A miracle in Potengi

Goodness I don't > know where to start. This hás been one of the best weeks of my life.. There > are tôo many details to this story so this will be a shortened version. > We´ve been working a lot with a man named Andreilton. HIs wife is the > President of the Relief Society and his son-in-law is the bishop in our > ward. Two of his sons are stake presidents and all of his children and > grandchildren are members. His family joined the church 21 years ago, but he > never wanted to hear the discussion until about 4 weeks ago. Well for the > past 4 weeks we´ve been teaching him and he hás been going to church, but he > kept saying that he was only taking the discussion because he was curious. > He kept resisting the invitation to be baptized and Sister Dias and I didnt > know what to do. This last Friday we had conference with President Fernandes > and Sister Fernandes (two of the most wonderful people in the world) and > President Fernandes talked a lot about faith. He said that we need to do our > part and have the faith that the Lord will do His...and that through faith > miracles happen. Anyway I left conference inspired and ready to apply all > the counsels we received. The next morning I woke up early and tried to fall > back asleep, but my mind was restless and I couldn't stop thinking about the > things President Fernandes said. I finally decided to get out of bed and > went into the other room to say my morning prayer. I pled with the Lord to > help us in this work here in Potengi and to let us be instruments in His > hands. And of course I prayed for our investigators and asked the Lord to > let us know how to help them. After praying I opened my scriptures and > started preparing for a talk I gave yesterday. While I was preparing my talk > my mind kept wandering thinking about Andreilton and how we could help him. > He hás been waiting for the Lord to tell him if the church is true or not. I > knew it would be a miracle for him to decide to be baptized and I kept > thinking about the scriptures in Moroni 7:27-29:> > `´Wherefore my beloved brethren have miracles ceased because Christ hath > ascended into heaven and hath sat down on the right hand of God, to claim of > the Father his rights of mercy which he hath upon the children of men? For > he hath answered the ends of the law, and he claimeth all those who have > faith in him; and they who have faith in him will cleave unto every good > thing; wherefore he advocateth the cause of the children of men and he > dwelleth eternally in the heavens. And because he hath done this, my beloved > brethren, have miracles ceased: Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither have > angels ceased to minister unto the children of men. ``> > After reading this scriptures I prayed and said, `´ Heavenly Father we need > a miracle!`` After the prayer I returned to preparing my talk. I was > searching in the book of Alma and turned to Alma 5 and read verses 45, 46 (i > won't write it out for lack of time). Those verses say that Alma fasted and > prayed many days to know whether these things were true. When I read this > the Spirit hit me like a load of bricks and the impression/revelation > started. The impressions I received were first that we needed to fast for > him again and invite him to fast with us and second, that the Lord would > give him an answer so clear this week that he couldnt possibly deny it. The > Spirit continued to flood my mind with impression and thoughts of what I > should say to him and what my companion and I should do. At this end of > this special experience that last impressions I recieved were that I needed > to exercise faith and believe that the Lord could work this great miracle in > the life of Andreilton. With this faith, I needed courage to say to him that > he will receive an answer to his prayers this week and know with 100% > certainty that this church is true. As always after the impression of the > Spirit, the adversary tries to enter into your mind and make you doubt. I > started to thinkg--´´who am I to force the hand of God and say to Andreilton > that this week he will receive his answer?´´ and `´what if he gets angry and > decides to stop listening to the discussions´´ and do you really think after > 21 years of people trying to baptize him that you will succeed?´´´...Many > thoughts like these kept entering my mind, but then I remembered what > President Fernandes said about faith and what it says in Moroni 7. I hád > asked for a miracle and the Spirit told me what we needed to do for this > miracle to happen, now the only thing that I needed to do was have the faith > to follow this counsel and believe that we could be instruments in the Lords > hands. Still weak in the spirit, I said the words similar to the father > cited in Matthew--´Lord I believe, help though my unbelief´´ --and asked for > one more confirmation that we really needed to do these things to help > Andreilton. I opened my Bible to look for a scripture to answer this prayer, > but I didn't even need to turn one page...my Bible fell open to Isaiah 58 and > my eyes immediately went to verses 5-9. If you read these verses you will > see that they talk about what a fast is and the importance of a fast. When I > read verse 9 the Spirit hit me again with the same impression I received > earlier. Verse 9 says--´´then shalt thou call and the Lord shall answer; > thou shall cry and he shall say, Here I am.´´> > Well that was enough for me. I closed my scriptures, stood up and went into > the other room where my companion was, sat down of the bed and told > her..`This week we will see a miracle.