This week, for the first time ever, I had the opportunity to baptize 2 people from the same family! A mother and her 10 year-old son. Also, another first -- these 2 people are the first people that I've ever baptized that I met just stopping them on the road to talk with them! All of the other people that I've baptized, I've met through members of the church (referrals), and so I'd kinda lost faith in the whole idea of "street contacts" and "door knocking"... but, this time, it worked out! It was such a great experience to teach this family. The lady said that she had seen missionaries walking around and talking with people and visiting people, and for a while, she had been thinking "Why don't these missionaries stop and talk with me, or visit me?", and just a few weeks later.. we stopped and talked with her! haha! I thought that that was really interesting. The Lord is truly preparing people to hear our message, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth in it's original and pure state. Did we just happen to talk with her at exactly the right time? No way! The Lord puts these people in our path, when He sees that we are prepared to open our mouths and share the gospel, and when He sees that the person is ready to hear/receive/accept the gospel.
We visited this mother and son every day this past week, except for Saturday, and helped them to prepare for baptism. She had to give up drinking coffee, which she did every day (and a lot, too!), and she was able to do that after just 2 days! We gave her something to substitute for coffee, which is called "Cevada" here, and I believe is called "Barley" in English, and so she started to drink that. It's very similar to coffee (or, so I've heard), but it doesn't have the bad things in it that coffee has. By the end of the week, they were totally ready, and so they both had their baptismal interview on Friday, and they passed! They were baptized yesterday (Sunday), and it went great. We bought a cake for them, too, because we were really excited/happy for them! One of our investigators makes cakes, and so we asked her to make one for the baptism -- it was really good. Chocolate.. :d ... hah
The only downside, is that now, we have no one left who is progressing, and so we have to start all over again! We do have one girl who is kinda progressing, and we'll be visiting her this week.
I taught the Gospel Principles class yesterday, and it went really well! I love learning/teaching about the basics. :)
One thing that Elder Taraveira told me last night (he lives with me), that a member had told to him, was that the reason that some returned-missionaries end up going inactive or being less-active members of the church, is because when they are released, they go back to being called by their first name, and they forget the name "Elder". If they would remember this name, they would continue strong in the church. But, since some returned-missionaries forget that they were once "Elder", they end up losing sight of the path that they were on. He said to him, "Never forget that your name is 'Elder'. Even after you are released, your name continues to be 'Elder'". He said that he would never forget what that member told him, and now I won't, either. (this goes for those who are or were once 'Sister', too!)
I hope that you all have a great week! I have to get going now.
Tchau! :D
Elder Canto
P.S. Just 9 weeks away from home! I'm still working hard, though! Don't worry! ;)
Our make-shift baptismal font.. haha! The person who is being baptized has to kneel on the bottom, or else it doesn't work out too well! Oh hey -- we're going to be moving to a new building this Sunday! I won't be living in the church anymore );
Another baptism, which happened on Friday :)
P-Day last week on the rocky hill (it's a tourist attraction here!)
Left to right: Me, Elder Riffo (my companion), and Adriano (our Ward Mission Leader)
We visited this mother and son every day this past week, except for Saturday, and helped them to prepare for baptism. She had to give up drinking coffee, which she did every day (and a lot, too!), and she was able to do that after just 2 days! We gave her something to substitute for coffee, which is called "Cevada" here, and I believe is called "Barley" in English, and so she started to drink that. It's very similar to coffee (or, so I've heard), but it doesn't have the bad things in it that coffee has. By the end of the week, they were totally ready, and so they both had their baptismal interview on Friday, and they passed! They were baptized yesterday (Sunday), and it went great. We bought a cake for them, too, because we were really excited/happy for them! One of our investigators makes cakes, and so we asked her to make one for the baptism -- it was really good. Chocolate.. :d ... hah
The only downside, is that now, we have no one left who is progressing, and so we have to start all over again! We do have one girl who is kinda progressing, and we'll be visiting her this week.
I taught the Gospel Principles class yesterday, and it went really well! I love learning/teaching about the basics. :)
One thing that Elder Taraveira told me last night (he lives with me), that a member had told to him, was that the reason that some returned-missionaries end up going inactive or being less-active members of the church, is because when they are released, they go back to being called by their first name, and they forget the name "Elder". If they would remember this name, they would continue strong in the church. But, since some returned-missionaries forget that they were once "Elder", they end up losing sight of the path that they were on. He said to him, "Never forget that your name is 'Elder'. Even after you are released, your name continues to be 'Elder'". He said that he would never forget what that member told him, and now I won't, either. (this goes for those who are or were once 'Sister', too!)
I hope that you all have a great week! I have to get going now.
Tchau! :D
Elder Canto
P.S. Just 9 weeks away from home! I'm still working hard, though! Don't worry! ;)
Our make-shift baptismal font.. haha! The person who is being baptized has to kneel on the bottom, or else it doesn't work out too well! Oh hey -- we're going to be moving to a new building this Sunday! I won't be living in the church anymore );
Another baptism, which happened on Friday :)
P-Day last week on the rocky hill (it's a tourist attraction here!)
Left to right: Me, Elder Riffo (my companion), and Adriano (our Ward Mission Leader)
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