July 4, 2016 - Sete Lagoes

In the Brasil, Belo Horizonte mission we teach repentance and baptize converts.

This week the biggest event was the baptism of João Paulo. I would like to tell a little bit of his story to you. 

To start with was how we met him. He just showed up at church. He had been invited to visit by his ex-girlfriend that lives in our ward and decided to come (more for the girlfriend than for church), but we talked to him and he accepted visits. Unfortunately, he live in another city that is on the edge of another missionary´s area. It was also really far for the other missionaries to visit him also, but when we were talking to him we found out that he worked in our area. We were able to plan the lessons to be taught in one of our member´s houses.

We noticed later that we had planned the visit for the same time as a baptismal reunion that we needed to assist and ended up doing a split. Another elder and I went to teach the first lesson and he accepted to read the Book of Mormon, but wasn´t sure about a baptismal date. When my companion and I went back to visit him he had actually read, but still didn´t feel prepared. We taught him the word of wisdom and  his only problem was café. The best part is he told us that he would give it up. He said that his sister had been telling him that it wasn´t good and this confirmed it.

We were able to invite him to a family home evening where he accepted a baptismal date and we continued to teach him the lessons for the next week and a half. When he had received all of the lessons he told us that he didn´t feel ready and didn´t mark anymore visits. As we didn´t have a way to visit him anymore we called the missionaries that were in his area. They went to his city, which they don´t do too often and talked with him and helped him feel more secure about his preparedness. 

This week he was baptized, after being visited by 6 missionaries, and bore his testimony. He was talking about how he had been having a lot of difficulties in his life, but through reading the Book of Mormon he was able to overcome them. He is truly converted and it is great to see how happy he is now.

Elder Quain

João Paulo at his baptism and the six missionaries who taught him.