Obstáculos están para superar

This was a very nice week. We had a lot of obstacles placed in our path, but were able to overcome them with the Lord's help.

This week we were preparing Carmen and her son Ronald to be baptized. Carmen works from about 10 am to midnight four days and then has a day off, then works four days and has a day off. It had been somewhat of a challenge to teach her. With her baptism being this weekend, on Monday we were faced with the task of teaching all of Lesson 4 (the commandments) in one appointment. The appointment ended up being about 2 hours long, and we had to really rely on the Lord to help her resolve her doubts on the Law of Chastity. Fortunately the Holy Ghost is the teacher and not us, so we were able to help her overcome that fear and accept to live the commandment. 

However, Carmen would be unable to be baptized on Sunday after church because she has to leave immediately after church to be able to travel to Vicente Lopez to work. We had thought that maybe she could be baptized Saturday night, because it would be a few weeks before she had a Sunday off again. I called the Bishop Monday night and he said no, that she should sacrifice going to work for being baptized. That was kind of an interesting situation, because being a single mom with two kids and not having any financial support from the father she needed to work and didn't really have any other option. Anyway, I called President Ayre who holds the Priesthood keys for the convert baptisms Tuesday morning and talked to him about the situation, and he said that he was on my side and that that was unfair of the Bishop and that he could call the Stake President and talk to him about the situation if I wanted him to. I told him I would call him back in a couple days, becasue we had received a text from Carmen telling us that she wasn't sure if she was ready to be baptized because she wasn't sure she'd be able to live the law of tithing. After praying really hard, we sent her a stream of spiritual texts since we couldn't call her at work, and set up an appointment for Wednsday morning at 9 am. We were praying a lot.

Wednesday morning when we showed up she told us that she had actually had a dream and received an answer from the Lord in regards to the law of tithing, and so she was ready to be baptized on Saturday. We were really excited and grateful to the Lord for answering her. However, we still had the problem of the Bishop. President called me at the beginning of an appointment with Ronald (I had to talk to President, so my hijo taught the whole lesson in Spanish basically by himself. He's pretty great). We talked about the situation and we decided it would be best to try and talk to the Bishop again before pulling the trump card so we could maintain a good relationship with him. I set up an appointment with the Bishop for later that night, and after praying hard about what to say, we came and even without saying much, he decided that it was alright and that we could have the baptisms be on Saturday. It was pretty incredible all the work that the Lord was doing this week. We had prepared a lot for the lesson with Carmen that in the end we didn't have to teach, and prepared a lot for the meeting with the Bishop that in the end we didn't have to say much.

Anyway, during this whole week Ronald was doing great and was really excited for his baptism.

When Saturday came around, during a service activity in the morning, the ward mission leader called and let me know that he wouldn't be able to come to the service, so we would have to work it out by ourselves... yikes. Then about every member that had told us they would go when we passed by told us that they couldn't, leaving us without witnesses for the baptismal ordinance. Then the Bishop let me know that he wouldn't be able to go to the service either, so 40 minutes before it was to start I had to call one of his counselors to ask if he could come preside, which he did. After not expecting very many people to come, a lot more people came than we thought originally. It was a really beautiful baptismal service, and the Spirit was really strong throughout. Carmen had asked me to baptize her, and Ronald had asked my hijo, so he was pretty excited about that. Diego (Carmen's nephew) was telling everyone that he would be baptized this coming Sunday, so he's really excited. After it was all over, we walked home in the rain, which couldn't even dampen our happy mood, and ended up buying ice-cream to celebrate the week.

Baptism! Elder Garrett, Carmen, Ronald and Elder Lawyer

Yesterday Carmen and Ronald were confirmed members of the church. Diego came to church and is excited to be baptized this Sunday. Juan Domingo also came to church and can't wait for Sunday to come to be baptized as well. It pretty much rained all day and we got soaked and were freezing, but it was a fantastic week.

We love empanadas!

This week I really learned to appreciate the Lord's hand in this work. Every obstacle was overcome. I felt somewhat like Nephi who expressed, "And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do. Nevertheless, I went forth." God hears and answers prayers. He knows every one of His children in a very personal way and knows their needs. I am so grateful for a Savior who has been working side by side with me for these 13 months and whose name I proudly carry on my chest. There is no better work than this. "I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my JOY." (Alma 29:9)

Que la fuerza les acompañe.

Love,

Elder John William Garrett