General authorities of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are serving people all over the world. But tonight Elder Jorge Dominguez (area 70 of the Caribbean) wanted me to write in my diary that I got served food by a general authority! So I said, OK I will write it in my blog!
Elder Dominguez grew up with Jesus's sister and of course knew Jesus as well. He lives here in Santiago, Dominican Republic and invited us over for family home evening. It was such a sweet night. As most family home evenings begin, we sang and Jesus said the opening prayer. In that moment my eyes became full of tears because I had a strong feeling that this is where I needed to be! I keep feeling that feeling although I can suppress it pretty quickly every time someone says they got robbed or I think of missing people in the US. However I need to remember that I have felt good things about this decision even when I don't know why. The other day we were in one of the shadiest neighborhoods around and I looked at Jesus and said "honey, why are we doing this again?!" He reminded me that he wanted to help the people here and I am all aboard for that although it will will be difficult but that did help to put me at ease.
Elder Dominguez gave the family home evening lesson about gratitude. It was sweet because as he gave the lesson Jesus translated in my ear. It reminded me of the people who wear headphones during general conference for the translation. I have to say it is tricky to listen to the translation when the speaker is continuing to speak at the same time. Imagine being the translator! However when I just said that to Jesus (the translator) as he's sitting next to me, he said it wasn't hard so go figure. Elder Dominguez asked each of us say one thing we are thankful for. The tears that had welled in my eyes initially never completely went away so I embarrassed myself as I was so emotional explaining what I was grateful for. I said I was grateful to be here in Santiago. I said I was grateful to know that there is a reason I am moving here even when I don't know what it is. I truly believe that one day I will know why we came here and I'll know we had a purpose here even when I don't know what that is at this moment!
After family home evening, we had a traditional Dominican Sandwich called rikitati for dinner. It was yummy and seemed like something I could make for us as a novice cook. As Elder Dominguez made my sandwich and served it to me; this is when he told me I should write in my diary that a General Authority served me dinner! I feel silly writing it because he's still a person like the rest of us but since he made the joke, I'm writing it down.
I'm so grateful to have met this family because they said that we can call on them any time in our new transition. I really liked his wife and she said I am welcome to come over and practice my Spanish and she can practice her English. (By the way, my speaking is coming along quite nicely if I'd say so myself but understanding others is still pretty hard. It's funny because before I came here I thought I could understand more than I could speak but it is clearly the other way around!) The Dominguez son was also a polite teenage guy who swims for the Dominican national team and is planning to swim in the olympics in Brazil! Their other two children are out serving missions. They taught us lots of things about the church here like there being 3 stakes in Santiago and how long it takes to get to the temple and things like that. It was truly a beautiful evening and just as I learned in family home evening, I am grateful!
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