Cosas buenas, cosas malas

So do you want the good news first or the bad news?  Okay, the bad news.  Our good friend Rafael, the one who does so much to help the poor children in our community as described in my previous posts, had his right leg amputated below the knee a couple weeks ago.  Diabetes.  It is very prevalent here.  We see so many people with missing limbs caused by diabetes.  People in wheel chairs, walking on crutches, people missing fingers and arms.

Rafael is doing well, now.  We didn't realize it but he had been in the hospital nearly a week before

Rafael - a good man and a good friend!

we found out.  And he nearly died from sepsis.  He told us of a conversation he overheard between doctors as he drifted in and out of conscientiousness.  They doubted he would survive the night and called a priest in to administer last rights.  Miraculously, he pulled through, but it was only the beginning of a long and painful treatment and recovery.  Let's just say service is not prompt and pain management barely exists, and leave it at that.

Rafael is one of the lucky ones.  He has good employment and good insurance that comes with it.  In a few months he'll travel to the US to get a prosthesis, all covered by his insurance and/or company.  According to Rafael, prostheses are out of the question for the vast majority of people.  Government health care doesn't even offer prostheses to adults, only to children.  And there are very few jobs that offer the insurance he has.  Most people are simply on their own.

Rafael is undeterred with the trial he's going through, still determined to help the poor children.  He has a very good attitude, saying that he still has his heart and his mind and that the leg doesn't matter.  This bout may have slowed him down for a little while but I'm confident he'll be at full tilt again before long!

Buenas Noticias

Now for some good news.  Teresa and I been helping start the addiction recovery program here.  I noticed an ARP manual one day while in the mission office and while pointing at it said to no one in particular, "this is a great program!"  Elder Bulloch took notice and called me a couple days later explaining they were teaching a man trying to recover from a drug addiction, recently obtained and were using the manual, and wondered if we might be willing to help.  You bet!

Teresa and I helped establish the Church's ARP program in the Kansas City, Wichita and Omaha areas spending five years training leaders, organizing groups and leading our own stake's group.  We love the program and have seen miracles occur in the lives of so many people.  The Church's program is based on AA's 12 steps, but recognizes Jesus Christ as the higher power and bases its focus and principles on the restored gospel, scripture and the counsel of modern prophets and apostles.  We've observed that everyone who faithfully works the steps, studies and understands the underlying spiritual principles and both submits to God and draws upon his power to change the natural man within, successfully overcomes his addiction.  Without fail.  The process is slow and there are plenty of slips, falls and discouragements along the way, but there is always success.  Many of our group are now married in the temple with happy and prosperous families, serving full time church missions and/or working in the temple.  They have pursued further education, enjoy good, steady employment and are making positive contributions to their wards and communities.  But it would be wrong not to mention how the program helped Teresa and me, too.  Though we may not suffer from "addictions" per se, like everyone else we struggle with our own set of weaknesses, character flaws and challenges.  Working the program has wrought miracles and mighty changes in our own lives.    I can't say enough about it.

Back to my story.  We met Byron, a man in his early 30s, through Elder Bulloch and began holding regular meetings with them.  Byron wants to be baptized and join the Church but must repent and be drug free beforehand.  His metamorphosis has been spectacular to watch.  He went from "consuming" multiple times everyday to going one day without, then two, consuming less and less each day, and so on until he is nearly drug free today.  Four weeks ago he brought Mauricio to a meeting.  They were druggies together.  Mauricio is in his 50s, and due to drugs lost his job, his family, his home and his self respect.  He was so dejected, so down-trodden, so lifeless at the start of that first meeting.  Before the end he had shared his downfall, wept bitter tears, felt something new and unexplainable (which we recognized to be expressions of the Spirit of God) and for the first time in a long while had a spark of hope in his life.  But he almost didn't come to the second meeting.  He had consumed again and felt so guilty.  Fortunately he did come.  Byron shared his own recovery story, still in progress.  He always uses the phrase "lento pero seguro" (slowly but surely).  After more than a decade of addiction no one expects the addict to go cold turkey.  The body physically needs the drugs and can't go without them.  What we do hope for though is a gradual weaning.  This is what Byron is doing and thus his well worn phrase.  Recovery is comprised of a multitude of miracles.  The miracle of consuming less today than yesterday, the miracle of abstaining a full 24 hours, the miracle of going 48 and so on.  This, and the other things he learned helped Mauricio feel refreshed and more confident again.  After the meeting I gave Mauricio a hug and called him friend.  His eyes again welled up with tears.  He knew I was sincere.  I was the first to call him friend and mean it in many years.  He explained that other druggies called him friend but they were more interested in sharing his drugs.  It made him feel good.  It made me feel good, too.

