Elder Tyler Robertson: Week 24 - One of the biggest miracles of my mission

Okay so first and foremost I saw one of the biggest miracle of my mission this week. There are two kids in my ward named A**** and R****. A**** is about to turn 12 and R**** is 9. But I am going to focus on A**** because most of this happened with her. So they have been actively attending the church for 3 years with little to no support from their parents. Elder Madrid and I actually thought they were members for most of our time here because they were so active in the ward, more active than most of the members. It wasn't until a couple weeks ago when we found out that they had never been baptized. So we talked to A**** and set up a time to go to their house to talk to their mom about baptism. Not too long into the lesson her mom made it very clear why they haven't been baptized. She is kind of an interesting person and I'm not 100% sure that she is all there but she kinda just went off. Explaining how A**** is a kid and she knows her and if she lets her get baptized she is just going to change her mind and leave the church and how she was already baptized in the Catholic church and a whole lot of other ugly stuff that I don't really care to repeat but basically her parents have rejected missionaries for almost three years on baptism.

So Elder Madrid decided to let it go because her mom said if A**** changes then by next December she would give permission for her to get baptized. But I had a feeling that we could do something. And because she was one of our investigators we started to get to know her better. And from very early on this girl was really special to me because she reminded me so much of Elise. As I got to know her I learned that she gets almost perfect grades in school and is super incredibly smart. She is super friendly with everyone and always tries to help people and include people. She is on her dance team in school and basically is just an amazing little girl and pretty much the Dominican version of Elise so full disclosure I may have been a little bias against the whole thing but I knew we could get her to get baptized and I wanted to so much because of the main reason she reminds me of my sister, she wanted to be baptized more than anything in the world because she had a good genuine desire to follow Christ and live in a way he would want, exactly like Elise does.

When Elder Oliveira got here and met her he had the same feeling that we could do this. But the problem was, it was Thursday and we were having something special called a "white night" on Saturday. So we went to her house on Thursday and spent two hours there talking to her mom and she was still being super hard with us. But let me tell you at the end of that lesson I have never felt the spirit so strong or seen the spirit so clearly touch the heart of another person. Especially when we asked A**** to bare her testimony of the church to her mom. And after three long years of both A**** and R**** wanting to be baptized their mom finally gave permission and what made it even more special is A**** asked me to baptize her and it was by far one of the most spiritual experiences of my life. I am so incredibly grateful for this gospel and this opportunity to share is with everyone here and watch it change lives. I am so thankful to our Father in Heaven and the miracles he works through his obedient and diligent servents. If we are worthy he will show us miracles.

As for other things that happened this week, we found a pretty dope hamburger place and it was so good that we went back the next day and after one for lunch I was still hungry so I got another. And then the next day...yep we ate there again. I took pictures of all of them I will send them haha.

Also I have gotten very used to Dominicans "talking" English with me. Or rather saying little phrases in a really bad latin accent like "Hey how ya doin ma fren" (Say it out loud if you need to) or a lot of things like that. But this week I was taken very off guard when a short Dominican walked up to me and with a very American accent said "Hello Elder Robertson, How are you doing?" it turns out he was born in Philly and get this, GREW UP IN DALLAS!!! I didn't realize how much I missed having a normal English conversation with another human. We didn't have a ton of time to talk but it was super awesome to meet someone from my own state! SPEAKING OF TEXAS I FOUND DR PEPPER TODAY AND THAT NEVER HAPPENS AND I AM SOOOOOOO HAPPY!!!!!!!

Yeah other than that Dad do you have any more updates on that scripture in Matthew? It is very interesting to study and I am actually using part of my personal study to study the same thing and how I can apply it to my investigators.

I love you guys so much!!! Until Next Week!!!