"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall"
--- Confucius
As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we believe in miracles. But challenges befall both the righteous and otherwise. Just because we have faith doesn't always mean life won't be without its fair share of difficulty. Some blessings come now, and some don't come until later down the road.
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Elder Scott and I were left in charge of another recently baptized family, namely the father, Filiberto. He was one of the many converts Elder Fortaleza had introduced me to before his sudden departure from the Riveras area (See "On the Third Day"). It made it somewhat easier to find the address and to make the transition. Meeting new companions for some converts was a strange painstaking thing, to say goodbye to the first Elders or Sisters who introduced them to the restored gospel and to welcome their replacements, especially if the transfer was sudden.
WALK
To be completely honest, if I didn’t know them as converts, I would probably never have presumed them to already be members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, no offense. Filiberto was a good fatherly man, but apparently, that wasn’t always the case. Those windows to the soul made it plain to see, at least for me, that he didn’t exactly have an easy life either. He'd been through things. As missionaries who talk to thousands of people, we got accustomed to understanding "where people come from", call it the Gift of Discernment, if you want. He'd struggled with the Word of Wisdom in the past but since finding the gospel (recently) he’d turned his life around (See "Word of Wisdom"). His eyes still had an intimidating stern Dwayne the Rock Johnson focus to them, like an almost perpetually angry look. When you talked, he never broke eye contact, like he was looking behind your eyes and straight into your soul to see if what he was hearing matched with what he found. But looks aren't everything. He was a humble, simple man who tried to do right by his family.
Like many in Reynosa, Filiberto worked long hours in a maquiladora but when home, his door was usually left ajar, and more than open to us as welcomed visitors.
However, a while later we noticed that they started missing church week after week. For whatever reasons, we even struggled to find them home whenever we went by to check in on them. But at long last, on Intercambios with Elder Romano (Roh-mahn-oh), we passed by the door ajar. By this point, I expected the worst of things to be going on in their lives to explain their disappearance. We seized the moment to check in on them just to see if they were okay and if they needed help with anything.
Sometimes things happen that cause good people to turn against the restored gospel and the missionaries, usually because of some petty incident with a local Church attendee. That was my initial guess of what had happened. Or perhaps they were ill or something bad had happened in the family or to their family (very plausible for a dangerous place like the Mexican border). I guess it may have been possible that they went out of town for whatever reason, not that vacations are very common there, but to be gone that long without anybody hearing from them was concerning, especially since people sometimes just up and disappear in Reynosa. So when we saw that they were home, hope was renewed.
Elder Romano and I approached the home and saw Filiberto resting on his couch watching TV with one leg bandaged up. To my relief, we were invited in and, as always, the television was turned off without us asking in order to give us his full attention (He was always respectful in that regard). We asked what had happened to his leg.
He told us what happened: He was walking home either from work or from the bus stop to his house after leaving work one evening (many took the bus and walked since they didn't always have a car), a street dog had attacked him and bit his calf. The damage could have been worse but it was severe enough to make walking a literal pain. I didn't pry at what the leg looked like or look for physical validation because I knew his story to be true. When he was telling me the story, I didn't understand everything even though I wanted to understand as much as I could, but I didn't want it to feel like an interrogation. I wasn't there to tell him to shake it off and get back to church. I didn't want to make him feel guilty for something that clearly wasn't his fault. I knew that the pain and injury were real and if I were in his shoes, I likely would have taken some time away from anything that required me to leave the house too. At the end of the day, I figured that I didn't need to know all the details, just that he had been hurt and that's why we hadn't seen him but that he was in a state of recovery and in good spirits still.
When someone you care about is hurt, don't you just wish you could do something to help them? Help comes in many forms, all of which are valuable. But although we were missionaries who didn't have anything material to give that would help him in his recovery process, we asked if we could give him a priesthood blessing. Elder Romano took the lead.
