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

Week 81

Dear Fam,

We had a couple of interesting events this week, here´s what happened...

Elder Matos and I are working with a couple, their names are Aneudi and Grecia. They´ve got four kids and have been investigating the church for a good period of time. They are a nice couple, they have a baby girl and she´s super cute. There oldest son is nine and is the responsible big brother, helping his mom out. Of the two younger brothers one is super crazy and is always driving his parents crazy, especially his dad. He´s knickname is popo chert, I don´t know where these knicknames come from but everybody has got one here, it makes contacting references sometimes difficult because they give us their real name but when we arrive in there neighborhood nobody knows them by their real name. So I usually asked for the knickname, el apodo.

We went to visit them Tuesday night, the previous week we invited them to talk and pray about the decision to get married. They agreed and Tuesday night they asked us what they´ve got to do to get married. We happily began to explain the process to them. They have accepted the commitment to wed and be baptized the 27th of September.

Wednesday we took a surprise trip to the capital, the assistents called us and said that president wanted my comp to be present at the leadership meeting Wednesday at nine. So we got up early and headed to Santo Domingo. The meeting was awesome, we talked about the importance of consecrating ourselves, and how we do so. I also appreciated the testimony of a missionary who is departing. Elder Aguirre, who was one of my zone leaders, is going home this month, he bore his testimony and the spirit entered the room.

Thursday was long. The hurricane in the end didn´t hit the island, only the tips brushed us, we had some strong wind and rain but no damage done. Nevertheless to be careful, President had us stay in for the day. So we read, cleaned, and ate food. We were very blessed.

Hope you all have a good week,

Love,

Elder Call 

Week 80

Here is some contact  :) He didn't write much, and we were very nervous about Hurricane Irma.

Dear Mom and Family,

I hope you are all doing well, we are doing good here in los Llanos.

 I don´t know if you know yet, but there is a hurricane that might be passing close Thursday or Friday, but we are going to be careful and will be taking precautions in case of an emergency. The church has a very thorough emergency plan for the missionary´s and we will be maintaining communication with our leaders. 

Love you guys, 

Elder Call

Here is a little note he sent to Joseph.

Joseph, This is the brother!

I don´t have time. But I do have a brother who turned 9! I love you, my man, you are awesome, I hope you had a great birthday party. You are a bear now, you will have a lot of fun. Apparently, you have fungus in your toe! I want you to know that you are not alone. As do I! It is kinda weird, but I shall try to send you a picture, I too am putting medicine on it!

I love you, Joseph, keep being an awesome bud, thank you for the letter you sent me. I´m glad you like swimming, you could become a lifeguard, that´s what I did.

Have a great day Joseph, 

love,

Ford

Week 78-Los Llanos- (flat plains or something like that)

Hola Familia,

This is my first week here in Los llanos, a fairly good-sized town hidden within the sugar kane fields. It´s about an hour away from one of the big cities called San Pedro de Macoris. We have a little branch here with a little church building, I´ll try and send a picture next week, it´s super cool. It´s a lot quieter here than in Sabana Grande, which I love. The Dominican Republic is awesome, but its levels of awesomeness would be higher if they removed all the motorcycles, lots of noise, shees. But here it´s less loud. 

Elder Matos is super cool. He´s from the DR, his town, Azua, is just two bus rides away, I don´t know how he handles it being so close to home, it´s because he´s just strong that way. He´s twenty-seven years old and has just two years being a member. He was baptized, then had to prepare right away to leave for the mission. The limit is usually twenty-six, so he didn´t waste time filling out his papers and getting ready to go. He´s a very well-read missionary and loves answering questions, especially complex ones. Last night someone asked us if Jehovah is the father or Jesus, and he very happily took off. A passing conversation dragged on a little bit longer than intended but it was cool. I´ll try to send a picture next week, my memory cards full, so I need to purchase another. He reminds me of Gollum, not sure why...

The new district is good. I continue to have all sisters in my district, after having six sisters perhaps God thinks I´m used to girl drama.....bueno. We´ve got Sister Damiani, Sister Gomez, Sister Dias and Sister Falcon, they're awesome, it´s gonna be a good district.

Love you guys, have a fun week, hope you all enjoyed the solar eclipse, we saw half the eclipse.

