Thursday, October 20, 2011

Elder Cruz was sick and now I am :(

Hello everybody,

I´m currently writing you not feeling to hot, but because I love you, I am keeping my promise of writing you. This last week has been fantastic aside from the fact that I currently feel feverish without the desire to eat anything (I ate Guatemalan´s version of Ramen soup today, that is about it). We have been working hard and have been seeing progress with certain investigators. José continues preparing himself for baptism (he still struggles with the idea of tithing, but he said he is going to forget it for now and trust that he will feel it is right later), and we have about 6 other people that we strongly feel can potentially get baptized (probably when I´m not here). The Lord knows what he is doing. I have been praying to find those who are chosen for my entire time here and even though it didn´t come right away we feel that all this is a direct answer to our prayers.
I want to share two experiences we had with 2 of these people. One of the men that we are very excited about is Francisco. It is interesting because he is very very well off and usually there isn´t a chance in the world that someone like him will accept our message, yet he let us right in and is extremely sincere. He is a 57 year old man that has grown up in the Catholic church but only goes because that is what he knows. There are some things that are taught that he doesn´t agree with in the church, and he wanted to hear more about the "mormons" so that is why he let us in. He has had a true desire to know and has been reading the Book of Mormon very diligently (underlining and marking it as he goes) and wants to know. He said that he feels right now he might not be recieving a clear answer that this is true becaue he said he has fear of changing he church, this is what he has known and what his entire family is a part of. He is very close to all of his family and he says the pressure would make it difficult to change. Yet inspite of all this he trusts two 20 year boys with his religious questions and is diligently searching. He wants to have the truth and I know that is why he will have it. It is amazing what happens as someone humbly keeps his commitments. He is the example of someone who diligently is seeking to know because he has always wanted to know the truth.
On the other hand we are teaching a family (it is possible that I already mentioned them) that was kind of surprised by our message but are very interested. The father´s name is Rocael and the mother´s name is Vilma (v is pronounced like a b). In only the third lesson we had an experience that is almost unheard of. The lesson before we had asked them to pray to know if what we are teaching is true. The next lesson we asked if they had prayed. Rocael immediately said yes. We were shocked, usually the answer is "yeah, I always pray." or "kind of...", but he said with certainty, yes, and we asked him how he felt. He said he felt a peace that he hadn´t felt before, something different. He said he wanted to know more. We asked him if he thought this was an answer that he should be baptized. He said yes. They still haven´t gone to church, but the spirit that we felt when he was telling us this let us know that this family was chosen. He says he has fear of change, but he knows that it is the only way to make his life better and that he is willing to do it. His wife is also interested but she hasn´t recieved an answer like he has. They are going to go to church this Sunday so I will let you know what happens.
This gospel is true. Life gets rough sometimes but the only way we can be happy is by trusting in God and having faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ. I´m grateful for what we have. It is amazing that we can tell and testify to people that we know this is the church of Jesus Christ, clearly and simply. It is a unique message that isn´t heard anywhere else becuase it is true. I don´t know why I was lucky enough to be born into a knowledge of the truth, but I´m grateful for that fact. I don´t feel very well so please keep me in your prayers.
Love,
Ben

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