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!