Monday, August 10, 2015

Santo Domingo (Espaillat) 4 - Two Areas; Exchanges

Santo Domingo (Espaillat) 4 - Covering Two Areas; Exchanges; Surprise Singing in Church


Ok, so Elder Cornejo and I have been getting a lot more comfortable with running both areas of Espaillat. There used to be four missionaries here but now it's just us two and it calls for a lot of work but we've been doing stuff and organizing things with the members to try and get the ward super hyped about missionary work. We'll see if we can get some activities started up here real soon.

A picture of Enrique, Miriam and Manuel in front of the temple.

But we had another exchange (splits) with some elders in the zone on Wednesday and I went with Elder Zamora. Really crazy story though is that on the way back to our area to work for the day we were in a little gua gua (mini-van) with like 12 other people when it probably should only fit max 7. We were super crowded, sweating up a storm, when the driver YANKS the car really sharply to the right to avoid hitting a motor that sped out in front of him. We hear a snap and then I look over to my left to see the drivers front wheel fly past the window. The taxi tilts to the left and slams on the ground, sparking everywhere until we finally skid to a stop. A little dazed and lots of people scared, BUT we all walked out of it unharmed. It is cool to see that angels are always protecting you if you're trying to do what's right.
 

JUAN CARLOS visited our ward and I was the happiest person in the world when I saw him. He was wearing the tie I gave to him (even though he said it was ugly), so thats how you know he's a true friend.

We had the privelege again, though, of visiting the temple with a family we're teaching. They've been coming to church every single Sunday for the past month now since we contacted them and they're doing so awesome. They're such a prepared family.  Being able to teach them is honestly a miracle and blessing for us trying to stay strong in the mission service and contacting even after every single lesson we had that morning fell through (which is hard in the Dominican sun  --hahaha). 

"Ahora, loco" ! (Translation - "Now, crazy"! ).

Enrique had a good laugh when he saw the picture haha.

But in the garden outside the temple, and we were the only ones there because the temple is going through a little bit of renovation so it's basically like they got a private tour, we discussed about the importance of the family and about the sacred knowledge and blessings we recieve through temple ordinances. The lesson was really powerful and they actually want to go back on the 18th, the day after the temple reopens again to visit as a family. We're gonna try and set it up so they can go with a member family again. But we're gonna be setting everything up with their marriage here real soon so they can fulfill with their desire to be baptized and be able to go inside the temple. They wanted to go inside so bad and it was so amazing to see the desire that being there planted in the heart of the father to help his family become members of this Gospel.

We had our Ward Conference yesterday also which was such a spiritual day. The Ward asked me too -- THE MORNING OF -- if I could sing in the choir, and so I said "sure". Little did I know, I was filling the part of a duet with one of the sisters in the ward in front of tons of investigators. But, even though I wasn't planning on it, I feel like it went really well and everyone loved the talks, testimonies, and everything the ward planned. 

 Even though we've been super busy with everything that's been going on, I feel really calm and happy with the work we're doing. I know this church is true and love to preach this message to everyone that wants to listen.

Elder Graff

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