On Thursday we were
walking by a construction site when someone hollered at us, “Hermanas!” I almost
didn’t want to turn around because sometimes they just holler at us to bother
us. But I am a missionary so I can’t just ignore people! So we turn around and
walk back toward them, and one of the guys says, “There’s someone here who
wants to talk to you.” Haha we didn’t really know what to think, but we asked
when we should come back. They said they got off work at 5, so we went back at
5. And it was kinda funny cause we just stood there waiting because we didn’t
know who to ask for or anything. And right away, out came a maybe 30 year old
guy, bunch of curly hair, and we started to talk. He said that one of his
coworkers (the one who had talked to us) was a member of the church and had
told him to look into it. Wow! That was a good start. We told him we would come
back to teach, because we need a sister from the ward to come with us in order
to be able to teach him.
Friday my companion
got really sick (allergic reaction from some pork they gave us Thursday). So we
spent the morning in the doctor and the afternoon in our meeting with the Ward
Missionary Leader, and we weren’t able to go all the way out to the
construction site.
Sooo… From Friday
night to Sunday night it RAINED. Saturday from the moment we left the
house in the morning until the moment we got home at night, we were soaking
wet. Everything. Shoes, skirt, even my scriptures got wet. There was no sister
from the ward who was willing to come with us, so Hermana Herrera and I went
just to invite him to church. His eyes were so big and so sincere when we were
testifying to him of the truthfulness of the gospel and the perfection of the
plan that God has for him. He said he shouldn’t go because he only had his
contractor’s clothes, but we said it didn’t matter. He’s one of the guys who
does NOT go to church, but what he felt standing out there getting wet in the
pouring rain was hope. He said he would come.
Sunday morning we
put on every sweater and jacket we own and started walking toward the area
where our investigators live (about a 30 minute walk). But the streets were so
flooded, and it was so cold, we really didn’t want to wade through the water
again! So we surrendered and called a taxi haha! We did the rounds in style
this time (aka with a car) and the taxi driver probably thought we were really
funny. Two little girls running around in the icy rain collecting all the
people in the neighborhood to come to church. When we passed by the
construction site, out came Fernando (that’s not his name) in clean jeans and a
polo!
It was stake
conference, and it was amazing. But seriously, amazing. They taught us about
the family and it was incredible everything I learned. Fernando was sitting in
front of us with some members, and I was watching him to see how he reacted.
His shoulders were tense the whole time. Afterwards, we asked him what he
thought. He said, “I feel overwhelmed.” I thought it was because of all the new
words and the way everything was done, but he said, “All my life I thought
being a man meant being tough, winning, having people be afraid of you. I
learned today that’s not true. But I’ve already taught my son everything wrong.
Is it too late? I want to change, but when I try to change, they make fun of
me. I’ve never heard these things before. I’ve done sooo much wrong. Can I be
forgiven?”
We sat down right then
and there in the chapel and started teaching him. As we closed the opening
prayer, he had his fingers pressed tightly across his eyes. “They burn!” I
asked him if that happens to him a lot, and he said no. It was in that moment
that someone started playing on the piano one of my favorite songs, a duet that
we learned at EFY. It was so surreal. I wanted to capture that moment and hold
it forever. We taught him that what he was feeling was the Holy Ghost, a
personage that helps us recognize the truths we learned before coming here, but
had to forget. “I feel so weird,” Fernando said. “I have never ever felt this
before.” I love teaching about repentance. He has things in his past that
aren’t okay. Repentance is the ONLY way to be clean and happy. It makes me
happy just thinking about all the times in my life that repentance has helped
me regain control of my life, regain the confidence to come before God and work
side by side with Him, regain peace.
It was a moment that I
couldn’t hold back tears, either. To watch the transformation from rough,
dirty, contractor, to clean, humble, repentant father and husband—to see his
hands twisting and turning as he tried to tell us how hungry he is for peace—to
see his eyes huge and shining as he asked if it is too late—that was something
that changed me, too.
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