Week Thirty-Eight

"This week was great! it was an incredible demonstration of faith, diligence, and reliance on the lord. my new companion is great, he´s a quiet guy from João Pessoa, but he works hard and once he starts talking theres know stopping him! he´s a great Élder though and we´re looking forward to a lot of sucess together. He and i have a goal to baptise weekly here in Resende, heres what happened!

Last week we had a non member show up to church. his names Simão(Simon), a young guys whos actually known the church and atended sacrament meeting since 2009. we actually thought that he was a member at first, he came dressed nicely and was quoting President Monson... we met with him after the meeting and set goals with him to be baptised the following sunday(02/10/2013). We soon figured out however why he had taken so long to commit to baptism... he´s got a couple some worthiness issues, but ive never seen such faith in someone, especially a non member! we´re doing everything we can to make sure hes completely prepared for baptism, but we were pretty bummed that we wouldn´t be dressing in white this sunday. Thats when we met his little sister, Maria Luisa! Shes probably the smartest girl ive ever met, she grasps eternal truths, asks meaningful questions, and is really invovled in our lessons. sometimes i feel as if she should be the one teaching me... we really felt like she was ready for baptism so we went forth with it. what a spiritual meeting! theres nothing more indescribable than the feeling of raising your arm to the square in a baptisimal font. this work is incredible!! i love being in the service of the lord.

quick updates on the other investigators!

François- looks like he´s been avoiding us, we never had the chance to sit down with him and his girlfriend so looks like the devils following up with them faster than we can. we keep passing by though, if we down contact him soon we´ll have to cut him.

Talita- still having troubles with her husband, but we´re still with her helping her to build the faith necessary for baptism.

Paola- shes doing great but we´re having troubles getting her family to church. we´re marking a family night with them though so hopefully she´ll have the family support she needs!

William- went to Curitiba for carnaval, hopefully when he gets back we´ll be able to get him in the water for a baptism!

Quick spiritual thought- DON´T EVER QUIT! The Lord knows what our strengths are and will always bless us in times of need! "

-Elder Kelland Hansen