That's right. After an absolutely crazy week and a crazy story (refer to the voicemail in this email or the next one), Marcio, Jucelina, and Berenice were baptized this weekend! I had the honor of actually baptizing all three of them, and it was absolutely great! Even if the rest of the week was a bit difficult, and the journey to baptize them was ridiculous, they finally got there! Marcio, after the baptism, immediately told me that he had never felt this good in his life, and that enduring through all the opposition (there was a LOT) was worth it. It was absolutely incredible to see this family come to Christ, and I now have seen the joy that coming to Christ brings to a family. Absolutely phenomenal.
Other top investigators (because they're not investigators anymore!)
Douglas and Jessica: We talked to Douglas only on Sunday. He said that all of the personal issues between him and his mom have been resolved, and that now, she just wants him to know the church better before he gets baptized. A decent desire, so much as she isn't just trying to get him to forget about church. We're gonna try to talk to her again this week. But, he and Jessica were both at church this week, so that's good!
Joao (New!): Holy crap, this is awesome. Elder Hatch found him with our ward mission leader on Tuesday. He said that Joao, a middle-aged, divorced, and currently unemployed man, had a lot of interest in the gospel, and invited us back. When we taught him the second time, without hesitation, he accepted a baptismal date for the 18th. He said that he had a dream Tuesday night, after praying to know if this message was true, and in this dream, he was in front of Jesus Christ, and Jesus told him that he needed to listen to the three young men that would visit him on Friday (even though there were two of them on Tuesday, there were 3 of us on Friday,) be baptized in the church that they were presenting, and become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ. He came to church on Sunday, and loved it. Now, we're just working with him to clarify some of his former beliefs (we don't worship Mary, our prayers aren't repetitions, etc.). But he's incredibly well-versed in the Bible, incredibly receptive, and so cool. Pray for him.
Fransisco (Maybe new? I don't remember): Fransisco, a married older man of probably 70 years, has been to church a couple times, and expressed his desire to stay with this church. We talked to him last week before the baptism of Marcio and his family, and he and his wife Darci want to join a church together (she was a Jehovah's witness, but never baptised and Fransisco never liked that church.) So he accepted a date for the 18th, but he also wants to go slow. So now we're just working to help him. He is a kind and very funny old man, and we have good hopes for him.
Other notes:
-I'm a bit under the weather right now. It keeps on switching here from scorching hot, to somewhat-cold rain (not cold like I hear the US is experiencing right now.) So with this, I'm a bit sick today, but I'm still rocking and rolling.
-Our New year was pretty good. We had a dinner with a member and his family, and after that went home, planning to sleep at 10:30. But Brazil has a tradition to light off a crap-load of fireworks at midnight on new years. So we stayed up for an hour, watching and listening to those, ringing in 2014. I have a cool video of it from our window, but the file is huge, so you'll just have to ask to see it when I get home. I might have a picture. I don't remember.
Alright, that's been my awesome week! Thank you all so much for your support! I know that this church is true, and that miracles truly do exist! Have faith in God! And also, write to me!
Elder Youd
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