Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the father: Ye shall have eternal life. -2 Nephi 31:20

Monday, March 11, 2013

Bilbao week 12 - Luz Marina´s baptism

Hola mi familia,
Wow those are some nice battle scares, Brett. Hope everything has turned out well and that the recovery´s going good. Still praying for you and the fam every day. Thanks for your example and your always positive attitude.
The baptism of Luz Marina was incredible. I wanna share the whole story of her conversion. About a year ago, her daughter Angelica and her husband Alex were baptized with their son Daniel by Elder Pericle and Elder Johnson. They also started teaching Luz Marina at that time but she was pretty hard hearted and loved to argue about doctrines because she´s been a jehovas witness her whole life. So she didnt progress for a while. Then in November the missionaries started teaching her again. This time she was a little bit more open and she started to read in the Book of Mormon and come to know for herself. Elder Prieto and Elder Olson worked with her towards a baptismal date and she progressed well. She had the baptismal interview the week of her baptism and passed it easily. But then the day before her baptism (ihad forgotten about this part) she got sick and had to go to the hospital. Elder Prieto and Elder Olson tried to visit her and help her but she said it would be better that they didn´t come by. Then the week after that, her mom got really sick back in Colombia and was dying. So obviously Luz Marina had to go back to her country to be with her mom before she died. Being with her mom while she died i think was what really made her realize that there´s more to life and that God truly has a plan for us. She was gone for two months and then came back to Bilbao in February. We invited her to come to our baptism of Susana and John and she came! She loved it and we were able to meet with her right after the baptism. We talked to her about baptism and asked her if she wanted to keep preparing. She was pretty closed off to the idea but said she wanted to keep coming to church and keep investigating so we just left it at that. She came to church that sunday and we met with her the following saturday. We taught her the plan of salvation and focused a lot on the importance of baptism. As she felt the spirit and she came to realize that her mom still lives and that she can be with her again, she felt that need to be baptized. We set the fecha for the 9th of march. She kept coming to church, she read in the scriptures, in Jesus the Christ, and in the Liahona of the last general conference. As she continued to read and pray she gained a testimony that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that we have living prophets and apostles today. She came to know that this is the church of Jesus Christ, the only true church over the face of the earth. On saturday she was baptized and yesterday was confirmed. After her confirmation she said that she had never felt the Spirit so strongly before in her life. It was the happiest ive ever seen someone be after being baptized. She was so ready and so willing to do God´s will and enter into His pathway. It was a great baptism.
Dont have very much more time fam so gotta get going. Miracles happen.
Love you, Elder Reeves

No comments:

Post a Comment