Elder Lofton Q Bean : 8 Months, a Zone Conference, and more Baptisms

Oi, boa tarde!

dang 8 months today!!! caraca the time is flyin by! Today for our Pday we had our zone activity. Played futebol and made cachorro quente (hot dogs). Had a blast!!

This past week flew by but was awesome!! On Saturday we had our baptism for Maria!!! whoooooop!! And Elder Sowards and Reis also had a baptism for an 11 year old named Kennedy!! (named after President Kennedy). The kid is a stud!!

Maria is the mom of Sabrina and Carol!! The baptism was really special and spiritual and it was also her birthday!!! I got to confirm her a member of the church during sacrament meeting on Sunday which was way awesome!! She is so awesome! It is so awesome getting to take part in these events and help people find the path!

On Wednesday, we had our zone conference at President and Sister Gaertner´s house!! My first time being there since I arrived here in Brasil. We had a really awesome spiritual part, and learned a lot. Had a questions and answers part with President, which was also way sweet. Then we ate hot dogs!!! It was a great time. It is the last time they will be having a zone conference in their house since they will be leaving in June. Their 3 years are up. I’m so grateful for them and all that they have done for me and their service. We will be having a lot of mission conferences coming up with the entire mission, which will be cool!!

We have a baptism marked for this Saturday for Aline! We have taught her several times already, and she loves it and loves going to church. Really hoping that will all work out.

We have still been visiting with Dino. The dude is a champ. His son who is like 6 years old was really sick. Dino allowed us to give him a blessing. He really wanted us to do it! He feels that God sent us to his house for a reason, not by accident. I really respected that, cause in Dino´s church, he was giving the calling of giving people blessings. But he really wanted us to do it and believes us to be men of God, So I got to bless his son, and the next day he didn’t feel sick anymore!

Yesterday, we went over to a less active family´s house who are starting to come back to church. It is a single mom and her several kids. They are this sweet, beautiful family. We gave a message with the family and then talked with her 9 year old son about getting baptised. He really wants to! It was so fun teaching all them. There was a guy who is a member of the church and a couple of his kids who were also there! So there were about 10 kids all under the age of 14 and the two adults that we shared our message with. There was such a special spirit there, and teaching more simply. The 7 year old girl was hilarious, answering all the questions and saying how she wants to be a missionary too someday. hah it was really cute and funny. The mom had made dinner and invited us to stay and eat. She was so loving, gracious, and humble. There was only a little food, and just a couple pieces of chicken so I just put a little bit of pasta on my plate and rice. She was so funny. I was already sitting down, and she came and told me Elder Bean you better come back over here and eat my chicken! haha it was funny but so sweet and kind. I really love the people here so much. She was wiling to give me everything she had, even said I was looking too skinny haha. She was the perfect example of Christ like love and generosity. Making us feel so welcomed and loved in their tiny, humble home. I just remember feeling that Heavenly Father was going to pour out so many blessings on behalf of her and her family.

I love being a missionary!! So many great experiences and things happen everyday. I have really learned to try to put myself behind sometimes and focus on others, and see others for who they really are. Other children of Heavenly Father. When people give us a hard time or just call at us from a distance making fun of us, sometimes I get ticked but I’ve been learning to just think, Heavenly Father loves that child of God just as much as He loves me. Nothing more, nothing less. I love the work, and helping others find the happiness that I have found through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I love yall so much. Tenha uma ótima semanã!!!! tchau tchau

com amor,

Elder Bean