The water in Argentina feels just right

I went to Argentina to help Karen get her visa worked out at the embassy. It was a great trip. We got to go out to President Baroni‘s house and have dinner. President Baroni was my mission President when I was young.

The trip was all organized very well and went smoothly. She got her visa and everything went as planned. Much of the success came because Elder Salas from my mission and President Salas from Kenny’s mission, the same person, helped a lot!

He set me up with the driver who drove for the church. He was there the whole time and helped us in so many ways. He even helped me find where I could buy boxes of the highly coveted Capitan del espacio alfajores one afternoon. We had fun together and you could tell that he was very used to being a great host. Imagine my surprise on my way to the airport to leave when I found out that he wasn’t a member of the church. I was shocked because he seemed like a member of the church.

I asked him if anyone had ever approached him about the church given the fact that he had driven almost every one of the apostles. He said that as an employee they didn’t discuss these things.

I asked, have any of them shared a testimony with you? He said some of them were very good friends and named a few. He said they had told him that if he ever had any questions he should ask but he had never asked.

It dawned on me that I am not an employee of the church therefore I was under no such restriction or obligation with regards to employees or vendors. I asked him if he knew what we believed.

We were in a short 10 mile ride to the airport that turned into an hour and 15 minutes stuck in traffic so we had plenty of time for this discussion. I started with talking to him about who the people were that he had been driving. They were apostles, including President Nelson before he became prophet. He remembered him fondly and was greatly impacted in those rides.

I talked to him about the church, the restoration and what we believe. It was a great conversation and the spirit filled the car. When I told him the Joseph Smith story it was obvious that he felt the spirit. I asked him what he felt and he described it as happy and warm. I told him that this was how he felt when he felt the spirit of God. I asked him if he would feel that way if the things I was saying were not true? He said, I don’t think so, I know these things are true.

I asked him to think back about when he drove President Nelson, Elder Bednar, President Oaks and President Christofferson as these were the ones that he mentioned. I asked him how he felt when they were in the car. He said he would never forget the feeling he had when they were in the car and that it was the same feeling he was feeling right now. I told him that they were apostles of Jesus Christ and his spirit was with them. He said, that makes sense. That’s why I felt that way.

I told him about the Book of Mormon and how it was the writings of ancient prophets in America. I told him that prophets are important because they reveal God‘s will and they help us through life‘s challenges. He perked up. I bore testimony of the Book of Mormon and again there was silence in the car and I could tell that it was profoundly affecting him and touching his heart.

Finally we were approaching the airport and I knew I would have to go. We had been communicating through WhatsApp and I had an idea. I gave him a Book of Mormon in Spanish and said that we should read this book. He said he would. I said let’s read it together.

I told him that I had the impression that if he would read this book and stick with it, one day he would want to be baptized. I told him I would come from the United States back to Argentina so that I could be the one to baptize him if that was OK with him. He smiled and said yes.

We started when I got home. We would read a chapter a day individually and then write our impressions of the spirit back-and-forth on WhatsApp. This gave me a chance to testify each day and him a motivation to read the book.

Some days we didn’t get to it but the vast majority of the days we did.

It turns out that he had a little brother who was struggling and through our study of the Book of Mormon over the next two years he was able to introduce his brother to the church and his brother was baptized. He had a sister that was trying to cause trouble. She seemed to have a really bad spirit with her. My friend had to make lots of changes in his life including being selective about those in his life.

He had two daughters from a previous marriage and was living with a lady. At first we talked about them getting married but it just never came together. Getting a divorce from his first wife was expensive and hard to do. Bit by bit as he came closer to the gospel this lady he lived with, who he wasn’t married to, got more in line with his sister and more antagonistic towards him and the church.

Finally she left. When she was gone I saw this as our opportunity. Now that getting the divorce from his first wife was out of the way as an issue and he wasn’t living with anyone else we had an opening. It had been over two years since we started reading and he was finally ready to be baptized.

I used the meeting house locator and found his ward. I called both my mission president, President Baroni, who lived in that area and his daughter to find out who they knew that could help. I put all of my contacts to work setting up a system for this young man. I alerted Elder Salas to what we were doing and away we went.

I promised him that if he would study and read and pray he would get his answer as to the truthfulness of the church and a confirmation that he should be baptized. He did exactly that. The missionaries who were teaching him set a date for him to be baptized.

I was excited and started to make plans to come down. The date fluctuated a little bit but finally I locked in my tickets. I was coming down one week after I got back from Paris on a business trip. That trip had been a one day meeting in Paris where I flew over on Wednesday and back on Friday. I was home until Tuesday when I flew down to Buenos Aires. We were to baptize him on Thursday.

10 days before his baptism and a week before his interview he told me that he had paid for a friend to get an abortion seven years earlier. It was not his child but it was a scar on his soul. He told me how sorry he was and how he knew it was wrong. He said that it bothered him everyday.

Knowing this was a serious concern for the missionaries, I called them immediately and they got their mission president out to see him quickly. I told them that this approach was wonderful because I had a nonrefundable ticket. I was pleased to hear they had all hands on deck. I decided to proceed with faith and trust that they would get him ready.

The mission president asked him to fast, pray and ask for forgiveness. He met with the president two days later. He said that he felt the sting of the sin leave as the mission president embraced him. The president told him that he was ready to be baptized. I was excited.

I flew to Buenos Aires and arrived the day before his baptism. I took him out to meet President Baroni and Sister Baroni as well. It was a great reunion and President Baroni bore his testimony. The next day was a baptism day and it was glorious.

The people in the ward rallied around him and I got to do the baptism. After many years I was finally back in the water in Argentina where I belong.

We never know who the people are that God has prepared or where they will be found. It’s important to be sensitive to the spirit so that we can open our mouth and say the right words when that time comes.

President Baroni passed away a few years back and I really enjoyed the fact that we got to do a little more missionary work together at the end. I love him and I thank him for what he taught me. He taught me to always be on your knees in your heart and to act on promptings in that moment.

With it being Father’s Day today I wanted to do a shout out to my dad. He was a man who had a strong desire to do the right thing regardless of the issue or personal risk. As a police officer he stood with strength against evil and was able to use the gospel to bless many of those he encountered in their worst moments. He passed away a couple of years back but I never saw him waiver in his sense of duty to his father in heaven, even in times of discouragement or difficulty. I love you Dad.