Sandra and Zion are now officially members of The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-Day Saints! It has been a roller coaster of a ride for Elder
Greenwade and I with this family but the Lord knows all things that all
of us need. Sandra needed another answer to prayers. She is absolutely
awesome and ready for the straight and narrow path that leads to eternal
life.
Monday
was a blast!! We went to Atlantis and ate at Poseidon's Table! It is a
really nice buffet that has all sorts of different things prepared for a
feast! I had sushi for the first time! Not gonna lie, it was pretty
good. I'm not gonna go out of my way to buy sushi but if it's given to
me I will partake! We we soooo full after that dinner! We were so
stuffed that it seriously hurt to sit down, stand, lay down, you name
it; it hurt! I also had the muscle clam. Didn't taste very good so I
most likely won't eat that again...Ever... But it was a blast!
Tuesday
morning we took Joy Smith to see one of her friends that came to church
with her last week and had a "Get to Know You" meeting with Christopher
and his mother Tamara. We took lunch and companionship study after them
then went to see a less active family. The Mitchell's we taught by
Elder Senior and Elder Smith when they were out here. We had a short
lesson with them on church and why it's important to partake of the
sacrament. Went and saw Sister Dauphiney Smith and her 4 kids; Joy,
Triphina, Tripholsa, and Emmanuel. The two middle kids are twin girls.
This family never stops moving! The kids are FULL of energy! My mother
thought that Jeff and I were all over the place, she should see these
three kids! In the middle of the lesson, one of the twins was combing my
hair and Emmanuel (Manny) was all over Elder Greenwade then all over
me! These kids aren't small either! Many is 5 years old and weighs about
45-50 pounds! Just a thick family! Anyways, after meeting with them we
go see Jackson and Maria for a few minutes before we headed in for the
night.
Wednesday
was district meeting. Elder Mitchell Christensen's last one so he had
to bare his "dying" testimony in front of the entire district over
Skype. I love listening to "dying missionaries testimonies because I
learn so much from them. Elder M. Christensen is an awesome example and a
great leader. He leaves
tomorrow
too. After district meeting we took lunch and comp study, had a lesson
fall through then had a short lesson at the church. Wendal is an older
man with a messed up hand. I don't know what really happened to it but
it's creepy to look at! Anyways, we showed him the short 20 minute
Restoration video and he fell asleep half way through it! Oh well, I
guess he needed that couple minute snoozer. We also saw Sandra that day
with Sister Dauphiney Smith and Brother Cameo. That lesson was just to
get her baptismal program all set up so we can start to print off the
programs and make assignments. It was a nice, short lesson. Sister Smith
did a great job at fellowshipping her as well! I love the members here!
We also went to the Seawell's for dinner. They are from Utah. Elder
Greenwade's birthday was
on Friday so the Seawell's made Navajo Tacos for him
on Wednesday
for dinner and we had peach cobbler! And that orange jello stuff that
my grandma always makes but no one really knows the name of! I felt like
I was eating dinner at Flag's West Truck Stop in good ole Downey,
Idaho! The had dessert at my house! Later that night we had a lesson
with Paulette with Sister Meadows and her son Rayshawn. Sister Meadows
did a great job at fellowshipping her and baring her testimony on being
the only member of her family to be members of the Church. It was just
awesome to feel the Spirit in that lesson. Paulette wants us to start
teaching her husband that way there is no conflict in the home between
those two. Which makes sense. We don't want to split the family up when
Heavenly Father's Plan is centered on Jesus Christ and Families.
Thursday
morning we went to see Christopher and his mother Tamara again. We
started to share the Restoration of the Gospel and Christopher had a lot
of questions about the next life. So we tried to get the Restoration
out of the way fast so we could teach the Plan of Salvation. But most of
the lesson was focused on the Restoration. Christopher and his mother
are awesome though. They are reading the Book of Mormon and the
pamphlets that we gave them Christopher has agreed to come to church
again this Sunday (yesterday) as well. We took lunch and comp study at
the church then went to see the Mitchell's again. We talked briefly
about creating a relationship with Christ and Heavenly Father through
daily family prayer. We then took Rayshawn to see one of his friends but
couldn't get a hold of him to we bought him a blizzard and took him
home haha. Had dinner at the Whitney's house with the other Elders. Then
had Sandra's baptismal interviews! It was nice to just sit down with
the kids and just let them get to know our families and who we were. I
showed them lots of pictures of my family.
