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.