Hey, everybody! God
is good! And so was this week! J I baptized a woman last Saturday, and it was
super special. She is the mother of two,
has a good husband, and she is setting the example for her family. Her story:
she has a sister in the other ward, and for some time now she’s been
visiting that ward with her sister. So
what she needed, more than anything, was a friend in our ward, connections,
etc., to have the desire to switch over [members of the church attend the ward
within their prescribed geographical area].
And now, we experienced a miracle.
When we first arrived for her baptism, there was no one there. We went
upstairs to find her some baptismal
clothing (a white jumpsuit), and we discovered the entire Relief Society from our
ward finishing a meeting! J We invited
them all to come downstairs and watch the baptism, and show their support, and they all came. It was perfect! The new member met the Relief Society
Presidency, and many, many new friends, and other women who will help her with
her kids, etc. It was exactly what she needed – such a tender
mercy. J Her husband came to the baptism, and attended
church the next day to watch the confirmation.
He really liked it, and he felt the Spirit.
That same Sunday, another one of our investigators, with
tears in her eyes, finally made the decision to go to church. She loved it and
felt the Spirit, and said she is going back!
J The recent converts I’ve been able to work
with are getting stronger and stronger [in their faith in Christ], and they’re
changing more and more [putting off the “natural” or worldly self, and becoming
more Christ-centered]. It is seriously
miraculous to see.
And! I hear that my
twin sister Emily is still keeping on, keeping on in the MTC in the Dominican Republic ! J Like always, I’m so proud of her.
The work here is progressing so well! It’s Great
(with a capital G)!
So…the night after the baptism of this woman, Elder Nielsen
and I were about to do another visit before returning home, but just as we were
about to enter, we got a call from some members who said that the woman who was
baptized a few hours ago was suddenly super sick – and that we needed to help
her, to get to her fast! Without a second thought, Elder Nielsen and I
ran (literally sprinted) twenty minutes to the other side of our area to her
house (we were half expecting to cast out devils that had gotten hold of out
convert), but when we arrived, we found her, her husband, her two children, her
sister and other family members and friends all smiling and looking perfectly
healthy. They started to laugh as they
revealed some pizza and soda.
Uh-huh…they had tricked us to get us to come to a party celebrating her
baptism! And they knew we wouldn’t have
come if we had known it was a party! It
was kinda cute, a little funny, but mostly…painful! [That was a long, frantic run to her
house!]. Some people! J Baha! But the pizza here is really good. There are like a million different types,
too.
Okay, one last bit of interesting news: We had a temple trip scheduled for this last
week, but President Martins called the zone leaders to let us know that as a
mission, we weren’t worthy to go to the temple.
He said that individually, there are many of us who are clean / temple
worthy, but as a mission, we need to
be more obedient. Wow! It was a shocker, but I think it’s cool we
are going to be “raising the bar.” Elder
Nielsen and I have already made a list of the few rules we weren’t fulfilling
with exactness, and started working on them.
We can already see a difference in our work. Obedience = blessings. Just be obedient, people! This life is really simple: obey the
commandments, and live the Gospel of Jesus Christ. J
It feels like we’re starting a new phase for the Mission Sao
Paulo Norte. J
Well, until next week, that’s all for now, folks.
Yours truly, Elder David Bean
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