March 18

Hello, lovely, growing family!!!
I am so exstatic to hear Laura is pregnant!! With TWINS!!! I´m so excited to have twins in the family! There are 4 families with twins in our ward. Thanks, Laura, for the email and the news. I´m so happy for y´all!!
Well, the baptism and wedding and confirmation of Mara, Gilson, Felipe, Thiago, and Junior went very well. It was so beautiful seeing them all in white, imagining them all (in a year) dressed in white again to be sealed in the temple!! What a privilege it was to find and help out this beautiful family receive the blessings of the gospel! And it was even sweeter because Sister Bulhões and I got to stay together until after their confirmation. We received the news that we´d get separated 2 weeks earlier, but Pres. Milder let us stay together til after the baptism. It truly was a tender mercy.
Now, I am with my 2nd companion, Sister Elenice Gomes Barbosa. She is from Bayeux close to João Pessoa. She is wonderful! I love getting the opportunity to learn from her example and learn some different ways to teach. She walks a lot faster than Sister Bulhões and we are having a great time working diligently to acheive our high goals for this month.
The baptisms of the girls fell through, but we are going to try to teach Yasmin with her parents. The good news is that I know God is preparing others who are ready to accept the gospel and be baptized this month of March!!
The Area Presidency (cough, cough...Dad) has been putting a lot of emphasis on baptizing every week. I am psyching myself up for this. Elder Ballard taught that baptizing has all to do with attitude and hard work (or in other words not accepting excuses). I am increasing my faith everyday. I know that God has the power to help us baptize every week when we do our part (10 contacts every day, asking for referals, teaching with the Spirit, etc). I am so grateful to be a missionary!! I can´t believe I already have 6 months on the mission! What a privilege it is to spend every day helping my brothers and sisters receive the blessings of the gospel. I will never have a chance like this again in my life to devout myself 100% to preaching the gospel. I am soaking it all in.
Thank you all for your prayers and emails. Thanks again, Kit, for the pictures and drawings.
Thank you so much, Becky for your email!!! I was so ridiculously excited to hear from you!!! I love you so very much and am praying for you. Give Mick my love and all Tribe #5.
Love, Sister Rachel Ellis