April 18, 2011
Good morning from Américo Brasiliense! How is everyone doing today?
Crazy news: we baptized and confirmed this week! There's this couple named Cristiane and Fernando that I've mentioned in past emails. Their son is a member who's currently living in Utah with an ex-Sister's family. About a million missionaries have come to know and teach them over the past few years, and for whatever reason, they finally accepted the commitment of baptism! It was so awesome, because they had become one of those nonmember families that loves the missionaries but doesn't really have any intention to investigate the Church. But then everything worked out, and now we baptized a family! I learned that the Lord, and not the missionaries, prepares people to learn about and accept the gospel. We just did what we're supposed to do, Cristiane and Fernando did what they needed to do, and the Lord did the rest.
I just remembered that there are three people getting baptized in the photos that I'm sending. The woman who's a bit older is Fernando's mother, who was also baptized. She lives in a nearby city, though, so we didn't have anything to do with her conversion. In a crazy turn of events, she was gradually converted in large part because of a sister who made phone calls to her from the Salt Lake Temple Square Mission because Fernando (the member kid who's living in Utah) gave his grandma's address to some sisters. It's nuts how all of this fell into place -- it was a miracle, really.
And now for something completely different: I will be bearing my final testimony at my last zone conference ever tomorrow. My mission president is only going to hold zone conference once every three months or so, so the next zone conference will occur shortly after I go home. I guess it's a little silly to bear your final testimony three months before you go home, but it's still somewhat significant, I think. It's crazy to think that the end is coming. I'm trying not to think about it and just dedicate everything to the Lord, and it's working so far. I haven't even been thinking that much about home lately.
So, the mission goes on. This week was insanely stressful because of the baptism (I probably aged twenty years on Saturday night), but it was a good week of work. My comp and I are doing well. I wear shoes now! Woo! And I'm almost done with the Book of Mormon.
To close, here's a scripture that everyone probably knows that I like a lot:
"Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God" (Ether 12:4).
Faith points to the future! A real application of the gospel of Jesus Christ makes the world a better place, even if that world is only as big as the one person you helped. The Church is true, and I love being a missionary. The Savior lives, and he loves us. I love you!
--Elder Wiggins
P.S. If I look fat in either of the pictures, it's just the angle of the photo. Ahem.
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