"O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh ... Yea, I know that God will give liberally to him that asketh, ... therefore I will lift up my voice to thee ... my rock and mine everlasting God. Amen." (2 Nephi 4: 34-35)

Monday, February 8, 2016

November 30, 2015

Hey Everybody!

This week was tense! This week was the week of the baptism of Cristiane and her family, and let me tell you it was not a smooth ride. From the begining Cristiane always doubted whether she really deserved to be baptised or not because she didn´t think she was fully prepared or worthy of this convenant. From all the time that my companion and I spent working with her and her family we had no doubt that she truly was prepared we just needed to help her realize the same thing.

During the week we went to her house with an older couple in the ward, who recently returned from a mission. They both have incredible testimonies of the gospel and an amazing conversion story. When we arrived at Cristiane´s house we could already tell that she was a little anxious and as we got to talking we realzed it was becuase she didn´t feel that she was ready for the baptism this Saturday. Irmão Antonio and Irmã Adarcy bore testimony to her that baptism was the next step and covenant that her and her family need to make with God, and that she should let nothing stop her. Their testimonies were exactly what she needed and at the end of the lesson she felt that she should continue with the baptism. So Saturday I returned with another missionary to do the baptismal interviews and have everything ready to go for the baptism Sunday. (we switched the baptism because there was a conference on Saturday and none of the members would have been able to attend) But when we arrived there, Elder Juliani and i could feel that something wasn´t right. As we entered and started talking with Cristiane she confided to us again that she didn´t feel prepared to be baptised and that she didn´t want to be baptised the next day.

When I heard her say that, my heart cringed, but I waited a moment and bore testimony to her about the importance of baptism and that unfortunately before baptism the advesary will do all that he can to stop us from making this decision. Then I suggested that even though she didn´t want to be baptised that it would still be a good experience to do the baptismal interview. She accepted, but mentioned again that she didn´t feel prepared. She and Elder Juliani went in to the house to do the interview. An hour later they came out and Cristiane said that she would be baptised the next day!!!

I´m not entirely sure what happened during that interview, but from what Elder Juliani said, it wasn´t him who did the interview but God himself with angels watching. It really was an incredible experience that strengthened my testimony about the power and influence of the spirit. Other than that unfortunately I have bad news. During the week we went to visit Aldair and lediane and found out that lediane tried to commit suicide and is in the hospital.

Other than that i don´t have any more information but Elder Cruz and i will return to see how they are and if we can help them. I love all of you and hope you guys have an incredible week!