Elder Wride in the Dominican Republic: Pretty eventful week

Hey guys!

This week felt like it was 5 minutes long but so much happened.

Two Females

This story is pretty scary. So me and Elder Pugsley went to the lake by our house to do some street contacting. Nobody was even there, except for one car. So we decided to just skip rocks for a few minutes and then head out. While we were skipping rocks, we saw two girls our age come out of the car that was there. We always wave to people, so we waved at them. They started to giggle. I was like “ohhhh boy” so me and Elder Pugsley decided to go. We got in our car, and then out of nowhere, the two girls pulled up right next to us. My heart stopped.

They rolled down the window and were like “heyyyyyy what are you guys doing”. So we were like “uhhhhhh we’re missionaries”. They were giggling a lot and it was pretty nerve racking. So we decided to scare them away and teach them a short lesson about the Restoration.

Long story short, we were both pretty shook. Why couldn’t something like this have happened while we were in highschool?

Anyways, we eventually coordinated a time for them, us, and our zone leaders to have a lesson at our church. It was a really awkward lesson. At the end they texted us asking if we were mormons and have multiple wives. I’ll attach a picture of the conversation.

Anyways it was just a really funny experience for some reason. Just thought I’d share

Police

So, I finally got word a little while ago that I can submit my Dominican Republic visa application! But it’s been super confusing. To sum it up, I’ve been going to the same police station here in town a bunch trying to figure it out. I probably went in about 10 times and talked to the same guy each time. And for some reason, literally nobody knew what I was talking about. But I had nowhere else to go so I would just go back and try to rephrase it in a way that they would understand. After a few days I was able to get an Elder who had already done it to send me a picture of what his police form looks like. When I showed it to the officer he was like “well shoot (didn’t say shoot) I can do that”. Finally they got me the stuff I needed and on the way out the officer was like “Elder, I want you to go to the Dominican Republic and NEVER COME BACK”. I think he was mostly joking but I’m actually not totally sure. But it’s all good because now my visa is submitted!

Exchanges

This week our zone leaders told us that they would be coming down to Litchfield for an exchange. We were both super excited and wanted to tidy up the place. So before we went to bed the night before the exchange, we made everything look nice, decorated our apartment with lights, and decorated a sign that said “Welcome ZL’s to Litchfield! We love you!”. The next morning we called them to see what time they were gonna be there and they told us that they are actually going to have to cancel the exchange because of other stuff. We were heartbroken.

We had a zone zoom call that night after hours to talk but me and Elder Pugsley were too sad. So during the zoom call we sat on the couch holding the sign that we had made. The ZL’s saw the sign and apparently it broke their hearts so they surprised us the next day and came for an exchange. It was a miracle.

Funerals

This week was really awesome but it was also pretty sad. We had two active members of our branch pass away unexpectedly. So on wednesday we went to the funeral for one of them. Although it was really sad, I felt a lot of peace. I had many spiritual witnesses that she and all of us will be resurrected in a coming day. It was really sad on Saturday to hear about the passing of the 1st counselor in the branch. He’s been so good to us and will be missed dearly. During fast and testimony meeting there were a lot of thoughts on his passing.

The really cool thing was that the wife of the man who died bore her testimony as well. She said that people were surprised to see her at church today. Her response was “where else would I be? On Sundays, I go to church.”. It was just such a powerful thing. She is grieving, but her conversion to the gospel is so strong that she came to church anyways. The gospel is awesome. But please keep the Litchfield branch family in your prayers!

THE WORK OF SALVATION

This week I’ve seen a lot of good things the Lord has done for us missionaries. We’ve had super elect people this week just walk right into us and it’s been incredible. Especially after several weeks of virtually no progression with our friends. Here are a few cool ones.

We were walking out of a lesson and waved to the cars that drove by (like we always do). So we waved at this one car and the guy pulled over, rolled down his window and was like, “yea what’s up”. We were like “uhhhh” but went with it. We got his information and have a lesson with him this week! And he seems pretty interested. Super cool.
As we were driving home the other day we felt prompted to go talk to a guy we saw sitting on the side of the street. So we parked and went to talk to him. He ended up not being interested but we were looking for dinner anyways so we walked into the Dominos that was right next to us. We walked in, and one of the pizza workers looked at us and shouted “can I hear about Jesus Christ?”. We thought he was just mocking us at first but he’s actually super elect and wants to talk with us. He’s really into religion but isn’t associated with one right now and wants to learn more. So we have a lesson with him this week. Pretty sweet!
We had just finished doing a service project at this place and as we were walking out we said “how are you” to a lady walking by. She instantly stopped and said something like “I’m all good thanks to Jesus!” and then started talking to us. She seems pretty elect too! Like really! She said that we have a glow about us and we really stick out. She wants to meet with us and we have a lesson with her this week. Pretty niceeeeee
We went to visit someone we’re teaching who has kind of been ghosting us. She was home which was great and we were able to meet with her on her porch for a few minutes. We noticed that there were two grown men inside (two of her sons) and we asked if they’d be interested. She said no, but we both felt prompted to still try something. So we asked if we could try anyways and she said sure.

The two guys names are Johnathon and Shawn. They are ELECTTTT!!! We sat down and Jon was like “yea I’m ready to hear whatever you have to say”. He had seen the Book of Mormon musical and had a lot of questions haha. So we taught him and Shawn the restoration and it was such a spirit filled lesson. We both taught and testified, and you could feel the spirit move them. At the end they were like “wow, you guys are nothing like we thought you would be. You’re like….normal people!”. Then we decided to be funny and were like “just wait, we haven’t done our ritual dance yet”. They thought that was pretty funny. Elder Pugsley said that we left our maracas in the car and would have to go grab them. Ha!

Chuck is doing great too. We did some yard work for him this week and then had a sit down discussion with him. He says he feels like the Book of Mormon is true, but he’s a bit nervous to ask God because he’s afraid the answer will be yes. But he gave us his word that he would pray about it so we’re super excited for him.

There are some other lessons and stuff we had that were actually really good but those are some of the highlights!

Mission Life

We had a zoom call yesterday with the whole mission for departing testimonies. I was teary eyed the whole time. Missions really change people. Me and Elder Pugsley both were super emotional during Elder Powell’s testimony. I was with him for three transfers and Elder Pugsley was trained by him. It’s pretty awesome how much the mission makes you love people more. Reminds me of a poem I heard this week about mission life in general. Here it is-

A mission is a strange experience

It is a trial and a test

A mission throws at you the worst

Yet, teaches you the best

I’ve never been so happy

I’ve never been so depressed

I’ve never felt so forsaken

I’ve never felt so blessed

I’ve never been so confused

Things have never been so clear

I’ve never felt my Heavenly Father so distant

He’s never been so near