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🌴
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