The following story starts in Trenčín. Elder Raymond and I had a daily goal to talk with 10 random people on the street. By the end of the day, we had reached our goal, so we could have easily called it and went home. Then we saw a couple about to cross the street, the same street we were about to cross. I thought, "Okay, although we met our goal, why not talk with this last couple?" We started with a warm greeting, which quickly turned into a chat about American films and the gospel. We got their numbers. We set up a meeting. We learned that goals are meant to push you to do more, not to put a threshold on your level of achievement.
We began meeting with this couple as regularly as their work schedules permitted. His name was Milan, hers Silvia. They were living together, unmarried, but both had been married in the past. Both of them had their own children. It was amazing to see their progress; the first time he prayed at the end of a meeting, his reading of the Book of Mormon to her as she fell asleep, their acceptance of a baptismal date.
There were just a few obstacles to get over before they could get baptized, of which they were not aware at this point. Firstly, they would need to live by the Word of Wisdom, which meant that she would need to quit smoking and he would need to quit drinking. Secondly, they would need to live by the Law of Chastity, which meant that they would either need to get married before baptism or separate, stop living together.
For our second lesson with both of them present (we were able to meet with them separately a couple of times), we had on plan to give them these commitments, namely to live the Word of Wisdom and keep the Law of Chastity. We taught the Plan of Salvation, which explains where we came from, why we're here, and where we're going after this life.
It was incredible to see their level of humility in accepting everything we taught, even when it was new information. But two big bombs were coming at the end of the lesson. We dropped the first one, live the Word of Wisdom. They said it would be hard, but to my surprise, they both committed to live by it! Then Sylvia said, "We're not married, will that be a problem?"
"Actually," said Elder Raymond, "we were going to talk about that next." He explained the Law of Chastity and that they needed to live by it before they were baptized, which meant marriage or separation.
"We don't want to get married," they said in one accord, "is there no other way?"
"Can't we get baptized without being married?" said Sylvia.
"No," said Milan, "that would be pointless, the baptism would mean nothing, and we would still be living in sin." Wow. This man gets it. He actually understands what we are teaching. "Would you marry me?" he asked.
"No!" she replied. We told them that they don't need to make the decision now, but we committed them to pray about it, to which they agreed. We promised that they will receive peace and guidance from the Holy Ghost. We gave them both priesthood blessings of comfort and strength to live the Lord's commandments.
I am impressed with their humility and willingness to act upon what they learn. I know they will gain a greater testimony of these things as they search the scriptures, pray sincerely, and live the commandments. But then I was transferred.
No comments:
Post a Comment