We are teaching a little girl named N. and she is beyond
precious! She is 9 years old and lives with her grandma, aunts, cousins,
etc. We met her mom and have been teaching everyone in that house, but
the mom recently left to live in a different city to take care of her
uncle who is sick... N. is soooo special...she learns so fast and has so much faith. she
has her own bible and is able to read and explain what she is reading to
us and her gma!! ITS INCREDIBLE!
Sister Silva
found N. in the street on Sister Silva's first day and we have been
teaching ever since!!! N.'s grandma goes to a different church, but
is always participating in the lessons. they live in a humble home...
BUT ANYWAYS...N.
is special! This week we explained baptism to her and she said, "Sister
Tyson, I want to be baptized like Jesus was baptized. Will you baptize
me?" MIRACLE!!!!! We went to pick her up yesterday and walked her to
visit the church for the first time. It was precious, we walked with her
and she grabbed my hand and stayed holding my hand the whole rest of
the time until we got to church. She is a chatty little thing and the
members loved her!!! She was so cute and ran off to primary with the
other little girls. I introduced her to some of the little girls her age
who are always clinging to me during sacrament meeting (helping to
build friendships) and she did great!!!
I took
her to the baptismal font to show her what it was like, and she said,
"so you will go into the water to baptize me?" and I explained to her
simply that another missionary- an elder- my friend, would go into the
water with her, say a prayer, and baptize her because he has the
permission from Jesus to baptize. She then asked why women cant baptize
and I was so impressed by her question- then I explained that women have
the special job to have babies and be mommies and that because Jesus is
a man, he gave the special power to baptize only to men. But, I
reassured her that I would be standing right up against the glass of the
font, watching and encouraging her until she came out of the water and
then I would help her get dried off and changed again for the after
party!
I knew she understood my explanation
because she went around telling R. and other members that although
she was disappointed that I couldn't baptize her, she understood that it
was because I would be a mommy someday and that Jesus only gives
authority to men!! hahahaha precious! She explained perfectly!!! soooo
smart!!!
Sister Silva will invite N. to be baptized tonight!! First time she
has invited someone to be baptized! and then I will get the baptism form
filled out and work with the grandma. I was worried about baptizing
this little girl without having anyone in her family being baptized too,
because its hard for a little kid to stay active without the parents
being involved, but I am teaching everyone in her family at the same
time and will help them to overcome some addictions and build more faith
after N. is baptized. I CAN NOT TELL HER THAT SHE IS NOT READY JUST
BECAUSE HER GRANDMA/MOM AREN'T READY. She is ready to be baptize. I know
that Heavenly Father knows that she has so much potential to be a huge
leader in the church someday. N. was sweet too and kissed my face as
she whispered, "Sister Tyson, I want to be a missionary like you
someday." MY HEART MELTED INTO A PUDDLE FOLKS!!! THESE BRAZILIAN KIDS
WRECK ME.... THEN IT GOT WORSE... her little 4 and 5 year old cousins
said the closing prayer at our last lesson with them and they said,
"Jesus, please bless our sisters that they can come back to us and that
we can sleep good and be happy always," and they were on their knees and
everything!! THEY SAID, "OUR SISTERS"... MY HEART CAN TAKE IT MUCH
MORE! I CAN NEVER LEAVE THESE KIDS!!!!
The primary is
already involved and I have a leader in the primary who is 19 and
planning on serving a mission, that lives close to N. who has
already agreed to pick her up each week and take her to church even
after I get transferred- and she will pick her up for the primary
activity this week!!! ORGANIZING FRIENDSHIPS AND GIVING THE WARD
RESPONSIBILITY REALLY WORKS MIRACLES!
N. sat next to me during sacrament meeting and colored in my notebook-- I will send a picture of what she drew. She drew me with the Book of Mormon in my hands... we are teaching so many people about the Book of Mormon right now so it is hard to remember who is learning what and so I
asked her, "have you already learned about the Book of Mormon?" and she
said, "no, but you will teach me about it soon!" I LITERALLY WAS SO
CHOKED UP. I HAVEN'T EVEN TAUGHT HER ABOUT THE BOOK OF MORMON YET, BUT IT
IS ALWAYS WITH ME WHEN I TEACH HER AND SO SHE ALREADY KNOWS HOW
IMPORTANT IT IS!!!! We happened to be talking about the importance of
the Book of Mormon in Relief Society yesterday and I cried as I showed
the women in my ward the picture and explained that even young children
who have never been introduced to the Book of Mormon before can feel of
its importance based on how we live our lives and study the Book of Mormon ourselves! So sweet!
In other news, as Sister Bott was leaving to Cambe (my last area), I told her that I had organized the
area book for her to go and find and baptize all of those
people that I had been teaching.
This week, the AP's called me and told me
that they were going to do a conference call between me and Sister Bott
because there was a little boy there who would not get baptized without
talking to me on the phone!!! When I heard Sister Bott's voice, I burst into
tears! lol!! She explained the situation and said, "Sister Tyson, everyone is
here ready to baptize this kid, but he said that he has to talk to you
first. Sister Tyson, you are our secret weapon in convincing this kid to be
baptized tonight!" Then I talked to E. (the little boy)--- I WAS A WRECK! I talked
to him about everything and about how important it was for him to be
baptized. I promised him that he would be blessed and that the problems
at home would get better if he would have the faith to be baptized. He
kept telling me that he missed me and I told him that I love him so
much!!! he said, "Tia (aunt), I will be baptized when you get here to
watch it happen."
E. was firm on his decision that he wouldn't be baptized without me
being there...Sister Bott was disappointed but laughed and said, "Sister Tyson,
everyone here (members and investigators) are cracking down, saying 'we
want Tyson, we want Tyson!' I am starting to think that you did too good
of a job over here...." hahaha
We will see what Presidente says..he wants baptism...and I will be baptizing here in
Bauru this week (fingers crossed) but rumor has it that he might let me
go back to Cambe for a day to baptize some of these people and come
back...who knows... I would be more than happy to! We have our Zone Conference tomorrow so I will talk to Presidente then.
IT
WAS SOOO GOOD TO TALK TO SITER BOTT!!! R. WAS WITH ME SO SHE ALSO
TALKED TO SITER BOTT FOR A FEW MINUTES. SISTER BOTT KEPT SCREAMING AND SAYING, "YOU
DID IT TYSON! YOU PREPARED ALL OF THESE PEOPLE AND NOW WE ARE GONNA
FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED HERE!"
Oh and SHE
BAPTIZED MY LONG TERM INVESTIGATOR N!!!!!! N. WAS SOOOO STUBBORN
AND WE WENT THERE SO MANY TIMES, BUT FINALLY SHE WAS READY AND SISTER BOTT WENT
AND BAPTIZED HER!
I am sooooo happy!!! We are all on the same team- it doesn't matter if we are planters or reapers, we are all here to build
up the kingdom!!! My heart was at peace to know that I did my part to
help set these people up and that I worked so hard there. The Lord is
soooo merciful, and as hard as it is to be without Sister Bott and to miss
seeing these baptisms of the people that I struggled and prayed so hard
for, I AM EVEN MORE HAPPY TO HEAR THAT SISTER BOTT IS HAPPY AND SEEING
THE BAPTISMS FLOODING IN!!!!! MY HEART IS THRILLED!
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