Why We Love this Work

Elders Allphin and Bennington with Juan and Nancy

Elder Bennington provided this summary of the recent baptism of Juan and Nancy:


 "One afternoon in late September we were walkingdown the street after our morning meeting. As we were walking we began to talk about the upcoming month of October,and what we wished to see happen in our area. Elder Allphin began to express that he had a feeling that there was afamily that we were meant to find and baptize in the month of October, andmoreover a family that would be going to the temple in a year’s time.  As we began to talk about the idea, we bothbegan to feel a confirmation that that is what the Lord wanted in our area inthe month of October.

"Looking over our potential families that we wereteaching, the future looked bright.  Wewondered if it was one of these families, or if it was someone that we had yetto meet.  We came together and prayedregarding this goal, and kept it in mind as we went out everyday to work.  If a stroller came down the street, our goalflashed into our mind.  If a reference wereceived was connected to a family situation, we were again reminded.  We were blessed with so many opportunities todedicate ourselves to our purpose. But when the answer to our prayers came, itcame through an unexpected medium.

"Margarita was a less active member fromParaguay.  She was the only member baptizedin her family. During her baptismal process she began to receive harassmentfrom her family, and even began to feel discouraged regarding her newfaith.  Nevertheless, she persevered andreceived a calling in the church and continued to grow in the Gospel.  Around the age of 18, Margarita took herbelongings and moved to Spain.  Uponarriving she was faced with trial after trial, testing her faith time and timeagain.  With the necessity of workgrowing more and more apparent in her life, she began to sacrifice herreligious backing and started to work on the Sabbath.  From that point on she struggled to make itback to church for roughly 6-8 years.  Asshe saw the missionaries from time to time, she felt a longing to speak to themand to return to the richness of the Gospel. 

"One afternoon walking down the street Margaritaspotted you and Hermana Hinckley.  Shefinally mustered up the courage and began a conversation.  You then passed her information on to us, andwe began to teach her.  Upon teaching herwe quickly realized that Margarita´s testimony was still as strong asever.  From that next Sunday on she hasyet to miss a Sunday.

"One Sunday Margarita told us that shewanted to bring a friend that she was really excited for us to meet.  Thenext Sunday she came with Nancy and sat with her through all three hours ofchurch.  At the end of church Margarita came up to us and told us thatNancy was really excited to start meeting with the missionaries and had alreadyexpressed her desires to become a member of the church.  We scheduled afirst visit for the next night, right after the Noche de Hogar activity that wehad with the ward.  When Nancy came the next day she brought her husbandJuan.  We sat down with them after the activity and asked how they likedit.  Juan immediately began to tell us how he felt something amazing as hewas in the church and how much he liked the people that were there.  Wetaught them about the gospel of Jesus Christ and why it is so important toapply in our life.  As we invited them to be baptized we had not evengotten though the invitation when Juan began to shake his head, tears in hiseyes saying, "YES, this is exactly what my family needs right now.   We have finally found what we are lookingfor."  Nancy looked at him very surprised and with tears in her eyesalso accepted and committed to be baptized on the 15th of October.  It wasthree weeks away but from the time they accepted to be baptized to the 15theverything went perfect.  They had no problems with any of the commandments;in fact they loved every time we taught a new commandment because it alwaysseemed like something they had been wanting to change in their life.  Theywere the most prepared family that we have ever met and it has been such ablessing to see the gospel work in there life.

"The day of their baptism Juan and Nancy showed upmore excited than ever.  As Margaritashowed up, she revealed that she had brought a laptop with her.  As we walked back into the room afterattending to something, we walked in to see Juan and Nancy equipped with aheadset excitedly talking to their two children and Nancy´s mother on Skype inParaguay.  It was a very special moment tosee them interact and explain what was about to be taking place.  As the daughter saw her mother dressed inwhite she said, 'Mom I want to wear a white dress like that too!'  With tears in her eyes Nancy responded, 'Don´t worry, when you and your brother come you will both be baptized too!'

Preparing for baptism

"Nancy´s mother and two children watched theentire baptism from start to finish. Nancy´s mother became overwhelmed with emotion and began to cry duringthe moments of Juan and Nancy´s baptism. It truly was a special experience to see this family together in Spirit.

"Their children will be flying over to reunitewith the parents at the end of November.  Matias will be baptized by hisfather in the beginning of December, and then middle of December they areplanning to attend the trip with the ward to the temple to do baptisms for thedead.  There main goal at this point isto make it to the temple a year from now to be sealed."