Spring Weather‏

Hey everyone! :D

How are you all doing? So good to hear from you. Everything here´s great! This week was crazily warm, with temperatures around 30 degrees. Not hot for here, but jumping in straight from winter it feels terrible. But it´s nice! People here hate the cold and don´t go anywhere (including church), so it´s nice to have it a little warmer.

The best thing that happened this week was Saturday! Leda (11) and Vitoria (9), Berenice´s oldest daughters, were baptized. Berenice wanted to be baptized too, but her husband is....not helping very much. At first he did want to marry her, but then they fought, and now he´s just kind of there.....but one day she´ll be baptized too. It was great - a beautiful spring day, a nice reunion (meeting? What do you call a baptismal...thing?), lots of people came....the girls were so happy. The next day when they got confirmed, both of them brought flowers they had picked along they way to church and pictures they had painted and written notes to us, for me and Sister Cantuara. It was the greatest gift I could have gotten. They´re amazing girls - part of an amazing family. They and their mom already have such strong testimonies, I have no doubt they´ll stay strong their whole lives.

What else happened this week? There are so many good member families here. This area is really the first one where I´m making lots of friendships with member families. I don´t know why, it just never really happened before. But Marco and Lorena had great news this week - she´s been super sick, and we were all worried, but she found out she´s pregnant. So they were all really happy, and she even came back to church (she hadn´t been for a good bit). We also had a great family night with a family who´s also coming back to church, Carla and Cleberson. We watched Finding Faith in Christ (I really love that video) and....hard to explain, but it was just really nice to spend time with them. We also spent a nice night with Luciano and Alba. Luciano´s a little discouraged because everything happened to impede him and the kids from getting baptized next Saturday, but he´s not losing hope. I know they´ll be baptized soon, as soon as they can get the money together for the marriage.

So....everything kind of continues normal here! Just working, trying to find good new families, helping the ones we have work through their difficulties. I really love being here, and wouldn´t trade it for anything. I´m so grateful to have the opportunity to be an instrument in the Lord´s hands. I learn so much every day that I couldn´t learn any other way, and feel a happiness that doesn´t come from anything else. I know that´s what the Lord wants for all of us - happiness, joy and eternal life. Thank you all for supporting me in this work. I love you all more than I can explain! Have an amazing week.

Til next time!
Sister Madsen