Ola Família e Amigos!!!
This week has been an amazing week lots of stuff happened this week.
Monday - We got a call from the Mission office telling us that Elder Belo needed to go to Lisboa to renew his citizenship card and we needed to leave the next day.
Tuesday we had our district meeting in the morning then about 30 min after we went to preach the gospel before we went on the train to Lisboa. It was a really long trip about 6 hours on the train. We first got on the train to Porto and the switched onto another train to Lisboa. After this I was about done with long trips haha. We got there around 9:00 and the office Elders picked us up. We slept the night at the office Elders house. (This wasn't my first time there.)
Wednesday- In the morning we went and did his residencia with some other Elders which took about 2 hours. I just sat there reading the Book of Mormon in Português which was really awesome. Then right after that they took us straight to the train station to head back home, which was "fun" haha. I basically just slept the whole way back which was really nice. And that was basically our day Wednesday haha.
Thursday- Was just a regular day not much happened this day, but it was a good day. In my studies today I got to the part in the Book of Mormon where it talks about Samuel the Lamanite. I love this story because I feel like I’m doing exactly what he is doing (except I’m not on a wall haha).
Friday- We had the interview for Madalena to see if she is able to be baptized or not. We knew she was but we still need to do it though. After the interview our District Leader (who does the interview) told us that she passed with flying colors!!! We were super happy about this. She is a wonderful daughter of God.
Saturday- The day we all have been waiting for. We started the morning by going over to the church to go fill the font up with water but when we tried nothing was working so we kind of panicked. But we got it to go on in time. I also had the chance to make Rusnell cookies which was super fun. So about 30 min before the baptism Linda (Madalena´s mom) called us and told us that the baptism can’t be today. When we heard this we were like WHAT!!! WHY NOT!?!? Then she starts laughing and says she is just kidding. Man that jokester she almost gave us a heart attack! So it was time for the baptism and everyone had arrived there. We opened up the meeting with the hymn "I am a child of God". The spirit was so strong there and it was just amazing. After the program we had the baptism. Beforehand Madalena was very nice and picked me to be the one to baptize her. I was honored to be the one to baptize here. When we entered the water it was so quiet and so peaceful. I don’t know why, but when I put her under the water it felt so natural and felt really good. I know that the Holy Ghost had been with me helping her. When we returned to the room I noticed the Linda had cried a little bit and had felt the spirit. She is not a member, but we are working with her as well. I know that she felt the spirit as well and very soon she could be baptized. We then finished the program and had a couple of snacks afterwards. The very first thing that was gone was the Rusnell cookies. Everyone was eating them. They were asking who made them and where they could get the recipe. Everyone really liked them (you hear that dad Portuguese people love our cookies!!!) I was very happy that everyone liked my cookies. Saturday was such a special day and so was Sunday.
Sunday- Today during church Madalena received the Gift of the Holy Ghost and was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She was so happy and it put a huge smile on my face to see that. Linda, her mother said that she was really cold during church but when Madalena received the Holy Ghost she said she felt really warm and felt really good. I know that she felt the Spirit and that it was telling her that this is the truth and this is the key to happiness. Sunday was a really good day. After church we went to a new area to find some new people to teach. We ended up walking on a highway that didn’t have a sidewalk so I felt like a hitch hiker (haha) it was scary yet fun. This week was just a blast. I am so proud of Madalena and the decision she made to be baptized and follow the example of our older brother Jesus Christ. I’m so grateful to be a missionary and help others come unto Christ. I know that I am doing my job and that makes me feel so happy. This is a great and wonderful work. I hope that you guys can feel the same happiness that I am feeling right now. I love you all so much.
Com muito amor,
Elder Rusnell
This week has been an amazing week lots of stuff happened this week.
Monday - We got a call from the Mission office telling us that Elder Belo needed to go to Lisboa to renew his citizenship card and we needed to leave the next day.
Tuesday we had our district meeting in the morning then about 30 min after we went to preach the gospel before we went on the train to Lisboa. It was a really long trip about 6 hours on the train. We first got on the train to Porto and the switched onto another train to Lisboa. After this I was about done with long trips haha. We got there around 9:00 and the office Elders picked us up. We slept the night at the office Elders house. (This wasn't my first time there.)
Wednesday- In the morning we went and did his residencia with some other Elders which took about 2 hours. I just sat there reading the Book of Mormon in Português which was really awesome. Then right after that they took us straight to the train station to head back home, which was "fun" haha. I basically just slept the whole way back which was really nice. And that was basically our day Wednesday haha.
Thursday- Was just a regular day not much happened this day, but it was a good day. In my studies today I got to the part in the Book of Mormon where it talks about Samuel the Lamanite. I love this story because I feel like I’m doing exactly what he is doing (except I’m not on a wall haha).
Friday- We had the interview for Madalena to see if she is able to be baptized or not. We knew she was but we still need to do it though. After the interview our District Leader (who does the interview) told us that she passed with flying colors!!! We were super happy about this. She is a wonderful daughter of God.
Saturday- The day we all have been waiting for. We started the morning by going over to the church to go fill the font up with water but when we tried nothing was working so we kind of panicked. But we got it to go on in time. I also had the chance to make Rusnell cookies which was super fun. So about 30 min before the baptism Linda (Madalena´s mom) called us and told us that the baptism can’t be today. When we heard this we were like WHAT!!! WHY NOT!?!? Then she starts laughing and says she is just kidding. Man that jokester she almost gave us a heart attack! So it was time for the baptism and everyone had arrived there. We opened up the meeting with the hymn "I am a child of God". The spirit was so strong there and it was just amazing. After the program we had the baptism. Beforehand Madalena was very nice and picked me to be the one to baptize her. I was honored to be the one to baptize here. When we entered the water it was so quiet and so peaceful. I don’t know why, but when I put her under the water it felt so natural and felt really good. I know that the Holy Ghost had been with me helping her. When we returned to the room I noticed the Linda had cried a little bit and had felt the spirit. She is not a member, but we are working with her as well. I know that she felt the spirit as well and very soon she could be baptized. We then finished the program and had a couple of snacks afterwards. The very first thing that was gone was the Rusnell cookies. Everyone was eating them. They were asking who made them and where they could get the recipe. Everyone really liked them (you hear that dad Portuguese people love our cookies!!!) I was very happy that everyone liked my cookies. Saturday was such a special day and so was Sunday.
Sunday- Today during church Madalena received the Gift of the Holy Ghost and was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She was so happy and it put a huge smile on my face to see that. Linda, her mother said that she was really cold during church but when Madalena received the Holy Ghost she said she felt really warm and felt really good. I know that she felt the Spirit and that it was telling her that this is the truth and this is the key to happiness. Sunday was a really good day. After church we went to a new area to find some new people to teach. We ended up walking on a highway that didn’t have a sidewalk so I felt like a hitch hiker (haha) it was scary yet fun. This week was just a blast. I am so proud of Madalena and the decision she made to be baptized and follow the example of our older brother Jesus Christ. I’m so grateful to be a missionary and help others come unto Christ. I know that I am doing my job and that makes me feel so happy. This is a great and wonderful work. I hope that you guys can feel the same happiness that I am feeling right now. I love you all so much.
Com muito amor,
Elder Rusnell