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