45 years later, Mexico City grandmother baptized

  By Suzanne Briggs
  NewsNet Staff Writer
  10 Mar 2003
 

          After 45 years of rejecting the gospel, an article in BYU's Collegiate Post  written by Beatriz Ledesma's granddaughter convinced her to be baptized.

          Ledesma, from Mexico City, wanted to be baptized by the same missionary  who baptized her daughter 45 years ago since he originally brought the gospel to their family.

          The family contacted the church headquarters and was able to locate John   Arnold, the missionary who baptized Ledezma's aunt, living in Hawaii.

          Arnold flew from Hawaii to Mexico City and baptized Ledesma on March  2.

          "This is such a miracle and more than I could ever expect," Maraly  Ledezma said. "It wasn't through theory or doctrine that my grandma was converted. It was because she knew in her heart that it was true."

          Maraly Ledezma, Ledesma's granddaughter, made a sculpture about her grandmother and presented it at the BYU Student Religion Symposium.  The sculpture depicted the life of her grandmother and explained the meaning of baptism as well as the importance of the gospel.

          "My grandma is the only one in the whole family who was not a member of the church," said Ledezma, 21, from Mexico City, a BYU graduate who studied international law and diplomacy and European studies. "Over 70 of her descendants have joined the church."

          Ledezma's goal was not to convert her grandmother. She wrote her grandmother letters every week for the last five years since her family moved from Mexico City to Utah. Ledezma simply wanted to keep her grandmother informed about what was going on in her life.

          Ledezma contacted the Collegiate Post to submit her story about the sculpture after she presented it at the symposium.

          The Humanities Department publishes the Collegiate Post and anyone can write for it.

          "The purpose of the paper is to take contemporary issues and look at them from an academic standpoint," said Rebecca McConkie, editor in chief of the Collegiate Scroll, 20, a junior from Colorado Springs, Colo., majoring in English.

          Ledezma got in touch with Angelina Carnini, the art editor of the paper.

          "It was a great story and reflected the culture of Mexico," said Carnini, 24, a senior from Glastonbury, Conn., majoring in public relations. "We had her write two articles so that we could keep the whole story and not cut anything out."

          The sculpture, titled "Biacho," is made of clay. The sculpture portrays a woman crouched in the fetal position, with a crown on her head, sitting on a red heart with a blanket wrapped around her. There is also a parrot sitting in a tree in the sculpture.

         The woman represents her grandmother, the tree represents family and life, the parrot represents a pet that was very dear to her grandmother, the crown represents celestial glory and the heart represents the waters of baptism and the blood of Christ.

          Ledezma sent the articles she wrote in the Collegiate Post about the reasoning behind the sculpture to her grandmother in Mexico City. Her uncle translated the stories from English to Spanish for Ledesma.

          "When she heard the stories, my grandma immediately wanted to be baptized and knew the gospel was true," Ledezma said. "She used to be so aggressive and stubborn about the gospel but through the example of her family she wanted to be a part of that happiness."

          Ledezma left for the Washington D.C. North Mission on March 5.