On the Family

So this week, the Garcia Family was finally baptized, after 2 long months of teaching, helping, explaining, almost begging, they were finally baptized this Saturday, it was so happy to see them entering in the waters of baptism as a family, but let me give you a little insight to the journey.

 

 

   When we first found the Garcia Fam. they fought baptism on the basis that they had already been baptized.  We explained and invited and they said they would read and ask God is the Book of Mormon was true.  After 2 weeks, the father`s sister made a negative comment about the church which didn`t affect him, but had a big impact on the mom.  From that moment until this past week, it has been a fight to stay in contact and teach to help them gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon.  Then the mom`s sister came who is really Catholic and didn`t want her sister to be associated with any other religion.  For two weeks we fought with that, trying to stay in contact, teach, while she wasn`t to open to talk to us.  During all this time, the dad and son, were on board and wanted to get baptized. 

  Finally after almost a month, we were able to find them all together and the mom said that she hadn`t read, that she`s catholic and has been going to the catholic church.  We taught and at the end invited her to read and pray to know.  The next visit, we invited them again to be baptized.  A few days later, we brought the Zone Leaders and they interviewed them (for more than an hour).  When they finally got done, they told us that they decided they would be baptized that Saturday.  So this Saturday, they entered as a family into the church.

 

Now, many times during this journey, we had to consider the possibility that the mom wouldn`t decide to get baptized and what we would do. We really didn`t want to baptize only part of the family.  The family is the important element of the gospel, we are doing the work of salvation which ends in the temple.  We always start with the father, we never purposely divide a family.  We want eternal families, our goal is to bless families, not create division or baptize children that will eventually drift away.  We believe in blessing families and helping them becoming eternal families.  We do NOT baptize kids or teens by themselves, never.  Unless they are part-member families.  We can`t even teach a family unless the father participates and much less baptize without the dad.  I am so grateful for the perspective we have on the temple and I know that the gospel blesses families and that the families can be eternal "through Heavenly Father`s plan"  I love you all!  Have a great week! 

contemplating life?

Yummy sub sandwich

Baptism for Garcia Family

District Hermanas

Zone Activity

Worn out shoes