Baptisms!

                                                                                                              November 25, 2013

Oi família!

This has been SUCH an incredible week. For starters, we had 3 baptisms yesterday! It was soooo incredible; each one of them has such a neat story. I love being here in Brasil, where the people are so receptive and we are blessed to baptize a lot of people - but each person is so special and so individual! Each baptism is such a miracle! The Lord truly has a hand in the salvation of his children.

 Bruno is 12 years old, and the first three times we tried to teach him he refused to talk to us because he is so dang shy. We were TERRIFIED for his baptismal interview, cause he just doesn’t talk, but Elder Lopez, our DL, was able to get him to open up in a matter of minutes! (Its cause they played a little bit of soccer together before the interview. Crazy brasileiros haha) 
Then there was Macielda. She has had a hard life, is 14 years old, and spend the majority of her childhood living on the street. But now she is with a family and baptized and reading the Book of Mormon and going to seminary and I am so grateful that she has the gospel in her life now! I love her so much.
Annnnd Calianne. Her whole family was baptized 9 years ago, but she wouldn’t do it. Wouldn’t even look at a Book of Mormon. And we were blessed to come to her family just at the right time to help her make these sacred covenants. She had a lot of stuff to work through in the past 2 weeks, but I can testify that the power of the Atonement is very real. It’s not just something nice we read in the scriptures, it’s truly a power that changes people. We have worked and studied and cried, and her family has been working and crying for her for almost 10 years, and she was finally baptized yesterday. Baptism is a remission of sins. It literally takes years of sorrow and guilt off a person’s shoulders. I feel so privileged to have been a witness to this miracle.

Fun moments of the week:

Sister Christensen and i are teaching our Ward Mission Leader some American slang. So far, he has learned YOLO, bubbler [FOR ALL YOU NH NATIVES, YOU'LL LOVE THIS ONE], and Haters gonna hate. It’s hilarious to hear him bring them up in everyday conversation now :)
We were helping a member move, and randomly found a macheté in her closet. Normally I’d be a little weirded out, but I guess that’s normal in Brasil haha.
Our old Bispo, Rubenei, had me watch the music video Carrie for the old 80s hair band, Europa. He sings that song to me all the time now because Carrie sounds like Carroll. Can I just say it’s so amusing to her brasileiros sing 80s pop when they don’t know the words?!?!? :D
The baptismal fonte wasn’t draining so Sister Christensen and I got to just empty it by hand, one bucketful at a time. Pictures are coming soon :)
Annnnnnnd lastly, there will be no Thanksgiving this week BUT I’ll try and make some mashed potatoes. Be grateful for all that you have! If you have a house, clothes to last you more than 3 days, food for more than one meal, and water that doesn’t make you sick, the ability to read, and a family that loves you and so many other things - you are more blessed than over half the people I am working with every day. Thank Heavenly Father for the simple things in life - even if it seems mundane, say a prayer of gratitude anyway.
I love you all! 
Sister Carroll

 

emptying the baptismal font with a bucket - what fun!

 

 

 

 

silly sister missionaries