In my first area, we had an investigator that was so sincere and so interested in the gospel, but also afraid to convert. His name was Caesar La Peña. He was 16 years old at the time we were teaching him. He had a sister who was a bit older than him and they lived with their parents who loved us and listened at times, but were not as interested as he was.
He had decided to get baptized and his family was considering it as well. They needed to come to church before any of that could be a reality and so week after week, we prayed and hoped and worked to get them to church. One week we decided to fast for them to come to church--we knew he was sincere but that he would never be able to convert if he didn't feel comfortable at church.
This was one of the most sincere fasts of my whole life up to that point. I felt sure he would be ready when we showed up at his doorstep to walk him to church on Sunday.
Sadly, he was nowhere to be found when we got to his house. The whole family was gone--we figured it was on purpose to avoid us. I felt so disappointed. After church, I prayed and asked God why this would happen. We had prayed so hard and fasted so sincerely. I immediately felt a peace come over me and suddenly I understood that I could not change the agency of another with my fast. My fast could only bring me closer in alignment to God's will or give me a better understanding of it.
Since that realization, I have also come to understand that perhaps a sincere fast can change God's will. I have seen miracles with Alisa's treatment and seen fasts help bring down rain in our droughts. But still the concept that we cannot pray someone's agency away remains in what I learned that day.
That day was crucial in my faith, and we did not give up on Caesar. Eventually he did come to church. He was baptized and a month later, he baptized his sister, Rosario. They lived in Tarija and so imagine my delight when a year later, I saw him at the Cochabamba temple open house (or was it the dedication?). He continued in the faith. Later in 2004, I got a letter from him (communication from any of my Bolivian friends has been sparse--they don't have mailing addresses, they didn't have phones at the time I was there, nor did most have any sort of email or social media--so many people are lost). In his letter, he told me that he served a mission in Peru and Rosario had served one in Chile. Both of their parents had been baptized and their whole family had been sealed in the temple a few short months before his father passed away. I am friends with him on Facebook and from all I can tell he remains true to the gospel.
Having that perspective now, I wonder why I was so sad about that one day that he didn't come to church? Whatever the reason, I know that the lesson I learned that day about fasting has served me well and I continue to pray that whatever God's will is, I will be better at understanding and following it.
