November 5, 2012

BRANDO!!!! OH MY WORD!! WAY TO GO STUD!!! man you are going to do great!! and you don't have that long to wait! haha! haha man that's super cool! He'll love it down there! I'm super pumped for him! it's ridiculous how many missionaries are going to south america. it's like an Idaho party down there :) And he levaes almost exactly a year behind. that's kinda cool! Here in two years he'll be home in time for my birthday party ;)

~ps.....last week you didn't tell me who was going on a mission....cuz they were gonna tell me....but i'm pretty sure I need to know. just saying. It«s been driving me nuts trying to figure out who it is!! haha :)

Way to go syd! I'm super excited to hear that she's doing ok. It's amazing to see how well she's doing. That's such a blessing. I know that everything is gonna be just fine. So mom, how long does the treatment work? What is it like? I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father is taking care of her. I know that everything is gonna be just fine with her. She's a tough girl. I'm still praying for her, and everythings gonna be fine. How have Ian and Owen been? Are they taking everything ok? And little Ava? How's she doing?

CONGRATS LUKE AND KYLEE!! brody is so massive!! haha! Luke's just gonna have to deal with it. Basketball players rock! :) haha man I can't believe that. I showed Elder Bergeron the picture and he about passed out! He couldn't believe the size difference! haha! How's Kylee doing? youre not kidding mom, there's gonna be a whole herd of a new generation that won't even know who I am! sad day. haha it'll be super fun!

Man I'm super pumped!! 12 new misisonaries from the stake! that's so great!! sounds like they kept pres. Christensen pretty occupied! :) That makes me super happy! Especially because we had stake conference yesterday and we only had 1 missionary from the Stake of Porto. How many do we have out right now? a lot. And Katie is going to New York! that will be awesome! and Trevor leaves here in a week or two right? Man this is so sick!! I love missions!!! haha :) Todd's home huh? How's he doing? Is he doing alright? How long has he been out on his mission. A year and a half or something like that right? man that's rough. I really hope he can get back out there! And Nick's papers are in too! man the whole world is going on a mission! Ainda bem!! the Lord needs all the workers there are. Elder Holland and the Brethren are saying that "The Lord is hastening on his work." What a great responsibility we all have to do the very best that we can. I'm so grateful for the Lord, and allowing me to be a part of His work. I feel very honored to be a part of it here in Portugal. I'm so proud of our stake! There are a lot of great warriors hitting the fields!! keep it up Grace Idaho Stake of Zion!!

But just so you know, stake conference was incredible!! Isaías went, and it was amazing! it was exactly what he needed and he loved it so much! We're gonna go by tonight to see how he's doing. We're still waiting on the marriage, but it's been incredible to see the extra time. he was ready and had a date set for his baptism, but he just still wasn't sure he wanted to get married, so we waited. And this last week has been so incredible! His testimony has been strengthened SO much! He started bearing his testimony to his girlfriend Raquel telling her that this was the "restored gospel and restored Church of Jesus Christ"!! it was so cool! and she's been reading the book of mormon and really wants to find out which church is the true church. She's progressing really well too! It's been SO fun to see her start to progress. And stake conference was basically all about service. It was really amazing! This gospel is a living gospel that changes the lives of those around us, and not just their lives, but eternities to come. That goes for those that are already in the Church as well as those who still haven't come to know that gospel. But one of the biggest parts of the gospel, is the fact that when we enter in to the gospel, when we've felt the effects of the atonement in our lives, we feel the desire to follow the Saviors example. And when we enter in to the fold, through the means of baptism, we make a covenant with the Lord that we will serve Him and His children. And in stake conference, they talked about our call to serve in the Church as well. We make a covenant to serve with all our heart might mind and strength, regardless of where we serve in the Church, as a primary teacher, Elders Quorum President, Home Teacher, we are called to help one another get home to the presence of our Heavenly Father. I'm so grateful mom, for your example. You've always understood that and you've always magnified your calling and sincerely served. I'm so grateful for that mom. you really are a wonderful example to me. 

The pipe broke again?? Oh man! that is not good. and they didn't even get out of school! sad day!! haha but how great that jim was just "accidently" at the school that day! wink wink :) Thanks for moving that money over mom! I'm gonna have to show you pictures next week, cuz this week we had interviews with president fluckiger, which were amazing, but I don't have time to go shopping, but I am incredibly offended that you don't think I can pick out a good looking suit. Especially cuz I'm in Europe, and all the suits are good looking :) haha just kidding :)

Well mom, I gotta run, But I love you so much. Thank you for everything. I'm super sorry that my letters are always so random and unorganized. I just have so much to say that it all kinda just comes out! and if I missed something, don't be afraid to ask the question again, I didn't ignore that question, it just got lost in my head :) Haha love you so much!!

