Coming to this part of Mexico has
awakened memories that have mostly slept for more than forty years. Today was
fast and testimony meeting. To give you an idea of how powerful the Spirit was,
my wife cried nearly the whole time. We had people who were not even baptized
giving powerful testimonies of the gospel in their lives. A young hermana bore
what would be the last testimony of her mission before a ward and a very old
hermano bore by his words the last testimony of his life. Though I hadn’t
planned on it, I too gave my testimony.
I told the congregation that one of
the first Mexicans that I had known really well was my mission president,
Benjamin Parra. President Parra arrived in my mission when I was nearly through
my two years. Almost immediately a great change took place. President Parra was
a man of tremendous faith and love for us and his country. He inspired us all
to do things that we thought were impossible. We worked incredibly hard,
exercising our faith and the Lord blessed us. There were only eighty
missionaries in a mission that covered a third of Mexico but the Lord blessed
us to be able to baptize more than a thousand people in one month. We all
looked back at what our faith had wrought in total amazement and gratitude.
Being here has awakened these memories
so vividly. What a wonderful and inspirational time that was in my life. As I
look back on the years that followed those eventful months I realize how
profoundly they have affected me. I have made many mistakes in the ensuing
years but because of the faith that President Parra inspired in us, and the
power we discovered in it, I have never given up and never stopped moving
forward. From that time and events in my life before that, I have always known
that my Savior not only lives but loves and deeply cares for me as for all
Father’s children. Over and over again he has been there for me when I have
stretched my faith as I learned to do under my beloved president.
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