Upswing!

Going away lunch for Elder Shelton!

Staying here party for me!

Brazilian selfies..they stole my camera!

May 11, 2015
        I had a great visit with my family on Mother's Day yesterday.  I was able to talk to everyone in my family except for Bailey.  Dad looks so healthy with all of his hair grown back in!  We talked a little about plans for coming home and I have to admit to feeling excited about my return.  I actually got my flight itinerary today that says that I will be in Spokane on June 10th at 12:24!  It is started to sound real to me now, but honestly I have so much work to do before I come home.

 
        Our freezer went out this week which means that we will probably have to defrost it every week until I go home. 
        I was so busy this week with so many miracles that I did not have time to make a journal entry, that and I left my journal at my zone leader's house.  Don't worry Mom, I got it back already.  I just haven't had the time to get caught up.  I have a new companion named Elder Ribiera who is from Brazil.  He is a hard worker and a good companion.  He is also extremely tall and skinny.  this week has been packed with so many great things happening with investigators and members.  

        S. was baptized and the service went well.  His family even came to support him.  The only bad part was that we had to hand empty the font again.  Also we have set 7 more baptismal dates for the next couple of weeks and I am very excited about all of these good people that we are teaching. 

       There are two families who are going to be baptized as soon as we can get the parents married.  It was almost miraculous how we were able to help both of these couples get the documents and pay for their wedding which are set for June 3rd. 

Our awesome new family that came to church and they work for the church so they'll never have to work on Sundays!!!!! Woohoo!

Me and elder Ribeiro dying of happiness after we paid for the weddings this morning.

        This week we contacted a woman from Africa who studied the gospel a year ago, but them stopped taking the discussions.  She was so happy to see us and told us that she has been reading the Book of Mormon for over a year on a regular basis.  She then told us that she is ready for baptism!  
       Then another cool thing happened this week when the mother of a young man in the ward approached me and said that she thought that I was the missionary that needed to baptize her son.  Her son is slightly disabled mentally, but still very much able to function and communicate.  He comes to church and understands and lives the gospel, but he has never been baptized.  So now we are teaching him and looking forward to his baptism.  I feel so incredibly blessed by these amazing miracles that are happening right at the end of my mission.  Although I didn't get to write much, I did take a lot of pictures this week.

S. and his parents.

They make me look so short, which is unusual in Brazil!

I was blessed to be able to stay here in this area and baptize this great young man!