February 13, 2012

This week was excellent. Miguel Angel Garcia, someone weve been teaching for a month or two was baptized and confirmed. And, the very same sacrament meeting in which he was confirmed he bore his testimony in front of everyone. (Fast and testimony meeting was pushed back because of the stake conference.) I think yesterday might have been the only time Ive ever seen one of my converts bear their testimony in sacrament meeting. He shared his experience of how the first two times we visited him he didnt really feel anything special until he came upon 1 Nephi 8 and read about Lehis vision. He remembered every detail of the story in the book of Mormon and compared it to his own life and said that since that time he knew the Book of Mormon was true. Now he reads like crazy. He already passed Alma 7. I think hes reading it faster than Ive ever read it. Hes made many changes in his life and is a very humble man. The sad part was that none of his family agrees with his decision and, therefore, none of them went to his baptism. But he also expressed in his testimony yesterday that he knows that one day theyll understand and be there with him as well.

Besides his confirmation, the four people that were baptized last saturday were confirmed as well, and a recently reactivated man shared his testimony as well. It was an excellent sacrament meeting.

We also recieved the good news that Moises will finally be able to get baptized the 24 of February because his wife finally agreed to civil marriage. She was against her husbands decision to be baptized and therefore hadnt wanted to get married for a long time even though theyve been living together for 29 years and have several children. Even under these circumstances Moises has been reguarly attending just about every activity in the church and reading the scriptures much more diligently than most members for many months. Hes such a wonderful, caring, humble, kindhearted man who loves his family despite the fact that they arent in agreement. Its so great that he will finally be able to achieve his desire and the blessings of the ordinances of the gospel.

Carmen and Enrique are so close to being able to get married. Weve been working with the connections we have in the local government (the community presidentss wife is a member) and they should be able to get married at the latest, next week.

Everyone weve been teaching have been getting baptized so now our struggle is finding more people to teach. Weve been so occupied with teaching appointments that now its been a little hard for us to open our mouths and talk to everyone, but weve got to get into the habit again.

Another experience that Im not sure if I already shared with you is when one of the people baptized last saturday and confirmed yesterday, Lucia, shared with my companion and I how we had helped her feel important to God. She told us of an accident she had a little while ago while she was traveling I dont remember to where but somewhere far away. There was an exhaust leak in the car and as a consequence during the course of her trip she got carbon monoxide poisoning and went unconscious. They took her to the hospital and after a while were able to get her to wake up, but the doctors said that she was very close to dying. She said that after recovering she wondered why God had allowed her to live as she would have preferred to leave this life. She explained how during this time in her life she felt like she wasnt important to anyone. Luckily, her sisters expressed their love and support to her, but she said, in tears, that until we came and taught her the gospel and showed her our love for her, she really didnt feel that God cared about her. She told us we were angels sent to help her and let her know the He does care about her. Its hard to describe what we felt in that moment with words.

I know God loves all His children. One of the greatest blessings of serving a mission is being able to feel a little part of what Our Heavenly Father feels towards His children.