"Wait, Like An Hour From Now?" -Elder Lindsay

Para aqueles que falam português, vocês terão que me perdoar. Sou meio preguiçoso e escreverei essas cartas em inglês só. Mas, se quiserem saber o que estou dizendo nessas cartas, podem botar em Google tradutor!

Também, sempre podem escrever um e-mail para mim e eu responderei (em português, claro).

Well... one day that I thought would never come (and frankly never wanted to come) did. 

Na verdade, before taking about that, I'd like to start off with the highlight from this week; we helped one more of the Lord's elect be baptized yesterday! His name is Francisco and he's another stud muffin.

While going to church on the 31st, we met up with a group of rapazes, some members of the Church and others not,  to all to together. They wanted to swing by the house of a friend of theirs - Francisco - to go, too. He luckily was at home, not fishing, and went along with us. He enjoyed the meeting and we asked the guys afterward if we could share a message and prayer with their families. 

Francisco was the first to say "SIM!" with a big grin on his face while everyone else remained silent, so we swung by Monday, left him with a message, talked about baptism, and he said he wanted to go for it!

As we taught him during that quick one week, we saw some pretty incredible miracles. 

He had a rough past and told us how the thoughts of some of the things that he used to do weighed him down. He said he would then get overwhelmed and lost in these thoughts to the point where he could hardly operate. He said that almost every night was sleepless just because of these issues he was having.

As we taught him the truths of the a restored gospel of Jesus Christ there was never a moment that I didn't see him with a huge grin on his face. 

I mean honestly, just 24/7 smiling. 

He told us about how through living the commandments, reading the scriptures (especially the Book of Mormon), and hearing these messages that we would share, he was able to sleep at night, wasn't being weighed down by negative thoughts, and was just plainly and simply happy.

Yesterday he was baptized in the swimming pool of a hotel in Tutóia because the ocean, as they say in Tutóia, was "seca" (dry). His buddy Paul Ricardo, one of the two rapazes that we baptized our first week here, was able to perform the ordinance and João Vitor, the other rapaz, came to watch!

So excited for him as he continues on this path that will bring even more happiness for him!

And now, getting back to what I started with...

Yesterday, while eating lunch in the home of a recent-convert, we got a call from my Zone Leader: Elder Silva. He told me he had received transfer news for us and that we would both be transferred from Tutóia to another city.

I told him I knew he was joking and hung up the phone.

5 minutes later, the office Elderes called from Teresina.

He wasn't joking.

It was 2pm and they said our bus was leaving at 3pm. We ran from our house to the homes of a couple of other recent-converts, grabbed our luggage, and left Tutóia for what might be the last time.

Elder Adames will finish his training with another missionary in a city called Parnaíba and I will be returning to my second area here in Brazil: the Taquari e Uruguai Wards. Not going to lie, I was surprised and confused.

Of course I'm happy to serve wherever, but this is a pretty big rarity in the mission field: passing through the same area non-consecutively. I will be serving with Elder Bragga, a missionary who has about the same amount of time here in Brazil who was also serving as an unofficial "group president."

It will be a pretty big change for the both of us, but as Irmã Renata would say: "faz parte" (that's part of it).

Just want to testify of the principle of giving it everything you've got, or in other words, leading it all on (or in) the field.

You never know when the end will come, so it's crucial to live everyday like it's your last. There's something a lot of folks down here like to say, "vai dar certo a próxima vez," (it'll work out next time), but I've come to learn this is not a great mentality to pick up.

Is there somebody you've been putting off taking to?

Is there some act of kindness you've been thinking of doing?

Something wrong that you've done that you want to get rid of?

If so, TODAY IS THE DAY TO DO IT! We were never promised the day of tomorrow, but we do have today. 

"I give unto them a commandment, thus: Thou shalt not idle away thy time, neither shalt thou bury thy talent that it may not be known."

Doctrine and Covenants 60:13

Lucky I left Tutóia knowing that I had done everything I could for the people there. Today I'll stay here in Teresina without regrets or looking behind. And what a wonderful feeling that is. A feeling that I want everybody else to be able to feel.

So just go for it! Let's live our lives in a way that is we were called home an hour from now we'd have no regrets!

Love y'all! How you're all doing well and are all healthy and happy! Let me know how you're doing! Id love to hear from ya!

Élder Lindsay

1. Yesterday

2. Six weeks ago