yes. The title says it all. It really really was. Ok, here is the story.
Sunday (as I may of mentioned last week) after the conference our counselor came up to us saying there was a man who wanted to be baptized, but he was homeless. We were excited, but didn't know too much either. So we set up the appointment for Wednesday afternoon with our ward mission leader, and waited to hear more until then. On Wednesday, he came up wearing normal clothes, he was younger, about my age, and didn't look at all like the homeless type. He introduced himself--Christian Di Salvo, from Salta, 20 years old just about to turn 21. I then felt a lot better because he did not appear in the least bit like a sketchy street man. We went in the chapel, and just asked him for his story, which is quite remarkable. He said that years ago, when he was 9 years old, he remembers his mom and dad researching the church. He had gone to church several times with them, but really at that age, had no interest. He went for a long time with them (till about 11 years old) but when the missionaries asked him to be baptized, he said he didn't want to be. He said he didn't like to sit in on lessons and got bored a lot, but he did say he felt really, really good. His parents got baptized, but not too long after he had a rough fall out with his family and moved out at a pretty early age. He has a certificate for Chef, so he began working at a restaurant, going to school, and living on his own in a nice apartment. He lived a pretty good life. He got involved with a lot of sketchy friends, and some dark stuff. He said that was his past "religion", but to me it sounded a bit more like a cult. Each week they would pay a man named Pi 400 pesos (about $100) and Pi then would throw the party for that weekend. Christian said he felt extremely dark during all of this, but these were all of his friends. Then, one day he lost his job. Since he lost his job he was tighter on money and was no longer able to pay the 400 pesos for the party. He said that every so called "friend" dropped him immediately. It caught him totally off guard. He had absolutely no one. He was long cut off from his family, and he had no friends, nothing. In a desperate rush to get away, he sold his apartment, and just hopped on a bus to wherever it took him. He ended up here in Paraná. Once here, he began looking around for a new job and a new place to stay. He found a job right off the bat because of his degree, but slept several nights in the bus station. One night he was robbed of all the money he had, now having nothing to eat. He said this was his lowest point. He seriously considered taking his life, because he had nothing. When these thoughts of darkness and despair came over him, he for some reason remembered that slight bit of hope and happiness he had when he came to church 11 years ago. He then came up with the idea to try and find this church and restore some happiness and light in his life. I find it no coincidence that the bus station is only 2 blocks away from where the church is, so it just took him a minute to find it. He found it on Thursday, but he knew we would be having our meeting that Sunday. He said it was such a long hard wait to make, but when he entered the building, he instantly felt the warmth of the spirit. He had no idea it was a conference (ANOTHER miracle, because we were the only chapel in use that Sunday, many chapels were empty because everyone went to the stake centers) and when he was there, he was overcome with the feeling that he needed to rid himself of all darkness in his life. He needed to start anew. He wanted to find his purpose. That is where we came in, and now we are sitting facing him after hearing this very intense story. After explaining this, his eyes fill up with tears. He says "I have a baptism date in mind. I want to be baptized this Saturday, the 18th of June. It is the day of my sisters birthday, and I do not know if she is dead or alive, but I want to be baptized on this day so i can always remember the day I decided to change my life" there was NO WAY we were going to say no to that!!! Right then we got down to business, and began to teach him everything. On Sunday I had given him a book of Mormon, and 2 pamphlets, which he had read the pamphlets and all the scriptures in the pamphlets as well. MONEY! We just kept going and going, and that night we had him interview with the bishop as well. He met with us again the next day, we had his interview, and finished teaching him everything. Just a side note, we NEVER teach everything to someone in two days, its just too much information! but he was eating it all up and loving it. You could really just see the gospel light up in his eyes. At the end of the lesson he said to us "you know, I really want to serve a mission as well. After I get baptized, I'm going to make that my next going too" I got a little too overwhelmed in my excitement and yelped "EN SERIO??? AHHH QUE BUENO!!!" haha it was a little embarrassing. But even with our doubt of this all seeming to be too good to be true, it really was true. He had a wonderful baptism, the spirit was so strong and I really could see a wonderful change in his countenance.
People hear these stories and think they are too good to be true, or too miraculous. Trust me, I thought the same. But it really happened. You really can make these changes that fast. He went from feeling like no one cared and that he should just kill himself, to being baptized and now thinking about a mission. I love being a missionary and seeing these mighty changes in peoples hearts. This gospel really can save peoples lives. I may just be one small person, but I know this is the best thing I can be doing right now.
Besos para todos
Hermana Collins
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