Ana Lucrecia Morales:

The Gift of a Poet

By Don L. Searle

God gave to poets a gift, to feel the essence of life, she writes.

She is a pizza-with-peppers-and-double-cheese kind of girl who enjoys studying in the patio swing or shopping for clothes. Yet she is also the kind of young woman who enjoys going to poetry readings, and she writes that God gave a gift to poets

to feel the essence of life

and of things: the water,

the earth, the moon and the morning.

At first glance, Ana Lucrecia Morales is a lot like other 16-year-old Guatemalan girls. Yet her friends know she is different—in ways they don’t always understand, but in ways they respect.

For one thing, even though she has plenty of schoolwork, she looks forward to going to another class every evening after school. She calls it seminary. To most of her friends, seminary would be a place where priests or ministers study, not a place for a teenager. “Isn’t it tedious?” they ask. “It must be boring,” they say.

But not to Analú, as her friends call her. Her mother picks her up from school, along with her younger sister and brother, and takes them directly to their 6:00 P.M. seminary class. Analú tells her friends she likes seminary because she learns about Jesus Christ there. She also likes studying the scriptures; she won second place in her seminary class in scripture mastery.

Her class of about 15 meets in her ward building—the San Pedrito Ward, Guatemala City Guatemala Palmita Stake—and for at least that hour each day Analú is among friends who enjoy studying the scriptures too.

During the regular school day, Analú attends Colegio Vienna, a private secondary school run by Austrian educators. “I like it,” Analú says. “I feel like I’m getting a good education, and I have a lot of friends there.” No more than three or four of them, however, are Church members, and no members are in her classes.

It’s not just her eagerness to go to seminary that makes Analú seem different to her friends who are not members of the Church.

She always says no to coffee. In a country where coffee production means jobs for many people, that’s hard for some of her friends to understand. “Why is it a sin to drink coffee?” they ask.

“I tell them it isn’t good for our bodies,” she says. The question allows her to explain the Word of Wisdom.

Usually her friends respect her beliefs, but most of them don’t agree with her about the Word of Wisdom and sometimes about other things as well. It’s not easy when friends want her to do things she has been taught not to do, and she often prays for strength to stand up for her beliefs.

But in such situations, there is help. “Seminary helps me in many ways,” she explains. “In meeting problems, seminary always helps me choose the right, and it’s also very interesting to learn about the prophets and how the Lord has manifested Himself to them.”

The way Analú responds to the words of the Lord and His prophets may have something to do with what she wrote at the beginning of her poem:

God gave to poets

a sixth sense,

to perceive the essence

of feeling …

Of course, Analú spends time doing some of the same things all the other girls do. She likes getting together with friends to listen to music. Her favorite musical group does ballads and popular music. She also has a friend who is a talented pianist, and Analú enjoys listening to her friend play classical music.

She enjoys getting together with friends to go to movies. She admires one particular movie actor—but not for his looks. What does she like about him? He always portrays funny characters, but they are very real and truly care for others.

These characteristics say something about Analú and ultimately about the kind of family she would like to be part of someday. “I’d like my future children to have everything I’ve had thanks to the goodness of God,” she says. “I try very hard to live right because I want them to have a good example in me.”

Analú learned early how good Heavenly Father can be to His children. When she was a little girl, her father was very sick. After several surgeries, doctors had done all they could, and there was little hope he would survive. But Analú’s mother united the family in prayer and urged them to pray individually as well. He recovered, to the amazement of his doctors, who said it was a miracle. Analú knew it was an answer to their prayers to Heavenly Father, and she learned that He would answer hers.

Such experiences and the things she has been taught live deep in her heart and are part of her being.

Maybe they’re like the things she talks about in another poem. She writes in her native Spanish about lines and words that are

a personification of what

runs in our veins

and surprises strengths

unknown,

an indecipherable feeling

expressed in verses.

“Every Good Gift”

While a member of the Seventy, Elder Robert D. Hales explained: “In Doctrine and Covenants 52:14–19, we are given a guide to follow so that our creative gifts can be used for righteous purposes. We are told that the gift or pattern of discernment is dependent upon prayer, a contrite spirit, obedience to the ordinances and commandments, meek and edifying language, no contention, humble acknowledgement of the Lord’s power, and our bringing forth fruits of praise and wisdom.

“Section 46, verse 10 also makes reference to our ‘minds,’ meaning our ability to study, learn, and develop our intelligence, gifts, and talents. We have the responsibility to improve ourselves.

“A friend of mine was asked, ‘Do you play the piano?’ He replied, ‘I don’t know, I haven’t tried yet.’ What a great lesson! How many talents we may have hidden that are waiting to emerge if we just try!

“Don’t forget, though, that developing our creative talents is not an easy task. Sometimes I catch myself rationalizing about my lack of talents by saying, ‘All have not every gift given unto them’ (D&C 46:11). For example, when we work closely with translators and interpreters, it’s easy to say to them, ‘How fortunate you are to have the gift of tongues.’ On one occasion the direct answer to me was, ‘My gift of tongues was received after thousands of hours of study and after overcoming many moments of failure and discouragement’” (“Every Good Gift,” New Era, August 1983, 6–7).

Photography by Don L. Searle

Analú is grateful for the gospel, which teaches her to develop and share all of God’s gifts.

Analú (second from right) with her sister, Luz Andrea Carolina; her cousin Gabriela; and her brother, José Manuel.