Faith is great

What is Faith?
Faith is a belief in the truth of or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing, that is characteristically held without proof. There for faith is believing in something that you can't see, touch, taste, or maybe even hear. Faith is knowing that something or someone is there, that something good will come out of something bad, that the sun will always rise to shine after a stormy night, that the light will once again rule over the land. This is my personal story of faith, and what it took for my wife and I to get there.

As you may or may not know, I was born in Mexico City, Mexico. I came with my family to these United States by plane, legally, with a passport and a visa. They did become expired and there fore was in this country illegally, this has been my secret for over 15 years, but now thanks my God and my beloved Wife I no longer have to suffer with this problem that plagues so many of us in the United States. The first year of being married we told ourselves that we would have my papers done by the end of the year. February 9th was our big day, we were married and sealed for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake City Temple, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This was one of the happiest days of my life, as time went on we started saving for the process of our paper work, I say our paper work because as my wife always puts it, "We are One, so your pain is my pain, your sorrow is my sorrow, and your illegal status is my illegal status, there for this is our paper work." How great it is to have such a devoted wife. The time was finally at hand, after months of paper work, meetings with lawyers and waiting patiently by the mail box to see if my case had been approved by the government, the letter finally came that stated my time and place of meeting with a government official to determine if I would be allowed or approved Legal Residency.

The day of the meeting was October 27, 2008. At 1, I was so thankful to God, to my savior Jesus Christ that this day was finally approaching. But like everything there must be opposition before and or after all that is good. It was now Friday October 24th and my mother had hurt her leg, bad enough that she could not walk, it had swollen so bad that she couldn't place any pressure on it with out pain shooting through her like a shiver, a friend of hers recommended that she take some pills for the pain, something that my mother did, turns out that these pills were way too strong for my mothers delicate stomach so she was throwing up everything that she ate or attempted to eat, to the point that she was throwing up nothing but gastric acids from within her stomach. Green liquid, my poor mother laid in bed on Sunday as she was not able to make it to church because of her condition.

My wife and I had been prying and fasting (To fast is to go without food and drink voluntarily for a certain period of time. Fasting combined with sincere prayer can strengthen us spiritually, bring us closer to God, and help us prepare ourselves and others to receive His blessings.) for the upcoming day, that we would be blessed with a kind and understanding person, someone that had the spirit of Christ with in them. We had just come home from church when I received a call from my sister, she told me the condition in which my mother was, and she was asking for a blessing of healing(This is when 2 or more men, holders of the Holy Melchizedek Priesthood place their hands above someones head who is ill or afflicted and anointed them with Olive Oil that has been blessed and consecrated and follow to give a blessing for their health or well being) from Alvaro who is my sisters husband and myself, I rushed as fast as I could and saw the condition that my mother was in and it was a bit hard to see, she was almost green, she had been laying in bed all day, her leg swollen and not able to move, with a bucket next to her bed so that when she had to she could fill it up with what was left in her stomach. We proceed with the blessing, Alvaro did the anointing and I the blessing, it was special and moving to know that when in need I could be the one to help with the powers that I hold by having the Priesthood in my life.

I was stressed out, my mother laying in bead not able to move, and I was on my way to one of the most important meetings of my life. The blessing that I had ministered on to her worked as she was able to go to the doctor's the following day, her vomiting had stopped and she was able to sustain enough to stand on her leg, it was truly a miracle from God, this I testify of. We drove out to the place were we had our interview, we were early, actually about an hour and a half early, they specifically asked in the letter to not be more that 20 minutes early, so we waited in the car, I was perspiring like never before, I had on my black and white pinstripe suit with my blue collard button up shirt and gray tie, my wife was in a beautiful black dress. We had a package to deliver to someone in California and we figured we go and do that to kill time, but we did not know the area so well and we did not know where the local post office was. I noticed a mail car parked by us so I went to see if I could find the mail man, I had no luck but I was able to find an nice lady, I do not recall her name but she was out there lighting up a cigarette, she had on a red button up sweater, a light brownish shirt and brown dress pants, she had a badge hanging from her neck, I approached her and asked her if she worked here to what she responded yes I do, I had always imagined fat white men, who were in some way racist and angry at the world working here, but there stood the total opposite.

I asked her if she knew where the local post office was and she replied with a smile "No I don't but if you find it let me know because I have some things that I need ship out my self." I said well thank you anyways, shook her hand and walked away, she yelled out "Good Luck" and I said thanks, I got in the car and told my wife what had just happened, we decided to just go to a local gas station as we both had to use the bathroom. As I drove I told my wife, "I hope that we get some one like that lady, she was everything that I thought this place wouldn't be, nice, caring and polite" my wife responded gently and lovingly "The Lord will have someone for us, who ever it is and what ever the outcome is, it is of God, come what may and love it," she always knows what to say. We were on our way back as time was getting close, we parked and gave a prayer, asking for strength, firmness, and eloquence as we spoke. We walked in and there greeted us 2 security guards armed with guns and a night stick, we placed all our belongings on a tray and walked through a metal detector, we gave them our appointment paper and they instructed us to place it in a wooden box that was near a door and to have a seat and wait for our name to be called. We did so, carrying all of our belongings back, picture folders of our weeding and honey moon and paper work all to prove to the Government that we indeed were married and were living together and that it was not just to get this paper work done.

Sitting down just trying to stay calm we noticed several people coming in to this little waiting room adorned with pictures of then President Gorge W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, the American flag and several other posters about immigration laws. I noticed the door behind us open, and to my surprise a fat, white balding man with a mustache came out and grabbed one of the papers that was in the wooden box in front of him, he yelled out a name of a lady, not us. She walked up and went in there with him. I was so nervous by now, my hands were clammy and my gut was shaking. Remembering the words of my wife "Come what may and love it" I began to say a silent prayer, as soon as I was done, I look up to see the same lady whom with I had spoken outside about an hour ago, she grabbed the next paper on the little wooden box and yelled out "Edgar Roura!" with a smile of disbelief I got up with my wife and started walking to the back with this lady, as we walked to her office, I began to remember what we were fasting for, someone kind and loving who would be full of the light of Christ. She had us sworn in by placing our left hand on the Holy Bible and with our right hand raised to the square, we swore to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help us God, we did and proceeded with the interview. It was simple, she asked us personal questions as to when and where we met, how long we had been married, our ages, parents names etc...

I remember trying to stare right at her eyes and with my shoulders back and chest forward answering with "Yes mam, No mam" trying to be as eloquent as possible. My hand clasping my wife's squeezing it every now and then, every time I felt scared. Not a single doubt is in my mind that the Spirit of Christ was present in that little crammed office were we were sitting. The lady went on to grant my legal residency, stating that she wished that all the cases she had were like this one, no criminal background, no problems what so ever, just get in and get out. We were rejoicing within, and before our meting was over, she asked me if had found the local post office, I told her no. So she grabbed her yellow pages and looked it up and gave us the address. We left that building, smiling, crying, laughing out loud with joy, dancing, singing, this day finally came and I was now a legal resident of The United States of America. This is my testimony of faith, if you pray, and fast and do all that is right to work for that goal, Lord willing it will come to pass. My mother is better, after we gave her the blessing she stopped vomiting, her leg is like new, my wife and I were blessed with a living angel and I can now live life without worries.

Faith is great, and as long as we exercise it all will be well.