Baptizing in Mud

Well this has been a week of a whole lot of RAIN and walking, and a BAPTISM!!!! This was a week that will go down in the record books for the mission. But I will get to that later in this email. So i made cookies this week and my companions loved it. They were so easy to make and i will probably make more this week when we have some time. We ate at Subway again because we had no food in the house and didn't want to go shopping and then make lunch after. I got a Star Wars poster with my combo meal so that was a bonus. it is now hanging up on our fridge for all the missionaries who pass through to sign. 
     SO lets get to the Rain!! it rained everyday this week and when it rains it RAINS the streets flood and it shuts down the city. But we continued to work in the rain and it was kinda fun crossing the streets in ankle high water and remembering what it was like for the pioneers back in the day. And there is more rain in the forecast for the next 2 months!! yeah :( . 
     I did a lot of teaching this week and it was a good way to practice my language. First i taught our training at our District meeting about Faith and Works (Thanks for the idea, Jorge Arevalo) and i taught our Gospel Principles class this past Sunday! it was a great learning experience for me!! 
     Now lets get to the meat and potatoes!! The Baptism of João Lucas. it was a great Baptism. The first in 1 year, can you believe that!!! The members were excited and so were we!! He is a great young man and has plans to serve a mission in a year. He was truly prepared by the Lord for this moment in his life and for us to teach him!! We are going to the Zoo with him and Elton today so that we can keep him strong and be friends with Elton because we (missionaries) will leave. it as a great day and the branch has more respect for us as missionaries now because of this baptism. I have a story to tell to finish this email up. so we were tracting one day, knocking on door after door in the rain. we finally knocked on this one door and the family let us in to get out of the rain. we talked with the family and shared our lives as missionaries. How we are here for 2 years with out our families. anyways it stopped raining and we left. well that night she called us and said that her family wanted us to come over for lunch on Sunday and they would make us a BBQ!! We went over on Sunday and had a really amazing time. she let us know that to her we are her sons and even though she has here own religion she can still share her love with. it was such a humbling experience to see that there are people in this world like this family. Will they get baptized in the future, probably not, but the love that they have for us, we will forever be grateful. the lord bless us with tender mercies like this for being his disciples for 2 years. I know He lives, He is real and HE is my Savior. May this week be filled with love towards all mankind. my heart is full with love and appreciation for all of you. until next time.

Love, 

Elder Browning

The Squad