Andrea

Last night we received a call from the missionaries in Zentlalpan telling us that they were going to baptize a young lady named Andrea, today. My wife and I nearly jumped for joy. We surprised her at her baptism. She didn’t know we were coming.

We have known Andrea for several months. She is a very independent and intelligent  and beautiful young woman with a great deal of self-confidence. One set of her grandparents came from Italy. She has a close relationship with her father and loves the outdoors, often hiking and camping even in the snow—yes it does snow here in Mexico.  Together we share a friendship with a wonderful LDS family, if a little less active, with whom we had many discussions about the gospel and presented many family home evenings. That is where we first met her. At first she did not seem very interested in what we were saying, but as time passed, I saw an intent expression on her face that told me that she was thinking about what we said and wanted to hear more. My wife and I developed a close bond with her. A couple of months ago we told the missionaries in her area about her and shortly after that they told us she was taking the discussions.

At her baptism they asked me to speak. I spoke to her though I was aware of the rest of the room. Her face radiated a deeper inner change. I could tell that she was listening to every word as I talked about her covenant to take upon herself the name of Christ. The words came easier to me as they do when the Spirit is there strongly. I knew that I was talking to a treasured daughter of our Heavenly Father. It was not by chance that we had encountered her. He had led us there.