Olá!

This week went by extremely fast. I feel like I always say that, but it is always true. Yet again we were in exchanges with other missionaries this week. This week was a lot of divisions with other Americans which was different and fun. The first division of the week was with Elder Bartschi which is the Elder that I saw as I was returning to the mission. I don't know if I told this story, but as I was returning to the mission I was in the airport. There I saw another missionary who was coming down to our same mission. We even sat next to each other on the plane which was awesome! It was cool to spend a couple days with him.

The second exchange was with Elder Jones who is our district leader. That division was a lot of fun as well. He did a baptismal interview with one of our investigators who was baptized on Sunday. The rest of the time was really enjoyable with him as we were able to teach quite a few people. We taught one woman who even went to church this week! Exchanges are awesome!

Felipe, who is a member's brother, was baptized this week. His mom didn't allow him to be for a while, but she finally let him this week. I think she finally let him be baptized after we went there because she was sick. Her daughter who is also a member asked her if she wanted a blessing and she said yes. After the blessing, we talked to her and while she said that she still didn't want to be baptized, she said that Felipe could be if he wanted to. He wanted to be baptized and so on Sunday we had his baptism! It was a fantastic day for him and his family.

We were hoping to have two other baptisms this week, but they fell through. They will be baptized here in a couple weeks but didn't feel ready yet. We are working with them and I know that they will make the decision to be baptized soon. They are reading The Book of Mormon and going to church and I have seen that whenever people do that, they will always stay firmly on the path. We are talking a lot about The Book of Mormon here in the mission. An Apostle talked about the scripture that talks about the harvest and how we need to "thrust in the sickle with all our might". He said that the sickle is The Book of Mormon. I know that we need to always use The Book of Mormon in our lives. It doesn't matter where we are on the path. Whether we have a small testimony or a large one, The Book of Mormon will always help us grow our testimony to be stronger and stronger. It is the "iron rod" as Lehi stated. I know that we should all read The Book of Mormon every day. Doing so will help us stay on the path and be more like our Savior Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for the things I am learning here.

Thank you all for your love and prayers!

Amo vocês!

Elder Johnson