This week was absolutely insane and I’m super drained right now. But it’s a fiesta!
Los Dominicanos
Dominicans are great. A little weird sometimes though. The other day on our way home a dominican guy who was definitely on something (wasn't the spirit) walked up to me and just started speaking the fastest spanish I have ever heard and didn’t stop. I had literally no idea what he was saying. So I just kept walking and he followed me. I just nodded and would occasionally be like “si siiii claro”. It went on for probably like 10-15 minutes of him just talking about who knows what. Then we were finally at our apartment and he still wasn’t leaving so we just stood and listened for a while. Then just as fast as he had showed up, he just walked away. It was really weird but I kinda enjoyed it. Afterwards my comp said that he was asking for money.
Spanish
I feel like my spanish is getting worse haha. But that's okay. At a lesson we had this week we invited a member to join. It was a rough lesson. The teenagers we were teaching were really out of control and we couldn’t get them to focus. Then the member we brought stepped in dog poop. Then she called me a “gringito” and told me my spanish was bad. Jajaaaaa. But I know I just need to give it time and I’ll start to get the dominican flow of things.
Muy Ruidoso
There is so much noise going on 24/7. I just want to shrivel up and cry sometimes. It’s so annoying. At night it’s insanely hot and our fan is still broken so we opened the window one night. I could hardly sleep because my head was next to the window and the motorcyclists were driving back and forth all night long. And the dogs get excited to see motorcyclists so they start barking really loudly every time one drives by. So the entire night was listening to loud engines and dogs barking. Now we sleep with the window closed and it's quiet but it’s just a lot hotter. Also people here throw giant speakers outside their house or on their car and blast super loud crazy music all night long. that makes it really hard to focus during the day and sleep at night. But yea that’s been exciting! Good thing I grew up with 11 siblings. Good practice.
Bautismo de Darlene
The highlight this week was that our friend Darlene chose to get baptized. It was a great experience. I am always a little hesitant teaching niños because I want them to really understand the gospel and stay active in the church if they get baptized but it’s just kinda hard sometimes when they’re so young. But Darlene is great. She is the only member in her immediate family, but most all of her cousins are active members and she is with them all the time and has been coming to church every week for a while. So I don’t really feel worried about her going inactive which is a relief. She also showed up 30 minutes before the meeting started so she could help everyone get their hand sanitizer and stuff. Super sweet! And she gave the closing prayer in sacrament yesterday and did amazing. She is super awesome and I’m so happy that she chose to get baptized. Her older brother also came up to us after seeing her get the gift of the Holy Ghost at church and said that he wants to get baptized too. So we’re gonna be working with him a lot this week.
La Obra
I am working so hard out here but at the same time it feels like we don’t get much done. There is just so much to do and not enough time to do it all. I haven’t even had time to poke anyone back on Facebook! Haha. It’s been really stressful coming into an area that’s really great but where no records are kept and trying to get it all organized. We’ll be walking and my companion will be like “ella es una de nuestras investigadoras” and I’m like “whaatthdskasldf” and then we’ll go and mark down in google maps where they live, get their number, make them a registro in area book, etc.. It’s just super overwhelming. And on top of that we get a bunch of referrals every day but then can’t contact them. Yesterday we got a really solid referral and went to go find her and her husband. We walked like 20 minutes to where we thought she lived, but realized that it wasn’t an actual address. So we ended up spending the next several hours just trying to find this lady. And without success. By that point we were at least 45-50 minutes away from our apartment, so we decided to just head back. On the way back we saw a little alleyway and thought it would be a shortcut but it ended up taking us in a loop back to the top of the road we had just come down.
Basically there’s just so much time spent walking and looking for people and it can be kind of rough sometimes.
But it’s great! I really enjoy it. I know I’m doing my best and the Lord will make up for our lack of efficiency.
I am also super impressed with the faith of all these people. Members and non members. Our bishop is an absolute beast!! He is so cool. After Darlene’s baptism on Saturday he casually walked up to us and handed us a list of 20 referrals. Members are definitely the key to the work going so well here.
Un Año
I hit one year this week which was pretty exciting. The time has gone by fast for sure. I know I’ve given it my all thus far so I don’t have any regrets. I’m grateful that the Lord has been leading me along step by step. Which reminds me of one of my favorite scriptures-
D&C 78:17-19
“17 Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are little children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you;
18 And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours.
19 And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more.”
I know that the Lord will lead us all along as we are faithful and patient. That’s one of the things He is teaching me a lot about.
Love you guys! Have a good one
- Elder Wride
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