May 28, 2018

This keyboard I'm writing on is awful so I will keep this one short. Also cause I'm gonna be seeing so many of you soooo soooooon! 

This week we had a baptism! It's been so great to see how the new youth converts have helped this branch come alive. Sundays are more exciting. the young men try to get to church first to be the ones to bless or pass the sacrament. They love giving their testimonies on Sundays, and it's just so fun! 

This is the Lord's work and it's amazing. The gospel is true. Truer than anything! 

May 21, 2018

Some quotes for you all this week!

A little 6 year old boy on the street ¨Are you albino?¨

We are reading about the story of Joseph Smith seeing Moroni in his room, and its explaining how white Moroni and his robe and the light were, and my convert Yoaly says ¨Ya it was more white than you, Hermana White.¨

 

The same convert on a different occasion ¨Even when I'm famous...O'll still be Mormon.¨

Guy on the street ¨I didn't believe in love at first sight until I met you.¨

 

The primary president left in the middle of class and so she asked us to take over (that happens on a regular basis) so we are teaching the few kids that are there and we start talking about how if Jesus had a pet, what would it be? The answer from a lil boy ¨a prophet¨ haha what? 

May 14, 2018

My mission is ending....and I know it, cause everything I own is breaking. 

BABY. I'll miss her. 

The DR is a weird place. We walked past this poor pig and then I turned back around to ask if I could take a pic. I asked what they were going to do with her, and he said with too much happiness "vamos a matarla" we are going to kill her!!

This week we had a classic encounter with the creepy men who are the same age as my father. They started trying to speak English to us, and then they asked us if we are married. So i was like "actually hermana Taylor here is getting married real soon" just to get them to shut up. and then Hermana Taylor was like "yeah, me and Hermana White are going to get married" and the way she worded it in Spanish just sounded completely like we are getting married to each other. haha We got a good laugh out of that, but they stopped asking if we are single. 

This week I went on splits with an hermana who;s having a hard time. She's in her training, and her trainer is hard. Anyways, we were at the end of our night and I was trying to understand how she was really feeling. She's like a way too positive person, to the point where no one knows how she actually is. So I wasn't getting anything out of her, but then I saw a blank planner on her desk, and I just causally said "Hey, give me your planner and I'll decorate it for next transfer." Honestly the most casual thing, and I did it as much cause I like decorating the planners. But then she started crying and just saying "'Thank you, no one has ever made me a planner." and that's when she opened up and just started telling me about everything that had been going on. I gave her a hug and she started crying even  more saying she hasn't hugged anyone in so long. Anyways...I learned a lot in that moment. The tiniest acts of service can mean so much to someone! LETS GO SERVE! 

April 23, 2018

Starting to get rid of all my clothes. Oeshly lookin good in one of my dresses haha

A new RM works in the fire station, so we are teaching a bunch of fire men ha. 

I Love Ocoa!

TRANSFERS! 

So I'm staying and ending my mission here in Ocoa. I was kinda hoping to have one more area, but I can't complain cause I'm getting an American! Which will be great cause I will be able to relearn English haha. I'm excited to see what else God needs me to do here in this area. I plan to eat lots of mangos, drink lots of coconut water, kick it and teach lots more Dominicans! It will be a good last transfer!

We had the miracle of a baptism! Anel is the smartest kid I know! He's great! His grandpa died several weeks back. His grandpa was a very strong member of the church. When that happened Anel wanted to learn more about the church of his grandpa, and was baptized exactly three weeks later! He's great. 

April 9, 2018

We went to the caves and waterfall. Again.

So I'm pretty sure last week I did something amazing. I think I helped make an eternal marriage happen! I told one of the single male members here in Ocoa to talk to one of my converts in my other area. So they are now chatting almost every time i see this member. Jokingly, but maybe talking real talk, he told me I might have to come back to visit to be a witness at their wedding!!! And that he really likes her!! So that was probably the highlight of the week!  because I can't say we had the most successful week. We had four baptismal dates planned for the next two weeks, and they all fell through. which is too bad, but we are contacting like crazy to find new people to teach. 

Life is super fun these days. I'm just trying to live it up as much as possible with the time I have left! I've been rereading old journal entries and just thinking about how amazing the mission has really been. It's amazing how much I've grown. Reading my first entries until now. wow haha. I feel so blessed for what I've learned and the testimony that I now have. 

April 2, 2018

You may be asking why I'm a liar. Well.. it's because everyone thinks I like habichuelas con dulce. What is habichuelas con  dulce? The direct translation is sweet beans. Pretty much it's like refried beans with milk and sugar and cinnamon. You can eat it hot or cold but whatever way you eat it, it's terrible. At least I think so. The Dominicans love it, and the week of Easter, it's tradition to make it. So just about every house we went to they gave us some. I'm feelin pretty good that I'm in a new week that doesn't have disgusting traditions.!!

Conference was great. Well the parts we saw...the power went out several times. But our new prophet is starting with a bang! woohooo for revelations from God. 

This week our convert Luis asked me how to pay his money to God. We pulled out the tithing slip and he paid his very first tithe!!. 

There's no better way to spend Easter than as a representative of Jesus Christ. Here on the mission, I've come to love Him so much more. I've come to know Him so much more. I truly stand all amazed at what he did for us. I'm so thankful for my Savior Jesus Christ. He lives, which makes it possible that we all will live again. What joy and what peace He brings. 

We had a dope service project making bread and building rabbit cages. What better combination.

