Ola! Bom Dia!!
This week was awesome because through many, many, many
miracles, Amaral was baptized!! WhooHooo! Sunday was probably the craziest day
on my mission. We had 4 investigators at church and Sister Oliver and I were in
charge of the music (as we usually are every week), so we were running all
around the church making sure that they had members to sit with and they were
in the right classes, etc. Of the four investigators, we had two investigators
who had been real pains about church in the past but they loved it and the
other two are new references from members that are also taking lessons. Amaral
just about gave us a heart attack by having a family emergency Sunday morning
but managed to come for the last 10 minutes so that he could still be baptized
later on Sunday.
The baptism was so great! The missionaries sang A Capela for
the Portuguese rendition of How Great Thou Art, which is the song that Sister
Oliver and I were singing when Amaral stopped us and asked us to teach him
about religion. We also had the best cookies and cinnamon rolls ever!!
Also....We had a rough beginning of the week. On our Pday we
went to Lapa with our zone leaders and Elder Rosenkilde and Sister Oliver left
Elder Crawford and I on the metro. There were so many people on the metro that
we didn't realize until 3 stops and a half an hour later. Whoops!! Haha luckily
Sister Oliver had our phone and Elder Crawford had their phone and we were able
to meet up again. It reminded me of the one time when my dad left my at the
train station in downtown Washington DC when I was 14. (I'm still a little
bitter about that traumatic experience, Dad... haha)
One thing I thought about a lot this week was having love
for others. Our president of our mission sent out an email about how to better
love the people in this country. The Portuguese have a reputation for being
stubborn, rude, very dramatic, and impatient. But they are also some of the
most hardworking and generous people I know, once they get to know you ;) He
sent out a challenge for us to talk to every person and think about every
person as if we had been raised in the same culture and had the same level of
experience with religion. It was a great way to practice looking at each person
as a child of God and to see them how Christ sees them.
Dum da dum! Scripture time:
11 And he shall go
forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this
that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains
and the sicknesses of his people.
12 And he will take
upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and
he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with
mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to
succor his people according to their infirmities.
Christ chose to complete the Atonement so that each one of
us, individually, could have at least one person who knows exactly how we feel.
I like the scripture above, Alma 7:11-12, because it tells us what Christ did
and also why he did it. He suffered for more than just our sins... in fact this
scripture mentions pain and affliction before sin. He knows how we feel and he suffered so that
he would be able to succor his people or, in other words, to know how to help
his people.
I hope you guys will take a moment to think and a look at
the person closest to you and imagine all of the struggles they have, the
sacrifice they chose to be here, or perhaps the invisible pain in their heart
and try to show a little more Christ like love for them. It is Christmas!!
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Selfie with Amaral fail.... He wasn't paying attention :/
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Me, Sister Oliver, Amaral, and Luis!
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY AVERY!!!!
Love all of you tuns!
Tchau!
Sister Ellsworth
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