New Year in Bucaramanga

We received Will's e-mail so late yesterday afternoon that we were starting to get worried. We found out that they had spent all of their Prep day helping a family prepare for baptism next week. Here are some excerpts from his letter.

January 5, 2009

Hola Family,

Thanks for the New Years letters and all the support. I hope it was a good New Year and all is well at home. It has been quite a week here so I’ll tell you a little before I answer a few of mom’s questions.

Earlier this week, the President traveled up and we had interviews. It was the first real interview I have had with him so I didn’t know what to expect. All went well, I told him I felt very grateful that I had Elder Amador for a trainer. He said that he was an excellent trainer. He also thought that I seem like a very "feliz" (happy) missionary. He thought the Spanish was coming very, very well.

The assistants also traveled up with the president and one of them, Elder Foote from St George, stayed at our apartment and went on “intercambios” with us. (ha I really don’t know the word for intercambio in English, but it’s when other missionaries go with you or you swap companions for a day). He has been out for 19 months. He went with us to a lesson with Marta and Jose, who we have been working with. They are a couple that are about 32 years old. They have two kids, Pablo (12) and Angie (6). They are a very nice humble family. They have always said they weren’t ready to get married officially. We had a great lesson and at the end, Elder Foote extended to them the invitation to get married and they said yes! It wasn’t exactly a resounding yes, but they both did say it, which is great. They took the first step which is a ton of progress.

Anyway, this was on Thursday. We set up a lesson for them Saturday night. Saturday after lunch, we started a fast for them. We went to teach them Saturday night and we had an amazing lesson with an incredible Spirit. We taught them about baptism and explained everything about the importance etc. and they accepted our invitation to get married this coming week and be baptized afterwards. They again said yes for sure, but that’s not the coolest part. Jose in general, isn’t a very serious person and we have never been able to get him to say a prayer. At the close of the lesson, we asked him to and he half heartedly agreed. During the prayer, he asked that his family could become closer and be blessed and then out of nowhere he started to cry. It really was amazing because you have to know this guy. He doesn’t take anything seriously and he felt the spirit so strong at that time and he knew it. I’m writing so much about this because I don’t usually have a lot of time to write in my journal and I want to remember this well. After the prayer, we told him how great it was to hear him pray and they both said they felt a wonderful feeling during the whole lesson. Marta was amazed at Jose. We basically walked home on clouds. It was really a testimony builder unlike any I have ever had, to see the power of the Spirit and how much this family has already changed.

To be baptized you are required to go to church three times. Marta and Jose already have, but Pablo, their son, had only been two times and he wants to be baptized with his parents. What we didn’t realize is that they only have a motorcycle so all four of them couldn’t go together. When Sacrament meeting started, we realized they still weren’t there so we went outside to call. Marta answered and told us they had waited to find a bus but they couldn’t, so Jose had been taking the kids a few blocks on the motorcycle, dropping them off and going back to get Marta to take her up to where the kids were. By the time we called them, they had done this 4 blocks at a time half way across the city and were almost to the church. We tried to get a taxi to go get them but they were already almost there. It was really an amazing act of faith. They have changed so much since we started working with them.

Today, we have been calling missionaries in other places and running around all day trying to get their paperwork completed so they can get married and afterwards baptized. We have already taught them about the temple and that they could go in one year after baptism. I really believe this is a family that will continue and be sealed together in the temple for los eternidades. So please pray that everything will work out this week and they can get married and baptized.