Serving with a Smile in...Monterrey!: Saying Good-Bye to His Friend & the Plan of Salvation is True

This week's email is a hard one to see that as you send your son out to serve a mission they will experience hard times, and one of the many miracles is to watch how much love they have for these people. You will see that his heart is broken, and in return, mine is, too. It is so hard at these times that it is when I realize my testimony is growing right along with his. We could not ask for more than this. Enjoy, this one is a good one.

I read your email as tears stream down my face. I knew that it was going to happen this week. The spirit whispered to my heart. As I prayed for this sweet friend of yours, I knew that it was you that brought the light of the gospel to him as he found peace and could go back Home. He will be fine and can wait for the rest of his family. However, it is ok to be sad as it is hard. Remember that scripture that the one soul that you can save how great can be your joy. Can you imagine the joy you have brought to him. I am so proud of you. I love you so much and know that Heavenly Father sent you there for so many reasons, but Jose Manuel was definitely one of them.

Stay strong, and love those people. I will continue to pray for all of them. Thank you for giving me their names. I love when I can pray for them individually.

Love always, MOM

Jose Manuel - Until we meet again my brother & friend!

So to start out, the last week I was asking for you all to pray for Jose Manuel. I was thinking about him all day on Monday, his wife had called to see if we could visit him in the hospital, but it was a little far away. So we get back to our area and about 6 pm and his wife, Patty called us and told us that he had been released from the hospital and that it was a miracle. I was stunned, and she told us that he wanted to see me at the house and they were just about to get there, so as we are headed to his house, we get another call and his wife and called to tell us that he had just passed away. I had never been so sad in my mission to hear this news. I started running to his house and we weren't far and he had passed away in his house on his bed in peace. It was a very unusual experience for me, I was sad because his family were all crying all around him, His mom, the abuelita was there, us and his wife and daughter Katherin. I offered a prayer and other family started to show up, I cried pretty hard to see such a good friend go. but it gave me the strength to know for my self that the Plan of Salvacion. The very plan we had taught him, he was now living the next step. All that I could think of was the scripture in Alma 40:11 and 12- Where it talks about the state of the spirit between death and the resureccion. I know its true and I know I will see my friend another time. The Death is just a small step in the grand scheme of it all. I told few other Elders, and tuesday we went to his funeral, where a lot of members showed up and he had a little under two months as a member. Elder Delgado, my dear friend who was my Zone Leader told me that death is hard to except for us because we are eternal beings and ¨the end¨ just doesn't make sense to us. I was pretty sad Monday and tuesday but I got better on Wednesday because I had been praying hard for all of his family and we saw them the day after the funeral and they are fine. They are very strong people, and realize that we have been a fundamental for them in this moment of trial. Oh and his daughter is going to be baptized this Saturday. She bore her testimony on Sunday in front of everyone, and said that she knows the church is true because she has never seen the hand of God in her life as much as this moment of need. I am extremely grateful for Nuestro Padre Celestial and for the time I have had here in this area to be a part of this famlies life and to have helped my friend, Jose Manuel Peña Flores come to Christ in the last moments of his life. In his funeral, the ward planned a little program and I read the scripture in Mosiah 5:2. which I love and testified of that I had witnessed this change in his heart. Well, that's about it Family. I love you so much. Oh as well, I know the power of pray is true. If you could keep the little brother of Elder Gomez in your prayers, he has cancer, and I guess he is pretty sad. Love you so much. I am grateful for the gospel and el plan de salvacion. Love you!

Elder Clayton