Momentos Celestiales

Hola

Sorry I didn’t write last week! I had a really bad week haha and didn’t feel like writing. But God is good and he made this last week even better than a normally pretty good week so it was good.

La Musica

We’ve been changing peoples music in the streets which has been sweet. We did it a couple of times this week. The first time we changed it to “Accidentally In Love” by counting crows. We also changed one of them to “Prettiest Girls” from despicable me which is a jam. When we changed the song this old dominican lady looked at me and started dancing while keeping eye contact with me and it was funny. Then yesterday we changed it to “Life could be a dream” from the movie cars and the drunk group of people started going crazy.

My Favorite Family

We met a haitian family a couple of weeks ago. They have like 4 kids, and for some reason they love me. Every time they see me in the street they all come up and hug me and then all their friends come to. I feel like a dad coming home from work haha. Their sweet mom is a saint. I love her so much. Her husband had been in Haiti for a couple of weeks, so she has been taking her four kids to church on her own every week. And it’s a bit of a walk. But she gets everyone up early and get them clean and dressed, and then walks them to church in her high heels. It’s hard for me to even write this without tearing up. She barely even speaks spanish, but she does it, because two gringo servants of the Lord Jesus Christ invited her to. And we only asked once. It wasn’t easy for my parents to get little kids ready for church on time and we lived pretty close to the church with good living conditions. This sweet family lives in a house the size of a little walk in closet. And she still get everyone ready for church without a complaint.

I hear excuses all of the time from people about why they can’t come to church. They are all lame haha. This lady actually would have a decent excuse if she wanted to use it, but doesn’t. She just comes to church anyways. 

But yea I love that family so much. We gave them a picture of Jesus and the next time we came we saw that they had taped the picture of Jesus on the wall. That really got me too.

Miracles

The spirit was really strong this week. Our friends Soledad and Deivi got baptized. I’ve been teaching them since I got here and it was a miracle to see them get baptized. They are both so elect. I baptized Deivi and Elder Opheikens baptized Soledad. It was a really spiritual baptism. A ton of members came to support and Deivi and Soledad’s family and friends came too. They were both super nervous but after they got baptized they were both so happy. Deivi wanted to do it again. The spirit was just so strong in there! Everyone was so happy. Elder Opheikens and I couldn’t stop smiling. We talked after about how happy we felt. You had to be there to understand it, but it was amazing. Totally worth all of the work we’ve been putting in for them. 

And it was so spiritual that after the baptism, Soledad’s mom (who won’t come to church) came up to us and said that she wants her and Soledad’s friends to get baptized. Super cool! Then later in the day the spiritual high kept going and another friend of Soledad came up to us and told us that he wants to be baptized. Super crazy!

La Iglesia

But the biggest miracle this week was church. We invite people to church all week, and then in the morning before church we go to peoples houses to confirm that they are coming. Yesterday morning was looking like it was gonna be a normal week since it looked like a lot of people were bailing. During the church service we were sitting by Soledad and Deivi and the spirit was super strong. They got confirmed members of the church, and both of them were blessed that they would serve full-time missions. Me and Elder Opheikens were trippin’! Then I looked around to count how many investigators had come. As I was counting, more people walked in, families at a time. Every time a new family we’re teaching would walk in, me and Elder Opheikens would freak out. It kept happening, and we ended up having 16 friends come to church! I’ve only had that many at church one other time, so it was a huge miracle. I started tearing up right there in the meeting. 

Then after the meeting I was on a spiritual high, and the kids of the haitian family that I was telling you guys about came up and they all hugged me. That was such a celestial moment for me. 

But yea, basically it was sweet.

Spiritual Thought

I have so many feelings going through my head, but the biggest thought I had this week was that the gospel is true.

I was talking to my dear companion Elder Opheikens and we were talking about what the hardest thing about the mission is. 

Honestly, it took me a second. Walking around in the heat all day doesn’t really bother me. Speaking dominican spanish all day doesn’t bother me. Being on a super strict schedule isn’t too bad, not having much time to rest isn’t the worst, being away from my family doesn’t bother me too bad, etc.. 

So then I had the thought of why is this even hard? But then I realized what the hardest thing, at least for me is. The hardest thing for me is remembering all of the witnesses I’ve had, and keeping my faith as strong as it could be. And not doubting.

I just wish I could always remember. I remember in my first area here in the DR I had a really spiritual experience testifying to me of Jesus Christ, and I just went into the other room, got on my knees, and pleaded with all my soul that God wouldn’t lose me, and that he would help me to always remember that these things are true. 

Also as an apartment we watched the video about my family called “The House” the other night. I also got teared up during that and had another spiritual witness that the gospel is true. Just seeing how much it has blessed my family really hit me hard. I remembered that God does that which is good. Anything bad doesn’t come from Him. 

I also had a thought about Joseph Smith. Sitting in church looking around seeing all these happy people, I had another witness that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. He literally restored the gospel that brings peace, and gave up everything for it because he knew it was true. 

The last thought I’m gonna share is about our friend Daniel. He is amazing! Such an earnest seeker for truth, but is struggling with the idea of leaving his church and getting baptized here. We had a really spiritual lesson with him. We testified to him it was true. While we did it he was like “wow, I just got chills”. We told him that if God didn’t want him to find something here, he would have given Daniel lots of red flags a long time ago. 

After we had our lesson we went to his church with him. It was a really spiritual experience for me too. I looked around and saw all of these good people trying to show that they love the Lord in the best way that they know how. But, I wont deny that they definitley were lacking proper instruction on how to do it, which comes from a living prophet. 

But yea this week was good! I hope this spiritual high keeps going for a while. I always want the spirit to be with me. 

Bye

• Elder Wride