So I will start with my area and my companion. My area is super not city. There are two and a half paved roads that are like the main roads through town and all the rest are straight dirt roads. The houses are all made of cinder block or tin and really not well put together. I am definitely in a part of the DR that doesn't have a ton of money but the people are so awesome! They are so humble and there are so many people here who are really prepared. My companion is awesome! He has so much time and although yes he is a little trunky and can't wait to go home, he is still a hard worker and a really good teacher! We get a long really well and we both love working hard so it is going well so far! We also live like right next to the airport, if yall don't believe me I will try and attach a picture I took of an airplane landing and how close it is.
Now to get to the two most important things this week. The first is we had a visit from one of the 12 Apostles of the Lord. Elder Andersen came to visit the mission and it was amazing! Although he is a lot shorter in person than what he looks like on TV. Like seriously he can't be more than like 5'8". Also something that was a little interesting is that he tried to talk to us in Spanish. He knows a ton of languages. He served his mission in France so obviously he is fluent in French, he speaks Portuguese really well and he has learned a little bit of Spanish. It was just interesting to see him speak Spanish because I have lived with two Brazilians and there are so many people here who speak french that I have picked up a lot of the different words and I can recognize the languages pretty well so his Spanish was super mixed between the other languages. He ended up just having someone translate for him so it was kind of funny. But the message he shared was super powerful! He shared a lot of things but the overview of his message was two things. He shared two things that every member (not just a convert) needs to have or feel in their life if they want to be converted to the Gospel of Christ. The first thing is that everyone needs to feel the love of Christ in their lived when they repent. He told us that that means especially when we aren't there with our investigators. They need to wake up in the middle of the night and feel the desire to be forgiven of their sins and kneel down and really feel the atoning power of the Atonement in their lives. The second thing is that every member, it doesn't matter if they are a convert or were born into the church, every member needs to have a love for the Book of Mormon. It is literally the key stone to our religion because it if either true or it isn't. And if it is true, the rest of it is true. Joseph Smith said that without the Book of Mormon, our religion doesn't have anything to stand on. It is such an amazing book that testifies of Christ. I wish yall could have heard the testimony that Elder Andersen bore about the book. It was such an amazing visit and I am definitely going to change some things in my life. He promised us that if we could help our investigators do or feel those two things, they will never go inactive. It is the same for every member.
The second big thing that happened this week is we had a baptism! His name is R****! His story is truly inspiring! He grew up in Haiti across from an LDS church but for whatever reason never attended. But he attended just about every other church by his house. He ended up leaving all of them because he said that they all just felt like they were missing something. But he always watched and talked to a few of the members on Sundays. So when he moved here he didn't think there was an LDS church, because he lived suuuuper far away from our chapel, like 40 minutes walking. But he met a guy who lives by him and found out he was a member! He asked if he could attend with him. He loved it so much that he walked up to us after Sacrament meeting and asked "what do I have to do to be a member of this church?" two weeks later he got baptized. It has been such a neat experience watching his gain such a strong testimony of the church of Jesus Christ. He has definitely been a blessing in my life.
The last thing is I forgot to talk about the temple last week! I love the temple so much and the things we can learn inside are awesome. I will try to attach pictures of everything that has happened!
I love hearing about yalls life and everything that is going on! Yall are the best and I love yall so much!!!!!
Have a great week!!
Elder Robertson
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| Getting set up for our visit from an Apostle, Elder Andersen |
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| We got to go to the temple this week. I love the temple so much and the things we can learn inside are awesome. |
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| We had a baptism this week. |
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| We live right next to the airport. You can see how close this airplane is that is landing. |
