As Águas do Batismo!

This week was crazy.  Since Sister Meireles and I switched areas with Sister Wofley and Sister Villena, I took one day showing Sister Wofley around her new area.  I already knew the streets in my new area from the time that I spent with Sister De Paula working in both areas.  Sister Meireles and I also did a lot still to help with the 3 baptisms in our old area and to keep the one baptism in our new area firm for Sunday as well.  Thursday and Friday we checked up on everyone and all was good for the interviews on Saturday.  Of course, it is a rare baptism that everything goes smoothly.  Yet, the four of us Sisters did a group fast to be more in tune with the spirit to know how to help our investigators, and to bless our investigators to have the courage and strength to follow through with their baptisms.  Saturday, the four of us showed up at the church for the first interview, but our first investigator wasn't there.  I called her and she said that she was buying groceries in the Center.  Five minutes later she called back and said that she was sick and going to the hospital.  I looked at Sister Meireles and said, "Let's go get her!" (I can't tell you how many times I have heard the excuse that a person is sick just because they want to get out of doing something.  Sunday morning is incredible how many people have dor da barriga, dor da dente, dor da cabeça, dor no pé, etc.  Em fim, I didn't believe that our investigator was truly sick, so we headed off, speed walking the 40 minutes to her home)  When we got to her house, she truly wasn't home.  At this point, I knew that there was nothing that we could do except for rely on the Lord.  We said a quick pray asking that our investigator would show up to the church on her own, and that she would show up before the Elders had to return to their area.  After the pray, we took off again to get another investigator.  This time, we didn't have any trouble finding our investigator at home, but on the way to the church she shared with us some doubts that she had about being baptized so soon after starting to get to know the church.  (This was the young woman that we had gotten the mom's signature on Tuesday night)  Once more, the Lord helped Sister Meireles and I say what this young woman needed to feel more at peace with her baptism.  The coolest part, was when the young woman said, "All that really matters is my faith, right? If I have enough faith, then it doesn't matter if I don't know everything right now.  I remember reading something about that in the Book of Mormon!"  YES!!!  The Book of Mormon is true!!!  While this young woman was in her interview, who showed up but our investigator who had called and said that she was sick.  She walked in the door of the church, and I immediately started playing some sweet 'entrance' music for her because we were all super excited that she had actually made it!  Sunday, all four were baptized!!!!

This week, in our District meeting, our District leader shared the story of when Jesus Christ called Peter, James, and John (fishermen) to follow him.  As the verses say, these men left their work, left their father, and immediately followed Christ.  Jesus Christ didn't spend 30 minutes teaching them who He was or why they should follow Him, He simply called, and they recognized His voice and had the courage to leave all that they had to follow.  The Lord is preparing His children to receive His Gospel so that when He calls (through His servants - missionaries and others), they will recognize His voice and be willing and ready to follow.  I also thought of how this story can apply in our own lives.  How long do we wait to follow a prompting from the Spirit, or to obey a commandment from the Lord?  Are we willing to immediately leave behind the things of the world to follow our Savior?  I know that as we do all in our power to follow our Savior we will be blessed to learn and grow beyond our limited expectations.