Alright, so i got permission to write today really fast to say that no, I cannot buy stuff for a 72 hour kit here. There just arent stores that sell stuff like that here. If its a need, than it would indeed be awesome if you guys could send me the stuff.
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Monday, December 28, 2015
28 December 2015 - Villa Hermosa (La Romana)
Activities!
Christmas!
Birthday!
Baptism!
Transfers!
What a week! Well, to start of, we had a great activity the 24th in the capital. That was pretty sweet. Lots of spirit, lots of laughs. Loved it. Christmas was also great with presents and skype and lots of food. We may have had serious bathroom problems the day after because all the food was from the members, but it was good! And free! The morning of the 26th, we passed a guy who was so drunk (this was at about 10 in the morning mind you) that he was just literally lying in the gutter, laughing and talking to himself. But Birthday! woo! We went to Jade teriyaki for lunch and ate food that wasnt rice and beans. Then, most importantly, BAPTISM! Estrella is the grandaughter of Tomasa, our investigator and spends alot of time with her. She actually lives in Higuay, but she wanted me to baptize her here! Also has lots of family in the church and is very active in the activities. She is 12 years old and just awesome. What an experience. I didnt even mess up on the translation! woo! Afterward we all went to Burger King where Elder Breshears bought me food. Yay!
Alright, transfers! So Elder Solis died (went home) and I am getting a new comp named Elder Gerera or something like that. He is from Guatemala, short fat and talks really fast. Its gonna be an interesting transfer. haha. He was with me in Villa Mella, but he was with Elder Castro who was also very short and talked very fast. We called them, The Minions. Were also getting a new ZL, Elder Blaunt. Hes an american and Ive heard lots of stories about him. Anyway, that was the week! Love you all! God is Good, Jehovah is my sheopard and 100 other Dominican favorites, bye!
Christmas!
Birthday!
Baptism!
Transfers!
What a week! Well, to start of, we had a great activity the 24th in the capital. That was pretty sweet. Lots of spirit, lots of laughs. Loved it. Christmas was also great with presents and skype and lots of food. We may have had serious bathroom problems the day after because all the food was from the members, but it was good! And free! The morning of the 26th, we passed a guy who was so drunk (this was at about 10 in the morning mind you) that he was just literally lying in the gutter, laughing and talking to himself. But Birthday! woo! We went to Jade teriyaki for lunch and ate food that wasnt rice and beans. Then, most importantly, BAPTISM! Estrella is the grandaughter of Tomasa, our investigator and spends alot of time with her. She actually lives in Higuay, but she wanted me to baptize her here! Also has lots of family in the church and is very active in the activities. She is 12 years old and just awesome. What an experience. I didnt even mess up on the translation! woo! Afterward we all went to Burger King where Elder Breshears bought me food. Yay!
Alright, transfers! So Elder Solis died (went home) and I am getting a new comp named Elder Gerera or something like that. He is from Guatemala, short fat and talks really fast. Its gonna be an interesting transfer. haha. He was with me in Villa Mella, but he was with Elder Castro who was also very short and talked very fast. We called them, The Minions. Were also getting a new ZL, Elder Blaunt. Hes an american and Ive heard lots of stories about him. Anyway, that was the week! Love you all! God is Good, Jehovah is my sheopard and 100 other Dominican favorites, bye!
Zone activity! We played water balloon toss over the volleyball net and soccer. The losers had to get water dumped all over them. We won.
And the 24th activity! we sang and did missionary skits. (ours were the best.)
(Missing picture for now.)
1st. Just some good friends.
2nd. Reunited and it feels so good! All the guys from my group back together again.
Christmas!
Mom...what is this?
Yay!!!! Best cookies ever.
My gifts!
The district!
The dead speak!
Final Zone pic.
Lunch at Jade Teriyaki for my birthday! and...whats that? Is that Football in the background? Dont worry, we didnt watch it.
BAPTISM!!!
Estrella and I!
Monday, December 21, 2015
21 December 2016 - Villa Hermosa (La Romana)
(Response to Dad's e-mail in which we report we are having lots of snow, and I realize Dad expected me to tell Christian about using Google Hangouts for the Christmas call. We'll sort it out during the call I guess.)
Ha!! Snow. we got highs in the 90s this week. We are cookin! No i didnt get anything from Dave so I have know idea what were trying to do. haha I dont have time for anything today cus we got back really late from Higuay, but I love you! I havent gotten packages or card, but well see thursday when we go to the capitol. Hopefully its there. I know what you mean! THe year FLEW by. Especially here as a missionary. Its also weird because... there are no seasons here so everyday just feels the same. haha. Love you dad! cant wait for Friday. 3! Remember, its my time!
(General e-mail. Also, for those of you living under a rock, "Feliz Navidad" is Spanish for "Happy Christmas", and "Jo jo jo" is Spanish for "Ho ho ho".)
JO JO JO!!! FELIZ NAVIDAD! So I dont have time to write much of a letter or send Pictures, but next week will be much better! We have a special Mission activity in the capitol Christmas Eve with lots of fun stuff, so were all pretty excited. Today, we all went to Higuay for a zone activity. We played futbol and volley ball with water balloons. Twas great. Love you all!
Ha!! Snow. we got highs in the 90s this week. We are cookin! No i didnt get anything from Dave so I have know idea what were trying to do. haha I dont have time for anything today cus we got back really late from Higuay, but I love you! I havent gotten packages or card, but well see thursday when we go to the capitol. Hopefully its there. I know what you mean! THe year FLEW by. Especially here as a missionary. Its also weird because... there are no seasons here so everyday just feels the same. haha. Love you dad! cant wait for Friday. 3! Remember, its my time!
(General e-mail. Also, for those of you living under a rock, "Feliz Navidad" is Spanish for "Happy Christmas", and "Jo jo jo" is Spanish for "Ho ho ho".)
JO JO JO!!! FELIZ NAVIDAD! So I dont have time to write much of a letter or send Pictures, but next week will be much better! We have a special Mission activity in the capitol Christmas Eve with lots of fun stuff, so were all pretty excited. Today, we all went to Higuay for a zone activity. We played futbol and volley ball with water balloons. Twas great. Love you all!