Elder Romano was one of my all-time favorite Zone leaders (See "Mission Administration"). He was from Guatemala and was ALWAYS in a good mood. Always smiling and full of energy. He radiated faith. He always saw the good side of everything and everyone, and was incredibly kind and sincere, and talked with a gentle voice. He loved everybody. He was, in my opinion, one of the best missionaries our mission had to offer. He was one of the most Christ-like individuals I knew. I'm grateful I had the chance to work with him that day.
As expected being recent converts, we had to explain what it meant to "Give a blessing" (See "Administering to the Sick and Afflicted"). Elder Romano reminded them how Jesus Christ healed people according to their faith, especially faith in Him as the Son of God and Savior of the World. As such we asked Filiberto if he had the faith in Jesus Christ to be healed. He said that he did.
Read my blog post "The Priesthood" to read up on what it is, why it's necessary, how it's important, and the "Laying on of Hands".
We closed the front door for some extra silence and privacy. Immediately, I felt the difference, as if I were standing in a holy place despite being encircled by a largely ignorant neighborhood unaware or unaccepting of who we were, what the priesthood was, and what blessings we were trying to give them. If only they understood what we had to offer them as priesthood holders!
There in his living room, we gave Filiberto a priesthood blessing in which we gently laid our hands on his head, and Elder Romano blessed him according to his faith that he might take up his bed and walk (Matt. 9:6). His voice was full of what I call, "Missionary authority". At the end of the blessing, Elder Romano immediately reached out to take Filiberto’s hand and helped him slowly stand up. We encouraged him to walk around a little and although he still wobbled and would still need time to recuperate completely, the blessing helped.
Truth be told, when our hands were on his head, eyes closed, and Elder Romano said, “Take up thy bed and walk”, my heart jumped like I was hit in the chest. I almost couldn’t believe this was happening or would happen, or even could happen under our young hands. What a bold thing to say! I hoped any lack of faith I had wouldn’t negatively impact the blessing. And it didn't. On the contrary, my faith grew. God is in control. And there is the truth that was said by Elder Tad R. Callister in the April General Conference of 2013, that, "The priesthood in the boy is just as powerful as the priesthood in the man when exercised in righteousness".
When Peter and John went up together into the Temple of Herod, they met a man crippled from birth sitting by the gate asking alms with head down in humility. Peter fastened his eyes upon him and said, "Look on us”. The lame beggar obeyed:
“Then Peter said, ‘Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk’. And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up; and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.” (Acts 3:1-8)
I recognize and agree that many miracles are to be kept personal because of their sacred nature and not a thing to be shared casually. "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you" (Matt. 7:6). Furthermore, we believe in faith in Jesus Christ unto repentance, not sign-seeking for personal gain or satisfaction (See "Falsehoods and Sign Seeking"). There were many more miracles, many of which were directly related to the priesthood and others that weren't but those truly miraculous experiences I will keep personal. I share this one because never before had I heard a blessing so bold and sure as it fell from a priesthood holder's lips. It was an experience that I thought of whenever I had to give priesthood blessings, namely, the things that are possible when God's will and our faith are aligned.
Filiberto standing up wasn't as powerful to me as it was the sheer influence of Elder Romano's faith that seemed so miraculous. It had a lasting impact on me that thereon led me to work on developing an equal conviction when pronouncing inspired blessings. By this time, I’d already participated in and served as voice in many priesthood blessings but as time went on, I had increasingly many opportunities; I couldn’t give you an estimate of how many, but whenever I had that privilege, I made it my highest priority to be in tune to the still small voice of the Holy Ghost to give me direction on what to say. I always said a silent prayer in my heart before laying my hands on their head, or even entering the house, asked for the faith of all those present, took a deep breath, and then took my time so that it was the spirit and not myself who communicated what God wanted to give them. As I will explain in a future blog post, God doesn't always heal us physically, even when we have faith, and we should only pronounce priesthood blessings as the Holy Ghost prompts, not what we personally want. Look forward to this blog post, "Administering to the Sick and Afflicted".
God is aware of each of us and is there to guide us. But I've heard it said before that, "God can't steer a parked car". God wants to help us do what's right. He will reach out His hand to help us up but at the end of the day, it is up to us to grab His hand, take up our bed and start walking.
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