Santo Domingo (Espaillat) 19 - Miracles

Santo Domingo (Espaillat) 19 - Bathroom, Baptisms, and Miracles

Super busy, event-packed, but spiritually awesome first week.

First off, on Monday, day of transfers I had a really, really funny experience. We were on the way to Villa Juana (my "adopted kid" Elder and I) for my last day there. He had been having some really crazy bathroom visits because of some food he ate and so in the middle of the way to the metro he tells me "Run!"  We get there just in time to find a bathroom and while he's in there dying I look in the adjacent unoccupied bathroom to see 1) there's no toilet seat 2)it's the smallest bathroom I've witnessed to this day and 3) THERE'S NO TOILET PAPER. He comes out 10 minutes later and I asked him what happened. Well, upon entering the bathroom, he realized the same things I did ---and talking about the detail number 3) (no TP), he takes his agenda out of his shirt pocket.  With a grin, flipped it open and showed me - he had ripped all the pages of extra notes out, and the pages he hadn't fully used from the back of the agenda. We were laughing so, so hard. You gotta' do what you gotta' do!

So enough with the funny experience of the week. We had some AMAZING lessons. Elder Góngora and I were able to set three baptismal dates with three very special people. Wilson, the man that was planning on getting baptized in September, set his own date by himself for the 26th of December. We had been visiting him a little less frequently to give him time to think and we visited him yesterday to find out that he's resolving the things he wanted to get resolved to be able to feel completely ready for the day after Christmas. We were so excited. We have a Family Home Evening with him and some other investigators and members at his house tonight so we'll see how that goes. 

Teressa, my "Domincan grandmother" in her words, had a very hard experience this week. In the middle of church on Sunday she had to leave because she had a sharp pain in her ear. We were a bit startled but it wasn't anything too crazy. On Tuesday, we find out that she's in the hospital and had a mini stroke I believe from the little medical term Spanish I understand. We asked permission and we were able to visit her with a couple members. She wasn't in a very good condition so we gave her a priesthood blessing. She recovered and got home Saturday. It was a remarkable recovery. We taught her that same day with a very good member friend of hers and she accepted to be baptized the 19th of December.

It's been amazing to see the way God provides the path for his chosen sons and daughters to accept the Gospel. It's not always how or what we think. But it is right.

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone and I love you all.

Elder Graff

"The quitter is better off than someone who never took the initiative to begin"