Baptism of Joao Paulo - June 20

Dear Everyone,

João got baptized this week! It was so good! He is so grateful to have found God´s true church and he makes sure he tells us by calling us every day at 10 PM to let us know. He bought us some T-shirts because it's his favorite thing to wear and he will take us to eat out tomorrow for lunch. Way cool! #blessingsforbaptism Right before I baptized him, he stood in the font crying for a bit from being so happy. I love seeing the joy that the gospel brings to people! It is the greatest thing ever! I will try and send some pictures from this no good ghetto library computer I am using, but if I don't, it's because the computer broke from trying to send the pictures haha!

We also taught a lady from the "Reino de Deus" which is a portuguese church, and... she's crazy. And a man who believes in reincarnation and seven universes with different God's and that Christ had kids and lots of other stuff. Honestly the people here are nuts. I love it.

I love the example of Abinadi as a missionary. He must have been one of the most faithful men who ever lived! He preached for 2 or 3 years to people who wouldn't accept him, and died as a martyr without the knowledge of having brought a single soul to Christ. That must have been so hard for him to think about as he preached. But because of his faithfulness and obedience to God, he touched the heart of Alma, which led to the construction of God's church in his time. Without Abinadi, we wouldn't have the book of Mormon with us today. I feel like we can relate to Abinadi sometimes - we work and press forward continually, but we don't see the fruits of our labors. We might think that we don't make a difference. But God works in mysterious ways! I know that as we faithfully fulfill God's commands of us, we are blessed, and others are blessed through us, even if we don't see it. And in the end, our Celestial Glory will be an infinitely greater recompense for our works. So stay firm! God is in charge, and he blesses us always, especially in our struggles.

It was a great week! I hope yours was too! See ya´ll later! Happy fathers day to all you dads! 

- Elder Valentine!