"Thank You For Bring Me The TRUTH" -Auryo

Hello all,

An exciting week here in Itapecuru-Mirim!

First of all, let's talk about baptism! We welcomed a total of 4 new members into the Church yesterday, two of which Élder Felipe and I had taught: Auryo and Dayane. They are both 17 years old and both received incredible witnesses of the Book of Mormon and the truthfulness of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ while we taught them.

Dayane was a referral from a member of 3 years named Heloiza. They have been friends for a while, and when we gave Heloiza the challenge to hand out a paper invitation to the General Conference broadcast that we did at the Church earlier this month, Heloiza accepted. Dayane accepted the invitation, later watching the Saturday afternoon session!

The next day we asked Heloiza's mom for Dayane's contact information to which we were told, "she lives with her godmother who is very Catholic, and she probably wouldn't allow it." We had basically given up when Dayane came back to church for a movie night (the Other Side of Heaven), said she would love a visit, and also said that her godmother would be totally fine with it!

While we taught her, we invited her to read 3 Nephi 11 and ask God if the Book of Mórmon is true. She did it, marked the chapter up, and told us very straight the next day that she had gotten an answer from the Lord and was ready to "se entregar" (literally means "deliver herself," but really means that she was ready to submit her will to the Lord's). While we taught her this past week, we asked if she was excited for her baptism, to which she replied "muito" (very). She marked up her Book of Mórmon more that anyone else I've seen before. 

Saturday night, Heloiza got sick and did not make it to church on Sunday. So what did Dayane do? We were afraid she'd want to reschedule her baptismal date. She instead came to church by herself and fulfilled the commitment that she had made with the Lord. I have seen few people that were as excited the day of their baptism as she was yesterday. She's an incredible addition to the group.

Auryo heard about the Church, became very interessed in it, and sought out Ivonete (who I baptized in January) to find out how he could get in touch with the missionaries. He went to church last week and we marked a visit with him. We taught him the restoration last Monday and invited him to be baptized the coming Sunday (yesterday). Without hesitation he said "claro" (of course), later explaining how he had felt out of place in other churches, at times being told he couldn't "feel the Spirit" or "speak in toungues" because he wasn't trying hard enough. At the end of that first visit, as he said the closing prayer, he thank the Lord for having shown him the truth. We taught him at Ivonete's house all of last week and he came to church by himself yesterday for his baptism. He said he had decided he will leave his old life behind to follow this new path. He also is an incredible addition.

After their baptisms, we rushed back to the church to do the Melchizedek Priesthood ordinations of Josélio and Romão. President Lindsey watched and was just estatic; along with our attendance that easily exceeded 50 yesterday, that was the last step in our becoming a branch. We are now in Teresina and will be working with President Lindsey to send our proposal to Church Headquarters for that to be oficially recognized and an engineer sent to Itapecuru to start drawing up plans for the construction of a chapel.

Speaking of President Lindsey being estatic, after Joselio asked us to request permission, President let us put a plaque on the Church (and on the pulpit that the Santa Inês Branch donated). We showed him yesterday before the ordenations and he couldn't stop laughing; while it's not technically the Church norm, President loves the members' enthusiasm.

And I love it too!