"It's a Claw Machine and I am Blind"

Whats good!?! This week went by pretty fast. One of the fastest weeks I've had in a while.

So short story about the title. Last night we were driving to get gas in the truck and my comp was complaining to me about a claw machine that he wants to play cause he has "never played one in his life" so I told him it was dumb and it's just a claw machine. Well right as I was saying that I went like 45 mph over a speed bump. It was comical. They call speed bumps in this country "policia acostao" which means police men laying down haha. Also they say "Acostao" instead of the correct Spanish word "Acostado" because they are Dominican. Anyways fun story for ya’ll. 

We've been teaching a ton in our area and are hoping to see some success soon! A few of our main focuses rn are our friends Keila and Albiero. 

Keila is the daughter of Benilda. Our friend who was baptized last Saturday. Keila has 2 kids and lives with her bf. She has come to church 3 straight weeks and is so open to learning. Her Visa was rejected a week ago, which we took that as a dub because now we can hopefully help her progress towards baptism. She is hard to teach cause she almost never has time. Pray for her so we can find time to teach her! 

Albiero is the little brother of our recent convert Smeily. He is 9 years old and wants to be baptized so bad because his sister was. He has a baptismal date for Feb 10th but we will see what happens. We want to help him understand why baptism is important and not just get baptized to be baptized. I mean I don't know how much I knew when I was 8 and I think I turned out decent lol. 

I have loved my studies this week. I have learned a lot about different things and the spirit world being one of them. I am so grateful for the Plan of Salvation and the joy it brings to us. 

Another cool thing from this week came from my old area In Bonao. For those who remember we used to teach this lady named Luna in Bonao. She is AMAZING! Well the Elders texted me on Thursday telling me that she and her bf are planning on maybe getting married on the 1st of March. They said if Elder Wilde can come to the wedding then they will for sure get married. Unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to go but I hope they can get married so she can be baptized. Pray for Luna! It made me feel happy that they wanted me to be there and reminded me of a cool story about my Grandpa Johnson. There was a man who was being taught by missionaries in Washington. He told the Elders he would only be baptized if Floyd Johnson baptized him. Luckily my Grandpa Johnson made the trip out to Washington to baptize him. Maybe I can make a trip to Bonao and witness a wedding and baptism;) 

Anyways hope ya’ll have a great week! Love you guys and miss ya’ll tons! 

Elder Wilde 

*Oh and fun fact. We were driving in one of my old areas and I looked over just in time to see Christopher Morel!!! He is currently a player for the Chicago Cubs, which we are huge fans of! So I had to pull over and go and talk with him. It was super cool! I wish I could have stayed and talked to him longer, but we had other things we had to do.