Monday, October 12, 2015
Birthday Week!
Transfer week is always pretty crazy! And loooooong. But everything went
well. On Monday President Castillo and his family invited my companion
and I over for Family Home Evening and dinner for my birthday. It was
pretty cool and I feel so blessed because not every missionary has those
experiences. In fact, no other missionary really ever gets the opportunity to do that. It was fun. President was way exhausted because
he and the assistants had just gotten out of like a 5 hour straight
transfer meeting trying to figure out transfers and where everyone would
be going. But he still kept a smile on and was fun and joking like
always. He's an awesome example because even when he is way stressed and
tired and it's late, he still makes time for family and manages to be
positive and happy.
Then on Tuesday we picked up the new
missionaries (Greenies) from the bus station. Immediately one of the
sisters said, "Elder Greer! Sister Reilly told me I had to find you and
that you are her cousin and best friend!" and all this stuff. It was
pretty cool. All of them seemed to know Sav! Then we took them to the
mission home and we gave talks and talked to them about our jobs and the
mission and everything. We had to do it back and forth in English, then
Spanish. Later on in the night, the AP's forgot to tell me that we had
to plan the transfer routes for the next day! So we spent from 10pm-1am
planning it all and finishing it all up!! Usually we have it done
before, but the AP's and President got done with transfers way late
this time so we were way behind schedule. Planning transfer day is so
hard! I never realized how much goes into it! Basically in the morning
of transfer day, everyone being transferred has to show up with all
their suitcases and things at this place called Caribe Tours. Then
everyone checks in and heads out to their new areas when their buses
arrive or when we are ready to take them. We had three cars/trucks so I
took one, Elder Walker took the other, and Elder Vargas had one too. We
three had to plan where all of us needed to go, at what time, with who,
and all of that. But it is super complicated because it is literally
like a giant puzzle. If one of us is late on our schedule, all of us are
late. If one of us mess up, the whole rout gets messed up. It is really
hard to explain. But that's why it took so long. So we finally got home
at 1:30am and then were back at it again in the morning at 6am!
Then Thursday we had the "dead" missionaries at the mission home and
they bore their testimonies and all that stuff. The next morning we had
to get up at 4am
to take all them to the airport. Also, my old companion, Elder
Cummings, got reassigned to a mission in Texas so we needed to take him
to the bus because he was flying out of Santo Domingo. But it was some
random holiday so the bus station wasn't open. So my companion, Elder
Castillo, and Elder Walker had to drive quickly down to Santo Domingo to
take Elder Cummings to the airport. Luckily they made it in time! Then
things finally calmed down. So today has been a nice, relaxing, needed
P-Day haha.
My birthday was very busy with my missionary
stuff, but it was fun too! They all sang me happy birthday and a few
past investigators and members called me and wished me a happy birthday.
I was bummed me and my trainer, Elder Rodriguez, who has the same
birthday as me, couldn't do anything together. But we talked on the phone
a little. Crazy I am no longer a teenager!! Thank you Mom and dad for
my packages!! You guys are awesome! I love sharing my things and
everyone loves all the candy and treats and weird shirts haha. Its
always fun giving candy and treats to my companion because he has never
had anything like it before because they aren't big on that stuff here.
He is obsessed with it all and has a deep love for my mom now haha. Also
thanks grandma Bonnie for the package! I loved everything! You are so
G-Thug, I love it. Thanks Mimi and Papa for the letter and money as well!
You are all much loved and appreciated :) Thanks to everyone else for
the birthday wishes. ya'll are awesome!
Last shout outs to Alma
for being such an incredible missionary always and being pumped to serve
and help the missionaries and invite others to have the same happiness
you experience through this gospel and church. And I heard that
Charlotte Connel is getting baptized!? Heck yeah! Super stoked for ya!
Have a great week!
