Rodriguez Family

David served in the Riverside, California mission. One of his areas was Moreno Valley which is where he met the Rodriguez family. He says he felt the spirit in their home right away despite them not being members. He taught Cynthia, (the mom) Natasha, and Audrea (the 2 oldest girls) the gospel lessons.  Hector (the dad) was not amped on the missionaries or the LDS church for that matter and it came to a point where Cynthia had to follow her husband and stop taking the lessons from David. David's companion gave up and told David that he needed to move on but David continued to visit the Rodriguez home to try to talk with them more. They wouldn't talk with him anymore but for some reason he couldn't move on from this amazing family. One day he felt prompted to visit their home and caught Cynthia outside in the driveway. He cornered her for lack of a better description and talked with her for an hour. He doesn't remember anything that he said during that conversation because the spirit did the talking. He does remember making the promise that if Cynthia came to church on Sunday, Hector would come with her. He remembers stressing so much about that promise because Hector was pretty clear on not being interested in this at all for himself or his family. On Sunday David saw the Rodriguez family walking in with Hector bringing up the rear. Hector told me he remembers seeing David and his companion playing around with some youth from the ward and thinking, "oh they're not so uptight." This began the change. Hector's car was having some problems so David, his companion, and a member of the Rodriguez's ward Brother Barnes came over to help him with it. Hector was so impressed that in their suits and ties they were willing to help this man that had never been welcoming to them. They went to the auto parts store and the guy working behind the counter was giving David and his companion dirty looks and staring them down as if he was unhappy they were in his store. Hector noticed and stepped in front of the workers glare and said, "hey, they're with me." Haha It had made Hector so mad that this man was judging them so he stood up for them and the worker totally backed off. Long story short they took the lessons, got baptized and sealed as a family, and then they came to our sealing when David and I got married. They are such an amazing family and inspire me everytime we see each other. David puts it best when he says,"the students have become the teachers." David and I have very strong testimonies in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints but life gets the best of us sometimes and sleeping in becomes pretty tempting on Sundays. Cynthia said to me, "you don't want the devil in the bed next to you do you?" haha. No I don't. With them its so simple. You believe in the church and you do everything you need to. Including going to church when you're tired or whatever your vice may be. Their lives completely center around Christ, as it should, and I leave feeling closer to the Lord just from being around them.