28 March 2016 - Boca Chica (Santo Domingo)

(Response to Dad's e-mail, in which Dad described the Easter feast we all enjoyed.)

Ah.....such food. Haha that sounds super amazing. haha Im Jealous. The stake made us dinner today, specialy made by chefs and stuff at it was.....rice....pasta....and meat. It was good though. haha Love you dad!

Oh! and I also tried to take out money from my card aaaaaaand it didnt work. So I dont know whats up with that. It works fine when i just swipe it, but I cant take out cash.

(General e-mail)

Dang it! I have no time! Ill write a nice big letter next week! really fast! Baptism was great! Through miracles we met the stake goal! The house got robbed. Im training here in Boca Chica and im still DL! Love you all! Woo!

21 March 2016 - Boca Chica (Santo Domingo)

(General e-mail; note "se fueron" means "they left", "they went", or "they went away")

Alright! So I cant believe I forgot to tell you all last time, but we got robbed! Not last week, but right before. Like friday night I think....Something like that. They just took my new wallet so se fueron my temple recomend, drivers license and several other personal things. So that kinda stinks, but at least they didnt try to take my bag. The guy was totally stupid too. He had his hand in his pants to make it look like he had a gun and he looked like he was about to pee his pants. I kinda just wanted to pull out some black belt all over his face, but there are rules against that. Anyway...

So this week was...interesting. We kept teachin the folks, found some more folks and did lots of missionary things. haha One point of interest, I have chikonguna! Thats kind of like Dengue less strong. I got a fever and stuff and now there's a giant rash all over my body.

So Saturday, we had a White Night, where lots of people from all over the stake were baptized. That was great and that is where young Yilbert was baptized.

I also want to tell you about one of our lessons with Angela Ramirez. She was an oldish investigator (person that was taught previously by missionaries) and was kind of put on hold because she was so busy. She is still really busy, but I felt that we had to visit her because Elder Johnson told me she had been to church various times, had a testimony of the church and wanted to continue learning. GOLD! Now she has started to read in the BoM and praying alot. She still doesnt want to get baptized though because she has doubts about a few things and wants a surer knowledge of the BoM. Anyway, the last lesson with her was amazing. She also had told us that there was something bad in her life that was keeping her from being baptized. So, we had planned to talk to her about the atonement and the power of prayer. We brought her best friend, who is also a return missionary, and proceeded to teach like one of the best lessons of my mission. Well, the Spirit did anyway. We started off with the story of Enos to explain about prayer, the power of faith and its role in forgivness. Then we moved on to the story of Alma the younger. Afterward, we transitioned to Alma 7 that talks about the importance of baptism and how we shouldnt be afraid to follow God. Then we all bore our testimonies and personal experiences about The Atonement in our lives. The Spirit was so strong. We also answered alot of the questions she had and left her with 2nd Nephi 4 to read. She really wants to be baptized, just doesnt feel ready yet. At the end, I asked her how she feels when we visit her. She said that she always feels at peace and happy, even though she knows we're going to talk about baptism which stresses her out. We testified that all these good feelings that she had were The Spirit, testifying to her. I cant describe all of what happened, nor the feelings that were had, but wow. That was a really great lesson. There is so much power in the Book of Mormon. Well, I do believe thats all. I love you all and I hope you all have a great week!!

We took a temple trip with investigators.

Not sure if I sent any of these before, but Here's the yankee facility. Piece by piece.

Filipe! Our investigator.

Theres also this swell Baseball Museum! We took the assistants and office Elders and they all about hicieron poo poo en sus pantalones [pooped their pants], especially in the facility. They said it was the best Pday of their missions and Im now the favorite of all. :)

Yilbert got baptized!

15 March 2016 - Boca Chica (Santo Domingo)

(Response to Dad's e-mail, in which Dad mentioned eating at Sette Bello, Daylight Savings, and reading The Infinite Atonement).

That sounds swell as always. You guys eat at Settebello alot though. 0_- I had no idea that we sinned in the Spirit world. I hadnt ever thought about that. Ha! setting clocks back. That doesnt exist here, thank goodness. I have so many photos I want to send, but these dern computers just wont accept my camera. I think their racist.
Anyway, Love ya Dad!!

(General e-mail)

Hellooooo people who dwell across the sea! So I went to write this yesterday, and just as I started, the power went out! Yay! So we got permission to write today, and we´re at the nice internet place so I can use punctuation and send photos! Double yay! Anyway, I have much to say, so let us begin. So yesterday we went to a baseball museum in our area with the office elders, the assistants, and the Zone leaders from San Pedro. They all LOVE baseball and after we visited the Yankee training center, they said it was the best Pday of their whole missions. We pretty much made their lives. It was really great. And now, the week before. So this last week we went and visited an old investigator named Angela. The missionaries lost contact with her because they didnt know her college schedule and she has alot of class. Luckily for everyone, she has Sundays off. So we went by her house twice this week and had really great lessons. She already has a testimony of the church and everything, but is still working on the Book of Mormon, only because she hasnt read it yet. haha We also tried to put a baptismal date with her, but she doesnt feel ready yet. Shes a little afraid and told us that theres something in her life that she needs to fix first. It has nothing to do with any of the commandments though, so we´re a little nunplussed. (not sure how you spell that anymore) Anyway, we´re continuing to work with her. She´s really awesome though.