March 26, 2018

I just have to say God works in wonderful ways! It was a truly an inspired thought when about a monthish ago we felt like we should start mutual for the youth. Ever since then we have been doing our best to get the youth programs going. We have been working lots with young men and young women. And this Saturday 5 youth were baptized! Two young men who dress like punks, but who are the best kids ever. Wilson and Yafer. And three young women. Davierica, Estefani, and Rimi. 

They are so great! And the number of attendance on Sundays has grown sooo much with all these wonderful youth, and them bringing their friends! It's so great. They are definitely some future leaders and missionaries! 

March 19, 2018

I've been trying to notice the little miracles lately, and it's really cool! The other day we were headed to an appointment and saw a sweet, tiny old lady on the street sitting all alone. So we stopped and talked to her for a bit. She had a lot to say and it was very clear that she was pretty lonely. Also she's on her way of having 102 years of age!! Not gonna lie. Sometimes I get caught up in only taking my time for people who really have potential of progressing and getting baptized. But I've been trying to slow down and just help everyone. Obviously this fragile old lady probably won't enter the waters of baptism in this life, but it was such a tender moment to just sit and talk to a daughter of God. 

Also as Hermana leader you gotta make sure all the sisters are good and healthy. There is this companionship that I hadn't heard from in a while. I kept thinking about calling them but then got distracted with something else. But finally a lil later I actually did call, and it turns out the hermana was pretty sick and needed medical help, but hadn't called anyone. I'm thankful for the Spirit guiding me in every little thing.

 

And the last little miracle. Our investigator Wilson, who will be baptized next Saturday, told us this week about a dream he had. In it he was getting baptized and helping us teach others the gospel. After he explained his dream he said in the sweetest way. "I just felt proud to be a member."

I'm thankful for the little miracles God gives us everyday! 

March 12, 2018

Life is good! We are teaching some real nice people. We just had transfers, which means I'm in my second to last transfer. It also means that our district changed a lot, which is too bad. It was almost an all Utahan district. The elders were talking about this new exercise routine that after a certain amount of time, it's supposedly guaranteed that you will be able to dunk the ball after. It doesn't even matter how tall you are. haha So now I'm doing this jumping workout to help me dunk. So watch out everyone. I'm gonna come back dunking. 

The other day we were walking trying to find a house and there were some kids playing baseball. One of them called me over and asked where I'm from, so I responded. Then he said with a wink, "Ah, you've got my visa rubia. Let's get married and you can take me to the United States."

I was in shock and started busting up. I asked him how old he was and he said 18, but his friends behind him were saying he's 10, which was obviously the correct answer. Then I just walked away laughing. But the house wasn't in that direction so we had to turn around and pass them again and as we passed, the 10 year old said,
"Rubia, look I've even got armpit hair" to try and convince me he was 18. Then he took off his shirt and pointed at his armpit!!. 

I was dying. You hear stuff like that about the visa from men almost on the daily, but this lil 10 year old kid. Yikes. What has this world come to. But yeah, gave me a good laugh. 

No one in this lil branch plays the piano, and I'm the music leader here and sometimes I literally have no idea what the songs are, so i just kinda try to start and pretend i know what song it is, and then everyone joins in so it's all good. But dang, this Sunday our branch president picked the most obscure hymns that i had never even seen. so i did my classic fake it till ya make it and just wait for everyone else to join in and sing, but noooo one knew these songs either. It was a pretty rough sacrament meeting. Everyone just trying to sing every hymn the way they thought was right. hope it didn't scare away the first timers in church. 

So yeah, the mish is dope and fun and cool. 

March 5, 2018

The dopest baptism!! Two amazing youth and the most wonderful couple!! Luis and Cruzita

Baby!

The first mutual this rama has had in ages!! It was very succesaful and fun! 

SUCH A GOOD WEEK! This week four amazing people entered the waters of baptism. Yoaly, Oeshly, AND LUIS and CRUZITA!! 

Yoaly and Oeshly are wonderful young ladies. The young women's program is really coming along these days with new converts and reactivations of less actives. Also this branch had their first mutual that was very successful. The youth are amazing. In church yesterday we were explaining tithing to one of our converts and so she paid and then all the other youth went and grabbed the tithing slips and put whatever bit of money they had in their envelopes and gave it to president. So tithing is the new cool thing to do here in Ocoa! So great to see youth giving the little that they have to God. 

But anyways, the baptism was so amazing and wow! It was one of the most amazing things to see my favorite couple get baptized together. I've learned sooo much from them. Especially Luis. I learned that sacrifice is love. He sacrificed so much to enter the waters of baptism. He gave up his smoking habit that he had since the age of 13. It was hard for him, but he did it for the love he had for Jesus Christ and his church. He sacrificed working on Sundays, even though those were some of his busiest days on his avocado farm. But with every little sacrifice he made, he did it with so much love and so much desire to follow the commandments of God.

 

When he entered the waters of baptism I couldn't decide if it was better to watch him or his wife, Cruzita. I will never forget the sweet look on her face as she watched her husband be baptized. Such a tender smile with such happy eyes full of love for Luis and for the decision they made together to be baptized. At the end, all four of the newly baptized members bore their testimonies and the spirit was soo strong. Ahhh I can't explain it. And then the awkward but still spiritual part was when I was leading the last hymn that talked about the example of Jesus Christ and I just start shedding tears in front of everyone and trying to sing with them. But the spirit was just testifying that these four people really did just do exactly what Jesus Christ taught us, and were baptized in his church and I just felt beyond humbled that God allowed me to play a small part in it all. Definitely one of the best nights on my mission. I love all my converts and people I've taught but Luis and Cruzita will always have a very special place in my heart.