Gospel rings true
E-mail story
It's easy. Send a link to the story you were just reading to a friend. Just fill out the form on this page and we'll send it along.
Your name and e-mail address are transmitted to the recipient. Otherwise, it is considered private information; see Privacy policy.
CUSCO, Peru — Cradled in the valleys of the Andes Mountains amid the ruins of their Incan ancestors, Church members who know President Gordon B. Hinckley only from satellite broadcasts profess a simple faith in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that has given them answers they couldn't find elsewhere.
The Church's teachings about honesty, integrity and hard work ring true for local converts, in part because the cultural heritage of their progenitors emphasized a duty to the good of the greater community. Before Francisco Pizarro's conquering Spaniards arrived in this former capital of the Incan Empire in 1533, native people routinely encouraged each other in Quecha, their mother tongue.
Ama suwa, ama qella, ama lulla — "Don't lie, don't steal, don't be lazy" — was a common greeting; "Nor you," came the reply.
The simplicity of that exchange resonated in the answers several Church members in Cusco's Tahuantinsuyo Ward gave recently about their conversion and their faith during a group interview conducted for the Church News.
Tahuantinsuyo means "the Land of the Four Quarters," and was the name of the Incan Empire. The ward, part of the Cusco Peru Inti Raymi Stake, is now one of 12 units that are part of two LDS stakes in Cusco, all an outgrowth of the first LDS branch established here in 1981.
Bishop William Carasco, a 32-year-old medical student, and six other ward members participated in a group interview. He was the only one of the seven who grew up in an LDS family and was baptized at age 8. Ward members look to him as an example of the legacy fostered through faith and living simple gospel teachings.
"I had great parents. They taught me the gospel by their example and their faith. Even though they don't have university studies, they taught me the values of work and faith in God. My life has been pretty happy because I grew up in the Church," he said.
When he was a child, both of his parents had to be at work by 5 a.m. each day, but the family got up early to read scriptures and pray together every morning before they had to leave. He said he was happy growing up, and attended seminary and other Church meetings. However, he said, it was while serving as a missionary that he became "100 percent sure" that the gospel is true, gaining his own testimony.
Cesar Rodriguez, a local tour guide, learned about the Church from neighbors. "I really liked the type of life my neighbors led, and saw them as they changed," he said. "I watched them change. The missionaries came and gave us the discussions, and I felt the Spirit. From that day to this, I never wanted to be anything but a member of the Church."
Others found themselves looking for God in many different places.
Fighting back tears, kindergarten teacher Isabel Rado recalled her search for the divine. She "felt empty." She began attending a variety of churches with her cousins and friends of various faiths.
"I went, but I never felt anything. One time my sister, who was at the university, went to pay her phone bill. I was standing in line with her thinking, 'Where is God?' and I met there a man standing in line who was a member." He talked about his faith with the two women, and a missionary set an appointment with them for later that afternoon.
"They came the same day to teach us. They were taller than my door. There was just something that my sister and I felt," Sister Rado said. "When they started teaching, it felt good and right. I kept listening to them, and I finally said, 'Baptize me!' So many special things have happened between then and now and I'm still here." She has been a member of the Church 22 years.
Fernando Morante, a 39-year-old industrial mechanic, said he felt "alone and my heart was empty" before he heard about the Church several months ago. "I have a family but I still felt empty. My parents were divorced, and I lived with my grandparents."
Brother Morante said that he believes "God put the elders in my path." One approached him when he was with his daughter; he invited the missionaries to his home. He had no reservations about what they taught. "In my case, it was pretty quick.
When they asked me to be baptized, I said yes. The one who doubted was my wife, and she would say, 'Are you sure?' I said, 'I'm not sure about everything, but in my heart I feel I need to be baptized."' He was baptized Jan. 14, 2006.
Attorney Miguel Farfan knew Brother Morante before he joined the Church nearly 17 months ago because they studied at a religious school together. He wanted to be a priest, but was discouraged early on. Yet, he fondly remembers one experience in the school in which "we were asked to help other people with literary or other projects that they needed help with, and I felt very good about that. At that time I was 14 years old."
Shortly afterward, "I became disillusioned with God, and moved on to be a self-proclaimed atheist. I said I didn't believe in God. At that point, I began to study religion from an intellectual standpoint, not with any real feeling."
He said that when a divorce left him a single father with two children, he "realized then that I needed something more than intellectual study, something that would fill the void I felt. Intellectually, I had convinced myself that God didn't exist, but spiritually, I was not sure. So I asked my aunt." His aunt had been a Latter-day Saint for 20 years.
She directed him to Bishop Carasco, who told him, "The purpose of the gospel is that you be happy." The instruction resonated with his desire to find joy, so he listened to the missionaries and "felt the same spirit that I felt when I was 14 years old and was helping other people. From that moment to this, I've not lost that feeling. Now my faith in Jesus Christ is strengthened every day and this feeling has not gone away from me. I'm very happy to do this, and now I know that God lives."
Many Church members in South America have grown up learning about the cultural traditions of their ancestors, which often include tales of a "white god" who visited the land centuries before and promised to return one day. Latter-day Saints have their own take on those traditions, related to the Book of Mormon and its teachings.
As a tour guide, Brother Rodriguez encounters many Latter-day Saints and often talks with them about LDS beliefs. Some speculate how it all relates to the Book of Mormon, and he tells them that "even though those things are interesting, I wouldn't need to see those evidences to know that God is there. They always ask me if this or that is where (Book of Mormon events) happened." Though he doesn't know, "for me, I just know that God lives. He is with me, and that's the important thing to me."
Bishop Carasco said when he visits Incan ruins like Sacsayhuaman and Machu Picchu, "I don't think about the Incas, but about the Lamanites and the Nephites. I know the Book of Mormon is true, and was written by prophets who lived in this part of the world," he said.
"It is a testimony that God loves His children and was with them. ... I know without a doubt that we are descendants of the family of Lehi."
Sister Rado said she's happy to live in Cusco, "a special place with many sacred things here. The Incas were good people, but they became idolatrous, practicing wickedness and worse." She said some people continue to tie themselves so closely to the traditions of their fathers "that it's an impediment to their progress."
Yet, for those who have found peace and joy in the gospel, solid physical evidence regarding things of faith isn't necessary, the Tahuantinsuyo Ward members agreed.
There is little difference "between us and you and the rest of the Church," Bishop Carasco said. "We're all children of God and we love you. We love all the members of the Church everywhere. We learn from your courage, and we hope that you have learned something important from us."
E-mail to: carrie@desnews.com
