7 months in the caribbean

I have been cleaning the apartment all day so I don’t have a lot of time. Pero aqui esta

Traction is key

It rained like 24/7 this week. We were walking down a slippery staircase type thing and we had to be extra careful so we didn’t die on the way down. Elder Peterson went first and made it down alright. Then it was Elder Opheikens turn. As he started to walk down he said “traction is key…”. He hadn’t even finished saying the words when he totally slipped and fell to the bottom. I was dying, it was so funny. And he’s okay don’t worry

Gringos en la calle

While we were out proselyting we saw two gringos who looked super lost. We went up to them and found out where they were trying to go and took time out of our schedule to lead them out of the jungle. We had a really good conversation with them. They are both from the Czech Republic. They aren’t really religious at all, but the guy told me that although he doesn’t really believe in God, “during the hard times, I remember Him”. I thought that was neat. Even people who don’t believe seem to believe. 

Gloria

At the beginning of this transfer we were taking a bus from Santiago to Puerto Plata. While waiting at the bus station we were talking to people and talked to a lady who seemed nice. We got her number and sent her a text. Something that I have done hundreds of times. We barely talked to her at all but sent her number to the elders in her area. Then a couple weeks later she texted us saying how grateful she was that she met us and that the Gospel has changed her life and that she’s getting baptized and all that stuff. Super sweet! I am so happy! We are going to try and get permission to go to Santiago for her baptism. Vamos a ver. 

Alexa

We were visiting our recent convert friend Soledad and while we were talking to her neighbor who is a 10 year old girl started talking to us. It kinda blows my mind how smart all of the kids here are. Alexa told us that she was baptized a while ago in a different area but feels like she should be baptized again by complete immersion and that she should probably keep going to the church she get’s baptized in. So basically within a minute of even meeting her she was asking to get baptized. Super cool! And she’s been coming to church so that will hopefully happen this month. And then a week after we met her we had a meeting in Santiago with the President of the church in the Caribbean and his wife. His wife talked to us and told us about how she joined the church when she was a little girl. Hearing her talk I totally thought of Alexa. After she finished talking I turned to Elder Opheikens and told him that that will probably be Alexa someday and he told me that he had the same thought. 

Nuestros Amigos

Also we’ve been helping all of our recent converts get temple recommends so that they can go and do baptisms for the dead. It’s been super fulfilling. Seeing someone get baptized is satisfying, but it’s much more satisfying to see someone get baptized and then let it change their life. Hopefully the sacrifice we’re making here will really change these peoples lives now and forever. 

That’s it for this week, love you all! Life is good.