Monday, August 8, 2016

Week 81 - Casamento e Batismo de Rosângela e José



Hello everyone! this week was awesome!

We had the wedding and baptisms of Rosângela and Zeca (José). It seriously was amazing. I don’t think that I have worked so hard for a baptism on my mission than these. Every single thing that could´ve gone wrong, went wrong. But it all came together in the end.



First of all I would like to tell you guys a little bit more about Rosângela and Zeca and their conversion. We encountered Rosângela sitting on the side of the road in front of her house. We contacted her. We taught her the same minute and she loved it. Rosângela and Zeca are probably the poorest people that I have baptized on my mission. They are also probably the most converted and changed investigators that I have baptized on my mission. Rosângela got a testimony of the true Church very quickly. She loves to read. When we gave her the Book of Mormon, she got to Jacob in like less than two weeks. She and Zeca weren't married, but they decided to get married.

We then started to teach Zeca as well.  We taught him about the Word of Wisdom and invited him to stop drinking and smoking. He stopped since that lesson. There were tons of dudes coming to his house everyday calling him to go drink. He always refused. And basically hid from them. Zeca doesn't know how to read or pray. So we have been teaching him to pray. He is very humble.


We started the process of the wedding at the cartório. There was a problem with the proof of residence. We got the proof of residence and then there was a problem with the birth certificates. We fixed that and then there was a problem with the date of the wedding. We got that fixed and brought it back. This was like a week of issues.


Finally arrived the day before the wedding. (Friday) We went to pick up the documents from the cartório to have the wedding. When we got there, there was another problem with the birth certificate. So we had to bring the certificate to Rosângela. She needed to bring that to Afogados. A different city, kinda close to us. A member had to take her there because she doesn't have money for the bus. And she twisted her ankle last Sunday coming home from a church activity because she fainted (due to lack of food, because they don't have money to buy food) and then fell. But it went alright and Saturday morning we got the documents.


Saturday night there was a miscommunication of what time the wedding would be. We went running in the rain to Rosângela and Zeca's house and then to members looking for rides for them. Finally everyone arrived and the wedding started. The wedding went super well! I played piano, except the only non-church music I can remember is "Dreaming with a broken heart" and "Someone like you," so that's what I played.


Right after the wedding, we had the baptism. I baptized Rosângela and Elder Omar baptized Zeca. They were confirmed on Sunday. They have changed so much. I honestly almost can't believe it. I have learned so much about faith and about trusting in the Lord. The enemy tried to stop this wedding and these baptisms in so many different ways. But we trusted in Heavenly Father, even if we didn't know exactly how things would work out all right. But they did. I know that Satan really didn't want this baptism to happen, because Rosângela is like a naturally born missionary. She has already helped 5 other people come to church and she has another 3 referrals for us. She is awesome. She is so converted. She told us that she has been waiting 24 years to be baptized. She has been searching for the truth. She has visited and participated in 17 different churches before the true Church of Jesus Christ, and said that she had always felt like something was missing.

I love my Savior so much. I am so grateful that I had and have the opportunity to see the gospel change lives in so many ways. I know that the Atonement is real and that repentance is sometimes hard and painful, but brings such sweet joy and peace. I love this church. I know that it is true.


Elder Waters