Queridíssima Família,
I know I say this a lot but this was for sure one of the coolest weeks on the mission. Every time I say that it means SO much more than the last time haha. This week I really learned the value of the baptismal invitation and the power of my calling. The way we´ve been doing things lately has been just pushing people to go to church then dropping then afterwards because they can´t be baptised the next week. It sounds awful, but it´s pretty understandable here. For two weeks we´ve just been running behind people, hoping to mark baptisms in church for people who go.. but no one went. I realized that we aren´t here to bring people to church, we are here to call people to repentence and baptism. The one thing we changed this week was inviting EVERYONE we meet on the street to be baptized, and miracles happened. We had five people in church yesterday and they were the people we invited to be baptized. Alcicleia may or may not be as elect as we thought, but I think the reason she wasn´t there yesterday was because we had fear to invite her to be baptized the first time we talked. But just let me count some of the miracles:
Jofesa and Maria: Josefa has a alcoholic son who we see on the street every day and finally we talked to her while she was sitting outside and she said she really wants help for her son and to come closer to God. She is actually a little bit crazy and I don´t think she understands that we aren´t evangelicals, but we taught her the first lesson with her daughter Maria. Maria is the reason we met Josefa. Throughout the lesson Josefa kept getting way off track talking about nothing and Maria kept stopping her and saying ´keep going, I want to know who this prophet is´´. It was kind of funny, but Maria really does want to find an answer. They both came to church and Maria was very very engaged in the Gospel Principals class, marking pages in her Book of Mormon for later and flipping through the class manual. When we asked her to be baptized she just looked at us for a second and then said ´´of course, that´s what I have to do.´´ She didn´t accept for this Sunday yet but that´ll change :)
Luzinete: A referral with a family! We had a really inspired lesson where we just talked about eternal families. We almost didn´t invite her to be baptized, but I just whipped out my little picture with Christ and John the Baptist and told her that her family can be eternal through living the Gospel and baptism is the first step. She accepted with a date, this Sunday.
I don´t have enough time to talk about the rest of the baptisms we marked but I am literally addicted now to whipping out the baptism card. This is my mission. This is what I´m here to do, and there are power in the words `Will you follow Jesus Christ?´
I have learned a lot about inspiration. I´ve always been a hesitator, and the adversary knows that, but I´ve learned that if it invites others to come unto Christ, just DO it. You won´t know if it was inspired until you do it. One of the assistants and one of our LZ´s came and worked in our area and asked where they should go contacting, since we recieve revelation for our area. I wasn´t feeling particularly inspired but Sister Seal and I thought the same place and they went there and found a woman who wants to be baptized.
Só vai, só batize! The adversary wants to block every baptism possible. The Lord promised to prepare people in our path. My testimony of obedience has also increased a lot. Our zone goal is 40 baptisms, a goal our LZ´s prayed about. God prepared at LEAST 40 people. Whether or not we will baptize these people is on us and our willingness to do it the Lord´s way. And it´s always the little things, like studying dressed in the full missionary standard, or always speaking the language. And obedience always leads to charity. If you want to have charity for someone, serve them. Anything but exact obediece shows that you care more about yourself than that person and you will not develop charity.
It´s just insane how much happens in a week. I almost forgot about the dream I had at the beginning of the week. I had a dream that a whole bunch of Sisters were sent home just because we weren´t helping the mission enough. It was a very long, real dream and I remember everything from the plane ride home to arriving at our house. I realized I hadn´t accomplished yet what I was here to do, not even close. I woke up in tears and since then I haven´t even had the slightest inkling of a desire to be back home. Not that I don´t love you guys or look forward to seeing you again, but I have reached the point where I just wish it would all slow down. My heart is here.
I really want to thank you, my family, for so many things. You guys are awesome, you guys are batizadores. d I´m just so grateful for the family I have. Mom, you are the best missionary mom who ever lived. You did your part and sent 6 children on missions, and you continue to support the missionaries in the ward and your own kids in the best way you can. Dad, this country is a part of me now like it is for you, and I´m so glad we have that. If you have music you want to send me, you can scan it and email it. You guys were right about pretty much everything you taught me growing up. Except I still should´ve have a horse ;) Joking, kind of..
Pray for this mission, pray for the Fort Collins Mission, the Macon Georgia Mission, pray that the missionaries are kept from temptation. Pray for the people I mentioned above and also Antonio, Rafael, and Paulo who will also hopefully be baptized in the next two weeks. Pray for Jaqueline. She is being an example to the whole ward. We do not have enough time in this life to not show our love for other people. She hasn´t moved yet and I don´t know when she will. I forgot to tell Dad that she got really emotional when he sang that song. That was really cool for me that you got to talk to her.
Te amo demais!
Sister Moore
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