As always, it was so good to hear from so many of you!
I feel so happy to today because of the highlight of the week that happened yesterday. We invited Marcelo to be baptized, and he accepted! I think I talked about Marcelo in the past, but I´ll tell the full story here.
He had been taught by missionaries a few times last year, but for some reason lost contact with them. One day a few weeks ago, we were walking back home when a man came walking up to us as if he already knew us--it was Marcelo! We found out he had been taught already, and so we set up a time to meet with him again. When we got home, I found his teaching record from last year. I seriously love teaching records so much, haha. They make it so much easier to know about past investigators and what they´ve been taught and how they received it. We taught the first lesson again, and then invited him to church. He came the week that Irmão Joaquim passed away, and wasn´t able to come yesterday. Last week we taught the second lesson, and he was agreeing with what we were teaching. When he didn´t come to church yesterday, we decided to call him and ask if we could visit him. He said of course!
Before this, we had decided and felt good about asking him to be baptized on the 4th of December (a sunday, because he doesn´t usually know if he will work on Saturdays). Elder Cardenuto asked me to be the one to invite Marcelo. I was a little nervous, because we haven´t taught the third lesson (Gospel of Jesus Christ) very often, and the last time we taught it, I kept messing up. But I also felt an assurance that everything would go well. I felt very strongly that this would be a good lesson, and that the spirit would be there, and that Marcelo would accept.
The spirit was very strong as we taught, and we were able to say the things that he needed to hear. When we brought up the date, he said that this date was very special because it was the day he left Brasil five years ago. He also said that he is still about 50/50, but that he will prepare to feel ready. When he said this, I felt so much joy! He is reading the book of Mormon, and he said he would like it very much if we kept giving him specific chapters to read.
I am so grateful that I can be a missionary, and that Eu e Elder Cardenuto temos a oportunidade de servir em Leiria. Eu sinto que eu estou nesta área para um rezão e que há pessoas que estão prontos para ouvir nossas palavras. Eu sei que Deus vai colocar pessoas em nosso caminho.
We will continue to teach him for these next few weeks to help him continue to progress and continue to feel ready.
Also this week, we attened the baptism of Carla and João ( a mother and her son). They were taught by the Sisters, so we didn´t know them too well. But I was able to see their joy after joining the church. This is the reason that we are missionaries. Not to see another country; not to learn a new language; not to say that we served a mission. THe reason we serve missions is to bring the joy and happiness of the restored gospel into the lives of others!
I don´t know how to transition these thoughts to the next so...
The stitching on one of my pant legs came undone the other day, but luckily elder Cardenuto knew of a random seamstrist(?) place in our area. The place is actually pretty cool, because it is a shop in a garage behind some apartment buildings, haha. We left my pants there with the lady who would stitch them again (along with some of Elder Cardenuto´s things that needed stitching), and the next day we came back to get them. When I asked how much they would cost, she told us not to worry about it. It was so nice! This reminded me that there are good people everywhere, but especially in Portugal :).
We met someone on the street who had just gotten out of prison, but seemed nice. He said that we could call him another day and meet with him again. However, a few days later when we called, he was not as nice as we thought. He said to dissapear and never call again and if he ever saw us again, he would slit our necks...OK. I think we´ll cross him off our list, haha.
Each week gets better here, and I can honestly say that I´m so happy to be a missionary. There are days when I get discouraged and don´t think I can keep going, but those days are getting beaten down by the days when I feel so much joy! I know that this is Christ´s church reastablished on the earth, and that our Heavenly Father loves and guides each of us.
I love and miss you all, and espero que vocês tenham uma ultima semana!
Com Amor,
Elder Barker
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