Tuesday, February 9, 2016

8 February 2016 - Villa Hermosa (La Romana)

(General e-mail)

Transfers! Despite many prayers from several members and investigators, The Lord has decided to send me to Boca Chica in Las Americas. My new companion will be Elder Johnson who just barely finished his training. An American!! woo!!!!! We will still talk lots of Spanish though. Also, apparently my new area is gorgeous and Ill have the chance to baptize in the Ocean!!!

Alright, the week! Two things that were pretty awesome. The Evangelical, Claudia, came to church! At least for an hour, because she had commitments in her church and had to leave. She said it was great though. We also had a powerful lesson with her abou the plan of salvation, Priesthood authority and baptism. She was rather troubled and confused to think that her pastor didnt have the authority to baptize her, but we assured her of the truth and invited her to pray and continue reading in the Book of Mormon.

Second: So we contacted an old investigator and during the lesson she related an experience she had with us.

She lost contact with the missionaries because of her work and transfers, but a day or two before we called her, she had a dream (very common here. Everyone has dreams). In her dream, she was sitting on her couch when she heard the missionaries through the window. They were praying fervently and she knew it was for her.  When she woke up, she felt a deep desire to find the missionaries again. A little bit later, we called! Man The Spirit is awesome! Now she has a baptismal date for our White Night, the 27th! That also happens to be independence day here, so thats pretty swell. Freed from sin! BOOM! The only down is that I might not be there to see it. President doesnt always give permission to go back. Well see what happens though. Now the people with baptismal dates include: Claudia, Oneida, Nicouri, and Hector. I love you all, and thanks for your love and support!

(Response to Dad's e-mail, in which he mentioned reviewing languages he knew like French and Italian, learning Spanish, sending Christian the new Spanish Edition of the Bible and other standard works, etc.)

Wow, Dad! How cool! Im thinkin of starting to learn a little Italian here on the mish, kind of like Kolten did. Ive got a Spanish to Italian dictionary with a little grammar section in the back. Not sure how much thatll help, but its a start! Thanks for your prayers, especially for the shmucks (how do you spell that?). They need it.

Theres a new Spanish Edition??? SWEET! Yes, thatll be swell thank you! I understand shipping difficulties. Dont worry about it. I get it when I get it. Just thanks so much! Also, Sister (I almost wrote Hermana. haha) Giddings says that shes using a special missionary shipping company thats alot cheaper. Maybe talk to her to see if thatd be better and/or safer.

So fun fact and another, light hearted, special request. So my new area is apparently gorgeous and has several beaches. As a result, in several parts there are alot of touristy type places. I was talking with my zone leader who was there for several transfers and he said that there is a (supposedly) Authentic Italian pizza restaurant there. We all know which pizza is the best pizza and that my stomach yearns for such finery, so when the time comes, perhaps for a holiday or similair celebration, I would like to use my card to purchase a nice, steamy, hot and hopefully not too cheesey, pizza. Would that be alright with you? Im asking because I know its your money not mine and I dont want to go throwing it away on something thats not an emergency. But...Italian Pizza....mmmmm. Anyway, Love you dad! Thats a cool insight/thought about John and Revelations! Did you in Spanish its called Apocolipsis? Its from a Greek word that means revelation. Thats where we get the word Apocolypse! Also, Apparently Zarahemla was identified as a city in Guatemala by Joseph Smith....so...thats interesting. I would love to take some time when I get back and just study a bit about BoM Geography. Love you Batbo!!!!
P.S. Were growing beards together when I get back. Its filling in quite nicely.

(Editor's note: Joseph Smith did NOT identify a city in Guatemala as being Zarahemla. In fact, in a revelation given in Doctrine and Covenants 125:3, the Lord himself identified the city across from Nauvoo, near where Montrose is today, as the site of Zarahemla. The articles in the Times and Seasons, which many attribute to Joseph Smith, that identify Central America as the land of the Nephites were written by Benjamin Winchester. You can read more about this here: The Smoking Gun)

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