This week has been just that.... A bit of a trial of our faith. But we know from experiences and from beliefs that our "witness" WILL COME!
This week started off with a bang! After sending you all that pathetic little email (don't worry, I already wrote it all out, and put it in the mail in letter form so my lovely mother can type it all up when it gets there next month. ha) we headed home to whip up a four course meal to take to our Fam Bam.
When we told them that we cook for ourselves, they wouldn't believe us, so we told 'em we'd make them something deliciously American. And that's just what we did! We made 7 Up Chicken (put equal proportions of 7up and BBQ sauce in a pot, bring to a boil, and then simmer on low for like 45 minutes), with garlic mashed potatoes, gravy and a side salad. Ha. It was epic. And a LOT of work... I now have a better understanding of why my mom cringes at the thought of cooking dinner for 9 every night. ha. I don't think I could handle that on a daily basis. But is was SO worth it just one time! ha. I can't say the Family liked our American cooking as much as we did, but they ate it all, so we felt accomplished. :)
On Tuesday we got up and went to get our hair cut by Yoel the Barber in the pretty, blue barber shop we built/painted last week. I was pleasantly surprised with his job. He used scissors, and cut everything just how I like it. Ha. Seeing that he's only 16, I would say that he's got a solid future ahead of him in the haircutting business. Then, Anni, being the gracious Dominican she is, invited us for lunch afterwards, so we helped her cook, and then had a nice conversation over some Rice and Beans with her, Yoel, and Axel (her youngest son).
Then, that afternoon we went back over to the Fam Bam's house, and had a rockin' discussion inspired by 3 Nephi 27:27. We even pulled out Preach My Gospel and talked about some of the Christ like Attributes found in Chapter 6, and how we can apply them in our lives so we can be the "class" of men that He wants us to be; "even as He is." It was cool to discuss Christ's life and His example in a family setting. Dioni had some awesome comments, and even Adoni (the littlest) was involved in the conversation. :) It's fun to watch this family learn and grow, and to see how they are always there to help each other out. Obviously it's great to teach the Gospel to investigators, regardless of their age or family status; there really is something special about watching a family make those first few steps towards being united for eternity. THAT'S why I'm here as a missionary. I up and left my family for TWO WHOLE YEARS, so that Dioni, and Adirana, and Yoel, and Ysable, and Leidi, and Esperanza, and Adoni can be with their family FOREVER and EVER.
On Wednesday we had our weekly district meeting, and Elder Fassett was in charge of the spiritual thought. He talked about faith (ha. How interesting that God teaches us what we need to know, RIGHT when we're about to experience a trial), and he read Ether 12:13-18. It talks about how all the miracles that happened to the prophets in the Book of Mormon, were 100% according to their faith! With our faith, ANYTHING is possible. We just have to put our best foot forward, and roll with the punches. If we trust in Him, it will ALWAYS work out in the end!
Then in the afternoon, we headed over to talk to Anni and Yoel. Yoel was busy with the Barber Shop, so we had a one-on-one lesson with Anni. Almost immediately after the opening prayer, she broke down and opened up to us about some of the trials she's facing right now. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly and how brutally Satan attacks a person, the SECOND they start investigating God's true church. She told us that she smoked twice that day, and that she'd been thinking mean thoughts about the people causing her stress, and that she really just didn't even feel worthy to pray or go to church... We sat and listened for a while, and when she got to the worthiness part, we stopped her, and we asked her one simple question, "Is it the healthy or the sick that need to go to the hospital?" She said "the sick," and then she smiled. We explained that prayer, and scripture study are like medication for our soul, and that church is like a weekly wellness check/energy boost that we get every week. NO ONE is perfect. EVERYONE has trials, but if we rely on the Lord, apply the medication He's provided us, and frequently visit His hospital, we can work our way, step by step, back into His arms.
On Thursday we had some solid lessons and found some decent new people. Also, we taught that Dani guy I told you about last week, and this time we took Hna Angela (a member that lives close by) with us. :) It was a good lesson. He still had lots of questions, and had a rebuttal for every point we taught during the lesson, but I think we got through to him a little bit. :) Also, it was really good for them to meet Angela as a Member. She is a teacher at the school their kids attend, and she lives around the corner, so they've known each other forever, just never as member and investigator! It's always cool to see how much the members begin to care for our investigators as we involve them in our work! Missionary work is the greatest work there is! If you have missionaries in your ward, GO OUT AND HELP THEM! Going on splits with the missionaries is a win-win situation! I promise you, you'll come home feeling like you're on top of the world! :)
Friday started off good... We had a Zone conference with President and Hermana Rodriguez. They are good people. :) The Hermana talked about appearances, and our need to look good. She said "Your first impression is your last chance to give a good impression." And I second that! If we look like bums on the street, we really can't tell someone that we represent Christ, and expect them to take us seriously. We should always be modest, and professional in our appearances and our actions. :)
Then President shared with us about receiving personal revelation, and how important it is in missionary work. The Spirit is EVERYTHING! Without him, we're helpless.
