This is Elder Ordoñez!
He has an incredible story of how he was called here to Perú.
This Elder was born in Guatemala.
He immigrated with his family to Mesa, Arizona when he was two years old.
They could not leave the United States or they would lose the
opportunity to become permanent residents.
He was raised in Mesa until he was seventeen.
When he was seventeen he purchased a car in Utah.
He drove the car to Arizona and was pulled over by the police.
He didn't have the paperwork on the car yet and it had Utah plates.
They took him in and found out that he was born in Guatemala.
They put him into the criminal system.
First in this jail for a day, then this holding place for a day,
then a retaining area for a couple of days and then
he was placed in the Eloy prison and was there for months.
They separated him at seventeen from his family that all lived in Mesa
with legal working immigration papers.
The attorney was working with his family trying to collect the paperwork
needed to have him released.
They then moved Elder Ordoñez to Florence to a hard core prison.
While he was there he met a member of the church from Brazil.
The Brazilian said that he had been praying for someone that he could
help convert and get on a mission.
The Brazilian inmate was a returned missionary
and was trying to undo some of the wrongs in his life.
There was also a guy there that they called Fiji that was LDS
and was being deported back to the Fiji Islands.
He was a convert and his family was still living in the islands.
He was working in the States and sending them money.
While these three men were all together in this prison,
they would read and study the Book of Mormon,
they would pray and have Family Home Evening.
Both of these inmates told Elder Ordoñez that he needed to serve a mission.
At this time in his life he was not wanting to go on a mission.
Elder Ordoñez read the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants
while he was being held in Prison.
After seven months in prison he was deported to Guatemala.
He went and lived with his Grandmother whom he had never met.
She was also encouraging him to serve a mission.
It was like a seed that was growing inside of him.
Little by little the thought of serving was becoming a reality.
He started to fill out his mission papers.
He didn´t tell his family.
But when he received his mission call to Perú, he told his family
and his mother was weeping.
In her youth, she wanted to serve a mission.
She dreamed that she was serving in Perú.
It was so real to her. She knew that she would recognize the places
that she had dreamed about if she ever visited Perú.
When she was 20 years old she was preparing her papers to go on a mission,
the Bishop told her she was still six months too early and would have to wait.
A few months later she met her husband and was married
instead of serving a mission.
Her great desire to serve a mission in Perú
has now come true through her son Elder Ordoñez.
He could only be called to Perú if he was out of the United States
or he would have lost his immigration status to be a permanent resident.
Through all of this heartache and sadness and separation from his family,
he has a great attitude and is serving such a great mission.
When he was deported to Guatemala, he didn't know Spanish.
He was raised in Mesa.
So he started to learn Spanish while he lived there
with his grandma.
Now he is fluent in Spanish and English.
He is serving with all his heart, might, mind and strength
and his family still lives right in my home town.
I might have to adopt him to get him home to Mesa
but whatever it takes I will get him home.
The problem is that he now calls Guatemala his home.
We love you Elder Ordoñez!
We thank Heavenly Father that you are
a part of the Trujillo Perú Mission.
We know that you were supposed to be here with us!
