So Sorry....Week Two

Well, I sent you an email, but it turns out the internet disconnected about 5 minutes into me writing you, so I lost everything. The cyber cafe is still charging me for it, though. SOOO, I guess I can just tell you to hold on until next week. Until then, I have like two minutes to hammer out an outline. A couple of baptisms have been delayed due to a lack of devotion and church attendance. I was a little disappointed about this, but I read in Alma 14, which talks about Alma and Amulek’s converts being burned before their eyes and then Alma and Amulek were thrown in jail and beaten without food or water. So I have no reason to complain. :) I am so sorry for the short emails, but it’s just Uruguaianian internet. Então, I must write some positives. We got to teach a few lessons to some new investigators. I had little time last week (sort of like this week) so I must talk about Lucia. Lucia is about 50. We met her on the 20th of November. Four days later, she told us that she has been reading, pondering, and doing her extra studies, and she knows that the Book of Mormon is true, the Church is true, and she is excited to be baptized. Quick turnaround. The way we met her was a miracle, but I will have to tell you when I have time. Good thing I have a journal. She smokes, but we are helping her stop by the 20th of December, her marked baptismal date. Yesterday, we were looking for Jamerson, one of Edivã's friends. He is a recent convert. He was not home, but his parents were. They were previously uninterested in the gospel, but I guess they’re ready now, because they listened attentively and excitedly to the first lesson, and accepted the invitation to be baptized. We have not put a date, but we plan on it on the following lesson. We also have been teaching Nelí, another 50 or 60 year old woman whom we found through another miracle. She too, has been progressing quickly, and is planned to be baptized with Lucia on the 20th. She also smokes, but not for long. I must tell you about Celia. She is a recent convert. She is about as strong as a woman as it gets. She’s poor, even for here. She always goes to church, even if it means walking a couple of miles in flip-flops (that’s what she had to do this week, because the bus driver slept in), because she has no shoes. She takes care of her special needs daughter and her orphaned granddaughter. She invites us over to read to her from the scriptures, because she can’t read. She loves the scriptures. People like those remind me of why I am serving here. The last Sacrament Meeting was the Primary program. I wore my tie that my Primary kids gave me :) The Primary program is a little different, instead of an overarching theme, with a script for each child, each child prepares what they are going to say. So there is a big hodge podge of adorableness. Such as, but not limited to: "I bear my testimony that the primary colors are 1, 2, 3: red, yellow, and blue. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen." I melted. And then there was a ten year old who gave a 3 minute talk on the law of chastity. That took me by a little surprise. The work moves on. I love my Savior, and I love telling people why. Love, Elder Wassom.