#blessed July 10, 2017

 This next part goes out to my brothas back at home, because ball is life and I found a legit Taiwanese restaurant in the DR with a Taiwanese woman who likes it when I say ni how ma and xio xio. Already eaten there twice. lol 

The sign at the basketball court says "God bless this court." Joe, you could take these Dominican kids any day. 

 high five lil monkey

I could title all my emails with the word miracle! cause woooow, so many lately. This week two of my recent converts, Doxy and Dania, entered the House of the Lord, and I got to be a part of that experience with them! After Dania got done doing baptisms for the dead, she just gave me a big, wet hug and I just got so emotional. It was such an amazing moment. After that, while we were waiting for Doxy, she leaned over to me and said "the water was hot. I liked it." haha So cute. 

Also this week was a nail biter with Leonel. We've been really stressing the importance of the Book of Mormon with him. He always says he likes it and it's the word of God, but he still hadn't really truly asked and received confirmation that this book is real and true, and his baptism is coming up real fast. So that was at the beginning of this week, and then in the middle of this week, we taught about fasting and he himself suggested that we fast so that he can know what he needs  to know and be ready for his baptism. Yay! Okay, and now we are to the end of the week. So Saturday we go to see Leonel, and the first thing he says is "Wow, its real, this book is true, my neck hurts from reading it so much, and Nephi had to kill Laban for the gold plates. He's a man of God." My smile was soooo big and I was soooo happy!! And so then we continue on with the lesson and I start asking him the questions for his baptismal interview because it was the next day! I asked him if he believes that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God and his response is "no not really. I don't know enough about him and I have never heard his voice." My heart just dropped. The beginning of this lesson I was so pumped and then this moment was like "shoooot, we dont have time for this!" If I was an ipad missionary this would be super easy, just throw on a video about our prophet, but no. So we were talking about how if he knows Joseph Smith is a prophet then Thomas S, Monson is a prophet. But nothin was working. We had him pray right then and there and ask if he's a prophet, and then during the prayer I remembered we had the documentary of Thomas S. Monson in our house. So after the prayer I told him we would be back in like 45 min, so we sped walked to our house (which is not close at all) and my comp was stressin big time, but for some reason I felt at peace. I knew it would all work out and the only thing we could do was maintain our faith. So we walked into our house and just went right to our knees. We prayed for a solid 15 minutes together and I gave the most pleading prayer of my life, and there were tears and honestly it was one of the most spiritual moments of my life. I had never talked to my Heavenly Father like that before, just with so much pleading for help, and I felt his love so much in that moment. So after that amazing moment we walked back to Leonel with high spirits, having faith that it would all work out. I had "If You Could Hie to Kolob" stuck in my head, that song just pumps me up. haha So we got back to Leonel, threw on the dvd "On the Lord's Errand" about Thomas Monson, and the whole 60 minutes he was just making comments like "wow, this man is sanctified, he's been being prepared his whole life, this man listens to God" and at the end he said the glorious words "YES HE'S OUR PROPHET" ahhhhh it was so great. And then last night he had his interview and passed, and after, my zone leader said "he is the most prepared man I've ever seen" ahhhhh God works miracles with faith!! 

So this Thursday Leonel Monterro will become a member of this amazing true Church!! 

Also took Cleonse to the temple this week. "I want to get married here one day" -Cleonse