Elder Greer
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Pics of me and a bunch of dying missionaries who went to the MTC their last day and met Sav! One of them is my old companion elder haws. |
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The one of my comp on the floor is when he was playing with his flying airplane and I thought it was funny cause he looks like a little kid |
Sunday, September 20, 2015
General Authority visit
So this week was really awesome! We had Elder Civic from the 70 come to
our mission and do a big "mission tour" and did a bunch of general
authority things throughout the mission. We had a mission conference and
he spoke. He laid down the rules pretty hard and what is expected of
us as missionaries. But instead of just being like "you can't do this,
you guys suck at doing this, you're not doing this like you should." He
was super loving about everything he said. I think it was exactly what
this mission needs. I think we are really going to see a lot more
success and miracles as we as a whole start working harder and obeying
the rules with exactness and especially are more disciplined. We also had
a special office meeting with him that included my companion and I, the
other two office elders, the married couple missionary companionship,
president Castillo and his wife, and Elder Civic and his wife. He went
one by one asking us all individual questions and we had to explain to
him our jobs/duties and how we do them. He talked about how we are
especially important to the mission because we are the ones that help
run he mission and have a lot of responsibility because we deal with
money and church information everyday. It was really cool and I could definitely feel his authority and spirit. He totally knows the prophet so
that's pretty cool. Then we showed him our offices. Then on Saturday
he and president and their wife's came to the baptism we had in our
ward. It was a couple that were investigating the church for 2 years and
went through a hand full of missionaries, including my companion and
they finally got married and baptized yesterday. It was a really good
baptism. We had to sing a special number. We sang "families can be
forever" I think that's what it's called in English. President Castillo
and Elder Civic both talked. It was really great. Elder Civic seemed
pretty pleased. I am super grateful to have had the opportunity to get
to know and meet/work with a general authority this past week. I think
my schedule is busy... his is insane!! Haha. I don't know how he does
it! He was telling me that they just visited Cuba this past week and it
seems to be progressing in the process of expanding the church over there
and eventually becoming a mission. So continue to pray for that because
that would be a huge blessing for all those people who have never had
the opportunity to hear the gospel.
On the teaching/investigators
side, we have a couple that the missionaries in this area have been
working with for a while. Their names are "Niño" And "Carrol" Niño is 19
and Carrol is 17. They have a baby girl named Grimsley. Such a
beautiful, smiley baby. We are working to get them married and then
baptized. They have the desire. It's just been hard because Niño got in a
bad motorcycle crash the week before I got to this area and was in the
hospital in a coma and then recovered super fast. We definitely saw miracles there. So now he is finally healthy enough to come to church.
So they both came today! We are also working with these two boys who are
about 13 and 14. The 14 year old, Pedro, is baptized but inactive but
wants to be active again. And his brother the 13 year old wants to be
baptized. Their mom is a member but just lazy and the dad has no
interest. But both the boys are super awesome and talk a lot in the
lessons. They were supposed to come today but never showed up. We also
have a kid named Eddy who is like 14 or 15. He goes to seminary every
morning at 6 am
but doesn't ever come to church... I feel like it should be the
opposite haha. But he is super awesome and would come to church except
his parents (inactive members) show no support. He is progressing a lot
though and I have no doubt he will be reactivated in no time!
I really love this area and our ward is awesome and super strong. We had a really fun family home evening tonight
with a super cool family in our ward. The step dad of the family is not
a member and there is a cousin of him living there that is not a member
either. Last week I invited him to church and he came!! And the FHE tonight went so great! They all really enjoyed it and the dad shared and talked a lot! Hopefully we see a lot of progress with them.
So last Sunday
while I was driving to church, my bishop called me and very seriously
he said, "Elder Greer... I have been thinking a lot about you lately."
"Ahh ok..."
I thought he was going to tell me to pull over cause my life was in danger or something! Haha...
"I don't know why, but I have gotten a strong spiritual prompting recently that the ward needs to hear your words."
"Oh, ok."
"I
wasn't quite sure when, but this morning one of the ladies who was
supposed to give a talk called and said she couldn't come. So I feel
very strongly that you need to talk today. Would you be able to do
that?"
"Yes of course!"
"Perfect, thank you. You don't have a topic. Just say what the spirit has you say. And you have 15 minutes to talk."
So
that was literally 5 minutes before church started so I had in total
like 20 minutes to think of something. So I just prayed and asked for
help knowing Heavenly Father would deliver like He always does. I immediately got two specific and different ideas. I couldn't decide
between which one I wanted/needed to share. So I just decided to share
them both. My talk was super long, like 20 minutes. It wasn't as great
as I wanted it to be and I messed up on my Spanish a few times, but all
in all it was good. Bishop was pleased and thanked me. I thought that
was pretty cool that he had that prompting. I thought something super
awesome would come from it like someone specific really needed to hear
what I said or something. So far I don't know, but if nothing, I at
least got to bare my testimony and share some cool experiences.
