Week 58 & 59

Ford did not write much last week.  He was able to say, "Hi, Mom, we heard from an Apostle this week, got to go!"

But this week is better: 

My Dear Fam.

So a lot has happened the past two weeks, I shall try to share everything that has happened.

So, the Tuesday before last Tuesday, we had a very special visit. Elder Anderson of the Quorum of the Twelve and a number of other general authorities would be coming to the Dominican Republic and the East mission was chosen to host them. The meeting was scheduled to be at nine, President told us to get their early. Our Zone, Almirante Campo, is about two hours from the capital, so we all woke up at four to get there two hours early.

We got there fairly early and my comp somehow claimed two seats at the front, we were very blessed. Eventually, everyone got seated and we commenced the wait for their arrival. It was all very professional, the sound system guys were running around, checking stuff, making sure everything was good to go and then the general Authorities arrived. In attendance were President Maynes, President of the Quorum of the Seventy, the whole area presidency of the Caribbean Area, President of the West mission, a lot of other people, and President and Sister Anderson.

It was a very unique experience, to watch an Apostle walk into the same room as me, he and his wife walked past us and took a seat. President Corbitt conducted the meeting, welcoming Elder Anderson, his wife, and the other visiting general authorities. Elder Anderson and the other Authorities wanted to shake our hands so, in organized groups, we all walked up and shook the hand of an apostle. Elder Eleuterio and I were there in the front so we watched as the first 300 or so missionaries passed by and Elder Anderson said hello, hola, how are you, one of the three to each of us. Afterward, we all sat down and the program proceeded. The area president first addressed us, he told us when we don’t know what to say, or what to talk about, talk of Jesus Christ. Then we were addressed by Presidente Maynes and his wife. President Maynes was awesome. He addressed us in Spanish and talked about the importance of opening our mouths. He told us a story from the beginning of his mission when he didn´t know too much Spanish. He told how he and his companion went contacting and just like with the story of President Uchtdorf, the very last door they found somebody, and President Maynes said the only thing in Spanish he knew, "Soy un misionero de la iglesia de Jesucristo de los santos de los ultimos dias. Y queremos compartir un mensaje sobre Jesucristo con usted." (I am a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and we want to share a message about Christ with you.) The young man who answered received them and was later baptized.  Now, he is a strong leader in the church and has children who served missions. And it all started from Elder Maynes having the courage to open his mouth.

                After President Maynes, Sister Anderson bore her testimony and invited us to listen to the apostolic counsel of her husband. Elder Anderson then addressed us. He gave part of his message in Spanish, which he spoke pretty well considering he speaks French and Portuguese. He told us the languages get mixed up in his brain so we´d be getting a little of everything, Portuguese, French, Spanish and English. His message was simple and powerful. He talked about teaching repentance and baptizing converts. He taught us two things which are essential for true conversion. One is to feel the love of the Savior through the power of his atonement and the other is a love of the Book of Mormon. These two things are essential to a person becoming truly converted. He admonished us to put these two things in practice, in teaching, and in our own lives and left us his Apostolic blessing, that according to our desire, we would be blessed with a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon that would bless us throughout our lives. His message wasn´t what I expected but it was inspired and I felt that it was what we needed to hear.

I´m out of time, but really quick, this weekend we had a noche Blanca in our Branch, this month we´ve been preparing our investigators to be baptized on the 25^th and that afternoon we were blessed to have the baptism of two youth into the church. Here are pictures from the baptism!

I am thankful for this gospel. I know that we have a Prophet and Apostles who are called of God. I know that God is our loving father in Heaven. I am thankful for his gospel which helps us to change.  

I love you all,

Love Elder Call

Week 57

Querido Familia,

This past week was crazy.

So Thursday Elder Eleuterio had a leadership meeting so we did an intercambio. I went to a small pueblo called Gonzalo with Elder Valle. He and I had the same trainer Elder Frogley, so were like missionary brothers. 

It was a great Intercambio, We went way out into the wilderness to a small Haitian village where we taught a family. We also biked, they have bikes, to another area. It was a lot of biking and it was worth it for the people we found. We found this one gentleman while we were contacting, I don´t remember his name, but we had an awesome lesson with him. We shared lesson one and talked about why today we have so many churches, and shouldn´t we have just one, the church that Jesus Christ established? Honestly,  I don´t remember a ton of details, I do remember I felt the spirit and asked him if the just of Jesus Christ existed today, would you be baptized in this church, and he said yes! It is amazing to see that the Lord is preparing so many people here, and if we are searching, he blesses us that we are able to find them.

Elder Eleuterio and I have our hands full in Sabana Grande. We decided to wake up early Sunday morning to stop by the homes of our investigators. We are working in a little town outside of Sabana grande called El Brazalete. We have found a ton of people there and are concentrating our efforts there. Anyways, in the end we got almost all of our investigators in church yesterday. It was awesome, the Lord is blessing us a lot

Real fast, Yesterday we went to visit una Senora who had to work Sunday and couldn´t come to church. We arrived and it started to rain hard, so hard that we couldn´t hear each other talk. So we decided to Sing hymns. My comp, myself, and two brethren. We just sang hymns. And it was great, and it invited the spirit. There are many ways in which we can share the gospel, not just in words.

I am grateful to be here in this crazy country sharing with these people a message that brings hope and change in our lives.

I love you all, have a great week

Love Elder Call

Week 56 I left the country and entered the jungle!!?

(Ford's area had internet problems on Monday, so we got the letter late yesterday)

Dear Familia,

I did not actually get assigned to a jungle, but my new area is even more campo then La Victoria! I love it! I headed out early last Tuesday morning, said goodbye to Elder Wolf, I´m gonna miss that guy!  I headed out for Sabana Grande de Boya! The trip took almost two hours in gua gua in which time I conversed with a lovely Senora who taught me a geography lesson about the country. Although I didn´t understand the majority of science terms she was using, it was a great conversation. We reached her stop and we said goodbye. I wasn´t able to share with her, but hopefully, her conversation with the gringo Missionary shall help prepare her heart the next time the missionaries talk to her!

I arrived in Sabana Grande around 10:15, and soon after met my comp! He´s name is Elder Eleuterio, he is from Mexico and is from my group. I remember in the CCM that it took me two weeks just to pronounce his name, it was rough. Now I can say he´s name and hold a conversation. Anyways, he´s super awesome. He is twenty-seven and is going on his second year in the church! Apparently, he got his papers in just before he turned 26, so they let him come out. He´s a super happy guy with a huge heart. I´m very excited to be working with him.

This week has actually been pretty crazy and we haven´t had much time to work. We went to a leadership meeting with President on Wednesday, district meeting on Thursday, and temple trip on Friday! It´s been awesome.

Real fast, the temple trip was amazing, we are super blessed to have the temple here. It´s actually the only functioning temple in the Caribbean, another one is underway in Haiti. It was wonderful to go and feel the spirit so strongly in the Lord´s house. I´ve thought of the words of Elder Holland, I think, who said that the temple is a school where we learn more about God and his plan for us. We are so blessed to have temples where we can go and be taught greater knowledge.

The pictures are from the temple and from Sunday, Sunday morning the Dominican Elders wished me happy birthday with two bowls of cold water. Apparently, it´s a Dominican thing. Thank you for the package and the letters! 

Ford and  Elder Eleuterio

Ford's Birthday package (I asked him to let me know when it arrived :)

I love you guys, Have a great week!

Los Quiero,

Con Carino,

Elder Call