February 19, 2024 THE HOPEFULLY NOT SO BORING ADVENTURES OF ELDER WILLIAMSON CHAPTER LXX

soo the plans changed a little so that we would go to the capital on monday, sleep there, and then do the fingerprints on tuesday morning.. sooo we chilled for a little on monday, did some chores and stuff, and then we went to get some empenadas to eat on the bus so that we wouldn't die of car sickness.. and then we went to azua first.. we went and pulled out our allowances, stopped by the zls house to give them a charger they one of them left in our house on an exchange, and then went to the church.. we played a couple games of foosball (or is it foolsball?) cuz they have that in the district center in azua.. annnd then we walked over to the bus stop (we had to ask a couple people who gave us some general directions but we made it).. and then we started our journey to the capital.. elder goldfarb (my trainer (now an office elder)) sent us a message saying to get off at a certain little ceasars, where we met up with him, and my third comp of the mission (elder christiansen (now also an office elder and comps with elder goldfarb)) and then we drove to presidents house to eat pizza and have interviews for me and my comp.. it was good to eat some pizza, see my old buddies again, and have an interview (most of which was just talking about my previous comp buttt).. then we went to the mission office and chilled there for a time.. whenever we go there we just chill and watch the chaos of the office unfold before us.. our office is 6 elders (2 aps and 4 other dudes who basically run the mission.. sorta) and they just always have so many things they have to plan, and they always have arguments about who needs the cars more.. cuz there are only like 2 cars? and they all have to share them? but sometimes there's only 1 car?.. anyways, after that we went to the house that they all share over there, and actually didn't have to sleep on the floor, which was nice.. in the morning we did some exercise, and had some french toast (gracias a elder standage(y a dios tambien)).. and then we went over to the lawyers office.. again.. i'm now a regular there.. they all know my name.. i have a toothbrush there.. of the internsmade me the godfather to her newborn son... no jk.. i've only been there twice now.. but it was still kinda weird to go back for the same thing again.. annnd ofc they had the same dominican cop dude "hElping" me with the fingerprints.. it is super hard to do, cuz you have to get the perfect amount of ink on your finger tip that covers the whole thing, and then you have to put it on the paper, and you can't push too hard cuz then the lines won't be clear enough, and you can't push too soft, because you won't get the whole print, and you have to position it perfectly... annnd for some reason my fingerprints are super shallow, and my fingers are pretty badly shaped for it, which is why they didn't work the other time... sooo basically we did it 6 times.. and then i had to fill out all the paperwork that goes with each one, cuz we don't know which one they might accept, and which one they might reject.. whichhhh.. now that i'm thinking about it.. i have no idea why we couldn't have just filled out the paper work on one, and then taken a bunch of fingerprints on different ones.. cuzzz they were on different papers, so they could have just mix and matched... butttt ig we're all just too slow for that.. but anyways after that we went to the mall called jumbo (one of the greatest places in the dr (at least that i've visited)) and got some wendys.. and then we got to go inside of bravo (the og grocery store and one of the greatest tools of missionaries in this country (besides people like us in the south who have to survive off of rice and beans)).. i didn't buy anything but skittles, cuz i'm super poor in this area.. but it was nice to go inside at least.. annnd after that we were driven to the guagua stop, and we went back to padre las casas.. so that was fun... anyways, other than that we had a week of a ton of finding again.. just trying to filter out the uninterested people, and get some baptisms out here.. my comp got stung by a bee.. i got bit by a dog (in the finger only, and it didn't break skin).. we're gonna die on sunday from all of the elections that are going on.. apparently it's gonna be super crazy.. we'll see what happens.. alsoooo we aren't allowed to use messenger to text anyone outside of our immediate families anymore.. soooo that's pretty sad.. and i think that was already kinda a rule before? i wasn't ever sure.. butttt now they're inforcing it more i think.. sooo if you wanna talk to me you can still send me messages, buttt i'll have to respond to you thru "one email a week" sooo that's a rip.. buttt anyways, that's pretty much what's going on over here... alsooo.. the elections are gonna be tomorrow on sunday.. annnd i really don't understand how it works buttt we're gonna see what happens.. apparently it's supposed to get pretty dangerous.. like people here take politics super seriously.. and all the members were telling us not to go out to pros, cuz apparently every time there are riots, and people fighting, and apppparently there are gonna be gunfights included.. the lady who cooks for us showed us a video of what goes on here in padre las casas from 4 years ago in the last election.. and the video was just some guy walking down the street (she told us it was one of the politicians) and then everyone was screaming and making a riot, and honking their horns.. then suddenly a random guy shows up on his little scooter (one of the voters she said) and he just drives up to the politician, hops of the scooter, and then you just hear screaming and a bunch of gunfire, and the person taking the video running to their house and screaming at everyone to get inside and shut the door and stuff... and apppparently this happens every time.. sooo ofc our members are like "don't go out tomorrow" and one of the dominican sisters in our zone was saying it was gonna be super dangerous also.. bUttt as of now we're still going to be going out tomorrow.. that could change, idk.. buttt we'll see if we survive tomorrow... that's all tho, have a great week, love you guys! romans 8:16-17 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.