week 23 . with the faith of the pioneers

Olá!

This week I had what I think was the most spiritual experience I've had so far on my mission. Tammy and Leandro are a couple in our ward who have three of the most precious kids. (Nate, I think you'd get along with their son Bruno!). I want my future family to be like them. And Leandro's mom came to stay with them. Every time she visits them they always always always invite her to church, but she has never had any interest. They've given her a Book of Mormon but she's never read it. But yesterday she went to church. It was her first time, after years of them inviting. And she loved it. She felt so good there, she felt like she was hearing answers that she needed from God. The gospel principles class especially touched her. So after church, Sister Marcelino and I went over to their house to teach her. We taught her the Restoration and I have never felt the spirit so powerfully as I did in that lesson. And I could see in her eyes that she felt it too. Tammy and Leandro had just bought a giant framed painting of the first vision, and Leandro's mom sat exactly facing it. When Sister Marcelino recited the first vision she had his mom close her eyes and imagine it and then look at the painting. It was such a special moment. And then at the end of the lesson Leandro and Tammy bore powerful testimonies of their conversion and of the restoration of the gospel. I don't think there was a dry eye in that room. And then Leandro asked his mom if she would read the Book of Mormon, pray, and prepare to be baptized this Saturday. And after years of trying to share the gospel with her, she accepted. When we all knelt to pray there was the strongest feeling of God's presence in that little dining room. This family has the opportunity to be one step closer to an eternity together in the presence of God. I feel so honored and awed to be a part of that. This is why I'm serving a mission. 

Another experience that was spiritual, but also funny and incredibly sweet. We were teaching a woman, Cleide, the other day and there was a bunch of little boys there. We didn't think they were paying any attention. We had invited her to pray about the church to know if it is true. And yesterday one of those boys, just ten years old, says to us that he prayed about the church like we asked. He asked God that if the church was true that he would feel something on the tip of his finger, and if it's not that he would feel it in his palm. And he felt something on the tip of his finger! He told us that he knows it's true. I was taken aback. Definitely not the traditional way to get an answer from God haha, but this little boy has so much faith. 

Also one of our investigators walked, alone, to church with a broken arm. I swear we're teaching people with the faith of the pioneers. 

I love all of you and I love my mission. I am more and more grateful every day to be here. I'm grateful for your emails and your love and your prayers. I'm praying for you too. 

com muito amor

Sister Baker

[mom note: A few pictures Megan sent last week. In the first two she and the other sisters just look miserably hot. The "real feel" temperature seems to be consistently around 106 degrees, with night time temperatures dropping into the frigid low 90's. Also, a couple pics from a recent zone conference]

Sister Dyer and Sister Francis

Mossoró Zone