Exercising Faith in El Salvador

In 1949, missionaries from the Central American Mission were assigned to preach the restored gospel in El Salvador. They stayed in the city of San Salvador in a house owned by Ana Villaseñor, the mother of five boys. In addition to caring for her children, she was influential in building relationships with government officials.

The missionaries found a new place to rent in September 1950. “She has treated us like sons or better, and we will surely miss her. She did all our politic[k]ing too,” missionary Bruce Curtis wrote home. Ana became one of the first of 16 baptized in El Salvador during the first week of March 1951. They formed the San Salvador Branch.

The Church expanded to new areas in the ensuing years. In 1952, a family in Santa Ana, a city about 60 kilometers (37 miles) northwest of San Salvador, invited mission personnel to teach the gospel there.

In 1955, in Chalchuapa, a city near Santa Ana, 14-year-old Isabel Marta Garcia invited the missionaries into her home because she was curious after hearing rumors that they had horns. Isabel was struck by the first lesson. She had struggled to understand the nature of the Godhead, “but what they said was very clear. I liked it a lot.”

Isabel was baptized in 1956, after two of her siblings and her mother joined the Church. Her father took longer to join. Although he was a man of “great morals,” he struggled with addiction to cigarettes and drank alcohol. He stopped both habits completely after the missionaries challenged him to baptism. “I remember that he walked the hallways of the house chewing gum,” Isabel said.

Isabel’s parents were examples of charity. Her mother volunteered at shelters for children in need. Her father gave material assistance to a woman in their ward.

Bertha Luz Silva Maldonado was baptized in Ahuachapán, El Salvador, in 1956. She had been deaf since the age of 12. In 1960, Elder Harold B. Lee of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles visited San Salvador to speak at a Church conference. Bertha wanted to go but knew she would not be able to hear and would not understand. The missionaries gave her a blessing and promised that if she went, she would feel the spirit bear testimony that Lee was an apostle.

Before the conference, Bertha fasted and prayed that she would have a spiritual experience. Her faith led to a miracle that day. “As we sat during the conference, I could hear nothing, but felt a very special feeling. As Elder Lee arose to speak to the congregation, I heard every word that came from his mouth, and not only did I hear it, but I understood it in English before it was even translated into the Spanish language.”