Love,

Elder Brady

Ps, if you guys send a package for Christmas, we're having a Christmas conference in Lisbon, so you could just send it there and I'll get it easier. If you could just address it like this it will work better:

A Igreja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos dos Ultimos Dias

A/C Elder Jordan Brady

Apartado 40054

1500 Lisboa

Portugal

And then if you could label it as a gift, it makes it easier to pass through customs or something? Idk for sure....but the office said it's easier for them like that. thanks!! love you!!!

October 30, 2012

Olá mãe!!! Ok, Google Translate is completely blown. It took me like 6 minutes to figure out what you were trying to tell me!| I think I got it. I think it had something to do with the spook alley or something like that. Man, i dont' even know! and one of the problems is, i think google translate tries to use decent grammar, but here in portugal, even the native speakers say they don't use good grammar!! haha that's why the missionaries do so well! :) haha just kidding :)

and sorry I didn't write last week. We got a surprise phone call on Friday saying that we had to go to Lisbon yesterday. My bad.

This week was really great! I love this area so much and I'm so grateful for the way the Lord has blessed us. Clara still wasn't able to come to church, because she got sick and didn't go to work for a couple days. But we're gonna call her tonight to set something up for tomorrow. We're having stake conference this weekend, so we're trying to get a big extra push and get people to church! It's gonna be awesome! And another miracle happened! Isaías brought his girlfriend and 3 year old son to church!!! It was amazing!! we're going over there this afternoon to teach him again. We're still working on the marriage thing. Please pray that he can feel ready and the need to be married, and that we can be inspired to help him. He's super incredible! we just need some extra help. :) 

Babies are super great!! I'm super excited for Baby Ava!! I bet that's just an amazing blessing in their family. And it's incredible how Heavenly Father knows everything. The beginning from the end. And the fact that He loves us, individually and perfectly is so incredible. And youre completely right about the differences. We had a man ask us what was different. He believes that all of the churches are the same and that all of them are good, so what is the difference between the Church and the rest of the world. We told him that the difference was that this was the church that Heavenly Father authorizes, and that we can have the fullness of the doctrine, through the book of mormon. It was really interesting. That was one of the coolest lessons we've had, even though it didn't end the way we wanted it to. We talked to this guy a couple weeks ago at his door, and he said we could come back on sunday, but then the next day he called and rescheduled for the next sunday. So we get there, and he lets us in, and we meet his 2 sons and his wife and his dad. It was super cool! his sons stopped playing on the computer to listen to our message. We started teaching the first lesson, and it was really cool. They were asking questions and being very attentive, and the spirit was there super strong. We were just getting to the part about the book of mormon, and then the grandpa started getting a little frustrated and telling us that all the churches were the same because we believed in the bible and the book of mormon came from the bible. and he was pretty acusing. But it was really cool to see how the Spirit took care of everything. As we testified of the truthfulness of the book of mormon, the spirit took over, and the man calmed down, and we were able to have a really great rest of the lesson. Unfortunately this family didn't want to keep investigating the gospel. It really made us sad. They were super amazing and unbelievably nice! but they just said they didn't want anything. It was SO hard. But we really felt like the Lord had guided the lesson. It was amazing. Just another amazing reminder that there are such great people in the world, who just aren't quite ready for the gospel yet. They just weren't quite there yet.

Thanks for the ideas on the games guys! we can still use all that we can get so keep them coming! literally....we need some help :) This activity has been a super cool thing. The ward is really liking it and that makes me really happy. I just love seeing how the ward is starting to come together. I also love how there is something you learn from every single area. Every ward has something to offer. Every person is a great example of something. The Lord has blessed us all with gifts and talents that make who we are, and we can, if we're looking for it, learn from every single person.

I love the idea of preach my gospel!! I love that book so much! it really was inspired by the Lord. I know that as you us it in your studies, you are going to feel a special spirit. Its amazing. it really is. It doesn't matter how many times I study a section in there, I learn something new! 

Haha everyone is going on missions!!! I love it so much!!! Haha we had to joke around with one of the elders that finished his mission last transfer. He was going to BYU and we told him basically the same thing that Dallen said. don't plan on dating, everyones gonna be in the mission field! :) it was fun! it makes me so happy that everyones going a mission!! Brandi and Natasha are going??? That's so rad!!! They are gonna love it! keep me updated on the mission calls! especially brando's! I'm super pumped for him!

