Sunday, March 18, 2012

Trial of Faith - 27 de febrero 2012

Time is flying by fast! Do I say that every week or what? Yesterday
was my four month mark in the mission since I entered the MTC. I
cannot believe it.

We had two baptisms this week -- Juana del Carmen Lucas Ramirez (we
call her Juana or Carmen) and Eduardo Israel San Pedro Gomez (we just
call him Israel). Juana, who is 66 years old, sacrificed a lot to get
baptized such as her place of residence. Her daughter is very
Evangelical, a controversial religion down here, and swore that if she
got baptized, she would disown her. Now she is in the process of
relocating. It is rather sad, but I am glad she chose the Lord. She
will receive so many blessings from her decision to get baptized.
Israel is 18 years old. His whole family loves to hear from us.
Unfortunately, his Mom, Ana, doesn´t want to get married to get
baptized. She is rather comfortable with her lifestyle, but she is
such a wonderful person. We love them all and visit them regularly to
teach Israel and his little brother Joel. All in all, it was wonderful
to have two baptisms in the same day. We have been working hard this
month with relatively little success until Saturday. (We normally only
have baptisms on Saturday here).

We are working with a whole family, yay a whole family finally, to get
baptized. The son, Jonathan, who is 9 or 10 years old, is already
baptized. Now the parents, Mario and Teresa, need to get married and
baptized. We finally convinced them to get married about a month ago.
Ever since we have kept daily contact with them to keep them excited
and committed to getting married. However, this last week they were
really hesitant saying they will wait a little bit longer. They have
been seeing the missionaries since last July. Each time they make
excuses not to get married. Now we are pushing for the wedding this
week. The ward keeps telling us that we are pressuring them, but if we
don´t they will never have the blessings of an eternal family. We just
need to help them raise 54 dollars to pay for the civil registry.
Please pray that they will exercise their faith to follow the Lord´s
commandment. I really want them to get baptized because they are such
wonderful people. Now is the time!

Funny note, at Israel´s baptism, the white jumpsuit was kind of small.
He wore these white socks with tiny red footprints. It was like seeing
a person with white underwear and red hearts. What a funny sight. I
guess you had to be there.

Nathan, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I am sorry I haven´t got a card in the mail,
but one is on its way. I promise.

I love you all. Please know that I am working hard to bring others to
the knowledge of the Gospel that blesses our family so much. Please
stay strong in the faith and move forward with action. This Gospel is
true. I know it with every fiber of my heart.

Take care. Until next time,

Hermana Melanie Forbush

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