On
to the best news; Shout out to my sister Maddie and brother in law
Jason on their new baby!! And big shout out to my new nephew Keoni!! I
love the name! Well done. Can't wait to meet him when I get back! Also I
am super happy it all went well and that Maddie is healthy.
Love you all.
Next time ya'll hear from me I'll be TWENTY!! Weird!!
Elder Greer
The Church is TRUE!
This week has been really long. Monday through Wednesday was packed full
of traveling and paying bills of the mission and figuring out why a
house of two missionaries wasn't getting light and things like that.
Then Thursday I and a bunch of missionaries from my group had to go Santo Domingo to renew our visas. I was way excited to go because the
groups before us that had to go all got to stay in the MTC and go to the
temple. So I was so pumped to go see Sav in the MTC!! But for some
reason something just really doesn't want me to ever have the chance to
see the temple in this country because the area presidency just told our
mission that we can't ever go to the temple. Even if we are finishing
our missions. We can't go to the temple and then fly home the next day. I
am beyond annoyed and frustrated about it, believe me. You don't even
want me to get going on a rant about this displeasing topic... It's like
it's bad to go to the temple or something... So anyway, we went to
Santo Domingo and were there for about 7 hours sitting in a government
building waiting and then finally got in and they took our finger
prints, pictures, then we signed a few papers and we were done in like
ten minutes. Then we went all the way back to Santiago. I was a lot more
bitter about it when we were there. But it still doesn't make sense to
me why we couldn't go to the temple for an hour and make it a spiritual
and fun trip since we were already down there in the first place. But oh
well. Since I didn't get to see Sav, I had one of the old couple
missionaries that went to the temple last week give her a letter I wrote
to her and a big hug. Sister Francis, the old couple missionary, said
that when she found Sav and told her I wanted her to give her a big hug
and tell her I love her, Sav started to cry haha. I'm super bummed I
didn't see her like I had expected and wanted, but she at least got to
hear all about how cool of a cousin she has through Sister Francis ;)
The
week finally picked up on Saturday when we finally got in our first
lesson. I realized after that, that I was having such a long, stressful,
unhappy week because I hadn't had the chance to teach any lessons. We
also went around with one of the young men in our ward and he showed us
and introduced us to a bunch of the inactive young men of the ward. It
was great to meet them and talk with them and get them pumped up for
activities and getting back to church. As we were walking on the street
at 9:00pm,
we passed this kid that is probably like 12. He was carrying a wooden
shoe cleaner box going around just trying to make a few pesos. He asked
me if I wanted him to clean my shoes. Then I started talking to him
casually and it was just such a great feeling to talk to him and get to
know him a bit. I told him my goals of having activities with a bunch of
young men in the area and invited him to join us and to come to church
the next day. Then we said goodbye and continued to walk. And then
Sunday was amazing! We had planned and expected at least 3 less active
and 1 investigator in church and even went around to pick them up, but
they all ended up not coming and we were so disappointed. But then,
right before sacrament started, I saw the shoe cleaner kid walk in with
one of the less active boys we met the night before. I was so stoked! I
jumped up and went over and shook his hand and talked for a sec. Then
walk in another investigator and 3 less actives we are working with!! So
it ended up being a more successful day than we expected! And if that
wasn't good enough, the fast and testimony meeting was fantastic! The
testimonies were all so great and spiritual. There were people crying.
Our ward is two areas; Pueblo Nuevo (my area) and Rafey, an area that
has been struggling for a while. Well, pretty much all of the people
from Rafey got up to bare their testimonies and there were a few who
were inactive and less actives for a while who said how they are so
thankful to be back in the church and how the missionaries have helped
them so much. There were 5 young adult men from Rafey who went up there
together with the Rafey missionaries. It was so awesome and everyone
really enjoyed what they all said. After, everyone was commenting about
how great sacrament was. Then, if that wasn't enough, we had 4 really
great lessons after church and we met a few more new people AND got two
references!! I know the lessons we taught were filled with the spirit
and if the people we taught weren't changed, I at least was. Yesterday
just made me so incredibly thankful to be a missionary and have the
opportunity to teach people with the power and authority of God and the
spirit. And I realized that I just love to talk and interact with
people. And as I do so with these young men I am working with, I realize
that honestly, sometimes all kids need is love. Or attention they don't
get at home. Someone to show them they matter and are important. So I
am so blessed to be able to be that for these amazing kids.