I haven't heard from anybody except for Elder Harrison. He sent me a couple pictures the other day! It was super cool to see him!! he looks like he's doing great! staying thin, which is a great thing!! haha I miss him! but by chance, do you know his address in mexico, and damian and sam's addresses? maybe for the mission office or something like that? that would be sweet if you did. I heard from Will Carver and that made me super happy too! I love it so much! They are such great examples, every single one of them. I miss them all!

Well mom, I gotta run. I'm sorry this is a little bit random and scrambled. Today has been a rush and it's just gonna get funner as the day goes one :) I love you so much and I know that Heavenly Father loves us so much. I know that sometimes, we accidently distance ourselves from Him,  and know that it hurts Him. He wants so very much to be an active part of our lives. We just need to let Him in, and when we do, He rejoices. The gospel makes me happy. Living it is the key to happiness on earth, as well as to our eternal progression.

I love you tons!! please keep me updated on missonaries, mother of all storms, and electoins :) Love you tons!

Love, Elder Brady

October 22, 2012

Life goes by oober fast!! another transfer come and gone. We got the call this morning from the AP's. That's one of the perks of being ZL, is that we get to know where everybody is going, and then we get to call them! It's always a blast! but anyways, it turns out for the first time on my mission, I''m staying with my companion. Elder Bergeron and I are staying together for at least one more and I'm SUPER excited! I really love Elder Bergeron a lot. I'm learning a lot from him. And we've got a baptism marked for this weekend and it's so amazing!!! But random fact, besides Elder Bergeron, I've had 4 other comps right? 2 of them are already at home, they ended their missions. So there are just Elder Bond, and Elder Faias left in the mission. Well I found out this morning that both of them are coming into my Zone here in Porto!!! I was SO  pumped I did a little dance for joy in the house :) hahaha really made my day :) I miss those guys! It's gonna be so fun to get to see them!

But yeah, so we're working with a guy named Isaías, or Isaiah in english. He's this AMAZING guy from Cape Verde. He's so incredible! He loves learning about the Savior and about God. He said he would always go with anybody who invited him to go to church, but he never really stayed with any church. Then was we started talking to him, he just soaked everything up! He's been to church twice and LOVES it! And this last week in church was basically an answer to prayers. We had a special sacrament meeting about the Priesthood and was super super cool. And in Gospel Principles Class, we talked about obedience and why we are obedient and its hard to explain exactly what else, but the teacher is AMAZING and Isaías asked for a Gospel Principles book! And we taught the plan of Salvation, and he just soaked everything up. The only struggle that we're really having right now, is that he's not married to his girlfriend and he didn't really have plans to get married (They live together and have a 3 year old son, Leonardo). But we invited him to pray about it and see if that was what he needed to do, and then we called him, and his girlfriend was also thinking about getting married!! MIRACLE!!! the Lord has really just prepared everything and answered all of our prayers, and his. It's been so incredible! and tonight we're gonna be having an FHE with our Stake President and his family! And Isaías is bringing his girlfriend too! This will be the first time we've taught Raquel (His girlfriend) Please  pray that everything goes well! We're super super excited!

And as far as Clara, the amazing sister in the apartment building. Unfortunately, we still haven't been able to help her get to church. She was all planned to come this week, but then she called us a little nervous. She had to go to the hospital but we couldn't understand why but she said she wasn't coming this week. we were confused but then called her Saturday afternoon, and her daughter who was having a rough and dangerous pregnancy (which was causing a lot of stress for Clara) had her baby and everyone is safe and healthy!! the Lord has just been taking such good care of Clara! I'm SO grateful! The Lord has just been working miracles all over our area. I'm so grateful! And I'm so grateful for one more transfer here to keep improving and serving the Lord more sincerely. And the people here are incredible! I love them SO much! I can't even tell you all the miracles that have been happening here, I don't have enough time to tell you them all!! I LOVE GAIA!! :)

And the ward is improving SO much!! We were finally able to have an activity once, just with a couple members and investigators, and the loved it so much, they asked us to do it again, and then there were more, and then even more!!! Now it's a weekly activity and the relief society is starting to get involved in helping with food! It's super fun!!! but I need some help mom, and dad, and ash and everyone who is reading this email. I just need Ideas for fun activities! we usually try to have a spiritual part for 10 or so minutes and then like a related game or activity that helps apply what we learned. We've done and Iron Rod activity, we've done a restoration/apostasy activity (which was fun) and we've done a culture night with American little games like stomp the balloon, flour game and don't eat Pete. All ideas are welcome! we're trying to think about mutual activities we've done in the past, but man, its harder than i thought!! haha :) But it's been really cool! our ward is just working really hard right now. the Lord has blessed the reactivation work here so much! we're working on getting 5 more people reactivated! and we've been receiving references that are progressing very well! If you could all pray and thank Heavenly Father for the miracles that have been happening here, and pray that our ward may continue to improve that would we marvelous :) thanks!!