Then, with previously received authorization, we left the conference early so we could get back to our area, hustle down to the Fam Bam's house to get all their papers, and then come back up to the JCE office building in our area. We got to the office, with ALL the necessary paperwork in hand, with full expectations to plan a wedding, and we got turned down... Turns out, the Birth certificates of everyone except Adoni and Yoel (cuz we just got new ones for those two last week) were out of date and needed to be renewed, which has to be done at the Main Office in the Capital... So, we talked it over, and decided to make good on our commitment to do EVERYTHING in our power to get this family baptized, and hopped on a güa-güa. The clock said 4:20, so we figured we would be okay to get in before 6. That's when things went bad... It is clear as day that Satan does not want this family baptized...
On the freeway, the bus driver dropped his transmission... Ha. So we got out and waited for another bus to pull over and pick us up. 30 minutes later we hopped off the second gua gua and got in a public car to ride down to the Office. Welp... We drove right into the biggest traffic jam I had every experienced. We told ourselves we would see how far we could get in the car, and that when the clock hit 5:40 we would run the rest of the way. Ha. So that's what we did. I kid you not, we RAN the 5 and a half blocks to the Office building, and made it through the doors and up the stairs with 5 minutes to spare. Covered in sweat, we begged the workers to help us out. ha. They accepted our pleas, and pulled up the Birth Certificates for us. They printed off two, but the rest were "in control" and they couldn't get anything done with them cuz that section of the office had already closed up and gone home for the weekend... We were told we'd have to come back on Monday... So we took the two certificates we got, and walked out the doors defeated again. haha.
We lifted our spirits a little by swinging by Krispy Kreme Donuts on the way home. Ha. We justified it cuz it was my Birthday's eve, and we had preplanned to celebrate our Birth Certificate success with a treat.
Saturday was my first birthday in the mission field. And to tell you the truth, it just wasn't the same... Ha. We still worked, and ate, and taught, and testified, just like normal. But hey, that's what the mission is all about, right?!?! These two years are about God, and my investigators! Not about cool birthday parties! Although, two of my mission moms from Ocoa (Milagros and Nermis), and my old companion Elder Logue all remembered to call me and wish me Feliz Cumpleaños. :) That made the day pretty great. :)
Sunday we had a spark of the "witness... after the trial of our faith." We had TEN investigators show up at church! :) Every single member of our Fam Bam was there (except Dioni cuz he worked til 3 am, and then got called into work again at 8 am...), as well as Anni and her two boys, Anna, and Johan. :) That was a much needed spiritual face lift. :)
Then in the evening we went out and had a cool lesson out of the Liahona with Dioni and Adriana and their next door neighbors (the members that gave them to us as a reference), Santos and Nana, about raising resilient children. Parenthood is a hard core responsibility, and a respect all of you that are currently rockin' that. haha.
Then we headed over to Anni's house to have a Taco party. haha. A real life Mexican Taco party. It was refreshing, and reminded me of home. :)
Then we came home and boosted our spirits even more with some P-Day eve Banana Batiras. :)
Then this morning came around, and we took another hit... We got up, cleaned our apartment, and then headed back into the capital with the hopes of finishing this whole Birth Certificate Shenanigan. On the way, believe it or not, the tire on the public car we were in went flat. ha. What a joke. When I get to heaven, I'm gonna junk punch Satan right up in his man business.
Finally we got there, and after waiting in line for a while, to no avail, we snuck into the office of the one and only Josefa. She is the mother of Kimberly that I found and taught with Elder Alba, then Elder Maner back in Independencia. She is the head honcho lady at the main JCE office, but wasn't there the last two times cuz we went after 4 (which is when her shift ends). It was really cool to see her again and to get an update! Seeing that she is constantly working with birth and death records, the Bishop in Independencia has put her in charge of the Family History Program in the ward! How cool is that!!! I was So happy to hear it!
But, back to the story... She, being the awesome lady she is, used her super receptionist powers to get all the papers we needed to renew all the Birth Certificates, EXCEPT Dioni's... I guess his parents took out his birth certificate like 3 years after he was born... So they don't know if his information is correct or not, and because of that, he needs to return to his place of birth, with a photo ID, and Photo ID of his parents and 3 witnesses, so that they can prove that he's a citizen of this country, and that he was actually born when he said he was... HUGE BUMMER!!!! We have yet to talk to him, but seeing that his work schedule is nuts, we don't know when or if he'll be able to make that trip in the near future... So as of now, we will continue teaching this beautiful family, and we will keep praying for miracles. I.E. We will stay strong in the faith, and keep working and waiting for that promised witness in Ether 12:6.
I know this church is true. I know that what I'm doing right now is exactly what I need to be doing. I know life isn't easy, and Missionary life is even more difficult. I plan to keep pushing forward with faith, and hope. I know God lives, and He loves each one of us. He is always there, and no matter how hard the devil fights against us, with Him on our side, we will ALWAYS prevail.
I love you all. I am so out of time. The power went out in this stupid Internet center 5 times while I was writing this, but I promised myself that I would make this one count, regardless of the impetuous winds blowing about me. So, now we're a little late, and must go running to our FHE. :)
Love,
Elder Cade Mooney, Missionary.
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