Qué espera

DIOS
de mi ?

¡CREO EN JESUCRISTO!

¿LE CREO?

Gerhard began his presentation at a fireside in Ticul on Sunday, Nov. 2, 2008 with these thought-provoking statements. The three branch presidents had invited members above the age of 12, and over 100 people responded. They were very happy to be planning a visit to the temple on Nov. 9, for the sealing of three families and two people who were coming for the first time.

The five main points have served Gerhard to build his testimony over the past 60+ years :

1. Heavenly Father's plan for his children is eternal and inclusive,
2. The ordinances which make possible our exaltation must be performed by one having divine authority,
3. The Restoration of doctrine, priesthood keys, and ordinances came through the Prophet Joseph Smith,
4. Temples are built so worthy individuals can make sacred covenants,
5. The eternal perspective on our lives is shown in the eternal nature of the family.
   

He learned how to make a Power Point presentation, too, spending every minute at home that week, often into the wee hours of the morning, on his "obra maestra." His computer had been running slower and slower, so our computer friend, Marcos Acosta, came and diagnosed the problem as a "Trojan horse" that was making it impossible for programs to function. He suggested reformatting the hard drive, but Gerhard would have to decide what he wanted to save and transfer to the external hard drive. That almost paralyzed Gerhard for a day--it would have been impossible given the time limit he was working with.
In desperation, he called Victor to ask what to do, and for five hours that night, he walked Gerhard through the steps to allow Victor to manage his computer to clean it up. The next night Victor checked it again and did a few final actions. Miracle of miracles, it worked fine!
Friday evening Gerhard invited Pres. and Sis. Dyer to critique the presentation. They came saying "Trick or Treat" and brought him some pistachio nuts and the temple's new projector to show his presentation. They liked the use of fonts and colors, and suggested that he have a stronger close so that people would go away with a couple of clear ideas to remember and use in preparing to come to the temple.
Saturday morning Gerhard got up and went back to the drawing board. He didn't try the projector until in the evening. He made all the attachments to the laptop that we were taking, but couldn't get the projector to receive the signal. About midnight he quit trying and we went to bed. The next morning we prayed that the technology would work if Heavenly Father wanted the presentation to be given. It still didn't work, and we were feeling despondent.
Just then, Katherine called. She had awakened at the usual time, but California had just "fallen back" an hour, so she thought to call us. Her suggestion to call David showed that she had been inspired, as he gives presentations on health and safety in schools in their area of Oregon. Even though Gerhard's call woke David up at 6:30 A.M., his expertise saved the day: turn off the laptop and restart it. Simply "suspending" the laptop as we had been doing was not enough.

The final three slides that Gerhard added were the "frosting on the cake;" one with the statements below to summarize the slideshow, one to testify "Creo en Cristo!" and the closing slide that is the motivation for each of us to act as Christ indicates in the scriptures -- "LO CREO."

Aceptaré mi Padre Eterno y mi Salvador viviente, Su Hijo,

guardaré Sus mandamientos, y
participaré en las ordenanzas necesarias.

When we returned home Sunday night we gave thanks for Heavenly Father's love that made all this possible, for the combined inspiration that we had received as a family and for answers to prayer.