#LightTheWorld #Batismo

WHAT UP HOMIES!!!

Well Thanksgiving came and went this week and we ended it hot with a stud baptism! Leandro Lamarosa. I had the privledge of baptizing him and it was such an incredible experience. We are so pumped for him!

Since he is only 17, he is still part of the young men´s program. Our Branch President is super excited to work with the youth because they are the future of the church so he wants to build them up. He has been helping Leandro feel involved and prepared him to be a leader here in Olhão! I was talking with him after the baptism and we made the goal of having Leandro attend the Madrid, Spain temple with the youth of the Algarve zone on the 22nd of December. Leandro is all pumped to go and we started working on some family names with him to take. #MIRACLE!

Saturday was his baptismal interview and he passed with flying colors. That night Elder Lemmon and I were super pumped and talking all about Leandro and how the Lord led us to him. I then was thinking about the temple and Leandro going here in 3 weeks and then this thought came, "What if my mom Flor has been teaching Leandro´s ancestors in the spirit world and she is helping his family prepare to receive their ordinances in the temple just as we were preparing Leandro for his baptism?"  Lemmon said whoa.. can you imagine!?

Then during the baptism when I began saying the baptismal prayer I felt the spirit come over me really strong and I knew that his baptism was valid in God´s eyes. The program went really well and at the end Sister Stegeman sang the Portuguese version of "Come Thou Fount" for a special musical number and I felt the spirit SUPER strong. I felt as if my mom was right there excited with me as we sang her favorite song. I was trying to hide my face as I teared up a little bit. At that moment I truly felt that she has been working with Leandros family in the Spirit world. It was incredible! #MIRACLE!

I know that this church is true and it has changed my life. Jesus Christ lives and he can reach out and help each and every one of us if we let him. This week is another week of miracles in the books and I am super excited to find and help a lot more people for the rest of my mission! Thank you all for the support and prayers for us missionaries! Love you all! 

Kia Kaha!

Elder Haroldsen 

Élder Brandon Haroldsen

​

​MISSÃO PORTUGAL LISBOA

Rua Jorge Barradas Nº14C

1500-370 Benfica, Lisboa

Portugal

On Mon, Nov 28, 2016 at 12:13 PM, Brandon Haroldsen <brandon.haroldsen@myldsmail.net>wrote:

District Conf, Zone Conf, and Miracles

BUENAS TARDES PARA TODOS!

Another week of miracles in the books!! 

This week started off hot with the Romanian family who showed up to church with us last week! We taught them for the first time last monday night and we shared the Restoration. The spirit was there but they had trouble understanding Portuguese. They accepted a baptismal date for the 26th of Nov. but kept saying they wanted many months to prepare for their baptism. I told them that they would be prepared.

We went by again the next day for our follow up lesson. We took the restoration film in Romanian and when the part played where Joseph sees God and Jesus Christ, the mom said she was getting goosebumps because the spirit was SO strong!! After the movie they said that they knew this was Christ´s church because it is the only place in which they felt the spirit like that. They were saying that they wanted to be baptized, but still in a few months. I was trying to help them understand that we were there to help them prepare but they were talking to each other in Romanian and I had no idea what they were saying. I felt the spirit instruct me to bear strong testimony to the dad and so while he was going off with his wife I put my hand on his shoulder and leaned in really close to him. I told him that I promise as a Representative of Jesus Christ that both he and his family needed to be baptized on that day. I looked him straight in the eyes and paused and saw his eyes tear up. Man oh man the spirit was FORTE!! He looked at me and said,"I feel the spirit through you. I know God is telling me this, and we will be baptized on that day". The spirit touched his heart!

Since that day, we have been talking to them almost every day. They are the best!! I go there and come out smiling. They are named Lucian(the dad), rebecca(the mom), Stefin(11), Juliana(10), Ebi(10), and Jorgiana(4). The parents have a smoking habit that we are working with. We made goals and they were having troubles stopping. They expressed how tough their lives are at this moment. They came here to Portugal a couple of months ago in order to escape their hardships of Romania. Their kids currently don´t have residency so they can´t be admitted into school. The dad is unemployed looking for a job but has been digging for clams on the beach everyday to sell, making hardly anything. He is in debt for his rent and could lose their house if they don´t pay here soon. He then broke my heart telling me that he doesn´t even have money to feed his kids. He told me this on friday so we bought the kids some bread and cookies, They were SO grateful! I told him that as long as they strive to follow Christ, they will see miracles. I talked to some members and we showed up to talk to the family satudrday night with no help. They were hopeless. We were in the middle of the lesson and suddenly we get a call from one of our members. I answered and he asked how the fam. was. He then asked if they still needed a job. I told him they did and he said,"Okay, I have a job for him starting monday(today) working on houses with me". I hung up and told them what he had said. Their eyes lit up like fire. They looked at each other and teared up and said that God was blessing them. He then looked at his family and said, "We are going to be baptized the 26th. Starting today, I am never touching a cigarette ever again". I was soooo happy, especially when they showed up for district conference all dressed up!! MIRACLESSSS!!!!

We also marked Leandro for the 27th. He is a 17 year old kid who is the son of an inactive woman named Lucia. He is legit! He has already read the first 20 pages of the BOM in just a couple days and told me everything detail by detail what happened. Him and his mom are also excited to prepare for his baptism!

I can feel the power from the prayers everyone is offering for me. We have seen miracles these past weeks and I know that a huge part comes from all the prayers. So big thank you to everyone! 

I am so happy right now with my mission. Time is flying and I just want to help more and more people while I still can! When the Savior comes again, I want to be serving somebody. 

I love this Gospel. It is the true church of Jesus Christ. Prayers are powerful and I love all of you!

Tenham uma boa semana! 

Kia Kaha

Elder Haroldsen