This week has been solid. Ha.
Last Monday we sadly did not get to learn how to make Spaguetti from Hermana Guzman. She had a last minute visiting teaching appointment. Ha. She's hardcore. But we rescheduled for Friday, so it worked out... More or less. Ha.
On Tuesday morning we got up and went to our District meeting (we are now in La Paz district, cuz they stole all the other Elders that made up the Independencia district, and sadly we cant have a district of just the two of us, ha), our district now includes our DL Elder Ramos, his companion Elder Rodriguez, and the ZL's (Elder Carter and Elder Laifson). It was cool. :) I'm definitely a fan of the District.
On Wednesday we had Zone Conference, which ROCKED! Our Zone Leaders are "by far the best in the mission" according to Elder Brimley (Assistent to Pres). They talked to us about working with members, and our ward missionaries, and introduced a paper to use with members so that they can set goals like "invite a friend to church," "have a neighbor over for FHE," "attend a baptism with a non member," etc. So that members feel more responsible for the people they can and should be sharing the Gospel with. Also, so that when the people they invite/introduce to the church meet the missionaries for the first time, they will already have a friend, and a basic knowledge of the Church. Ha. It's a pretty rockin' idea.
Then they had President Ramirez (works with missionaries at the CCM, and is the Branch President in his Branch) come talk to us about utilizing our members and how important it is to take time out of our schedule to visit and build friendships with the members of our ward. Cuz so many missionaries are just used to stopping by a members house and asking for references that sometimes we forget the importance of sharing the gospel and testifying of its truthfulness EVEN to those that already believe! It was really motivating, and really cool to hear from someone who understands both the missionary's and the member's point of view.
Then, we went and ate with Elder Ramos and Elder Rodriguez at their place for lunch, and then hustled home to get ready to go out and teach. As we were pulling up in the city car, the Assistants called us and announced a surprise Intercambio... Ha. I'm all for surprises like Christmas presents... But having the assistants show up just doesn't quite invoke that same excitement and anticipation. haha. Anyway, we hopped in their truck, went and dropped Elder Mejia off to do his Intercambio with the Zone Leaders, and then Elder Brimley (the more chill of the two) came back to our area with us. Ha. It was a ROUGH day... We had 6 appointments set up, and they ALL failed us. It was AWFUL. So we ended up contacting for 2 hours. haha. I guess it's normal tho, cuz Elder Brimley said that whenever he does intercambios, that all they do is walk and contact, and that usually it rains. lol. So I guess we can count our blessings that we were walking and contacting under blue skies.
Then, because missionaries can never be alone, we had to go with Elder Brimley to pick up Elder Mejia, and when he hopped in the car he said "do you guys have any appointments right now?" didn't wait for an answer, and then said "good, cuz we've got errands to run, and we don't have time to take you home at the moment." ha. So we went with them to the office to pick up the office Elders, to give them a ride to their area, which is NO WHERE NEAR our area... Ha. So as we were pulling out onto the main road, Elder Mejia stopped the car, and said " would you guys mind walking home from here, it'd would just be inconvenient to take you guys AND the office Elders to your areas." ha.... Yeah... Even cutting through Mirador park, it's like a 40 minute walk home from the office.... But lo and behold, it came from the assistants mouth, so that's what we did. haha.
But it was cool, cuz we saw a real live Tarantula crawling across the path on our way home. Ha. Sadly my companion kicked it into the bushes before I could snap a picture, but we really saw one! I promise!! ha. It was about the size of a coaster (those things you put your drinks on to keep the table from getting wet). Super cool!
On Thursday we had a miracle lesson with Oliva (the lady I talked about a couple weeks ago). We were up in Café close to her house, and randomly decided to stop by cuz we had some extra time. She answered the door and was grinning from ear to ear when she saw that it was us. She explained that Saturday (our original next visit) wasn't gonna work for her, and that she had lost our number, so she couldn't call and tell us. But we just happened to show up when she wasn't busy, and had a few minutes to talk to us. Ha. Tender Mercy number one.
So, because it was an unplanned lesson, we weren't super prepared, but were planning to just wing a lesson on the Law of Chastity, cuz we thought we had left it with her to study in out last visit... But turns out, Elder Mooney forgot to leave her homework, and we had just barely given our last Chastity pamphlet to an investigator... So we couldn't even read through it with her. Ha. All that was communicated with nods, and grunts, as my comp and I frantically tried to think of a good topic to talk about. Ha. So to buy some time, I asked her about how her personal study was going, and about what she'd been reading lately from the Book of Mormon. And BOOM, Tender Mercy number two. She had been reading the night before, and decided to just "let the book fall open and read," and she ended up reading the Ten Commandments from Abinadi's discourse in Mosiah 13. Ha. So we went through them again with her, and had an awesome discussion about the Commandments from ancient times applying to us now days, and how we have a living Prophet today that can interpret Scriptures/Old Commandments and give us further light and knowledge to apply them to these the latter days. Ha. SO cool!!! She LOVED it!