Next we have the De Jesus family. They´re the 7 kids that had a baptismal date for this Saturday. Soooo...the came to church on Sunday, but we and the bishopric decided that they weren´t ready and shouldn´t be baptized yet. When we told our ZL he just about died. They will definately be baptized though, we just gotta reactivate their parents first.

Yilbert however is still rarin to be baptized. We will have our last lesson with him today and the interview tomorrow! He is super ready. He reads pretty slow, but has a mountain of desire. We´re also working with his family but theyre a bit more difficult.

Dafni though is amazing. If yalls remember, thats the Haitian mom that we took to the Temple. She really wants to be baptized, but her boyfriend doesnt want anything to do with us, her, or the church. Apparently he´s (ahem) not the nicest person. We´re trying to visit them together with the stake president and the bishopric, but he always leaves or is already gone. What a bum. He doesnt even care for his 4 kids!

On an up note, we had a visit from someone super super awesome. His name is Brother Turley (I think, something like that) and he is in charge of the history of the church...the entire church. He is the guy with the keys to any church history vault, site or room in the entire world. He has authority to investigate whatever he wants that pertains to church history however he wants. Needless to say, that was super dope. He explained alot about the importance of reactivations. He used the example of Oliver Cowdery (If I remember correctly. My notes are in the house) who served a mission to Canada. There he served with vigor, but little success. He was very frustrated until he found and baptized a young man named John Taylor. From that single act, this young missionary brought at least 3 prophets and many apostles into the church, all due to the reactivation of Oliver Cowdery ( I think). He talked about sooo much and I dont have time to write it all, but it was amazing. He also did a Q and A session. We talked about:Poligamy, blacks and the priesthood, D and C 125, rebaptisms, and tons of other stuff. One of the things that stood out to me the most, was when he said that the lost 10 tribes have all been found. He has access to the Patriarchal Blessings of every member in the entire world and, through them, has found members of every single tribe. So thats pretty sick.

Well, I think thats it. If I think of anything else, Ill take a note and tell you guys next week. Love you all and have a great week!

Baptism!

Elder Frogley's "Parents"

Poor-Man's Umbrella

Temple Trip

The zone at the temple

7 March 2016 - Boca Chica (Santo Domingo)

(Response to Dad's e-mail. I have no idea what grandma quote he's talking about...)

Amen y amen!! haha thats so cool Dad! I also really liked that grandma quote. Sounds like Jason is making quite a boom in his work. Fulfilling his destiny as Jason Borne. I am taking my triguard. One dropper every morning and night cus thats what it says on the bottle. How much would four capsules be? four droppers?

Also, no worries, when I get back, I will be happy to help you with anything you need around the yard. :) Love ya daddy!

(General e-mail. FYI, "por fin" means "finally" or "at last", and "semana" means "week".)

Alright! I have much to say this week thanks to several spectacular experiences! First, PERLA GOT BAPTIZED!!!! Por fin! Haha we had the baptism Saturday morning on the beach! Unfortunately... My computer and internet are garbage today so I cant send photos until next week... so thats a bumber. But, saturday afternoon we had a temple trip as a stake and that was amazing. All the recent converts went in to do baptims for the dead and all our investigators went to the near by MTC to listen to President Corbitt. From our Investigators we got Yilbert and Dafni to come. Yilbert wasnt that interested, but Dafnis experience was life changing. She has four kids, one of which is special and cant even talk. She has been feeling very confused about the gospel and all the different churches. Shes been recieving a testimony of the restored gospel bit by bit though as we teach her and read from the Book of Mormon. The temple though was the big factor. President Corbitt had a wonderful discussion with all the investigators about what the temple is and the basics of what happen inside. Dafni was fascinated by the vicarious ordinances, especially the sealing. Afterward, we went for a walk around the temple and listened to the testimonies of the recent converts. During the whole experience, Dafni said that she felt the Spirit so strongly and just felt so loved that she wanted to be baptized! She now has a date for the 26th! Also, the stake started a special fast on saturday to help us meet our monthly goals. The next day, Sunday, we put 8 more baptismal dates with a part member family for the 19th! Also, Dafni came to church for the very first time! It was fast and testimony meeting and she got up and bore her testimony about how she new that this was the true church!!! FASTING WORKS!! BOOM! Wow The Lord is good to us here in Boca Chica.

Also, on a not so spiritual note, one of our Investigators, Felipe, gave us a tour of the local Yankee training facility. He works security there and invited us to his work! It was really cool! Were going next week too with the Zone leaders and the Assistants. This week was just really fantastic! Love you all and hope you have a swell semana!