Baptism Christmas Day

Well again I will have to be quick. It really seems as though all I do lately is run from place to place. All and all Christmas passed by really great. Let me just say that the Lord blessed me with a white Christmas..... YEEEEEEAAAAAAAAA!!!!!! But just wait a minute. It is not the white Christmas that you are thinking. I was able to baptize someone on Christmas Day. It was really such a great blessing. The person that we baptized is named Rose. She is such a great lady and it was really such a blessing to be able to find her. The Lord really put her in our path. We were teaching her for just about 2 weeks or so. She accepted all the lessons really well and really did not have any problem with any of the commandments. Everything we invited her to do she did. She said that she really realized that God was showing her what she needed to do in her life. She said that she asked God a while ago that he would show her the path that she needed to follow. She said that after she did that she married someone that is a member of the Church. Unfortunately her husband died but after that she found herself passing by our Church almost every single day. Every time that she passed by she said she really had a desire to enter and to see what it was all about. Then she was found by two missionaries while she was getting off the Bus. After that we arrived at her house to teach her. She said that it has been a while now that God was showing her where she needed to go and what she needed to do, and so when we started to teach her she prayed and received her answer and from there on out she followed her answer with 100% of Faith and effort. She is really such a great person and it was a blessing to get to know her. Now we are working with her little son and her sister. We hope to be able to baptize the whole family. Let us see what God decides to do with us and this family.
Well it was great to speak with all of you. I really love you all so much. It is weird for me to think that next week when I speak with you it will be 2011. Or in other words it will be the year that I will return back home. That is so weird for me. I remember when I got in the mission everyone said you will not be going home this year nor the next year but only on the next year. haha. That was always hard to hear but that last year has arrived. I am filled with mixed emotions. I really want to go home to be able to do the rest of the things that the Lord has for me but at the same time I really do not want to leave a country I now love and people that I love and a mission that is so amazing. It will be hard for me but I know that the Lord will always be with me if I let him be.
Just a few things really quick:
1. Thank you for the things that you sent mother. It was really great. My companion really enjoyed it as well. He wanted to say thank you for everything that you gave him. Everything you sent mom was really great. The pen is way good and the recess.... well you know how much I like them. ha.
2. It seems like this transfer will be a little harder in the zone. They took out all of our district leaders and made them zone leaders in other areas. So now we are training three new district leaders and received a lot of new missionaries. It will be challenging but I think that all of you that really know me should know that I really enjoy a good challenge.
3. Christmas in Brazil is really different than it is in the USA. Here it is a time that everyone gets together just to get drunk. They all stay up until about 3 in the morning on Christmas eve because and midnight they eat a huge dinner. It is really a strange thing but that is OK. There are also many other things that make Christmas here a little different than in the USA. Another big factor is the whole thing about Snow. I would really love to see some good old snow. ha.
Well just so you all know I am doing great. I really love you all. I will have to admit that I am starting to really get tired, but I know that as I look to God he will always give me strength to keep walking, etc... I really cannot do it on my own I really need his help every single day of my life. I know that as we look to him always we will be able to accomplish anything that we need to. God is the key to success. Christ is the key to salvation. We really need to do the little things so that we can have success and salvation. If we do the little things we will show to God and Christ that we are trusting in them and not our own strength. I love you all and invite you all to make goals for this next year. Think of things that will really help you to become closer to God and then really try your hardest to complete those goals. I know without any doubts that this is the true church of God. I love you all and wish that you all have a great new year and that you all can be safe and always do the little things. I love you.
Elder Daniel J. Parkinson