Every step of my mission

Yes...that is a motorcycle with a washing machine on it. Nothing is impossible in the DR

This bridge is in one of the Universities. I just like it

How beautiful is this place? In the background is the monument. I don´t know what it´s for but it has a touch down Jesus on it. We were going to go today but then it started pouring. 

Wow what a week! It has definitely been an adventure living with 3 people that speak a different language than me. I have a lot of thinking and studying time so that´s good! Whenever they get frustrated that I can´t understand what they´re trying to ask me to do I just talk really fast in English and then they start to comprehend why I can´t just know what they´re saying. It is actually really entertaining sometimes and I have definitely gotten better at charades!

My favorite experience happened last Wednesday... I want to save it for last because it is incredible, but I feel that it is necessary to have this as background for the rest of my letter. Last Wednesday was hard as I tried to adjust to having no English speakers in my house. I also felt really sick and my knee had been hurting so badly that I had contemplated staying in the house. We had a lesson with a reference of the assistants that night and throughout the whole lesson I kept thinking that I needed to ask for a blessing. I wasn´t really sure why. Sure I my body was hurting and I was a little overwhelmed with the language but that was nothing new and it wasn´t so bad. But I kept feeling impressed to ask for a blessing. 

After we left I asked Elder Wilkinson if he could give me one and then we went to the chapel. He asked me what I needed and I explained about my knees hurting and that I don´t know the language but didn´t know exactly why I felt I needed a blessing. He then proceeded to give me one of the most amazing blessings I have ever received. The spirit was so strong and I know it was my Heavenly Father talking to me because neither me or Elder Wilkinson knew all the reasons why I needed this blessing. I will include some of the things that I was blessed with. He told me that I am a special and chosen daughter of God and that my Heavenly Father knows and loves me. That He knows my needs and wants to help me. He told me to always follow the spirit and blessed me to be full of the spirit. To not worry about learning to language because it will come with time as I continue to have faith. That I need to continue to have confidence in myself and my abilities. I was told that I have great power and also authority and that I will share that with others. He blessed me to have any pain in my body leave and said everything would be healed according to my faith in Christ. He said that I don´t need to suffer alone, that Christ is with me and knows how I feel. That I am very special in God´s sight and that He will walk every step of my mission with me. 

I could not hold back tears as I heard the things that I didn´t even know I needed. But I know that was inspired and I´m so grateful for Elder Wilkinson´s faith and ability to feel and follow the spirit as well. That blessing has kept me going this week. And for the first time in years...my knees have not hurt. Not once. Not even a little. And I have been able to confidently and happily face the challenges that I have encountered. 

The rest of the week was great and filled with many interesting experiences. I started an English class on Friday and the first time was really fun! We only had 1 investigator and 2 members there but this week we are expecting a lot more and it is a good tool to get to meet people and have them introduced to the church in a non threatening way. 

We had one day this week where all of our appointments were there (that NEVER happens) and they were all such good lessons with so many questions that we didn´t have time to do everything we had planned. One of the lessons was really cool because I was struggling a bit to say what I wanted to but knew that I needed to say this particular thing. When I finished talking the less active member we were teaching said that she learned that the spirit is real while I spoke because she knew waht I was going to say before I finished and knew that the understanding came because of the gift of tongues. Sometimes I don´t always understand why the Lord didn´t just send another Dominican here in my place. Then I have experiences like that I and I realize that He is so much smarter than me. 

There were a few funny things that happened this week as always. We committed one of our investigators to baptism and he really seems super excited about the gospel. As soon as we had set a baptismal date he stood up and announced he was going to go make some coffee to celebrate. Needless to say our next lesson is on the word of wisdom. Another one of our investigators was drunk the last time we went to visit and it took me a long time to realize what was going on because everyone here speaks so slurred and sloppy that I just thought I was having a harder time understanding than usual. It wasn´t until she was hugging me and telling me she loved white people that it clicked and then we left.

Probably one of the most interesting experiences this week was with another set of missionaries of an undeclared religion. One of them was from CA and spoke English and boy did he have a lot to say. He told me our image of Christ is a false image because Christ was black and that women need to wear dresses. He also asked me if I was a racist (which was a bit comical since I´m living in the DR and am like the only white person here). He kept talking about curses and knowing what tribe your from so I told him about Patriarchal blessings. After listening for a good 35 minutes I bore testimony that we have a prophet called of God who teaches us what to do and I accepted the images of Christ and rights of women because a prophet approves them. He invited me to read some books and visit some websites and I explained that we give that all up during a mission. He was astounded and said that internet is where knowledge comes from and I kindly reproved him saying that it comes from God, His scriptures, and the spirit. He told me he was impressed that I didn´t get angry with him with all that he was saying and then explained that they try and make people angry to test their true character (what an interesting mission!). I gave him a Book of Mormon and invited him to read and ponder it. I´m not sure if it will do anything because his heart is so hard and he is so concerned about race and curses that he has missed the essential truth that we are all children of God with the same potential. But perhaps the spirit of that wonderful book can touch him in some way. 

I learned a lot from my encounter with this man. I kept contemplating what makes us different from that him. Do we seem that pushy and rude? I realized we don´t! Because the difference is the spirit, and love. We aren´t trying to tell anyone they´re wrong or start fights. We tell others they are sons and daughters of a loving God. Our message is shared with love and a desire to help lift and bring joy. I also realized the importance of being kind. The man said most people will interrupt and try and fight. It´s a good thing that as a representative of Christ I listened, tried to politely disagree and then testified of the things I know! I am grateful that we focus on the love and goodness of Christ and Heavenly Father. Christ always invited and listened and shared wtih love and that´s what I want to do too. 

I´m sorry this letter is so long! If you are still with me... I want to challenge you to do something. I hope you had the opportunity to watch the missionary devotional on Sunday. If not...watch it. And either way I challenge you to help the missionaries in your area! We need the members! One of our baptismal covenants is to stand as a witness of God at all times, things, and places and part of this is sharing the gospel and the blessings with others. It´s great that we have 70,000 missionaries, but there´s billions of people on the earth. You do the math. We need the help of everyone to bring others to a knowledge of Christ and His church. And I promise that you do not need to have fear of this work. The Lord will bless you so much and in so many ways that you can´t possibly imagine. The missionaries are there to help. Even if you can´t think of someone to share the gospel with we always need members to accompany us to lessons. This week we had a sweet 11 year old girl come with us one day. Everyone can do the work! And it is so worth it. 

I know that this church is true. I know that we have a loving Heavenly Father. He is real. He knows us and communicates with us if we will listen. He is always there for us. The atonement is real. It heals both the spirit and the body when we have faith. Faith is essential! Trust your Savior and you Heavenly Father to help you. 

Much love,

Hermana Ewell