195. How Great the Wisdom and the Love

June 1, 2010
This work, este obra missional, of course, is all the Lord's-- His timing, His children, His message, His love.

Yesterday we stopped by Pablo's to follow up on his Word of Wisdom reading. We started to talk to him, but he wasn't really focused on our teachings so we invited his wife, "Juanita" to come in, and began talking with her. From our first visit she made it very clear that she wasn't interested in learning about another Christian religion, and as we began to discuss the Book of Mormon with her, she insisted that she had already been baptized by water and by the spirit at the age of 18, and there was no need to do all that over again!

"Juanita" loves to talk, and evades interruption like a lawyer. When she asked us a question, "Do you know what Baptism by the Spirit is?" and actually paused for a response, I tried to teach as many gospel principles with my answer as possible "Bueno, It's a priesthood ordinance, by the authority of God--after Baptism, (by immersion) which is also an ordinance done by the AUTHORITY of God (which was restored after the Apostasy to Joseph Smith, by an angel of God, by the laying on of hands)--"

"It's speaking in tongues." she insisted. “That’s the baptism of the Spirit. And I was baptized by the Spirit after my baptism of water!"

I had to smile, because the gift of tongues was exactly what I was praying for at that very minute. How on earth could we convey (in our super-limited vocabular-- she speaks NO English) that the presence of the Holy Ghost is not the same thing as the AUTHORITY of God, and that her pastor didn't actually have the priesthood, and that her dedication to God was great-- fantastic! but that there were MORE steps to be taken.... funny, as I type this I realize I know all those Spanish words, but my companion and I were completely at a loss as to how we could convey that message-- she just couldn't understand us!

Juanita was telling us the story of her study and baptism (for the 3rd time, I think she was getting frustrated by the language barrier too), and then all of the sudden-- I started crying. I looked into her face, earnestly working to explain to us her conversion to the Good News of God, and I knew that God loved her. I didn't know what to say, I was not suddenly given perfect Spanish words that she could understand, but I knew that she was a beloved daughter of God, and that someday, someday, she would understand.

Sitting in the car after the lesson, I told Hna. Gregersen my thoughts, and she said "I felt the same way. She has great faith."

My objective as a missionary is to "invite people to come unto Christ... through faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end," and we always focus our teaching on that goal of baptism and confirmation. But sometimes I forget that my purpose simply is to invite others to come unto Christ. That is my objectivo because Christ invites all to come, on their own feet, in their own ways, He invites them to bend their path and follow His straight road. It is humbling to remember that I am His servant, and He asks me in my imperfect way to care for His beloved sheep