In the face of eternity, even in the chronology of man, 20 years is but a flash in the darkness. Today I am no longer a teenager. And as this is the oldest birthday I have reached, it has also been the best.
The Johnson family, particularly Sister Johnson, was all so nice, treating me as if I were the king of the day. Sister Johnson wrote a note to me, as she does to every missionary on his birthday, wishing me the best. She said, in part:
"May I tell you that it is a great pleasure for us to have you working in the mission offices. We know that you would rather be out doing full-time missionary work—but you never complain. We appreciate your loyalty, dedication, your desire to fulfill your calling as a missionary."
We started our day by contacting in the feira down the hill from the mission office. There we ran into Sister Johnson, Dona Lourdes (the cook), and the other elders. Sister Johnson wished me happy birthday there.
At lunch there was a cake with candles. To begin the meal I had volunteered to offer the spiritual thought. Today is Joseph Fielding Smith's 93rd birthday, and I chose some thoughts from his October conference talk about the gospel and the destiny of the kingdom of God.
From home I received a card from Dale, a letter from Grandma, and a letter from Lyle and Barbara. My companion, Elder Stewart, gave me the book The Restored Church in Portuguese. It is the same colorful history of the Church used in the seminary program, authored by William E. Berrett.
But the best of gifts was being able to baptize as members of the Church Maria Yolanda de Souza and Marcos Balduino de Souza, her eight-year-old son. The Lord has been especially good to us and His blessings are upon His people and His directive influence is in this work. It was only two weeks and six days ago that we first spoke to Maria Yolanda, marking a lesson with her. Today she is a member of the Church.
Directly following the baptismal service, Elder Stewart confirmed Maria Yolanda a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and gave her the Holy Ghost. Elder Reed Nielson confirmed Marcos.
What neater birthday could I have asked for? For the record, I feel no older now that I am 20.
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