Marvelous Work and a Wonder® Testimonials

My journey in finding and learning about the Real Truth through the work of the MWAW has been a lifelong learning experience just like peeling back the layers of an onion.  Filters and paradigms that Christopher has talked and written about over the years had to be discarded and replaced with the understanding of Real Truth.  Looking back, I see clearly now how these things kept me in line and from realizing my full potential and living my life to the fullest or should I say from being genuinely happy.

For me it started when I was six years old in a little town in South Texas called Rio Hondo.  I remember walking home from school and seeing Father Gabriel standing at the street corner waving to us and telling us that our mothers had given him permission to tell us that we had to go to Catechism at St. Helen’s Catholic Church.  Wanting not to get in trouble we dutifully attended.  I still remember those hard church pews.  And, after sitting all day in school, that was the last thing I wanted to do.  We were kids and full of energy so we couldn’t help but fidget and want to talk with our friends.  Father Gabriel would quickly put a stop to that by walking around and bopping us on the top of our heads if we made any noise.  He also told us that the Spirit of Christ was in the Holy of Holies behind the altar so we had to show respect and keep quiet.  That was just one of his scare tactics he used to keep us in line.  Next, it was reciting prayers over and over until we had them all memorized.  I still remember, “Our Father, which art in heaven; hallowed be thy name.” and “Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee.”  Over and over, we would recite aloud in unison until we knew them by heart.  So, I began thinking that reciting prayers, going to confession once a week, and being scared to death because I thought Jesus was starring at me when I was in Church, constituted being a good Catholic.

In elementary school I enjoyed learning but I sometimes had questions for which, I couldn’t find satisfactory answers.  In third grade when we studied about dinosaurs I wondered what became of them and why didn’t we have dinosaurs today?  As I got older in junior high and high school, music became a way for me to connect with a world outside of my little home town.  In the late 60’s and early 70’s songs about peace and love filled the air.  I wondered why couldn’t have a world where those things came to pass?  Why was there war and hate in the world?

Growing up as a migrant farmworker, along with religion, poverty also played a major part in shaping the filters and paradigms in my life.  Poverty is like a disease; it passes on from generation to generation.  My parents were uneducated and lived a life of working all the time.  Consequently, I grew up hoeing beets in Minnesota, picking cherries in Michigan, cucumbers in Wisconsin, and tomatoes in Ohio.  It was a way of life for us and not just something we did one or two summers.  We would travel up and down the Midwest working long hard days, 10 to 12 hours a day, sometimes more.  The work consisted of mindless repetitious work so I would use that time to think and wonder about life, why things were the way they were.  There were times when I wanted to do things but because we didn’t have the resources I was limited in what I could obtain.  The lack of choice can shape your life into living conservatively because you realize at an early age how hard it can be just to get by.   I still find myself making decisions based on that life. 

Then one day I came across the Book of Mormon.  As I started reading the title page, I knew there was something different about it.  Because of the BOM, I joined the LDS Church.  Eventually, I got married in the Temple, became a priesthood holder, had 3 kids, and thought I had arrived.  But somehow, I had all these questions in the back of my mind that the Church could not answer.  I kept wondering just like I did while growing up about this world we live in and why there was so much turmoil and misunderstanding?  Eventually, a friend of mine told me about the Sealed Portion of the Book of Mormon.  Like everyone else, I thought, no way.  Why didn’t it come from the Church leaders?  Who was this Christopher guy?  The same curiosity I had all of my life led me to research the MWAW site.  So, I began reading with a skeptical eye.  Hoping to catch that one instance that would prove it was not true.  However, as I began peeling back the layers of the onion (reading the books on the MWAW site) I started realizing that just like it says in the Book of Mormon, Ether chapter 4, versus 16-17, the work has commenced.

Now I find myself alone in this dreary world because my wife of 35 years filed for divorce.  She said the MWAW was the last straw because I did not want anything to do with the LDS Church anymore.  My kids have grown up, are married, and living their own lives.  Looking back, I can see how a lot of the decisions I made were the result of my ego and pride.  And even though I grew up the way I did I can see how my ego and pride drove me to what I am now.  I can see it in other people every day too.  How they walk, how they talk, how the things they do result from their egos and pride.  Just the way I acted out throughout my life.  And as I think about what Christopher said in the last couple of CWC’s  about how this earth is a prison I can see how I would have been an asshole in my previous life.  Finding the Real Truth has truly been liberating.  I can honestly say that I am free from all those filters and paradigms I was living with and how I am not angry anymore or fill like I missed out on things as I was growing up.  For the first time in my life, I can say that I am truly happy and want what is best for everybody.  It’s taken my life experience to appreciate the answers I’ve received in studying the Real Truth.  I don’t walk around with all those questions like I did before, and I can’t wait for the next Real Truth I will learn concerning my life upon this earth.   

Life is but a dream… sha boom.  

Carlos Cortez

Carlos.Cortez0215@gmail.com