Monday, December 14, 2015
14 December 2015 - Villa Hermosa (La Romana)
(Response to Dad's e-mail. As background, we're going to see Star Wars on Friday, Mom had some oral surgery done, Jessica unfortunately won't be joining us for Christmas, Christmas calls are coming up, and Dad asked for more details about Christian's daily life, especially P-Day)
DAD!!!! Dont even talk to me about Star Wars right now!!! Gah! Its on every cereal box! Just tell me how amazing it is after you see it. So much nerd hype. Anway, thats kind of scary with mom! Eesh! I hope everythings ok with that! As for you questions, Pday is very lame usually. We clean the house and try to think of stuff to do. They just opened a new mall thats pretty close, but theres nothing to do there. Usually we just sleep, play uno with zone leaders, or have zone activities. Those are pretty fun. Cultural events consist of baseball games and....well...thats it, and those arent on monday. We dont have alot of members in our area, but we do spend a fair bit of time with them. Thats always fun. My district is a companionship of sisters and the zone leaders. We meet weekly, have a little time together as a zone, then split into districts to share themes and talk about our investigators. Im almost positive ive explained this to you guys before... oh well. We dont role play much, and honestly I dont think APIC helped much. It was almost nothing like mission life and in english. Yes EVERYONE attends church. If you dont, its because theres something wrong with you or you cant. The majority of the population reminds me of the Pharisees and Saducees. Jesus is everywhere and they always talk about how here is there whole life and love him eternally, then go home from church and drink themselves silly and violate the law of chastity with anyone they can. With their lips, they honor me, but their hearts are far from me. Christmas sounds great, but the news about Jes is a bumber. Ive been praying really hard for her. I realized last week that the way she is living is literally against the nature of happiness, like Alma taught Corianton. (I think its corianton...) She could be so much happier and more content in the gospel. Every day I pray that we may know how we can help her. Ok, call plans! So i do have to stay in all day, but will use the laptop of our bishop who lives right above us. I can call really whenever, but lets plan on about3 oclock my time. Im not sure what time that is there, but tell me if you have anyother plans! It will be on skype. Anyway. Love you dad! Have a great week!
(General e-mail)
Woo! Christmas! Its so close! Thats crazy!! And the people here are definately showing it. Alot less sleep and alot more drinking. Sigh. BUT, this week was good. We recieved some references from our investigators and had some great lessons as always. We also had the pleasure of going to the temple and that was AMAZING also as always. Its still a bit hard in spanish, but i scrape by. Lucrezia was in church on sunday and.....Maria! Her daughter! She is the mom of Yaritza and has been very against going to church. She loves us, but doesnt believe we have the truth blah blah blah. Anyway, she came to church this week and loved it! Now if only we could get her to stay for the whole thing. Berto, the husband of carmen, is having drinking problems, but is trying to leave it. Unfortunately, his adult sons keep dropping by to have a good time with dad. Dern Tigres. We also had to drop more baptismal dates because the silly folks just wont come to church! Grr!! But, love them all, of course.
We also had another encounter with Angela, the crazy Italian lady. She apparently thinks were totally awesome, but gave another hour and half long rant about how the DR is TERRIBLE. The funny thing is that everything she says is true, it just doesnt bother me as much. Plus, im serving the people, so that helps. I told her that my parents had lived in Italy for a while and she got so excited and was asking me about the cities and what id seen. We talked for a long time about Gubbio (however you spell that) and Venice. She is from Bassano del Grappa. Always a pleasure to talk with her. Shes fascinating. So...yeah. That was my week! Love you all and if yall need more specifics about stuff, just tell what i need to be talking about. :P
DAD!!!! Dont even talk to me about Star Wars right now!!! Gah! Its on every cereal box! Just tell me how amazing it is after you see it. So much nerd hype. Anway, thats kind of scary with mom! Eesh! I hope everythings ok with that! As for you questions, Pday is very lame usually. We clean the house and try to think of stuff to do. They just opened a new mall thats pretty close, but theres nothing to do there. Usually we just sleep, play uno with zone leaders, or have zone activities. Those are pretty fun. Cultural events consist of baseball games and....well...thats it, and those arent on monday. We dont have alot of members in our area, but we do spend a fair bit of time with them. Thats always fun. My district is a companionship of sisters and the zone leaders. We meet weekly, have a little time together as a zone, then split into districts to share themes and talk about our investigators. Im almost positive ive explained this to you guys before... oh well. We dont role play much, and honestly I dont think APIC helped much. It was almost nothing like mission life and in english. Yes EVERYONE attends church. If you dont, its because theres something wrong with you or you cant. The majority of the population reminds me of the Pharisees and Saducees. Jesus is everywhere and they always talk about how here is there whole life and love him eternally, then go home from church and drink themselves silly and violate the law of chastity with anyone they can. With their lips, they honor me, but their hearts are far from me. Christmas sounds great, but the news about Jes is a bumber. Ive been praying really hard for her. I realized last week that the way she is living is literally against the nature of happiness, like Alma taught Corianton. (I think its corianton...) She could be so much happier and more content in the gospel. Every day I pray that we may know how we can help her. Ok, call plans! So i do have to stay in all day, but will use the laptop of our bishop who lives right above us. I can call really whenever, but lets plan on about3 oclock my time. Im not sure what time that is there, but tell me if you have anyother plans! It will be on skype. Anyway. Love you dad! Have a great week!
(General e-mail)
Woo! Christmas! Its so close! Thats crazy!! And the people here are definately showing it. Alot less sleep and alot more drinking. Sigh. BUT, this week was good. We recieved some references from our investigators and had some great lessons as always. We also had the pleasure of going to the temple and that was AMAZING also as always. Its still a bit hard in spanish, but i scrape by. Lucrezia was in church on sunday and.....Maria! Her daughter! She is the mom of Yaritza and has been very against going to church. She loves us, but doesnt believe we have the truth blah blah blah. Anyway, she came to church this week and loved it! Now if only we could get her to stay for the whole thing. Berto, the husband of carmen, is having drinking problems, but is trying to leave it. Unfortunately, his adult sons keep dropping by to have a good time with dad. Dern Tigres. We also had to drop more baptismal dates because the silly folks just wont come to church! Grr!! But, love them all, of course.
We also had another encounter with Angela, the crazy Italian lady. She apparently thinks were totally awesome, but gave another hour and half long rant about how the DR is TERRIBLE. The funny thing is that everything she says is true, it just doesnt bother me as much. Plus, im serving the people, so that helps. I told her that my parents had lived in Italy for a while and she got so excited and was asking me about the cities and what id seen. We talked for a long time about Gubbio (however you spell that) and Venice. She is from Bassano del Grappa. Always a pleasure to talk with her. Shes fascinating. So...yeah. That was my week! Love you all and if yall need more specifics about stuff, just tell what i need to be talking about. :P
 |
| I found this... Someone must tell me how it is. |
 |
| Temple! |
Thursday, December 10, 2015
Witnessing the Hand of the Lord in the Dominican Republic
In conjunction with the celebrations surrounding the anniversary of the dedication of the Dominican Republic for the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released this video. It's in Spanish, but I hope you will feel of the powerful Spirit it brings regardless.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry2sxGB3PLM
Monday, December 7, 2015
7 December 2015 - Villa Hermosa (La Romana)
(Response to Dad's e-mail. Note, Dad told Christian about the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, London, and California, and advised him always to be in "code yellow", a Front Sight term. Also Christian is receiving a new debit card to replace the one he doesn't have the PIN for. And finally, Dad is getting a new stem-cell treatment for his knees.)
