El espirito

11 Jan 2010

Dear Family,

I´m sorry Dad that you are passing through so many difficulties with your mortal body right now. Sometimes when I feel tired or sick, it makes me even more anxious for when we receive our resurrected bodies and we´ll never be sick, have pain, or be tired again. That is the biggest trial I think I´ll have in my life, that of not having as much energy as I´d like. It´s always been something I´ve fought and I´m learning more about that disability here on the mission. But I rejoice that I´ll only fight it during this life.

This week was a good, full week. I´ll start by recounting our experience with the Salazar Family. We were doing contacts one day after a lesson and I saw a man in front of his house and felt strongly within me “I Want to talk with Him!” But, my companion beat me too it. He told us that they were the inactive parents of Daniel, a 21 yr. old kid that is preparing to go on a mission. He asked us if we wanted to come in and usually I would probably set an appointment for another day to talk with an inactive family, but I had this strong impression, so we went in.

The spirit was really strong in that lesson as we showed him the movie “The Restoration.” I was asking God what he wanted us to say after the movie ended and I felt, just give your testimony with all your soul. And we did just that. He said afterwards that our testimonies might be just what he needed to return. At the end, we found out that they are actually excommunicated and haven´t gone back to church in 4 years. But, they have had desires to return to support their son.

With my experience trying to overcome my own difficulties, I´ve learned that it usually takes more than just one testimony or one visit to make big and lasting changes, so we decided to go back on Friday. On Friday, we asked if the new bishop could come with us to visit them. That touched them a lot that the bishop would come with us to get to know them. With another spiritual lesson, they were able to take the step and return to church on Sunday. The entire family came and we felt really good about what we had done. One of the other sons told me after talking with the bishop, “You were right when you said that repentance is sweet.” I was so grateful that we were able to be instruments in the Lord´s hands in helping this family. And I think we´ll continue seeing the fruits of that effort because they said that when they left the church, a lot of families followed them. If they return, they can help many inactive families return and we could possibly baptized the children that now are older than 8.

This past Sunday, President Benton decided to come and visit Jardines. He had a special class with those preparing for the mission and it was good. It was also really nice that they took us back to our apartment after the meeting.

I know that this church is true. It is nice that when people ask us questions, looking for our errors, they feel the power of our simple truths. I love being able to help others feel this spirit. And I know that the Lord will always back us up when we are worthy of it.

With love,
Elder Drake Ranquist

P.S. Yes, I´ve seen siblings come with their parents to pick up the returning missionaries. That is the decision of you guys. And I think I´ll receive the papers and notices about preparing to return home in about two and a half months.