This week we completed a family!! Tiago joined his wife Bia in the church, entering into the waters of baptism. They have a little son named Kauã, who has the personality of a little choate!! I love this family to pieces. his conversion was incredible! over this last transfer Élder Branco and i have been working with Tiago to aline himself with the standards of the church. with diligence and patience he was able to confide in Christ to prepare himself for baptism, so when we invited Tiago to make a covenant, he readily accepted. when we returned, however, he was very unsure about the baptism. His father is coming into town this week, and they have the habit of sitting down to have a drink to pass their time. Not wanting to dissapoint his father, he didnt know if he could follow up with the commitment to follow Christ. We felt inspired to open up to first nephi where the legend says "i will go and i will do..." interesting thing about that story is when he was ordered to kill laban. Suddenly Nephi´s conviction falters to keep his commitment to the lord. We explained to Tiago that he like nephi had the conviction to follow the lord when he accepted his baptism date. he then like nephi ran into a trail of faith. It wasnt easy for Nephi to follow the lord in that moment, but he did it and was immensely blessed, we felt inspired to promise Tiago similar blessings according to his faith. Tiago gained the courage to call his father and tell him that he no longer drinks, and this was the fathers reply,"well, if my son doesn´t drink, then neither do I!" What a miracle!!
Tiago wanted it to be a quiet affair, so we then rounded up his close friends and family for the baptism... at 10:30 at night! Many missionaries would go crazy to be out of bed at this hour, but it was a testimony to me that missionaries need to stop being pharisees adoring thier handbooks and start serving Christ. Christ commanded us to baptise, not to pass numbers and pass time. once we open our eyes to the work and glory of God, baptisms flow! I may say this almost every time but it was one of the most spiritual baptism i´ve seen. He´s been fighting for this baptism for three years now, im so glad to glad to see this miracle come to pass. what a humbling experience. Im getting to know Christ here in rio!!
Our missions dividing this next week. Because i was transfered i´ll be staying here in Rio. But so much is changing and the work is evloving so quickly that im looking forward to finish out my mission here. We´re here establishing the temple´s foundation. we´ve been called to be masons, and these families are paving the path to eternal blessings for all saints here in this city of God. More miracles to come!!
PS I was talking to Élder Asto last night in my sleep... IN SPANISH!!!!!! wop wop!!"
-Elder Kelland Hansen
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