This is the Americans in 2 zones! only 6!
at McDonalds
Well everyone it has been quite the week! My companion and I have decided that our mission is meant to teach us patience and that is what we try to have every day as we try and teach. We currently have no progressing investigators. I have realized more than ever how real the adversary is and how important this work must be because he is working so hard against it! Every person that we teach will have a really spiritual experience and we´ll get really excited and then almost immediately they will tell us that they don´t want to meet anymore or are afraid of the church now.
Remember Nicaudi from last week? Well we had an appointment with her on Saturday and were going to invite her to baptism and set a date. About an hour before she called us and said she needed to leave. As Hermana Ozuna hung up we had the same thought...she´d been drinking and didn´t want to see us. But we wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt and believe her so we started walking to a different appointment. We met Heisy in the street and she asked why we weren´t walking to her house. We asked her if her mom was there and she said of course! So we sent her along to tell her mom we were on our way. As she ran off we found a little alley between some houses to say a prayer. We asked to be able to help her and share a good message. When we got to the house Nicaudi was outside, obviously drunk. She told us we could meet with her and waited for us to come inside so we wouldn´t see her walk. Then she emerged a few minutes later smelling very strongly of perfume. She talked to us and we tried to just listen. After about 30 minutes we were able to cut in, share our testimonies, tell her we loved her and would visit her in the morning. My heart broke that night as we walked back to the house after visiting our wonderful Nicaudi so drunk. Needless to say, she didn´t come to church on Sunday. But oh how happy I was to see little Heisy skip into the chapel with a member that lives nearby. What a sweet girl.
We have visited Nicaudi every day this week and are trying to help her help herself with this problem. One of the major problems though is that she believes if she prays hard enough it won´t be a temptation and doesn´t really want to have any other goals besides this. So we are patient, and loving, and try our best to help.
This seems to be a trend with all of our investigators right now. Visit, pray, fast, teach, and see no progress. So repeat the process with all the patience and love we can muster. In the mean time we´ve been trying to contact new people and have had absolutely no luck. Knock on doors for 6 hours, have 1 lesson. But Hermana Ozuna and I are on a mission and we are not going to let it get us down! Many times we will just turn to each other and say, "it´s true so we´ll keep walking. And hey, this next door is going to be family asking to be baptized tomorrow!" and then we keep going. We pray with all our might each night and morning to find someone ready for the gospel that we can help and study to find things to help each of our investigators individually. And then we wait. Because they have agency. And all we can do is invite and love.
Not all of this is bad. I have never felt more united with my companion. We teach together so well and really do have a love for this people. I have also realized that maybe my mission isn´t meant to baptize a ton of people in the DR. We have the faith to convert and help people and I realized that perhaps we are being asked to have the faith NOT to convert anyone. Maybe I´m just here planting seeds or helping convert and strengthen members. Maybe there is a future missionary who needs to witness this baptism more than me. Perhaps that sister or elder will be struggling in there testimony and after they help convert one of my old investigators they will be converted themselves. You never know the consequences of your actions. I take comfort in the fact that the Lord is in control and whatever I´m doing right now will somehow bless someone even if it´s not the person I´m thinking of or the way I imagine.
On a more light note, my English class is thriving! We had 2 investigators bring their friends last week and so we had 4 people we had never even met in class! One of them agreed to meet with us this week but wasn´t there when we´ve gone by. I think in total last week we had 13 people in the class and it was really fun as always.
I also had my first intercambio yesterday...I don´t remember how to say that in English...sorry. The newbies arrived and since we are close to the mission home we took them out to place a Book of Mormon and teach for 3 hours. I was with a sister from Utah who spoke very very very little Spanish. But it went pretty well. I was able to follow the conversations even without the help of Hermana Ozuna and we actually encountered some new people. I´m not sure if they let us in solely because we´re 2 Americans or what, but it was really nice to actually teach!
Right now we have a new sister living with us from Utah, Hermana Allen. Bless her sweet soul. She is the definition of socially awkward and is a bit of a germaphobe and a hyperchondriac with absolutely zero knowledge of Spanish and a native companion. The poor thing is going to die here in the DR! We went grocery shopping today and I thought she was going to have a panic attack in the market when she saw the cow heart for sale. I´m going to do my best to try and help her adjust quickly and practice my patience even more! Hermana Veras already joked that she has 2 trainers, one for the mission and the other for the culture and life. I´m grateful for the opportunity to help someone in my own house.
Well everyone, the church is true! I am so grateful to be out here and be a representative of the Lord. He loves us. He watches over us. And He is helping us and has a plan. We just need to trust Him and have faith, patience, and love.
Hermana Ewell
bowling with Hermana Ozuna
Heisy and Hermana Ewell
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