Questions from the First Lesson

Blue skies over Bauru

PANCAKES! Now that's a GOOD breakfast!

This semana (week) was quality. We finally are teaching some people who are interested in what we have to say, namely a family of 3, but for this week, just one, because the others had to work. The one is their son, Mateus (Matthew in English). He’s 12 years old, and super, super, smart. I have taught (and struggled with) 12 year olds before, but he is super attentive, and knows the Bible really well for being so young. After a little effort, I got him to accept a baptismal date for the 15th of May.

How does that work, you ask? Well, during the first lesson, which is on the Restoration, at the end, you ask the following questions (at least, this is how I’ve been taught to do it, but it varies per missionary):

“Would you like to know if our message is true? Why? How can you know?” (Hopefully “prayer” is their answer.)
“Right. So, will you pray later today and ask God if our message is true?” (They say “Sure.”)
“How is God going to respond?” (Hopefully they will say “through feelings”)
“And when God tells you that it’s true, will you follow His counsel?” How?” (The primary way of following His answer is going to church, and then taking a step of faith, and being baptized.)
“Would you follow this precious answer from God and be baptized into HIS church?” (They respond, “Yes!”)
“Good, you have great faith. We would like to baptize you today, however, there exists a preparation period. But on the 15th of May (3rd Saturday of the month), we are preparing a baptismal service. So, let’s imagine for a moment that you receive your answer from God saying that this is His church, would you follow that answer by being baptized on that day?” (They say, “Certainly!”)

BAM! OK, granted, that would be a “perfect” scenario, but that’s basically how it goes.

Sweet, this past Monday I celebrated a mission birthday... 8 months, which means 1/3 of the mish “já era” (already was, or it’s gone).

A downside to the week - we went to Angelica and Bruno’s house, and they basically said that they like the visits, but they don’t wanna be baptized (GREAT! NOT!). Alright, cool. Basically, I just told them that was okay, it has been fun, and you’re always welcome in the church, but, goodbye. I will miss them.

Tchau,
ET