Love, Elder Call

Week 77 Adios Sabana, Hola Los Llanos

Hi family,

So we got some transfers this week. God´s taking me out of Sabana Grande de Boya. Elder Ortiz will be staying here and has been called to replace me as District Leader. I knew it was going to happen, he´s going to be great. I am being sent to the zone San Pedro de Macoris or Saint Peter of Macorus or something. My new area is a little town called Los Llanos, the flats.  Apparently, it´s a town hidden in giant fields of Sugar kane. It actually is an old area of Elder Chavez, my now former zone leader. My companion will be Elder Matos, he´s from here. He will be branch president there and I will be continuing as a district leader. 

I´m grateful for the time I´ve had here in Sabana. I´m grateful for the opportunities I´ve had to serve and help others and invite them to find happiness through the restored gospel. 

Here´s a picture of the zone, sorry it´s a bit goofy, I couldn´t find the normal one.

Love, Elder Call

Week 76- Ashley's baptism and finding Juan

My Family,

Hello. I trust you are all enjoying your vacation. Summer is coming to

a close here, and I´m seeing school supplies in the stores and stuff,

truly time passes very very quickly. This next week, in ten days, I

will be completing eighteen months in the mission. Apparently, I´m

supposed to burn a pair of pants or something, don´t know if that's

going to happen but we shall see. it´s crazy, the beginning of the

mission seems so long ago and yet each day, each week is speeding by.

Next weekend we´ll receive our transfers, Elder Ortiz is telling

everybody that I´m departing. It´s probable, seeing as I am one of the

oldies in the zone, but we shall see. Seeing as I have not written for

two weeks here's a few things that have been happening.

The weekend before last we had the baptism of Ashley. She is the nine-year-old

grand daughter of sister Maura, and is here on vacation from

the U.S. Maura asked us to come and teach her. We started and then

learned that her mom is a member, so we thought we couldn´t teach

Ashley. Long story short because she´s nine, not eight, we were

responsible for her preparation. After some rapid teaching and her

interview, Ashley was baptized last Sunday afternoon.

Last week we also found a young man named Juan Carlos. Elder Ortiz and

I were talking to a gentlemen in the street when I turned and began to

speak with a young teenager named Feilin. Feilin told me he had met

with missionaries before not too long ago. As we were talking two

other young men approached us and began to listen. I gave them the

last of my pamphlets and invited them to accompany us to church the

next Sunday. One of the young men is a youth named Juan Carlos. Juan accepted the invitation and last Sunday when we walked into church

there he was waiting for us. These past two Sundays we have been

blessed. Seven investigators came to church last week and six attended

yesterday. Anyways, this past week we started sharing with him and

his grandparents. In the first lesson with them, we were going to share

the Restoration. But first we invited Juan to share with us what he

had learned from his reading. He then shared what he had learned about

God and how he calls prophets, Joseph smith and the restoration. I

enjoyed listening to our own investigator teaching us the first

lesson, it was super cool, one of the coolest experiences in my

mission. Juan accepted to prepare for baptism for the last weekend of

this month. Yesterday he asked me if he could be baptized next Sunday

after church. I told him if he feels he is ready then we´ll do it.

Gotta go,

Love,

Elder Call

Ashley's baptism 

Attachments area

Week 74 - First Zone Conference with the Smiths

Hi family

This past Tuesday we had our first zone conference with the Smiths.
Our zone rented a gua gua (bus) as always and we headed out early to get to
the conference by eight-thirty. The majority of the trip was pretty
smooth, then we hit some heavy traffic upon entering Santo Domingo.
Hermano Ramon was maneuvering pretty well. I was riding shot gun with
him. But as we slowly squeezed our way onto a street, we collided with
a sedan that magically appeared on our right-hand side. I didn´t think
a car would be there seeing we were only a few feet away from the side
walk, but there is was. Nobody was hurt we were almost at a standstill
but we had to go to an insurance place and in the end, we arrived a bit
late to the meeting.

