December 5, 2007 – December 17, 2007
One morning Elder
Guerra and I were working in La Reserva again when we came across an area we
hadn’t been to before. It was right next to an electrical grid that had a high,
barbed-wire fence around it. The houses there were very small and made mostly
of sheet metal and heavy cardboard, but the most unusual part about it was how
packed together the houses were. There wasn’t any space for a road between
them, just little footpaths in a grid. We saw a couple of boys outside one of
the houses and introduced ourselves to them. They were brothers; they told us their
names were Daniel and César Vera Guerra. Elder Guerra perked up when he heard
their second last name. He pointed out that they might be distant relatives. I
don’t know how likely that is; Guerra isn’t a super common name, so I guess it
might have been possible, but either way, they bonded over their shared name.
They told us
they lived in this little cluster of houses, which they called El Mango. We
asked if their parents were around, and they brought us up to one of the houses
in front and introduced us to their mother. We taught a brief lesson and
invited them to come to church with us on Sunday. The two boys told us they
wanted to come, but the mom said she couldn’t. We asked her if she had a prior commitment.
Her answer was more complicated than we had expected.
She said that
El Mango was a new neighborhood; it had just recently sprung up next to the
electrical grid more or less overnight. It sounded like the people living there
were a large group of squatters that decided to live and work together. Since the
houses there had been built quickly, they were pretty insecure and needed
constant vigilance to protect against thieves (and maybe the title owners of
the land). The families living in El Mango assigned each adult a period of time
during the week when they were required to keep watch; if they didn’t show up
for it, they’d be fined. (They sounded much more organized than I’d imagined
squatters being.) Their mother’s turn to take the watch was Sunday mornings, so
she wouldn’t be able to go to church. Still, she was very friendly to
us, and she encouraged her sons to go to church with us even though she couldn’t
go herself.
From El Mango,
we walked over to the Guerreros’ house to see if we could encourage them to
keep coming to church with us since they’d missed the last time. No one
answered the door when we knocked. Through the (rather large) gaps in their
door (which was really just a piece of sheet metal secured with a chain and
lock), I could see shadows moving quickly on the other side. Still no answer.
We were just about to leave when Joel came walking up the road toward his
house. We talked to him briefly, but I don’t remember the details very well. I
think his interest in the Church had caused some conflict of opinion between
him and his wife, who never really warmed up to us. That was the last time we
visited them.
Since Ana and
Karina’s baptisms, we’d started to make better progress teaching Raúl, Ana’s
older son. He was seventeen, but between his large build and his full-time construction
job, he often seemed like a grown man. His schedule made it hard for us to teach
him regularly, but he had been more interested recently. When we started talking to him
about baptism, we taught him that baptism was a commandment, and that it
enables us to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, but the idea came into my
mind that I needed to emphasize how baptism allows us to be forgiven for our
sins. I did my best to explain all this through my less-than-stellar Spanish, and
then I asked him if he would be baptized like his mom and sister. He said yes.
We set a date for his baptism a few weeks down the road and asked him to read a
few sections in the Book of Mormon we’d given him so that he would learn more
on his own time.
Over the next
couple of weeks, we knocked on lots of doors, contacted lots of people in the
street, and taught lots and lots of lessons to new investigators.
Unfortunately, no one besides the Vera Guerra’s and Raúl seemed to be sincerely
interested. The Vera Guerra’s didn’t have a lot of formal schooling, so when we
taught them, we had to keep things simple and ask lots of questions to make
sure they were understanding. Learning a new religion’s beliefs can be
confusing for anyone, but it’s especially hard when just reading a sentence takes
a lot of concentration. Still, they were interested and wanted us to keep
coming.
Raúl was also progressing.
He agreed to stop drinking after we taught him about the Word of Wisdom. It
really helped to have Ana and Karina there with us as we were teaching Raúl;
when we weren’t explaining ourselves well, one of them could jump in and say it
in a way that made sense to him. When we had to leave to go to our next
appointment, they could provide more consistent support by answering his
questions and helping him remember the commitments he’d made.
On December 11,
Elder Guerra turned two. He and another missionary in the zone had started their
missions exactly two years prior, so the other missionaries in the zone decided
to throw them a small party after district meetings.
Elder Antonio and Elder
Guerra on their 731st day as missionaries. They would return home the following
week. Also pictured are some of Mexico’s unique sodas: Fanta (which comes in
like seven different flavors, all of them better than the American variety),
Fresca (which tastes better in Mexico because it uses actual sugar instead of
artificial sweetner), and Lift (an apple-flavored soda and my personal favorite).
A snapshot of my zone in
Xalapa near the end of my first transfer. Top: Elders Sharp, Guerra, and
Lindsay; Middle: Elders Joaquín, Bowen, Alonso, Breceda, Antonio, Bowman,
Calzada, Schwarting, and Gutiérrez; Bottom: Sisters Sánchez and Sevilla.
The next day
was the Virgin of Guadalupe Day, which Catholic Mexicans believe was the day an
image of the Virgin Mary miraculously appeared on the cloak of Juan Diego, an
indigenous Mexican convert to Catholicism. The Virgin of Guadalupe is by far the
most important saint to Catholic Mexicans. She appears in images and shrines in
most people’s homes, in little huts outside on the street, and even in bus
stations, just to be safe. In Xalapa that day, there was a huge parade in her
honor, with big trucks decked out with images and other decorations. I wish I’d
taken photos. Instead, here’s a photo of a shrine at a bus station elsewhere in
the mission:
In the top right is a fairly typical
Virgin of Guadalupe shrine in Santa Cruz, Veracruz.
Later that week
was Raúl’s baptism. Elder Guerra performed the ordinance this time. It would be
the last one of his mission. Raúl was confirmed the next day in church.
Elder Guerra, Raúl, Ana,
Karina, and myself at Raúl’s baptism. Lots of Mexicans don’t naturally smile in
photos.
Sunday night the
zone leaders called us to tell us about transfers. Every six weeks, the mission
president decides whether to move missionaries around between areas and
companions. One generation goes home, and another arrives. Since Elder Guerra was
going home, I knew I’d be staying in Alborada and getting a new companion to
replace him. But I didn’t know who it would be. That evening, we did splits
with the teens in the ward again, so when the zone leaders called Elder
Guerra to tell him about transfers, he called the teenager I was with to tell
me who was taking his place. He told me it would be Elder Nájera. Elder Guerra didn’t
know him very well, but he said he’d been on his mission for about ten months. Sister
Sánchez and Sister Sevilla were both being transferred out of the area next to
ours, and two elders were replacing them.
The next day
Elder Guerra packed his things and visited a few of the members in the ward.
Our last visit was to a family that Elder Guerra and his previous companion had
taught. They had all gotten baptized together and were becoming strong members
of the ward.
Elder Guerra and myself with the Rodríguez family the
night before Elder Guerra left for home. Every time we talked to them, I could
tell how much they cared about Elder Guerra. I hoped that I would be able to
find and teach a family just like them.
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