Raimundo and Heloiza

Gift of Tongues

this week was another amazing one!!! we had 2 baptisms on saturday, Raimundo (an elderly man that lives in the homeless shelter) and Heloiza (the young woman that was baptized a year ago and never confirmed) SO we cleaned the baptismal font friday so that the water would be crystal clear- while we were cleaning..... the church ran out of water. SO bishop called for someone to come fix it and it was a stressful day. then during the night bishop called and said we had water again and that he would fill the font with water. awesome everythings back in order. SO we had a lesson in the church so we go there and open the doors to the font excited to see how our efforts of cleaning paid off and............ the water was brown. brown brown brown. so we raced to bishops office and opened the door and he looked at us and calmy asked ``you guys saw the water?`` hahaha yeah. the water in the church is now brown. BUT saturday came around and no one complained or said anything about the water. all was well. 

oh and alexander talked to his mom and she wont let him be baptized- but when he told us i felt peace and i know he will be baptized soon. and so were gonna visit his mom with bishop and see what happens!! 

also this week i learned something a little freaky and a huge testimony builder. almost all of the other churches here speak in ``tongues`` and a lady was asking us if we believed in the ``gift of tongues`` in our religion and so we explained a little bit about it and then she told us that in her church all of them speak in ``tongues`` that while the pastor is talking spirits enter into them and they start talking in different languages- but heres the thing- no one understands what theyre saying. and then she said when the spirits leave they feel a happiness that cant be described. so obviously by this point my eyes are huge and my heart is pounding with fear. but we gave her a book of mormon and she started reading it the moment it entered her hand. BUT then later we asked our ward mission leader about this ``gift of tongues`` and he said on his mission he had a companion from tonga and they walked passed a church that was speaking in ``tongues`` and his companion stopped and said ``wait!! theyre speaking my language!!!`` and then his companion started crying and wanted to leave that very moment. his companion said they were all speaking profanities about the Savior and saying horrible things. I AM SO SO SO GREATFUL TO BE A PART OF THIS TRUE CHURCH!!! i know that this ``gift of tongues`` is a tool the devil is using to decieve thousands of people. i am so greatful that the Lord is blessing me with the true gift of tongues to be able to help these people here understand the goodness of God and learn about His true gospel!! 

speaking of the gift of tongues, my district leader is going to campo grande this week with the new mission president and he said ``im gonna see sister fernandes!!`` so i said ``OH!! tell her how much i love you!!`` and then it went dead silent.  and i corrected myself and all was well again. hahahaha

thats all this week

tchau!!

-Sis Lloyd

Preparing the next generation

this week was awesome!! we taught a bunch of Mateus´ friends (the 14 year old that was baptized last week) and we had planned to watch the restauration video but we forgot it and i looked at sister castro and said ``do you have faith??`` and then we opened the dvd player and what dvd was in there??? the restauration!! haha but then the TV wouldnt work and sister castro just looked at me and whispered ``the devils workin hard... we have an elect in the room..`` so we just shared a scripture and our testimonies and then one of Mateus´ friends, alexander, said he wants to be baptized. and alexander lives super close to our house (hes practically our neighbor) and sister castro told me that he lives with his grandma and she REALLY wants him to be baptized in another church and she´s super strict (she´s already yelled at us once. haha)- SO we prepared a lesson for her to realize the importance of baptism and that alexander wants to be baptized, etc. SO we walk up to the house and his grandma comes out and just starts talking and she said ``alexander is going to his moms this weekend but told me he doesnt want to because he wants to go to church on sunday because he wants to be baptized in THIS CHURCH. so i want you guys to come here more often and help him prepare and ill make us all snacks, okay?`` and i literally just stood there with my mouth open. 

and yesterday we were teaching a bunch of youth and alexander was there and he said ``one day i´ll be an elder.`` and one of the young women that was with us said `´but you´re not even baptized!`` and then he stood up and said ``YEAH!! IM GONNA BE BAPTIZED!!!!!........ sisters... whens my baptism??`` hahaha it was super funny. 

Almost ALL of our investigators are youth. sister castro and i are convinced that in 5 years somethings gonna happen and the Lords gonna need a lot of strong missionaries. 

I am so greatful for this gospel!!! i know it is true with all of my heart!! everyday on my mission something has happened that makes my testimony grow even more. a mission is the best thing in the world. 

much love

-Sis Lloyd