August 27, 2007

Querido la Familia Irvine:

Life has been up and down! Really great days, really terrible days. This weekwas overall good, except for the fact we dropped 7 investigators and are in the process of finding new investigators because the old ones were wasting our time. That was about half of our teaching pool, but it needed to be done. My companion is no non-sense, if you are not progressing and not reading and not going to church, we are going to drop you. That is a great attitude, because we're here to teach and baptize and continue the cycle. Yesterday was great! We had church, had a great family come that is investigating the church. The problem is that the parents are breaking the law of chastity, and they know it. They're waiting until the father gets citizenship to for the 'wife' to divorce her real husband back in Mexico, but they're still breaking the law. Their oldest daughter, Myra, is really interested in the Book of Mormon and the Gospel, and so we're only there to baptize her. But, the entire family is progressing! Friday, we read and taught them from the Introduction of the Book of Mormon. The father, Antonio, used to hate having the missionaries over. But his biological son, Antonio, doesn't read Spanish well (4 years old) and asked his dad to help him read. Missionary and he doesn't know it! The mother, Maribel, is progressing. Myra is progressing. Eventually all of them will be baptized, but until then, just Myra. They are a family, though Myra is from a different father. They love each other,this message is for them. I just wish it'd be easier, that they wouldn't have to wait for eternal salvation. If it weren't for the divorce, we could get them married and baptized. Easily. They're ready. The main problem is the divorce they need to get as well as the terrible examples of members. Some members have done the wrong things, so we look like hypocrites. But the family knows we're following our Gospel, and now they trust us. Myra even brought her friend, Evelyn, to church, and they loved it! Gotta get 'em into the water soon before the devil can really tempt them. Great family, it's really sad we can't baptize all of them, they're ready to be saved and have the wonderful powers of the Atonement apply to their life! And, we're teaching this Christian woman, AnaMendoza, who can't read. She wants to know more about the word of God. She kept asking questions, she kept asking what is the spirit, how do you feel his presence, just excellent questions! She is ready, but she has a smoking problem. She has gotten rid of everything else except smoking, and she said she has tried but hasn't suceeded. As my teacher Bro. Busby said in the MTC, 'this time is different'. We as representatives of Jesus Christ will help you. I felt the Spirit so strong, and shared the promise in D&C 89 about health in the navel, marrow in the bones, hidden treasures of knowledge, and the like. It was beautiful! I loved it! It didn't seem like an hour, but we had to go to visit other people. It was truly a great experience. We stopped by a less active family, the Torres. The father was offended deeply by a member of the church, and hasn't gone back since. We talked for an hour, and I realized it was serious. We suggested that he should come back to church and talk to the bishop, because the bishop has the keys to this area. He was a bit stubborn. He realizes his children need the Gospel now more than ever. They're teenagers, and his son is starting to rebel. He is listening to rap music, and I know for myself that it is not of the Lord. I can't stand it now, being a missionary. I know now that it is not right for a member of the Church to listen to it, and now it is affecting Bro. Torres' son. Elder Sandoval bore his testimony, that his father was stood up by another member, but didn't stop going to church. It was the member, not the church, that made a mistake. Bro. Torres still resisted. We bore our testimonies of the church, that it's the only true church. And we left, but I felt that we did our job. We invited him back, we shared our testimonies, and we demonstrated to him how the church can help strengthen his family from the world. He'll come, we're working on him.

The worst part of the week was Saturday. We were going place to place and ended up going to the wrong Garcia's for dinner! There are 6 Garcia's in our ward, so we wasted 45 minutes chatting to one family then rushed over to the right one.Hno. Juan Garcia, not the family of Alejandro (the other one we visited), went to visit an investigator. Josefina Fermin reads the Book of Mormon. She knows it's the word of God. But she won't be baptized or go to church. This was our last chance, or her last chance to hear the missionaries and be baptized for a time. We shared our message, of obedience and pray daily and the like (1st 4 principles of Lesson 4). We asked her to come to church. She said no. We asked why, she expressed her doubts about changing churches. Hno. Garcia testified changing churches changed his life forever. She was still stubborn. We asked again, will you come to church and be baptized? She said, no. I bore my solemn testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and of baptism, the only way to return to live with God. And we left, with solemn and sunken hearts. We thanked Hno. Garcia for his efforts, and left. I have never felt so sad in my life, except when Grandpa had a stroke, when he died, and when my friend committed suicide, Kathleen Vasquez. It was really sad. She had the scriptures, she had a testimony, but she refused to be baptized. Not even to go to church! She was afraid for her own sake. She should've been more worried about her soul and salvation. It was a quiet ride home. I felt like crying, but I couldn't! I was in shock, I couldn't weep for the loss of a soul to the world. I couldn't believe that the missionaries had taught her for a month and a half, to reach this point. We were depressed, how we did our part but she chose to not follow Christ's path. Elder Sandoval had tears in his eyes! I couldn't say a word to him, and him to me. It was one of the most humbling experiences. I was rejected. My testimony were thrown aside. I was stabbed in the heart, more like my heart was taken from me. It more was buried and soaked in sorrow than anything else. I knew she knew the Gospel was true, she just couldn't let go of the world. I can only pray that she can be baptized someday...It really felt like she took a part of me. She took my heart and just squeezed all the happiness out of my life. Elder Sandoval said, as we were in the garage, that the greatest thing about this world is that ability to choose, whether right or wrong. And he is right. What a great gift we have! Agency! It is too bad she chose the wrong. As in the words of Elder Eyering, I felt empathy. The Spirit manifested to me that I was doing my job, that I was successful, that I cared about my investigators, that I wanted them to be saved in the kingdom of God. What could I do? Nothing else. Idid my part, the Lord will continue to do his. It hurt deeply, it really did. It hit me the next morning when her name wasn't on our investigator board. She has been erased from our records, temporarily, and will have to wait for eternal salvation for a time. She's in the Lord's hands now, we did our part. I know how Christ felt. Rejected by his brothers and sisters. I felt his sorrow. I felt his love for his brothers and sisters. I know He lives. I know He is our Savior and King. I cannot wait to see His face! I cannot wait to see Him in His Glory!

Stay safe, and I love you all.

Steven, stay strong, stay fit, be happy. Don't worry about me, I'm in theservice of my brothers and sisters and God's angels are sustaining me (D&C84:88).
Mom, be strong. Keep doing your work, and keep up that study of the scriptures.You will know God and Christ so much better!
Dad, put your shoulder to the wheel and push along! Help the members bring more to Christ!Grandma, I can't wait to see you! I love you so much! Keep Steven in line, and whack him with that cane once in a while!
Kristy, get down to business! This is the Lord's work, we have to do our absolute best! Work work work!I love you all.

Until next week!

Love,

Elder Irvine