This week we had the goal to set three batsman dates. We haven't set
any in over a month. We started the week with a fast and then fasted
midweek as well. Thursday night I felt like we needed to visit the
Lopez family. The entire family are members except for Carolina but
they had been inactive for a long time before we started visiting them
The mother, Yasmin, wasn't available but Braulio (17 years old) let us
in and we talked with him and his eleven-year-old sister, Carolina.
The last time we had seen them was about a week ago. That night, too,
had been with only Carolina and Braulio. We had left with them during
the previous visit the commitment to read the introduction of the Book
of Mormon, and since they hadn't yet, we read it with them. During the
course of the lesson, Braulio expressed to us his question and doubts
about the nature of God, His existence, the Book of Mormon, and the
idea of a modern prophet.
As we read the the introduction to the Book of Mormon one word stuck
out to me: testimony.
I felt like I should ask Braulio what a testimony is. I thought it a
dumb question--of course he knows what a testimony is, he's been going
to church for a while--but I followed the prompting and asked. Turns
out, he didn't feel like he had a testimony because he had never had
any powerful spiritual experiences and so felt like he didn't know
that anything was true.
What followed was a powerful spiritual experience for me as I bore
testimony to him of the Book of Mormon and how a testimony can be even
just a desire to believe.
Thursday night too he had many questions and so I decided to focus on
what had always brought me the answer and what I was confident could
bring him his answers once he understood it better: the atonement.
To help them lien it to themselves we put Braulio in the place of the
Savior and asked him what he would do to help and protect his sister,
and how Carolina would feel if he died for her.
The spirit was strong en and I thought of something Sam (our recent 9
year old convert) said in a recent lesson. I'd asked him what the
bread and water in the sacrament represent. "Love!" he said. My first
instinct was to correct him. But really, he was absolutely right. And
at is what I tried to express to Braulio and Carolina. Braulio it
turns out hadn't understood mercy, but he did then.
And when we asked Carolina if she would be baptized next month she
said yes! And Braulio gave the closing prayer, a simple, sincere
prayer expressing his desires to know more.
We also met with Oscar, our downstairs neighbor who we have talked
with a couple times before. He told us when we shared Joseph Smith's
vision of Christ and God that he heard a voice telling him to listen.
He reads the Book of Mormon and believes it but won't pray and won't
come to church. We talked with him about what is holding him back and
I was able to resolve a lot of his concerns through my own experience
and what I had studied that very morning. He said he was worried that
once he got baptized he wouldn't be able to love worthy of the Holy
Ghost and the expectations that would be set for him. I told him I had
the same concern as a missionary and I asked him, what was the last
gift you received. He told us and I asked him why that person had
given it to him. The answer:because she loved him. The Holy Ghost is a
gift, I told him. It's true that we must be living worthy of it to
have its constant companionship, but, I told him, "It's not like we
are given all these commandments that we have to love perfectly to
have the holy ghost, rather we have the holy host to help us live the
commandments.
Halfway through the lesson I felt very strongly that we needed to
commit him to live the Word of Wisdom (no drugs or alchohol). I read
to him the promises God promises us if we live it (found inD&C 89). He
said they sounded familiar and he committed to stop smoking. (So far,
he has t smoked since). He also accepted a baptismal date for next
month. (He also to,s us the past three times we knocked on his door he
had been thinking about or praying about our message and we had come
as his answer).
The third date was set with an 11 year old boy, Elihu, whose ,other,
after hearing our dinner message, decided she wanted him baptized, and
she herself began to attend church again.
We got I late at night and only had a few minutes to teach and had no
idea what we should teach him. After the opening prayer I felt like I
should ask him what he knew about God and we talked for a while about
God and how he is our loving Heavenly Father and how to pray to him.
We talked then about baptism and the Holy Ghost. At the end of he
lesson he exclaimed, "I get it now! God will always be my father and I
will always be his son, so he will always love me. And I know now what
the spirit feels like." It was a beautiful moment, especially because
we found out after the lesson that their dad had left them some time
ago. He is excited to be baptized in three weeks.
We also had two others who are cited to read e Book of Mormon and said
that if they feel that it is true after reading and praying they want
to be baptized.
The lord answered our fast and prayers and the Spirit guided us this
entire week. It was one big miracle!
Sorry for the novel. One last bit of news: tomorrow is transfers. I am
going to a nearby area where my last trainer, Hna Beatty went. She is
going home and I am taking her place. My new companion is Hna Hoffman.
I am thrilled! I've already been on a couple exchanges with her and
she is so sweet, fun, and hard working. I will still be in the same
zone and will get to see my late companion, Hna Sands, often. Which is
a good thing. We've come to be good friends. And what's more, I will
be close enough to attend the baptisms of Oscar, Carolina, and Elihu!
Saying goodbye to our ward was hard--I love these people!
Hermana Anderson
#allforHim
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