February 26, 2024 THE HOPEFULLY NOT SO BORING ADVENTURES OF ELDER WILLIAMSON CHAPTER LXXI

on monday we had 2 lessons that were super good.. we shared about the book of mormon and invited the people to read.. that's one of the first times i've been able to do that in what feels like a whiLe.. annnd then on tuesday we were doing our normal lessons, finding and having a member come with us to lessons.. and then we had our lesson with rafael.. lemme explain kinda what has been going on with him.. sooo he's probably in his 40's, and he has 3 or 4 kids with this one lady who he is separated from and he lives with another lady who is his "wife" or "partner" or whatever, but not married.. buttt his oldest son raifel was baptized about 6 or so months ago, and that's why he was being taught when i got here.. sooo when i first met him, it was with elder then, and we walked into his house, and it was him, and his partner lady, and his kids, and they seemed nice, but not the kind of people who really progress.. we taught them something, i don't even remember what it was, but i kinda just remember getting the vibe of people who like talking to us, but aren't ready to keep commitments, and especially not have so much change in their lives.. sometime later i was looking at their progress reports, and i could see that the missionaries had started teaching him in may of 2022.. that's another not so great sign, when they've never come to church.. sooo i was definitely ready to drop them, if they weren't willing to start doing anything.. butttt we talked about the simple things.. praying and the blessings that come from it.. and going to church and the blessings that come from it.. nowww.. the biggest struggle in the DR is getting people to come to church.. whether it's members, investigators, the branch president.. it's always a full blown battle getting these people to come.. which means that we try to spend as much time as we can, inviting people to church, and helping them understand the important of meeting and taking the sacrament.. so we invited them to do that, and reminded them of the blessings that would come.. and he actually accepted and said he had interest in coming to church.. that he had seen a change in his sons life, and he wanted it in his too.. bUttt people say stuff like that all the time, and then something comes up and they don't show up, or they decide against it for whatever reason.. and as i expected, for the first little while he didn't come to church.. butttt he kept saying he would.. even before we would bring it up he would say stuff like "i really tried to come last sunday, but they called me into work on the farm right at the last second".. but we were running out of options, we were going to have to drop them.. but then suddenly one sunday, we were about half way thru the sacrament meeting, and he comes in with his son and sits down.. and that first sunday he was just there for the rest of the first hour, and then he had to go.. but then he came the next sunday too, and he stayed both hours.. he started saying stuff like, "i really like how things are done in this church".. "i changed my schedule so that i won't have to work on sundays unless it's an emergency".. and he was starting to grow his testimony.. buttt that's when you get to the other obstacles.. because first someone needs to come to know it's true, and start to see the blessings it has on their life, but the hard part is the commandments.. so we knew that they drank coffee, because they had offered it to us before, and we knew that they still needed to get married.. sooo, a couple weeks ago in our weekly planning we decided to focus on the word of wisdom first.. so we went and taught them the word of wisdom.. and in that lesson it was rafael, his gf, and 2 friends of the gf who were pretty obnoxious to have in that lesson.. but we taught them about the things that we obstain from, and the blessings that come from it.. that lesson took a little while, and it was kinda one of those where they agreed with us, but they said they still had some things to work on, and rafael said he wanted to work on it, but that these things take time.. whichhh usually in dominicaneez means that they aren't ready to give it up yet.. but we invited them to start.. and promised them the blessings that would come.. and again i didn't really know what was going to come from that when we walked out of that lesson, but we kept going to their house to teach them.. we taught more in depth about the book of mormon, and the importance of reading and praying about what it says, to receive a testimony of the restored gospel.. and then we decided to talk about the coffee again (cuz of the word of wisdom, he was only drinking coffee).. he told us that before we had taught him about it, he had been drinking around 7-8 cups a day, but that he had been trying to quit, because it becomes pretty obvious when you need to drink so much to feel normal, that there's a problem.. something my dad told me on a call one time, is that there are a lot of people who are already looking for excuses to change, to become better, so a lot of the time when we invite them to make changes in their life, it's the extra push that they needed.. but he had gone down to about 2 cups a day.. so we invited him to keep going down in the amount per day, and gave him resources to combat it.. the book of mormon, talks from president nelson, pictures of jesus, and we promised him the blessings.. and then we came to the monster.. one of the most difficult things that i (and most missionaries in this country that i know of) have encountered