October 15, 2012

Well I received news of the thing I definitely didn't want to hear on Saturday from my Mission President. At about 1:30 or so while we were at lunch he called me to inform me that G-ma Gleason passed away on Friday night. I can't lie and say that it wasn't tough because it was pretty hard on me. Especially knowing that I won't be there and am not there for any of it. But after the phone call I knew the only way to keep my mind off of everything was to work and work hard. So thats what we did. Elder Messias asked me if I wanted to go home and relax for a little bit but I know that would just make it all harder and I told him we had people to teach and appointments marked. And I know that G-ma would want me to keep going. We worked our butts off these past 2 days and were blessed for it as well. This whole week we have been working like crazy and the Lord is blessing us in so many ways and is seeing the work were putting in. I dont want to say that everything was perfect because it defintely wasnt and we had some people that were going really well fall through, but we stuck to it through the hard parts and we came out strong. We are trully seeing the Lords hand in our work and we are doing all we can to do His will.

Its tough to be in this situation like I said being on the opposite side of the world but I have been strengthened and comforted by the Lord. I know that this life isnt the end. There is more after this and I will see my good ol´ G-ma again. God being perfect didn't create all this just for it all to end here on earth, this part of our life is just an extremely small phase of who we are. We existed before this life for who knows how long with God and after this life their will be no end or time. It will be eternity. Without end. I know and have a strong testimony that if we continue doing all we can and following Christ in all He did we can receive the greastest blessing of all, eternal life (D&C 14:7). But we need to do all we can and we must search and find Gods true path. I know that this church is true, and I know that through living prophets God´s Plan of Salvation has been restored on the Earth today to answer lifes great questions. Where did we come from? Why are we here? and What will happen after this life? The answers to these questions have been restored in the fulness of the gospel. I know that the only way to enter into Gods Kingdom is to be baptized with the authority of God, the Priesthood, has also been restored here on the earth through Joseph Smith. If you dont know it and have a testimony about it as well, search for it with our Heavenly Father and He will answer your prayers. I know and promise that He will. This is Christ´s true church on the earth and God´s kingdom here on earth. This isn't the end and I know I will see my grandma again. Love You G-Ma

Eu Te Amo

Elder Gleason

P.S. "...while you cannot change the past, you can change the future... With God´s help, you need not fear for the future." -Elder David S Baxter (General Conference April 2012)

"Be Happy Without Fear"

 

 

October 8, 2012

Wow, so general conference was amazing this past weekend, I learned so much and was able to strengthen my testimony even more in the gospel. It was so great to hear from our living prophet and apostles and hear the words that Heavenly Father wanted us to hear at this point. There was so much that we could all learn and I hope that everyone was able to receive answers to the questions they had, I know I did. One thing I liked a lot as well was Russell M. Nelsons talk about asking the missionaries about lifes great questions. I reinforce that invite for anyone who isn't a member of the church. The answers to lifes great questions have been restored!

However, this week we also lost a lot of work time, with general conference and we also had mission council which is for all the Zone Leaders on the mission. We had to leave on Tuesday night at about 6 to go to Sorocaba and we slept there with other missionaries. Elder Siddoway, from BYU, and Elder Vincent, my MTC companion. They're companions right now in Trujillo which is also my first zone that I was in and we slept in their house. So many great memories that we talked about. Then we lost the entire day on Wednesday in the captial of Sao Paulo, but a majority of the time was spent in vans and buses. We only got back to our area on Wednesday night at 630. One full complete day out of our area. So the week was a little difficult and we had to try and pack everything into a few days. However we had an amazing experience this week on Thursday. We were looking for 2 less active members but no one was home so we knocked on the neighbors door to see if the people still lived there, long story short we ended up teaching this family that we knocked their door. At the end of the lesson the wife asked us why she was feeling a burning sensation in her heart when we were talking to her, we testified that it was the Holy Ghost confirming what we were teaching. Then the next day we went back again to reinvite them to general conference again and she told us that the night before we showed up the first time she had had a dream about finding the true path of Christ in the middle of so many paths that exist and then we showed up. IT WAS AWESOME! And on Saturday they went to general conference in church dress. So sick. It was an awesome experience. And extremely spiritual.

As for the rest of the week we faced a few difficulties but we have faith and know that if we continue we will be blessed in the end by the Lord.

Eu Te Amo

Elder Gleason

P.S. Alma 46:15; 47:10-13; 48:11. 17

"If we have faith in Jesus Christ, the hardest as well as the easiest times in life can be a blessing." -Pres Henry B Eyring (COnference April 2012)

October 1, 2012

Well we had another transfer this past week, man how time flies, I am now on the back end of transfers on the mission. This week I got a new companion, Elder Messias (Messiah). Elder Maciel is now the executive secretary for the mission and sits behind a computer and in air conditioning all day haha. Elder Messias is from Recife, the same city where Elder Vieira is from but he didnt know him beofre the mission. The one really bad thing about the transfer is now neither one of us knows how to cook... And we get a lot of money from the members for lunches so were going to have to start eating at restaurants a lot more often. So much easier when you have someone who cooks good food for you and you dont have to do anything haha.

This week was another week of milagres. We marked another 3 baptismal dates for October, me and Elder Messias. And we have a lot of good people to work with, here in a little bit were going to be seeing a lot of thr fruits of our hard work were putting in. And on Sunday we had 2 miracles happen that we weren't expecting whatsoever. We were wating for a lot of people at church like 10 or so and by the time church had started only 1 had showed up and we were pretty upset but then out of nowhere a couple that we were teaching showed up. We had invited them to church so many times and they never went but yesterday they showed up. And then a boyfriend of a member showed up and he is super interested in the church and is wanting to change his life around. AND another young man whos been coming to church for awhile was presented to us and he wants to be baptized and were going to teach him this week. The lord trully blessed us for our hard work that we put in this week in ways that we werent expecting whatsoever.

Well this weekend is general conference again on Saturday and Sunday, my 3rd on the mission already and I'll only have one more, so weird. I'm super excited though to be able to hear from our living prophet and living apostles. What a great priveldge that we have to be able to hear the voice of the Lord through his servants here on the Earth in our days. I know that what they will say will trully bless our lives if we put it in to practice and will help us with anything that we are struggling with. What a blessing to have a living prophet. I am so grateful for the love of the Lord that he has for each and every one of us. I am so greatful for the words that He is continually providing for us to strengthen us when we are week. I know without a shadow of a doubt that these men were called by God in our days.

Eu Te Amo

Elder Gleason

P.S. Alma 40:11-13, 25; 41:3-6, 10

"There is seemingly no end to the expansive capacity to love. The feeling of love from our Heavenly Father is like a gravatational pull from Heaven." -Elder Paul E Koelliker (General Conferance April 2012)