The
lady lesson we had was at the house of a lady with cancer who is a
convert of my trainer, Elder Rodriguez. I remember almost a year ago
elder Rodriguez and I went to her house to visit her because she was
supposed to die soon. Well, she's still alive! We were there to talk and
visit with her son, but she had just started to make dinner so we
helped her. It was me, my companion, our ward mission leader, and one of
the young men in our ward named O'Neil who is way awesome and helps us a
ton. It was such an inspiring moment because this lady dying of cancer
who has to use a walker to walk and can only use one of her legs, was
just being so independent and not complaining. She loved our help. Then
after we finished, we had a lesson with her son and then sang a bunch of
songs with and for the mom with cancer. In that moment, I really payed
attention to the words of the Hymns and realized how much I love to sing
church hymns. I know this all sounds so cheesy and greeny-missionary
like. But I am not at all ashamed. I love everything about being a
missionary and being churchy and singing church hymns and being a
follower of Christ. I definitely have a terribly embarrassing voice, but I
will sing at the top of my lungs if I have to. This church is true. I
am blessed. Amen.
haha. You may not all feel as passionate
about these things as I, but you can and will if you just share and live
the gospel with all your heart. So get on it!
These pics are from a while ago
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The ones on the rock are in Santo domingo when we went. (Sorry Sav, but Santiago is wayyyy better;)) |
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The other pics are when I went back to Salcedo for the baptism and when I visited one of my converts from my first area |
Sunday, September 6, 2015
Hurricane--NOT!
August 31, 2015
Hey
sorry I'm late on the email this week. Everyone here was like freaking
out and saying there was gonna be this huge storm and super dangerous
and all this stuff. Most stores were closed, a lot less people on the
road. But all that happened was a little bit of rain -_- I was way
excited for a huge tropical storm or hurricane and like see the roads
flooded like crazy and be out in the streets helping people and stuff...
nope. Not at all. I think that we have just been in a drought here for
so long that everyone forgot what rain is. So when it finally came they
all freaked out and talked it up a ton. I guess the island Dominica got
hit pretty bad though. But that's cause they are small and not as
mountainy and have been in a drought for a while too so there were lots
of mud slides. Like 20 died. I guess Santo Domingo got hit a bit more
then here with rain, but nothing more than a simple tropical rainy day.
But in all seriousness, I am grateful that we didn't have a crazy storm
that destroyed houses and things. If there was a bad storm here, it
would do lots of damage because there are a ton of houses and buildings
that just aren't made well.
So I got to go back to Salcedo to see
Oscar, one of my investigators there, get baptized! A friend of his from
our ward baptized him and the missionaries there sang a super good
duet. It was a great baptism and I am way stoked for Oscar. He was a
reference from our bishop there and from day one of teaching him he was
prepared and had a ton of desire to be baptized. Everyone seemed to be
excited to see me again. It was way fun to see all of my Salcedo peeps! I
got to the baptism way late so I missed the pictures with Oscar in his
white baptism clothes. And I forgot to take one with him afterwards :/
but he's baptized so that's what matters :) After the baptism, I quickly
went and surprise visited a few people including Rosa Maria and her
family. They were super excited to see me and say they are really trying
to progress as a family to get baptized! Juan, that dad, just has some
things to work on and then they'll be ready! However, one of the sons of
the family has no interest at all, but that's okay. They are working on
getting baptized next month, so we'll see how they do! Keep them in
your prayers. I also had the chance to quickly visit and talk to Katali
and Daricha, two sisters who I taught and progressed incredibly! We set
their baptism date for the 19th of September originally and they are
still working towards that date and are super excited about it. They
both want me to come back and baptize them so that will be way cool.
Their mom is a less active and when we were there, she looked more
excited about their baptism and maybe even on the road back to big an
active member thanks to the example of her daughters!
