This week sure was an interesting one as usual. We brought Abraham and his family THE WHOLE FAMILY to the temple to walk around the temple grounds. Abraham's health has been getting worse and worse. They were able to wheel him around in his wheel chair and afterward, we took the whole family in the waiting room. I asked if someone who spoke Spanish working could come talk to the family. They said the Temple President could come and talk to the family, he speaks Spanish. So he and his wife came in and explained to them the importance of temples and how Hno and Hna Ramirez can be sealed/married for time and all eternity and their kids can then come in and be sealed to them for time and all eternity. It was unbelievable. I could see in the eyes of two desperate mourning parents a glimmer of hope. The temple president turned to us and asked us to say a few words. Hermana Batchkoff told about her experience with her family when they went to the temple to be sealed together as a family. The only words that came to mind were, "Yo se que uds pueden hacerlo." ~I know that you can do it. I believe in them. It will take a lot of work, but anything through the Gospel of Jesus Christ is possible.
Step #1 Jorge and Xavier the 13yr old and 9 yr old need to be baptized. We went their house the next day and Hno Ramirez came in sat down and said, I am now putting my foot down. This family is going to start a straight and narrow path. We have a goal to live together forever. We made a plan of all the lessons we have to teach them...told them the things they needed to do to develop a testimony of the Restoration and the Book of Mormon something they have forgotten or never understood when they were baptized. Xavier the 9 year old wants to be baptized. The 13 year old is not really interested. His family is depending on him, but in reality at his age, he doesn't have a desire. The family has had some issues with him in the past...the Dad and him bump heads a bit...and in reality sometimes all this just feels way over my head. I am 21 years old. I don't speak your language perfectly and here I am trying to help you. In reality it isn't me. It is the Savior Jesus Christ. And all I am trying to do is turn this family to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Trying to show them through helping them live the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that is the way to true happiness. I have never wanted to help someone have a desire to pray like i've wanted Jorge to just try...We can't force him, his Dad can't force him to have a desire, he has to decide he needs it...and his family is depending on him. Saturday there was a baptism in another ward of a little girl who just decided to she wanted to be baptized. We were determined to get Xavier and Jorge to this baptism. The parents were busy tending to Abraham so we called up a 19 year old in the branch who just recently started coming back to church and asked him if he would drive the boys to the baptism. He agreed and showed up with his brand new black car that aparently goes from 0 to 60 in 4 seconds. If that doesn't motivate Jorge...I don't know what will. We got there and Jorge didn't want to come. After some persuading the parents talked him into it and Xavier and Jorge were on their way with Dario to the baptism. I know Jorge was listening. And I know a few of the things that were said for example, "...nobody knows what goes through your mind...but your Savior does" made him think. The closing song was A Child's Prayer. They sang along....Heavenly Father are you really there....He is. And he wants to help Jorge and his family out. He is just waiting for them to go to Him. Afterwards we took the boys to ice cream...I was amazed. Xavier, 9 years old, acted like he had never been to an ice cream shope before. He didn't know what to do. These kids have been in the house the last three or four years...watching their parents take care of their sick brother.
Last night we had dinner with this incredible family in the branch. We asked Hno if he would follow us to the Ramirez house to give the parents a Priesthood blessing of comfort. He agreed and he and his wife followed us over. He started talking to Hno Ramirez about the situation. Hno opened up about Abraham's history like I'd never heard before. Right now Abraham is in bed with an IV..morphing to take away the pain. The doctors say there is nothing more they can do. At this point it is in the hands of God. The whole left side of his head is filled with tumors. He sleeps most the time. Poor little guy. Hno/Hna Bleak started to tell of how they lost a child right after her birth...and how the Gospel of Jesus Christ gave them the perspective they needed to know their family can live together forever...death is not the end. Hno Bleak then offered to give them blessings. He went into the parents room in the corner of their trailor where Abraham laid sleeping. He sat against the edge of the bed and gave Abraham a blessing. The Love he expressed...that Heavenly Father has for Abraham was unbelievable. So real, unconditional and perfect. His Savior knows all he has been through. Next his Dad sat worn out and in pain received a blessing of comfort. With the same authority that Jesus Christ established in Jerusalem some 2000 years ago he blessed this family with comfort...with the clear knowledge that Heavenly Father knows and loves their family. Hna Ramirez was comforted and counseled to cling to the simple principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Family Prayer...Family Scripture study...Going to church....that is better than any self-help or therapy. That little bedroom last night was filled with the Spirit of the Lord testifying to this struggling family that all is going to be well in the end if they cling to their Savior and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This family as become our own this past month. Seeing the pain these parents suffer has shown me just a slice of the love a parent has for his or her child. It is absolutely incredible. Hno Ramirez said something last night that stuck with me, I have become his nurse...I give him his medicine his food...it wears on you but I would do anything to help him not suffer anymore, because when he is in pain, I am in pain. It made me think of how our Heavenly Father must feel when we are in pain...whatever kind of pain it is. And the reality of our Savior feeling that exact pain.
I've been in a lot of different houses...gotten to know lots of different families and will continue to. Something that was talked about at church that really hit me was this. There are families who are doing all they know how to do to be happy and sometimes just wonder why they are not REALLY happy. There are families who have accepted the Gospel but don't live it completely. Sometimes they do sometimes they don't...or they choose what principles to live and those not to live. Then there are the families that do all they can to live the principles of the Gospel. They strive to have family prayer and scripture study. They do all they can to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And there is a very big difference in each of those homes. The family that strives to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ, still has trials, problems...life is still rough, but they have the tools to know how to still be happy. That is the family I want to have. What an incredible blessing.
I am grateful for all of you. That you are healthy and that we have the tools to be truly happy. Not just temporarily happy.
En realidad...nunca he reconocido la importancia de una familia eterna...y la esperanza que existe en El Evangelio de Jesucristo. Yo se que nuestro Padre Celestial le ama. Siempre debemos dar gratitud por todo que El nos ha dado. Por que es mucho.
Les quiero~ Con mucho amor
Hermana Holland
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