After the meeting two weeks ago Byron invited us and Mauricio to his parent's home for a bite to eat.  Byron's family was very warm and welcoming and we had a great time talking about the early years

Byron between his parents and Mauricio in front of Teresa.

of rock music, singers and bands.  They knew more than I did, obviously having listened more to English artists than Spanish.  But the highlight of the night for me was when Mauricio left for a few minutes and returned with two of his children.  He was so proud to introduce them to us.  Later Mauricio explained that they had detected a change in their dad over the previous few weeks.  They liked what they saw and were feeling more comfortable being with him.  Mauricio's joy was brimming over.  He was still homeless, still sleeping in the park at the end of the street, but he was making real progress.  His growing faith and confidence in God and in himself were bearing fruit.  He feels it, others see it, and if he continues walking this path he will have an abundance of joy.  This is why I love God and live and teach the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  It's true, it's powerful, it makes bad men good and good men better.  It brings strength and hope and joy to mortality and inspires me to prepare for and anticipate even greater things with my family, friends and God in the eternities!

Por otro lado sin embargo

As happy as we are for Byron and Mauricio, we are sad for Yolanda.  We wrote about Yolanda and

Hugs for Star and Yolanda!

her granddaughter Star in a previous post.  Yolanda's health is deteriorating and there's not much that can be done.  Her lungs are shot after years of heavy smoking.  She's only four years older than me but she looks at least 20 years older.  She's bed ridden and thin as a rail.  Her coughs are weak yet laborious.  During our last visit Teresa helped her to the bathroom.  It was a slow and arduous process, so sad and difficult to watch.  She's such a sweet lady in her incapacity, desirous for visits and chats.  But from our conversations I sense she walked her own path in her younger years.  Life was hard for her: three husbands, a son who fathered Star and later went to prison and was murdered there, another son who appears to be a loafer and mooching off her meager income.  Star is the light of her life now.

Yolanda told me she once took the missionary lessons years ago.  She was on the verge of joining the Church but then got offended and withdrew.  I don't know when that was or where she was in life but I can't help but think that things may had been so much better for her had she been baptized and remained faithful.  Would her lungs have been much cleaner now and her health strong and vigorous?  Would she and her husband have found joy being together and still be happily married?  Might her sons have been taught correct principles and by accepting and living them become honorable and respectable men?  We will never know the answers to these questions, at least not in mortality, but I do know that had she kept her commitments and followed the path she started on, her life would have been better.  The Lord would have blessed her for keeping the commandments, as he always does, and she would have greater joy now and hope for even better things to come.

I compare and contrast Yolanda with Byron and Mauricio.  All lived according to the little light they had.  They tried to live well, at least as best they knew, but stumbled along the way.  All have or had their minds enlightened by the principles and truths of the restored gospel.  All feel or have felt the whisperings of the Spirit testifying of the gospel's truthfulness.  All have or had the opportunity to accept or reject it.  Yolanda rejected it and I wonder what could have been.  Byron and Mauricio so far have accepted it and I see amazing changes for the good in their lives.  Time will tell if they stay on the path or eventually deviate from it.  One thing's for sure.  The final outcome of their lives will be determined by that choice.  So many times I've seen the effects and consequences of that pivotal choice.  I hope and pray they choose light and life.

Una foto divertida

Teresa took this picture of Rafael´s brother Victor and their mother.  They travel miles in this vehicle.