Me Falta 3 Meses

This week was good, a lot of stuff happened. Here it is

T-3 Months

I officially have three months left. I’ve been having dreams that I’m home almost every night. In one of my dreams I was cruising on I-215 in my ford fiesta blasting earth wind and fire being super happy I was home and could finally listen to whatever music I wanted. But other than that, in all of my dreams that I’m home I am just super depressed and try to get back to the DR somehow. But I am definitely coming to the end of my rope a little bit. My shoes are getting holes in them. They were holding up pretty good until I started megging my companion a ton. Now the holes are getting bad and the soles are rotting jaja. 

Feliz Cumpleaños

My birthday was on Tuesday which was good. Holidays and birthdays as a missionary are kind of non existent, but It was still good. By the end of the day I laid in bed and thought, “you know what, today was a pretty good birthday.”. And then I realized that I didn’t open any presents or eat any cake and was depressed for a sec jaja but I got over it quick

El Templo

We went to the temple in Santo Domingo the next day at like 4 in the morning. I went to the temple praying and fasting for a spiritual experience, and I definitely had one. Not the one I expected and it was kind of hard for me and I was depressed for a little while jaja but I know the Lord is teaching me.

El Espiritu Santo...?

My companion and I have a lot of crazy experiences that I forget to tell you about. I remembered this experience that happened a few weeks ago that I thought I’d share. We taught a lesson to a brother and sister. They are both in their twenties. They were bashing the whole lesson so it wasn’t great and we decided to end it. They asked if we could pray with them at the end, so we said yes. They told us to stand up, so we did. Then they pulled out a speaker and started blasting super loud crazy music. They were yelling and shouting about the Holy Ghost and it was kinda crazy. They also told us to close our eyes. My companion told me after that while the music was playing and they were shouting, the brother had grabbed him and was shaking him trying to command him by the power of the Holy Ghost to fall to the floor and all this crazy stuff. The sister had been a little crazy to me but not like that. It was just crazy. Elder Opheikens told me that when the guy tried to command him to fall to the floor by the power of the Holy Ghost, he felt something powerful, but not of God, trying to knock him down. For a second he was scared, but then he prayed to the Lord for help and got his strength back and was able to stand strong even while being yelled at. 

At the end of it, I was pretty annoyed jaja. We are now avoiding that guy at all costs. He is kinda nuts. But it was a cool experience too. They asked us how we liked their "prayer", and we both read scriptures from the Bible and the Book of Mormon about the real power of the Holy Ghost. The one I read was in Helaman 5:30, one of my favorite verses. It says - 

“And it came to pass when they heard this voice, and beheld that it was not a voice of thunder, neither was it a voice of a great tumultuous noise, but behold, it was a still voice of perfect mildness, as if it had been a whisper, and it did pierce even to the very soul - ”

Missionary Night

We had a night the other day with the returned missionaries in the ward, us missionaries in the ward, and the people preparing to go on missions. It was super cool to sit there and reflect on everything I have learned on my mission. It has been so much harder than I thought it would be, but also more rewarding than I thought it would be. I have grown a lot in these past two years. 

Yudelca y Joaquin

There’s a recent convert in a different ward in the stake who since she has been baptized, has dedicated herself to helping other couples get married so that they can get baptized. In addition to helping Noely and Loren (who I’ll tell you about in a sec), she helped this couple named Yudelca and Joaquin. They got married, and then she sent us their information to teach and baptized them.

Last Sunday morning, like an hour before church, we texted and invited them. Most people here take all week plus Sunday morning to help them keep their commitment of church, but this family right away, with hardly any notice was like “ye okay we’ll be there”. We were like “uhhhh you sure?”. We were just super surprised that they said yes so fast. But they came to church last week and this week. 

Teaching them the gospel has been amazing. I am so amazed at all the amazing people God puts in our path. During our first meeting, we met the rest of their family. They have a 10 year old daughter who is special needs. Her whole body is crippled and she is constantly moving and shaking. I felt the Spirit of God so strong when I saw her being carried out of the room in her dads arms.The first thought that I had when I saw her was imagining that Christ had just come and asked everyone to bring him their sick to be healed, and itt was a powerful moment. The second thought that crossed my mind was that I wished I had enough faith to heal her. Then my thought was that I hope that when Jesus Christ really comes, He will be sure to visit and heal her. It’s what he did the whole time he was in Jerusalem, and one of the first things he did when he came to the Americas. I can only imagine that it will be one of the first things He does again when He comes back. 

But anyways, I already love this family with my whole soul! Their special needs daughter’s name is Angie. Itt was so cool looking into her eyes. I could just feel that she had a strong spirit inside of her that wanted to get out. I could see the light of Jesus Christ in her eyes. 

But anyways, they also have a little puppy that is freaking cute named Blancita. They also have a giant spider hanging from the roof that almost ate me but my comp saved me. Anywas, I don’t think I’ll be here for their baptisms but I’m sure they will get baptized next transfer.

Noely y Loren

We have been teaching Noely and Loren for months. His wife Loren is a member already that we were led to and were able to help reactivate. I’ve talked about them before, but we just found out this week that his name is Noely, not Noel. So we’ve been saying it wrong. Oops. But this week they got married (on my birthday) which was super sweet! They have been working for months to do it and God finally made it happen. 

