Week 27, Primero de Julio - The most important place I could be right now

Here is Elder Walbom’s email:

Hello, how goes it? This past week was my official sixth-month mark in the mission. Happy cùmplemes to me!

Anyways yesterday was super good. So it was a normal day and all, just walking around and trying to teach people. For the first part of the day I was with the zone leader on divisions- Elder Bezzant. For the second half I was in my own area and trying to find and to teach people. I decided to reanimate myself and really try to immerse myself in the Lord's work- which by the way is extremely exhausting and disheartening at times. Well, the last hour of the day came and we had scheduled an appointment with our neighbors to teach them. So we rushed over to their house to teach them and we met up with a recently-returned missionary to teach them (they are all women so we need another guy there to teach them in their house).

Well, we had planned on teaching the second half of the plan of salvation and so we did it. We started with the Atonement of Christ and then moved on to the spirit world. We were teaching two people, one named Francisca, and her daughter- Victoria. They are both adults. Well as we talked we could see the spirit touching her heart and filling her with hope as we taught the truths of the plan of salvation. At every moment, from the preaching of the gospel to the dead to the Celestial Kingdom we could feel the spirit growing stronger and testifying to them that the things that we were saying were true.

At the point when we introduced the Celestial Kingdom and how families can only be together forever here and how that through Christ all people can be with their families for eternity she remarked, with a light in her eyes, that no one had never heard that families could exist forever beyond this life. The spirit once again told all of us present that it was true.

After we concluded the presentation of the plan we invited our member missionary, Diego, to share how the knowledge of the plan of salvation has helped him in his life. He said that 1) It helps him know that his decisions matter and that they have eternal importance and 2) He has more understanding of the role that Christ has in our lives as we strive to come unto him through faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. 

Victoria then commented- by this time she was participating more than her mom and it looked like her mom was in a contemplative state- with tears in her eyes, about how she felt that she needed God more in her life and she has gone through so much and feels so imperfect.

The spirit was powerful and I got the impression to extend a baptismal invitation. Usually we plan these things but this would be impromptu. I looked her in the eyes and began to build off of what Diego said. I simply and firmly listed the steps of the Doctrine of Christ: Faith in Jesus Christ, Repentance, Baptism for the Remission of Sins, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End. As I listed the points I choked up and started crying. Victoria did the same. The spirit descended upon the room like a wave, washing over everything it touched. The waves of the spirit kept coming powerfully as I testified of the simple doctrine of Christ.

I then looked her in the eyes and said, 'We are about to ask you a very important question. A question of eternal significance'. I asked her if she would be baptized if the Lord answered her prayers and told her all of this was true. She responded with a story and then said yes. I believe the spirit was, even in that moment, testifying to her that everything that we taught was true. And this was even before they knew anything about the restoration of the gospel! 

We were about to end the lesson and then they asked what time church was and expressed desires to come with us to our services. I was filled with such joy to hear it and told them when church was. We then left and although the lesson was over I was left in awe as the spirit remained in my heart, filled me with unimaginable joy and love for these people, filled me with a desire to let the gospel sound in every ear, and with a testimony of the value of this work. 

In this moment, all I felt was a desire to teach and to have that spirit with me forever. I felt that the most important place I could be right now is in Guatemala, preaching the gospel for 18 more months.

Adios!

-Alex

UPDATE: The two women came to church and loved it. Elder Walbom said that they set their baptismal date for Feb 9!