Wow the world is ending. haha Dont worry dad, Im always in code yellow. You have no idea how many times I wish I had my gun on me. Weve been followed a few times and this one time I almost punched a guy right in the face cus he popped out of nowhere in the middle of the night. Thanks for the new card! I know its better to use as a Credit card, but you can only use that in the big grocery stores. All the store here are tiny little things called comalo that are on every street corner. Even the fast food places use cash. Cards are just non existent here. Good luck with your knees!...again! haha Love you dad!
(General e-mail)
Alright friends and family...so...I have 6 months now. Isnt that crazy?! I got a burn a tie! (missionary tradition). I dont have a time to write today so Ill be brief. 2 of our Bap. Dates fell cus we didnt have anyone in the church, our investigators are still awesome though. Tomorrow we are going to the temple!!!! So pumped! We recieved instructions about Christmas too. We have to stay in the house because all the crazy stuff that happens in the street. Love you all! I love the work and the area is great.
Wow the world is ending. haha Dont worry dad, Im always in code yellow. You have no idea how many times I wish I had my gun on me. Weve been followed a few times and this one time I almost punched a guy right in the face cus he popped out of nowhere in the middle of the night. Thanks for the new card! I know its better to use as a Credit card, but you can only use that in the big grocery stores. All the store here are tiny little things called comalo that are on every street corner. Even the fast food places use cash. Cards are just non existent here. Good luck with your knees!...again! haha Love you dad!
(General e-mail)
Alright friends and family...so...I have 6 months now. Isnt that crazy?! I got a burn a tie! (missionary tradition). I dont have a time to write today so Ill be brief. 2 of our Bap. Dates fell cus we didnt have anyone in the church, our investigators are still awesome though. Tomorrow we are going to the temple!!!! So pumped! We recieved instructions about Christmas too. We have to stay in the house because all the crazy stuff that happens in the street. Love you all! I love the work and the area is great.
Monday, November 30, 2015
30 November 2015 - Villa Hermosa (La Romana)
(NOTE: This is basically a reply to Dad's e-mail to Christian, in which he helps Christian better understand the doctrines he touched on in last week's e-mail. I also sent some clarifications according to my own understanding. If you would like a copy of the e-mails Dad and I sent him, please let me know, and I will send them to you directly: david.frogley@gmail.com. Reading through those two e-mails probably took all of Christian's time, which is why the e-mail is so short. Sorry 'bout that.)
Alright, so that makes alot more sense. Haha thanks for the Counsel Dad and David! How cool! I do enjoy deep doctrine, but youre right. We need to be careful as we cannot recieve revelation on this scale and thus are relying on our own interpretation and knowledge which is a big no no.
Alright, so your visit to grandmas sounds totally amazing. I wanna see this crazy factory of planes and amazingness. But...a memorable thanksgiving Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha no. We did absolutely nothing except write Happy Thanksgiving on a chalk board and joke about how the still call it Black Friday here and not Viernes Negro. Man, Trevor is almost home...how weird.
Im almost out of time, but I love you and I hope you have a great week!
(General e-mail to everyone):
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone (a little late, but shhh)!! I hope it was great for everyone and that you all ate lots of mashed potatoes for me. :) So this past week was hard. We had a lot of appointments fall, no investigators in church and weve lost contact with Carmen and her family. BUT, were going to visit them today, so hopefully theyre still pumped for baptism. We did learn however, that part of the reason they didnt want to come to church was that our gospel principles teacher (who is also our ward mission leader) called them out in front of the whole class as being fornicators. My companion and I almost strangled him. We did have some really great lessons though and managed to find a few more investigators to teach. Were placin Copies of the Book of Mormon (; Like crazy! We just hope that theyre actually being read.
Hector has started reading again, but not just the BoM. He is reading together with the Bible, looking up all the footnotes and stuff! Woo! He has a daughter who served a mission, and is anxious to attend church and prepare for baptsim. Unfortunately, he has a lot of work and cant always attend or has to cancel our appointments. But he will be baptized, just in time. Hes great.
Well I dont have lots of time today, but I love you all and I hope this week is great for everyone!
Alright, so that makes alot more sense. Haha thanks for the Counsel Dad and David! How cool! I do enjoy deep doctrine, but youre right. We need to be careful as we cannot recieve revelation on this scale and thus are relying on our own interpretation and knowledge which is a big no no.
Alright, so your visit to grandmas sounds totally amazing. I wanna see this crazy factory of planes and amazingness. But...a memorable thanksgiving Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha no. We did absolutely nothing except write Happy Thanksgiving on a chalk board and joke about how the still call it Black Friday here and not Viernes Negro. Man, Trevor is almost home...how weird.
Im almost out of time, but I love you and I hope you have a great week!
(General e-mail to everyone):
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone (a little late, but shhh)!! I hope it was great for everyone and that you all ate lots of mashed potatoes for me. :) So this past week was hard. We had a lot of appointments fall, no investigators in church and weve lost contact with Carmen and her family. BUT, were going to visit them today, so hopefully theyre still pumped for baptism. We did learn however, that part of the reason they didnt want to come to church was that our gospel principles teacher (who is also our ward mission leader) called them out in front of the whole class as being fornicators. My companion and I almost strangled him. We did have some really great lessons though and managed to find a few more investigators to teach. Were placin Copies of the Book of Mormon (; Like crazy! We just hope that theyre actually being read.
Hector has started reading again, but not just the BoM. He is reading together with the Bible, looking up all the footnotes and stuff! Woo! He has a daughter who served a mission, and is anxious to attend church and prepare for baptsim. Unfortunately, he has a lot of work and cant always attend or has to cancel our appointments. But he will be baptized, just in time. Hes great.
Well I dont have lots of time today, but I love you all and I hope this week is great for everyone!
