February 26, 2014

Oi!

Didn't get transferred, so Sister Acosta and I will continue to bring the city of Sousa its truth for the next 6 weeks!

We witnessed a miracle this week on Saturday, the day of Victor's baptism.  Victor is 12 years old and spends a lot of time with a recent convert family.  When we asked him if he wanted to be baptized at the beginning of the week he told us yes and that he wanted to be baptized this Saturday! 

At 6 pm on Saturday, one hour before Victor's baptism, Sister Acosta called Juliana (recent convert who is basically Victor's mother, seeing that he doesn't have the best family and spends a lot of time at her house) to see if all was well and if everyone was ready for the baptism.  Juliana told us "tudo bem" and told us that Victor was so excited!  Three minutes later, she called us back and told us that Victor's father was drunk and would not let him leave the house to be baptized even though he had already given Victor permission to do this. (This is a man who has broken some serious commandments when drunk).

Sister Acosta and I were horrified.  We quickly said a prayer and then raced out the door with full intention to go to Victor's house and bring him to his baptism.  We stopped at the church to drop off some stuff.  The whole time my heart was in a mode of constant prayer that if it was His will, the Lord would prepare a way for Victor to make it to his baptism and be baptized tonight.  When we got to the church, the Elders were already there preparing the font. 

Right after we told them about the situation we were in, the phone rang.  It was Juliana.  She told us that after Victor's father had told him he could not go to his baptism tonight, Victor started crying really hard.  After seeing his son weep so passionately about this cause, Victor's father finally gave Victor permission to go to the church to be baptized tonight.  The second Sister Acosta got off the phone and explained what had happened, I felt a great surge of relief and joy.  I immediately walked into the nearest room, pretty much fell onto my knees, and said a prayer of gratitude to the Lord. 

When Victor arrived at his baptism all of us were so excited and happy for him.  His baptism was very special and wonderful.   I know the Lord's hand is in all things and that the Spirit had softened the heart of Victor's father and removed the stumbling block in Victor's path so that he could follow the example of the Savior and be baptized tonight by a worthy Priesthood holder in the same manner that Christ was baptized when he lived on this earth.  It just goes to show that the adversary works especially hard to stop those who are closest to finding and fulfilling truth. But I saw firsthand tonight that when one's heart is in the right place, the Lord will provide a way.

On Sunday, at one of the Elder's baptisms that day, Meiri (a recent convert) brought her 9 year-old nephew, Everton, to see it.  After the baptism, Everton told Meiri he wanted to be baptized.

Everton: Eu quer ser batizado.

Meiri: Você quer ser batizado so por entrar na piscina tomar banho?

Everton: Eu quer ser batizado por que eu quer ser um servo de Deus!

Translation:

Everton: I want to be baptized.

Meiri: Do you want to be baptized just so you can go in the pool and take a shower?

Everton: I want to be baptized because I want to be a servant of God!

Cutest thing ever said.  I wish more people could have that childlike innocence and strength.  He is definitely on the Lord's side and has a baptismal date for this Saturday!

Q [from Ashley Dyer's dad]: How is your health – are you eating more like you said last week? Have you noticed a difference in your energy level?

A [from Ashley Dyer]: si.  Although for some reason I have been craving gatorade lately

Q: Can you get Gatorade in Sousa?

A: No.  You can't get gatorade here.

Q: Mom sent you some Thai curry mix so hopefully that will be appetizing for you and your companion. Is there any spicy food there?

A: you have to put spicy sauce on to make it spicy

Q: Are people football crazy in Sousa? I saw that there is a football club there (professional).

A: si.  si. I walk past it everyday.  Although when there's a futibol game it's not very safe to walk by.  There are always a bunch of police cars there but you can definitely smell the drugs

Q: Is there any instability / political disturbance going on where you are?

A: não sei.