OK so the miracle with João! the Dad. He's been pretty closed as far as the gospel is concerned, but the Lord has been doing so much work with him! It turns out he's read the book of Mormon 2 times and is almost done with it for the 3rd!!! WHAT?!?! He loves the book of Mormon! and he loves the bishop! He's invited us and the bishop and his wife to come to dinner this weekend! Man it's so cool!! He's opening up little by little. 

Maria Albertina, the lady whose daughters were taken away. She has been having a really hard time, and we haven't been able to get in touch with her very much, because she went to her older daughters house, who lives a ways away. We want to call her this week. It's been kinda hard that way, but the ward has been SO good to help with her. If you could pray and thank Heavenly Father for our stake president, that would be amazing! He and his wife, are LIFE SAVERS!! :) They've helped with Isaías, and Maria Albertina and are just fabulous! 

October 15, 2012

Well as far as the work is going here, It's going great! The Lord has really blessed us so so much! The Lord has blessed us to find some people who are progressing at an incredible rate! We're teaching a sister whose name is Maria Albertina. She has had a very very hard time. We contacted her in the street about 3 weeks ago. She was just walking in the road and we decided to stop and talk to her. She had been operated on her thyroid about a month or 2 ago, and her daughters were taken by the Social Services about 3 years ago, and she has just been struggling with this for a long time. We left her a pamphlet and got her number, but then nothing really happened. Then one day, we were just trying to figure out what we should do. We had a lesson fall through, and we didn't have anything planned. So we prayed, and we had a couple people that we decided to call, and Maria was one of them. She answered and she said she remembered us and we were able to set up a guided visit of the chapel! it was really amazing. She said that she just felt light and relieved. She has been just walking through town for about 3 years. She has just been depressed since her daughters were taken from her. She loved being in the church. She said she could just feel calm. She is a super simple lady. She hasn't had much schooling and she doesn't understand really well the first time, because her mind is always occupied on her daughters, but last night she asked us how it is that she can know if the things we are reading in the Book of Mormon are really really true. She finally is understanding now. And we had a really amazing lesson with our stake president and his family and she really loved it there too. She loves feeling the Spirit. She came to church and really liked it. She was SUPER sad because a sister in our ward is a lawyer and as they were talking she said there's not much chance of her getting her daughters back. I'm not sure why, cuz I don’t know the Portuguese laws very well, but that crushed her. But then after church, we ate lunch and were walking to another appointment, and she was actually sitting with a less active recent convert....just talking in the street! And this less active is starting to reactive and is super cool! Also super simple and humble, but really has a powerful testimony. We had a quick little, almost lesson, and it really was an incredible miracle. She was smiling and laughing and it is such blessings that she has this little old man recent convert to be her friend. I'm still learning patience with her. I'm really grateful for this experience with her. She complains a lot, and cries a lot, because of her daughters. And I'm just trying to learn Christ-like love and patience, because she needs it so badly. Please pray for her and for me.

There are other amazing miralces and people that we're starting to work with, but unfortunately, I'm out of time, I love you so very much mom! thanks for everything!!! Give a hug to Shauna and Kim for me and tell them congrats!!!

Love ya!

Love,

Elder Brady

PS....Can you get on my facebook and talk to Sydney Christensen?? I SAW HER AT CONFERENCE!!!! :)

October 8, 2012

No email this week. Just a re-do from last week. I'm guessing he didn't get my email from last week, so he didn't write, just re-sent last week's in case it didn't go through. However, we know that he is alive and well. :)

October 1, 2012

ok, first things first, I just about PASSED OUT!!! Ashleigh is looking SO good! I can't believe this!! man I can't believe she's a senior already....man mom, you are old.:)
so as far as the strikes or revolts go, the only thing that is really affecting us right now is travel. Like tomorrow, we have to go to Lisbon for Mission council, and there is a train strike. There is only one train that goes to lisbon tomorrow and it doens't get us there in time, so we're taking a bus. Which will just take about hour more, but turns out it is a little bit cheaper, so it works out ok :) we just have to leave porto at 6 to get to lisbon at 9:30 and then leave lisbon at 5:30 to get home at 9ish at night. Its a lot of busriding, but it's all good :) More time to read the scriptures eh? :) So quick question, how are things going in terms of the election race between obama and romney? We here things here and there but I don't really know how much to rely on some of the information iget, because theother day we had a guy tell us that obama had died. It was wierd. but that's a story to tell.

