My dear family and friends!
What an amazing birthday week it was. The Lord blessed us so much this week that it's hard choosing where to begin!
Well, I suppose tell you about the baptisms we had here in Cidade Nova. Yesterday we had 5 baptisms who were: Jeferson, Julio, Jeanderson and Jakson from the same family and then Andresa, a 14 year old girl. Let me tell you about each one. :)
So Jeferson (17), Julio (14), Jeanderson (12) and Jakson (10) - or as me and Elder Yegros like to call them: The Jotas Brothers - are 4 very charismatic kids who we found knocking doors last week. Their passion is flying pipas (kites) and they do that all day everyday! Sadly they don't go to school purely out of choice but we began seeing good changes in them as we taught them these weeks. I had the chance to teach them the Plan of Salvation using my little drawings and the Gospel of Jesus Christ using chocolates. They were really involved in the lessons (at times too much, haha) and learnt very quickly. We invited them for baptism and they were a bit doubtful. The thing is, they don't do much that requires much effort so something like baptism required some persuading! On Sunday morning we went past their house to take them to church to be baptised. We knocked (clapped) and knocked but no one came out. So Elder Yegros being Elder Yegros, walked in and started waking everyone up. One by one the kids came out rubbing sleep from their eyes and not looking too happy about being woken up 9 am on a Sunday morning. :P
We took them to church and I get a bit stressed out trying to keep all the kids under control (we took 11 people to church, mainly children) but with a bit of patience and a few chocolates we made it through sacrament meeting. Just about! Jean began saying he was going to go home and his little brother Jakson was getting the same idea. Thank goodness for the basket full of sweets I received on my birthday. The sweets kept them around until Primary but the last hour got tricky! Jean wanted to leave with all the energy in his being but we did all we could to keep him in. We knew that as soon as he was dressed in the baptismal clothes he would get excited. So... me and Elder Yegros stayed in Primary with them for the last hour. It was the longest hour that I've ever experienced in church. :P We were assigned (of course) to do a little play about of Book of Mormon story and my group was to tell the story of Samuel the Lamanite. There was a really funny moment that Jakson said in his one line: "It's Samuel the Malanite!" Ah, comedy gold. :') FINALLY, we got to the end of primary. We handed the kids the white clothes, they went and somewhat reluctantly got changed. But when they came out of the bathroom they were excited and happy for the baptism. During their baptism they were so happy that they had a little swim in the baptismal font. Ah, kids will be kids. It was a true miracle of the Lord that they were baptised that day and no doubt that He wanted them to take that step yesterday and no later. :)
Andresa, the other baptism, was a girl who we had found about a month ago. We taught her and her sisters a few times but they didn't seem to be very interested so we dropped them. Last week we saw Andressa walking down the street and invited her to church and for baptism. We didn't think she would accept either one but on Sunday she was there and the next week she was baptised. I have learned that we cannot judge who will accept the gospel or not but simply we should invite all people.
I have learnt that obedience is key to sucess and I have seen immediate blessings from being obedient with exactness. I have also learnt the vital importance of baptism in everyone's life. D&C 18:41-44 makes this so clear. Some people criticize missionaries, especially in Brasil, for baptising children without their parents but without baptism no one can enter the kingdom of God. Why should we deny them the Atonement of Christ just because their parents aren't ready or don't want to accept it? Wherever you get called always remember that the most important thing is baptism. Baptism, baptism, baptism. If you get called to a "low baptising mission" go and change that. The field is white and ready to harvest EVERYWHERE, not just in South America and Africa. It depends on the missionary and their obedience and diligence in finding God's elect children. :)
I love you all! Stay safe and happy! :D
Hugs,
Elder Torres