Turning the hearts of the children to the fathers

Many know that I love genealogy work. I started a few years ago and have literally found hundreds of names going back several generations to the early 1700's. I've enjoyed the thrill of the hunt and the tremendous spiritual experience it is for me.

It all started a few years back, I had been trying to find some information, and had spent hours going through micro film. I found a name, but it was the wrong person, so I continued to advance through the film and I heard a voice say go back that was me. I went back and read the name and it was not the name I was looking for, so I continued to go forward. Then I heard it again, "go back, that was me." I went back and went through the entire record and sure enough it was him! My great-great-grandfather, Severo Marin. From that one name I was able to uncover generations of ancestors who were waiting for their temple work to be done.

Then after a couple years I started again and I was having a hard time finding information on my grandpa Garcia's line. No information was available. The Church that was in his hometown was burned down during the Cristeo War because his town was very active fighting against the federales during the war. I was lost, and I started searching some areas, and one day while looking I found some records with his family name in another town. I checked and the town was next to my grandfather's home town and the records were located there. I checked on the town originally because I felt an impression to check there, even though I didn't know where it was. Following that impression helped me find literally hundreds of names and several generations.

This week I've spent some time looking up some information on Monica's dad side. I found a ton of stories for her about her ancestor Ute Perkins, and the entire Perkins family. I found Ute's Will and it was witnessed by none other than Abe Lincoln (he died in Illinois). He got his endowments out in the Nauvoo Temple and they gave the land for the church to start the town of Ramus. He was a Revolutionary War veteran and the first in his family to accept the gospel, and he has quite the massive posterity. I found some other information and stories for her, and I started thinking that I wanted to know about my ancestors as well. Unfortunately my ancestors didn't keep journals or have volumes written about them. I do know that my ancestors fought in two Revolutions and most importantly they fought for their religious independence in the Cristeo War. I found a story last night about the men who fought in the north east portion of Jalisco, and that is where my ancestors are from. They played a major part in the war, and I am proud to be a descendant of someone who would recognize the need to fight for something as important as the right to worship God. They had endured the liberal Mexican government taking everything from them and when they took their religion they had enough and would take no more.

My heart has truly turned to my fathers. I love them and want to know them. I have a strong desire to see them and talk to them and get to know them as people. I look forward to the time that I can sit with them and talk to them. When I was 12 years old I had a dream, where I was walking through the ruins of Mexico. I went into one of the temples and I remember looking at some pictographs on the wall and saying I wish I could know my ancestors. Just then I heard a voice behind me and sitting on a rock on the other side of the room was our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, He said would you like to know them and raised his hands and the wall behind him opened and I saw numberless spirits coming forth and falling at His feet and worshipping Him who is our King. I could see that their hearts longed to be with Him and they were bathing His feet with their tears. As I saw this scene my heart ached for them, and I woke up. Then a couple of years ago I thought I was doing pretty good. I was actively doing my family work in the Temple and finding names. One night as I was asleep I had another interesting dream. In my dream I was with the Prophet Joseph Smith and he was walking me through the aftermath of the saints being expelled from Independence. He was describing to me their privations and their sufferings. He was telling me that they were doing all that they could to help these saints, but that there was one that they couldn't help, only I could. He turned and pointed to a person standing in the corner, and it was my Grandma Ramirez (grand-daughter of Severo Marin who originally helped me with my initial family work). She looked so sad and was crying and saying that nobody cared about her. I insisted that I did, but she kept repeating that nobody cared. All of a sudden I realized that I had not done her work in the Temple yet. I woke up crying, realizing my sin against her and my family. Needless to say I've done her work and she is now sealed to her family.

I will continue to do the work for my ancestors, and I will continue to expect their help in the process. I love them and I know that they love me. I made promises before coming to this earth and I must keep those promises. I love genealogy!

Optimism, Faith and a Determination to Prevail

I am going to break away from my normal posts of informing what I've done with Monica or the kids and talk a little about what pushes me forward and motivates me.

