I Will Go and Do : Week 98: Miracles and Mother's Day

Hello family and friends! It has been an exceptional week in Revere. So much has happened and I have been very excited to tell you all about it. But first, I want to express my deep gratitude to my mom. She is the most amazing woman. She has always been an example to me of faith, love, and charity and I love her very much. Happy Mother's Day Mom!

I had a great exchange on Tuesday with Elder Harris in Boston. During our morning planning meeting, we saw that we had a new referral for a man named Chris Chasse, on the refferal system. He lived in downtown Boston and we both felt that we needed to go and stop by. Again during the day, we felt like we needed to visit him. We stopped by and found out that he lived in a special home for people recently coming from prison to help them get back on their feet. We asked at the front desk for Chris and not too much longer, a wheelchair bound man came and introduced himself to us with a big smile on his face. We sat down and began talking with him. He started telling us his story and it didn't take us long before we noticed that Chris was special.

He first showed us some certificates he had from the church recognizing that he had finished the seminary study guides for all of the standard works. He then grabbed his scriptures which were all well worn. He told us in 2011 he drove past our church in Foxboro, MA and decided he wanted to order a Book of Mormon, so he got on Amazon. He read it. Then he read it and read it again and again. That same year, some mistakes from his past caught up with him and he was faced with the consequences and was sent to prison.

Since then, he got out of prison, lost his family, and 18 months ago was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. He went from being healthy to not being able to move within 5 weeks. He has been in hospitals for the last 18 months until he moved back to Boston about 3 weeks ago. Ironically, right across from Northeastern University where he used to be a professor of computer science.

He has read the Book of Mormon 20 times since 2011 and basically any other book published by the church including: Jesus the Christ, Preach My Gospel, The Teachings of the Presidents, and Our Search for Happiness. A while back, he wrote a letter to Elder Ballard after he read his book, Our Search for Happiness. Elder Ballard wrote him back and put him in touch with someone to send him materials. We felt that we should go through the baptismal interview questions with him and he answered all of them in depth. He has a strong testimony of repentance and the atonement. We asked him if he would like to attend church and he said, "That would be a dream come true." In all of his study, he has never been taught the Gospel by anyone other than the Holy Ghost. We also invited him to be baptized 3 weeks from now and he gladly accepted. He is the most prepared man I have ever met! I am very grateful to have met Chris and to hear his story. The Boston Elders are blessed to help this man's dreams come true.

That's all I have time for today.

Love,
Elder Gutierrez