So I
guess I really like putting more on my plate even though I'm a pretty
skinny guy that doesn't normally eat a ton because I have been wanting to
strengthen our ward so we went to Bishop's house to ask him for a task
or challenge. I have been really wanting to help the young men and
increase the activation rate with them and do some activities and things
to help them have more desire to be active in not only the church on
Sundays, but everyday. We only have like two active young men. So I
brought that up to Bishop and he loved the idea and gave us an
unofficial calling to work with the young men in our ward and basically
be the counselors of the young men's leader. So when we are not in the
office or doing tasks of the mission, we will be working with the young
men and less actives. I'm super pumped about it because I had such a
great experience as a youth in the church growing up and we did so many
fun things. So I am going to try and do that for these kids and help
them have what I had. Especially because here, it's so easy to get into
the wrong crowd or be out on the streets and all that. So if we can get
these kids loving to do things in the church and come to activities,
it'll be that less of time they'll have to be getting in trouble
elsewhere. I think this calling will be way hard, but it'll be fun and
worth it. It really will strengthen our ward and you can never have too
much priesthood! :)
Anyway, love you all. Have a great week!
Elder Greer
Time Is Flying By!
August 22, 2015
This has been one looooong week. All I can say is don't get in car crashes in other countries. Luckily it hasn't been too bad, just a big hassle. The Haitian man is in the hospital getting operated on his leg because it is pretty bad. So keep him in your prayers and pray that he will be able to walk again and use his leg and everything. Even though it was his own fault and the damage to his leg was done by his own motor, the church is paying for all the medical bills and working hard to help him. We also went back to the fruit stand that we hit to apologize and pay for the damage. I really love that because it really goes to show that when things like this happen, the church doesn't just say sorry, wasn't our fault and only take car of our own problems like our messed up truck, but we take care of the ones involved as well and make things right. The Haitian man said he is very grateful for us and that if it was anyone else, they would have just dealt with their own problems and say good luck to him. So it's really cool how that has worked out.
This has been one looooong week. All I can say is don't get in car crashes in other countries. Luckily it hasn't been too bad, just a big hassle. The Haitian man is in the hospital getting operated on his leg because it is pretty bad. So keep him in your prayers and pray that he will be able to walk again and use his leg and everything. Even though it was his own fault and the damage to his leg was done by his own motor, the church is paying for all the medical bills and working hard to help him. We also went back to the fruit stand that we hit to apologize and pay for the damage. I really love that because it really goes to show that when things like this happen, the church doesn't just say sorry, wasn't our fault and only take car of our own problems like our messed up truck, but we take care of the ones involved as well and make things right. The Haitian man said he is very grateful for us and that if it was anyone else, they would have just dealt with their own problems and say good luck to him. So it's really cool how that has worked out.
So recently I have been praying that we would have more
opportunities to teach and get out in the field and have as much of the
regular missionary schedule as possible on top of doing all our office
tasks. Shortly after, President Castillo asked us all in the office to
have a meeting to discuss how we can establish an effective schedule
that permits us to get done with all our work every day earlier and have
much more time to teach and be regular missionaries. So I'm really
thankful for our goals and plans to accomplish that. The only thing is
that we are "office elders" but we are not even in the office that much,
but rather doing all our duties and background business out and about.
It's funny because when people think of the office, they just think of AC
and boring paper and computer work, when in reality that is only like
10% of it. It was a bit challenging planning a schedule when there are
only a couple specific things we do on certain days and the rest when we
can/have time. Regardless, I really feel like we are going to be able
to accomplish our goals. I am also super blessed and happy and having a
blast being so busy and serving so hard every minute of every day. The
days are way longer and filled with so many awesome things but they fly
by so fast.
We also just got a new AP, Elder Walker from the
best state there is, good Ole California! While Elder Vargas and my
companion were on splits dealing with things concerning he crash, Elder
Walker and I were on splits the whole day and got to know each other
pretty well. He's an awesome, obedient, humble guy and is bound to do
great things here as an AP.
So my peeps from Salcedo seem to
be doing really great! Oscar should be getting baptized in the next
couple of weeks! And Katali and Daricha as well. Rosa Maria and her
daughter are close to being ready. I really hope they stay strong and
keep their fire.
