Mi Vida, Mi Historia: As Earth shakes, Nicaraguan convert's testimony stands firm

From the time the church assumed an international character, Latin American Latter-day Saints have shown undaunted pioneer faith and dedication to the gospel of Jesus Christ. More than four million of the church's 13 million members speak Spanish.

To honor these stalwart Saints, a unique exhibit has been created in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Museum of History and Art. This interactive exhibit, which shares the inspirational stories of modern-day Latin American faith, is titled "Mi Vida, Mi Historia." This is one member's story. 

OREM, Utah — She's never had to walk across a continent to practice her religion freely, tame a desert wilderness or build a temple with her bare hands.

Still, Reyna Aburto has lost all her material possessions, worked to get them back and lost them all again. And, like the Prophet Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail, she's wondered if God still cares and listens to his children in their moment of suffering.

That's why Aburto, a member of the Lakeridge First Branch, Orem Utah Lakeridge Stake, feels a close kinship to 19th-century Mormon pioneers.

On Dec. 22, 1972, 9-year old Aburto and her 10-year-old brother, Noel, who shared the same room and slept by her side, settled down for the evening in their adobe home in Managua, Nicaragua, excited like any child about the upcoming holiday. Later that night, however, sugarplums weren't dancing in her head.

"I had this strange dream. Everything was so dark, and I could feel this strong smell of loose dirt," Aburto recalled. "I tried to reach up, and I could touch something, but I didn't know what it was. From my waist down, everything was trapped. I heard this woman screaming, asking for help."

Aburto soon realized she wasn't dreaming. An earthquake had rattled the city — first a 7.5-magnitude strike, then two aftershocks that measured 5.0 and 5.2. About 20,000 people were injured, 250,000 homeless, and 5,000 dead. Aburto, not knowing what to think, was rescued from the rubble. Everything was gone — the house, the clothes, the furniture. But that wasn't as bad as the figurative punch in the gut she felt when Noel was brought out — he was one of those 5,000 who died.

Aburto's family rebuilt their lives and their home, thanks to the generosity of friends and neighbors. But after years of instability in her home country, she again forsook everything and moved to San Francisco in 1984.