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Hey friends! Somehow in the shortest weeks I always have the most to talk about. It's story timeee!
A Flood of Miracles
Okay, do you remember last week? We had a super rough week with just about everything going wrong and then we fasted and out of nowhere Carmen (Eduardo’s mom decided to be baptized). That was one miracle. On Sunday two more happened.
We have been teaching the mom and sister of a member, Eliane and Vanessa, for just over a month. Vanessa is a super smart 8 year old that remembered every single word I said. The first time she went to primary she said she wanted to be baptized and I hadn’t even had a chance to explain baptism. Eliane is her mom, she has been extremely strong. I will spare you the details but just about everything has been working against her these past few weeks. We had put them both on baptismal date for this Sunday but at the start of the week she said she didn't know if she was ready for baptism. We were able to talk to them on Wednesday and Thursday night; things were going okay, rough but still okay.
On Friday we called her and she didn't answer, then fifteen minutes later she called back and said she didn't want to be baptized and didn't want to come to Church. We talked to her and added a member to the call but she was still set on not coming to Church. There is not much you can do in that situation except pray for them. On Saturday night we called her and Vanessa again just to check in and she was still having doubts. We finished sharing our message, I shared a personal story and we hung up. It was already 10 o'clock and she didn't want to do the interview so we assumed it would fall through. According to our member, 10 minutes after our call, she texted her, asked a bunch of questions and decided to come to Church the next day.
Sunday morning we woke up to her saying she was going to come to Church but wasn't going to be baptized. Good, we were making progress; we asked if Vanessa was still going to be baptized or if they wanted to wait. She didn't respond but as I was walking out the door I thought to myself “mind as well grab my baptism clothes just in case”. As I put one foot out the door I get a message from her that Vanessa was going to be baptized that day. Miracle number two. We hadn't done Vanessa's interview so we had to do it right there. Vanessa's sisters and her mom, Eliane, as well as our sister service missionary sat in on the interview. After 45 minutes the interview ends and Eliane walks out and says to me “Vanessa chose you to baptize her and I chose him (pointing to Elder Eysser).” I didn't think I heard her right but Elder Eysser walked out of the room and flashed me a smile. I was jaw dropped. According to Elder Eysser, after Vanessa's interview he was explaining baptism to Eliane and was talking about how no one will ever tell you that you are not ready and Eliane said, “okay, do the interview.” Out of nowhere she just decided to be baptized. Miracle number three.
All three baptisms went through. It was a roller-coaster of emotions but I know it was God's Hand that got them ready. The timing and timeline was perfect. I got to baptize little Vanessa; the water was freezing but she didn't utter a single complaint. She was baptized and did nothing but smile and laugh. The baptism halo is real. Don't believe in miracles yet? I got one more. A random boy showed up at Church all by himself and said “everyone talks bad about your Church but I didn't want to listen, I wanted to find out for myself.” Miracles still happen today. I promise. I see them every day.
170 Baptisms
On Wednesday we got to go to the temple! I love the temple, it's such a perfect and peaceful place… however that morning was the exact opposite of perfect.
Our temple session was at 8:30am and we had to get a 7 o'clock train to get there on time… slight issue… no one had physical money so two of us left to go get some while the others got ready. All good, right? It would be except neither of us had the chip which means we didn't have internet. On top of that there was a miscommunication on where to meet to get in the Uber. In the Uber we hit every red light. We eventually got to the station but 5 minutes after our train had left. We went to buy tickets for the next train but they just happened to be restarting all the systems so we missed the next one. At this point I was thinking that God really didn’t want us in that temple session (foreshadowing). We got to the temple at 8:28am… two minutes before… and they had started the session early. I stood there and just thought, “so why did God need us right where we are, right at this time.”
We stood there and debated if we should wait an hour until the next session or if we should see if we could do baptisms for the dead (learn more about why we do this here). We chose baptisms and that is why God needed us there. There just happened to be no one doing baptisms and so three of us changed clothes and prepped to do some. The temple worker said, “alright 50 names per person, right?” I thought he was joking. I very quickly found out he was not.
I was baptized on behalf of 70 people and performed 40 more baptisms. After I left the font Elder Gonzalez performed around 60 more, putting our count for the day at around 170 baptisms for the dead (for context: normally you do up to 5 baptisms). We then performed around 100 more confirmations, putting our ordinance count at around 270. All the temple workers were incredibly thankful. 270 ordinances in 1 hour with three missionaries. The number is incredible but what is even more important is how we felt; we all left there happier, lighter, and at peace. That is why we go to the temple.
Quick Facts ‘n Quick Stats
I have…
…walked 1000 miles, 1048.5 to be exact (enough to get to Utah from my house)
…handed out 87 Books of Mormon
…handed out 149 pamphlets
…sent 364 emails
…had 3 near death experiences
We did 270 temple ordinances and proceeded to eat 267 pieces of sushi (and ice cream)
Had a water fight at the chapel… more like the Elderes just drenched the Sisters.
Failed at making tapioca… literally the easiest thing to make
It rained every. single. day.
Our apartment flooded and all my stuff got soaked (that was a really test of patience and self control)
Quotes
“Tudo de isso só porque comi muito na começo da missão (Translation: All of this just because I ate too much at the start of the mission)” [Elder Gonzalez, 1/24/2026]
“A missão ensina que não é bom ser pobre (Translation: The mission teaches that it’s not good to be poor)” [Elder Gonzalez, 1/25/2026]
God's Hand
A Flood of Miracles
Being able to do temple baptisms there being names from many of my friends’ missions
Lots of rain (although it did make me miss home)
A double rainbow in its entirety as I was filling the font, looking back it was a sign.
A better relationship with my comp
Spiritual Thoughts
My overall testimony was about miracles this week. I know that they still exist. I also know God's Hand prepares the way for everyone and that he knows what each and everyone of us need. In addition to that testimony I will share a scripture that I love.
“For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round.” (1 Nephi 10:19)
For those of you that wanted longer emails, hopefully you liked my stories. Thank you for all your support! Email me! Love y'all!
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Elder Urbano
