So a big thing that happened this week was the faith. And when I say faith, I am talking faith in everything. In the investigators, in the house, in our safety, in what I was reading to be true. Let me explain. Right now, we have lots of investigators, amazing people, that just aren´t doing the things necessary to find out the truth of the church, so I have been doing a little more "direct" approach, or basically, I am not beating around the bush. We are trying to use straight doctrine to testify of the truth, and then bare a straight hard testimony that its true. No more messing around with "Oh, well it is a commandment of God to be married, but its a time process. We´ll work with it." Now it is something more like " You need to live the law of chastity, because its a commandment from our Heavenly Father. If you do not follow these things, you will not be able to live with your Father in Heaven." At first I found that to be brutal and straight, and I wanted to try a different approach, but by doing that this week, I have seen so many blessings from that. Manuel, for example, gave up his daily sleep routine to wake up and come to church this week, and now Elizabeth is beyond excited to be married on the first of August. It is how the spirit testifies to people, by being honest and sincere. The people feel our love for them by us showing them the love we have of the gospel.
More faith building things was the house. Kind of dumb, but we lost water this week, and we were hit hard. We never lose water so we weren't prepared for that. But with lots of faith in prayer, we received help from the housekeeper until water came back. Taught me two principals, never lose the faith that things will get better, and to ALWAYS BE PREPARED. Scouts right there. Haha.
For safety, let me share a story that happened. We were walking to go visit a Family. The Family Nova, and as we were walking a man yelled "Are you nuts? Don´t you see that gang with the shotguns and guns sitting right there, and you just walked right through it? Do you want to die?" As we turned around, I saw a whole gang sitting in a roundabout with guns, shotguns and all sorts of weapons. So we basically dove into Nova´s house, because they live right next to this guy. This gang was waiting for another gang to show up to have a shootout, and my companion and I obliviously walked right through them, even saying hello to a couple of them, without realizing they were packing. Faith was strengthened there, that the Lord is protecting us, even when we aren't paying attention, and aren't completely understanding of what is happening! We were safe, the gang scatter, and there was no fight, but it was a little scary. The gangs just don´t stop here. But we are safe, don´t worry.
The President came into our area on Saturday, and I got to teach a lesson with him and his wife, to a family. It was an amazing lesson! They bring such a spirit to them that is indescribable, even though they are still getting a hang of the Spanish. They speak with power. They praised us for the way we taught the lesson, and said we did a really good job, and they were proud of us. Then on Sunday they came and ate lunch with us. I made them Paticones, a Colombian dish, and man was the President enjoying it. He kept saying, "I love this. Can I have more?" He is a funny guy. He called me desperate, because I told them to try mayonnaise and rice together. He said, "Elder, you are desperate. Desperate for real food aren't you?" He has a good sense of humor, and I really enjoy spending time with him. He and his wife speak perfect French, so I tried to speaking to them in french. Didn't work. Hahaha oh well.
That was the week. I can´t believe how many blessings I have seen. I am fine health wise. I got bit by some mosquitoes, the usual, but I am fine. No worries. I also finally got my cases for my scriptures! They are beautiful! I will send you some beautiful pictures of these majestic creatures. Hahah. I love you all! Hope the week was just as great for you as it was for me! Keep the faith strong in your life! Notice your trials in your faith, and tell me how that helped strengthen your faith. It´s your testimonies that help push me along! Love you all!
Les quiero muchísimo!
Elder Weiss
(Notes from Mother's email:---I asked how is shoes are holding up and other questions)
My shoes are so dead. They all have ripped and been abused. Hahah I will find some new ones. Elder Hope was just at my house today! Awesome kid! and also, MY COMPANION IS AWESOME! He is the funniest kid ever! He has got a great sense of humor, so we get along so well! I love this kid to death. He acts like dad, to the point he does the "Dad whistle" as I call it. That little weird whistle he does to sing. Hahah He is super awesome and I love this kid to death! A very awesome fun companion! And we always have the spirit with us. Also I learned a new word- Bumbleclod. hahaha. I learned that is English Creole. Elder Peña told me it means Ah shoot. haha.
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| Daniela Nova cooking "Trigo Magica" (basically magic of flour) for Elders Weiss & Quinonez |
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| A typical bathroom in Domincan Republic. (Not in the Elder's home) That's a bucket of water they use. |
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| Elder Weiss, & Quinonez with Mission President Nuckols and his wife. I'm not sure who the members are. |
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| Parker's new covers that someone made for him. The middle is for his Hymn book. |
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| The back covers. |
