Week 89- Leaving the Plains, Entering the City

Hi Call Family

So transfers have come again, and I shall be leaving Los Llanos. I am being transferred to La Romana, The Roman, my new area is called Benjamin. I will be serving in a ward and my new companion is named Elder Hipps. 

Elder Matos remains here and is receiving a young Elder by the name of Davis. The rest of the district is staying the same. 

Giovanni was confirmed yesterday, he asked Elder Matos to confirm him, which he did so very well. Church was great, I got to give gospel principles one last time, the class was on the signs of the second coming, we talked about how lots of crazy stuff shall happen before the coming of Christ, but if we live the gospel and do what we´re supposed to be doing, we need not fear. Amidst the turmoil, we can find peace as we keep the commandments and trust in God. 

Hermano Aneudi brought Giovanni and his boys to church, but Hermana Grecia did not come. We went to the courthouse this week Friday to try to schedule an appointment, the man explained to us that the judge left for vacation but starting Tuesday, we could schedule the appointment and another judge can marry them. So anyway, I believe this week this couple shall finally be wed. I hope to get the news of their marriage this weekend.

Have a good week Family,

Love, Elder Call

Week 88

Hi Mom,

Transfers are next week. I´m not sure if we´ll be staying together. I´ve spent a lot of time in my areas but I´ve never spent more than two transfers with a companion, we shall see what happens.

Giovanni, the son of Aneudi and Grecia, was baptized yesterday, the service was crazy, mainly primary kids attended, but it was good. Aneudi and Grecia hopefully shall be getting married this Friday.

Love,

Elder Call

Week 87 Hola Familia

Dear Family,

We had a great experience in church yesterday. Brother Pepe came to church again, dressed in a blue collared shirt, slacks, and tie. He told us this week he was going to church well dressed and he kept his word. Sister Grecia and her kids also came, even though one of her boys wasn´t doing too well. Brother Aneudi didn´t come, he was helping rebuild his mother's house which they tore down last week. They still haven´t been able to obtain the funds for their marriage which is the main thing that´s impeding them from being baptized. We talked about some of the options during weekly planning. It´s possible that we could find a way to pay for their wedding and all but, Elder Matos and I don´t think that doing so is the best choice. We think if we did so, we would be robbing them of an opportunity to build their faith. Elder Matos and I are planning on inviting them to fast with us. 

Hermano Pepe is doing well. He enjoys our lessons when we read the Book of Mormon. The last time we shared with him we ended up talking about fasting, which we also are planning to do with Pepe. Our time was up and Pepe asked us if we weren´t going to read the Book of Mormon, we had to go, but he has an assignment we left with him to read. He is excited and wants to learn and is trying to apply what we teach him. In the gospel principles class yesterday the teacher and some members were talking a bit too much. Brother Pepe raised his hand and said that he wanted to participate. Pepe read the last paragraph to finish the lesson. 

The district is doing well. This past Friday, we had our district meeting. I invited the missionaries in the district to share something that they had learned this week in their personal study. I really appreciated the messages shared by Elder Alquicira and Elder Whitby, they are both in their training. Elder Alquicira shared the scripture in Alma 26 when Ammon says he is nothing, how by himself he is weak, but with God, he is able to do all things. Elder Whitby, despite his greeny Spanish, which is really good, shared the importance of the plan of salvation. They are both excellent missionaries.

Have a great week guys,

Elder Call

Week 86 Hi Family

Hello Family,

This one is very, very short.

This week I had good moments and some harder moments. I was talking to Elder Whitby the other evening on the telephone. I asked him how he was doing. He told me good, just tired. I told him that that's ok because experiencing tiredness gives us an appreciation for rest and the days when we're not tired! We can never appreciate the good, the joy in life, if we do not also experience trial and difficulty. It´s part of the learning process.

So the week was a good one. Elder Matos and I are doing well, as is the district, Elder Lee and Elder Whitby had their first baptism this weekend, a youth named Christian!

Love you all,

Elder Call

Week 85 General Conference and testimony meeting

Dear Family,

Conference last week was very nice. We watched it as a branch in our little chapel. We didn´t get a large attendance but we had some troopers who came back for the majority of the sessions. Most folks here struggle to get through eight hours of General Conference but one sister, Sister Marta, came back for almost all. She was baptized this year and this was her first General Conference. She told be after the first session she went home and told her Mom about the experience. She´s learning a lot and the branch members are always helping her out. 

Conference was edifying and instructive. I don´t have my Journal with me but I appreciated the many inspired messages. After at least two speakers, one being President Nelson, I´ve decided to make the Book of Mormon a greater priority in my study.

This Sunday of fast and testimony was great. The highlight was the testimony of a young man named Roy. Roy is our teacher in the branch who always prepares the sacrament. I was sitting next to him after the sacrament was passed, and we decided that if I shared my testimony, he would share something. Quick background information, this country is crazy about a cartoon anime show called Dragon Ball Super, all the kids watch it and play the video games. Anyways, after I shared my testimony, Roy gets up and shared how Dragon Ball Super teaches gospel principles. It was awesome, words can´t fully describe the experience of watching this young slightly timid youth, share he´s growing testimony.

Aneudi and Grecia didn´t make it to church because someone died in a car accident yesterday morning and the funeral was Sunday morning, but they did send their sons, Giovanni and Popo cher (real name Adrian) to church.

The district is doing well, I´m district leader of the Elders now. Elder Lee, Elder Eleuterio and their comps are in training, Elder Whitby and Elder Alquicira.

Have a good week family.

Love Elder Call 

Week 84 Pictures

Dear Family.

Here are some pictures from this week.

Here´s a photo from our temple trip this past Friday. I think this is his Zone

Also,  a picture of us watching the conference in our little church. The one Elder is his Companion Elder Matos.

I hope you all enjoyed Conference.

Week 83

Dear Family,

Last transfer has come to an end and we begin anew tomorrow. Elder Matos and I shall be continuing here in Los Llanos, I´m still a district leader but my district has been changed. The district will now be us and the four Elders of Sabana de la Mar. Two of them are familiar faces. Elder Lee from the MTC and Elder Eleuterio! They´re going to be training some greenies (new missionaries, It´s gonna be an interesting change.

Once again The Dominican Republic was super blessed this week. Hurricane Maria did some heavy damage in other parts of the Carribean but this island received very little damage in comparison. The northern part of the island was in the hazard zone. The storm arrived Thursday morning. We had a good amount of wind and lots of rain but that was the extent of things. We spent the day Thursday cooped up in the house, but that was about it. 

This Saturday we went to the temple as a branch. The photo below is of the troopers, a lot of members thought the trip was canceled because of the hurricane, not too many folks but that´s ok!

Aneudi and Grecia are doing well. We had a lesson with them Tuesday I believe. We ask Grecia to say the opening prayer, she asked us if we could do a kneeling prayer. It´s been a while since I knelt with a family to pray, it was very special.

This week I read in the Liahona for this month. I truly enjoyed studying the article by Elder Holland on the search for happiness. One quote I liked says “you have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness... to stay afloat on top of it” Often we wait for something to come along to make us happy, and that´s not how it really works. If we want to be happy, we can´t wait around, we´ve got to move and act.

Ford's Branch at the Temple 9.17

I hope you all have a good week, and I hope you guys are finding ways to be happy each day

Love Elder Call