Weekly Letter December 14th
2015
Well, I hope everyone's had a great week, I've had a pretty wild one.
This week we were again able to meet the mission goal as a companionship, finding 17 new investigators, doing 70 street contacts, and placing two new baptismal dates.
We arrived at the home of one of our baptismal dates this week and her grandson handed us a note she had written us. She said that she no longer wanted to meet with us because we taught her that there is only one prophet on the earth at any given time. She says that there are lots of prophets and despite teaching her clearly she can't handle this one crucial doctrine. In Guatemala there are probably thousands of people who say that they are "prophets" and go around people's houses making prophecies and asking for money and charging to cure diseases. This makes it really difficult to teach about what a prophet, seer, and revelator really is and that only one man can receive revelation for the entire world. Despite what everyone else here thinks, "God is not the author of confusion." (1 Cor. 14:33)
Several people this week have also asked us why you have to deny Jesus Christ and accept Joseph Smith to join our church and we had a preacher who was holding a church service in the street yell at us as well.
On the bright side we had a mission conference this week and as a Christmas present from President Crapo we got to watch Frozen which was neat.
Unfortunately, I'm going to end this letter on a sad note. First, allow me to give a little bit of background information. Just about every week we visit the Saban family. Roger, the older of the two children, is 19 and was the first in his family to accept the gospel. He was baptized just over a year ago and has a mission call and will be going to Cancun Mexico shortly. Roger's brother, Luis, and father, Cesar, were baptized about 8 months ago. The mom is still waiting for her answer and has not been baptized yet. This is one of the greatest families I know and Roger and Luis are almost like brothers to me. Just a few days ago we were over at their house and I sat on Luis' bed while we talked and he showed me some funny pictures.
On Saturday December 12 at 6:30 in the morning Luis, who is 14, and Hector, another member of the ward who is 22 went out for a jog. Along the way, an unknown, out-of-control driver jumped a curb with his car, traveling at some velocity, squarely hitting my little friend with the full weight of his vehicle. Likely, death came almost instantly. Hector, by some miracle, suffered no injury, but the mental and emotional scars will last a lifetime.
Truly my willingness "to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort" (Mosiah 18:9) was put to the test. The moment they brought Luis' body in a coffin is the saddest scene I have witnessed in my entire life.
Luis was loving and kind, innocent and yet mature enough to reach out to others. His smile and laugh comforted me in times of need. He was my friend. With a broken heart and tears in my eyes I solemnly testify that I know that Luis is one whom we call dead, yet indeed his spirit lives, he's only gone ahead. Like his brother, Luis too has been called to serve.
How great and glorious is the promise in this teaching by Joseph F. Smith: We will meet the same identical being that we associated with here in the flesh - not some other soul, some other being, or the same being in some other form, but the same identity and same form and likeness, the same person we knew and were associated with in our mortal existence.
I will strive to live in such a way that I might be worthy to meet Luis again in the first resurrection. I will continue to teach the Saban family so that they will be able to be sealed to each other and sealed to Luis through temple ordinances so that they too might meet him, hug him, and hold him again, never more to depart.
And should we die before our journey's through,
Happy day! All is well!
We then are free from toil and sorrow, too;
With the just we shall dwell.
But if our lives are spared again
To see the Saints their rest obtain,
Oh, how we'll make this chorus swell -
All is well! All is well!
- Elder Dawson
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