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
23 November 2015 - Villa Hermosa (La Romana)
Woo! Pday already. How whack. Anyway, this week was awesome and also frustrating. Awesome becuase wednesday we had a special meeting with all the district leaders and president and talked about how we can improve the mission. Then, on Friday I did my first baptismal interview! That was a very special experience. The young woman, Anna, is super ready. The spirit was very strong and shes getting baptized on saturday! We also have 9 baptismal dates for the 26th of Dec now, and We are PUMPED! Now it was frustrating because Ive been sick since last tuesday. Thats what I get for forgetting to take my Triguard for a few days. All good now, but it was rough. Being a District Leader is great! Its really not that much different, except I take phone calls every night and lead District meeting. Also, the only missionaries in my district are the zone leaders and 2 sisters, so I dont have to take down numbers or anything. They call my position a "Relief Society President". Im pretty much here to give blessings when the Sisters need it. Oh well. Still awesome. :) And now, story time!
So last monday, we were in a lesson with an old lady named Margarita. Shes great, but we had just finished the first vision, when this other lady, Angela walks in. As soon as she saw us she said "oh no, I dont want any part of this. Not of your message or your religion." She is From Italy, but has lived here for over 20 years. Anyway, from there she went off on and hour and half long rant about how God doesnt exist because shes never seen him, how terrible the DR is, how all the people here are complete imbeciles, how terrible all the politics are, how religion in general is terrible because of all the hypocrisy and yada yada. What was really funny was that she got up to leave about 6 different times, but then, when she was in the doorway, she would turn back and start ranting again. Also, the entire time she was doing the Italian Hand shaky thing. Where you put all your fingers and thumb together in a point and shake it to accentuate you words. It was hard not to laugh, but we managed. But then the next time we saw here, she greeted us, real friendly like, and said how great and handsome we were. Oh people. Theyre funny. Anyway, thats that. Love you all! and happy thanksgiving here pretty soon!
(Response to Dad's e-mail, with some... interesting... interpretations of various teachings...)
YUS! More packages. I love my parents. hahahaha Wow Dad, just talking about cold...and snow....erg. Haha but yeah, first week...well was kinda stinky. My district is awesome, but our numbers were down the toilet with lots of random meetings, baptismal interviews and my companion taking like two hours to get ready. But this week will be great! We have a mission tour on wednesday and President Cornish (the 70) is coming to talk to us! Woo!
To close I would also like to share a few fun bits of profound doctrine that I found this week. So the different degrees of glory are actually planets. I was reading the 2nd facsimile in abraham and it talks about all these different planets around Kolob. Well if Kolob is heaven and the center, then it would be the sun right? The other planets receive and reflect light from Kolob, like the brightness of the moon!
Also, did you know that God is not the literal Father of our spirits? Joseph Smith taught that God never had that power or authority because we have always existed. Our Father is like an adopted one and created our bodies and will be the one to perfect them. So thats cool. Also, Heavenly Father, is a title. Amulek taught that Jesus Christ is our Heavenly Father. He is our Father too, because through him, we are born again. Yay Doctrine! haha Love you Dad! Hope your week is totally awesome!
(Pictures)
My dope salad. It was great.
And The legos...I almost cried for joy. All the other missionaries were jealous. hahhaha LOVED it.
So last monday, we were in a lesson with an old lady named Margarita. Shes great, but we had just finished the first vision, when this other lady, Angela walks in. As soon as she saw us she said "oh no, I dont want any part of this. Not of your message or your religion." She is From Italy, but has lived here for over 20 years. Anyway, from there she went off on and hour and half long rant about how God doesnt exist because shes never seen him, how terrible the DR is, how all the people here are complete imbeciles, how terrible all the politics are, how religion in general is terrible because of all the hypocrisy and yada yada. What was really funny was that she got up to leave about 6 different times, but then, when she was in the doorway, she would turn back and start ranting again. Also, the entire time she was doing the Italian Hand shaky thing. Where you put all your fingers and thumb together in a point and shake it to accentuate you words. It was hard not to laugh, but we managed. But then the next time we saw here, she greeted us, real friendly like, and said how great and handsome we were. Oh people. Theyre funny. Anyway, thats that. Love you all! and happy thanksgiving here pretty soon!
(Response to Dad's e-mail, with some... interesting... interpretations of various teachings...)
YUS! More packages. I love my parents. hahahaha Wow Dad, just talking about cold...and snow....erg. Haha but yeah, first week...well was kinda stinky. My district is awesome, but our numbers were down the toilet with lots of random meetings, baptismal interviews and my companion taking like two hours to get ready. But this week will be great! We have a mission tour on wednesday and President Cornish (the 70) is coming to talk to us! Woo!
To close I would also like to share a few fun bits of profound doctrine that I found this week. So the different degrees of glory are actually planets. I was reading the 2nd facsimile in abraham and it talks about all these different planets around Kolob. Well if Kolob is heaven and the center, then it would be the sun right? The other planets receive and reflect light from Kolob, like the brightness of the moon!
Also, did you know that God is not the literal Father of our spirits? Joseph Smith taught that God never had that power or authority because we have always existed. Our Father is like an adopted one and created our bodies and will be the one to perfect them. So thats cool. Also, Heavenly Father, is a title. Amulek taught that Jesus Christ is our Heavenly Father. He is our Father too, because through him, we are born again. Yay Doctrine! haha Love you Dad! Hope your week is totally awesome!
(Pictures)
My dope salad. It was great.
And The legos...I almost cried for joy. All the other missionaries were jealous. hahhaha LOVED it.
Monday, November 16, 2015
16 November 2015 - Villa Hermosa (La Romana)
It Came!!!!!! My Package from the RS came!!!!!! Some how, for the grace of God. :D
So its been decided that I have the Coolest Sociedad de Socorro en el mundo [Relief Society in the world]. My package, that I thought for sure had been lost forever finally came this week, and It was amazing. So that was awesome. Also...transfers!....again!!! haha dont worry, nothing is happening. Elder Solis and I and almost the whole zone is staying put. However, on that note I do have news....Elder Solis was released and District Leader and a new one was called, and he is currently writing this letter. I beith the new DL!! What?! Haha So many thanks to Heavenly Father for entrusting me with this part of the flock. Now, for the week. We found some great new families, one of which read the Restoration pamphlet twice before our next visit! Awesome! We also put baptismal dates with Tomasa, Yohkira, Yariza, Lucrezia and The Family of Carmen for the 26th of December. Yes, we will have a "White Night" on my birthday. I couldnt ask for a better present! Tonight were going to have a Family Home Evening with a member family, and make Hot Dogs! Woo America! Also, Wednesday, I have to take a bus to the Capitol for a special leader training meeting. I am pumped for this next transfer! It will be amazing! Aside from that, things are normal. Lots of walking....and walking........and walking in the very hot sun, but hey. Now Im blondish and super tan, so I aint complainin. I have also officially reached 150 pounds! And they said this wasnt the mission to gain weight. Ha! Showed them.
