BATISMOS!

Hello Everyone.

This week didn´t have as many crazy stories. So sorry. But, we baptized two men yesterday, and we have four more people scheduled for next week, so that´s awesome. I will tell you the stories of our awesome batisms. That word there is what happens when you try and say "baptism" and "batismo" at the same time...

Leandro: In reality, Leandro found us; we didn´t find him. We were walking one night and he came up to us and asked us what we were all about. He didn´t go to any church, wasn´t very religious, and admitted that his life pretty much just involved college and parties. BUT. Now he says his life has changed completely. The first time we taught him, we taught the Word of Wisdom. He was very clear that he did not think he would be able to stop drinking coffee. I don´t think he really wanted to stop drinking coffee either. But we called him a few days later and he was super excited to tell us that he hadn´t been drinking any coffee. He hadn´t wanted to drink any, and he was super happy and he didn´t know why. Don´t worry. We explained why. Because he had found the gospel of course. :) Anyway. We kept going and taught him all the lessons and he got baptized yesterday! Also. He is from farther north and he took a trip home for a few days to visit his family. When he came back he gave us "kits". Kits full of awesome native garb. I´ll have to send a picture sometime, because it is awesome. I have a skirt, shirt, dress, headscarf, giant necklace, and an awesome purse. It´s super cool. I love my kit. :)

Lauro: In reality, Lauro found us as well. We were walking along his street and we heard someone calling "Oi Sisteres! Sisteres!" It was Lauro. :) He had talked with some Elders before, and there was more to the story, but I didn´t understand the rest. In the end, we taught him, and he got baptized yesterday as well. Actually, he pretty much taught US the lessons. He came to church last week, before we had ever taught him, so we left him with the pamphlet for the Restoration and set up a time to teach it to him. When we got there, he had read the pamphlet, and proceeded to recite and explain everything about the Restoration. We just stared at him in surprise, but that rapidly changed into joy. He was super easy to teach. He is very very very smart. We found out one day that he taught himself English. He speaks better English than I speak Portuguese. And he taught himself by reading books and listening to tapes. How embarrassing is that? But he assures me that I speak very well. He is super sweet, and SUPER excited about being baptized and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. I´ve definitely never met anybody like Lauro.

OH  MY GOODNESS! I forgot the crazy story of the week! I learned just what it would be like to live in the zombie apocalypse. I can´t remember if that´s how you spell that word in English, but I´m sure you get the gist. We had a conference for just the sisters this week, and we were taking the train back with a bunch of other sisters. We were in the back of the car, and all the other people sitting there were like, "You have to go out the first door in the front". And we were super confused as to why, but they kept saying it, so we kind of drifted towards the front. As we pulled into the station they became much more insistent saying "You´re going to fall!" I was a little upset that they didn´t have much faith in my ability to stand as the train was braking. Surely it wouldn´t brake that hard. Then they said "They´re going to hurt you!", and I was like uh....what? Then I looked out the window. It was so scary. We were slowing down in the station, and there was a mob of people outside. They´re weren´t just standing there, patiently waiting to board the train....they were screaming and rioting and pounding on the doors and windows. Us sisters wasted no time in getting to the front of the car, but even still we almost died. As soon as the doors opened, men flooded into the the train and we were swept up in the sea of bodies. I body surfed to the door. It was kind of fun, but mostly terrifying. I was holding on to the bars that they have up by your head so I could guide my surfing towards the exit. In the end I got of the train without injury. Other sisters were not so lucky....One came out bleeding. Another got trampled. She was wearing a bright blue dress, and I saw here fly through the air as I was body surfing. And all that because these men were fighting over who would get a seat on the train. We are NEVER taking the train at that time again.

That´s all. Time to go to Sister Sorensen´s goodbye party. :) Have a good week!

Sister Peart