November 9, 2009

This week was crazy! I think it has been the craziest week of the mission. Last week I was telling you that it was looking like the family wasn't interested in the church very much anymore. We couldn't even get them to church. Well, last Monday, we went to their house and knocked on their door, unexpectedly. Their daughter Tánia answered and said her parents weren't home. We were feeling bad, because we knew that we had their baptismal date set for that weekend, the 7th. So we started heading back, and we saw the parents Silvino, and Seseltina walking together towards the house. They were just on a walk. They let us come to their house and talk to them! So we sat down with them and found out that the reason they didn't go to church and hadn't seemed interested was because Seseltina had been really "confused" lately. We started talking and I didn't really know what to talk about, but I just bore my testimony that I knew that living the gospel would bless their lives no matter what. I told them that if they would live the gospel, that Seseltina would start to get better. She is still pretty ill, but seems to be really interested in coming to church lately and getting baptized. It was a really good experience, and after that night, we knew we could get them baptized. So this week we worked with them a lot. We taught them almost every day. We found out that Silvino and Seseltina aren't married, so they can't be baptized. One of their sons still hasn't come to church because he has soccer games every Sunday. But the other 2, Paulino and Tánia were still able to. So we taught them the rest of the lessons, got them interviewed and baptized them yesterday after church. It was a way good experience and went very well for how quickly
it was put together and pretty disorganized it was. A lot of people showed up too, and we didn't even get it announced in church until the day of. A lot of friends came who we have taught as well. Me and Elder Thomas had to take up most of the program, since we made it the day of as well. He gave 2 talks, ha ha. And we both sang a duet. Paulino chose me to baptize him. It was way cool. My first time! He actually ended up doing a back-flop into the water on purpose. There is a lot we still need to teach him. Ha ha. President Barros baptized Tánia. It was an awesome experience. My favorite baptism so far. The spirit was there, even though he entered the water pretty rowdily. It was awesome. I will attach some pictures. Anyways, I am sure you are surprised that we had a baptism, since last week I told you we weren't doing too well. Everything has been going awesome this week. We have found a lot of good people to teach who are ready to accept the gospel. It is still hard for me and Elder Thomas to teach, but I think we are getting better. The weather here has been pretty cold. It has been raining the past few days. Our house is way cold and we only have this one space-heater. I am loving being comps with Elder Thomas. He is way cool. We have a lot of fun trying to talk to people and not understanding them. He is way cool. We also had Zone Conference this week. It was good. Elder Kapishky from the Seventy came and spoke to us. (I don't know how to spell his name.) He is the the Area President of Europe. He is actually from Germany, but speaks flawless English, even without an accent. He served his mission in Germany too. I don't know when. I was just thinking that maybe dad knew him. That's about it about here. I didn't get your letter last week mom. I just barely read it. I don't know what happened. I still got dad's letter last week though, and this week. It sounds like everything is going way awesome at home. Sounds like Kaenan had an awesome halloween. Is he getting into X-men or something? What's his latest obsession? Halloween is pretty lame here. They have it, but not a lot of people do it. And their costumes are lame. We actually had a few teenagers knock on our door. They say "doces ou dinheiro," which meens "candy or money." I told them we didn't have any. Later I realized that I actually had some candy left over from a package I got, but I forgot. That's too bad about Uncle Richard. I hope he gets better. He's still got to serve a mission in Brazil, right? I forgot to give Sister Torgan his address. I hope I remember next time I see her. Well I love you all and hope you are all doing well. You are in my prayers. Tenho saudades! Tchau!
Elder Walker