Los Anthony: 2012

Well, I think is time to write something about the things that just happened. I’m just amazed of how the Lord works things out. I wrote about getting a 500 dollar scholarship at UVU this last December, while doing that I also applied for scholarships at the same honor society at a national level. I tend to put myself down, and this wasn’t an exception, however, and like always Mike was there to let me know that I was as suitable as any other candidate to get this scholarship (5000 dollars in my checking account). I submitted my application in October and didn’t give it too much thought, although I had to write a 5 page essay, write in detail every single service I gave, including people who could verify it was true. It was exhausting because when I decided to give my free time to serve others I didn’t do it thinking that I should report every single thing to someone. I decided to ask Dara to write a letter for me, even though I knew that it had to be written by a university official familiar with all my activities. Dara wrote me a beautiful and unconventional letter, she is awesome. Well, at the beginning of February I receive the email that said that I had been chosen to receive the 2011 Golden Key Undergraduate Achievement Scholarship. We’ve used most of the money to pay debt, we saved some money for our baby furniture and Mike suggested that I should go see my parents in Mexico.

I told my sister about it but asked her not to tell my mom in case my doctor thought I shouldn’t travel. As some of you know, my parents had been taking the missionary discussions since October and every time I spoke with my mom I could hear both interest and doubt. One day she told me that one of the missionaries had told them that he had felt very strongly that they should get baptized on March 24^th, for my mom this was one of the weirdest things, they had a mini lesson on revelations and answers to prayers. I have to say that I never got too excited about this, I thought that if it took ME almost two years to accept the true not knowing anything about the church, it was going to take my parents forever to make a decision because they have had a different experience with the church. When I started going to church my mom started finding all kinds of anti-Mormon stuff online, and receiving terrible comments from ignorant people.

For some reason my parents do not have missionaries in their ward, so a senior missionary couple that is actually serving in the temple have been nice enough to visit my parents every Tuesday. Eventually, missionaries from another ward started visit them also. This older couple has been a huge blessing in my parents’ lives, I remember one Tuesday I was feeling horrible, I was starving and could not keep anything in my stomach, I was dizzy and even though I don’t like to tell my mom these things because she is the queen of freak outs, I felt like I needed to talk to her. I was crying so bad, I needed somebody to tell me that this was going to go away. At the end when I asked her how things were going she told me that my sister was sleeping next to her on absolute bed rest because she was bleeding (My sister is pregnant with her second baby, she lost her first at 19 weeks last year). I felt terrible that she had to get bad news about both of us in the same day. That day the older couple went to visit them, Elder Jorquera offered to give them a blessing of comfort. My dad say he felt so calm. I think that was the day that my parents’ actually started to pay attentions to the whisperings of the spirit.

With so many things to remember I don’t even know if I have the facts right, but at some point my mom told my sister that she had told the missionaries that she would not get baptized if I was not there to be with them and if Mike was not there to perform the baptism. My sister then told her that I was actually going to go to Mexico after my doctor’s appointment, and then out of nowhere my mom said, “then I will be baptized”. My dad got his own revelation, he said that there is a girl that has been going to church, they are together in the gospel principles class, that week she had been baptized and the teacher asked her to share her conversion story. She said that her brother had joined the church years ago and that he decided to serve a mission, she said that after that she could see how happy he was and the difference that the gospel had made in his life, that her life had been very different before knowing anything about the gospel, but that she was willing to change if this was going to give her strength to find happiness even in difficult times. My dad was crying and when they got out of church he told my mom that when this girl was speaking he felt like I was talking to him. That day he too decided to get baptized. I did not know any of these until my mom asked me to call her. When she told me I was like numb, I wasn’t crying, and I wasn’t jumping like crazy either I just remember asking “are you sure? Are you BOTH sure?. All this time I had thought that my dad was going because my mom was forcing him. I told her that she didn’t have to do it because I was going, I told her a thousand times that I would still go even if she decided not to be baptized, but then she told me that the missionaries had taught her to listen to the promptings of the spirits, and that she and my dad had felt them very strongly. I told them that I wasn’t sure Mike could make it, but when I asked Mike he told me we could figure something out so that he could also go. I guess we are not getting furniture for a while, but is so worth it! Our apartment is empty, but our hearts are full.

