“Able to Feel the Lord’s Help”

Latter-day Saint missionaries from the Central American Mission arrived in Nicaragua in 1953. After reading the Book of Mormon in one week, José Dolores Guzmán and his daughter Nora Esperanza were baptized in April 1954 in Managua.

Meanwhile, a young married couple, Roger Zelaya Aragón and Aura Lila Zelaya, had recently moved in with Roger’s sister Ana Martha Fernandez and her husband, Wilfredo Fernández. When Wilfredo brought home a pamphlet given to him by the missionaries, Roger eagerly read it. “Some months before, I had started to become interested in religion and reading the Bible for the first time,” he said, “thus, the pamphlet stimulated my desire to learn more about the topic of religion in my life.”

When the missionaries came to teach Wilfredo and Martha, they found that Roger was interested as well. They scheduled separate appointments to teach him and Lila. Lila, however, attended the Seventh-day Adventist Church and was not receptive of their message. She sat in on the lessons unenthusiastically.

Roger wanted to know if the teachings were true and prayed for an answer. He received confirmation and decided to join the Church. Roger and Wilfredo were baptized on the same day in July 1955. The night after his baptism, Roger felt a powerful spiritual confirmation telling him that the ordinance was valid.

Martha was baptized a month and a half later. At the end of October 1955, Lila decided to be baptized as well, despite—by her own admission—not having a testimony. She did it to please Roger. Her testimony took more time to develop. When their four-year-old son faced the prospect of lasting harm in his leg caused by polio, she witnessed priesthood holders giving him a blessing.

“They anointed him to the Lord, and he never had a problem in his leg then, or ever since,” Lila said. This miraculous healing combined with “studying and reading the Book of Mormon and praying a lot” and serving in the Managua Branch led Lila to acquire a firm testimony of the restored gospel.

In 1956, Roger was called to serve as the first branch president in Managua. He was around 22 years old at the time and was a little afraid. However, he had a desire to serve. “I was able to feel the Lord’s help,” he said, “because I can tell you sincerely that when I was giving a class or a talk, I could truly feel the Holy Ghost’s help very strongly.”

Roger and Lila sacrificed their time to serve the early branch and its members. “I lived at the Church,” Roger said. Lila took care of their young children and served as a visiting teacher. During Roger’s term as president, from 1956 to 1962, the branch grew significantly. Leaders had to locate a new meeting place, and Sunday meeting attendance surpassed 100 people.