Dang this has been such a crazy, but yet awesome week! One of our baptisms was a man named Ramon Martinez who had been investigating the church for about 12 years now haha. His investigator sheet is pages long with hundreds of visits recorded, and three baptismal dates that he stood up on in 2009, 2010, and 2011. He got the interview done and everything, but just didn't show up at the baptism. So that was our whole focus with him, was teaching him about how hard Satan is going to work on this baptismal date, trying everything he can to get Ramon to back out. And we took this as cautiously as we could, visiting him every Sunday before church to make sure he was coming. It got pretty desperate at all of the reasons we made up to come by his house and make sure he was on the right path. Then this past Thursday, when we started to fill the font, we had previously decided that we were going to his house to haul him on over. It was his birthday so I got him a present as an excuse to drop by and take him with us, but once we got there, his son told us that he left to the church. It was about 30 minutes before the service...so we just about lost it and thought that he went A-wall on this whole deal...for the fourth time in a row, and was about to gain even more popularity than it already had around the whole Texas Dallas Mission. But we booked it to the church and found him there, patiently waiting and meditating. So the baptism went through, and it was truly a miracle. We totally felt overwhelmed to see the fruits of the labors of many missionaries before us, and on the receiving end it felt like we were supposed to catch a growing snowball with 12 years of momentum, but it was pretty neat...that is until Sunday. I didn't know this until the mission, but when converts are baptized, we have to wait until Sunday to confirm them a member and give them the Holy Ghost. Well we had passed by on Saturday just to secure it, and when we saw him he was sicker than a dog, and even though we offered a blessing, he said he was determined to make it on Sunday and that was the blessing he needed. Well the next day rolls along and Ramon wasn't able to make it to church, and it was there that we learned about how serious his sickness was. So on Wednesday, the day before his baptism, he felt this terrible sickness and ended up going to the hospital. He was somehow able to make it through that night and get to the baptism, and he felt rejuvenated as he was in the church, but after his baptism, things just got worse and worse. Apparently after his baptism, a lot of family went over to his house for some food and all that jazz (because Latinos seize any opportunity that presents itself to party), and they said that you could just see him getting worse and worse in only a few hours. And I can testify that Satan took advantage of those three nights that he had until his confirmation to do everything possible to keep him away from the Holy Ghost. It was very scary, but actually quite amazing to see the raw power that was exerted on him and was just plain dangerous. It ended up in two trips to the hospital and a few visits with the doctor, and as we talked to a few recent converts, they expressed to us what it was like...that one night where you don't have the Spirit constantly with you and the adversary is so clearly sending everything he can your way. It's like every bad memory, doubt, or temptation will come back all at once and you just feel alone and unprepared for all the opportunities and desires to sin again that are headed your way. They also said it was one of the greatest and most magnificent learning experiences that they ever had. One told us that after her baptism, all that would make her feel safe was reading her scriptures...so she read until she fell asleep, and if she'd wake up, she would keep reading and reading until church. After she was confirmed, she felt a great relief and weight just taken off her shoulders. So we talked to Bishop about it and felt strongly impressed that we needed to confirm him ASAP instead of waiting a whole week, and with his approval, confirmed Ramon Martinez only a couple of hours ago in his own home. So a couple of lessons I saw were, first off, how important the companionship of the spirit is! We all take it super for granted, but as you continue to learn about all the blessings that the Holy Ghost can give us, the protection he provides us, and more about his role as the third member in the Godhead, the thought that he can always be with us will never be taken lightly. As we talked with Ramon about the past five days...he expressed his shock and bewilderment at how for 47 years, he had never been sick, and this was his first visit to the hospital. He had lost the desire to eat, and was hit with a couple other powerful difficulties in his path, but we know that now he has the Spirit with him, and will be protected according to his faithfulness. Another principle that I thought was super important, is one that you see almost every day in missionary work, but hit me as an extra special one while I was giving the confirmation. We always need to be worthy holders of the priesthood, and are never off work, but always on call. Things will always come out of the blue that need divine help, and that is the whole reason why we hold the priesthood and magnify our callings, so that when the moment comes, the Lord is ready to bless others. Well, things are cutting kind of close in the mission as far as our baptismal goal goes for 2012...so this is a make or break week...but too much has gone into this and I'm convinced that the Faith of the mission and hundreds of others is sufficient! Well I love you all and hope that everyone has a Merry Christmas and enjoys this opportunity to reflect on the birth of our savior! I again, encourage everyone to study study STUDY the Atonement of Christ and can promise that with a deeper understanding of that Universally changing event, will come a deeper understanding of every topic or question in this life! Love y'all!
Elder Justin Wilson
No comments:
Post a Comment