Candeias

Later that day we drove to Candeias, about a 40 minute drive from Salvador. Nate found us a driver through a friend of his who drove the missionaries around when he was there. Our driver was a member from Salvador who's currently serving as a bishop. He was fantastic. He and Nate talked church the whole way and Nate invited him in to all our stops (at our first stop he said, "just so you know, visitors are welcome" and he took us up on that). I loved seeing how excited he was to meet other members and how he fit right in everywhere we went. 

Candeias was amazing. That word is so overused these days, but it was amazing. The spirit was overwhelming when we walked into the building that's been converted into a church building. And as Nate introduced me to everyone and told me a little bit about their stories, we both were totally overwhelmed. (I needed kleenex in the worst way possible, but there wasn't any tissue or kleenex in the building.) The ward planned an activity that night for us and for another missionary that had just come home. Nate couldn't believe how much it has grown and what a strong priesthood presence there is now. When he left the area, there were several strong women, but hardly any priesthood. In both Salvador and Candeias we were able to see all the good that has happened in the last 20 years. We've always felt bad that it's taken us so long to return to his mission, but the passage of time allowed us to see the generational impact that has occurred in those years. Families have been sealed, new members raised their children in the church and sent them on missions. One of the members I met that night was a new member when Nate baptized his wife. He could barely read and now he is the bishop of the ward. It was so, so great. And once again, I was overwhelmed by how kind the people were. I wished I could have expressed to them how I was feeling. Hopefully they saw and felt what I couldn't express.