The Lord Visits His People in their Afflictions

Hey!

The Big Move (Trevor's on top)

Happy Tears and a True Friend

Man, you guys had a super awesome week! That sounds like a super awesome family reunion. Seriously, I think that sometimes we really take for granted how blessed we are to have an awesome eternal family, and to have the resources to do fun trips like that. Oh! …and sorry I didn’t write until now. Today was super busy. We got up at 5:30 and started the big move to our new house. We did that ALLLL day until about 2:45 when we frantically started getting ready super fast in time for our baptism at 4. I don’t know if I told you guys but we married and baptized Judith and Cesar today. It truly was a miracle. When we first taught them the law of chastity Judith said, "There is no way that I will ever get married in my life". They would fight all the time, Cesar smoked like a chimney...but...Christ and His Atonement continue to surprise me every day. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again...the gospel changes lives for eternity.

Judith and Cesar's Baptism

Well, I can honestly say that this has been one of the harder weeks of my mission. I don’t like to talk too much about the tough times, but this time I will because I feel like I’ve learned in one week what one might learn in years of experience. Throughout the course of this week it seems like ALL of our recent converts and some of our investigators have had some kind of difficult test.

1. Carlos and Delvia got kicked out of their tiny little tin house because Carlos got rubbed at gunpoint right after getting paid.  

2. Henry and Maricela this week also got kicked off of their land by the government, had to destroy their house and then rebuild it, and after rebuilding it that same day it rained really hard and EVERYTHING got completely soaked because the roof got built bad. As a result Henry drank and when we showed up he had the beer right in his hand.

3. Doris was hospitalized with a really bad illness.

4. Norma had a problem with the 2nd counselor who said some really ugly stuff to her.

5. Henry and Stacy have been really struggling economically but got offered a job for one day of the week to sell cheese in the market. That day was Sunday.

6. And the big crowning event of the week...Juan is in prison right now and he did absolutely nothing to bother anyone. Turns out that he was walking home from dropping his daughter off at her cousin’s, stopped to talk to a group of old friends (from when he drank and stuff) and the police came and took all of them because someone had just been robbed at knifepoint in that area. No questions asked, no investigation, nothing. It’s sad, but the police and the law are very corrupt here. It turns out that he will be there for at least 3 months until they have his trial.

This all happened in about 2 days...and as you can imagine I was just hurting for our investigators and our converts. I felt completely hopeless, unable to do anything for them. I asked myself...WHY? WHY, if they were new members and were trying to so hard to do the right thing, WHY was this all happening? Throughout the week I was reminded of what I’ve learned on my mission. The Lord gives trials to those that He loves. He sees the things that we can’t see. We see ourselves as the little pieces of coal being passed through fire and pressure that seems unbearable at times, but he sees us as the finished product, the diamond. I loved sharing these scriptures with our investigators:

13 And it  came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.

14 And I will also ease the  burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as  witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.

15 And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.

One thing I love about these verses is that the Lord said that He would remember the covenant that they had made with Him. Also, He never took the burdens away but just strengthened them so that they could bear it so that they would KNOW WITH A SURETY that the Lord visits His people in their afflictions.

Sorry, that got really long but I felt like I should share that with you guys. I know that suffering is an important part of our eternal progression and that we should be grateful for those learning opportunities. It’s amazing to see how our converts are becoming even stronger because of these trials. I love you guys a bunch and keep being good.

Love,

Elder Ward

Elder Santana and Elder Ward....so cool!