Santo Domingo (Espaillat) 8 - Busy Week

Santo Domingo (Espaillat) 8 - Busy Week

One busy, busy week!  First off, we had a mini mission tour with our Mission President and his wife. It was a really great experience and the presentation they gave really helped me to have a different and more focused perspective on the mission work (And we got pizza, so I mean that was a plus). 

We also were priveleged to have our mission temple trip. I had beforehand been praying for some answers to prayers on how to resolve certain things that were going on with investigators, my companion, and just a lot of stuff.  I really recieved a lot of personal inspiration at the temple. It was a day full of the spirit and exactly what I needed. We got to go back to the temple the next day too with another family we're teaching and Wilson, (who's been clean for A MONTH now) to teach a lesson in the temple gardens. We set a baptisimal date with Wilson for the 3rd of October. Words cannot describe how genuinely happy I am for him. He came to church for the first time in a white shirt yesterday and I told him that I now owe him a tie haha. But he's really excited for his baptism and he's noting the small changes that are coming into his life for being obedient to the commandments of God. He even started running every morning and every time he passes our house he yells out to us. It's really cool to see the difference he's making. The Rodriguez Family is doing absolutely awesome. They're getting their birth certificates ready so we can go to the marriage office to get their date set for the 21st. Their son, Manuel, is gonna be going with the youth this weekend to play some "batilla" which is basically like a small baseball game with bottle caps and broomsticks. Really makes me grateful to God for the way the Ward has helped them feel comfortable and how their testimony has been fortified. 

Elder Cornejo and I have been working to try and set up the agenda for the "Noche Blanca" (White Night of baptisms) that we're planning on having the 26th with the Zone. We have about 10 to 11 people, including 2 families that are preparing to make baptisimal covenants on that night of the investigators that are being teaching within the zone. I'm really excited to see how it will all play out and we're really seeing the blessings of hard work and a strong focus on the families.

We also found 2 other really prepared families contacting. I'm really content with everything that's going on and how blessed and prepared the people are that we're teaching. 

The time is going by faster and faster each week and I know it will only escape me more as my mission goes on. I've had some amazing experiences up to now and I can't wait to see what God has planned for the rest of the time I have left.

Love you all and I hope you have a great week.

Elder J. Taylor Graff

Santo Domingo (Espaillat) 7 - Hurricane Season

Santo Domingo (Espaillat) 7 - Hurricane Season

So for any of you that heard, the DR got hit pretty hard with a hurricane. This week was a little hectic in anticipation for it. You know, basically all the missionaries acted as if the world was coming to an end - we all made sure we had everything we needed and on Friday it came. It honestly wasn't all that bad. SUPER strong winds, yeah, and some rain, but it didn't last all that long and everyone turned out safe. We just had to stay in all day Friday which was probably one of the most boring days of my life --hahaha. The days where you have to stay in when you're a missionary are the worst. All you want to do is go out and preach because that's all you really know how to do. 

But at least the rest of the time we had this week went great. With the Rodriguez family, they're going to the marriage office today to get the form they need! We set a date for the 21st of September for their marriage. It was an awesome lesson with a recent convert named Angel (who is helping us out big time with the proccess too because he's a really renowned lawyer here). But we'll see what happens. We're having a Family Home Evening with them and a member family in the ward tonight. They're really happy and excited for everything that's happening and told us that they've seen a huge change for the better in their family which is what it's all about.

Wilson, the man that's struggled with alcohol all his life has been clean for THREE WEEKS today. We took him out for ice cream to a place close to our house with our ward mission leader and taught a little about the blessings we recieve for our obedience to the commandments of God. He's really excited and so content with the progress he's making. We're gonna try and set a baptism goal on Tuesday and we'll be teaching him the lessons over again to prepare him, but we'll see what happens.

Rafa and Rosa (who were in a photo of mine like a month and a half ago when we went to the temple) are doing awesome too. Rafa has been going to church in Haiti this whole month and he comes back in a week. From what we've been hearing from Rosa, he's super excited to be coming back to the ward and so we can help and teach him what's left. They're really prepared and humble people.

In my personal studies, I've been trying to finish the Old Testament. I've been reading in the book of Kings and today in the morning, found a really cool passage of scripture. I'm in 2 Kings chapter 6. It's where Elisha the prophet is walking with a group of men. One of them -as it says in verse 4 - was chopping down a tree. As he was cutting it, the axe he was using fell in a body of water and the guy was pretty bummed because it was an axe he had borrowed from a friend. Elisha, being with him, saw his desire and what had happened and caused the axe to float so it could be retrieved. 

I was really thinking about why that passage of scripture was in the Bible to be honest. Why it was important and what application it had for me. And I realized that it teaches us about the love God has for us. Even though it wasn't a big thing and God really didn't need to work a miracle through the hand of his prophet (I mean, the guy could've easily just bought another axe, right?), but I realized that the things that are important to us - if they're in the will of God - are important to God. That is, if we're living the commandments and trying to follow the path God has set for us, that EVERY righteous desire we have will be granted us. That even though sometimes it isn't in the way or time span we want it, that the blessings come and God helps us reach the goals and desires of our hearts.

Hope you all have a great time and that those preparing for missions right now, that you're ready and that you've done all you can to prepare yourself to serve.

Elder Graff