Traditions are "inherited patterns of belief or behavior"

On my mission, my companion and I met a family who had just crossed the border one week prior. They had packed up the back of their truck with Rubbermaid tubs with their clothing and had to leave the rest of it behind in their house. They couldn’t bring everything because that would make it too suspicious. It is so sad that all of their family pictures, books had to be left behind.

A month later their son had to cross by himself. He wasn’t able to bring anything with him as he crossed. He had to wear his shirts on top of each other without looking too suspicious. He literally left everything behind besides three t-shirts.
As we taught this family, the father had a really hard time with the Word of Wisdom. Growing up in mexico, his family was very poor. When he was a baby, formula was too expensive and so his parents fed him coffee in his bottles. And so he had been drinking it for his entire life and did not want to give it up! As he was trying to overcome this trial, it was very hard at the first. He was very cranky and angry while he was going through the withdrawal, but he was finally able to be done with drinking coffee.

They made a huge sacrifice and they knew it would be dangerous, but they wanted a better life for themselves and their kids. Where they were living, there was a ton of crime and the oldest son was getting in a ton of trouble. Even when they came to the United States, it was not an easy transition! They had to deal with the language barrier, working crappy jobs and try to find some housing. 
Thankfully the Lord placed us on that sidewalk that one certain night and so we were able to help them through this transition. It has been four years since we met and they are very happy with what they are doing.  


It is very hard to rid some of the “traditions” that we have grown up with. But with the Lord, prayer, and support from friends and family, we will be able to overcome any “traditions” from our past. Having the gospel in their lives has been the best for their family. They are so much closer and have many friends because of it.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

My Top 10 List of Things I Learned This Semester

What is gender?

Parenting Styles