Week 61 - 14 November 2011

Hey there família! This week we had a Zone Conference with Presidente Campos and 4 zones here on Tuesday. It was super good, and it lasted alllll day haha. It started at 8 in the morning and got done at about 7:30. And the cool thing is that we had to leave at about 5 in the morning to get there, then after we had to travel back home late at night still haha.  I’m really learning how to love traveling being here in Capanema haha.  OH and I got the package you guys sent me at the conference. Loved the Goldfish and the Christmas lights are already put up. :) Man, I love the Christmas spirit.

So this week we had a baptism of a 21 year old girl.  We ran into her on the street about 2 weeks ago, then we started teaching her, and she really showed the desire to change and be baptized. She was definitely a person that was prepared by the Lord for us. Her story is pretty cool too. She told us that about a week before she ran into us on the street, she was getting pizza with a ton of friends, and the subject of religion came up. They started talking and the subject of the "Mormons" came up and what everyone there thought was true about the church. Of course, she heard tons of rumors and lies and crazy stuff about the church, but this sparked an interest in her to actually find out for herself if these things were true or false. So she prayed, and she gained the desire to change as a person too, like stop doing things of the world, and turn more to God and become a better person. Then all of a sudden, one day we were walking on the street, and she was on a motorcycle with a recent convert here, and we stopped them to talk. Then we got her address and marked a visit to clear up her questions and teach her. She immediately accepted baptism and really felt the spirit. So then she began to study the Book of Mormon and Bible and started to really pray and ponder and ask God for help. She gained a testimony real quick and with her own will, changed her life, started living the commandments, and began going to church, even with all of her friends saying bad things about everything. She told us later that she recognized it was really the Lord that had put her in our pathway just at the right time when she was ready to hear about the gospel. This experience is really cool because it also strengthened my testimony that the Lord is really working through us to help and bless the people who are ready and prepared to accept the gospel in their lives. She is what you can say, a little "popular" with friends and stuff, and even with these temptations, she is going firm and strong in the gospel.  She’s also bringing in other friends for us to teach too because she’s seeing just how happy all of this is making her.

Thanks for the support ya´ll.  Love you and until next week!

Élder Andrus

Baptism 11-12-11