"Big John"

This week, someone asked me what my real full name is. I said "Payton John" and they were like, "Your name is Big John?" And I was like "Yep that is exactly what it is." So now, we are teaching a family that calls me Big John.

The work is still going well! 

I'll give some updates of progression of people here:

-Andreia, Alexandro, and their fam: Andreia and Alexandro's wedding will be March 17th! (the free community civil marriage thing). 2-3 months ago, they were living far away and were about to separate (even though they have 4 kids). They felt they needed to stay together and move here to Porto, where they quickly met us. They are happy, they love church and their lives have already been forever changed by the gospel. 

-Flavia's baptism will be this Saturday! She is so dang ready. She taught Sunday school this past week

-Eluiza (Flavia's sister) started her mission papers! She has made a lot of sacrifices these past few weeks and it's really cool to see.

-Deusinha's baptism will also be Saturday! She's been getting sick since giving up coffee, so I'm praying that she keeps strong.

-Maxwell and Tatyane are also considering getting married on March 17th! They also love the church and want to be baptized, but they are a little hesitant to get married.

I've been thinking about the promise in Mosiah 2:41, about how people that keep the commandments will be blessed. Jesus was the only person that kept every commandment and consequently, he was blessed. Most of our problems in our lives happen because of our own mistakes and decisions, but that wasn't the case for Jesus. His problems always came from the works and persecution of other people. Ultimately, he could always be at peace with himself because he was always doing exactly what he should have been doing.

Basically what I'm trying to say is that the more we break the commandments, the more problems we create for ourselves.

Have a great week!

<3 Elder MacLay