The Conference was great. The Assistants gave a training on the
importance of working with the members. After which President Smith
addressed us. The main message he and his wife shared was the
importance of obedience. We talked about the different reasons as to
why we are obedient. Out of duty, because we love God, because we know
that obedience brings blessings, because we are afraid. There are many
reasons to be obedient. Sister Smith suggested another one, being
obedient without a reason. Sometimes we can choose to be obedient even
though we may not know why it is important.
We talked about different examples in the scriptures of people who
exercised obedience even though they didn´t know the reason why they
had to do it. We talked about Adam who was commanded to offer
sacrifices, which he did so even though he knew not why. We talked
about Abraham, who was commanded to offer up his beloved son Isaac as
a sacrifice, even though this commandment seemed to contradict the
very promise the Lord had given him, that his seed would be more
numerous than the grains of sand on the shore of the sea. For me,
Abraham's trial of Faith was super hard.
The last example that was given was the Savior's. President read for us
in Matthew when the Savior was in the garden of Gethsemane, and he
asked his Father if there wasn´t another way, we talked about how the
atonement was an act of faith. Jesus exercised a lot of Faith too,
even he didn´t have all the answers. But he went and did what God
commanded him. I am grateful for the examples of these great men, and
women, in the scriptures. People who help us to understand that
sometimes we simply need to trust in God, even if we may not know why.

I love you guys, I hope you are all happy and well and are learning
every day to trust in our loving Father in heaven.

Love,
Elder Call
Pictures
Zone conference
Pictures of us. We found a parrot!

Week 73- Hola Familia

Dear Family,
The area is doing well. Elder Ortiz and I found some great new
investigators, actually cool story. So months ago I meet a less active
sister in the ward and her daughters. We tried to work with them but
they weren´t really interested so we left them for a time. This week,
I don´t remember which day, Elder Ortiz told me he felt like we should
go visit this family, entonces fuimos (we went.) I believe it was Tuesday when
we went. We arrived to find the husband of the daughter home, whom
I had never met. We share with them and then made a return appointment.
Later this week, we were walking down the street and saw them outside a
house. We went over and met the mother of the Felix, the husband. She
was super nice and we made a cita (appointment) with her. I also found out that her
husband is a man named Jesus, a great guy I contacted months ago but
never found his house! Then after all this we go visit some old
investigators named Jose and Juana. We arrive at their door and are
talking a bit with Jose. Then Elder Ortiz asked Jose if he was related
to Jesus. Jose responded that Jesus is his brother! It was awesome how
all of a sudden all these people were connected, it was like a really
cool domino effect and in the end, I´m like wow. I feel like we made
these connections for a reason, I don´t know if all these people will
accept the gospel now, but I feel that God is preparing this family,
for this reason, he allowed us to find them.

 This week I had a great intercambio with Elder Williams. We read in
Ether twelve twenty-seven about how God gives men weaknesses that we
may be humble. It also says that HIS GRACE IS SUFFICIENT to all men
who come unto him and says if we do so, these weaknesses can become
strengths. Elder Williams and I talked about how it´s a blessing to
recognize our weaknesses. It´s an opportunity we have to improve.
Personally, I think sometimes it would be nice to forget my weaknesses,
forget my many imperfections, but it doesn´t really work like that. We
are here to be tested after all, and these challenges each of us face
are chances we have to trust in our loving Father in heaven and
experience his power in our lives. I am thankful for our loving
Heavenly Father, I am so grateful for his tender mercies he gives to
me and to each of us.

I love you guys, I am thankful for you all. I pray you're all doing great.

Love, crazy Elder Call

Picture. We went to a waterfall as a Zone today, there's me being a
goofball, didn´t fall in, in case any were concerned.
 (I think he is trying to be the Karate KID)

Week 72 Farewell to President and Sister Corbitt, welcome to President and Sister Smith

He is ALIVE!  And finally wrote this week!

Dear Family,

Buenos tardes aya en Washington, I hope you all had an exceptional
week and are enjoying to warmth of summer. Well as the title says, this
week we said goodbye to President Corbitt and his wife. We will all
miss them. President Corbitt is an inspired man and has humbly led
this misión to accomplish wonders. I don´t know how it is in other
missions, I´m sure they have incredible misión presidents, but it is
difficult for me to imagine anyone who could surpass President in
humility and extraordinary faith…Maybe sister Corbitt. We enjoyed our last visit to the temple with them this past Wednesday morning, that's the picture. After the session, we met together in the cafetería, the Santo Domingo temple has a cafetería and talked a Little bit. Then they both thanked us all, and quietly left first. President Corbitt is
a great man, I am thankful for his help and guidance and shall try to
continue to apply his teachings and now those of President and Sister
Smith.

The Smiths arrived on Friday. They made a video which President showed
to us at the last zone conference. They seem like a great couple and
are excited to be working with us. One of the Assistants told us
President Smith is super spiritual! We are all looking forward to
meeting them.

This past week we baptized Camila. Camila is eleven and we contacted
her near the beginning of June. We worked with her through June and
this last Sunday she was baptized, the Little girl in the yellow
dress is her sister.

