Monday, February 2, 2015

Brisas - Week 38

Febuary. Wow!

This week's highlight...Ricardo's baptism. He was SO happy, so that was so neat. The day before (Friday) we had his interview in the mission offices, so afterwards we walked right next door to the temple with him. It was just starting to get dark, so we talked to him about all he has to look forward to. He has the goal to get married in the temple one day and hopes his little daughter chooses to follow his example instead of his mom's. At his baptism, his mom and cousin came, who are both members! We didn't have any idea his mom was a member, but that was cool. At the end she bore her testimony and I think it meant a lot to her son. I was a little disappointed by the turnout of members honestly, but Ricardo didn't seem to mind, and that's what's most important!

This Sunday we also had the farewell for Israel, the guy who was baptized a year ago and is the only member in his family. He leaves tomorrow and is SOOO excited. He is so humble and so sincere so I know he'll have a lot of success. Both of his parents came to his farewell (in the evening) and I think that's the first time they've ever set foot in the chapel. We're hoping their hearts were softened that night, because so far they haven't been very interested in listening to anything from  another church.

At church we had 2 investigators, which means hopefully 2 baptisms soon! We're starting to count Pilar as an investigator because we haven't been able to find her baptismal record. It's funny because we first found her through her grand kids that live with her, who are members, but didn't know that their grandma was a member. Haha, the first day we met her we asked her to be baptized and that's when she came out with her little secret, that she is already a member. But now, we may end up baptizing her! The other investigator that came is Leticia, her husband was less active, but now the two of them have decided to invest in the church :) Her date isn't set because we're waiting for her to sign on her divorce, but it's supposed to be like this week. Or so they say haha- we've been waiting a month already :( But we're choosing to be hopeful!

Henry's family didn't make it to church because the baby got sick which seems to always happen, so it’s a little frustrating. As far as less actives/recent converts at church though we did have one new one! We met a random guy at the store a while back and he said he was a member, but hasn't gone in like 10 years. When we wrote down his info, it turned out that he lives in our area, so that was cool! We've visited him the last 3 weeks and finally this Sunday he was able to make it. His name is Italico, and he's divorced, so we're looking into our older single adults for a future girlfriend for him because he's super lonely.

Also this week we met a lady who has the saddest story! We met her walking past her house one day. Her and her sister listened to us and we really interested, even though I could tell they didn't probably understand quite everything. They said yes to being baptized, and a couple days later when we saw them again the one sister (Isabel) told us her whole life story.  She grew up with abusive parents and pretty much raised her 7 sisters. She grew up and got married, but she´s never let go of her fear of her step dad. Her youngest sister lives with her (20 years old) and she took 2 of her nieces under her wing because her other sister abandoned them. So living with her are her own 3 boys, a sister, and 2 nieces. She's really incredible because she's so happy and so bubbly. You'd never know she has a past like she does. We're trying really hard to get them to come to church, but Isabel is worried her husband won't be okay with it :(

Until next week! Hermana Harper

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