Lucky Number 13!

Mark off your calenders, because another week of glory has passed beyond our temporal perspective! I'd a bit of a wacky realization the other day, as I suddenly realized I'm over 1/8th of the way through my mission. ...IT'S WACKY!

I've been a bit of a rebel this past week, doing things I know my mother would never approve of. For example, riding in a car without a seatbelt (as well as riding with seven people in a five seater car [that's Dominican Public Transport for you!]), running across a highway to catch a transport back to Villa Altagracia, and hitchhiking to similarly get back to Villa (this being a seperate situation than the second mentioned). Woo!

But first, A MIRACLE! Last week, we were in a new area, known as "La Cuchilla" (no one seems to know why), in which we've been having huge success. However, the church member who normally gives us a ride was busy that day, so we'd to rely on public transport to get us there and back. However, all public transport ceases at 6PM, so we'd only a pinch of time to our preachy alotment. Like determined Soldiers of God, we got back at 5:50PM...only to be told by a bystander that all of the transports were gone. Stunned, we thanked the man, and began to walk, trying to think of a way to get back home. After a moment, w decided to pray, and put matters in Holier hands. It was not five minutes after we finished that we heard someone shout "Elders!". As we turned, we saw a man walking towards us, who introduced himself as Brother Nobles (in perfect English, no less), and that he's been looking for Missionaries from Villa Altagracia so as to find out what time we have church on Sundays (as where he lives is technically within our Ward boundries, despite it being 30 minutes away). He then gave us a ride back to Villa, and we spoke all the while. He's been a member for 45 years (and counting), picked up English when he lived in the States for a huge chunk of his life, then came back to the Dominican Republic to retire. This actually serves as a double blessing, as if we start up a church Branch out there (and we very well might), we know where to find one member! Haha! Glorious!

The closest thing to a Frecca Story I have: as we were walking to a lesson, a group of three girls walked towards us. As our two parties neared their crossing point, one of the three split from the group to walk towards me, and began doing a robot walk. Yes, you're reading that right. She literally began walking like a robot towards me. ...You know, sometimes, I don't even know... :D

Hitchhiking! Once again, while trying to get out of La Cuchilla (our phone had no service and we couldn't get ahold of our ride), we walked for 30 minutes to no avail, shaking our thumbs at those who passed all the while. After a time, a red semi passed by, we shook our thumbs...and it kept going around the bend. Elder Thibault shook his head, and said, "I didn't think that one would have stopped anyway. As we rounded the corner...it was stopped. :D
The driver gave us a ride back to Villa, and we thanked him magnimoniously for assisting us.

And now, here's a comic to spice up your week!

Peace, Love, Unity, Serenity!

-Elder Jones