that. Also this week, President Nelson had an awesome message that if you haven’t seen you should go watch it and if you have, go watch it again. He is so cool! I told you all about Patterson last week, he got baptized yesterday! That was really cool and a lot of fun to be a part of. This week was just really good. I love Pres. Nelson’s invitation of gratitude on social media and his prayer. It has been awesome to see all the uplifting things on social media. Life is much better, and way happier when we live in gratitude I think. Instead of being prideful or envious, which social media often makes us, it just brings a refreshing spirit of gratitude that we really need in this world. I had to type this pretty quick today so sorry there isn’t much but I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving and try to live in Thanksgiving everyday and you will be happier! Have a good week. Read the Book of Mormon. Have fun! Love, Elder Souza

We also went to a 9/11 memorial in Somerset, PA. Flight 93 was one of the planes hijacked and the passengers on board fought off the al Qaeda members and they crashed in a field. The tower is the largest wind chime/instument in the world. The other missionaries are in my district!

Hi. It was quite the week, some of the Elders in our district have been teaching a guy for a while now and he was on date for baptism. Then last minute, he ended up having to move last week. Luckily he moved to Indiana, PA! So we are teaching him now and he is on date to be baptized this Sunday! His name is Patterson, please keep him in your prayers! I noticed more this week that one of the many joys of missionary work, which any member can be apart of, is being able to see through the lives of others how the gospel of Jesus Christ blesses and changes lives. When I get to see the testimony and faith of someone else grow, it builds and strengthens my testimony. I’m excited for the holiday seasons coming up! It will be pretty different this year than most but it is always a happy time. Have a good week. Read the Book of Mormon. Have fun! Love, Elder Souza

Hello! Well last week I said we would be in 14 day quarantine because of our new Elder but we didn’t actually have to do that! Since he is from Arizona, they aren’t consider a high COVID case state, so we were let off the hook there! Our new Elder’s name is Elder Dinehart. He is from San Tan Valley, Arizona. He graduated in 2020! And was born in 2002?!?! That makes me seem old and I still feel (and look and sometimes act) like I’m 14! This week was fun because we got sort of a last minute heat wave. It was 65-75 all week and for a few more days, so it made things more enjoyable. The winter is coming fast though and both of my Arizona companions are getting pretty scared! Also Elder Dinehart was assigned to Moscow, Russia and is learning Russian. It is pretty crazy that so far I have had companions that speak (or are learning to speak) Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese, and Russian. I wanted to share this quote I came across from Elder Neal A. Maxwell. He said, “The cavity that suffering carves into our soul will one day be the receptacle of joy.” Christ suffered more than us all. The cavity carved into his soul is infinitely deep and because of his suffering he has an infinite capacity for joy. We can have joy even in our trials. There is joy in the journey to become like the Savior. It isn’t always fun or easy but how could we expect it to be, if it was never easy for him. At the end of D&C 122 the Lord basically tells Joseph Smith that even if he were to suffer every terrible thing and hardship possible, it would give him experience and be for his good. I try to remember these things everyday. I encourage you all to have hope, to build your faith, to believe, to search for joy in every circumstance and to be simple enough to see the everyday blessings. Have a good week. Read the Book of Mormon. Have fun! Love, Elder Souza

Heyo! This week was lots of fun. My companion went through the Philadelphia temple this week. While he was there I got to spend tuesday and Wednesday with the Elders in State College. They serve on the Penn St. Campus. It’s a cool area, and it was a lot of fun to be there. On Thursday the Zone Zone Leaders blitzed our area. So they just spent the day with us in Indiana. There were 5 of us and one of the Elders had served in Indiana about 8 months earlier so he was able to help us out a little bit. Transfers are this week. I’m staying in Indiana for another transfer with Elder Bale again. We are getting a third Elder as well so that’s exciting. Back to 14 day quarantine again. It’s okay though, it doesn’t really change much for us except we have to have church at home again. There was a flurry of snow today and last night but it didn’t stick or anything. It supposed to go back to the mid 60s and 70s this week though so I’m happy for that. Have a good week! Read the Book of Mormon. Have fun. Love, Elder Souza

Hello! This week was lots of fun. We finally had a Zone conference with the whole Zone in person. We still had to spread out a lot and wear masks but I think I learn way more when all our missionaries are there. I get to serve along side some awesome missionaries! We had a baptism scheduled for this last thursday but it got postponed so that was a bummer. My companion right now, Elder Bale, gets to go through the temple for the first time this Wednesday. He is going to Philadelphia. Unfortunately I don’t get to go with him. Not sure what they are going to do with me since I’ll be alone for about 24 hours. We’ll see. Transfers are next week so on Saturday I’ll find out if I’m staying in Indiana or not. We also went axe throwing today. A member in our branch owns his own axe throwing range so he let us come and throw for free for about 1.5 hours. It was pretty fun. Have a good week. Read the Book of Mormon. Have fun! Love, Elder Souza

Hi everybody. This week we did a lot of service and taught a lot of lessons. My Companion and I have been pretty tired lately. It’s been busy over here but it’s been good. We do service at a local garden as I’ve probably mentioned in the past. We have been doing a bunch of painting for them too. It’s been fun. I like painting and it gets us out of our apartment and doing something active so it’s good. I guess I don’t have too much to talk about this week either. I hit 10 months yesterday so that’s exciting. It sometimes feels like I just got here but at the same time it feels like I’ve been gone a long time?! I probably have said that before in an email in the past and I’ll probably say it again. It’s getting colder here, the winter is coming fast. Have a good week. Read the Book of Mormon. Have fun. Love, Elder Souza

Hello. I don’t have much to tell you all this week. The weather here is changing everyday. It is starting to get colder. It looks really cool over here right now because all the leaves have changed colors. It’s pretty but it doesn’t beat Oregon😉 If you haven’t already, go watch General Conference. It was really good. And if you have, go back and watch it again. There is so much to learn and I learn new things from them every time I listen. Miss you all, have a good week. Read the Book of Mormon. Have fun! Love, Elder Souza