"Vocês Pegaram O ônibus Errado"

Hey there all!

What a cool past week!

To start off with this week's highlights, our friend Antônio was baptized yesterday! One of the cooler folks I've met so far during my time here in the mission.

It was him that contacted us last week as we were walking down the street. He recognized us as missionaries and asked if we could pass by another day to share a message with him. Of course we were going to say yes to that and ended up teaching him the next day. He had his legs all bandaged up after having a very ugly accident with a leaking propane tank in his kitchen (gas lines don't exist here in Brazil, so if you get a leaky tank and try to light a candle in a room full of gas, it's not the greatest combination).

Long story short, after his old pastor started drinking and the church in which he had come to know Christ fell apart a few months ago, our friend Antônio became pretty darn lost. He was visiting churches looking for one that he felt comfortable in. When we shared that message that day, we explained the Restauration to him and the priesthood authority and put him on date for yesterday. We gave him a blessing of health and promised him that if he did his part, the Lord would heal his legs enough for him to be baptized. He showed his faith and yesterday (as we would say here), "deu tudo certo."

He's also an instructor of something called "capoeira." I'll stick some videos and pictures below to explain that. And were helping him out with some home renovations.

I spent the beginning of my week in Teresina as it was the beginning of the new transfer. It was pretty darn cool because I got to stay at my old Taquari/Uruguai/Cidade Leste house with my old comp, Elder Hurst, and another American friend of mine: Elder Zenn. We went to the meeting for new trainers on Tuesday and found out that I would be training an American!

Elder Green is a Layton, Utah native and a pretty big studmuffin as well. Despite this being his first area in the mission, he already has a pretty decent grip on Portuguese. I don't know if it's trust that President has in me, but it is kind of funny how he has been putting me with so many non-Brazilians and trainees: Venezuelans, Mexicans, Americans. I've come to know all sorts of folks down here and I'm frankly absolutely loving it!

We had a week that seemed like it really wasn't going the way that we had hoped; we would set appointments to teach people and they wouldn't be home or wouldn't have completed the invitations that we had left; people would receive answers to their prayers (like people literally having dreams as their answers) and not want to follow them; people would accept invitations one day and back out the other; etc. 

Saturday was our last day to find before church on Sunday. We had helped a woman catch her dog earlier in the week and grabbed her number to be able to share a message later. We taught her and her daughter on Saturday who said they had a desire to be baptized. We came to find that their mother had been a member of a church in another city but had been unsuccessfully looking for a church in Itapecuru. She is friends with a previously-baptized member of the church who had already said great things about it. As we were ending the message of the Restauration, she looked at us and asked, "can I be baptized in this church, too?" To which we responded "of course!"

They both went to church by themselves yesterday and are preparing to be baptized on Christmas Day now. What a true miracle that will be! Pray for Glaucia, Kassya, and Antônia that they might stay strong this week for everything to go well on Sunday!

Yesterday we arrived in São Luis for a Christmas Zone Conference that basically Elder Lucas and I got to organize! The musical number, lunch, and activity were all our decisions, and I think it all turned out pretty darn well! Pizza is not a lunch thing here in Brazil, but we convinced Pizza Hut to open up at lunchtime so that we could show the Brazillians down here what a blessing it is. From the photo it appears that they quite enjoyed it.  

What an incredible time of the year! Christmas is different down here in Brazil but probably equally loved! The work is going well and we've been able to see some pretty darn incredible blessing and miracles.

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

“Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

“Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.”

John 15:13-14

How grateful I am for my best friend Jesus Christ, his birth, his life, and his ultimate sacrifice for me. For he truly is just that: our friend.

I hope we can all remember that this Christmas season and help other come to know that.

Sure love you all and hope you all have a very Mery Christmas!

Elder Lindsay

P.S. I'll send some videos to my parents for them to post on FB later