Dear Dad, Mom, Liz, Kirstie, Ashlynn, McKay, Family and Friends,
The past seven days have been a great testimony builder about how the Lord answers our prayers in his own time. At times this week I was discouraged because I was praying for investigators to keep commitments and put their faith and trust in Christ, so they would be ready and worthy to be baptized. However, the Lord didn´t answer my prayers how I wanted or expected and instead he blessed me with blessings and tender mercies that my companion and I weren´t planning on. One example this past week was Shirlei, the mom of a recent convert who has been making changes in her life to be worthy and prepared for baptism. We have been working with her since we first arrived in Paranaguá over four weeks ago, and her original date to be baptized was supposed to be a couple weeks ago, but she was still struggling to stop drinking coffee and she felt like she didn´t have a strong enough faith in Christ to be baptized. Well, this past week we were planning on her being baptized at the end of the week because she has stopped drinking coffee and she knows the church is true. She came to know it was true, rather than just beleiving, because we prayed together a couple weeks ago and she asked Heavenly Father, if the Book of Mormon was true. As she asked if the book was true, an undescribable warm feeling of peace and love filled my heart as well as Shirlei´s heart. However, when we asked her if she was ready to be baptized this past sunday she said she needed more time to develop the courage and faith necessary. Despite this answer, I know that in the Lord´s time my prayer will be answered and she will be baptized. I know this church is true and it is through baptism that we can live with our families forever in God´s presence.
Thank you all for your letters, love and support!
Love,
Elder Hokanson
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