A quick note from my personal study. I think its in Moroni 9:6. We have a work to do while in this tabernacle of clay. Not just the missionaries, but everyone. We all have a purpose and a work to do in the eternal plan of our Father in Heaven. Many dont recognize this and are lost in their lives, seeking to do exactly what they want. Little do they know that in order to find true happiness and contentment in this life, we must first let go of our wishes and desires and align our wills with that of God. The ways of men are vastly inferior to The Supreme Creator and our pleasures are nothing to the Eternal Joy that our Father offers. I hope you all try to find your purpose in this life and strive for true happiness in His plan. Love you all!
So its been decided that I have the Coolest Sociedad de Socorro en el mundo [Relief Society in the world]. My package, that I thought for sure had been lost forever finally came this week, and It was amazing. So that was awesome. Also...transfers!....again!!! haha dont worry, nothing is happening. Elder Solis and I and almost the whole zone is staying put. However, on that note I do have news....Elder Solis was released and District Leader and a new one was called, and he is currently writing this letter. I beith the new DL!! What?! Haha So many thanks to Heavenly Father for entrusting me with this part of the flock. Now, for the week. We found some great new families, one of which read the Restoration pamphlet twice before our next visit! Awesome! We also put baptismal dates with Tomasa, Yohkira, Yariza, Lucrezia and The Family of Carmen for the 26th of December. Yes, we will have a "White Night" on my birthday. I couldnt ask for a better present! Tonight were going to have a Family Home Evening with a member family, and make Hot Dogs! Woo America! Also, Wednesday, I have to take a bus to the Capitol for a special leader training meeting. I am pumped for this next transfer! It will be amazing! Aside from that, things are normal. Lots of walking....and walking........and walking in the very hot sun, but hey. Now Im blondish and super tan, so I aint complainin. I have also officially reached 150 pounds! And they said this wasnt the mission to gain weight. Ha! Showed them.
A quick note from my personal study. I think its in Moroni 9:6. We have a work to do while in this tabernacle of clay. Not just the missionaries, but everyone. We all have a purpose and a work to do in the eternal plan of our Father in Heaven. Many dont recognize this and are lost in their lives, seeking to do exactly what they want. Little do they know that in order to find true happiness and contentment in this life, we must first let go of our wishes and desires and align our wills with that of God. The ways of men are vastly inferior to The Supreme Creator and our pleasures are nothing to the Eternal Joy that our Father offers. I hope you all try to find your purpose in this life and strive for true happiness in His plan. Love you all!
Monday, November 9, 2015
9 November 2015 - Villa Hermosa (La Romana)
(E-mail to Dad)
Make Dad cry, Check. ;) Joking, but thank you dad. That means alot. Im glad you had a great week! Ill put more in the big letter, cus alot happened, but that sounds awesome out with Dave! I wish Id done more stuff like that before I left. I love you Dad and I also have a challenge for the family. Some of the biggest singers here are really actually terrible. I want you guys to listen to La Maiz by El Meyor and any song my Romeo Santos. Dont watch the videos though. You could also look up Den Bo. This is what I am forced to listen to all day, every day. Anyway, Love you!
(General e-mail)
Alright, gotta write, gotta write fast. ALot of weird things happened this week! We had an intercambio with the super zone leaders and that was fun, but we had to spend 2 hours in a bus there and back. Also, saturday was International Service Day and we had an all day long service project! We had tons of Doctors come to the stake center and we had a free medical service day. We had tons of people come. Unfortunately, we as missionaries were pretty much there to sit around and be a presence. We werent allowed to proselyte at all and the members would just tell us to sit down and ask people if they had their ticket. Really boring and kind of a waste of time, but I guess some one wanted us there. Thursday we had our zone meeting in Sabo. We had to take a bus (with no air) out to the fields. While we were there, we visited some of Elder Solis converts and that was cool and pretty funny. But the way back is the real story. We had to go to Alto Meyor again for an interview, and by the time we were heading back to our area it was like 7. We were in another bus when we stopped to pick up some people who were in a large group on the side of the road. As soon as the doors opened this guy sprinted on and sat down. The crowd started shouting and one guy started like attacking the bus. Apparently this automobile assassin wanted to kill the man who first came on the bus. He had his machete out and everything. The door man of the bus had to force the door shut and we drove away pretty fast with crazy machete guy still following. Fun stuff, fun stuff. Thats it for this week really except that weve had tons of rain! Love you all!
Last zone picture! and the last one was the Iowa of the DR.
THis is Sabo. El Campo.
Service!...Yeah!
Make Dad cry, Check. ;) Joking, but thank you dad. That means alot. Im glad you had a great week! Ill put more in the big letter, cus alot happened, but that sounds awesome out with Dave! I wish Id done more stuff like that before I left. I love you Dad and I also have a challenge for the family. Some of the biggest singers here are really actually terrible. I want you guys to listen to La Maiz by El Meyor and any song my Romeo Santos. Dont watch the videos though. You could also look up Den Bo. This is what I am forced to listen to all day, every day. Anyway, Love you!
(General e-mail)
Alright, gotta write, gotta write fast. ALot of weird things happened this week! We had an intercambio with the super zone leaders and that was fun, but we had to spend 2 hours in a bus there and back. Also, saturday was International Service Day and we had an all day long service project! We had tons of Doctors come to the stake center and we had a free medical service day. We had tons of people come. Unfortunately, we as missionaries were pretty much there to sit around and be a presence. We werent allowed to proselyte at all and the members would just tell us to sit down and ask people if they had their ticket. Really boring and kind of a waste of time, but I guess some one wanted us there. Thursday we had our zone meeting in Sabo. We had to take a bus (with no air) out to the fields. While we were there, we visited some of Elder Solis converts and that was cool and pretty funny. But the way back is the real story. We had to go to Alto Meyor again for an interview, and by the time we were heading back to our area it was like 7. We were in another bus when we stopped to pick up some people who were in a large group on the side of the road. As soon as the doors opened this guy sprinted on and sat down. The crowd started shouting and one guy started like attacking the bus. Apparently this automobile assassin wanted to kill the man who first came on the bus. He had his machete out and everything. The door man of the bus had to force the door shut and we drove away pretty fast with crazy machete guy still following. Fun stuff, fun stuff. Thats it for this week really except that weve had tons of rain! Love you all!
Last zone picture! and the last one was the Iowa of the DR.
THis is Sabo. El Campo.
Service!...Yeah!
