Things with James are going great! He had his baptismal interview yesterday and passed with flying colors!
Dad asked what the qualifications in the mission are for baptism. There is no set number here that people have to go to church before they get baptized but it usually takes 3 months. President wants them going usually for a while before Baptism. So we were worried about that with James because he asked to be baptized this fast. But President said that sometimes we find the elect and Sister Silva said to just throw him in the water haha! This was after the Gospel Principles class last week which he got totally into. President and Sister when they go to this ward always stay in the class and it is awesome to see how President teaches. And it was extra cool to have James there because he loves getting into it and asks awesome questions!
The class was about the gift of the Holy Ghost. James after a few minutes just raised his hand and said, "I want the gift, how do I get it?" We hadn't gotten to that point in the lessons yet... So it was great to have that class! Then at the end James asked if he could say the closing prayer, his second week at church. In the prayer he said how thankful he was for finding the true Church of Jesus Christ and for the opportunity to be baptized.
So if everything goes as planned the baptism is tonight at 7, so in 4 hours. Super happy for him! He is going to get baptized with another Haitian named Marcelus who Stahn and Machin were teaching. It is really good because there is one other Haitian member here and so they have become good friends really quickly. Thanks for all the prayers!
But this week the new missionaries arrived and the old ones all went home. Buck went home! It was definitely a wake up moment! We ended up not being able to take him to the airport because we were in apresentation for the new missionaries and their trainers still but he was with us for a few days before. We finally got a bigger group again. The last few groups were 2 or 3 missionaries but this one was a group of ten. With only one american. Brazil is taking over!
Elder Cárdenas and Sáenz went home as well. I have been with them here for about 7 months as well. Crazy how things come to and end so fast.
Aidukaitis' secretary called President on Monday and told him the Mission Tour was cancelled which as strangely as it sounds made me super excited! that means that the zone conferences are back on and the training that is planned sounds really fun. So we will se how it went next week.
One thing I have learned with Elder Salomão is never be afraid or ashamed of our testimonies. One of his favorite scriptures is Matthew 10:32 and he is very good at it. And it is making the mission a lot more exciting and bold! We had lunch with a member the other day and their non member mom was there and Solamão just asked her in a super like he couldnt understand it way, "why arent you a member of the church yet? This is the only true church of Jesus Christ on the earth and you have to be baptized in this one or you won't be saved." Yeah she was pretty taken back by that one but the Lunch message ended up being awesome and she accepted visits from the sisters in her city.
I love what Elder Callister says in his Consecrated Missionary talk. "Sometimes we are so worried about offending people that we forget about saving them!" That is so true. We don't pass through a first lesson without telling people that this is the only true church on the earth and they have to get baptized or they wont enter into the kingdom of God. And obviously you gotta do it the warmest way possible but we gotta warn everyone! This is the only true church. Christ said so in the first Section of Doctrine and Covenants! And it weeds out the elect from the prideful very quickly!
As we have been putting Presidents invite to the test, God has been working miracles for us out here! He gives new people to teach daily and out of the blue! 6 months ago none of us here believed we could find new people to teach daily here in the center but know its happening! As soon as we show our faith, God works miracles.
But I love you all so much and hope everything is going awesome! Have a great week!
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