´ I related to her everything that had > happened and we decided to pass by Andreiltons house after lunch. Sister > Dias had also had impression that we needed to invite President Fernandes to > speak with Andreilton. We called President Fernandes and he said he would > pass by the next day (Sunday night) as he was traveling home to João Pessoa.> > Anyway after lunch we stopped by the house of Andreilton and I related to > him the things that had happened. I talked to him also about the love I had > for him and his family and how I wanted him to be able to be with his family > for eternity. As I was saying all these things I couldnt help but tear up > and he started to tear up as well. I told him that the Lord would give him a > feeling/answer so clear that he would recognize with out a doubt that this > really is the Lord's church on the earth and whether he decided to follow > this response was up to Him, but whether he likes it or not the Lord will > give it. We asked him to have faith and told him we would be fasting for the > next 24 hours and for him to fast a few hours if possible (he hás health > problems that dont permit him to fast for very long). He said he would try > and we left not knowing what this week would bring but with faith that we > would see a miracle.> > The next day (yesterday) Sister Dias and I were in church and Andreilton´s > wife, Fátima, ran up to us with a big smile on her face and said-- > ´´Andreilton will be baptized´´. At first I didn't want to believe it because > he said nothing to us about it and acted like everything was normal. We > decided we would know for sure in the afternoon when we stopped by with > President and Sister Fernandes to talk with him. When we all arrived in > Andreilton~s house yesterday afternoon and started talking to him my faith > started to waiver. Andreilton kept talking about how he never wanted to be > baptized in the past, never wanted to listen to the missionaries,etc. He > kept talking about the Catholic traditions in his family and there was a > point when I just had to zone out of the conversation and start praying. > After 15 or 20 minutes of talking about why he never joined the church he > paused and then said to President Fernandes, ´´BUT, I~ve decided to be > baptized on April 3rd`. When he said this I just started crying. I couldn't > stop the tears. It is impossible to describe the joy I felt in that moment. > I completely agree with Alma when he said in Alma 26, `´ I cannot say the > smallest part which I feel´. President Fernandes gave him a big hug and said > that he should do it sooner because Sister Dias and I may be transferred > soon...so he decided to move the baptism to March 28th. His children will > come to Natal and even President Fernandes said he would try and come for > the baptism. As we left the house many hugs and handshakes were given, many > tears shed....and the verse in Moroni 7 came with great force into my mind > and the spirit said, ´`´have miracles ceased?...behold I say unto you Nay; > neither have angels ceased to minister unto the children of men`´> > Sister Dias and I walked with President and SIster Fernandes to their car > and President Fernandes said before leaving that Andreilton had been waiting > 21 years for us and that this was the reason we were here in Potengi....to > complete this beautiful family. After he left, Sister Dias and I wanted to > sit down and just cry because of the gratitude and joy we felt, but we hád > to run (literally) to the chapel to watch the baptism of one of our > investigators.> > After the baptism we returned to the house of Andreilton and talked with his > wife, Fátima. She told us because Andreilton hás dificulties fasting, and had asked her to fast in his place. So she ate lunch on Saturday and after an > hour or so threw up, but decided to continue her fast until the next day. > She said when she awoke Sunday morning she felt perfectly healthy and hád > lots of strength. When she went to say good morning to her husband he > said, --I will be baptized. As she related what happened she started to bear > her testimony to us about the power of fasting. As we stood in the kitchen > talking she started to express her gratitude for us and told us that since > we arrived and started teaching her husband he hás changed completely. She > continued to say many things and kept saying we were angels sent with the > purpose to help her family. As we returned home I couldnt help jumping for > joy (again, literally). My feelings in that moment can best be summed up in > the words of Ammon. – I do not boast in my own strength nor in my own > wisdom, but behold my joy in full, yea my heart is brim with joy and I will > rejoice in my God. Yea I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am > weak; therfore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for > in his strength I can do all things; yea behold many mighty miracles we have > wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.`´> > Goodness I know this email was gigantic, but I just wanted you all to know a > miracle happened yesterday.> > Other things that happened this week that I dont have time to write about:> - Baptisms!> - the three 7th day Adventist missionaries we invited to church. They showed > up and participated in all three meetings. They are very curious about our > living prophet. Invited them to watch general conference.> - my talk that I gave yesterday—The entire audience was in tears including > our investigators and the stake president. I received countless hugs and > ´thank yous`after the meeting.> - This week I was told my português is better than that of many of the zone > leaders in this mission. Sweet!> > I~m trying to represent our family > well down here in Brazil. Have a wonderful week!> > > LOVE YOU!> > Sister Wood> >