La confianza del Obispo

14 Dec 2009

Dear Family,

Wow, I can´t believe I´ve been here in Jardines 3 weeks already. But, I like this ward. Our main objective when we got here was to gain the confidence of the Bishop. I think we´ve already acheived that goal. He´s a great Bishop and is enjoyable to be around. I really liked it yesterday when we were in ward counsel and he was talking about how having all of the organizations work together to further missionary work, the ward would be strengthened. He said that it was necessary that they work to do so because we the missionaries leave. He said, “We never want the missionaries to leave, but especially not these Elders. I don´t know, but there is something special about these Elders.” That made me feel really good, especially when it shows that we are accomplishing the objective President Benton gave us.

This transfer, we have been praying and fasting to be able to find a family to bring to church. Especially a father that would make a good leader in the home and in the church. We think we found him this past week. On wednesday, while we were walking, (wow, a lot of w´s), we passed by a house and my companion said that he felt we needed to talk with them. So, we went and taught a good lesson. When we went back on friday, we didn´t have time to stay and teach, because we had a Family Home Evening activity for the ward, so we invited him to come. We weren´t expecting him to come to much, but he did! Not many members came, so we turned the activity into a lesson for him about the plan of salvation. At the end, I asked, “What are you willing to do to enter the Celestial Kingdom to be with God and your family forever?” With that question, he told us about how he wanted to give up drinking because it was ruining his family. So, we talked with him about it and I asked “So, when you´re with your friends and they invite you to drink, what are you going to say?” He said, “No.” “But you drank with us last week, what happened?” And he replied, “No, I don´t drink anymore.” It was good to see that resolution. We invited him to come to church, but he said that he had a small work to do on Sunday morning.

But, Sunday came and Julio Cézar Escobar came too! He was able to arrange it so that he could come to church for the last half an hour of the primary presentation of sacrament meeting. We found out that he is married and that yesterday, when his friends invited him to drink, he said, “No!” We don´t know his wife yet, and haven´t been able to teach his daughter yet, but we feel really good about Julio.

A few kids are also coming to church, but they don´t yet have permission from their parents to be baptized. We´re doing what we can and we have hope.

Oh, and when would be a good time to call on Christmas?

And thank you for your letters and thoughts. I will keep searching for the view of the Lord to understand this life and the universe. I hope that your back/hip will be returned to normal soon. And also give my congragulations to Jayme. I remember my time with her in primary a bit still. I love you all and I hope you enjoy the Christmas season.

With love,
Elder Drake Ranquist