Teach Repentance and Baptise Converts (Week 30)

Bom dia família e amigos!

Last Sunday was AMAZING! So many things to say, I'll just go in chronological order I suppose! We were walking to Thaina and Mateus' house and unfortunately they didn't come out. We persisted and persisted, knocked and knocked (in fact, we clapped) and they didn't come. It was super sad. So we thought: "Well, let's go to Carmita's house!" Carmita is the grandmother of that super elect family we found last week.

We were walking up the hill to her house and before we even got to the door, the whole family came out of the door in their Sunday clothes to wait for us. I suppose that defines pretty well and elect investigator, they are more on time than the missionaries! :D We organised for a member to give Carmita and her young grandson a lift to church and off they went. Here's a picture we took with the family this week.

From the left on the sofa: Lorena, Carmita, Mateus, Lorenzo, Anita and Fabiana. Carmita, Mateus and Lorenzo will be baptised tomorrow! Please pray nothing stops them from going! :)

We then went to get Rodrigo and Gabriel, the two brothers who were baptised. As we walked up the street a bit further on, we saw Rodrigo walking in our direction with his tie tied in a very secure but strange looking knot. We had given him a tie that week and tried to teach him quickly how to tie it. He still hasn't gotten the hang of it but he was super proud walking down the street with it. Unfortunately Gabriel had gone to sleep at a relative's house and didn't come... Rodrigo was super excited all week to be confirmed and member of the church and receive the Holy Ghost, he even wrote "Don do Ispirito Santo", in english it said Gift of the Holy Ghost, with a few spelling mistakes. :P

When we got to church with Rodrigo and the family, Josy who we baptised last transfer was there with her aunt which made me SUPER happy! We sat down and the meeting started. Me and my companions started getting a bit worried because Conrado and his girlfriend weren't turning up. When we were beginning to think the worst (he's not coming!) they arrived to the chapel, a bit late, but they came! Because he is a guy of... considerable size, we didn't have white clothes big enough to fit him so he offered to bring his own!

After church, his baptism was one of - if not THE - most spiritual baptism I've had on my 7 months of mission. First off, a bunch of members stayed behind to support. Then, his girlfriend who is a member, sang "When I Am Baptized" from the Children's Hymnbook and the spirit was amazing. I was invited to say a few words at the baptism and I spoke the whole time looking at him. I told him, among a few other things, that he was one of the most prepared people I had met on my mission and told him of the many blessings that God still has in store for him, such as a temple marriage. When I talked about marriage I gave a little wink and nod to Belissa, his girlfriend. I hope to be invited to their wedding soon! :D The baptism in itself was incredible, I hugged him after he came out of the baptismal font in my suit and everything, I was so happy for him and I know the heavens were also celebrating. :) I can truly say that we taught repentance to him and he was baptised a convert!

Here are a few pics from the baptism:

They were super cute hugging each other after it all ended, so I took a sneaky pic. ;)

This week was super hectic due to transfer week coming up and our time on the field was even more limited than usual. Nevertheless, the Lord is merciful and has kept Carmita's family firm and excited for the baptism. Yesterday me and Elder Cardoso asked them: "Is there anything that could prevent you going to church and being baptised?" They replied with a resounding NO. We asked if the rain, or a relative coming or something of the sort could get in the way. They were like: "Heaven forbid a relative comes, I will tell them to wait outside until we come!" Hahaha, for a 70 year old woman her humour is great! :D

I will send you more pictures and stories next week! Love you all!

Elder Torres

PS: I thought you'd enjoy this picture of me, my companion and two sisters in the Sao Paulo North Zone. ;)