Familia Fermin (01/16/12)

Here is the latest:

Life is AWESOME! So I kinda mentioned that we have this ginormous family that we're working with, but I realized I didn't tell you very much about them. Their name is Familia Fermin, and they have thirteen people living in their house.  Eight are progressing or old enough to be baptized.

One of the sons is always playing soccer and isn't interested in listening to us, and the other three are babies. They are from Gracia a Dios, which is a really cool place. They speak a Misquit (miss-key-t) which I think is really cool. The only way to get to Gracia a Dios is by airplane or boat, and it has the largest natural reservation in the world. I think that's what you call it in English. Its where animals roam the land unhindered by human development, ya know, that kind of thingy. Anyways, so we have to marry them before we can baptize them (they agreed to both) and so getting their paperwork is a little bit tricky, but our goal is to have it all done by this Friday.

Their conversion story is super cool, and I think I've learned more from Fam Fermin than they have from me. So other Elders found and started teaching them, but they were acceptive to the message, but distant to the invitation to be baptized and married. She didn't want to be married to him, and he couldn't stop drinking. So the Elders dropped them, and rightly so. Me and My companion went looking through the antiguos investigadores, and we found this family of 8. The Elders didn't write down why they dropped them, so we figured we'd give them a visit and see whats up. Turns out they were praying for us to come visit them, and they are ready to give up everything to follow Christ.

When we walked in they treated us like family, even though we had never met, and immediately told us that they were going to church with us on Sunday.  He told us that he would give up drinking on the spot if she would support him. Man, it was pretty cool. So she's a nurse and works crazy hours, like most nurses do, and he's out of work, and they have a pretty big family. So we invited the bishop over, and we talked about welfare. I could see the disappointment and pain in his eyes as he asked for help from the bishop. It's a man's responsibility to provide for his family, and he knows that, and he knows that he can't do it alone. As Alma teaches, the Lord will have a humble people. We can choose to be humble, or we can be humbled, but the end result is the same. I know that this hardship is actually a blessing from God, and that it opened their hearts to the gospel.

Be Humble.

Pride is the universal sin. Humility is the universal cure.

Love you guys, thanks for the prayers
Elder Hansen