Miracles - June 23

HELLO LOVED ONES!!! This past week was incredible - we literally saw so many miracles here in the work.

We have been teaching someone here for the past three months. His name is Joseph and he was baptized into the Universal Church. For those of you who don´t know, the Universal Church is very popular here in Brazil. They are known for two main things - asking for a lot of money, and doing miracles in front of the congregation every week. Joseph was a very active member in this church when we started teaching him. We started teaching him because he is engaged to a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (our church! :)). On the first visit, we invited him to pray about the Book of Mormon, and to be baptized when he received an answer. The incredible part is that he had already dreamed that he found a golden book in his closet, and then a week later, he heard the lesson of the Restoration from other missionaries and the story of Joseph Smith and the gold plates. He therefore ALREADY KNEW that the Book of Mormon is true. Whoa.

Well, the lesson was a CRASH AND BURN when we explained about the one true baptism... It was terrible. I think it was the second lesson that Sister Saavedra had taught in the field, and it was the first time that she invited someone to be baptized. Basically, we almost offended his whole entire family and told them (very gently but firmly) that the only true baptism is in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, because it is the only church with the Priesthood authority of God. Even though it made the situation super uncomfortable, it is truth and had to be said... It was the most tense lesson that I have ever been a part of!!! Fortunately, we didn´t get into an argument or anything, but the results of that first lesson were not great.

After that lesson, every lesson we had with Joseph was either without results or turned into a debate... The last time that we taught Joseph was about three weeks ago, and it ended in the same tense manner, with everyone walking away a bit disheartened. Sister Saavedra and I felt very sad because we have grown to care about him a lot, and the member that he is engaged to. However, we never stopped praying for him. We just kept praying that one day, he would open his heart and feel the Spirit. In the meantime, it seemed as though he would never leave the Universal Church, EVER, and his heart was officially closed.

We left our house early last Sunday morning in order to walk to church with one of our investigators. All went well, and we brought her to the right classroom when we got to the church. On our way to the classroom, the second couselor in the bishopric said to us, ``Sisters, there is going to be a baptism this week?´´ And we said, ``Maybe next week!´´ talking about the investigator that was with us at the time. Then he said, ``No, Joseph is going to be baptized this week! On Saturday!´´ WHAT!?!?!?

Then, ten minutes later, Joseph walked up to us and said, ``Sisters, my baptism is going to be this Saturday at 2, okay?´´...... ``OKAY! CONGRATULATIONS, JOSEPH!!!!´´

So what happened!? What changed!? Apparently, the bishop had talked to Joseph a week or so ago for TWO HOURS. The bishop talked about what goals we have for the future with our families. He said that, if Joseph really wanted to marry in the temple and have an eternal family, he would have to be baptized into the true church of Jesus Christ. Only faithful members of the church can enter into the temple and be sealed as a family. This made Joseph think, and he decided to be baptized!!! After faithfully attending our church and institute for the past three months, I think that he slowly started to see the truth.

This was just the first miracle! The other miracles are that Joseph invited his family to attend his baptism! Whoa. That surprised me a lot. His parents are even more firm in the Universal Church. However, they came! They came to the baptism and everything went so well!!! I was really nervous that someone would say something on accident that would offend them, but they had a great experience. Joseph´s mom even bore her testimony after the baptism. One more miracle is that she told Joseph that, now that he was baptized into this church, he should ONLY go to this church. Whoa! Another thing that we did not expect! Joseph will be so blessed as he continues on this path. He is the most faithful person that I have met on my mission so far.

One of the most tender parts of Joseph´s baptismal service was that one of our recent converts, Marcos, bore his testimony. Marcos was baptized just three months ago, but he talked about how his family is going to be eternal now! (background info - his son just got back from his mission four months ago and is our ward mission leader). And so, Sister Saavedra and I were overflowing with the Spirit and happiness, because we have seen in this area at least two families that will have mother and father sealed in the temple for time and all eternity. Wow. Like I said for all of the other baptisms, any trial that we go through on our missions is worth it in order to be a part of these moments when we can see a family stepping closer to eternity together.

I am so grateful to be here, as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a representative of Jesus Christ, and among the amazing people of Brazil. All of your prayers help us so much every day. :) I love you all!

Sister Williams