Baptisms!

Well this week has been very special and amazing for me. First of all, today is transfer day. The president was inspired to let me stay in São Tomé with my companion Elder Andrade. I am so excited for this because I know that we will work so hard together and earn alot of baptisms. This transfer will only be five weeks long because its the month of February, but its not a big deal!

Yesterday was a spiritual feast! We had two baptisms! My first baptisms as senior companion. One baptism was João. He is eight years old and his mother has been a member for three years. I was able to teach him and baptise him. The same day, my companion confirmed him a member of the church.

Also baptised was Diego. Diego is 14 years old. His sister was baptised last year. One of the most important things we taught him was prayer. He never prayed before because he never knew how to pray! We taught him and through alot of practice, he can now pour out his heart to his father in heaven. One time when we were praying he said, `Thanks so much for the missionaries here. I have always wanted to be baptised but nobody ever asked and I didnt know if I was allowed to. I am really excited for baptism because I know this will help me.´ Hearing that prayer was such a spiritual experience for me. I know that there is a Heavenly Father who loves and watches us every day.

This week we were able to invite many people to be baptised and right now we are focusing on 5 different families who have a baptismal date for this February. By the end of this week, we hope to have ten families that are working on being baptised. The Lord has greatly blessed me and my companion and we are working hard to thank him for all that he does for us.

Lastly I wanted to mention that I am going to be an uncle for the 9th time!! My sister Lindsay announced that she will be having her fourth child. Congratulations! Now I only need my other two siblings to have a child and I will come home to 5 beautiful unknown faces!

Thanks for all your help and support.´

Elder Horst