Fasting and Baptism

Hello:

Well, one more week that didn´t go as expected. In the end Jorge Luis, the son of Jociara did not get baptized because his dad, who lives five hours away in Rio de Janeiro, found out that he was going to get baptized, and refused him to get baptized. Even though he passed his interview and went to church on Sunday. However, we were blessed with a baptism this week. We fasted on Saturday to be able to have a baptism on Sunday if it was the will of the Lord.

Remember Rafael? The one we couldn´t find at home last week? We found him Saturday night at last. And he told us that he has been feeling very strongly that he wanted to get baptized THE NEXT DAY. He didn´t want to wait. I won´t lie, it was extremely stressful to organize everything, filling the baptismal font Saturday night using buckets to speed up the process, calling the ward leadership to warn them, and arranging for his interview to happen Sunday morning. But, somehow, everything turned out. It wasn´t your regular baptism. By that I mean planned, peaceful, awesome. However, it was very satisfying to see everything happen and to see him get confirmed in the meetings.

Elder Aranha is very dynamic, but he takes three medicines that give him that sleeping disease, not insomnia but the opposite. Where he falls asleep in lessons suddenly, and he has extreme problems waking up in the morning. He goes to bed early every night. Sometimes he almost falls asleep walking on the road. President has advised me to let him rest more than normal, but not to the point that it takes away from our work. Let´s just say that I am trying to find that balance. Elder Aranha is really neat though, always complimenting me and giving great input in lessons (when he is not passed out) ;)

I had my hair cut. Again.

The stoplights here are neat. A majority have a little counter next to the light that shows how many seconds the light will stay green or red. When it is red, there are little messages that run underneath the light saying annoying little things like share the road with pedestrians, smart drivers of motorcycles wear helmets, don´t be in a hurry, etc.

I played soccer with the other three elders and our ward mission leader. I was very able to keep up and compete. Looks like ten years of soccer experience weren´t for nothing. I was sore all last week.

Have a good week. Hope Thanksgiving was great.

Elder Bodily