Hey everyone!
This transfer is going by too fast, I wonder why? Well this week was another good week, very rushed and full of ups and downs.
First off, let me start by telling you about Monique. She moved from Sergipe a couple of months ago and is the sister-in-law of a member in our ward called Aline. She is very shy and can't look at us in the eye for more than 2 seconds before looking down again. Every Sunday for 5 weeks she has been going to church and thoroughly enjoying it. We have visited her several times, including when I was with Elder Miller. Like most Brasilians, she believes in God and Jesus Christ but isn't quite sure what that means. We have been teaching her the basics, from who the Godhead is to how to interact and be blessed by each of its members. This week we had an amazing lesson with her. The main thing holding her back from being baptised is fear. We shared with her the scripture of Jesus Christ walking on the waters and calling Simon Peter to walk toward Him. The amount of faith Peter had to exercise in order to step out of the solid surface of the boat into the stormy and treacherous waters came from, I believe, incredible trust in His Master and friend. I encouraged Monique to not trust in us but to trust in the arm of Christ. Even when Peter sunk due to fear of the wind and the waves, Jesus was there to immediately reach out and rescue him. We replaced "Peter" for "Monique" in all the verses and she understood and felt that they were written for HER.
Christ Walking on Water - Julius von Klever
In the end, we invited her once again to pray and ask God for guidance but instead of trusting she would do it when we left, we kneeled down and prayed together. She asked in her very simple prayer if she should be baptised. In the end of the prayer we stayed in silence for a few minutes. She then sat down and had her head down. She began to rub her eyes and when Aline asked her what happened she said: "I poked my eye." We began speaking a little more and she identified that it was the spirit testifying to her. She said she had only felt that twice before. Unfortunately she still didn't accept to be baptised but I am sure that this week she will recognise and follow that answer.
This week Adão and Rosélia came to church. Rosélia is the sister of a member here in the ward. They have come before and last week we went to teach them. We began teaching the Restoration and is was a normal lesson. When we presented the Book of Mormon, we asked the members to say how they had received their answers. They shared their testimonies and then we challenged them to read and pray to ask God. Rosélia told us: "I will only read if I feel like I should". Adão then got up and very boldly told his wife: "The enemy will do everything in his power to remove from you the desire to read this book. You have to be stronger than that." As he was challenging his wife, he began to feel the spirit very strongly and cry. He said: "I am receiving my answer now. I don't need to read, I already know." It was an incredible moment and the Spirit was palpable. They are not yet married but are making plans. I'll keep you updated with their progress!
Adão and Rosélia are the couple standing next to me.
Tiago who I told you about last week is INCREDIBLE. We taught him all week here in the chapel and he seems to have gotten firmer in his decision as the minutes went by. He shared with us that he was a pastor for over 12 years and was active in preaching in many churches around São Paulo by invitation. For about a year, he has been praying to God to find the truth. He has felt for a long time that there were many precious truths missing in the evangelical churches he had attended. Then he met a work colleage called Jessica who was only baptised 4 months ago. She shared with him her testimony and he dived head first into a search for the truth. When we came into the scene, as I said last week, all we were used for was to invite. On Sunday it was his baptism and although he was a bit nervous, when he emerged from the water he exclaimed excitedly with both hands in the air: "I'M A NEW CREATURE!" and then told Jessica that her parents would be the next. That is the pure and true joy the gospel brings. Watch this space, Tiago is going to become a great tool in the Lord's kingdom.
Now that Elder Esteves has had his first baptism, he doens't want to stop. And neither do I!
Love you all,
Elder Torres