Monday, November 2, 2015
2 November 2015 - Villa Hermosa (La Romana)
Happy Halloween Everyone! A little late, but whatever. Anyway, this week was swell! Well...in some ways. We didnt really make alot of progress with our investigators, but we found some new families to teach! We had a really great lesson with Yasmin, who we met a few weeks ago. She is enormous and as a result has been in and out of the hospital these past 2 weeks. We started off just talking and her mom gave us this weird drink thats made from a boiled river root. It tasted kind of like a foot. BUT Yasmin had alot of questions about the church and was really interested in learning more. She said that she had to stay in bed for like 2 weeks but that she would read the pamphlet because she loves to read. My companion gave me the "should we leave her a Book of Mormon" look and I nodded. So we explained what the BoM is and left here with it. She was fascinated and promised to read. Tonight we have a Noche de Hogar (Whats that in english again? The thing on Mondays?) with our Stake relief society president and her family. My comp is a little bumbed because he just started a diet and were eating lots of taters and cheese.
Alright, change of topic really quick, Im gonna blow my moms mind. So out our local Jumbo (AKA murica store) I found Romaine lettuce, Feta cheese, Balsamic vinegar and Olive oil and...wait for it... Proscuitto!!! What???? YUS! Im gonna make a dope salad when I have money again. Thats pretty much it for this week, except that its been raining alot. OH! I just remembered! It got "cold" last night. All the Dominicans and older missionaries were bustin out the sweaters and blankets. It got down to like 60 something. I loved it, but everyone else was shivering. Alright, now thats it. Love you all!
(E-mail to Dad)
Alright Dad. Sorry I didnt write specifically to you last week, but I had very limited time. You letter made me cry. Its true, we have clashed sometimes and had our disagreements. I actually grew up convinced that you loved Ian alot more than me because you always seemed to be happier with what he did and pay more attention to him. I know now thats all rubbish, but Im sorry for all those times that I didnt appreciate you and your council. You taught me to work hard and enjoy it. To seek for the fruits of my labors and to do hard things. This week I realized that everything good that I am came from you guys. People always tell me Im a swell young man and that I have manners etc etc, but I realized fully this week that all of that is from the teachings of my parents. Without you guys, I wouldnt be half the man I am today. I see the parenting here and the struggles of the children and all the bad choices that are made and it just makes me so incredibly grateful that I had such an amazing and supportive family. I can honestly say with all my heart that I have the best parents in the world. I love you both so much. :)
Happy Halloween! People dont actually celebrate it here, so I just bought some candy.
And guess what I found in our murica store! Im set for La Navidad!
Look! I got my first mail!
Zone activity! Happy Days! We played basketball and volleyball and had an eating contest. We had to eat a cake and down a soda with our companions being our hands. I won.
Alright, change of topic really quick, Im gonna blow my moms mind. So out our local Jumbo (AKA murica store) I found Romaine lettuce, Feta cheese, Balsamic vinegar and Olive oil and...wait for it... Proscuitto!!! What???? YUS! Im gonna make a dope salad when I have money again. Thats pretty much it for this week, except that its been raining alot. OH! I just remembered! It got "cold" last night. All the Dominicans and older missionaries were bustin out the sweaters and blankets. It got down to like 60 something. I loved it, but everyone else was shivering. Alright, now thats it. Love you all!
(E-mail to Dad)
Alright Dad. Sorry I didnt write specifically to you last week, but I had very limited time. You letter made me cry. Its true, we have clashed sometimes and had our disagreements. I actually grew up convinced that you loved Ian alot more than me because you always seemed to be happier with what he did and pay more attention to him. I know now thats all rubbish, but Im sorry for all those times that I didnt appreciate you and your council. You taught me to work hard and enjoy it. To seek for the fruits of my labors and to do hard things. This week I realized that everything good that I am came from you guys. People always tell me Im a swell young man and that I have manners etc etc, but I realized fully this week that all of that is from the teachings of my parents. Without you guys, I wouldnt be half the man I am today. I see the parenting here and the struggles of the children and all the bad choices that are made and it just makes me so incredibly grateful that I had such an amazing and supportive family. I can honestly say with all my heart that I have the best parents in the world. I love you both so much. :)
Happy Halloween! People dont actually celebrate it here, so I just bought some candy.
And guess what I found in our murica store! Im set for La Navidad!
Look! I got my first mail!
Zone activity! Happy Days! We played basketball and volleyball and had an eating contest. We had to eat a cake and down a soda with our companions being our hands. I won.
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
26 October 2015 - Villa Hermosa (La Romana)
Woo! Another week! And what a week! More families and great lessons. I didnt have time to write yesterday because we were in the capitol all day for my comps medical stuff, but we got special permission to write today! Hurray! But this wont be super long. We had to investigators in church on sunday: Nikouri and Yorisa. Yorisa is awesome. She practically memorized the pamphlet and is praying for the truth. She said that she can feel the peace and power of the spirit during her prayers and at church. Were planning on putting a date with her fairly soon. Maybe this week or next, not sure. Nikouri is part of a bigger family, all of which wanted to come, but some had work or had to care for the sickly matriarch. Well see what happens with them. (Dave, Im sorry my punctuation is abismal, but this keyboard is terrible) We had some other good lessons and another family who wants to come to church this week. I dont have alot of time now, but thats pretty much it! Have a great week and I love you all!
Monday, October 19, 2015
19 October 2015 - Villa Hermosa (La Romana)
INVESTIGATORS! Yeah, we actually have them now! So really we have 11 new families to teach and some individuals, but lets just talk about progression. First, Tomasa and Yohkira. Mother and daughter, old investigators of the other pair of missionaries before the split. Tomasa is really just waiting for her back to heal so she can get baptized. We gave her a blessing last week and now she can walk with a walker! Shouldnt be too long until she can come to church! Next, the Pepen Jimenes family! This family was one of our first contacts and their great. THey love having us over and they´d promised they´d pray about Joseph Smith and the Gospel. We had a really great lesson with them. They werent at church though, which was kind of a bummer. And, Lucrezia. Really, we´re trying to teach her whole (very large) family, but Lucrezia is showing the most progress. She´s this old grandma whose best friend is a recent convert in the church. She told us that she knows that we bring the truth and the word of God, so we´ll see where that goes! I dont have tons of time today, but I love you all and I´ll write more next week!
