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| Elder Ballard giving his introductory talk |
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| Joan is on the left and I am on the right helping everyone to the area that had been set up for the dedication |
Elder Ballard said
that all the other South America (S.A.) countries have had their own dedicatory
prayers but there is no record that Argentina had.
The story of
missionary work in S.A. started in 1925 with the Apostle Melvin J Ballard
taking a boat to South America and in a park in Buenos Aries dedicating South
America for missionary work. (We live just one block and an 8 lane road
away from that park and we often go for a stroll through it and the beautiful
rose garden there.) Well since then each
individual country has been dedicated by an apostle except Argentina. So
the first Presidency decided it would be appropriate for the grandson and current
Elder Ballard to dedicate Argentina.
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| Here is Joan helping Sister Ballard |
We were asked to invite
30 or so people to the dedication of Argentina which would take place back to the very park
in the very spot where his grandfather dedicated South America for the work of
the Lord. Nothing was to
be said until after the first presidency reviewed the proceedings and a copy of
the prayer was published. Well your mom and I were there. We helped
arrange and make sure everything went off well. I did the audio recording
on the digital recorder that I used for blessings and gathered all the photos
that were taken and sent them to Elder Rasband's office. We got a copy of
the prayer sent to us and I will put it at the end.
The notice came out in the Church news the article is at
and
here is a little excerpt of how the article starts.
Church News
Elder M. Russell Ballard: 'Day of the sons, daughters of
Lehi is
blossoming'
By Jason Swensen
Church News staff writer
Published: Saturday, March 15, 2014
Almost nine decades have passed since Elder Melvin J.
Ballard, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve
Apostles, gathered with a small group in a park in Buenos
Aires, Argentina, and dedicated South America for the preaching of the gospel.
The year was 1925. Only a handful of members from Europe
could be counted in all of South America. Yet after 8 months there, Elder
Ballard, an ordained prophet and seer —
envisioned a prolific future for the Church across the entire continent: “The
work (in South America) will go forth slowly for a time just as the oak grows
slowly from an acorn. It will not shoot up in a day as does the sunflower that
grows quickly and thus dies. Thousands will join here. It will be divided into
more than one mission and will be one of the strongest in the Church. The work
here is the smallestthat it will ever be. The day will come when the Lamanites
here in South America will get the chance. The South American Mission will
become a power in the Church.”
Definitely a once in a lifetime experience!
Argentina
Dedicatory Prayer
February
21, 2014
Parque
Tres de Febrero
Our Beloved Heavenly Father,
As thou canst see, we are
gathered as a small group of leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints here in the Parque Tres de Febrero, as near as we know to the
place where Apostle Melvin J. Ballard, Elders Rey L. Pratt and Rulon S. Wells of
the Seventy, and others gathered 89 years ago, to dedicate, at the direction of
the First Presidency, all of the lands of South America.
By Assignment of the First
Presidency, our purpose this morning, dear Father, is to offer and record a
dedicatory prayer specifically upon the land of Argentina. And so we ask thee,
dear Father, to pour out thy Spirit and power upon the leadership and the
members of the Church here in Argentina. We invoke a blessing as part of this
dedicatory prayer upon the area presidency and the area seventies, upon the
stake and district presidents, the bishops and branch presidents, the Melchizedek
Priesthood leaders, and upon all of the sisters who carry such a great
responsibility in building up the kingdom of God. We invoke a blessing upon the
youth of Argentina, the young adults, the young married couples, the boys, the
girls, that thy Holy Spirit will fall upon them, and that they will have
spiritual experiences and insight come to them beyond anything they have
experienced thus far in their lives, that they will have those feelings and
inspiration come from thee as to what they can do in their individual lives to
enhance and move this work forward ever more effectively and powerfully in the
future than it has in the past.
Now we know, Heavenly Father,
there were a handful of thy children at the dedication of South America 89
years ago. Today, in Argentina, there have been baptized over 425,000 of thy
children who are living today, and we pray thy blessings to be upon them
wherever they may be living and whatever their circumstances may be, that we
may find them, we may bless them, we may bring them unto thee and to thy
Beloved Son, that they may receive the full blessings thou hast in store for
thy faithful children.
We have, Heavenly Father, in
this area almost 7,000 young full time missionaries; it is a miracle. We thank
thee for this miracle and we pray thy blessings upon every full-time missionary
serving in Argentina, that they will draw close to thee and to the leaders, to
the bishops and the stake presidents, the Priesthood Quorums, and the Relief
Society and Young Women and Primary, and they will work together to find those
that have lost their way, who once had testimonies. Bless their efforts to reignite
in their hearts the testimony of thy Beloved Son, the Savior and Redeemer of
the world.
We pray thee, Father, to
bless every branch and every ward, and every stake and district, and every
mission in Argentina, that they will see a clear vision of how working together
with all that has been given unto them since that day 89 years ago and that they
will hasten the work of salvation that we have been asked to do by President
Thomas S. Monson.
We pray humbly this morning
for thy approbation, thy blessing, thy mercy, Heavenly Father, to be able to
accelerate thy cause in preparing Argentina along with all the other lands of
the world for that day when thy Beloved Son will come again. By the authority
of the holy apostleship vested in me, and in the name of thy Beloved Son, I
dedicate this land to thy work. We ask thee, dear Father, to reach down and
touch and bless the lives of the leaders, the political leaders, the civic
leaders, the business leaders, all of those who have a voice or a
responsibility of any kind in affecting and strengthening this country, that
the current challenges and problems that they are facing that there will be men
and women of integrity raised up by thee with a vision to know what to do, and
how to do it, to stabilize the economy and to stabilize the affairs of
Argentina so thy work can prosper and go forward.
We are so deeply grateful,
as part of this dedicatory prayer, to acknowledge the life and ministry of the
Prophet Joseph Smith, and for the Priesthood that was restored to the earth to
him through John the Baptist and Peter, James, and John. We are grateful for Moroni
and the Book of Mormon, and to all others whom thou hast sent to restore to the
earth the fullness of thy everlasting gospel.
And now we ask thee that all
those blessings pronounced upon all of South America by Melvin J. Ballard 89
years ago may be accelerated as part of this dedicatory prayer of Argentina. May
there now be a new day, a new enthusiasm, a new commitment in the hearts of all
of thy children, both member and those who are not.
We are grateful Father as a
family to be here this morning. We have had sons and grandsons who have served
thee in Argentina. Heavenly Father, we thank thee for the privilege to dedicate
this land unto thy work, and leave this blessing upon these leaders that sit
here and all other leaders within the boundaries of Argentina, to move forward
thy work of salvation with a renewed spirit and enthusiasm to build up thy
Church. This prayer of dedication and blessing we ask for humbly, in the sacred
and in the beloved name of thy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