My brother and sister have been amazing; even though they do not understand their decision they have noticed small changes in them. My sister says she is proud of them for doing something that they believe in.

The day of the baptism my mom called me and asked me if Mike had his temple recommend with him, I knew it was inside his temple bag. I emailed him to ask him and I was right, he didn’t have it with him and he was going from his work to the airport, which is south of his work, our apartment is north from his work. The missionaries were at my house that day, they told me that the new bishop was asking for that, and the only thing I could think of was giving them our Utah bishop number. Thankfully he decided to get out early from work and went back to the apartment, what a relieve!!

The day of the baptism we were all excited, we got to the church half an hour early and the new bishop was there (he was sustained that Sunday). I saw him calling Mike into his office with a face that wasn’t very friendly. When they got out Mike had a concerned look on his face. He told my parents and me that the Bishop had decided to do the confirmation on Sunday, Mike was leaving on Sunday at 6 AM. I was super sad; I had to hold back some tears. I put myself together and told my parents, who were also sad, that we should respect the Bishop’s decision; I told them that he was a chosen man and the authority of their ward. They agreed.

While planning the program for the baptism I purposely suggested some names for the little talks so my mom wouldn’t chose me, I did not want to do it because I knew I was going to be a wreck, but that didn’t save me from giving the opening prayer. I started crying before I could start talking, I hadn’t cried all that time. It was a beautiful ceremony. In the middle of the ceremony I saw the bishop walking up to Mike and whisper something to him. And then when it was time to start the baptisms the bishop and the stake president took my parents and Mike to his office!! My brother and sister asked what was going on and I could only nod, I was so confused! They came back into the room and then we all went out to take some pictures, after the pictures we all went back to the room except my dad and Mike; they were ready for the baptism. It was so amazing to see my husband baptizing my dad, I was crying the whole time.

They BOTH came back to the room dressed, which I thought was weird because Mike was supposed to be waiting to baptize my mom. Then the bishop announced that we were going to have the confirmation followed by and ordination to give my dad the Aaronic Priesthood so he could have the power to baptize my mom. That was one of those moments in which you are so surprise you don’t even react. It all happened so fast. Mike did the confirmation, then the bishop ordained him an Elder, then they left the room again with my mom and got changed again into the baptismal clothes.

My dad was so nervous, even though Mike was by his side whispering the words in his ear; he had to repeat the words twice. Finally after his third attempt to say the words right my mom’s elbow came out of the water and he had to do it one more time.

At the end it was perfect, I do not understand what happened or why, but I know that somebody must have gotten that direction from the Lord, we were all crying, including my sister. The spirit was so strong and there was a lot of people supporting my parents. I did have the best experience in that ward when I started going to church, but I am so grateful that they are doing a great job in welcoming my parents. Actually, the bishop gave my dad his first assignment that day; he was to bless the sacrament the following day on sacrament meeting. As I said before, I do not understand everything that happened that day, I am just grateful that we were able to witness something so beautiful.

I am so grateful for my husband, he had a full day of work on Friday, and then he had to go back to our apartment to get his temple recommend and then took a flight to Cancun, where he then had to take a bus to the bus station to take another bus to Merida. He got to my parents’ house at 2 AM on Saturday. We had a full day on Saturday and after the baptism we had a little birthday celebration for him. He took a bus to Cancun at 6 AM on Sunday; he was incredibly tired.
I'm back in Atlanta, it is always hard to say goodbye seeing how sad my family gets. I guess is now time to prepare for our little princess. We are so excited! Mike still doesn't know what is he going to do with a girl. I know perfectly what I am going to do!
Thank you so very much for all your support. We love our family.

My parents and Mike

My dad's sister Consuelo, My sister's husband Ricardo, my sister Ligia, my dad, my mom, my brother Rodrigo, and his girlfriend Andrea

The missionaries from Chile Brother and Sister Jorquera, my parents, sister Lucy is my parent's gospel principles teacher, and the Stake President's wife, who was the lady who took my mom to church for the first time in October.