Wow this week was a long one! We went to the furthest part of our mission called Dajabon. It is the border of the country and Haiti and the most hot place in the mission. We had to go up there to move the missionaries to a different house and close the one they were in. That is usually a pretty simple process, but this was the hardest, most complicated process ever! The owner of the house was a bit crazy and was basically flipping out the whole time about every little thing and that we needed to pay her all this money and all this stuff. But luckily my companion is good at his job and we have contracts that tell us exactly what we have to do when we close a house. I wont give details to everything, but basically we ended up staying up there for 3 days because we were all over the place up there trying to do the repairs to the house and do everything we had to do for the new one. It was kind of a nightmare, but we always manage to have fun and make the most of everything even when it's hard. We thought we would only be up there for a day and a half, so by day three we were pretty ready to get home! Haha. We only had one pair of other clothes to change into and one pair of regular missionary clothes. The new house still didn't have any water, or electricity so we had to shower in the old house and eat from the little stores in the town. We usually get mission money every 15th day of the month, but for some reason it came two days late this month so pretty much everyone in the mission called me asking why. I had no idea either, so we all suffered together and humbled ourselves haha. We were so broke and hours away from home, without clean clothes to change into, in the hottest area of the mission without ability to use fans to cool us. Haha, it was so awesome. And I say that because that is what being in a third world country is about. That is how you learn to make the most of everything. That is when you gain so much more appreciation for the people and for what you have been given in your life. I loved it so much despite how terrible it really was haha! It was a fun little experience for sure, and we got to meet a lot of super cool people up there. We somehow ended up meeting all sorts of different people and a lot of them offered to help us and gave us advice on where to go to find the things we needed up there and it was just so cool because the people are just so willing to help out any stranger and it was like we were best friends or family by the end of every conversation! I love that.
So last week I received a
letter from one of the people I baptized. I didn't end up reading it
until two days later, on Sunday. Right when I read it, I felt super bad
for not reading it earlier because it was basically a letter telling me
she was struggling and asked for advice and what to do. I called her
right away and it was a really cool conversation because by the time we
were ending the conversation, she knew exactly what she had to/needs to
do. I felt the spirit pretty strong and I was thankful that she trusted
me enough to tell me and ask advice. Its super cool when you teach
people as a missionary because you develop such a greater trust and
understanding of the people than if you were just a simple friend or
something. Because as missionaries we go way further than just being
friends and talking like friends, but we provide a way to make changes
for the better in their lives, offer a way to live the gospel and become
happy and resolve conflicts and problems in their lives. There really
is nothing else like teaching and testifying of the gospel of Jesus
Christ.
Our investigator,
Carlos, the one we had to take to the hospital a few weeks back for
being way drunk, got hit by a car on Sunday! He has been progressing and
doing way better since the whole scare a few weeks back. But on Sunday
night he was walking and talking on the phone and some car somehow hit
him and then took off and he broke his leg pretty bad and has been in
the hospital ever since. He called me on Tuesday morning to tell me and I
felt way bad because we were way up in Dajabon. But we got to go visit
him the other night and he seems to be doing okay. But he won't be able
to walk for a while and he is the only one in his family who works. So
pray for him!
Okay well I
have lots more to say, but no time to write, so maybe next week. But I
love you all and please pray for Carlos. I will also be transferred in a
couple weeks (18 days to be exact) and I would love if you guys could
pray for me to be sent to the area where the people are prepared for the
gospel and for me to find them and where I will grow the most! Thanks.
Me
and Elder Reeves passed out cold as we waited here for the owner of the
old house in Dajabón to stop freaking out at every little thing. We
were so exhausted going back and forth on foot throughout the town doing
a bunch of different diligences.
Us with our investigator Rafaelito
Me
wrestling with this little punk who is like my little brother, Randy.
He thought he could take me, but I showed him who's daddy hahaha.
Reminded me of the times I wrestled with the missionaries when I was
younger.
Elder Reeves, Gonzalez and I eating ice cream
Loading up the truck doing a house move
Elder Gonzalez and I on the long trip to Puerto Plata a few weeks back
All
of us a few weeks back when we went to Puerta Plata to do a house move
for the sisters and Elder Castillo helped us because he is the district
leader in that area.
Long
story on this one... but basically we had a water war and I got
drenched! Every Friday I go to all the zone leaders houses in the night
to drop off mail. Well, they waited for me and surprised me with water
balloons! So I ran into their house and soaked their beds, blankets, and
pillows. Good luck sleeping now!! Hahaha. It was a good time. Every
Friday we are always at war with them! We'll see who gets wet next week!
Elders Bartholomew and Tucker, the homies.
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