Elder J.R. Gleason: January 21, 2013

And another baptism for the New York team haha. This week we baptized a young man named Igor who is the son of another lady that Elder Ahmed and I baptized a few weeks ago, like I explained in my email last week. Everything went really well for the baptism and he picked me to baptize him. It's definately one of the best feelings to be able to baptize someone. He is really happy and enjoying being a member of the church and him and his brother both have the full white shirt and tie combination. And their mom, Simone, is super strong and is so happy that now her whole family is a member of the church. She's already starting to help them prepare to serve their missions in the future! A really fantastic family. I'm so glad that I could be a part of 2 of the 3 baptisms.

As for the week it was decent but definitely not the best, unfortunately we have been finding a lot of people who aren't very interested and after going by once or twice we have to leave them behind to try and find others who will be baptized. We have had some great experiences though, that is for sure and we have seen people receive answers to their prayers and we have even been that answer a few times already. Unfortunately even receiving these answers a few people have chosen not to follow what God has showed them. But thats where the free agency comes in, we can't force anyone to do what they don't want, just help as much as we can so that they can realize how big the blessings that they could get from following christs true gospel.

Also, I called Elder Messias on Saturday night to see how things were and because it was the day that Tiago and Daniele had marked to get married. Everything went perfectly and they were married in the chapel in Itu and he said that everything was super organized. Next week theyre going to be baptizedddd. So awesome!! Unfortunately I will only be seeing it all by pictures but I know that this is all the Lords will. They also have another 4 baptisms marked for this week and another family that Elder Messias and I found are really animated and getting closer to baptism as well. Also, the lady that we baptized, Mari, is super strong! She visited the temple the other day. And her family found out that she was baptized and they told her she had to choose the church or them, theyre all Catholics, and she chose to continue following Christ and His church instead of her family. I can't even imagine how hard of a decision that must have been. But I know the Lord will bless her imensly for it.

Eu Te Amo

Elder Gleason

P.S. 3 Nephi 18:6-8, 11-12, 19-20 and Pro 22:2, 6; 23:17; 24:19-20