May 2, 2011 Letter

Dear Family,

This week has been crazy. We basically spent all week teaching our investigators and making sure they were ready for saturday. But it was good. Time went really fast this week though. Kinda good, and kinda bad. I get all the days mixed up. But anyways, back to the baptisms. Our baptism was scheduled for 6 oclock on Saturday the 30th. So we spent the whole day getting ready. We went to the chapel at 11 after studies. There was no water at the chapel. So we had to call a water truck to come and fill it up. It was kinda weird. We organized the program, and i practiced the hymns, i am a child of god, and families can be together forever. After lunch, we went and bought stuff for brownies. We made them, cut them, and got everything ready. It was exciting. So at 5 oclock we went to the favelas to talk to them and make sure everything was good. We got there and everything was going good. Then we talked with Leila. She didnt feel ready. She wanted to talk to the bishop first. Which is good. Im glad she wanted to clear things up before she got baptized. But that was rather dissapointing. Then.... the bishop was supposed to come at 5:40 to pick them up and take them to the chapel. He didnt show up till 6:20! Goodness! It threw off our whole night! Very frustrating!!........... But finally we got to the chapel. We changed into white, and boy do i look good in white! jk. But seriously, i like it. But right before we were about to start, Paiva talked with a little boy. He was baptized 6 months ago and never confirmed. So he interviewed him right there and we baptized him. I was a little weirded out. I didnt really think that was right. But there really wasnt anything i could do...... Anyways, the names of the people that were baptized. Amanda Ferreira da Silva(8), Weverson Ferreira da Silva(9), Tatiani Araújo da Silva(13), Maria Marli de Araújo(45?), and Anderson Henrique Diniz de Araújo(12). I baptized Amanda and Anderson. Amanda is so cute. She grabbed my hand, looked up at me and said, I want you to baptize me. I felt so cool right then. It was awesome. The baptism was definitly different than in the US, but still an ordinance of God, so it was really special.

I miss you guys. Love you all. Talk to you on Sunday! Tchau

Elder Tracy