Division and Pedro the elect (Week 64)

Ah family, I love the mission.

This week we were able to see several times the hand of the Lord in our work here in Jardim California and in the areas we helped!

At the beginning of the week me and Elder King did a division with the area of Itapeva, the second furthest area in the mission! We had a lovely *cough cough* 3 hour bus ride to meet the elders over there and begin the division. I stayed in Itapeva with Elder Mancy and my companion went back to work in our area.

On the division I met a wonderful family that they were teaching. The mother of the 4 children is a member of the church who has been less-active for a while. She was uncertain if her children should be baptised but I was able to help her understand that the baptism is simply the door to allow them to progress towards eternal life. When I was baptised with 8 years of age I didn't know much but the knowledge and the true conversion will come with time. We taught them the importance of reading the Book of Mormon and the spirit was wonderful in the lesson. This Sunday the three of them were baptized, now the family is complete! :)

And of course, no division is complete without the routine pizza with stuffed crust! ;)

This week we met several awesome families in our area. We were looking to get into as many houses as possible to teach the message of the restoration. In the past, we were just knocking doors and marking to come back later in the week but President Farnes taught us that we should help people "to act for themselves and not to be acted upon" (2 Nephi 2:26) from the first day we meet them. By helping them read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it's true, their conversion process will begin earlier and they will be more likely to accept a baptism date for the following weeks.

On Saturday night we were following up with the people who we had found this week and unfortunately most of the people had lost interest and didn't want to go to church. We were wondering who we would take to church the next day and remembered a referral we received of a family. We hadn't been able to find their street on any maps but we decided to give it another shot. After a little bit of time of looking, we found the street! We knocked and the mother told us to come in without us even presenting ourselves. Turns out a friend of her was planning to take her to church the next day and they had been waiting for us to arrive. We taught the restoration and they accepted being baptised after receiving their answer! On Sunday we turned up and they were all ready, just waiting for us to arrive. MIRACLE! :D

Geane and Luís family are doing super well too!! They are awesome!! :D

So let me tell you about Pedro now! We found this guy on our first week in the area waiting at the bus stop. He is 21 years old and 1 year ago both of his parents died of a terminal disease. He was left to take care of both his siblings whilst studying at uni and working. After that happened he went a bit off track and did a few things that he now regrets. He told us that six months before we met him he had recognised he wasn't doing the right things and he stopped and began looking for a church. We helped him read the Book of Mormon and he quickly received his answer. After a few weeks of going to church he finally was baptised this Sunday. Sadly I had to do a baptismal interview the sisters just when the baptism was about to begin so I didn't get a picture with him in white. What matters is that he entered the waters of baptism! :D He is an incredible guy with an awesome future up ahead! :)

Tomorrow is Elder King's birthday so we had to celebrate by eating out at Johnny Rockets, an American burger restaurant. It was yuuumm!

Alright, that is all for this week! Love you all!

Elder Torres