This week was absolutely incredible. Difficult, frustrating, but faith-promoting
and wonderful.
Let me begin by explaining two of my favorite
investigators:
Mariela and Fransisco are two youth in our ward who began
taking the discussions a year ago.
Mariela is 15 and Fransisco, her brother, is 14. Both have been diligently
attending church since the time they first met with the missionaries. Mariela has even left with us for visits a
few times. The only problem is, their
parents are completely unsupportive and have refused to sign their permission
forms. When we go to visit them, they
have a hand written sign hanging over the wall in their living room that reads
¨we won’t give up until we are baptized.
We WILL follow the example of Jesus Christ.¨ For the past six months,
Mariela has been carrying a blank baptismal permission form with her so that
her mom can sign it the moment she has a change of heart.
But, despite countless cycles of missionaries fasting,
praying, and working with the family things looked pretty hopeless.
But, Hermana H_________ and I set a goal (with a lot of
faith) to baptize them this month.
So us, the ward, Mariela and Fransisco, my family back home,
and the entire Mormon Tabernacle Choir have been praying and praying for a
miracle.
And then it happened:
Wednesday morning we got a call from a tearful Mariela:
¨Hermanas, do you have time to visit me today? Bishop says I
need a interview with your district leader for my baptism.¨
WHAT?!
Apparently, Mariela´s mom has a friend at work to got really
sick. Mariela and Fransisco set aside
some time to pray for her specifically while their mom was there. The woman quickly recovered. This experience was apparently what it took
to soften the heart of their mother. She
finally signed the papers.
That same day we visited Mariela and Fransisco after mission
prep (unfortunately, we had divisions so Hermana H________ missed this). But, we visited them with two other young
women in the ward, one of whom is also a convert. It was easily the coolest lesson of my
life. We talked about what it means to
¨take the name of the Lord upon you.¨ It basically turned into a testimony
meeting between Mariela, Fransisco, the young women in the ward, and the
missionaries.
The best part? The end of the lesson when I got to say:
¨Mariela, you have been waiting for this for a long time....
Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone with the
proper authority of God on the 15th of June?¨ I was crying so hard I could
barely stumble through it. But she choked
out a
¨si¨
¨And Fransisco, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ
and be baptized by someone with the proper authority of God on the 22 of June?¨
(he wants to wait for his birthday)
¨Si!¨
Easily the greatest moment of my whole mission up to this
point. Mariela and Fransisco are getting
baptized people!!! What a miracle! How cool is it that God answered everyone´s
prayers that Mariela and Fransisco would be baptized through the prayers of Mariela
and Fransisco? Prayer works people.
When we pray we are literally talking to God, and He
listens. He answers us.
Even if it takes a year.
Thank you EVERYONE who prayed. Mariela got all choked up when I told her the
whole choir was praying for her. Thank
you for that dad. Please pass on my
thanks to the choir.
Miracles happen every single day when we look for them.
I love you all so much.
I love my calling. I love these
people.
Funny moment of the week:
While teaching about the first vision, I was talking to a
little family about why Joseph Smith needed to ask God which church was true.
¨¿Quien sabe todo?¨ (who knows everything?)
Little boy: ¨MI MAMA!¨
Right answer.
Love you all! Thanks for everything!!! Happy fathers day,
Dad.
Keep praying!
Until next week (when we will have pictures of the miracle
baptism!)
-Hermana Wise
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