The Gospel Really Changes Lives

(This picture of Elder Soto was kindly sent to us by Sister Rich.)

Hola De Peru Lima Norte,

Another great week. Elder Soto's crazy, I'll just put it that way. Well, he's just a funny guy. I've learned fast to have a ton of patience with him. He has 16 months in the mission. We're doing just great.

On Saturday we had the baptism of Milagros and Alexandra. Everything went as planned, and it was a baptism service I'll never forget. Bishop Marcos Polo (I say Marcos, my companion says Polo) baptized Alexandra because she's his niece. Both of Alexandra's nonmember parents came to the baptism too! After that, I baptized Milagros. We had the welcomes and testimonies and then the closing hymn, but before we could say the closing hymn Alexandra's dad Sebastian, who isn't a member of the church, who's never been inside the church before, asked me if he could say a few words.

Just to back up a little bit. Sebastian was very Catholic. Part of the reason for splitting up with his wife was because his daughter Alexandra wanted to be baptized. Her mother said it was the decision of Alexandra, but Sebastian said she was to be Catholic just like her dad, her dad's dad, etc. This whole thing happened a long time ago, but we taught Sebastian lesson 1 and he opened up. The second time we visited him we asked him to sign the permission slip for Alexandra to be baptized. He signed it.

Now a month later, Sebastian was bearing his testimony at the end of our baptism service in front of the members, about how the gospel really changes lives and how he is grateful that his daughter made the decision to be baptized. He asked Alexandra more than one time if she really wanted to do it. Of course she made very clear her position to her father and now Alexandra is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ. We're going to visit Sebastian this week.

Other than that Lima's the best! I'll be able to go to the temple all of my mission! I can't think of anything better than that. Voy a jugar futbol. (I'm going to play soccer.)

Chau,

Elder Layton