Thursday, December 16, 2010

Raul after 43 Years-- another Doug Story



In 1967 Gil Greer and I were mission comps in Barrios Altos, Lima Peru. A couple of days after their big Independence Day celebration we went by the house of our investigators to see if anyone was going to be baptized. We had taught some of the family but the holidays took it's toll and when we arrived at the house, two little kids were waiting out on the street with their change of clothes in hand to be baptized. They were, Raul Anchante and Maria Anchante, 12 and 10 years old. They were baptized on the 30th of July 1967 by me. I left the area to Elder Greer and Ward shortly thereafter. This last week I received an email and facebook entry which said: "Es un gusto encontrarle por este medio. Yo siquiera saber si usted es el que me bautizo en Julio 1967 en la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias, Gracias." Basically, I am happy to find you on facebook. I want to know if you baptized me in July 1967 in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Thank." I immediately got up and looked in my diary and found Raul Anchante and Maria Anchante, their story and everything. I wrote back. We are now in communication. Raul lives in New Jersey. He is an industrial engineer and his work brought him here. He has three children and 3 grandchildren and one of his daughters lives in the United States. He has only been active the last couple of years but he says that the missionaries that he goes out with helped him to find my name on facebook. He could remember my name and that is a miracle in and of itself. He has found the Church again and is happy to be active. We are so excited to get in touch after 43 years. I took Raul's picture off of facebook and I included a picture of Gil Greer and I as missionaries together as shown above. You never know.

6 comments:

duke of earl said...

Love it.

ashleyboice said...

what a great story. LOve you guys!

Earl Family said...

I love your stories. So inspirational.

Tom Earl said...

Seriously a great story - thanks for sharing it!

Sage said...

Awesome story! Chevere!

Cali said...

Great story...as they all are! Dad, if you cover your dark hair in that picture you look EXACTLY like MIKE!!!! So weird, I never realized how much he resembles you. No wonder mom likes that kid so much. hehe.