1 Baptist + 1 Guatemalteco + 1 Salvadoranian = 3 Mas Bautismos En Texas!!!!

I could not believe it. I kept running it through my mind, thinking about all the times that we parked our bikes in front of their house. All the times that we tried to drive home a principle or teach any facet of doctrine, thinking about all of the obstacles that seemed to come time after time.

Then, I looked back and remembered the first time that we saw him....dancing on his roof one Friday night because he was so drunk. I remember hearing the crunch of broken glass as we walked up to him, beer bottles scattered all over the yard, if you could call it a yard. With "La Que Buena" radio station blaring in the background, he would laugh, take a sip from his Modelo Cerveza, and exclaim his love of talking about "The Word of God."

Elder Moffitt and I, with very wavering Faith on the chances of this man ever listening to us, but having prayed many times to find someone that would be baptized, set up an appointment for when we could come by. We prayed that we could find him at a time when he would sober up a little, but we finally were able to meet with his wife and learn that drinking was not a hobby of his, but a way of life. 

So we continued to pray for this couple as we took advantage of every opportunity we had to come by and teach. As we did so, he continued to express to us his desire to stop drinking along with the damage it's done to him and to his family. As drunk as he always was, we always wanted to drive home one point- that through God, all things are possible.

Then one day, he gave it a shot, and even though he was surrounded by friends and co-workers that continued to drink, he was determined to stop. That one day turned into two and two turned into three until we hit a week. As he made his way down this path, we witnessed how his fight to stop came with a fight to know, a fight to know whether or not all that we had told him was true.

At first he didn't care...he was already an active member of a church in Oak Cliff called "La Luz Del Mundo", a church established by a few Return Missionaries that had apostatized many years ago and began to use the story of the boy prophet Joseph Smith and all his revelations for the riches of the world. Then, when Elder Moffitt left, Elder Duce came into the picture and he started to listen. We began to see that all he had was a desire to search, not a desire to know, but a small spark began to work inside him.

As two very young and inexperienced men taught and bore testimony, we saw his desire to search become a desire to know and we began to see the prayers of his wife being answered before her eyes. He had now gone two weeks without drinking, and after weeks and weeks of him declining our invitation to come to church, he finally committed. And with the help of others, he came. Throughout the process, as we continued to teach and continued to testify on the truthfulness and power of the Book of Mormon, wondering how he had been overcoming his temptation to drink without it, he finally confided in us that his education consisted of only two years in El Salvador, leaving him unable to do more than write his name.

With a stronger testimony of how his Heavenly Father had helped him progress as far as he had to this point, we continued to come over and read with him, teaching him to the best of our abilities. He reached week three without drinking, and that is when I received a call that I would be leaving Garland. I was being sent out to Gilmer Texas, and with a bittersweet emotions, we went to their house my last night in Garland.

He spoke just like he had before, testifying of the power of the Gospel and the messages that we've shared. He thanked us for the spirit that he had felt and the change we had brought into his life. I was very happy, but still a little glum as I looked back at all the times I challenged him to baptism and how he wouldn't commit if any shadow of doubt still existed. But we had done the best we could and I knew that he would continue to progress farther with Elder Duce and his new companion, so I bore my testimony with him and shared how much I'd love to make it to his baptism. With that and a few pictures, we said goodbye and headed back home.

I never stopped thinking about them and continued to pray for them. Then a few weeks ago, I got a call from Casa Linda, informing me that Renne Hernandez and his wife, Sandra Ochoa had finally committed to be baptized on the 28 of July! I just about started dancing. I felt on top of the world! It was so legit and as I followed up with them yesterday, Elder Duce got to tell me about how awesome the service was and how Sandra and Renne only had to get dunked twice haha. I'm so proud of my Greenie and how he was able to carry the work through, and even more so for Renne and just to see how far he had come. My favorite part is how when you see a drunk guy dancing on a roof, a normal reaction wouldn't be "oh sweet, looks like there's another baptism!", but through God, all things are possible. (Especially in the Texas Dallas Mission!)

So you can only Imagine what an awesome week it's been for me, even more so since we got to Baptize Raigan Maddox, our miracle Baptist that I talked about last week. It had to be the greatest Service I've been to with more support than I've seen at a baptism along with 8 non-members that came (most of them were Raigan's friends that we're going to start teaching thanks to her inviting them.... missionary work is a lanslide/domino effect....so just invite someone!!!!!!!!!!!! Y'all have no idea of the effects it can have!!!)

We also taught the intermediate part and I think Elder Browning and I have this presentation down!!! It's a way legit lesson of the Plan of Salvation, The Gospel, and The Restoration all warped into 12 minutes with piano in the background haha it's getting way awesome! It hit home with some of the nonmembers and opened up a lot of doors for us and was quite the experience! For now, Raigan is on vacation with Lori (her friend that originally invited her to take the discussions) heading up to New York to live out some of my dreams and visit Palmyra and the Sacred Grove. Well I love y'all and hope you can someday get a piece of what its like in The Dream Mission!        

Les Quiero Tanto!!!

Elder Wilson