Cerca al fin

I´m nearing the end of my second transfer. What does that mean? It means I´m probably getting transferred. As a matter of fact I´m almost positive.

As to the people that have been asking me if I can see stars, I think you grossly underestimate the pollution of the Argentine sky. It´s very dark here when the lights go out. But tonight I´ll climb up to the top of the pension (there´s stairs mom, don´t worry) and take a look.

It´s taken us four weeks, but me and Elder Bushman have finally got things running where we want them. We have set weekly appointments with all our progressing investigators, and a clean updated area book. Now the work is on fire. We should be pushing seven baptisms by the end of December, hopefully more. The bad news is... I´m only going to baptize Karen and then get transferred.

Ok Ok Ok Ok. A transfer at this point is mas o menos a foregone conclusion. Usually how it works is North Americans or foreign speakers get two transfers in their first area and then, chow (however you actually spell that.)

We had a solid fecha with one of our best investigators, Angela, for November 19. But, as it turns out, Elder Bednar is coming to all the Buenos Aires missions to address us. It´s exciting to say the least. But heartbreaking for me as I won´t actually see her enter the waters of baptism. She was so prepared.

As a matter of fact, Angela has a fantastic story behind her.

She´s about 50-60 years old, and was suffering from the death of her husband a few months prior. She was looking for religion, but had settled on a mix of Hindu and her own beliefs. Some twisted form of reincarnation. Upon experiencing a large trial in her life (she´s yet to specify) she got down on her knees and prayed to God to send her a sign, send her something to help her.

The next day, Angela went to her niece’s house to babysit, where a frustrated Elder Ponce and a slightly less frustrated Elder Jensen were fruitlessly making contacts. We passed by and gave her a pamphlet about the plan of salvation. She couldn´t let us in, but apparently we left a good impression.

When we actually passed by her house, she had a bit of apprehension, tried to convince us that she had her own beliefs and didn´t need an organized religion. After a bit of persuasion, she let us in.

Fast forward about a month and a half.

Angela started reading the Book of Mormon on her own, and has read all the way through Mosiah at this point. She loves sharing the stories with me, especially about Alma and the Sons of Mosiah. She isn´t forced to read, she wants to. She received an answer by persistently reading. When I see investigators like Angela, it shows me what Moroni really meant when he wrote "ask with a sincere heart, having real intent."

Angela, not wanting to go to church on her own, brought her granddaughter, Mocarena, who sits in with the discussions and recently told us that she received an answer that the Book of Mormon is true. She´ll probably get baptized shortly after Angela does.

But it doesn´t stop there.

A friend of Angela noticed the change that had taken place, and asked her why she´s so happy all the time. "What happened?" Angela explained about the missionary discussions, and about the Book of Mormon. Her friend is going to come to our next visit. Along with Angela´s daughter if she can move work around.

AND SO....

the moral of the story is this.

When Elder Ponce and I found Angela, we didn´t have a spiritual prompting. We didn´t hear a voice. We didn´t see a light. We were just working. Doing what we usually did. The point is, when we do what we´re supposed to, when we´re obedient, our steps are guided.

I´ve learned that in missionary work, that if we are obedient, we don´t have to worry about whether it´s the still small voice, or just ourselves, our steps are guided. We find people that are ready to receive us, that are prepared to listen. We see miracles, even if it just seems like our normal routine.

Thus the moral of the story is, be obedient. Study your scriptures, say your prayers, and go to church. You know the cliché stuff. Then when the opportunity comes, you´ll be in the right place. God is over all. There is a purpose in everything we do, sometimes even in the mistakes we make. In the end, when the chips have fallen, and the accounting is made, the only thing we can really say for ourselves is that we were obedient and when someone needed a miracle we were there.