Elder Ian Forsyth: Conversion story of the extraordinary variety

Joaquim's baptism

Conversion story

All conversion stories are miracles that are examples of God´s hand in our lives. This one is pretty big.

So Joaquim´s story is simple but extraordinary. Extraordinary means nuts, okay? We were with our Ward mission leader coming back from Contenda (the city near Araucária) and he was going to drop us off and introduce us to a less active but he decided to take a different route so he could show us how cool his F-1000 is. So we hit the dirt roads and we were bumping around inside his pick up. He turned the corner, stopped and put the car in reverse. He got out of the car and told us to hang tight for a little. He clapped for about 2 minutes, waiting for one of his friends to come out of his house. Right when he was walking back to the car, little Joaquim was riding by on his bike and bumped into him. The fact that he bumped into him shows you the condition Joaquim was in. Drunk and high. I started talking to him and he seemed like a super nice guy. We set an appointment for that Wednesday to go over with Silvano (ward mission leader) and teach him about the restoration.

On the 3rd lesson we started to share the commandments without Silvano present so that we could be a little more courageous and direct with Joaquim so that he would truly give up many vices. Ever since that 3rd visit he hasn't put anything harmful into his mouth nor has he done anything against the commandments of God. The 3rd lesson was what truly got him on track to baptism. Every lesson after that we followed up with every single commitment that we left for him. So, if we taught him the law of chastity and the word of wisdom then on the next visit we would follow up with those two commandments and leave another commitment for him. He was always being reminded of the blessings and consequences.

Ele é super bacana. (He is super cool.)

Some pictures from the week: