Elder Lindquist 1/7/09

So this last week was great. We started off the New Year on a good foot. We have three people marked for baptism! I couldn't be more excited. So the first person we marked was Pedro, the gypsy kid. We challenged him on New Year’s Day to be baptized on the 31st of this month. It was amazing because we always just shared spiritual thoughts and scriptures with him before but this time we taught him the first lesson, the restoration. After the lesson we invited him to pray about the things we had taught him, if the Book of Mormon is true and if Joseph Smith was a prophet. The spirit was SO strong during that lesson. When Pedro prays he usually speeds through it so he can unpause his video game and continue playing. But this time was different, he asked God if the Book of Mormon was true and instead of rushing through the rest of the prayer he stopped and there was about ten seconds of silence. He then said Heavenly Father is the things the missionaries told me true; and after a second he finished his prayer. With a huge smile he said he answered me! I was so happy; this strengthened my testimony so much that WE are not the ones that convince people of the truth, the spirit is. We don't convert anyone. I get chills every time I think of that experience. I know that what we're sharing with people is the true gospel of Jesus Christ but in order for other people to know they have to ask God and he will give them knowledge of the truth as it talks about in Moroni's promise. A couple days later we had fast Sunday. And some Brazilian investigators we have bore their testimonies for the first time, and their five year old son, (instead of bearing his testimony he got up to the pulpit and said a prayer. It was so funny.) They've been investigators since before their son was even born. They also have a thirteen year old daughter that has already been baptized. Edson and Rose, the parents; just need to get married then they can be baptized, this can easily be done by the end of the month so we felt the time was right to challenge them. I am excited needless to say. I am going to be doing the confirmation for Pedro; I am very excited for this opportunity I have to give someone the Holy Ghost. The members here are so nice, I love this place. The work here in Beja has been kind of slow over the past couple years but hopefully these baptisms will get people fired up about sharing the gospel. I'm getting a haircut today, I'm excited. Ok have a nice week. Elder Lindquist