The whole country has been going through a
super bad drought. If it doesn't rain soon we will be out of water... so
the whole country has been cutting water back even more. It really
hasn't rained in forever. So pray for rain as well! However there is a
hurricane on its way. It got up to a 3 which is pretty bad and
dangerous, but is supposed to weaken and shouldn't be too bad by the
time it hits us next week. I just hope it's not too bad so Savanna will
be able to get here!
I was going to write about this last week
but I got a bit distracted with the whole crash. But the families of two
missionaries who finished came and picked them up at the mission home
after transfers. It was way fun seeing them see their families for the
first time after two years. And their families were so excited to see
them and emotional and stuff. And they got to meet President and his
wife and talk a little. Then they left to go celebrate and vacation for a
week. I was so very against doing that with my family but after seeing
that it has made me re-think it a little. So we'll see. But I still got a
solid 11 months so I'm not even worried about that business!
Shout
out to my cousin Savanna for giving a bomb farewell talk last week and
sending it to me to listen to. You're already a fantastic missionary and
going to be for the next 18 months. So excited for you to have the
opportunity to teach and become so close to these great people of the DR.
You're gonna love it! Best place to serve without a doubt. And that's
not just me being biased :) Maybe I'll see you around!?? Cross yo fingas
and pray hard ;)
Elder Greer
Look Both Ways Before You Cross the Street!
Sunday, August 16th
I'll start off by saying sorry for the inconsistency in writing lately as well as the disorganization. I've just been all over the place lately. The week before and especially the week after transfers are extra busy and crazy. It really has given me great appreciation for organizations and companies. I never realized what it takes to run a mission. At least in a developing country. So many little things that you don't think about that are important. I really think that in my mission I have been serving many people in many different ways and sharing the gospel and putting together weddings and building houses and doing service projects and all the other things I've been doing thus far, but in all reality, of all the things I've been able to do, it's been the most beneficial for me. I have learned so much while being out here. Not only the gospel, but just life in general. My mission has been so life changing and awesome because I have been experiencing life in a completely different way. The office has already taught me a ton. And now that Elder Hollingsworth is gone, I am officially on my own. Just like how I learned so much my first couple months living here on my own (without my family/parents) I have been going through it again in a sense now that I don't have Elder Hollingsworth by my side training me what to do. It's hard and long and tiring work, but it's even more of a blessing because it makes me have to figure things out and especially put my trust in the Lord and know that He'll help me out. I have definitely been experiencing the blessings of trusting in the Lord lately. There have been so many times lately where I have just been like... ahhh... what do I do? Then I simply say a prayer and know that since I am living worthy and serving faithfully, everything will be OK.
I'll start off by saying sorry for the inconsistency in writing lately as well as the disorganization. I've just been all over the place lately. The week before and especially the week after transfers are extra busy and crazy. It really has given me great appreciation for organizations and companies. I never realized what it takes to run a mission. At least in a developing country. So many little things that you don't think about that are important. I really think that in my mission I have been serving many people in many different ways and sharing the gospel and putting together weddings and building houses and doing service projects and all the other things I've been doing thus far, but in all reality, of all the things I've been able to do, it's been the most beneficial for me. I have learned so much while being out here. Not only the gospel, but just life in general. My mission has been so life changing and awesome because I have been experiencing life in a completely different way. The office has already taught me a ton. And now that Elder Hollingsworth is gone, I am officially on my own. Just like how I learned so much my first couple months living here on my own (without my family/parents) I have been going through it again in a sense now that I don't have Elder Hollingsworth by my side training me what to do. It's hard and long and tiring work, but it's even more of a blessing because it makes me have to figure things out and especially put my trust in the Lord and know that He'll help me out. I have definitely been experiencing the blessings of trusting in the Lord lately. There have been so many times lately where I have just been like... ahhh... what do I do? Then I simply say a prayer and know that since I am living worthy and serving faithfully, everything will be OK.
Transfer
day was pretty hectic. We had to drive all the missionaries around to
their new areas as quickly as possible. Then we took all the "dying"
missionaries back to the mission home to have their final day in the
mission. (We did a bunch of other stuff but just a bunch of random,
un-noteworthy duties) By 11:30 we were home from the mission home and
then back at it at 4am to take the missionaries to the airport. This
past group that left was a hard group to say goodbye to because there
were a bunch of my good buddies in that group.
