Best Week so far! 10 Investigators at church!

 The Elders with two of our Investigators Daine and Rafael (they moved to a different city this week so we won't be teaching them anymore)

Noite Familiar (Family Night) at our ward mission leader's house.  From left to right, back row Elder Black, Arroz (Ward Mission Leader's son), Claudio (Investigator), Nara (Mom).  Front Row, Me, Aline (WML Daughter), Laura (Investigator)

Other exciting news, I just saw on the baptismal report for last week that Carmen and Luan were baptized last week!  Hooray!!  I'm also super excited for Natalia's baptism coming up.

     So much happened this last week, I don't even know where to start!

     I guess I can start with Laura and Claudio since you have a picture of them now.  We found them last week as we were walking down the street.  Elder Black saw a couple of kids playing around and we asked them if we could come back and talk with their parents.  They of course told us yes, and we came back last Monday (6/11).  Turns out their Mom is a less active member of the church.  The kids absolutely love our visits, and Laura is super cute.  She's always waiting for us when we have an appointment and wants us to come over and talk with her multiple times a day.  We invited Laura and Claudio to baptism, but they are scared to be baptised right now.  I think its because the Mom is scared to come to church right now.  We are going to work on bringing good fellowship for the Mom to help her come back into activity.

     Laura and Claudio also came to church this past week, which was AWESOME!  We also had a family home evening with Laura & Claudio at the house of our Ward Mission Leader, named Feijão (which means beans, and his son's name Arroz means rice >.>).

     But the really awesome, super good, exciting week doesn't stop with Laura and Claudio.  Next up is Maicom (Pronounced Michael) and Debora.  They were a member Reference from Feijão and Nara (same family as the Noite Familiar).  Maicom is 20 years old and Debora is 18, and they've been living together for the past 2 and a half years (which Brazilians consider 'Married').  Debora's Mom joined the church 2 or 3 years ago and all her siblings are members of the church, but for whatever reason she didn't join or wasn't interested 2 or 3 years back.  Her and her husband go to a different evangelical church somewhere in Rio Pardo.  Anyways we found them last Thursday and taught them the restoration.  They were very attentive and we returned Saturday to invite them to church and finish up the First Lesson.  This is where the story gets incredible.

     Maicom and Debora told us on Saturday that they had been having some sort of difficulties, and so they went to their church in order to have a prayer said over them by their pastor last Monday.  The Pastor told them that on Thursday two people would show up that would teach them how to better their lives, and guess who showed up last Thursday?  US!  They took that as an answer to their prayer that they really needed to pay attention to the message we have to share.  We invited them to follow the answer to their Prayer by attending Church on Sunday, which they did!!!  But the Story doesn't end there.

     Sunday morning as they arrived at church Maicom and Debora were as happy as can be, and as we were about to sit down at Priesthood (we have Priesthood first here, Sacrament Last) Miacom pulls Elder Black aside and tells him, "Elder this morning was really cold, and I didn't know if I was going to make it to church.  So I knelt down and prayed to know if the church is true, and as soon as I asked, I had this overwhelming warmth come over me, and I know without a doubt that this is the true church of God."  I could not believe what I was hearing!  Was I misunderstanding his Portuguese?  Surely life couldn't get this good as a missionary, but I asked Elder Black and sure enough, that's exactly what Maicom said.  We are super stoked to meet with them again this week :).

     And we are only half-way through our awesome, amazing, best week of our lives.  There's yet more to come.  Gilmar, Maria and William are up next.  I don't know if I've talked about them before, but they are an older family, William is the youngest at 13 and the only one who lives at home, and they have a couple kids in their 20's 30's.  They are an awesome family who are sincerely looking for the truth.  I didn't meet with them last week because we were on splits both times last week when we met with them and Elder Black went both times to them.  But they were at Church on Sunday as well.  7 People at church!  What a blessing, I have never had so much success on my mission, but that's not all.

     Gabriel, a young 12 year old we are teaching is also progressing rapidly.  He has a baptismal date for 30/6/12, and we are excited to meet with him.  He comes from a rather poor family, his Dad collects trash and makes 20 reais or 10 American dollars a day, to support a family of 6.  Could you imagine raising our family on 10 dollars a day?  I feel super bad for the kid, he's always wearing the same clothes (I think he only has a shirt, pants, and a coat) but he's a super nice kid.  It amazes me that no matter the wealth you have people really are the same.  I learn more and more every day that its not what you have in this life, as it is the people you meet in this life that make the difference.  Gabriel (after we went and banged on his door at 9 in the morning and woke/walked him to church) was also there at church.

     The last piece of news this week is Paulinho (Paulo) and Gisele (Pronounced she-ZELL-ee).  They were also a member reference from another awesome family in our branch.  We met them on Thursday, and again on Saturday.  They are a cool couple in their late 20's with a 6-year old son, Leonardo.  They are reading the Book of Mormon, but are having difficulties understanding (which I can understand) and were also at Church this past week.  I'm excited to meet with them more, but we won't be seeing them again until Friday, because of a rigorous work schedule during the weeks.

     If you weren't counting, that makes a grand total of 10 investigators at Church!  I couldn't believe my eyes.  I have never seen so much success in one week in my entire mission.  All these people are exercising their faith by going to Church, reading the Book of Mormon, and praying about the message.  There is no doubt in my mind that these people truly are the elect of God, and are ready to be baptized.  Here's hoping we have just as great a week this coming week.

     I didn't see any questions in your e-mail, I hope I didn't miss anything.  That's way cool that you ran into Andrew.  I can't believe he's already graduated from college.  Way crazy!

Lots of love Mom, Family and Friends,

Elder Henry