This week went by so fast holy cow. It was good I guess! Here's my update.
Chess Guy Who's Actually Pretty Good At It
There are these two dudes that are always playing chess on the side of the road. I told them a while ago that I wanted to play them but we haven't ever had time. Finally this week we had time and we stopped and I played one of the guys in chess.
Well, looks can be deceiving. I figured he was just this old dominican dude who didn't know anything but he was insanely good and absolutely wrecked me. And every time he moved a piece to kill one of mine he did it super aggressively. It was kinda scary. He also was muttering stuff during the whole thing roasting me. He'd be like "I thought he was gonna be good" and stuff like that. I played him twice and each game lasted about 3 minutes. And I thought I was pretty good because in St. Louis I was kinda undefeated.
At the end of our match I asked if we could share a spiritual message with him and he said yes. He's one of the few people I've met as a missionary that has been like anti-God. He went off and just kinda ripped on religion and stuff. It was cool though because he wouldn't deny the existence of God. I kept pushing for him to tell me whether he believed he existed or not and he would say "I'm not going to say whether he does or not, but I don't believe he exists". Reminds me a lot of Alma 30:48 - "48 Now Korihor said unto him: I do not deny the existence of a God, but I do not believe that there is a God; and I say also, that ye do not know that there is a God; and except ye show me a sign, I will not believe".
We talked for a while. It's also super fun talking in Spanish. Honestly I think I'm basically fluent. Like I understand every word everybody says and I can talk really fast like them. Anyways we talked for a while and it was pretty entertaining. He said he believes in theology, not in God. So at the end of our visit I felt prompted to give him a Book of Mormón and invited him to read Alma 30. He said he would, and tonight we're gonna follow up. I also gonna play him in chess again. My goal is to survive at least 5 minutes. Fingers crossed
Lots of kids
A lot of people ask about our families, so it's always fun to see their reactions when I tell them that I have 11 siblings. I always let my companions go first because they always think that 3 or 5 kids is a lot. And then I come in and do a mic drop with 11. It's pretty great. With one of the families that asked I decided to make it more interesting. I found a picture of me and all my siblings that has us all lined up in a line from oldest to youngest. I zoomed in on the oldest and slowly started moving down the line. The line just kept going and it blew their minds. I'll attach the picture I used.
Misinformed Dominican Woman
This dominican lady we talked to this week asked us if it's true that if we are married and our wife dies, we marry our deceased wife's sister. Not sure where she heard that. I told her no though. I then made a joke that there are some people in the world who think that "Mormons" have horns. She didn't think that was funny because she said she had thought that too. Me and my companion then both started going through our hair to show her that we don't have any horns.
Angry Old Man
Another really cool thing this week was that I got spit on! I thought it was cool because I really felt like Christ's disciple. We were walking down the street and an old guy was like "hey give me money". I was like "sorry, we can't give you money, but do you want a cracker?". I had some ritz crackers in my bag. I pulled one out and handed it to him. He then looked at me and was like "no quiero galletas!" and lifted up his hand about to hit me. I was able to get out of the way in time to avoid getting hit but then he spit on me. It was interesting!
Spiritual Experiences
We had great lessons this week. Another one was with Jose. We were testifying to him that the Book of Mormon could change his life. As we said it, it looked like a wall just hit him. He looked at me and was like "why are you giving me goosebumps?". I told him that that was the spirit. Then I got major goosebumps too. Pretty fun!
But there are lots of great families we are working with! Things have just been great with all of them the past couple weeks. This week we're gonna just start going hard with baptismal invitations. Because really that's why we're here. So it will be exciting to see how that goes.
We also met an amazing lady yesterday! We stopped by a little shop on the side of the road to talk to a guy we felt prompted to talk to. But the lady on the other side of the counter listened to the conversation and absolutely drilled us with questions. It was super fun. At first she was really antagonistic and told us that organized religion is bad and so on. But then when we explained the first vision, it was like a flip switched in her head. She got so excited that she left the counter and came out into the front so she could better see the Book of Mormon. And she drilled us with more questions. Before we even had the chance to offer her the book, she asked for it. So I'm super excited about her.
Also our two friends Rances and Lubenson are doing great. We originally had their baptisms planned for this week but we're thinking we're gonna move it to next week instead. I am really excited for them though! You can tell that they both want this gospel to start to become a big part of who they are.
Spiritual Thought
I hit 16 months yesterday. I will have 7 months left at the end of this month. Pretty crazy. I had a nightmare this week that I wasn't in the Dominican Republic and it made me really sad. So I am happy I am still here.
My mind has been racing a lot lately just about the mission and life and stuff. Everybody told me that the time would pass, but now it's actually starting to look like it is. Not sure exactly how I feel about it.
A big change that I feel like has happened to me lately is that I am letting go of my pride. I am accepting that I don't have all of the answers. And it's kinda funny, I feel like as I accept that I don't know all I would like to know, I learn the most.
Also my testimony of this gospel has gotten so strong. I am seeing first hand the way the Book of Mormon describes that the world would be before the Savior comes again. Another testament to me that He really will come. It's gonna be great!
Last thought I just had -
My companion has been pretty annoyed with all of these dominican people. He's mostly just annoyed with them blasting music all night. But his patience is pretty low with them.
So when that dominican guy spit on me, my companion almost lost it. He like wanted to go and beat the guy up. I was annoyed that I got spit on, but I wasn't mad. We just walked away and I was fine even though my companion kept looking back, clearly thinking about retaliating in some way haha. He was also surprised that I wasn't mad and was like "doesn't that just make you angry?". Before the mission I probably would have been, but as a missionary I really feel like I have Christ by me and it's easier to react in the way that He would. So I responded and told him I that it really didn't bother me too much. My companion then said, "But you didn't deserve that! You didn't do anything wrong".
Those words kinda hit me. I then thought about Jesus Christ. He literally did not do anything wrong. Absolutely nothing. He made no mistakes. And not only did He not do anything wrong, but He did so much good. He healed, comforted, and blessed everyone that was near Him.
He was totally flawless in every way. But yet, in addition to suffering for all of our pains and sins, he was beaten, scourged, and crucified in the most cruel way.
There is no way I or any of you fully comprehend what He did or how amazing and important it really was, but if there is anything I am learning out here, it is that Jesus Christ is really the Savior and Redeemer of the world, and nobody get's to God, but through Him, and His atonement.
I love you all!
- Elder Wride
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