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| Beautiful Baptism Day! Sunday, May 22, 2012 ~ Elder Squires, Daiane, & Elder Squires |
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| Daiane with her friends and familyElder Halls |
Well, I can speak portugues now! thanks for the prayers! But seriously! haha, this week was amazing! I love this area soo much, and I love the people here!!! I don´t know what I´m going to do when they make me leave. The members, the non-members, everything here is just so awesome!!! A girl in our ward named Jérsica told me that once I can understand I will smile more, and she has been right!!! This week I have understood so much more than I ever have, and I think I owe it all to prayer, and the study of the scriptures in Português.
Tão. Elder Jackson fui embora, and now he is in Idaho! If anyone meets him, they should tell him that we all miss him and love him! He was such and awesome missionary, and I learned so much from him, he was always very excited to do the work. That is one thing that I have learned that is one of the best things anyone can have. You need to be excited, passionate, animated and firm about whatever you are doing. If you aren´t, then its probably not worth it. I am trying to have a mission filled with fire as Jeffery R Holland said, with real love for the people. I feel like this week I have learned alot about that.
On friday, we were working really hard in one side of town, when Elder Squires said, alright, lets go to Rosalie´s house, I almost didn´t want to go because we were working so well in this area getting contacts, but he reminded me that it was my idea haha, so we went. We didnt have a compromisso with them, but we decided to go anyway. We got there and her second oldest son George was leaving the house, Rosalie said ´George, go get Daiane (His Girlfriend) and the missionaries will share a message.´ He said, ok. and Then 20 minutes later we were teaching her. We had already taught her about everything except all the commandments, and she had already ask God to see if these things were true. She also had recieved an answer and told us she knew it was true, but she couldn´t be baptized because George was living with her.
So Friday, we taught her, and I felt really blessed to understand everything and be able to convey every thought I had in understandable português. We were teaching, and I asked her about her situation with George and if she feels ready to be baptized, she said that George was moving his stuff back to his mothers house, and she really wanted to be baptized, so we asked if she would be willing to have an interview saturday night to talk about baptism and see if she is ready. She accepted!
The next day we came over about 3:00 to see if Rosalie would accompany us to another investigators house with Altamir to teach 2 women in their 20´s. She said she was busy, and asked if we would teach Daiane instead, but we had a better idea! Haha, we took Daiane with us and she sat through the lesson, and gave the most beautiful answer when I asked her the question, How do you feel when you recieve an answer? She said you feel peace, joy and you just know that it is right.
After that we had another appointment, so Elder Squires and I, with Altamir went and then returned at about 5:30. The zone leaders were getting close for the interview, and we needed to meet them at the Bus Station, so Elder Squires stayed at the house on a split and I went with Altamir. We did this, because we still needed to teach some more things before the interview. Walking back from the bus station was awesome. I´m walking with 3 Brasilians telling them everything they need to know about everything that we need to do tonight in Português. Muito legal, cara!!!! I know that i had the gift of tounges because Daiane needed 2 missionaries to be able to teach her the things to be baptized. She had the interview, then we invited her to be baptized after church, she said, no.. that too early. So we said, you´re ready, you had the interview, you have a strong testimony, so what if you get baptized in the evening? Can we do a baptism at 5? The she said, sure! We were so happy!!! She was so happy too! The next day at church she was smiling so much! It was amazing! She asked me to baptize her, and I was so excited and happy for her!
Funny thing, but not really, Jérsica Called, George´s sister and said, sorry we cant have the baptism, she doesnt feel ready... so we were sad, and were trying to call her back because the call dropped. I went out side and prayed that everything would work out, and that she will feel the spirit testify to her, then when i came back in, Altamir (our ward mission leader) was leaning down to pull the plug on the fonte when his phone rang and they said it was just a joke. haha, but they ran out of credits on their phone, so they couldnt tell us! haha, it wasnt funny.. just a little i guess.. hahah
The baptism happened, it only took me one try! She looked so happy, and she is so ready to begin the journey that will bring her more and more happiness everyday in her life. I have only experienced that feeling a few times in my life, when I baptized my brother Tanner, when I did baptism in the temple a few weeks before I left. It is such an amazing feeling, and you can definately feel the power and spirit of God in the symbolic ordinance to follow him and to be born again. I am so excited for Daiane! Also for George, her boyfriend. It was such an amazing experience, and I thank Heavenly Father for allowing me to share that special time with them.
The Church is true, we all know it. We can feel the power and spirit of God in our lives, and if we cant feel, we know something is missing. I pray that everyone will seek the Lord, and be willing to do anything that he wants you to do. Even if you dont know why you are doing it, or you get an answer, and you follow it, but dont know right away if it is the right thing. Joseph Smith saw God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ then had 3 years where God tested him, and left him alone. Sometimes in our life we will recieve an answer, follow it and then doubt, because the consequences are hard. When Lehi sent his sons to get the plates, Sariah began to complain to her husband Lehi, because she thought her sons were in the hands of Laban, and they were going to die in the Dessert. Sometimes in our lives we feel simply dont know what the Lord has in store. What trials he will bless us with to help us learn, or what blessings he will give us so that we might learn and grow as well. I love you all, and hope that we can all remember to put the lord first and to be diligent in our obedience. I am so blessed to be on a mission serving the Lord. I love the people here, and am happier than I have ever been in my life. I never want to leave. haha, seriously
Elder Halls
