Week 66 Calor en el Caribe (hot in the Carribean)

Greetings from the Carribean, Did I ever mention that in my first zone we made a shirt that says misioneros del caribe. It´s got the black pearl from that one movie. Actually, it says Misioneros Caribe because the guy messed up. Anyway such is life.

This week was roasty....Very roasty. Apparently, Sabana can´t decide if it wants to be steaming hot or downing rain upon us. Either way, we are prepared. The other day Elder Eleuterio and I we purchased ourselves, Sombrillas,(umbrellas). And they defend against sun and rain. We look a little bit like Testigos de Jehova (Jehovahs witnesses) but whatever. The testigos actually look a lot like us and people confuse us with them all the time. Someone actually told me that their church is a branch off of our church. It makes sense in that we have many similarities, but their doctrine is really wacky. Anyways, I´m keeping me umbrella.

This week was our last week together, Elder Eleuterio and I, He´s been here since December so we were pretty sure his time was up in this area. Elder Eleuterio has been assigned to work in Santo Domingo Capital. I´m staying here and receiving a Honduran missionary named Elder Ortis. We're having a lot of changes in the zone. Hermana Fullmer is leaving our district and Hermana Pelico is receiving a Hermana Burgess. The Sabana C sisters are staying together, which they are very happy about. We´ve had a great district. We´ll miss those who are heading out but it´s going to be a good change. 

Anyways about the week. Elder Eleuterio and I had a miracle happen this past week.

In the mission, we are taught the importance of setting inspired goals. There's a quote in PMG (Preaching my Gospel) by Elder Ballard that basically says we make goals so we can use the precious time God has given us in the manner most efficient, also inspired goals help us complete other goals too. So we´ve been working to find more people this week but we also working on visiting and helping less actives.

I believe it was Tuesday that we were out contacting and it was hot, I was sweaty. Then at eleven we had put an appointment with a less active sister named Hermana Mercedes. We arrived at her house and found an adult man and a young man outside talking with her. We introduced ourselves and explained we were here to share a message with Hermana Mercedes and invited them to listen.

We prayed and began to share the first principles of the gospel, faith, repentance and baptism. I felt the spirit guiding my companion and I as we shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with these three people. We invited Domingo and Edy to be baptized, and they accepted. It was an inspired lesson. I know we were guided Tuesday morning to find those two people. When we set inspired goals, we invite the spirit to guide and direct us in our actions. This can apply to all aspects of our lives, but in missionary work, it´s how we find the people God´s preparing!

Have a great week guys!

Saludos,

Elder Call

(pictures, our district, and the zone)

Week 65- Hi family

So this week Elder Eleuterio and I have been looking for more investigators,  our group is still pretty small and we have to drop some people who are not progressing. We did some contacting this week and found a kid and his mom who have a lot of potential. His name is Estarling Junior, I contacted him last Monday at the internet center. He´s learning English so I invited him to the English class we´ve been giving on Saturdays. He told us we could come and share with him and his mother. We had a good lesson with them last Saturday and they accepted the invitation to come to church, at least for the first hour. We called them in the morning and his mom told me they were getting ready. They came for the first hour and Estarling told me he likes the church!

This week I read a lot in the Liahona of June, which was awesome. I loved the article about the importance of being self-reliant in the gospel. The author talks about how we got to know how to nurture ourselves spiritually, and not be so dependent upon the church and other people to teach us. It was super good, I thought about my own study and my converts. We try to use the Book of Mormon more, in all lessons, to help everyone better understand the importance of reading this book. If a person develops a love for the Book of Mormon, it will help them stay firm in the church.

Love you all,

Elder Call

Week 64 Saludos a la Familia

Hello, my family.

I hope you are all doing great, are happy and are enjoying the new warmth.

Believe it or not, things were pretty chilly here the past couple weeks. We had an unusual amount of rain in the country, not typhoon level but mucho agua. Thankfully the past few days we´ve seen a little more sunshine.....It´s raining again right now actually, but I have faith.

We had an excellent fast Sunday yesterday. Fasting has been a little bit different for me recently, I marvel that even though one´s physical body is weak, one´s spiritual body is greatly fortified. Yesterday, I felt like I was running on more spiritual nutrition than physical. I know that the power of the fast is real and is a way to strengthen our relationship with the Spirit. Yesterday, was wonderful, I was super thankful for the testimonies that were shared yesterday, especially those who are recent converts, It is wonderful to see their seed of faith continue to grow.

We are working to train and teach the members of the branch. We have some great members and a great president, Presidente Cedano. They have the desire to work but many are still new in the church and are still learning, as are we all. We shall work to strengthen the branch so that it can be a place of spiritual strength, where the new converts, less- actives, and active members can go and receive the spiritual nourishment they need very much.

I am thankful for the knowledge that I have and the opportunity to share it with others, 

Elder Eleuterio and I are working on being more obedient with the schedule. We talked about the importance of making the personal decision to follow the schedule, and be obedient in general. When we make the personal decision to be obedient, that is when we can begin to truly change. We also talked about the principle of through the small things, the Lord bringeth about great changes. This principle is very true, of small things, small changes, the Lord helps us to change. This is a huge blessing for all of us, especially for those of us who think they have to make grand changes all at once. I am thankful for the Lord and his tender mercies, and for the constant opportunities, he gives us to change and grow. 

I love you all, have a great week.

Love, Elder Call

Pictures,

One is from zone conference,

the second on is in the bus home. The two Americans are Sister Howard and Sister Malovich. They're in my district. Elder Eleuterio is wearing the black sweatshirt, he was feeling rather ill that day.

Week 63- Hiya Familia

Hello my Family

I hope your all doing great, that you are all happy. We who are blessed with the gospel of Jesus Christ have the greatest reason to be happy.

I few things that happened this week;

This week was kinda crazy, full of interviews and companionship exchanges. 

Tuesday morning we went to Bayaguana, to interview the sister's investigator who was preparing for baptism this Sunday. His name is Franklin, He is the husband of a previously less active member in the branch, she´s active now. It was awesome, Franklin is a great man and shall be a great bearer of the priesthood. 

Wednesday and Thursday we had a lot of companion exchanges, Elder Eleuterio had to do interviews in other areas, so I worked with Elder Lopez a bit this week, was a bit crazy but good.

This Friday we had our Zone Conference, it was very special.

We learned about looking forward with an eye of faith in Alma five verse 15. It was a powerful meeting and I felt the Spirit very strongly. I´m going to miss President Corbitt, he´s truly an inspired man. We´ve found out who's our next mission president, his name is President Smith. 

Love you guys,

Love Elder Call