a miracle

Rodrigo is 19 years old. He loves philosophy and politics and has a sincere concern for the lower social classes and the opportunites that many are withheld from. Five months ago he contemplated if it was even worth living, almost taking his own life. With help from family and friends, he decided to take a break form school for a bit in Montevideo and return back to Rivera with his parents.

One evening he was smoking outside a Internet cafe, just lightening up when suddenly two stangers approached him. One of them sticks out her hand and introduces herself as a missionary from the Church of Jesus Christ. Awkwardly, Rodrigo changes his lighter from one hand to another to be able to shake back. They continue talking, and they ask if they can come over to his house to teach him more about something that has really blessed their lives. He smirks and says, "No thanks, I'm not really one for religión and isn't it all just philosophy anyway?"

Expecting that to have done the job, he starts to turn away but the one persists and says, "Honestly the things that I have learned from the gospel have sincerely helped me understand myself and the world better.

Finally something she said got his attention and before he knew it, he gave them his address and they set up a time to pass by the next day. When they first came by his house, Rodrigo was expecting to refute a lot of things they said and prove them wrong with his knowledge of the scriptures and philosophy background. But as the lesson went on, he felt the sincerity of the words they spoke and could not find a way to refute their personal testimonies.

They gave him a book he had seen before but never read and told him to read it and then to pray about it. Two days later when Rodrigo was alone in his room, he pulled out the book and began to read about a king talking to his people begging them to follow the commandments of their god and to take care of one another. After reflecting on the words he remembered that the missionares had said, he knelt down and for the first time in six years prayed to his Heavenly Father. Upon ending the prayer, a soft but strong peace filled his chest. It was a feeling so sweet that he had never felt before. Smiling, he crawled into bed and went straight to sleep.

The next day when the missionareis came by, Rodrigo told them of his experience and asked what he had to do to get baptized.

¨Do I need to take a course or something? I mean, I'm pretty ignorant about how this works. Do we just pick a date now or what?" 

The missionaries kept coming by, and Rodrigo kept learning more and more about what they called the Gospel of Christ. He learned that the corruption and hypocrisy of many churches he had criticized before was not the way that Christ had intended his church to be.

Excited about the new things he was learning and feeling, Rodrigo began inviting his other friends to come and listen to the missionaries. His view of life and himself began to change; he decided to quit smoking.  (Which, when he told the missionaries, their mouths just dropped, and they asked him if he knew about something called the Word of Wisdom or something like that.)

This is the story of Rodrigo Pompino. We contacted him outside the Cyber two weeks ago. Just another story of one of those that was prepared.

=)

Loving the work.

I'm leaving Rivera. = ( Unfortunately, I won't see Rodrigo get baptized, but it was worth it to be here to get it started. 

New Area: Fray Bentos

New Companion: Hermana Moreno from Cordoba, Argentina

Pictures:

A Latino Becky Stoker, seriously

Raining in Rivera!

The stairwell in our apartment. Look closely and you'll see our new half hour of fun activity.