Cleberson got baptized!!!!!!! After our practice last week, kneeling down and then going into the water headfirst, and not backwards, as most baptisms are performed. We talked about if he would be willing to try getting baptized this way on Wednesday, and he finally agreed. We took him off to the interview in the Stake Center, and Elder Do Carmo gave him great advice, some chocolate and even let him wear the Elder Name tag for a little bit. Then came Saturday.
Sister Miller and I were nervous but somehow there was just an overarching feeling that it would just all work out. We decided to have a pool party again first, so the kids played the in the tiny pool, while the adults chatted, and we talked to the ward missionary about the way we can baptize him. The little pool is on our apartment rooftop, and our roof is divided into two parts by a wall. One side with chairs and the other with the pool. The hour came. All the kids got out of the pool, we sang, prayed and Evandro, the ward mission leader spoke a little about baptism on the chair side. Then just the required priesthood, Cleberson, Sister Miller and I went to the pool side, closed the door. Cleberson got into the water with his uncle Fernardo. And. All went well. He knelt and was baptized with Fernandos hand on his chest rather than on his back, preserving the symbolism of the death of sin and fear and the rebirth of faith. I most certainly cried as he came out of the water, the spirit was so strong. We congratulated him, brought him to the other side with his friends and family and I gave him the special mousse de Maracuja dessert I made for him. (its delicious, dont worry I will bring plenty home with me)
I remember the first time we visited him, he was not interested in even looking us in the eye, he wanted nothing with nothing. But after weeks of just loving him despite his behavior, inviting him to family nights and making him feel like a million bucks, he softened up and started to listen to us, as we listened to him. With a parents in jail, and everybody around you speaking for you, he felt really misunderstood. I learned a lot about the importance and power of just loving people and listening. People will not let you have influence over them, if they do not think they have influence over you.
Afterwards, his home teacher that we were not the third or fourth try, but the sixth and we were the ones that actually helped him to get baptized. That really meant a lot. That somehow both mine and Sister Millers specific personalities were the ones to help a soul enter into the kingdom of God, and no one else. I know with certainty that I was called here to Brasil, to Belo Horizonte , to Ipatinga with Sister Miller because we specifically are needed here.
I love the way he got baptized, head first, kneeling down with the priesthood at his chest to help him. We must go headfirst into our challenges and fears, kneeling humbly down to God so that He might support us with his priesthood power.
The church is true, thats all I know.
Sister Holmes
Sister Miller and I were nervous but somehow there was just an overarching feeling that it would just all work out. We decided to have a pool party again first, so the kids played the in the tiny pool, while the adults chatted, and we talked to the ward missionary about the way we can baptize him. The little pool is on our apartment rooftop, and our roof is divided into two parts by a wall. One side with chairs and the other with the pool. The hour came. All the kids got out of the pool, we sang, prayed and Evandro, the ward mission leader spoke a little about baptism on the chair side. Then just the required priesthood, Cleberson, Sister Miller and I went to the pool side, closed the door. Cleberson got into the water with his uncle Fernardo. And. All went well. He knelt and was baptized with Fernandos hand on his chest rather than on his back, preserving the symbolism of the death of sin and fear and the rebirth of faith. I most certainly cried as he came out of the water, the spirit was so strong. We congratulated him, brought him to the other side with his friends and family and I gave him the special mousse de Maracuja dessert I made for him. (its delicious, dont worry I will bring plenty home with me)
I remember the first time we visited him, he was not interested in even looking us in the eye, he wanted nothing with nothing. But after weeks of just loving him despite his behavior, inviting him to family nights and making him feel like a million bucks, he softened up and started to listen to us, as we listened to him. With a parents in jail, and everybody around you speaking for you, he felt really misunderstood. I learned a lot about the importance and power of just loving people and listening. People will not let you have influence over them, if they do not think they have influence over you.
Afterwards, his home teacher that we were not the third or fourth try, but the sixth and we were the ones that actually helped him to get baptized. That really meant a lot. That somehow both mine and Sister Millers specific personalities were the ones to help a soul enter into the kingdom of God, and no one else. I know with certainty that I was called here to Brasil, to Belo Horizonte , to Ipatinga with Sister Miller because we specifically are needed here.
I love the way he got baptized, head first, kneeling down with the priesthood at his chest to help him. We must go headfirst into our challenges and fears, kneeling humbly down to God so that He might support us with his priesthood power.
The church is true, thats all I know.
Sister Holmes