....Okay.
I am going to take a quick pause. A slight change of events just
occurred while writing this email. I was writing this email as I was
sitting in the back of our truck as we were driving to a super cool
waterfall in Samaná. Elder Vargas was driving, Elder Castillo in the
passenger seat, and me and Elder Walker in the back. Out of nowhere a
guy on his motorcycle pulled out in front of us, not looking both ways.
We slammed on our breaks and Elder Vargas swerved and did what he could
not to hit him. But as they say in the movies, it really did all happen
so fast. We heard and felt a large bang and thump as we swerved half way
off the road and took out a fruit stand. Elder Vargas was slamming on
his brakes and we drifted a little. When the truck finally came to a
stop on the side of the road, we all just kind of sat there in shock for
a second. In all honesty, the first thing that I thought was, wow...
that guy just died. There is no way he is still alive... I thought for
sure he was dead. As the crash happened, I saw a bunch of liquid fly up
and go on our car. I thought it was his blood. But it ended up being
stuff from the fruit stand we took out. We all kind of just sat in shock
for a couple of seconds and then got out of the car. In a matter of
seconds there were a billion people around. We were in a small countryside town in the middle of nowhere. The ambulance came and took the guy
we hit to he hospital. We wanted to see and talk with him but they
wouldn't let us go over there in case the family members wanted to hurt
us or something. I tried to walk over, but they wouldn't let me go. Apparently all that really happened to him was that he broke his leg
pretty bad. But we didn't know for sure. Our car was pretty jacked up
and our front passenger side tire was completely exploded. We got towed
to the nearest police station which was in Nagua. On the way, we just
sat in silence. I could tell Elder Vargas was pretty shaken up. I tried
to tell him that everything was going to be okay and that it clearly
wasn't his fault and stuff. But he was still pretty sure the Haitian guy
we hit was dead or in bad bad condition. So he was super stressed and in
all honesty, freaking out. But this whole time I just had a calm peace
and was remembering my words from the first part of this email.. hey, we
are living righteously. We are being obedient. We are being faithful
servants of the Lord. It was not our fault. We did all we could. So He
WILL take care of us. I just wanted Elder Vargas to know the same.
Eventually we arrived at the police station in Nagua. We had to figure
out a bunch of insurance things and who's fault it was and all that and
for some reason they told us we were like being held there, unable to
leave and maybe have to stay the night there and stuff until they got
the paperwork and everything figured out. We called the elders in the
area so they could bring someone from the church to help us. Our
president of the mission wasn't answering his phone. Luckily we called
the elders here because if it wasn't for the guy they brang, they
wouldn't have let Elder Vargas leave and we would have had to stay the
night in the jail there even though it wasn't our fault. The police guy
there was crazy and a huge jerk. And he like thought we weren't
understanding him and stuff. So the guy that came with the elders worked
it all out for us. Then we changed the tire and I drove back to
Santiago. Right before we left, we got confirmation that the guy we hit
was fine, just has a pretty jacked up leg now but that he is in the
hospital and smiling and stuff. Once we heard that Elder Vargas was so
relieved and the weights just lifted off his shoulders. On he way home
we were all fine and back to normal and all felt pretty blessed that it wasn't worse and that we got everything figured out. Then President
Castillo had us come over to the mission home to have pizza because we
had not eaten all day, and to talk with us and make sure we were all
okay. He was very understanding and encouraging.
One of my
jobs in the office is cars. I am in charge of all the cars of the
mission. And the one we crashed today was mine. So now I get to figure
out that fun car stuff that I know really nothing about.. like I said,
Heavenly Father just really wants me to be less ditsy and more
knowledgeable ;)
Lessons to be learned: Look both ways before
you cross the street! I know it's annoying when your mom always tells
you that when you're young, but unless you want to get trampled by a big
Ole truck, listen to yo dang mamá!
"Todo estará bien." Is my new motto. "Everything will be okay." Cause it really will. If and as long as you keep yourself worthy.
Keep the Haitian man in your prayers. He is fine, but his leg is gonna take some recovering.
Hopefully next week I'll have a great story to tell about a family we teach or something more spiritual :) love you all.
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