Because look who he's with.
Bradley and Elder Olsen have been teaching this family for a while. The two sons, Bian and Israel, told Bradley they want to be policemen when they grow up, but first, they want to be elders. :) The dad was inactive, but he decided to go back to church, and he got to baptize his own sons. Carla, the wife, loves the temple, and put two mirrors on either side of their family room. She reads gospel material for two hours every day. They are so excited to work towards being sealed in the temple together for time and all eternity.
We BAPTISED yesterday, sunday. The part member family. The two boys, Bian and Isreal were baptised by their father, who was rectivated. We have been going to teach them several times a week, and the wife, carla always insists on fixing a little something to eat. It is usually a heaping plate of meat and rice and vegetables. Grilled eggplant is really good. She is from Nicaragua and he is from Peru. I definately want to go to south america later. He shows us pictures of Peru all the time, and it is breathtaking and rich in history and culture. It was awesome to see him baptise his sons. I asked them what they wanted to do for work when the grow up, and Brian, who will be 12 and get the preisthood next week, said, "I want to be a policeman or a lawer. But first, I was thinking about being an Elder.¨ He was totally serious. Like, that is what he wants to do when he grows up. Isreal, who will be 14 next month, said the same, a policeman after his mission. That was awesome.
Then, last week, Bradley, I mean, Elder Buttars, got to baptize another 12 year old girl named Ariana. Here's what Bradley said:
They are all poor and humble and believe in God. But Arturo, her dad has kind of turned from God in his trials, and wishes he weren't a member. But hes a nice guy, and is opening up.
The baptism for Ariana was awesome. It happened last night. I baptised her. Her mom bore her testimony, and it was really special. They were really hard and didn't want to have much to do with the family or church when we got here, but we have been so patient and loved them and taught to their needs. The things we taught didn't really matter, just love, the spirit and their fulfilling commitments eventually. Then we got all those old teaching records, and the missionaries have been going off and on for years (they've been here for 10 and inactive for all of it) and they all complained about how they are kinda lazy or hostile or don't want anything. And looking back, I can see such a huge change, but cant really point to when it happened. Anyway, during her testimony she really thanked us for loving them. They are super open with us and trust us with lots of things. The tension in their family has eased (some of the sisters came to the baptism, and Arturo the dad gets along with Carmen Ofelia, mom of Edita, who came to the baptism. She is an awesome grandma. She has 15 kids, most inactive). The spirit was really strong. After the baptism I hugged Arturo and he hugged me so tight and whispered thank you elder, thank you and cried. They are super strong now. He texted us later that night and said basically that they will never forget that night or us, and they´ll never quit praying reading and going to the church. Forever. Oh, the week before we told them they'd have to be strong because satan attacks people hard right before baptisms. Then this past week all of them got the flu bad, elder Olsen got it, the ward wanted to move their baptism back to, first the 24th of nov, then the 1st of dec to do a big baptism with a bunch of kids in the ward, but we fought it and made it special just for them and didnt want them to get lost in a hand of during transfers (around nov 25thish). And Edita lost her job this week, which she had just found. Arturo hasn't had work for years. They live off food stamps I think. But they toughed it out, we gave them all blessings and it all worked out. It was so great to see the whole family together in the church. This has been so special and humbling to be part of. Missionaries have been going by for years and years, and their hearts finally opened. They love us so much.
So this morning I read Jacob 5. (we started reading the bom as a mission the monday after conference and will finish by the end of the year, in 85 days, the time it took to translate the book. Except I´ll finish before then at the rate I´m reading. And I´m doing it in spanish. ) Anway, that was an emotional experience. We opened this area, the section of the Lord´s vinyard we´ve been charged with. It was a wild overgrown vinyard. I had a little vision while I was reading. The members are the roots. Without them the rest dies. We got here, and had 3 good roots. Geovanny(recently reactivated) Segundo(strong member, wife is strong catholic) and ancient Carmen Ofelia(babbles and gives good food and no references). That was it. we had a couple goodish branches, or investigadors. Blanca, who is a sickly branch, Carla, who is a great branch, and Brian and Isreal, who were already to be harvested. Not very much at all to work on considering there is 150ish people in our ward and they all live in the 3 areas of the 6 other missionaries of the ward. So we have been pruning and working diligently and obeying the lords commandments. And have seen miracles. The area is in bloom and shortly it will all be fruit. The fruit will be planted, and become more roots to work of of. Read it. This is the last tiem the Lord is harvesting, the most important time in the history of the church ancient or rrestored (jeramiah 16:14-16). Verses 63 or 70 and on of Jacob 5 is our time. He has called all his servants, and He is laboring with us, and we are seeing miracles. I love Jacob 5. I wept. He is gathering his good branched. And casting the bad into the fire. It sure is hard work and seems like there are a lot of bad for the good, but the good are great. I love you guys.
This kid is my hero. He is doing so many wonderful things. I love him so much.
No comments:
Post a Comment