It is crazy how much can change in just one week! This week was a little bit of a roller coaster for Elder Real and I, but we are both refocused and working hard again.
As you all know for the past couple months we have been teaching an incredible family named Dennis and Nineth and their two kids Kateline and Justo. When we first started teaching them they weren´t very receptive but were extremely friendly. Over the course of a few weeks we saw great changes in them. They began praying as a family, reading the Book of Mormon, and began to gain testimonies of the restored gospel. Last Sunday they attended church for the first time and absolutely loved it. They accepted a baptismal date for the 12th of May which was a miracle. Their biggest struggle was that they didn´t understand (or didn´t want to understand) why they needed to be baptized again. Over the course of a few lessons they were able to comprehend that only in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints do we have the proper priesthood authority in order to do the ordinance of baptism. Wednesday night we had a lesson with them and it went great. All of them were extremely excited to be baptized and Elder Real and I couldn´t have been more happy.
However, Thursday night we stopped by their house and things couldn´t have been more different. Their preacher from their past church was there in their house and had been talking to them for a couple hours. This preacher basically confused them all over again, telling them a ton of lies about the church, and telling them that when they attend a different church, and if they are baptized in our church they are rebelling against God. We began to all talk together and Elder Real and I shared scriptures that describe perfectly about the ordinance of baptism. We couldn´t have explained it more perfectly, but this preacher had hardened the hearts of Dennis and Nineth so much against us that they wouldn´t listen. At this point Elder Real got extremely frustrated and his pride got the better of him...he and the preacher started arguing back and forth trying to win the hearts of Dennis and Nineth. The preacher kept his cool and was pretty calm, but Elder Real got angry and it was obvious that the spirit had left him. He began to attack the church of this preacher...and although what he was saying was correct, nobody should ever put down another church or argue with a preacher like that. Elder Real said a few hurtful things, and the preacher, and Dennis and Nineth all got pretty offended. At this point I finally jumped in to stop the arguing and just started sharing my testimony. I had no idea what I needed to say but I knew that I needed to speak up. I began to tell them what I know to be true and just said what I felt prompted to say. I reminded Dennis and Nineth that they had told us with their own words that they had felt the spirit while reading the Book of Mormon, in our lessons, in church, and while they prayed to know if this church was true. I told them that I know they had received an answer from the Lord that this church was true and that I hope they can have the courage to follow what they know is true, despite what anyone else might say. After my testimony, I told them how much we love them and that we will always be here to support them. After I got done I picked up my backpack and we said goodbye and left.
After we left, I was extremely upset with Elder Real. He knew he had messed up and he apologized to me for the things he said. I basically just told him that I expected better of him and so did the Lord. It was a rough day. However, we have experiences in order to learn. I learned that no matter how smart we think we are as missionaries, we should never lean to our own understanding and try to prove someone else wrong. Elder Real got extremely angry in this situation, and because of the hurtful things he said, Dennis and Nineth told us that we are welcome to visit them anytime but that they have made up their minds and want nothing to do with the church. I learned that in a situation like this one the best thing to do is share powerful testimony, as directed by the spirit, and leave them to make their own decision. No matter how bad we might want to, we can never FORCE someone to do what is right. In the case of Dennis and Nineth they needed to learn to follow the impressions that they had received from the spirit. I learned that Satan is REAL. He knows when someone is began to walk in the right path and he will do all he can to break them down. Satan worked really hard with this family. I learned that these next 2 years are going to be difficult!!! I left that house nearly crying because of my deep love for that family. My heart is just broken for them because they are a beautiful family and were progressing so much. What hurts most of all is that we KNOW they received an answer to their prayers...and now they are choosing to deny those promptings of the spirit which they will ultimately be judged for. I learned that if we don´t have the spirit as missionaries, it is best that we don´t say anything at all! (D&C 42:14). I love Elder Real but in this moment it would have been better if we had both just shared testimony and left. When we teach we need to teach with love. If we don´t have love for those we teach then we don´t have anything. (Moroni 7:46-48). I learned that even in our most difficult moments we have to move forward! This family has their agency and they made their decision. It is hard to lose them after all the hard work we put in to help them progress, but I find comfort knowing that we did our part as missionaries. Our responsibility is to teach with clarity so that our investigators are capable of making a good decision. I continue to pray for this family every day, because I know that they know this church is true! I hope that one day they will have the courage to follow the promptings of the spirit they have received! Well that about wraps it up with Dennis and Nineth haha. We are planning on visiting them this week sometime just to make sure they know we still love and care for them.
We have a few other investigators that are steadily attending church which we are excited about. We basically are starting from scratch because now 4 of our 5 families that we were teaching don´t want to progress, so we are still in the process of searching for more families!
Well that´s about it for this week! Other than the situation with Dennis and Nineth, this week was pretty normal. Elder Real and I made our own set of weights out of a bar of metal and two big old coffee cans filled with cement. I am hoping to gain back some of the weight that I´ve lost here in this Nicaragua sun! I love and miss you all!
Love, Elder Parrish
