Week 51: I Like to Look for Rainbows

So this week we had a miracle.

Last Thursday we met this guy on the street and offered to share a message about Christ with him, like we do. We started talking and got to know him a little, and found out that he had moved here recently from Bahia and was looking for a church to attend. We invited him to church and he accepted enthusiastically. We found out that his city in Bahia was known for the coffee plantations and we mentioned that we didn't drink coffee. And with that he stopped.

The next day we visited him and met his sister and her adorable little baby, and started teaching. He went to church and loved it, and we invited him to be baptized. This gave him a moment of pause. He had already been baptized, and so we had to teach a lot about the priesthood (the authority God gave to certain men to perform ordinances like baptism). He understood but wasn't sure, and although we marked his baptism for this Sunday, I thought it would fall through. We've already taught people similar and they always waffled out at the last minute, and I was sure he would be no different.

Saturday night he said that he wasn't ready to be baptized. Although he had passed the interview, he had some difficulties with some of the commandments and also thought it was really early. I accepted this (because I had been anticipating this the whole week long),but my companion fought back. She showed scriptures and bore her testimony and dug deep to find the source of his concerns, and in the end the Spirit was really strong and he accepted to be baptized Sunday.

Well you can call me Thomas because I still didn't believe it, but we made cake and everything, just in case. Sunday morning we called to see if he really was ready, and he said yes.

I think I asked my companion about a thousand times if he'd really be baptized and I don't think I believed it until he actually entered the water. It really was a miracle. It reminded me of the story of Gideon, which I studied this week. God is infinitely powerful and sometimes he gives us trials more than we can bear just to demonstrate His power.

E foi isso que eu queria compartilhar com vocês hoje. Em o nome de Jesus Cristo, amem.  [And this was what I wanted to share with you today. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.]

Sister Hiatt

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