Friday
was weekly planning then we went to do the Vermonster Challenge at Ben
and Jerry's near Atlantis. It is a bucket of ice cream about the size of
a movie theater popcorn bucket. It was so good! It wasn't even that
hard honestly. The 6 of us did it pretty easily. I say 6 because we
brought a church brother with us named Rayshawn. We take him teaching
with us a lot so we took him to get ice cream. Then later that after
noon we went to clean the baptismal font for the baptism
on Saturday. We also set up the room and get the programs ready to be printed.
Saturday
we started off the day with a 3 hour service for one of our
investigators. He was laying cement in his drive way to make it look
nice. So we helped him do that. Then we went to an investigators house
for lunch! Rosa, who is from Peru, wanted to feed us so we didn't turn
it away! It was good! She asked us questions about the Book of Mormon
and asked her to read and pray about it. She said she would and that she
would try to make it to church next week. After she fed us we went back
to the church to fill up the font and to print out all the programs.
When that was all done we went to see a Haitian man that was a referral
from a member. We dropped off a Book of Mormon that is in Creole for him
to read. Then we had the baptism! It was awesome! Every baptism is the
best day your mission! Zion was baptized first then Sandra. The talks
were great, the Spirit was strong, and it was just amazing.
Sunday
was Fast and Testimony Meeting. Also it was Elder Mitchel Christensen's
last Sunday on his mission. He leaves today actually! We had 8
investigators at church too! Demitri, Nathan and Dakora (Sandra's boy
and girl), Noelda, Gean and his friend, Sister Ballard, and a recent
convert's daughter who is 8. We are trying to get her family reactivated
so she can be baptized. Church that day just drained the energy right
out of me! I was so exhausted from all the members and all the kids and
helping investigators and man... The list could go on! But lunch at the
Ferdinand's is always refreshing! Best Haitian food I've had on my
mission! Anyways, we stopped by Sandra to get her information to put on
the Baptismal Record and while I was filling that out with Sandra, Elder
Greenwade was talking to her daughter Dakora. He asked her how she felt
during her mom's baptism and she said that she wanted to be baptized! I
stopped writing as soon as I heard her answer and just hard a shocked
look on my face! Elder Greenwade looks at me with the same face then
asked her when she wanted to be baptized. She said, "I want to be
baptized next week." (Meaning this
coming Saturday)
Elder Greenwade and I smile and said, "Of course you may be baptized in
that day." Sandra had a smile on her face and you could just tell that
she was very happy and at peace with her family. Sandra has set the
perfect example for her family and they all felt the Spirit as she did
it. Later that evening we had about an hour to go tracting so we started
out. We came across this couple that was outside getting ready to drive
off. We introduced ourselves and we did the whole "Hello, I'm Elder
Wilding. This is my companion, Elder Greenwade. And we are missionaries
for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints." As soon as we said
that, they started to ask us what we believed and a little bit about
the Church's history. They had heard a lot of false things about the
Church and they were so glad to get all those things cleared up. They
asked some questions about what we believe Heaven and Hell will be like
so we briefly explained the three Kingdoms that we can go to. They loved
the fact that we believed that there was more than just Heaven and
Hell. We left them with a Book of Mormon right there and they were so
promising! They were just an awesome couple!
The Lord truly does prepare people for the gospel. The couple I just
shared with you all was prepared by a member in Florida. She didn't try
to teach them, force anything on them; she just told them that she was a
Mormon and they asked her a few questions and sparked their curiosity. A
few months later, we run into them and they continued their questions.
The Lord softened their hearts in preparation for Elder Greenwade and I
to share a brief Restoration and a Plan of Salvation with them. Heavenly
Father is very mindful of ALL His children. He knows exactly what they
need to better their lives. I can promise you all that if you will live
worthily of the companionship of the Holy Ghost, He will work miracles
based off of our choices and actions. The Holy Ghost is the instrument
that the Lord uses to soften our hearts as well as those around us.
Please strive to act upon the promoting of the Holy Ghost. Who knows how
you will be blessed by doing it!
I love you all! I hope that the Lord gives you all the strength to over
come all the challenges you my be facing. I say over come because
overcoming a challenge helps us learn rather than taking the challenge
away.
Peta!
Elder Wilding🌴