Then on Saturday Noely got baptized. The baptism was a great experience. There have been angels seen and unseen in this whole process. He’s a big dude so I was kinda scared but it worked out okay. There was just a little splash zone. As we walked out of the font after I baptized him he looked at me, pointed to my bicep and flexed. So let’s gooooo 

Church

Sunday mornings are almost always my favorite part of the week. So many people have been coming lately, it’s been crazy. It’s been more full than my home ward honestly, which is crazy. It is so fulfilling to look around on Sunday and see people in the church building that I have come to know so well. I am so grateful that the Lord has put them in my life. I am going to miss them so much. 

Transfers

We also had interviews with Prez this week and he told me that I am probably gonna be out of here at the end of the transfer which is next week. I’m not surprised, but I am sad. This area has changed my life. I feel like all of my mission has prepared me just for these three transfers I’ve had here. So I’m trying to mentally prepare myself to leave this area and become depressed for a while because I’m convinced this is the best area any missionary can serve. 

Also sorry if I am bad at responding to your emails. I definitley read and love them all and will try to get back to them asap

That’s it, bye! Love you guys

- Elder Wride

Tranquilo

Hola mis amigos, 

The past two weeks have been pretty cool. 

Funny Dog

There’s this dog that is freaking dope that follows us around every time he sees us. He is the dog of an inactive member so he knows what’s up. When we pass his house he usually comes to my feet and rolls on his back waiting for me to rub his belly with my foot. I normally kind of hate dogs but this dog is so small and chunky and it is super funny. After I rub his belly, I win his trust, and then when we go out to proselyte some more he sometimes leads the way and barks at everyone. Which is super cool when he does it. Last night I was rubbing his belly again with my foot on his porch, while talking to his owner. I got distracted, and accidentally rolled him off the porch. I had a panic attack as I watched him slip off, but he’s so fat that he just rolled around for a second and then came back up to finish his belly rub. It was super funny. 

Nadeje

About two months ago our friend Soledad got baptized. She is gonna be one of the best member missionaries ever. She’s been helping her mom learn and live the gospel since her baptism and her mom finally got baptized this week! It was a bit of a process giving up some stuff but she made it. I love this family so much. Nadeje hasn’t processed everything as fast as her daughter did, but she knows the important stuff: God loves her, and she loves Him. So she’s going to keep His commandments. It was great to see her get baptized!

Marisa

We’ve had really great visits with our friend Marisa. I love her a lot. She really wants to get baptized but can’t find a new place to live. It’s been hard. During a lesson she started tearing up and said, “I want to be free of this misery”. 

She is a good lady, but has made mistakes in life, as we all have. When she said that, it hit me really powerfully that, like the scriptures say, “wickedness never was happiness”. We promised her that if she is doing everything she can, God will do the rest. 

Church

One of the biggest miracles of the Dominican Republic is how willing people are to come to church. Yesterday we had a lot of people again, 4 that we haven’t even started teaching yet! The Lord is so good! There was one family that we texted like 45 minutes before church and invited them, and they said they would go. We didn’t really believe them because everyone says that and 5% of them actually go, but this family came. It was awesome and I am way excited to start teaching them. We have a visit with them tonight. 

Spiritual Thought

I’ve been thinking a lot about the plan of salvation this week. It’s super heartbreaking to see people who I know know that what we have taught them is true, but then they deny it. I feel kinda scared for these people, and a little guilty as a missionary that I am making judgment day a lot harder for a lot of people because now they have the knowledge but many don’t accept it. It kind of stresses me out. But there’s that. 

Also yesterday during Sunday school, the lady teaching it talked for a second about spiritual witnesses or something like that, and then she paused and said, “Deny it. Try to deny it”. That hit me pretty hard. At this point, I have had so many witnesses that it’s kind of crazy. Can I really deny all of those things I’ve seen and heard? I’m scared what would happen if I do. So I’ve also been thinking about that. 

This week is gonna be crazy though. I’m most looking forward to going to the temple in Santo Domingo on Wednesday. I haven’t been through an endowment session since I was in the online MTC, 20 months ago. So I’m super excited. Also we have some friends getting married tomorrow and then the husband is supposed to get baptized on Saturday since the wife is already a member. I’m excited for that. Also I turn 20 tomorrow, so that will be cool too. 20 down, 80 to go. Jk I don’t think I want to live for that long. 

But I’m doing good here! Just trying to stay alive. Someone should go listen to “My Sweet Lord” by George Harrison for me. That’s kind of the feelings I have right now. I miss music a lot. 

Love you all, bye!

Last Week

 Wey

I tried to send this last week but had some phone problems. And I don't have time today to tell y'all what happened this week so sorry. But I'll let you know next week!

Wey que lo que mis amigos

This week was pretty alright

I have been really bad at keeping track of stuff happening during the week so this email is probably going to be kind of trash. 

So I got robbed this week. Turns out that you probably shouldn’t carry all of your money with you. Long story short, I dropped my wad of cash in an uber on accident and when we found out he wouldn’t give it back. Whateva. So I’m kind of in survival mode right now since we only get more money every two weeks. 

This week was crazy spiritual though. God is more real than I thought. We had a lady we're teaching tell us an experience she had that kinda blew my mind. I thought crazy spiritual stuff just happened to people in scripture. I guess not though! I'd like to share it but it's pretty sacred and not really my story to share. But it really strengthened my testimony of God's love for all of us. I didn't realize how closely he has been helping me and our friends we are teaching. 

I’ve also had some really good personal studies this week. I love the Book of Mormon so much.

I will do good this next week at writing stuff down to tell you about. I love the Dominican Republic so much! I am so happy at the blessings I’ve been given. Also my sister Melodie is home now which is crazy. Feels like my time here is coming to an end. 

Life is good though, bye!

• Elder Wride