I LOVE my new area. I have learned that it is more enjoyable to work out in areas like this for a few reasons. One is because during the afternoon it is too hot to be in their houses so EVERYONE is just sitting outside so it is so easy to go talk to people. My companion Elder Bigler is awesome and has a huge desire to work so I think we will work well together. I forgot my camera so pictures will be coming next week.
But this past week has been quite a rollercoaster. The day of transfers we had a meeting with the Stake President so we couldn't go out to our area because it is so far away from the capitol so we had to stay in the MTC that night. It was so weird and we felt like we were staying in a hotel. We were with the other Zone Leader and his companion so it was the four of us. We ended up getting out of the meeting at about 9:30 (Presidnet Smith was with us and drove us home) and we didn't get to the MTC until about 10:15. We got to the room and there was air conditioning!!! That night was SO COLD! When I woke up in the morning we were FREEZING!! It was so awesome! But then the best part, the MTC has a water heater and I took like a 30 minute shower in SUPER HOT water!! It felt SOOO good! And then we finally got going and got back up to our area and the day was so HOT! It was a weird day because we are super high up and normally the sun isn't out. Which sure enough almost every other day was COLD. But only for the first half of the day because then you start sweating and because it is always raining it is super humid so you get HOT. But it's okay because an old missionary left his tiny air conditioning unit in the house which doesn't work very well but if you keep a fan on you you can actually wake up COLD. But then the worst part is because the sun is never out, the water is SUPER COLD!! AAAANNDD we don't have running water in this house so, it's back to bucket showers :). Man I am SO PUMPED for this transfer! I love the area a ton! There are a lot of animals here and yesterday we had a dog come to church and sit in sacrament meeting and no one really cared.
Okay but just for time and more important things I need to stop there and tell three stories. And all of them take place on the same day. But just to set the context, we had a visit from a few really special people in the DR and one is the area president Elder Civic, and in his talk he promised us that that day would be a day we would never forget, he was right.
So the big news and most important is that Elder Cook from the quorum of the 12 came to the DR. Unfortuantely he came to Santiago and it is too far to travel so we could only watch it via transmitioin but it was still awesome. I could talk about so many things that he said. But after he talked I had an overwhelming confirmation that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only true and restored church on the Earth. It was such an overwhelming feeling and nothing could deny it. But he told us something insane. He talked a lot about the church in Kirtland and when Jesus visited it and accepted it. Then he talked about how we shouldn't always share our most spiritual experiences but he had recently decided to share some broad details especially to us missionaries, then he said, "I KNOW THE SAVIOR'S FACE AND I KNOW THE SAVIOR'S VOICE." We all freaked out. The way he said it was so intense and I could feel the spirit so strong in the room. He told us that almost always the church is led and directed by the Prophet under the direction of the Spirit, but in certain matters, like temples and missionary work, "He lets his will be known." How awesome is it to know that every type of manual or rule or anything that pertains to missionary work comes directly from the Lord! It was an experience I will never forget.
But then we left and as always happens when you have a spiritual experience, someone tries to ruin the feeling. As we were walking to the bus to go back home we were walking with four other missionaries. Two sisters and two elders. We were aproaching the bus and the two sisters get on and so does my companion. The other two elders stayed back to by a coke and they were a little bit behind us. As I was about to get on I saw a commotion happening behind the bus and it looked like a cop and a hatian were fighting! (Intelligently, I still hadn't gotten on the bus) All I saw was a cop with a gas mask coming with a shotgun and then another cop put on a mask and then I just saw a TON of pepper spray in the air. I wasn't in the direct like of fire because I was off to the side but that stuff HURTS! It got in my eyes and throat and I jumped onto the bus. The other two elders got hit worse because they were closer but basically I got pepper sprayed as a missionary.
The last story and this one is probably the shortest but the sisters were planning to have a baptism that night (I am in a branch with 6 missionaries) but the baptismal font hadn't been emptied out from the last baptism and it was NASTY! The water was high and filled with some green things and the water was all mucky. Us and the other two elders went to go see what we were going to do about it because the sisters had to go visit some people. The water was nasty and we couldn't get the plug up. It was a push plug but the problem is that it didn't come up high enough for the water to go down. In the end we decided that the only option was that someone was going to have to get in and go put something under the plug to hold it open. The lot fell on the other zone leader. But the problem is that the water would have ruined any type of clothes especially white clothes in they got in it. So we found the only things we could turn into a makeshift swim suit, a white plastic bag. So he stripped down and got into the font and the bag didn't really serve much and as he went down into the water the bag fell off. So that is the story of how an elder went skinny dipping in a baptismal font. But we did get it cleaned out finally.
I love this country and I love this mission! I love all of yall!! HAve a great week!!
Love,
Elder Robertson
