July 2004 Ensign - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

aptized in the 1940s. His grandfather and father both
served as local priesthood leaders. Brother Martínez, called
as a bishop at age 25, now serves as stake clerk.
Brother Martínez is an electronics engineer, and his wife
was trained as an educator. In a way, he says, they represent
what happened to members because grandparents and parents
struggled to provide education for their offspring. As a
result, many members of the current generation of Church
leaders in Mexico are visible symbols in their communities
of personal growth through following gospel principles.
Armando and Claudia Galíndez of the Culhuacán Ward,
Mexico City Tlalpan Stake, are examples. A lawyer, he also
owns a company that offers employee training to businesses.
Sister Galíndez, trained in tourism management,
works with him in his company. Successful in Mexico,
Brother Galíndez resists the lure of greater prosperity
to the north. Though he might be able to establish
a business in the United States, he chooses to stay in
Mexico to help build up the Church. He says he wants
to help fulfill President Spencer W. Kimball’s dream of the
roles of members in Mexican society (see “President
Kimball’s Dream,” p. 36).
Even before their marriage, Armando and Claudia made
gospel-centered goals for themselves and their family.
Brother Galíndez uses a number of gospel-based principles
in the training he offers, including this one: “The only thing
we need to do to move from ordinary to extraordinary is to
understand who we are.”
As in other areas of the world, there are members of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Mexico
who drift away weeks or years after baptism, some never to
return. Yet priesthood leaders who have followed President
Gordon B. Hinckley’s counsel—making sure that every
member has a friend, a responsibility in the Church, and
spiritual nourishment with the word of God—say it is very
effective in reaching out and bringing back many who are
not enjoying the blessings of full activity. And some members
return on their own when a spiritual whisper or insight
reminds them of how much the gospel has to offer.
Yolanda Elsie Díaz de Vega of the Jardines Ward,
Guadalajara Mexico Reforma Stake, recalls staying up late
to study the gospel with her husband after they were baptized
in 1979: “It was as though we hungered for the scriptures.”
But after seven months as a member of the Church,
she felt that she was criticized unfairly by an older member
and that she could not go to the next meeting. For four
years the Vegas did not go to
church—until concern for
the blessings their family was
missing led them back.
The Vegas have been
active for many years now,
Left: Carlos and Iliana Moreira
with their young son, Carlos,
in Monterrey. Above: Opening
of a sacrament meeting in
Guadalajara; members in a
Mexico City Sunday School
class. Opposite page (top):
The Mario Martínez family
of Monterrey.