Line upon Line

My laptop is full of wonderful stories from the lives of our missionaries, from when my husband and I served as mission leaders in the Dominican Republic. I gathered these stories as our missionaries spoke to me in Spanish. This exercise started out during the missionaries’ interviews with the President. I was working hard to learn Spanish. It is particularly difficult in the Dominican Republic because they have their own dialect of Spanish. And they speak so fast, they often drop consonants.

So, while a missionary was having his interview, I would talk to his or her companion while they were waiting for their own interviews. I had them tell me a story from their mission—in Spanish—so I could practice hearing and understanding Spanish as it’s spoken on the streets.

I was not prepared for the remarkable stories that they would share with me! This little exercise turned out to be one of the most precious experiences on my mission. One of the first stories I recorded was by Elder Saucedo from Guatemala.

When the missionaries arrived from the MTC on transfer day, I typically gave the training and welcome to the mission, while my husband interviewed each missionary. On the transfer day that Elder Saucedo arrived, I was so pleased to see fifteen enthusiastic new missionaries. Elder Saucedo was not one of them. While the others listened intently and responded to the training, Elder Saucedo seemed to be a million miles away.

He did not look up from the table. Not once. He did not participate with the others when I had the missionaries introduce themselves. When it was his turn, he stood up with his head down, mumbled a few words, then sat down. As the hours of training dragged on, he looked miserable.

Elder Saucedo

When it was his turn to meet with the President, he left and returned without a smile. I learned later from my husband that he had told him he wanted to go home. He said that he had only come because his parents threatened not to support him through college if he didn’t serve a mission. He did not have a testimony and was not interested in gaining one. He had decided that it was time in his life to quit letting his parents dictate to him. He wanted to go home.

Of course, at the time, I didn’t know any of this; I only knew that he was definitely not engaged in my training.

After a couple of hours of training, we fed the missionaries lunch. Then we assigned each of them a temporary companion from Santiago, gave them a Book of Mormon in Spanish, and challenged them to place it before coming back for dinner. They all left with their new “companions” to place their first Book of Mormon.

When they arrived back, Elder Saucedo seemed to have had a complete turnaround. He was smiling and enthusiastic. He engaged with the other missionaries. I was stunned to see the change.

Two weeks later, my husband was conducting interviews in Elder Saucedo’s new zone. I was so pleased to note that he was alert and eagerly participating with the other missionaries.  When his companion went in for his interview, I could hardly wait to talk to Elder Saucedo. I was dying to find out what had caused such a dramatic change in his attitude!

I asked him what in the world had happened when he was with his temporary companion, trying to place a Book of Mormon in Santiago. This was the story he shared with me:

He started by telling me how unhappy he had been at the MTC (Missionary Training Center). He had never enjoyed church and felt that he was being forced by his parents to serve a mission, even though he had no desire to do so. He was uninterested in the training I was giving because he had already decided to return home. He continued:

When my companion and I left, we visited some families. Nothing special happened. We had 3 appointments in the afternoon. In none of these places were we able to leave a copy of the Book of Mormon. I was thinking to myself that I would be embarrassed, as the only missionary in my group, unable to place a Book of Mormon. I thought that this was a miserable start to my mission. I really didn’t even want to be here. Why was I here?

As we were walking, returning to the mission home, as we passed a street, I saw a woman away down the street. She was sitting in front of her house. I received a feeling that I should talk to her, but she was a bit away. The feeling wouldn’t leave me, so I finally said to my companion, I feel like we should go back to talk to that woman sitting in front of her house.   

He looked at me kind of funny but agreed to go back. We went back. There was a fence around her house. We approached the fence and called out, “Good afternoon”.  She immediately began to talk to us before we could even tell her why we were there, and her first question was, “Where have you been?” Wait, what??

 She told us that she had been sitting in front of her house for 27 days waiting for us. When we asked her why she was waiting for us, she replied that she had had a dream 27 days ago. She dreamed that two young men in white shirts and ties would come to her house. They would have a book for her. This book would help her change her life. She’d been waiting in front of her house ever since.

At this point in his story, Elder Saucedo became a bit teary. He said that the woman asked them if they had a book for her? Uh huh!! As he gave her the Book of Mormon, we had challenged him to place, and he felt a charge go through him. He had just experienced a direct miracle from God. For him! It completely changed him.

Elder Saucedo concluded his story with these words: “I believe that this experience helped me feel grateful to be on this mission. I believe that there are many other people waiting for this message. When I returned to the mission house, I had a few minutes to study. I read 1 Nephi 21:1-6 in the Book of Mormon. This scripture helped me to understand the reason that I am called to be here. God has called me by name. Many are waiting for this message. I will work hard to meet all the persons that God has prepared for me to teach.” He became a wonderful missionary!

I have often wondered about this story. That day, we had 15 enthusiastic missionaries who had come ready to serve God. They had testimonies and were determined to be diligent and successful. Why hadn’t that incredible miracle come to one of them instead of to the one missionary who had no testimony and wanted to go home?

I can only conclude that this miracle had come to Elder Saucedo because he was the one who needed this miracle. He was the lost sheep that the Lord was reaching out to. The others were going to be fine. What beautiful evidence of the Lord’s love for this lost sheep!

I find it significant that in the parable of the lost sheep, the Good Shepherd left the 99 sheep to go look for the lost sheep. To a shepherd, every sheep is precious. To God, His every child is precious. In fact, in all the universe, there is nothing more precious.

John and I have ten beautiful children that God has entrusted to us. Some of them are incredibly stalwart in their testimonies and their church service. Some, however, have wandered. Interestingly enough, their crisis in testimony came after both serving a mission and a temple marriage. It is heartbreaking to us.

As I reflect back on Elder Saucedo, however, I am comforted to know that the Good Shepherd has not forgotten them. He knows how to touch their hearts. He is still guiding their lives. I have seen His hand at work in the lives of our missionaries. I am confident that in His own perfect timing, He will find a way to help our wandering children restore their testimonies, as well. John’s and my job is to continue loving them and helping them to feel God’s love for them through us, in the meantime.

We are experiencing a time in our Church’s history when many people are questioning their faith. This is in fulfillment of the Lord’s prophecy.  See, for instance, the parable of the ten virgins. While Satan seems to be having a heyday, I believe the Lord is well aware of every child who has wandered. Our job is to continue forward in faith, trusting in Him to help us secure our family eternally. In our case, it may take more than 27 days, but we’re prepared to go the distance. Love empowers us to do whatever is required.