La Semana Santa

This week went by super fast. La Vega is pretty sweet. I’m really enjoying it.

Last week I said I was going to keep better track of stuff that’s going on but I feel like I wrote one of these yesterday so I don’t know what to tell you.

Basketball Stuff

We’ve been playing 2 v 2 basketball every morning for morning excersize which has been pretty hype. The Elders told me that I have the best mid-range shot between the 4 of us so yea it’s whatever. But one day we were playing and these two dominican dudes were sitting on the stairs nearby watching. After we finished I knew that we should go and contact them but I was so tired and mad after getting whooped super bad and just wanted to go back to the apartment ASAP. But the Lord blessed us despite being disobedient, and during the day we somehow ended up accidentally finding where both of the guys lived. It was just pretty crazy because of how many people there are here and they both live on opposite sides of the town. And we happened to just walk in to them right at their house. So that was cool, and we are now teaching both of them. Not sure that they will get baptized but I’m satisfied knowing that we are giving them the chance. 

Everything is Breaking

Coming near the end of my mission is sad and hard but also probably needed. All of my stuff is breaking. My watch finally snapped and is currently holding together with duct tape, pants have ripped, my waterbottle mouthpiece snapped off, most of my shirts are stained, my sandals had to be superglued, my socks are wrecked and can hardly support themselves on my ankles, my shoes have holes (used dominican hotglue to fix them but it didn’t work and then I used some stuff called shoe goo that helped a little), my mosquito net ripped last night (I was super mad about that one), and the colors of my ties are fading from the sun that’s on it all day. My mom sent me a rescue package a couple of weeks ago but when I was at the mission office to get it, they told me it will probably not get there till I am already home. Hopefully it gets here soon though. I have faith. My Uke still works good though so I’ll be chillin.

We have so many amazing things happening in this area. I loved Puerto Plata so much but I can already tell that I am going to love this area a lot too. We’ve already found so many great people and had a super full house at church yesterday. I am super excited for the next couple of weeks! One person we’re teaching who is super awesome is Ashley. She is so sweet. We had only talked to her for a few seconds and I knew she was gonna be elect. And yea she is super awesome. We have a lot of great people working on getting baptized and It’s gonna be good. I'm excited.

Last night I had a dream that I was home and I just cried. I am really gonna miss this. Then I woke up and realized I still have 10 weeks left and was able to calm down a bit. But I really love being a missionary.

I also had a good time this week contemplating the Savior's Atonement. I don't know if they do it in the US but the whole week here is crazy. They call it "La Semana Santa" (holy week). And basically to celebrate everybody gets super drunk and breaks a lot of other commandments. Kind of disgusting how they honor Christ paying for our sins by committing more sin. 

I listened to a BYU dev by Neil A. Maxwell called "In Him all things hold together" that was really good. I did feel a little heart sick the whole day thinking about the pain He went through. 

I am super grateful for Jesus Christ. I have learned so much about Him these last 2 years but at the same time I feel like I know so little. I wish I understood all of it better. But for now, I am just grateful.

Bye!

• Elder Wride