in His own way...

Last week I e-mailed a story about the Juan family. We had another similar experience this week.

We have been teaching a guy named Gerardo for a couple months. He's from Guatemala and speaks ZERO English and a little Spanish--he speaks a local Lamanite dialect called Chu. When we first found him he was absolutely the golden investigator. Every time he read the Book of Mormon he cried and his prayers were more sincere than you can even imagine. He's about as humble and kind as it gets. Since day one, he asked us to pray for him to find a better job so that he could support his parents and siblings in Guatemala. We promised him that as he came out to church and committed for baptism, the Lord would bless him with better work. The first time he came out to church, his boss gave him three more days of work, more than double his original two days. He then accepted the commitment to be baptized and confirmed. His boss gave him another day and he started getting double shifts at work. He came out to church again the week he was to be baptized. He was ready for baptism. As we taught each lesson and commandment he expressed his feelings that every thing we taught him was true. He has never drunk alcohol, smoked a cigarette, done any sort of drugs, or drunk tea. He did drink coffee in the morning every once in a while, but only when he had the money to buy it because that's what everyone else did. When we taught him the Word of Wisdom he immediately stopped drinking coffee. When we taught him the law of tithing he said "Wow, I've finally found a way to repay God for all the things He has given me." When we taught the law of chastity he said, "In my country, we would never dream of even dating without specific permission from the woman's father. One of my life's goals is to be baptized in the Church, find a woman strong in the Church and marry her in the temple." The week of his baptism arrived. He was to be baptized on Friday and confirmed the following Sunday. Everything was ready. We had the programs made, the branch invited, the member to perform the baptism ready to do so. We went over Thursday evening with the member that Gerardo had chosen to baptize him. He wasn't there. His roomates told us that after we had left the previous day, he had gotten a call for a full-time job in Virginia, but he would have to start Friday morning. He left early Thursday morning and was already in Virginia when we went to visit him in the evening. He had received an answer to much prayer and more faith. We called him Thursday evening and again Friday afternoon. He is getting settled in nicely in Virginia and has already started work there. Although he will not be baptized in this area and into this branch, we are connecting him with the missionaries in Virginia and are confident that he will continue on the path that he has begun towards the gate of baptism. God certainly heard and answered his prayers. Gerardo now has a full-time job and is able to support his family back home in Guatemala. Although the Lord certainly did not answer our prayers in the way we expected or would have liked, he did answer them with a blessing that is better than anything than we could have hoped for here in this area. God works in mysterious ways, on His own time, and in His own way, but He certainly does work!

Elder Raymond