The other pictures is pizza which a sister in the Ward made for us and
a picture from today, we went to a mall today, it was cool.

I love you all and  I pray for you

Have a great week

Love Elder Call

Week 69 The Nine week Transfer

Hi, Family.
Alright, the transfers. Elder Ortiz and I are staying together, we're
both happy. The district is also staying the same. President says
there might be changes in the next two or three weeks but for now, we're
still together.

This week we have seen a lot of blessings and miracles in our area,
district, and zone. The Lord is blessing us a lot. Actually, Friday
the zone leaders sent a challenge to the zone to put five dates per
area. I actually didn't see the message in the morning but Elder Ortiz
did. In our planning, I asked him about our goal of baptismal dates,
and he said five with much conviction, and we put that as our goal. By
the end of that day, we had placed six baptismal dates, some for this
month and some for July. It was a great day and we have strived to
continue to find, teach and extend the baptismal invitation, many times
in How to begin Teaching, aka the first lesson.

We still haven't been able to meet with Lady Laura, apparently, she was
in the hospital Saturday! We're going to try to visit her and her
husband soon.

We're also working with a young man named Miguelangel. Miguelangel is a
great young man and wants to get baptized, but his evangelical
grandmother is not super supportive. He has a date for this next
weekend and we are going to have a lesson with him and his grandma
tonight.

It was an awesome week. This week we were guided in finding a lot of
people. If we open our mouths, the Lord promises he will give us the
words to say and will help us find those who are prepared for his
message.

Have a great week you all
Love, Elder Call

Week 68

Dear Fam

Mom, I am sorry to hear that the garden is struggling, It's interesting when I tell people how I´ll miss the food of their country, they tell me to take seeds and plant them in Washington, they don´t quite grasp that every land is not exploding with fertility.

Alright, So I´m good. Lady Laura is doing well. This week we weren´t able to visit them too much. Her husband has been busy taking care of his sick grandma, but we will be trying to visit them this week. We both feel that they are very prepared to receive the gospel. 

The district is doing well. The sisters are working hard, they are sometimes a bit sassy but I´ve explained that having six sisters one becomes accustomed to it.

Elder Ortiz is doing good, Today we had a zone activity and he and Elder Aguirre made Baliadas, a type of taco. It was awesome. This transfer is almost coming to a close, it´s been a three-week transfer and we are in week three, the transfer is special because President Corbitt is preparing for the arrival of the new President, President Smith!

Love you all, 

Disculpame, eso es corto (that it is short, the letter.)

Elder Call

Week 67

Hola Queridos,

So answers to questions.

I am doing well and am excited to be working with my new companion, he´s awesome. Elder Ortiz is a nineteen-year-old Elder from Honduras. He is the second companion I have had who is from Honduras. He´s got five months in the mission and is a convert to the church. He was baptized when he was eleven. He´s family looks lovely, he´s the youngest of four kids, he has one sister and two older brothers, all except one of his brothers are members of the church. He´s awesome. He has a grand testimony which he shares with everyone and is striving to learn and improve. I don´t think I met someone who, when learns a new rule of the manual, applies it so quickly, and without complaint. This is week one so where doing pretty great so far.

The district is doing well. I´m still the sisters' district leader, and they, are, awesome. Sister Howard and Sister Malovich stayed together, I´m not surprised. Sister Fullmer, was transferred out of Bayaguana and Hermana Pelico received Sister Burgess, a missionary from Belize, a British colony Island in the Carribean. The zone, in general, had a lot of new missionaries coming in but they are all excellent missionaries and were looking forward to this transfer.

This Week Elder Ortiz and I have been finding people to teach. 

Experience. Okay, I believe it was Wednesday morning we decided to contact. We found a couple a people and put return dates with them. Then at like 11:50 we were on the road back to the apartment. We walked by this small shop with a lady outside, We were going to pass by but I felt like we should talk to her. Her name is Lady Laura and come to find out she had met with the missionaries before. She told us she wanted to understand better who is Joseph Smith, repeatedly and happily we told her we would love to come back and answer her questions. We came back the next day and had a great lesson with her and her boyfriend. Come to find out her boyfriend's mother is very sick and has her son very worried, he told us he wants to know why we radiate a tranquility and security, it's basically what he said. 

If we permit Him, the Lord will guide us to those who are prepared for and who need the gospel. 

Love you all, have a great week.

Elder Call