Batismo!

Olá!

We had a great week here in Jardim Alagoas. I have been on the mission 5 months already! It´s crazy how fast time is passing. Friday we had Zone Conference which was awesome. We had some great trainings and heard some awesome talks. Presidente Gonzaga gave a really powerful talk on Obedience. It´s always nice to get spiritual boosts like that.

But the big news is that Charles was baptized Saturday, and yesterday he received the gift of the Holy Ghost and the Aaronic Priesthood! A little bit about Charles. His mom, Fátima, hasn´t been baptized yet because her "husband" hasn´t legally divorced his first wife. They want to get married, but his first wife won´t agree to the divorce so it´s complicated. Irmã Fátima has been faithfully attending church for a few years now. We met Charles as we were leaving a lesson with his mom. He had been living in São Paulo working, but decided to move back to Maceió to be closer to his family. We said we were missionaries and he said we could come by anytime and he would love to talk to us. So we went back the next evening and taught the first lesson, which is The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We shared to story of Joseph Smith and before we could say anything else he said, "I know this is true." He went on the tell us about a bunch of hard things he had gone through, he cried, and then he said, "I just want to be happy, and I know this church and this Gospel will make me happy." We said, "Yes! We can promise you that it will!" Over the past 2 weeks we watched Charles change so much. He gave up smoking, he started smiling and laughing way more, and he gained a ton of confidence. Watching him be baptized was one of the highlights of my life :) He came up to us afterwards and said with tears in his eyes, "I am so so so happy. Thank you."

I know that this Gospel is a gospel of change, a gospel of hope, and a gospel of happiness. I am so grateful to be serving a mission and sharing our message with everyone. I hope you all have a great week! Thanks for your love and prayers :)

Love,

Sister Lopez