More about the wonderful people of Coimbra

Suzanne was a recent convert/less active member of the church. She wasn't willing to talk to the missionaries for quite sometime. One day my companion called her on accident but said that she would like it if we would come over. She no longer wanted to be a member of the church because she didn't believe in baptism for the dead. We started teaching her the lessons again.

She had 2 kids Caroline e Diego. They loved to hear our messages and were the most well behaved kids that I have seen. The moved the time I got transferred and I was sad to see them go. Elisabete is one on my most favorite people that I taught on my mission. One day we were during contacts at the park no beira rio and at lady came and sat down on a bench right next to where we were talking to someone else. I stopped to talk to her and she told me that she had hoped so much that we would stop and talk to her. She was half Portuguese and half America. So she really liked to talk to us in English. She wanted us to come visit her and we said that of course that we would. She then proceeded to tell us that that she lived in a mental hospital. So we went and visited anyways. I remember the first time we went we got a little creeped out because it was way out in the woods and when someone tried to help us my companion got so scared that she jumped. The first time we visited Elisabete she was like a rock. She had been though so many hard things in her life she could not understand why God would let her suffer like that. We taught her about the plan that our Heavenly Father has for us and really focused on the atonement of our savior Jesus Christ. The second time we talked to her she just cried and cried and the third time we taught Elisabete she smiled. It was so great to see the change that came about in the countenance of Elisabete as she accepted the message and choose to read The Book of Mormon. We never needed to ask her if she had read what we had left as we could always tell by her countenance if she had read or not. It was a real testimony to me of the great joy that we have when we read The Book of Mormon. I know that The Book of Mormon contains the words of our Savior Jesus Christ and the teaching of a loving Father in Heaven. I know that as we choose to live the teaching found in The Book of Mormon we can have happiness and eternal life. Here we celebrated Elisabete's Birthday with her. She was so excited that we would have a little festa with her.

Another funny Story we have about going to visit Elisabete in the Mental Hospital was one time we (Irma Ray and I) had to wait a few minutes until we could visit her. So we were waiting outside when a patient approached us and told us that he had a Book of Mormon and that he was a member of the church. Soon a crowd was gathered around us so asking us lots of question. So we decided to sing for the people there. At the end we received much applause and even a standing ovation. It was quite the experience.