Words from Elder Kade Garner in Peru Lima West Mission



"We also helped two families start to reactvate in the church. One of the families has a 15 year old daughter who is not a member. She has been going to church with one of her aunts for some time now. We finally set a date for her baptism and a date to reactivate her mom. Well, she was baptized on Saturday and her mom is now attending her meetings after 20 years. The bishop did not want us to baptize this girl for fear that she would not have any support, however, in the mission we are baptizing and reativating in the same time. This young girls decision to be baptized and follow her Saviour will also be a huge blessing to others and her family more than anything. We saw the blessings that follow baptism this week as well. This young girl´s neighbor is our pensionista who is also less active right now and best friends with the mother of this girl. Now that this girl´s mom is attending our pensionista has a friend to go to church with and she is now attending her meetings too.

This week we also found a family of five to teach. They are great. The mother, Martha, is a devout member of her church but she is looking for the truth. Her husband, William, is a drunk who is ready to leave it behind, follow Christ, and be a better father. In our first meeting Martha kept asking us what was the new and true church that the Bible talks about. We explained the resuration to them and then left them to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. When we asked why they would do it she said, ¨porque quiero saber la verdad,¨ and her husband said, ¨porque si este libro es verdadero tendremos todas las enseñanzas de Jesús en las manos y yo quiero tener todas sus enseñanzas.´´ This family is looking for the happiness that only comes when we have the fullness of the Gospel. My prayer is that they will read, ponder, and pray about the book. I know that this is the true Gospel of Jesus Christ and I just want this family to have the blessings I have.

We also learned something new this week. President Monson has declared that two revelations from D&C have been fulfilled. Section 88:73 ´´Behold, I will hasten my work in its time.´´ Monson said that it has been fulfilled. The work is not being hastened right how, but has already been hastened. Also Section 65 is a prayer Joseph Smith had for the work. Monson said that this prayer has been answered. We are in a new era of missionary work. We have more trainings and conferences than ever before. The Apostles and the Prophet have told us that we are not missionaries of the past and that we can not work like missionaries in the past. We are not to work alone knocking doors. We are to work with the ward councils, leaders, and members. The churc is progressing so quickly and we have to change the way we work to help it continue growing. That means the missionaries have to work more and the members have to help the missionaries more too. There is a theory here in the mission field. We believe that we are not going to see a huge increase in convert baptisms right now with the increase of missionaries, but we will see it when these 90,000 missionaries return home. We are learning how to be good members and great leaders."