Wednesday, March 3, 2010

zone council in Bangalore

Dear Family,

Greetings from Bangalore! I hope that all of you are doing well. We just finished an edifying Zone Leader’s Council. I love to come here and be with all the Zone Leaders throughout the mission. President trained today on the impact of a leader, he spoke about some influential leaders in his life. It strengthened my resolve be a better leader, but also not to determine the effect of my leadership based on the immediate results. After speaking about 10 great world leaders, he got very emotional and started to speak about his father. How his father was really the one who had the most influence on him. I took some time to think about my father and the influence he had on me. I probably did not respond well to your example and influence while I lived at home, but Dad they mean everything to me now. I am so happy when I reflect on different experiences I had with you. Thank you so much. I learned so many things from you and will be very lucky if I can successfully implement them when I raise my own family. Anyway it was great.

This past week was great. We were able to have some experiences that really strengthened my testimony. As I have previously mentioned we are working with an excellent family-Kishore Kumar. They are 4 members total, but only 3 are preparing for baptism – the mother and the two daughters. Before setting up their baptismal date, we were made sure to obtain permission from Kishore and he readily gave it. But last week he told his family that he did not want them to be baptized. This man is the administrator of all the public hospitals in the Visak district, which makes almost 100 hundred hospitals. He is extremely head strong. There were many reasons that he was against the baptism, I will not give an account of them for lack of time. But we were distraught and had no idea what to do. For a few nights we tried to resolve the concern but were unsuccessful. Days of fervent prayed seemed not to be enough, so we decided to fast. It is hot here and I do not fast unless it is fast Sunday or I absolutely have to. But this, we felt, was required. A few hours after we finished our fast, Kishore called us and gave us the approval. The only condition was that we postpone it for one week. I am not sure why he wanted that, but I could really care less what the reason was. We were exuberant, as were his wife and daughters. It really was a testimony builder and I thought I would share it with you all. Their baptism should be this Sunday and I will send you pictures.

Anyway that took up most of the letter this week. There are many more things happening, I am unable to share them all with you. I promise at a latter day, when time is sufficient, that I will tell you everything. I love you all and hope that you are happy. Thank you for your prayers and support, they mean so much to me.
I hope that all goes well as you prepare for this trip to San Francisco. I am sure that it will be a great experience and I am especially glad that you will be able to have the whole family there. Thank you for all that you do Mom – taking our family on trips has not always been the easiest thing for you. I am so happy that you did it anyway, those memories together are priceless.
Love,
Elder Tuscano

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