(Answers to Dad's questions: What are you sleeping on? How are the bugs? Did you say your companion doesn't speak English? How often is zone conference? How often are interviews? What is the mission compliment?):
Ok, your questions first. We were sleeping on beds, we did have that. We have lots of working wonderful things in our house now. Bugs arent too bad. Alot better than my last house. Nope, my comp speaks almost no English, Zone conference is every thursday, interviews I have no idea, and what the heck is a mission compliment?? haha glad to hear everything is going well! The new office sounds awesome! I tried to download the pics...didnt work. so if you could just send me some hard copies of family pics and friends and I dont know what else, thatd be great. I did not get my package and PLEASE just send it in the mail, covered in crosses and Jesus stuff. Thanks Dad! Love you! :D
This is speculoos cookie butter. Its like Peanut butter, but with delicious belgian cookies instead of peanuts. All hail. Found this at our totally awesome and partially american grocery store.
Elder Solis and I got Ice Cream in La Parque De la Corona.
THe familia Amades and...Jefferson. Again. Silly Jefferson.
A stream of goodbye photos that I couldn´t send last week. This is our miracle contact, Carolan.
(Answers to Dad's questions: What are you sleeping on? How are the bugs? Did you say your companion doesn't speak English? How often is zone conference? How often are interviews? What is the mission compliment?):
Ok, your questions first. We were sleeping on beds, we did have that. We have lots of working wonderful things in our house now. Bugs arent too bad. Alot better than my last house. Nope, my comp speaks almost no English, Zone conference is every thursday, interviews I have no idea, and what the heck is a mission compliment?? haha glad to hear everything is going well! The new office sounds awesome! I tried to download the pics...didnt work. so if you could just send me some hard copies of family pics and friends and I dont know what else, thatd be great. I did not get my package and PLEASE just send it in the mail, covered in crosses and Jesus stuff. Thanks Dad! Love you! :D
This is speculoos cookie butter. Its like Peanut butter, but with delicious belgian cookies instead of peanuts. All hail. Found this at our totally awesome and partially american grocery store.
Elder Solis and I got Ice Cream in La Parque De la Corona.
THe familia Amades and...Jefferson. Again. Silly Jefferson.
A stream of goodbye photos that I couldn´t send last week. This is our miracle contact, Carolan.
Friday, October 16, 2015
16 Ocrober 2015 - Welcome Elder Frogley
Dear Brother and Sister Frogley,
We recently discovered that after a change in our office staff, the welcome letter and pictures were no longer being sent to parents when their son arrived in our mission. We apologize for this oversight. Attached, however, are the pictures we took on that special occasion. We love receiving, interviewing and training our new missionaries on transfer day.
We look forward to a deep and abiding association with your son. He will have many opportunities to teach, serve, lead and train as he obediently and diligently acts in the privileged capacity of a missionary in the Lord’s church.
We are grateful for the support you give to him. It is very important to his peace and emotional well being.
In our mission we strive for unity in developing the attributes of our Savior so that we may humbly represent Him and have His spirit. We look forward with an eye of faith as we follow President Nelson’s counsel to begin with the end in mind* for each missionary as well as for those they teach and serve.
Warmest regards,
President and Sister Ahmad S. Corbitt
Monday, October 12, 2015
12 October 2015 - Villa Hermosa (La Romana)
Ok. Time for The Big Letter. So transfers. My new area is called Villa Hermosa in La Romana. Its about 2 hours from the capitol so we rarely get mail. Its the biggest zone in the entire country because it covers almost the entire east side of the island. Our area is actually Villa Hermosa B because it just got split in half, but its still HUGE. We live right next to our zone leaders who are in VH A. Our house has been abandoned for quite a while and had accumulated a fair amount of dust by the time we arrived. Its also completely barren. Theres a problem with the electricity so we can only iron really early in the morning, the fridge doesnt work and we dont have a washing machine, toaster etc. We didnt even have fans the first night. I thought i was going to die. haha The worst part is that we cant even clean the house because we dont have cleaning stuff and are completely out of the monies to buy cleaning stuff! BUT the work is good. We found 7 new families to teach this week and did alot of other contacts. Alot of people, as soon as they see us, yell ¨No! I´m Catholic and we worship God plenty at my church!¨ That being said, there are alot of really swell people here. The bishop is awesome and very helpful. The ward is pretty awesome too. The stake has a whole has alot of life and excitement.
We had stake conference this weekend and it was awesome. Our chapel is the stake center and it has amazing air conditioning. I was COLD!! Alot of the missionaries actually brought sweaters, but I was lovin it. The talks were amazing and President Corbitt was even there to talk about the importance of ward missionary work. I´ll talk more about investigators and stuff next week...when...you know...we actually have some. haha
My companion, Elder Solis, is awesome. He´s from Salvador and he is hilarious! Always during contacts he has the people rolling. He´s very friendly and fun, but he is a bit dead. He only has 2 transfers left which means i´ll be killing my first companion here pretty soon. He´s a hard worker, but you can tell he´s got his sights set on home. The other day, a plane was flying over and he turned to me and said, ¨Elder, how far away do you think that plane is?¨
¨I don´t know,¨ I replied, ¨Maybe 10, 20 miles.¨
He got a big grin on his face and said,¨I´d say about three months¨
He´s a goof, but really awesome. He can cook like a boss though. He´s is a convert to the church, the only one in his family, and he has alot of opposition from home.
I´d like to send pictures...but I cant reach the USB port for this computer...Ahhhhhhh....
Anyway, this place is great, the work is swell, the people are awesome and I´m lovin it! Until Next week loved ones!
OH! And, our new stake mission leader apparently knows Justin! He served in Bolivia too and he´s trying to find a picture to see if its really Elder Thompson!
We had stake conference this weekend and it was awesome. Our chapel is the stake center and it has amazing air conditioning. I was COLD!! Alot of the missionaries actually brought sweaters, but I was lovin it. The talks were amazing and President Corbitt was even there to talk about the importance of ward missionary work. I´ll talk more about investigators and stuff next week...when...you know...we actually have some. haha
My companion, Elder Solis, is awesome. He´s from Salvador and he is hilarious! Always during contacts he has the people rolling. He´s very friendly and fun, but he is a bit dead. He only has 2 transfers left which means i´ll be killing my first companion here pretty soon. He´s a hard worker, but you can tell he´s got his sights set on home. The other day, a plane was flying over and he turned to me and said, ¨Elder, how far away do you think that plane is?¨
¨I don´t know,¨ I replied, ¨Maybe 10, 20 miles.¨
He got a big grin on his face and said,¨I´d say about three months¨
He´s a goof, but really awesome. He can cook like a boss though. He´s is a convert to the church, the only one in his family, and he has alot of opposition from home.
I´d like to send pictures...but I cant reach the USB port for this computer...Ahhhhhhh....
Anyway, this place is great, the work is swell, the people are awesome and I´m lovin it! Until Next week loved ones!
OH! And, our new stake mission leader apparently knows Justin! He served in Bolivia too and he´s trying to find a picture to see if its really Elder Thompson!
