Buckets

OI FAMÍLIA!!! TUDO BEM?!  Welp this week was the last week of transfers and Sister Marquina and I hit it off on a high note. We had two baptisms Saturday!!! But the road to the baptism of Lucas and Maria Eduarda was a bit interesting. The adversary was definitely trying his best to stop them from being baptized. It all started Wednesday. Wednesday was the day of Lucas' baptismal interview--at least we thought it would be... He was supposed to be at the church at 3:30pm but when it rolled around to 3:30, he hadn't showed up. So we waited a little bit longer, figuring that he was running late. But 4, 4:15 rolled around and he still wasn't at the church. We tried and tried to call him but no one answered until my district leader decided to try calling him. When his mom answered the phone, we were a bit worried and asked where Lucas was. She said that he wouldn't be able to make it to the interview because they were on their way to the hospital. yikes. Lucas had been hit by a motorcycle on his way to the church. Luckily the damage wasn't too bad, and his mom said that we could swing by Thursday to talk to him. Thursday rolled around and us and the elders and a member went to visit Lucas. When we arrived, his knee was all bandaged us along with his elbow, and wrist. But he said he was feeling a little bit better and that he still wanted to be baptized Saturday! Literally, Lucas is like no other 14 year old boy. He is so dedicated to the gospel and even stayed up until 9:30pm reading the Book of Mormon one night and is super excited to receive the priesthood and prepare, pass and one day, bless the sacrament. His mom said she has never seen him so happy in his life than right now! After this little adventure and after both Lucas and Maria Eduarda passed their baptismal interviews, Saturday finally rolled around! Their baptism was supposed to start at 4:30pm so we met with our ward missionary leader at 3pm to make sure everything was ready to go. Come to find out that the font still had water in it from two or three weeks ago along with some bugs. And the smell....well it was just awful. So we had to unplug the drain and man did it take forever for the water to drain. But finally it did and by 4ish, we started to clean it a bit and let the font fill back up. At this time people were already starting to arrive and we started to panic. So to make the process a bit faster, we took buckets, filled them with water, and threw the water in the font. So here we were, two sisters along with the elders, and two members running around hectically with buckets of water to and from the font. Then the water started to disappear. Ah we could not believe that we were running out of water but had enough for the person baptizing to kneel down with Lucas and Maria Eduarda sitting down in the font. So that's what we ended up doing. It was still so awesome to see them so happy to be following their Savior that it didn't matter how many problems we had encountered till this point. I am so excited for both of them and can't wait to see where this decision takes them! But what is funny is that after their baptism, "the rains came down and the floods came up" quite literally. It started to pour. We had prayed beforehand for water so we could still have the baptism, and the Lord blessed us with more than enough afterwards. Anyways, sister Marquina and I weren't about to wait to it to stop so we ran and ran to our next appointment. But the time we reached the gates of the apartment complex, we were soaked. We ended up not teaching because the member that wanted to come with us was running errands so we remarked with the members and off we went to do street contacts and with whom? Ourselves. Because no one was in the street. So off we went back home to dry off and get ready for Sunday. OH! I am staying in Santo André but not with sis Marquina....I am excited to being staying in Santo André but a bit sad to let her go. But at the same time, excited to start a new adventure with a new companion! One last thing, the rules for transfers changed and now our zone leaders will call us Sunday night to let us know if we will be transferred or not and if we are, we have Monday to pack and then off we go to our new area....ALONE. *phew* was I excited to hear that I would not have to travel to another area by myself. I get lost in my own area, Santo André. I can't imagine trying to navigate the train/bus system. I wish the best of luck to sister Marquina!  That's all for right now! Have a superly fantastic week! I love you guys so much!!!  Hugs and kisses,  Sister Hilchie :)