An Average Week - Nov 14, 2016

Life treated me pretty well this week. Nothing too crazy, nothing too unusual, nothing too exciting. I did get a few birthday miracles, though. They were mostly small things that would require a ridiculous amount of explaining to give context to, but for example we were waiting for a bus in the dark to get home and some members pulled up and gave us a ride that put us home exactly on time. Don't freak out--we knew they were members right away because they had General Conference playing on their windshield-mounted phone, and it turns out they are from a neighboring ward and are siblings of a family here in Los Molinos.

We set our first baptismal date of the transfer and month on Tuesday! Her name is A****, and she has been waiting on her boyfriend to commit more to the gospel and to marry her so that she can get baptized. Suddenly the boyfriend decided that there was nothing there for him and moved out, and so now she can get baptized. WOOT! We are super grateful and excited.

We're looking into moving out of our house of 4 (at the request of the office elders) and we found a pretty nice little apartment out in La Ureña where we work, so that we don't have to pay 160+ pesos every day just in transportation. Updates on that later.

On Friday, we did a service project for an investigator of the other elders here in Los Molinos, which involved shoveling up a pile of dirt, rocks, tile, cinder blocks, and general trash in one corner of the yard and depositing it in another corner of the yard to make the dirt even. We got some lovely blisters from that one (yes, we've been using antibacterial ointment and bandages).

Sunday we met with a couple of Haitians for lessons (in our area there are TONS of them). One of the guys speaks Spanish pretty well, so we taught in Spanish, but the other only speaks Creyole and English, so I taught in English and translated for Elder C***** (it also helps that he lives with a young RM in the ward named B**** who speaks Spanish, English, AND Creyole). Both are super interested in finding out for themselves, seeing as they are both surprisingly well-educated. We are looking forward to much progress there.

I actually do feel older, having hit 20. When you're 19, you think of people who are 21 or 24 as so much older, but when you hit 20 that mental barrier is broken and you start to realize how close to your age they are. I imagine that the same-age spectrum only widens with time. It has been really weird trying to remember to tell people I am 20--my companion has had to remind me a couple of times XD. The weirdest thing, though, is that I will return from the mission at age 20. I am rapidly approaching my last Christmas, New Year's, and Easter in the DR. That is INSANE. Time just needs to slow down and take a breather, because as of right now all it's been doing is accelerating.  I have found so much joy in being here serving others, and I don't want it to end. but, it's like (I-can't-remember-which-general-authority) said: We are celestial beings unaccustomed to the ending and beginning of things. We expect everything to last forever, but this world is nothing if not temporal. 

I love all you guys. I hope everything is going well for you. I pray for you. I feel your prayers. Share the Gospel! It feels so good. Make a goal to spread the good tidings especially this Christmas season. Invite the whole world to come and see! 

Till next we meet,

Élder Rowe