Work on both sides of the veil

Hello all!

 First, I´ll finish where I left off last week and transition smoothly into current news. Primeramente, last week the Uncle and Aunt of Elder Dearden (who are economists) came to Chile for a conference. They were guests of the Ex-minister of Chile, and they ended up meeting up with him at the Chapel of all places. I, of course, had no clue that he was anyone of supreme importance until one of the youth, a good friend of mine, pulled me aside and started asking how I knew him and if I could "hook him up" (and by this I obviously mean the Chileanismo equivalent). Elder Dearden´s aunt wrote him and said that the Ex-minister´s impressions of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was favorable, and that he was impressed with our dedication and sacrifice as misionaries, and touched by my testimony (conveniently given while I was blissfully ignorant to what was going on, because afterward the stakes obviously changed). So that was exciting.

Lorena´s baptism was excellent. A muy linda event. I hope that the pictures I sent last week got through. If not, let me know. All of her family suddenly showed up in town the week following, unannounced, and her son (non-member) is now living with her. We have begun to train her on how to teach, and we were particularly excited for her confirmation yesterday. We see a very bright future with her.

Also this week, I lost two very dear friends of mine to mission calls on the other side of the veil. One, who I believe I have mentioned, se llamo Emilio, and the other was a Young Man of our barrio, who I was only able to visit once.

The young man whom I visited in the hospital was sick with Lukemia. The bishop heard about my story with my health before my mission, and asked me to come visit him and bear my testimony. He had lost hope in serving a mission when he became hospitalized, and began to retreat from friends, family, and the church. We went and visited him, blessing and administering the sacrament. Only the bishop and I were allowed in the room because of the fragile state of the patients there, but in the little spanish I knew I began to bear a testimony. Suddenly the Spirit took over and I began to bear what I believe to be the strongest, most fluent testimony that I have ever given in Spanish, and our eyes met. We stayed locked for 3 or 5 minutes as I promised him that if he wanted to serve a mission with all his heart, with the desire to serve God more than himself, and if he began to prepare that he would have the opportunity to serve and bless many lives. We saw a change in his eyes, a fire that was not there before, and he has gone on to serve faithfully in his new calling.

Emilio was a blind diabetic with one foot amputated that we found in the street one day, who was inactive in the church for almost a decade. He had come to terms with the cause of his problems, realizing that many of them stemmed from his disobedience to the principles he knew, and had the desire to change his life and rejoin the church. We worked with him for 3 or 4 weeks, and he faithfully attended church and changed his life to what it was supposed to be. He wanted to serve a mission, but was unable to because of his age. The last contact that we had with him before he entered the hospital, we were working on getting him a calling as a ward missionary. He suddenly took sick and died a day later in the hospital, prepared to teach what he had so valiantly regained. The change that we saw in him was ENORMOUS. Where he was sullen and depressed, even angry at life when we met him, when his girlfriend left him two days before our last visit we visited with him and he laughed about it, secure in his knowledge and testimony. He accompanied us to various appointments, learning to bear powerful testimony and lift the lives of other people. He was my friend, and I will miss him dearly.

These two men, frail and sickly and alone in the eyes of the world, are a powerful witness to the divine nature of this gospel. By their faith and through their righteous desires they changed their lives and mine. They will be changing many more in the next world. They took my testimony to the grave- and I would be ungrateful if I did not do the same. I testify that there is a plan. I Promise because I know for myself that this life is more than coincidence and fate, a combination of luck and probability. We are the Sons and Daughters of the Creator of the universe, and if we will do our part and receive the blessings that he offers us, we will receive this witness every day. I mourn the loss of two valiant friends for a time- but I know that I will see them again, in the flesh, and that the infirmities that took them out of this life will be gone forever because of YOUR Savior, Jesus Christ.

I love this work. I love this Gospel. I know that we can be with our families forever, IF we do our part.

I leave this week bearing testimony of these truths as a representative of Christ and in His name.