28 October 2013 Memorable Week...Tears of joy and tears of sadness.

Glenda Barczy entered the waters of baptism on Saturday. It was awesome to be part of it. There was a lot of support from the members of the church and a lot of people there that love her and are now her friends. It was a difficult decision for her because no one in her family wanted her to join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or even talk with us as missionaries. In fact one was at her house when we stopped by as we were in the neighborhood to see how things were going and he opened the door and then slammed it in our faces. Not the nicest thing but that's ok we just talked to her later. Her family was so against it that she decided that she didn't want any of her family there or knowing that she was getting baptized. She didn't invite any of them. Instead she is just going to show them a picture of us in front of the baptismal font to them and say "oh hey this is what I did this weekend". Still waiting to hear how it went.

Talked to another lady who is coming back to the church after her 17 yr vacation and her 12 yr old daughter that isn't a member says she wants to be baptized as well and plans on being baptized in 2 weeks. So things are going well except for this next confusing part. SO you know how there are conferences in sports and individual teams make up the conference. That's kind of the way The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints works as well except teams are called wards and they have boundaries where if you live inside you attend church at such and such time at such and such place. Conferences are called Stakes, not the food but like what holds a tent down in the wind. So the Stake that I am in is making 2 new wards out of the ones they have meaning some boundaries are going to change. So we don't know until this Sunday what the ward we will be serving in will be or what our area will be either. Or if I will even be in this area all together.

We went to a trunk or treat and decided to be creative. Well I decided to be creative and decorate the car. My companions didn't help. Then we handed out candy and cards with our numbers on it inviting them for a visit. Then had other supplies for the taking and some people were interested. It was a lot of fun seeing all of the kids and being on the other end of the trunk or treat experience.

So a little side note that made me sad was that my companion Elder Wade went home this week for somethings that happened before his mission. I am now with a new companion. It was hard watching Elder Wade leave because I fear he won't come back out again. I hope he stays safe. The new companion and I are still trying to get along. Working on it. Anyways see you/talk to you next week. Oh yeah we are getting ipads and iphones this week. Literally just found that out!

Love Elder Leonhardt