Joseane's Baptism

Joseane was from Brasil and had seen the missionaries there but had always run away or hid from them because she didn't want to talk to them. When she moved to Portugal she continued to do the same thing for a little bit but eventually started talking to them. Her family began listening to the missionaries and taking the lessons. Her husband and 2 of her children were baptized however Joseane did not want to commit to baptism. She had heard the lessons so many times and I taught her them at least 2 or 3 times. She would come to church and the activities but also liked going to other churches and sometimes liked her sundays to do other things. We had been really working with her and we were so close but she always wanted to be baptized in the next year and things like that. One day we went over to visit and she told us that she wanted to be baptized. You can image our excitement and how happy we were for her that she had finally made the decision that would bring so much happiness and joy into her life. She told us that a pastor from another church came over to try and convince her to stop being associated with our church. He told her that the Mormons were horrible and all sorts of crazy things. She told us that as he told her this she began to think about all the members and how wonderful they were and how she knew that they were people of God. She had lots of memories go through her mind and suddenly she realized that she too needed to be baptized so that she could become a member de' A Igreja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos dos Ultimos Dias.

Her Baptism Day was one of the happiest days of my life. Her husband was able to baptize her on Sunday after church. I felt the spirit so strong and felt such a joy that she was making such a wonderful covenant with our Heavenly Father.

One funny thing about the baptism is that the Relief Society President said she would bring all the food and drinks if I would bring cinnamon rolls. I asked her if she wanted me to call her during the week to remind her and she said that wouldn't be necessary and that she would take care of everything. So on Sunday before church I asked her if she would like any help getting the food into the kitchen or anything like that and she had totally forgotten about the baptism. So during sunday school a member and I went to our apartment and grabbed all the cookies, crackers, and juice that we had and brought it back to the church. So we all enjoyed a wonderful luncheon of maria bolochas and juice. Obviously the most important thing is that the actual baptism went smoothly but there is always a funny story with each baptism.