May 27, 2013

Dear Mom and Dad,

First off, I´m sure you are all dying to know if I had changes this last week. Drumroll... I´m still here in Quillota! What is more, I´m still with Elder R, this will be our third change together and we´re pretty excited, we work really well together. We did have a bit of change, though, we are now with Elder J, from Peru--his companion went home early, leaving him alone, and he will be here with us until future notice.

So, yesterday was JC's baptism. It was a beautiful experience, even though the devil was working until the very last moment to keep him from getting baptized. First the key broke off in the font door--the bishop opened it with a knife. Then the light didn´t want to turn on--after a few moments waiting it lighted up. Last off, the font only filled halfway up, and I needed all of the biceps I´ve gotten lifting weights with Elder R to bring him down almost to the floor and then bring him up again. But, in spite of the opposition, it was a beautiful service and JC is glowing with light.

We met a member named E this week, an older lady that we hadn´t visited before. We had a really beautiful conversation, I learned a ton in the half-hour we spent with her. She is a person that really glows with light and happiness--just by looking at her, you can tell that she lives the gospel how it is meant to be lived. She told us about her trips to Europe, showed us her Book of Mormon collection in eight languages, and encouraged us not to change, not to do things differently just because somebody tells us to, because when you are close to God, somebody will always come along and try to pull you away.

We also taught a man named J this week. He was baptized as a young man, now he is sixty-something and years and years have passed since he went to church. He started off telling us that he only got baptized because the missionaries were nice, but as we kept conversing with him, we realized that he really did have a testimony, he read the Book of Mormon, prayed about it, and got an answer from God. It was his long inactive span that weakened his testimony to the point that he forgot that he, at one time, had it. But, we invited him to read and pray once again, and I am confident that he will receive an answer.

Viviendo el sueño,

Elder Jason Ray