Monday, October 5, 2015
5 October 2015 - Los Guaricanos (Santo Domingo)
I write you all today with a some what heavy heart. Conference was truly amazing, and many of my Investigators want to be baptized...but I´m getting transfered. I´m off to Villa Hermosa. Apparently it´s a little sketchy and the house is filthy. My comp speaks very little English and its a two person house. On top of that, we´re white washing, which means that we´re both new in the area and will be doing many, many contacts. BUT The will del Senor es mas importante.
Now for Conference. Wow. What an experience. At first, we were told that we were going to watch it in Spanish and I was totally bumbed. However, the Zone leaders asked special permission and got us all to come to the stake center to watch all of it , live, in English. Woo! But, then the generator in the stake center failed and our whole district was searching for a place to watch. We tried at a members house, but then the power went out. We sprinted to the nearest Internet center to watch it...then we didn´t have a speaker, so we sprinted back to our house and then back to the center. That was for the first session. The rest we were able to watch normally
Conference was amazing, especially because we were blessed to be able to watch it in English. I was really nervous I would have to watch it in Spanish and I know I wouldn´t have gotten nearly as much out of a Spanish session. Struggling to translate and being put to sleep by the monotone voice overs was not an encouraging prospect. As it was I was deeply touched by many of the talks. Elder Holland had me in tears like always and I was very impressed with the talks from the 70. One in particular hit me pretty hard. I don´t remember his name and I dont have my notes with me, but the part that I felt was really for me was an invitation he left. To pray and ask God "What more do I need?" or "What is keeping me from progressing?" I took that invitation and was prompted to think about my patience. It is something I definately need to work on, with companions and investigators. Everyone should take this challenge! We should be constantly seeking for oppurtunities for spiritual growth!
Other points that really stood out to me were : Keeping the Sabbath Day, The power and role of The Spirit/How we are never alone, the power and role of women, and (as always) the importance of families. These are things that our investigators and even our members, really need to understand. The role of a woman is sacred, powerful, and ,perhaps most often forgotten, equal. Not the same, but equal. I read in Jesus the Christ about how the greatest advocate for women´s rights and women in general was in fact, Jesus Christ. He sternly reminded the Pharises of the importance of women when they asked him about divorce.
The Sabbath is also a major issue in this country. Many people claim to follow the commandments, but spend our sacred day working and drinking.
The Spirit being available as a Constant Comforter is something I already stress in lessons. Depressingly often, the persons here feel alone and forgotten; stripped of possesions and forsaken by family and friends, they sit desolate in the street. Little do they know however that their Heavenly Father is waiting with crossed fingers for the oppurtunity to pour his Spirit upon them.
I am also planning on starting to PONDERIZE! If you don´t know what that is, look it up in the conference talk cus its a swell idea.
Also, 3 new apostles! Wow. That is definately a unique experience. I will be very anxious to hear from them in the future.
Well thats pretty much it! Almost all of our progressors want to get baptized, and we have a date for one of them, but I´m leavin. What terrible timing.
I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!!!!
Lots of pictures this week! The first, this is a spider that we found on our wall. ;) Love you Jami!
Also, a random group of Hatians gave me a coconut. I drank the whole thing.
Last Zone meeting of the transfer! And we got food!
Goodbye Zone. Also, Hermanas Peacock and Oliphant are done! Theyre headin home!
I came home to 5 cockroaches in our bathroom...it was a massacre.
Look at my puppy! Its our neighbors, but she loves me more than them.
I stayed with tradition! MEXICAN!!! Woo!! It was actually pretty good if I do say so myself.
Now for Conference. Wow. What an experience. At first, we were told that we were going to watch it in Spanish and I was totally bumbed. However, the Zone leaders asked special permission and got us all to come to the stake center to watch all of it , live, in English. Woo! But, then the generator in the stake center failed and our whole district was searching for a place to watch. We tried at a members house, but then the power went out. We sprinted to the nearest Internet center to watch it...then we didn´t have a speaker, so we sprinted back to our house and then back to the center. That was for the first session. The rest we were able to watch normally
Conference was amazing, especially because we were blessed to be able to watch it in English. I was really nervous I would have to watch it in Spanish and I know I wouldn´t have gotten nearly as much out of a Spanish session. Struggling to translate and being put to sleep by the monotone voice overs was not an encouraging prospect. As it was I was deeply touched by many of the talks. Elder Holland had me in tears like always and I was very impressed with the talks from the 70. One in particular hit me pretty hard. I don´t remember his name and I dont have my notes with me, but the part that I felt was really for me was an invitation he left. To pray and ask God "What more do I need?" or "What is keeping me from progressing?" I took that invitation and was prompted to think about my patience. It is something I definately need to work on, with companions and investigators. Everyone should take this challenge! We should be constantly seeking for oppurtunities for spiritual growth!
Other points that really stood out to me were : Keeping the Sabbath Day, The power and role of The Spirit/How we are never alone, the power and role of women, and (as always) the importance of families. These are things that our investigators and even our members, really need to understand. The role of a woman is sacred, powerful, and ,perhaps most often forgotten, equal. Not the same, but equal. I read in Jesus the Christ about how the greatest advocate for women´s rights and women in general was in fact, Jesus Christ. He sternly reminded the Pharises of the importance of women when they asked him about divorce.
The Sabbath is also a major issue in this country. Many people claim to follow the commandments, but spend our sacred day working and drinking.
The Spirit being available as a Constant Comforter is something I already stress in lessons. Depressingly often, the persons here feel alone and forgotten; stripped of possesions and forsaken by family and friends, they sit desolate in the street. Little do they know however that their Heavenly Father is waiting with crossed fingers for the oppurtunity to pour his Spirit upon them.
I am also planning on starting to PONDERIZE! If you don´t know what that is, look it up in the conference talk cus its a swell idea.
Also, 3 new apostles! Wow. That is definately a unique experience. I will be very anxious to hear from them in the future.
Well thats pretty much it! Almost all of our progressors want to get baptized, and we have a date for one of them, but I´m leavin. What terrible timing.
I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!!!!
Lots of pictures this week! The first, this is a spider that we found on our wall. ;) Love you Jami!
Also, a random group of Hatians gave me a coconut. I drank the whole thing.
Last Zone meeting of the transfer! And we got food!
Goodbye Zone. Also, Hermanas Peacock and Oliphant are done! Theyre headin home!
I came home to 5 cockroaches in our bathroom...it was a massacre.
Look at my puppy! Its our neighbors, but she loves me more than them.
I stayed with tradition! MEXICAN!!! Woo!! It was actually pretty good if I do say so myself.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)