Ok, so we were knocking doors one night about 8:00 ish, and there weknocked a couple and nobody let us in, so then we knocked on this door, and a guy came to the door and was like, "oh hey! good night! how are you? come on in" He shook our hands and like pulled us into his house. So we're like...ok cool, yeah this is great! but then he was like sit down here at this table I'll be right there.So we sat down, and then we just started feeling a little uncomfortable. We looked at each other, and we kinda just knew something sketchy was going on. So this guy, named Manuel, was like, by the way Elder Brady. You look just like me when Iwas little. Look theres a picture. and I didn't look like him.Just saying. ok, so what's new in the world of "evangelização" or in english.....gospelization.....maybe. IDK, but we were just like, um....well we're disciples of Jesus Christ and......then he was like I know I knowI know, but who is the man in the united states that's in charge of the Extra terrestrial exploration? we just sat there. then he was like so who is the leader of the United Kingdom? we didn't know. Then he was like so who is the leader of war in America. We said, obama. Then he said no. he died. I show you in the encyclopedia. Then we were like um....then he was like ok, so heres the deal elders, because you don't know, I'll tell you.... AC, and DC, (being the years before and after the birth of Christ) were egyptian. So therefore, Christ's religion was egyptian. And therefore, we must all be mumified. then he looked over my shoulder (i was sitting across from him) and then started nodding, and saying "uh huh, uh huh, ok" and then started asking us again who was it that had explored space from the United States, and who was the Leader of the war and whatever. really wierd. and everything he said he related back to egyptian religion. and how e should all be egyptian and mummified.

yeah. So you are all probably really confused by this paragraph. but just imagine how confused we were sitting in his house!! haha. so we left a pamphlet of the plan of salvation. He looked at it and said "oh great. Thanks for coming!have a good night" opened the door, and we left real quick. super crazy huh! haha :)

ANyways, random misison story :)

So ash is rocking at volleyball huh? way to go butch! you're rocking it! and you're beautiful. just saying. And way tall. And Britt is killing it! basketball starts already??it's onlyOctober! oh man I'm super jealous britt! rock it out there for me ok? work hard, keep me updated! :) and sarahs working on the euphonium huh? that's super cool! that's what I played i think. Cuz the valves were on the top. Way to go sarah! that things bigger than you are! I really liked playing it. It was a lot of fun! But mom you are absolutely right, my sisters are incredible. I love every single one of them so much. 

Oh yeah, that Idaho Lead thing would be really cool! You did it last year too right? That would be super sweet. It's really cool to have those kinds of discussions. I really like them a lot. How is the student council doing mom? Are you having anymore cool dances or activities? ANd your kindle is super sweet! I forgot you got that. Jesus the Christ is a way cool book. It«'s super hard to read though, not gonna lie. I need a dictionary. Literally. haha :) But the spirit that's there, and the testimony of Christ is incredible. 

AS far as your letters go mom, you're doing great! I love hearing about all of this stuff! You can write whatever you want and I'll love it. Thank you so much for the talk by the way. It was exactly what I needed at the right time. It really helped a lot.Thanks for that. 

So this week the Lord has really blessed us. We've been finding a lot of people! Using the members here has been a little bit hard, but there are a couple families that are super willing to work, and recent converts are just always on fire with the spirit, so we've been working with Diogos dad a little bit. We'rehaving an FHE tonight with Bishop and João. it's gonna be great! if you could pray that everything runs well that would be great! :) He works a lot and is always tired and hard to get a hold of, but the Lord has really blessed us already, because he didn't really want to come to the family night, but now he's coming, so it's gonna be great! 

