We had the amazing experience of having some friends join the church! I first met Karina through a Facebook page that I made for our street. One day some ambulances showed up a few houses down. I asked on the Facebook page if anyone knew what had happened and if anyone needed help. Karina responded that she had a stroke and was in the hospital. I brought dinner over to her 4 kids. After that we ended up messaging back and forth a lot, meeting up at the park, and becoming friends. Three of Karina's kids have special needs and they have had a lot of really rough stuff happen in their lives.
Fast forward a few months and Karina's landlord decided he wanted to move back into the house himself, so they had to find a new place to rent. It was a really stressful time for them because the housing market is insane right now. There were several times where Karina thought she had a new house lined up only to have it go to someone else. There were also some health problems and troubles with her kids during this time that were really compounding her stress. I asked her if she would like a blessing of comfort from some people at church and she accepted. Aaron and I went over with Brother Carlsen, the Elder's Quorum president, and gave her a blessing.
Fairly soon before they were going to be kicked out of the house, a new house opened up. This was the first house that they looked at that was still within our ward boundaries. I'm really grateful that all those other houses fell through so that they could end up close by!
When moving day came, the Elder's Quorum showed up with trucks and vans and got everything moved over. Sisters from the relief society showed up on Monday to help clean. I don't think she really believed that people were going to show up until we were actually there. Karina has been having to do everything on her own for so long. It was sweet to see her reaction to people she didn't know rallying around her. This is something I realized I have taken for granted in the church- people just show up!
Along the way Karina started meeting with the missionaries. I came whenever I could. Sometimes we met at the park, sometimes at her house, and sometimes in my backyard. Our missionaries, Sister Hansen and Sister Walker, are completely awesome. I loved hearing Karina's questions and hearing her talk about how she was so quickly finding more peace in her life. Things were still chaotic and not all of her trials were removed, but she would talk about how learning about the gospel was helping her feel more peace as she navigated life.
The night that Karina accepted the invitation to be baptized, we were meeting in our backyard with the mission president randomly sitting in. Karina's son Christopher was there too, and for whatever reason he was having a really bad night and desperately wanted to go home. We all tried our best to cheer him up- I even whipped out the big guns and offered to let him play on our Nintendo Switch- but he was too riled up to be placated. He ended up moaning and rocking around while we talked over him. Somehow I still managed to feel the spirit, and we had a great conversation punctuated by Christopher's sobs. I was surprised when Sister Hansen pivoted the conversation and asked Karina if she wanted to be baptized, and even more surprised when Karina said yes with no qualms at all! I was just so jittery with joy! After everyone left, I just had to tell someone about what all had just happened in the backyard. Aaron was out running, so I called my mom and my sister, but neither of them answered. Then I ran up to my bedroom, got on my knees, and said a prayer of just pure gratitude that I could be a part of Karina's conversion.
One funny thing is that Christopher got it into his head that they would have to live just like us when his Mom joined the church. He got it into his head that if his Mom got baptized, we would take his TV (we don't own one, we just have a projector with a Roku hooked up to it), his Legos (we mentioned once that Elliot doesn't have many legos), and all his soda. This cracked me up like none other! We were meeting with Karina almost daily the week leading up to her baptism. Christopher kept bringing up that he didn't want us to take all his stuff, and we kept reassuring him that we weren't going to steal his TV and legos. He asked about it with less and less panic each time. He was worried about his Mom changing and about his life changing. Hopefully all the changes have been for the better!
Then the Baptism day was here! Brother Carlsen baptized her, and Aaron confirmed as a member of the church the next day in Sacrament meeting.
My fam with Sister Walker, Sister Hansen, Karina, Adriana, and Christopher
My friend Karina. She is strong, funny, and always trying to get me to take home a pet when I leave her house.
There was an injured owl hanging outside the back door after the baptism! Apparently owls are omens of good fortune or something like that in Mexican culture. Karina called some animal rescue group to come get it. It was right on the other side of the glass door, almost as if it was knocking on the church doors asking for help.
At this point, Karina's daughter Adriana was getting interested in the church. She had sat in on some of Karina's lessons, but now she wanted to hear the whole thing from the start. It was amazing to see how once she decided the church was good, she was all in. She had thoughtful questions, and it really felt like a privilege to be able to listen to her as she opened up.
Adriana's baptism day!
Aaron baptized Adriana. I really liked the program because a lot of the young women were able to participate.
I am so grateful that the Gonzales family has become a part of our lives, and I'm looking forward to many years of friendship ahead of us!
