February 18, 2013

FAMILY!!!!  How are you all doing??  I hope that you all had a great week!!!  It sounds like you guys had some fun in Vegas!!!

This week was a great week!!!  On Saturday, we had the baptism of Leonardo and Adriana!  It was such an amazing experience.  I got to be the one who baptized Leonardo, and a member of our ward baptized Adriana.  It was really cool to be able to help them come unto Christ.  Also, Adriana's boyfriend was a former bishop, and we are trying to help in re-activating him too.  It is pretty cool to be able to help them out.  After I performed the baptismal ordinance with Leonardo, I felt the Spirit so strong and it was an awesome feeling.  Then someone asked him who will confirm him in church on Sunday, and without hesitation, he said, "Elder Howard."  That made me feel great!  Sunday rolled around and I got to confirm him a member of the church and give him the holy ghost.  It was a great experience for me.  I was definitely nervous the whole time cuz it was a blessing all in Portuguese in front of the whole ward! haha but it went great!  It felt so good to have this baptism and to be able to help them come closer to Christ.

Also, we taught a lot of lessons this week.  I really like being companions with Elder Hunt.  We work hard together and have a lot of fun.  In English class this week, we taught the class how to do the "Stanky Leg" while learning the Alphabet song! haha it was a funny experience.

We taught a guy named Joao Paulo this week.  He works at the restaurant Kebabztao with our friend Fabio.  Joao told us that he was interested in learning more about the BOM.  He said he has been through some crazy things in his life with drugs, and he wants to make a change.  He was really open with us.  We taught him the first lesson, and we will follow up with him this week.

We also taught Christiano and Dilaini from our English class.  They made us some french fries last night and we taught them the first lesson.  It went really well.  They both have a strong faith in God, we just need to help them gain a testimony of the BOM.  We gave them a BOM with a part to read, and invited them to pray to know if it is true.  We will follow up with them this week.

Eu sei que Jesus Cristo é nosso Salvador.  Ele nós ama muito.  Ele sofreu por cada um de nós.  Eu sei que O Livro de Mórmon é verdadeiro e Joseph Smith é um profeta de Deus.  Eu sou grato pela oportunidade para ser missionario e pregar o evangelho de Cristo.

Eu amo vocês muito!!!  Have a fantastic week!  Tell Morgan that I love her too!

Elder Howard