You guys, I am seriously in a city of miracles. I can't stress that enough.
This weekend, our investigator Viraldo got baptized. We've been working with him since the start of the transfer, and he's been going to church every Sunday and living all the commandments, but he said he didn't feel ready to be baptized right now. But, we had a super powerful lesson with him a few days ago. We talked about the importance of repentance, and how it isn't complete until we're baptized. If we truly want to be better people and follow Christ, we'll have the desire to baptized (Moroni 8:25). The Spirit was crazy strong, I didn't even feel like I was talking. It was for sure just the Spirit speaking through us. At the end, we invited him to pray that night, simply asking God if he needed to get baptized, and pay close attention to how he felt afterwards.
The next day, when we passed by, he answered the door with a huge smile on his face. We asked him if he received an answer, and he says, "I think I need to be baptized this Saturday. If you came all the way from the United States to baptize me, I should probably do it." I cried. It was awesome. God answers prayers, you guys. His baptism and confirmation were super spiritual, it was such a privilege to be a part of it.
We also had some cool cultural experiences this week. Thursday was the Dia dos Finados (Day of the Dead), which means everyone goes to the cemetery to decorate the graves of their loved ones with flowers and such. We stopped by quickly to see, and I was seriously touched to see the graveyard so decorated and so many people there remembering people they love. Several people throughout the day commented that they don't like the holiday because they think we should enjoy the time we have here with those that are alive. Which I think is true, but I'm also so happy to know that those who have passed on are in a better place, and that we can continue to help them here on earth through temple work.
Another cool thing that happened this week: there are a lot of youth here in the branch that like to visit people with us, and yesterday three of them came with us to all of our appointments from like 3 until 9 at night. It was awesome, I felt like we were a small, unstoppable army. Yeah, it was only 5 of us, but it was cool, and I was super impressed by their testimonies and willingness to help us (they were 10, 14, and 15 years old).
I think that's about it for now. Hope everyone had a good Halloween. Since we couldn't use costumes, we just traded name tags and went as each other. Only a few people noticed.
Love you all!
Sister Coleman
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