this week was pretty chill, with some disappointments and some miracles. on thursday we did divisions with the zone leaders so that they could do the interview of Hector, and i went to Posta Leiva with Elder Freeman (he's been my zone leader for the past 5 transfers but this was the first time that we did divisions, so that was cool). everything went well, but on saturday i was looking over the baptismal record to make sure that everything was done correctly, and realized that Hector had only turned 8, not 9 as we believed (his birthday was on wednesday), and that the baptism was just going to be a normal baptism and that we didnt have the keys. we called the bishop, explained him everything, told him he was going to have a baptism at 7 and that he needed to get there a bit early to do the interview. the baptism went well, all his family came and some neighbors (sheila and josias) too (who also went to church on sunday; we're going to start teaching them this week). a member who's preparing for the mission got to baptize him, which was a good experience to get him a bit more excited.
we've continued teaching Natanael, who's understanding everything really well. initially, his mom was okay with us teaching him but didnt want him to get baptized until he's 18, but now she's given us permission to baptize him as well. he has recieved a testimony, and sometimes asks hard questions, which is cool cus it shows he's understanding, and meditating on the stuff we teach him. on sunday we went to his house to go to church and his brother told us that he had got tired of waiting for us and had gone alone.
the Villalba family wasnt home at all this week. the last time we taught them was last sunday. we found them once, but they came home from work super tired and asked us to come another day. we went on sunday morning to see if they were gonna go to church and Tania went! it was cool cus even though we hadnt taught her at all during the week, she's really determined to get ready for her baptism.
also another member who moved here recently had given us a reference about a month ago. we went to visit the reference and it was an older lady, named Justina, who is very strong in her church. we taught a bit about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon and she and her son were just full of doubts and objections, so we didnt go to visit her more. but yesterday i was sitting at the piano in sacrament meeting and looked out on the congregation and saw her sitting there, next to the member who had given us the reference! she said she liked the teachings but someone commented to her that she had to get baptized again and she didnt like that. we went to try and teach her in the afternoon and she couldnt cus she was getting ready to go to her church. so we're gonna visit her this week and see if she wants to progress.
it's starting to get a bit colder (but not a whole lot, it's still generally hot) and a lot darker in the evening. on wednesday there's transfers, and a good possibility that i'll get transferred, but i'll find out on tuesday night and you'll find out next monday (to be continued)
i've been trying to teach english to Elder Paredes, and on friday we were eating in a members house and they gave us a ton of food. about three quarters of the way through the meal, he told me (in english) ''I need to take the toilet.'' it was pretty funny. also i've been studying portuguese. i'm reading the Book of Mormon, and understand it all, but i'm pretty sure my pronunciation is terrible
God's ways truly are higher than our ways, and when we do all we can to make our ways more like his ways, and to help others do the same, he truly sends us miracles. follow Him and everything will be fine
Elder Woodfield
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