In our emails to E McGregor we asked him about Isabella's baptism; what they did on New Year's Day; have they found more people to teach; has there been more snow; does he translate Sac Mtgs each week; and who is their 'go to' person for the PMP (Paper Mill Portuguese).
Here's his reply:
Well, that's the website for baptism pictures, as you guys probably already know. But yeah, it's been super exciting! Isabella got baptized yesterday, and the service was really great. We had 6 investigators at church on Sunday! Isabella is technically an investigator until she's confirmed. Fatima, her son Lucca, and his friend Austin all came to church. And Isabella's parents were there as well. So yep, six! Super fantastic!
Fatima is coming along great--she's SUPER inquisitive; probably the most inquisitive investigator I've ever worked with. So when we teach, most of the time it becomes kind of a question and answer type lesson. But she's mentioned to us that she plans on coming to church every week from now on--she really loved Sunday. Oh, I forgot to mention, Tania and Edilberto asked me to confirm them, and their confirmation was yesterday as well. So I had the pleasure of doing that (in Portuguese, of course), and it was interesting to see that Fatima got to see both a baptism and confirmation yesterday (as did Lucca).
So things are moving right along =] It's difficult at times to keep things focused when teaching Fatima, just because she asks SO many questions. See, the subject I originally intended on teaching usually is something we may not actually touch on very much. But I've noticed that whenever we respond to her questions with a clear answer that makes sense (almost always backed up by scripture), she is always happy with the response. So it's clear to me that she already has recieved a testimony as to the truthfulness of the BoM, and maybe she just hasn't recognized it yet. So I intend to work with her this week on recognizing that answer.
So things are moving right along =] It's difficult at times to keep things focused when teaching Fatima, just because she asks SO many questions. See, the subject I originally intended on teaching usually is something we may not actually touch on very much. But I've noticed that whenever we respond to her questions with a clear answer that makes sense (almost always backed up by scripture), she is always happy with the response. So it's clear to me that she already has recieved a testimony as to the truthfulness of the BoM, and maybe she just hasn't recognized it yet. So I intend to work with her this week on recognizing that answer.
Lucca has been coming along quite well too. We're trying to help him to be a good example to his younger brother (Lucca's ten, and Rafael is two), and you can really see the difference in his life. He's a LOT happier than he used to be. And I think that's part of the reason Fatima has become so receptive. So that's a blessing. And yeah, we'll work with him this week to mark a day for baptism. Woohoo!
Let's see--New Year's day we actually got to teach a few people. But our evenings are always the most exciting, and we taught Fatima that night. That's kinda how the work is here-- before dinner we really struggle to find effective ways to fulfill our purpose, and then after dinner it's this huge rush to try and teach a bunch of people once they get home. So yeah. Fun fun =]
Let's see, we've found a few more people to teach, but not a whole lot. We're going to be working with Isabella's parents, but that's difficult because they live so far away. But we'll make it work =]
No more snow. Just on Christmas day.
Sacrament meeting is in Portuguese every week. Which is probably one of the reasons we've been able to have the recent success we've been having. Without the weekly meetings there really was little we could do to show people what church was like. And yeah, no need to translate because it's all in Portuguese. We had about 45 people at the Sacrament Meeting yesterday =] The "go-to" person is either Bro Baker (who's a member of the Stake High Council), or another member of the Stake High Council--Bro Tedjamulia, who is actually originally from Sao Paulo. It's quite interesting to see how the group here is starting to recieve all the tools it needs to become a branch. It's almost like there's someone directing this whole thing...... ;)
Well, that's the news! Hope everything is going well! Love you guys so much!
Elder McGregor
Isabella, the PMP Group's newest member, with her parents.
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