Boa tarde!! Tudo bem?
This last week was pretty good!! I'm so happy with how it turned out. We were able to see many miracles and see many different people change.
One of the bigger miracles that happened this last week, or transfer really, was Delci. His story is incredible. He doesn't have very much and is very humble, but has more faith than most people I know. His faith has moved many different mountains in his life. He was able to quit smoking, give up coffee, and was able to get past other people trying to stop his baptism from happening. The experience I've had being able to work with him was incredible and I'm pretty sure I'll never forget it.
We were also able to baptize Heloisa, she is 9 years old and part of a less active/part member family. With her baptism she was able to reactivate her family and help all of them start coming back to church. They've been coming consistently for a month now. Pretty incredible. After her baptism, she was given the chance to bear her testimony and she said, "Estou muito feliz por ter me batizada, e nunca quero fazer mais alguma coisa errada na minha vida." Another pretty great example of faith if you ask me.
Another miracle has been Alessandra. She was supposed to be baptized yesterday, but she rolled her knee on Saturday and had to go to the hospital. But she has been an incredible example to the rest of her family. Her aunt and uncle made a goal along with her to get to the temple and do baptisms and to be sealed. She also told us she really wants to serve a mission if she's given the chance. She is 16 years old right now, I pray she can prepare for 3 more years to serve a mission.
We had yet another miracle happen yesterday. We had a lesson with Jaqueline, we've been teaching her for 2 transfers now and she was on the verge of being an "eternal investigator". She's been on baptismal date a couple times now, and it had been a couple weeks since we'd been able to meet with her. We finally got the chance to meet with her yesterday, and we taught the basic truths of the Gospel and read Alma 7:10-15. After we read and testified the spirit was very strong, and she got very emotional and started to cry. She said she had received an answer, we invited her to be baptized on August 8th, and she accepted. I'm excited to keep working with her and to help her to finally reach her baptismal goal.
We were also able to have an exchange with the Santa Cruz Elders, and I worked with Elder Andrade! It was a very good exchange. We were able to have a couple baptismal interviews and visit some of the people we're teaching. He has a lot of heart and I was impressed by his care for others around him. He always seems to serve someone else before he thinks of himself. That's an attribute I would like to work on moving forward.
We also got transfer news, and my companion is leaving, which is a bummer. We were able to work super well together and we had a lot of fun. But I'll be getting Elder Dionizo as my new companion, and it'll be a lot of fun! We're going to be taking on another area/ward too, so we're going to be verrryyyyy busy haha. But I'm looking forward to it!
I love you all and I hope you all have a great week!
Elder Larkin
