Sunday, September 14, 2014

Words from Elder Kade Garner in Peru

"This week was pretty great. We were so busy. We had a ton of meetings. We had interviews with the president, mission council, and zone meeting. It was a busy and hecktic week but it turned out to be so great. You see for two transfers or in other words for just over three months we (my copanion and I) have been looking and praying for a family of four. We have asked God everyday to bless us through our obedience and diligence with a family of four whos parents would be married and two kids over eight years old. We have contaced and looked and prayed with no results and I am not going to lie at times I would end a day just being frustrated. We were not seeing any results.


Friday came and we had our zone meeting. President Archibald and Hermana Archiblad came to visit, that was nerve wraking for me. And in this meeting the hermana taught us a very good concept. She told us that our generation is a very special one. From to computers to microwaves to cell phones we have access to results instantly... we don´t know how to wait. She said that that often is the case in the work. We are not used to having to work at something for a very long time without seeing the results that we want. She said that if we are diligent and keep moving forward with faith in Christ that we will see the blessings we want. Well, her lesson to us was prophetic for me.


The next day after one of our basptismal dates fell through due to some problems going on with a landlord and our investigator we were walking through the streets with very little faith. I felt defeated. We have worked hard, we have been full of faith and we have been diligent and obedient in all that we do. ¨What am I doing wrong?¨ I asked myself over and over. When an idea came into my mind.


Two weeks ago we had contacted an elderly woman on her front door step. She told us that she would like to listen to us and that her husband is home Saturdays. We went to her house I knocked and she was not home. Then I remembered the boy that lives next door. When we were contacting her weeks ago a young boy of maybe 12 entered the house next door and waved at me very happily as if we were friends. I thought to myself that one day we would knock that door to see what his family was like. Well, I knocked the door and his father came out. I asked him if the Garcia family was home (the family Garcia does not exist) and he told me no. But quicker than I could understand five people were outside trying to fiure out where the Garcias live.


The parents recognized us as Mormon right away and told us that they are from another church. And then, the mom told us that she wanted to listen to us and invited us in. We found out that of the five people four lived there. They are married and their kids are both older than eight. The young man I saw weeks ago was so happy to see us again. We set a return appoitment and we left the house feeling so good. Sometimes we really do just need to endure until the end. If we do so God will always bless us and sometimes he blesses us with a family of four to baptize. I do not know if they will get baptized while I am here but I have learned some lessons I needed.

The craziest thing is that the dad (Pedro) is never home Saturday in the afternoon. Something strange had happened at work and he had two hours to go home and take a break. Why did we have the idea to go look for a family that was not going to be home? Well, because Heavenly Father wanted us to find a family of four.


There is something that I have wanted since I was little. I have been diligent and patient in waiting for it. It is an eternal family. I am hoping that some other prayers of mine will be contested when I get home. We as a family cannot afford to not be sealed. If we don´t get sealed it is because we don´t understand the doctrine behind it. I may not understand it perfectly but I do understand enough to know that it needs to be a goal right now.


One more thing. It just got harder to baptize here. The area presidency deided that all investigators need to pay a contribution (offering) to the church before they can get baptized. It is because all people need to understand that the churh believes in sacrifice and the members here are not good at paying their tithing yet so by helping them understand what a sacrifice it is to be a member before they get baptized it will be eaiser to keep them active after. They also decided that every investigator has to go to church for the three full hours three times before baptism. They need to understand that we as Mormons understand the sabboth day and that to keep it does not just mean going to sacrament meeting...

Os amo a todos vosotros y hablaremos la próxima, ¡la iglesia es verdadera!"

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