on the road to baptism.. is mArRiAgE.. oOoOo scarrrrry.. for some reason, the dominican culture says not get married.. like that's the norm.. if we find people who are actually married to their spouse, it's like finding a peanut butter mnm in the middle of a bunch of regular mnms.. it's weird, it kinda surprises you, but it gives you hope that maybe there are some other peanut butter mnms in the pile.. sooo you keep searching.. but anyways that being said, we're in weekly planning, and we're trying to figure out how we can teach marriage in a way that will help them see the importance of it.. so we made a pros and cons list (my comps idea cuz he's a genius).. all of the blessings of marriage, the impact it will have on their children, the increased security in the home and marriage.. and we made a list of cons.. it costs money, it's scary, cuz you could get a divorce and then it's more money, and it's messy and a big disaster.. and we thought of solutions to all of the so called cons.. we were ready (or so we thought).. and our plan was to make the pros list with them, and then ask them if they had any cons.. at which point we would try to debunk them.. sooo we enter the lesson.. and we start to teach them about the pros, and they're agreeing, and you can see it makes sense to them and everything.. and then we promise them the blessings.. and we get to the end of the list of pros.. and then we just ask them "what is stopping you from being married?".. sooo they start to explain to us that the kids, don't like the wife lady that much.. they aren't happy that their dad isn't with their mom, and so there are a lot of issues in the house, which ig that means they fight a lot, and there are just issues in general.. and for that reason, they had decided to wait until things could clear up and their kids could be on board.. dang.. that one sucked.. and we definitely hadn't thought about thAt as a posible con.. so, we talked about the power of the book of mormon, and we left them with the list, and a law of chastity pamphlet, and promised them that if they continued to read and pray, then they would be able to figure it out.. and then we left.. and my comp just said "that kinda felt like a drop lesson" and he was right, but i said "if he keeps coming to church we'll keep going by, but if he won't get married then obviously he can't get baptized" sooo we went on.. and then weekly planning comes again.. and this time we thought.. welll maybe we need to talk to the whole family, with the kids there, and talk about the blessings they will receive as a family.. sooo we planed to do that, and we had a lesson scheduled for later that day.. so anyways, it's around 6 or 7ish, and we're with a member meeting people she knows so we can teach them, and then we go to rafaels house.. and we see him kinda outside the house, and it looks like their doing some kind of construction or something in the house, because there's a bunch of stuff outside.. and he greets us and we go in.. and the wife not wife lady is there kinda milling around grabbing things, and she looks kinda pouty, and it's a bit weird, but i don't really think much of it.. and she's muttering something to him like "i'm sorry, it's not your fault" orrr idk.. and he's just like "no don't worry about it, it's fine".. so anyways we sit down and i'm like "so uhh are you guys moving some stuff around in here?".. and he just looks as me with the most nonchalant face i think i've probably ever seen... "yah shE's moving out" and then i was just like 🤯.. and then my comps just like.. "wait what's goin on?" (he's a bit new, so spanish and so forth) so i explain it to him and he's just like 🤯.. so rafael starts to explain to us how he really wants to change his life, and the other lady just isn't ready for it.. he doesn't want all the issues and drama in the house, and he just wants to go to church and have more peace and joy in his life.. sooo.. we immediately scratch the plan of family council, and we hop straight back to baptism which we had talked about with them many times before.. we read mosiah 18:8-10 (i'll put it down below) with him, and talked about why we are baptized.. that it is only the beginning, and that even if he might not feel completely ready at that moment, that he had been prepared by God.. and then my comp extended a date.. rafael just kept telling us how much he wanted to have more peace, and how he had been reading the book of mormon and the paper of the pros and cons, and the law of chastity pamphlet apparently, and he just decided.. i think he really thought about it after we talked about eternal marriage, and having that one person for forever, cuz he said "she's not the one, so for now i'm chillin solo (he's not that solo cuz he's got 3 kids buttt) but if later down the road i can find a woman from the church that i can get married to, then i'll be ok with that".. sooo there's still some things we need to go over with him, but he's ready.. he said he had been waiting for this moment for 2 years (since the first missionaries came and taught him).. he just had to take those first little steps of faith, and come to church.. and then to read the book.. and then to decide to follow god's commandments, even if it meant doing something hard like asking his now ex to move out.. so anyways, we're working to get him on the covenant path.. thattt's pretty much it tho.. have a great week, love you guys! mosiah 18:8-10 And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light; Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life— Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?