February 4th letter

Hello my family!

Baptism of Bárbara

So everything worked out with Bárbara! She was baptized yesterday. It was a very special baptism. Especially since we've been working with her for more than 3 months. Like I said in the last email, it's quite a miracle that she was baptized. A little after the first day that Elder Mora and Elder Oliveira Souza met her while tracting, she went and visited the temple in Campinas. She had a spiritual experience there, and it was so powerful that she declared in that moment to the missionaries that she would be baptized in this church - even after 80 years in the Catholic church. And for 3 months we've helped her learn about the Gospel and the Plan of Salvation. At one point about a month ago she told us that we didn't need to pass by anymore because she was going to stay in her church. We got real discouraged but felt like we needed to pass by, seeing how she was doing, talking with her, and mentioning baptism if she was ready. I'm so thankful that she decided to put her faith in God and take this step. Bárbara chose Elder Mora to baptize her, and he was like super excited, super pumped during the whole day. I was happy, but I tend to get really stressed out during baptism Sunday, making sure everything is ready for the baptism and that the members know what to do. But it all turned out good.

Thank you for the comments...I liked reading about a bit of your experience on your mission Dad. It's actually comforting to know that even you weren't a perfect missionary! :D I've figured out something recently. I still get on my own case a LOT when I make a mistake or it seems to me like I'm not doing my best, not giving 100%. I think its because 1) I'm still a perfectionist and 2) over my 19 years as a prospective missionary I was pretty much like, I'm going to serve a mission and I'm going to be a perfect servant of the Lord, giving my all, 100% of the time. But then I get here and I learn that it's harder than I thought and I feel disappointed and discouraged that I'm not that perfect missionary I always intended to be. But it's a great thing that we have the Atonement, and we don't have to be perfect to make God proud. This is what I'm still learning.

Responding to your questions - Our mission hasn't really been affected by the lower-age requirement for missionaries...yet. We'll have our transfer this coming week and perhaps we'll get more Sisters from the MTC. Actually, we have very few Sisters now that I think about it. In the past every single Zone except for Botucatu had at least one pair of Sisters, but in our last zone with Botucatu, Piracicaba and Rio Claro there were no Sisters.

Ok thats all I have time to write!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Uma ótima semana para vocês! [have a great week]
Elder Bradford

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Another example of Pannettone. This one we got was pretty much half bread and half chocolate cream.

Ursinho Puff [Winnie the Pooh]