I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!‏

¡La familia Diaz se bautisó! I LOVE THE DIAZ FAMILY! Ludmila, Anahí and Cristian were baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday 29 de Julio 2014. It was AMAZING!

This week we went through H.E. double hockey sticks. In every sense of the word. (Except it was cold outside). Satan did NOT want this family to be baptized, AT ALL. Everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong. But we wouldn't let Satan take control of the eternities of our best friends.

Okay, I'm going to share with you a very powerful experience that happened to my companion and I right before their baptism. Satan and his followers work SO hard to prevent the work of salvation! It was one of the most powerful experiences in my mission.

The day before their baptism (quite literally, 12 hours before) we passed by to visit the Diaz Family. To get the signature of their parents, and see how they were doing. In this moment I learned for sure that Satan does everything he can to prevent eternal families. We got there, and sat down and were talking with Mary (the mom) and her son Cristian, and her daughters Ludmila and Anahí. It's all good. The dad, Julio Ceasar (who was more excited about the Gospel than all of the family combined--he had SO much ánimo, it was great) STOMPED into the house, sat down right in front of my companion and I, and started yelling at us about how he doesn't want the Priesthood, doesn't want to be baptized, and he doesn't want any of this. His eyes were glazed over and his face was really different. We were in SHOCK. And so was his family! He was yelling a ton, and the room was full of a horrible spirit! And so my companion said, not having words to respond to him, "can we say a prayer?" He said "Bah.... Si." And so Hermana Manriquez said a very powerful heartfelt prayer, with tears in her eyes. Everyone was crying during the prayer. But at the same time, the dogs ran into the house, started barking, Julio Ceasar was yelling at the dogs, slamming doors, etc. I felt like Satan wanted to prevent this prayer from happening! After the prayer, my companion asked, "Julio, what happened to you? What happened today?" because he wasn't himself. Julio was not Julio. He told us (still yelling) that nothing had happened, and that he doesn't want to do this. My companion asked, very strongly, with probably the most confidence I've seen from her, "what are you willing to do for your family?" And he started talking about something random that had nothing to do with anything. Then Ludmila (the oldest daughter) asked him with a strong voice with tears streaming down her face, "Dad! What are you willing to do for us!? What are you willing to do for your kids and wife?!" With that, his face changed. That question came from his own daughter. All of his family was looking at him in silence with tears in their eyes, waiting for him to respond to the very vital question. He said, "I work so I can put bread on the table." Then Mary (his wife) chimed in and said, "You're talking about material things, this is about the eternities! We have to be baptized to be sealed in the temple!" That right there showed my companion and I that Mary really and truly KNEW that this is what they have to do to have an eternal family. That made him think a lot. He got really quiet and was looking at the floor. Mary basically taught him Lesson 2. We talked about eternal families and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and how it had already blessed his family so much. After about 40 minutes we cleared everything up and Julio Ceasar was back to himself. He had been confused about the concept of baptism, something that we weren't aware of. Now he understands very well, and invited us to eat Chorizos the next day after the baptism. Mary signed the 3 baptismal records for her children (because they need parental permission) and Julio Ceasar wanted to sign every one of them, too.

Wheew. What an experience. I can't really put into words what was felt during this lesson. We felt the whole spectrum of emotions- happiness, confusion, anger, the influence of Satan, doubt, sadness, disappointment, hope, courage, and the Spirit of God! We went through so much to help this family, and we're still working with the marriage papers for Mary and Julio. I hope hope hope I can come back here to Buenos Aires to attend their TEMPLE SEALING in a year! 

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!

Enjoy the photos :) SUCH AN AMAZING FAMILY (Julio Ceasar had to travel to Junín to work and couldn't go to the baptism :( 

P.S. The baptismal font key didn't work!!!!!!!!!!!!! The font was filled, but we didn't know if it was full of hot or cold or what?! And so we were waiting a while for someone to come save us. Finally, it opened. haha :)

I LOVE you all! Keep being amazing!

Hermana Gardner

P.S. we have a new mission president! I'm pretty sure he's a stud! We're going to miss Pres. and Sister Carter!