Today was a very special day because today my friend Arvin took some of his first steps toward following Jesus Christ and was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!

My Sunday started early in order to catch the bus and trains to get to Koblenz. I was blessed to catch the train I needed just as it was pulling out of the station! The journey was pretty calm and I was able to study the scriptures a little along the way. Once I was in Koblenz, I got to see my friends Isaiah and Rose who I ran into last Sunday and who had helped me carry my beans that I had brought for last week’s potluck.

They are very kind people, and listening to Isaiah’s experiences about how he has searched for Christ in his life strengthened my desire to follow the Savior more. He has strived to follow God since he was a child and has visited many churches during his faith journey. What he appreciates about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the quiet reverence he has experienced there and the focus on the Savior Jesus Christ during the meetings. He told me about how he looks for ways to share about Christ and about the experiences he has had while visiting the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints with his family and his friends, and that filled me with joy!

Once we got to the church building, I was greeted by another pleasant surprise, my new friends from Brazil, Giselle and Gleybson, were there at church! It was very good to see them and be greeted by them! They came with their son Icaro and during the second hour of church, I had the pleasure of translating for them from English into Portuguese while Elder Palmer and Elder Horsley taught about the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ! We could feel the Holy Ghost as the Elder’s taught about the Savior and as we all shared experiences about how we have seen the Lord guiding us towards Him little by little. Gleybson even shared his testimony of the Savior and expressed his desire to follow Him.

After second hour was the baptism service for Arvin! I got to share a little about baptism and receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and the Holy Ghost helped me to know what to say. While I was studying in preparation for what I was going to share, I thought it was special that in the scriptures whenever baptisms were recorded, some of the same principles were taught each time. John the Baptist, the Savior, and Alma each taught these 4 principles:

After we are baptized and receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost we should:

1. Continue to repent and exercise faith in Jesus Christ.
2. Become peace makers and avoid contention.
3. Love our neighbor.
4. Become as a little child.

I am excited for Arvin as he starts this journey, and the Savior invites all of us to follow Him as well so He can bless us with His Holy Spirit and help us become like Him!

After the baptism, on my way back home, I had a fun experience when I was waiting for the train to arrive at the train station in Koblenz. I was wearing blue slacks and a blue vest along with my white shirt and tie, and coincidentally my outfit was strikingly similar to the uniform used by the workers at the train station.

You can imagine what happened next, people started to stop me to ask for directions, when the next train was coming, and which entrance on the train was the wheel chair accesible one. With the exception of the last question, I was blessed to be able to respond everyone else’s questions with the help of my DB Navigator app. It was a cool experience because usually you don’t get a lot of people who stop you to talk to you here. After a while, my train arrived, and I made it home safely and had a peaceful rest of my Sunday!