Rio Grande Branch

We love to go to Church wherever we travel--so many new friends to meet.  The Rio Grande branch was small but had some strong and amazing members.  We had to go exploring the night before to find the building so we could get about 30 people there on Sunday morning.  We tried Mapquest, but ended up asking for help, and a wonderful helper told us to follow him and he would show us where to turn.  It was close to where we had looked, but we would never have found it on our own.  The building is small with a long hall down the middle.  On each side are partitions that can be closed for classrooms or opened for larger meetings.  We were greeted by Branch President Balboa, his wife and family, and some Relief Society sisters.  Above is the long hall from the inside looking out on the parking lot and the lush green foliage around it.  Below are some of the new friends we met.

The tiny lady is Sister Cintron.  She was the Relief Society teacher and gave an incredible lesson from the Gospel Principles manual.  She would give part of the manual, bear her testimony and then ask others for comments.  Simple--but very powerful.  She also switched from Spanish to English and back so that we could all understand what she said.  Several of us participated and shared. The spirit in the meeting was so strong that we could not contain our tears.  Then we found out that Sister Cintron is a widow that joined the Church in Sep 2008 and is the only member in her family. 

This is Sister Balboa, wife of the Branch President (they were sealed in the temple earlier this year), Relief Society Counselor, mother of two daughters ages 5 and 19, and bilingual.  She also translated Sunday School into English for us and gave one of the talks in Sacrament Meeting.  Her 19 year old daughter gave the other talk.  These were interpreted by two of the missionaries assigned to the branch.  Also look behind us--There is Sis Dalton, and Bro Dalton down the hall. Sis D went into YW where there was only one young woman.  That young woman had a feeling she needed to meet Sister D several months ago, but couldn't make it to the fireside where Sister D spoke.  Then Sister D showed up in her own branch and was able to spend an hour with her.  Wayne and I had the privilege of driving the Dalton's to and from Church.

 

I'm sorry I didn't get this sister's name.  She lives in the ghetto with drug dealers and gang members.  Her strong stand for righteouness has helped her be able to communicate with them.  She is protected and when her visiting teachers need to come visit, she talks to these people and they leave her visitors alone.  We understand that the missionaries are not allowed to go in the ghetto.

Everywhere we went, these two were asked if they were brothers.  Bro Reynolds is 10 years older than W.  Even the doorman at the front of the hotel asked him if his brother was at the hotel too.

We were sad to leave.  Sister Balboa brought some of our friends back to the hotel.  She cried and said she wished we didn't have to leave.  We had brought so much strength by coming to the branch.  She got it wrong--WE gained so much more than we brought.