Frogley Missionaries: 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!