Misión de Fowers en California, Newport Beach : Hands that Hang Down...Ministering to the One

Queridos amigos y familia,

One of the challenges of this mission is setting appointments. Because we work with the immigrant population (in fact sometimes I think we live in little Mexico here in Vista), we find that EVERYONE has to work just to survive. Therefore, setting appointments is very difficult. When we call people to try to set appointments they put us off or ignore our calls, but we know that we need to get into their home in order to try to support and strengthen them. As of late, we have had the most success with our "drop-by" efforts. We start about 4:00 p.m. thinking that they will be returning home and outline a list of people to visit that live in close proximity to each other...then we start knocking doors. We have had so many remarkable experiences as we try to lift the hands and heads that hang down. Following are a few examples from Elder Fowers Journal: (We have changed their names to protect our new friends.)

Betty and Marco: This evening we visited Betty and Marco. This is a couple who joined the church about a year ago and have only been to church a couple of times since then due to Betty’s condition. Some 5+ years ago she suffered from some type of brain tumor which required surgery which left her blind, partially paralyzed and slow of speech. They have been together for 20 years, but only married for 9. Marco is her faithful husband who cares for her everyday after a full day of work along with cooking and cleaning. (I think they have someone to care for her while he works.) He is such a happy, positive man and treats her with such tenderness. Marco has not received the priesthood yet and does not understand it. He has drifted with the Word of Wisdom. So we began at square one with the apostasy, restoration, etc. He is obedient but just has not been nurtured since his baptism. He wants to progress and go to the temple. Luci and I have decided to teach them weekly. I felt the spirit as I nurtured the “hands that hang down”. In reality, we always come away enlightened by his unfailing faith in Jesus Christ.

Jansey: In the afternoon, we followed a reference from the young missionaries to visit Jansey. We found this beautiful woman in her late 30’s in a nearby trailer park living with her mother who is also a member. Jansey just recently reached out to the church for help. She is suffering from depression, anxiety and panic attacks which come from two abusive and broken marriages. She has lost custody of her only son to her first husband. In addition she is illegal, being brought from Mexico at 2 months of age. She knows nothing of Mexico and is afraid of deportation. We comforted her. Luci is really good at this, giving hugs amid the tears. We set up an appointment with the bishop to refer her for LDS social services to receive counseling. We will get her set up with the Pathway online education university. We are bringing over the Relief Society sisters for ministering. This is what we do as senior missionaries.

Marta: We accompanied the sister missionaries to drop by Marta who has been a living in the home of her boyfriend's parents for the many years and has a 14 year old daughter with their oldest son. Marta is illegal, and is on kidney dialysis 3 times a week, and she has had a stroke. She has been taught for generations of missionaries but because of her situation can not be baptized. Her boyfriend is not sure he wants to marry her. It’s a sad situation. I felt guided by the spirit to counsel her. I gently told her that her salvation is more important than her legal status and more important than her medical problems. I counseled her to move out, begin to live a chaste life and that the Lord would bless her with peace and better health. She could join then join church, which she has wanted to do for many years. She took the counsel to heart. The spirit was strong. We will follow up. Another hand that is hanging down

Alex and Malan: We have been trying to find Alex and Malan for sometime, and have dropped by their apartment several times, but finally one cold rainy night they answered the door and let us into their TINY apartment. They both joined the church about one year ago but fell into activity. They were living separately at baptism but now live together and not married. I think they feel embarrassed to attend church. They received us openly and we could quickly see their sincerity and desire to return to church. I told them that we would hold everything in confidence. We then began to ask them what was keeping them from getting married. It appears that Alberto has a wife in Mexico along with two daughters. He needs to divorce her and then marry Malan. It is a little complicated so I offered to help him initiate divorce . He is going to try. But in the meantime we told them that this was a common problem and that it should not keep them from coming to church. Christ will love them just the same if they continue to work to keep his commandments. Luci bore strong testimony with her best Spanish. The spirit was there and I think they will follow through. We invited them to come on Sunday and listen to the general conference. This is where senior couples are at an advantage. The younger missionaries are great at teaching and baptizing. But when it comes to these intimate issues senior couples can guide them along the road back.

Cezar Family: The R.S. Society President in the Buena Vista Ward suggested that we drop by the Cezar family. Bro. Cezar was in an industrial accident many years ago. He is a relatively young man left with pinched nerves in his back that affect his ability to walk. He is on full disability but continues with such a positive attitude. He told us about how he thought he would die much earlier and not be able to see his sons grow up. He is so grateful for the additional years. He talked about how he knew that the Lord had a purpose for this challenge and that he would serve until he could no longer move. He was just released from the Bishopric. What a remarkable, humble man.

This is just a sampling of the beautiful people we find when we are out seeking for His lost and hiding sheep. We pray for his guidance everyday as we try to lead them back to the fold.

Our Young Men's program continues to grow. Last week we organized a missionary preparation night and taught them how to tie a tie, spoke about how to prepare for a mission and shared missionary stories. Along with our regular boys Jason came for the first time. We have been working to bring him back for two months and we even got his registered for FSY. There were 11 Young Men in the room! Our boys along with a few friends. We have seen our new Young Men advisor really stepping up.

Update on our friend Hector: Last night we got into the Gonzales home after a 2-week pause because the family has had a round of illness. I took a pot of soup over a couple of days ago just to have an interface with the family. However tonight they seemed excited to see us. So without a lot of chit-chat we dived right into the lesson on the Plan of Salvation. We had a wonderfully balanced lesson with each of us taking rotating topics as we laid out the basic truths. Their children stayed for the entire lesson. We find his wife remembers very little about the gospel principles due to her long time away. The spirit attended us; giving us the words we needed. Hector is inching ever closer to baptism. I challenged them to read the scriptures everyday and to pray together each night. They accepted the invitation.

Kathy and Kevin came to visit! YEAH. I am afraid we weren't very good hosts as we tried to work our fun in between our missionary duties. Brad and family and Kathy's daughter Jennifer joined us for Easter lunch, and an Easter Egg Hunt. The sweetest moment of the day was our special Easter FHE with them. They just left this morning and I already miss her!