Oiii família!
First of all, HAPPY FATHERS DAY! Dia Dos Pais is the 12th of August here.
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| Cookies made from mix brought from home |
Also, thank you very much for the recipes! I made the buttermilk syrup again last night, another elder has a waffle iron so we had ourselves a feast. I also made cookies from that mix I brought from home, they turned out well. We brought the cookies to a birthday party of M, P's older brother. They were all eaten in like 5 minutes! I'm going to make the cookie recipe you sent me for P's birthday party which is later this month.
Yes, please send the recipe for scones! They have a popular treat here called 'sonhos' (SOWN-yoss), which is also the word meaning 'dreams' - so that gives you an idea how awesome they are. It's basically a scone more or less with either a bit of jelly inside, or cut in half and filled with cream. And then it's covered in sugar. Apparently powdered sugar is hard to come by here so they just use normal sugar.
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| AJ, M, and Elder Hill enjoying treats |
Today I want to write about one miracle. Yesterday afternoon we were walking across town to meet with W, one of our investigators. By that time we had walked some distance to another investigator's home, but she wasn't there. We had been making contacts, but no one was interested in what we had to say. Elder Hill was getting a little frustrated, and I was more just like, "pois é, acontece"
[Whatever, it happens]. We were walking by this one house, and we don't normally knock doors, but Elder Hill decides to clap at this one house
[in Brazil, clapping is how you 'knock']. There's this lady on the other side of the gate and she answers, and she's holding her granddaughter. We introduce ourselves and get to talking about the church, and after some time Elder Hill asks, "You look sad. What happened?" She starts to cry and talks about how her family is having problems and some bitter feelings. Elder Hill goes on to promise blessings by living the gospel, and then he invites her to be baptized. She continues to cry and immediately accepts. Then she picks up her cell phone and calls her mom. "Guess what? I'm going to be baptized!" And then she started to cry again "Yes, I'm sure. God has touched me in my heart." It was an awesome experience. We don't know all the details of her life, but we know that she has been humbled and touched by the Holy Ghost, which must have come from recent experiences. I mentioned to Elder Hill afterward, it's funny how only the people with lots of problems are those who readily accept us and want to follow Christ. He mentioned back to me that everyone has lots of problems, it's just a matter of having that broken heart and contrite spirit, that attitude of earnestly seeking the help of God. So, I am really really hoping that all turns out well with her. Maybe we will baptize her family also!
I'm a little unsettled because we've had many baptisms fall through. I may have mentioned to you about K. His mom won't let him be baptized until he turns 18 (3 years from now). We were going to have three baptisms this last Sunday - a mom, her daughter, and her nephew. But the mom really didn't have any desire, so it didn't happen. We had another lady who we couldn't get to come to church.
Things move really fast here in Brasil in regard to teaching those that are truly interested. When an investigator misses a few commitments, they're placed in the area book for some other Elders to pass by some day. We've been focusing our time with people who are really willing to make commitments.
Well, that's it for today! Boa tarde! Eu amo vocês!!
Elder Bradford
