Hello dear family!
The time is slipping through my fingers towards the home stretch of my mission but I'm loving every second of it! On Monday we had a wonderful spiritual experience with Kemyli (16), one of Ednaura's daughters, who had gone to church for the first time the day before. We had marked her baptismal date but she had become uncertain and wanted more time. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and helped her understand the importance of baptism in the eternal perspective. As we listened to her concerns, we were able to "teach people and not lessons". She then said: "I feel like I'm shaking on the inside. But it's a good feeling." I didn't tell her that was the spirit but helped her to get to that conclusion herself. She felt it several times throughout the lesson and in the end accepted to be baptised this Sunday, together with her older sister Jessica and her cousin Beatriz.
Throughout the week we were able to feel and see the change in this young woman who seemed uninterested and indifferent at first but after a while was seeking answers and praying confidently and earnestly. She revealed to us that her previous uncertainty towards baptism came from her school mates calling her a "Mormon" and people making negative comments about her family's conversion to the gospel. We helped her see that even Jesus Christ, the Saviour of us all, was persecuted as well as His followers and the church He had organised in the meridian of time. From then on, she was firm in her decision and even laughed about the comments people would make in school or social media. Kemyli is now a "Mormon" at heart!
Their baptism on Saturday night was wonderful and lots of people came. The spirit was strong and testified that they were taking the right decision.
Sunday morning as the confirmation of all of Ednaura's family. One by one, the fourteen members of her family went up and sat in the stand. The bishopric took care of confirming them and with simple confirmations and blessings, each one received the gift of the Holy Ghost and was confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I sat at the stand with the family to help control the more unruly children and saw the members face of awe and wonder at this beautiful and huge family entering the fold of God.
Afterwards the testimony meeting began and many members welcomed the family and said how much they had felt the spirit during the meeting. As I sat on the stands to bear my own testimony, I saw Kemily and Kenia crying as they felt the spirit. It was a sight to behold. I am grateful to God for the opportunity I have received to know this family and help them come unto the fold. Like it described in Acts 2 in the New Testament, "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting (...) And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost". It truly was a day of Pentecost here in Franco da Rocha!
Today we had the opportunity to go up to the Pico de Jaraguá and enjoy the amazing view from the highest point in Sao Paulo and also enjoy the experience of feeding banana to the cutest little monkeys. Their species are called "sagüi" here, I believe it's marmoset in English. We went with the Ward Mission Leader's assistant, Vinicius. We had a wonderful conversation throughout the hike about the gospel, work and other topics. He is very excited for the work and so are we!
I am loving being Elder Esteves' companion! He is the companion who I have had more success with here on the mission. He demands a lot from me and that's just what I need. Love this guy!
I know this doesn't compare to Billy's experiences with lions and other wild life in Africa but this is as wild as it gets in Sao Paulo!
Only 3 more weeks! #NotTrunky
Love you all,
Elder Torres