We've also found this amazing lady named Clara. She was a MIRACLE. we were knockin this apartment building, and then somebody down in the basement was ringing all the doorbells from outside. like all of them. So Clara came out to see what was going on, right as we were coming down the stairs to her door.She just kinda looked at us and we smiled, and there was that little pause, then we just said....olá, we the elders! and  we just started talking to her and then it turns out her husband had died just a little while ago, and she just cried and cried and said she's been praying that she could know if her husband was ok. and then we started talking about the plan of salvation, and we said a prayer with her to help her calm down, and she said we could come back. Such a miracle! but then the second lesson, we just talked a little about the plan of salvaton. She had already read the pamphlet,and was super excited! she cried a little bit as we talked about her husband. but not near as much as thefirst time. We still didn't get all the way through the lesson, and the spirit was just like, just talk to her for a minute. Sowe did, and then we left a book of mormon and the pamphlet for the restoration. Then we came back and she was waiting for us and super happy!she had already read the 1st chapter of teh book of mormon and the pamphlet and was working on reading the plan of salvation again! so this time we taught the first lesson, and she didn't cry at all! she was so excited and happy and she said she just felt so good! and she said her co-workers asked her why she was so happy!! haha! and she said it was because of us! and she wants us to talk to her friend too! it has been such an amazing thing to see the spirit already starting to make a difference in her life. It's been night and day! from the first to the 3rd time we talked to her, she's already a different person! She's going to pray about the book of mormon and she's already said she'll come to general conference this weekend!!! Heavenly Father has blessed us SO much! and whoever was ringing the doorbells was probalby an angel :) :) if you could just keep praying forClara and that she'll be able to make friends with the members taht would be great :)

Well mom, I gotta run, but Iove you so much!! Please let me know if I can do anything for you. I miss you and think you«re fabulous! Love you tons!

Love,

Elder Brady

PS, my ipod wierded out, and I lost my music.I have some that theyhad at them ission office, but If youcould send me the Work CD that would be sweet! thanks :)

PPS....scripture of the week, Mosiah 4:6 I love this one! :)

On Mon, Oct 1, 2012 at 6:08 AM, Jeri Kay Brady <jake1of7@dcdi.net> wrote:

September 24, 2012

Brigham City has a temple now!! That’s great!! I think it was George Q. Cannon that said that every temple built and dedicated lessens the power of Satan on the earth. That is such a miraculous thing! I'm so grateful for the fact the Portugal is preparing for a temple. Apparently tithing is a hard thing here. The economy here in Portugal is terrible. It's horrible. And there is no work. A lot of people are living on the government income, and there are a lot of people who aren't even living off of that. It really takes a lot of faith to pay tithing here. The leaders are really stressing that so that we can have a temple here. My testimony of tithing has really been strengthened here. The people who pay tithing with a pure and clean heart and attitude are SO blessed. I'm so grateful for the gospel. The Lord has blessed us with commandments to guide our lives, and to help us to make the right choices. What are the 3 most common concerns in the world today? Health, Family relationships, and Finances. What has the Lord given us to provide us security and peace of mind? He's given us the Word of Wisdom, the Law of Chastity, and the Law of Tithing. These laws are just ways for the Lord to provide us the blessings and peace of mind and comfort for the 3 most common concerns in this life. It’s amazing how that goes. All of the commandments the Lord has given us are only for our good. We just have to trust in the love the Lord has that he will NEVER ask us to do something that is going to hurt us. The things He asks us to do are only for our good. I know that that is true.

So we had an AMAZING baptism this week!! A young man named Diogo. He's 13 years old, and incredible! His mom is a recent convert who is the definition of the Gospel changes lives. Her life was in rough shape. She was living with a really not good guy, and her son (diogo) had been taken from her, and she was just really really sad and depressed and then one day the elders found her. And then Christ entered into her life. She kicked the really not good guy out. Her ex husband came back and they are going to get married again (we're still working with the husband. He's coming around :)) And she just loves the gospel so much. She bears her testimony to us every single time we're in her house :) It's incredible!! I love her to death. She's named Carla. She's amazing! And so we've been teaching her son on the weekends cuz he still lives with his grandparents during the week. But just for a little while longer. But anyways, this kid is so cool! just a simple humble kid. But at the baptism, his dad came, João. who likes the elders a lot, but he's been a little closed to the church. He reads the Book of Mormon, and likes it; he just won't come to church. At all. haha :) but he came to the baptism of his son. And oh my goodness. The Lord knew that João was there and the spirit was SO strong. It was one of the most amazing things ever!! João was just beaming when he was helping Diogo change into the dry clothes. I know he was touched by the spirit. And our bishop is INCREDIBLE and invited them to an FHE next week (Bishops at the temple this whole week. JEALOUS!) and we're going to start really working to help João. Please pray that he will open up and the spirit can keep working with him. I can just see this family going to the temple here in a year and a bit to become an eternal family. Please pray that we can be guided to help João!