It was definitely a testimony that if we follow the spirit, we will be given the things we need to say, and the things that our investigators need the here, in the EXACT moment that they need to hear them.
Also, I'd like to thank my mom, cuz I used her favorite "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" saying and translated it into Spanish "Si no tiene algo bueno a decir, ¡no diga NADA!" while we were talking about the ninth commandment, and Oliva thought it was AWESOME. Ha. She wrote it down in her planner. Thanks MOM!!!
Then after our lesson with Oliva, we hustled to Saul's house. But... He wasn't home. His cousin-in-law, that he lives with, told us that he has moved to live with his Aunt in another city... :( SUPER sad! So we will give his name and new address to the office Elders, so they can send missionaries to visit with him there. I hope and pray that he accepts them as he's accepted us, and that he continues on the path towards his Baptism.
On Saturday night we had a cool lesson with a new investigator. Her name is Ivelís. She was in the internet café when we were using internet a couple weeks ago, and asked me a few questions about what we believe. So I got her contact information, and told her we'd stop by to talk more, and explain more in detail "who are the mormons." So on Tuesday night we met up with her and she showed us were she lives, and we had a quick first lesson with her. Then Saturday, we sat down and had a cool talk about the Book of Mormon, and she shared a cool story about how she ended up back here in Santo Domingo:
She'd been living with her 5 kids in Miami, Florida for the last 4 years, but recently had been being nagged by her kids to move back to the DR. And as she was thinking about it, she went to a church meeting there in Miami, and they talked about people that wanted to move back to their home country, and how if they were thinking about it, that they needed to ask the Lord, and then think about if the Lord had a purpose or mission for them there in their home country. So she did, and felt that she needed to come home. She went on to explain that she still doesn't know about the Mormons, but that she had the same feeling talking to us, that she had when she received the confirmation to move back to Santo Domingo! How cool!
It was a testimony builder that God really does prepare people to accept His restored Gospel!
Then Sunday came. Ha. I love Sundays. Church was great, Winifred, one of our ward missionaries, brought not one, but TWO of her friends to church with her! I give all credit to the paper that the ZL's gave us on Wednesday. We had a meeting with the ward missionaries on Friday night, and had them all write down 3 names to start working with to introduce to the Gospel. Apparently Winifred took it and ran with it! Ha. SO cool!
After Church, we hiked up to Café, had some good lessons, with investigators, like normal. Then we got to Angel and Ani's house (the people we carried the wood pallets down the mountain for), and they weren't there.... Where were they?? At the catholic church up the road having their baby baptized... Ha! Oh the irony... We'll definitely have to talk about that next time we meet. lol. If there is a next time... ha.
Then after a good lesson with Antonio and Roseli, we hiked back down to Guarionex's house. Guarionex is an investigator that has been meeting with the missionaies for the last year and two months... He has had all the lessons more than once, and attends church every week. Ha. But he has been holding off on getting baptized cuz he doesn't feel like he has his family's support. So this last week we talked with them and set an appointment for Sunday night (when they would all be home), to have a lesson, and talk about what their dad was investigating. We didn't have huge hopes, because we (Elder Pemberton and I), and missionaries before us had already tried to meet with his wife, and with his kids. But some how, some way, they were ALL there last night! Him. his wife Rafaela, and his kids; Kayla, Edward and Rosa. We sat down and had an incredible first lesson with them, and they all committed to read and pray to know if the book of Mormon is true! We also put another appointment with Rafaela, and Rosa (the other two kids are in college, so we'll have to get creative with making our schedules match up).
It was SO awesome!! Guarionex walked us out afterwards, and told us how grateful he was, and how happy he was to see them all there together, learning about what he knows to be the True Church of Jesus Christ! It was AMAZING!
Anyway. I'm super out of time. We gotta go to an FHE.
I love and miss you all!
The Church is TRUE!!!
Love,
Elder Mooney
P.S. On Friday night, after our meeting with the Ward Missionaries, we went with our ward mission leader to Hermana Guzman's house for our rescheduled Spaguetti night. But she was out visiting a lady in our ward, that just lost her dad the day before. So we visited with Agustin, Amelia, and Gracie (the kids of Hna Guzman), who are all RM's. We just talked and listened to mission stories. And then Gracie made us spaguetti, with boiled green bananas, and avocado on the side. Ha. I didn't get to learn how to make it, but I definitely enjoyed it!!! And I asked her how she did it, and it's basically the exact same thing that I learned from Elder Brezack. So no worries. :)
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