It is pretty simple really, what pushes me daily is a knowledge that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true, and that we have living Prophets, Seers, and Revelators on the earth today. How does this help? Well, it helps to know that God knows me, He knows the current situation in the world, and that He speaks to us through His prophets and always has. The scriptures and writings of the Prophets are jam packed with prophecies and revelations of what is going to happen in the last days. None of it is coming at us unawares. In Amos we are told that the Lord will do nothing save He first reveal His secret unto His servants the prophets. Nothing that is happening scares me, it doesn't shake my faith, nor does it dampen my optimism. I have faith that God will help me and that His will, will be done. That gives me comfort! I know through personal experience that you can loose everything and none of it matters because it is all irrelevant in the eternal scheme of things.

I am optimistic about my future because although things are dark and uncertain in life, I have faith, and as Joseph Smith said, "should we not go on in so great a cause?" My answer is yes! I will push forward with a firm determination to prevail in the end, that is in the end of life, in the end of our current financial struggles, in the end of everything. Every day we arm ourselves for a battle, the battle that has been waging since the dawn of time. Satan wishes to destroy us and to tear down our faith. God has given us our armour, our weapons, and our protection. Just as the children of Israel when they were preparing to go forward to take over the land of Canaan, we have God on our side and we will prevail. We should not be counted with those spies who came back from spying out the land of Canaan and gave an evil report and weakened the resolve of the Israelites. Let us be as Caleb and Joshua and know that we have our Lord on our side and if He has decreed from the eternities that we His people shall prevail, then we shall.

That is why nothing is causing me to change my direction, I am preparing for tougher times ahead, because I know the prophecies which have been given, but I do not let them cause me to fear and shrink before my Maker in paralyzed fear. God will bless those who believe in Him and make Him their God. He is in our midst, we just have to open our eyes and recognize His loving arms extended toward us beckoning us to come unto Him and our burden will be made light.

Temples

Monday my family was able to go to the Draper temple open house. My kids were so excited to finally be able to see the inside of a temple. They enjoyed it. Their favorite rooms were the ceiling room and celestial room. Even Joshua kept pointing to things and telling dad to look. He some how understood the importance of what he was seeing and kept his voice down to a whisper. All my children were reverent and respectful. It made Sam and Ammon excited for the day when they can go to the temple. They can't wait now for the Oquihr Mnt. Temple to be completed so they can go through that temple.

Tuesday Al and I were able to get the work done for 8 of our families names. We went twice, once in the morning and then again in the evening. It was our wards temple day so we had help from people in our ward to get those names done. I love being able to go to the temple. The spirit is always strong there. I also love doing the work for our ancestors who have passed on. It makes me feel connected to them. How grateful I am for temples!

Rafael Enrique Garcia III "Champ"

On January 24, 2009 Monica and I had the opportunity to attend the Temple and perform baptisms for the dead, in the which we performed a baptism for my cousin Rafalito who was brutally murdered on August 19, 2004 while walking to a store not far from his home. The best part about performing the baptism for him, was that it was his birthday also.

As I stood in as proxy for him my heart ached inside for him. He was only 17 years old and had overcome a lot and turned out to be quite an outstanding young man. He was born into an abusive home, where he was constantly belittled by my uncle. He lived with us off and on a couple of times and he really loved my family as a child. I last saw him about 6 months before I left on my mission, so that was a long time ago. My mom and dad went to see him while he was staying with a school group in a hotel in Houston about a month before he was killed. When they attended the funeral for him they reported over a 1,000 people in attendance and that was just what was counted. The local news in San Antonio, TX showed pictures of the church and the entire place was surrounded by those who loved him. His big heart and his ability to love unconditionally made him more friends than I think he even knew he had amongst all levels of society. My mom recently received a CD from my aunt from some kids in his school who made a song about him. A cable crime tv show did a show dedicated to him and his case, and the science used to solve his murder.

I miss my cousin, and although I wasn't able to see him before he died, I know that the work which I did for him will be accepted and I will see him again, and then I will embrace Rafalito in my arms and tell him that I love him. I am grateful for temples and the great privilege given to us to perform the work therein for and in behalf of our ancestors and family members.