January 29, 2018

Baby goat!

I might have to bring a Dominican baby home with me.

This is Luis and his avocado farm. He's down to 3 cigarettes per day.

Five in the morn for a beachside devotional.

So this tiny branch I'm in is lost. It's a branch of about 35 active members, and when I say active, I mean they go to church on Sundays...and that's about it. They don't do their callings at all. The branch president is supposedly sick all the time, so he can't do anything. His counselor is super lazy. Relief society doesn't do anything. There's not a young women's program. The young men's president just moved. We never ever have ward council. We don't have a ward mission leader.

This Saturday we had a baptism planned. The girl showed up who was going to be baptized and then 45 min later, her brother showed up to baptize her. But we didn't have witnesses or anything. We were calling and calling all of the priesthood holders but only one showed up. Then they suggested we have the baptism the next morning. My comp was furious at everyone! So we planned to do the baptism at 8am before church. But then the girl that was being baptized didn't show up, but it didn't even matter cause only one priesthood holder showed up.

The stake president came to our branch yesterday and our branch president walked in the sacrament meeting when it was almost over. The stake president wasn't too happy with what he saw. So long story short is that this branch has a long way to go. but after this experience I have even more of a desire to do all I can in the time i have here in Ocoa. Yesterday the young women had their first class in ages and we are going to have a meeting with the president to help her get things organized. We are going to meet with the branch president to actually set goals and get members callings to get them more involved. I'm excited though. It will be a fun lil challenge and with the guidance of Heavenly Father, I know real soon this branch will become an actual functioning branch in the church of God.  

January 22, 2018

Hey fammmmm,

So last Monday Mom sent me the story about how Bruce had gotten the emergency alert about a missle going towards Hawaii and the emotions that went down in that 30ish minutes. When I read it, I couldn't help but start crying a bit, cause wow, that would be the worst thing ever. But what a good reminder it was to not take the people you love for granted. I loved what President Nelson said in the funeral of President Monson, how President Monson always said it was important to say I love you more. It's so true, cause who knows when the death of a loved one can happen. It's like that moment when Bruce saw the emergency alert and thought those were his last goodbyes. 
So pretty much this is just a letter to tell you all I love you. I'm not expecting to die but I just want you all to know how thankful I am for each of you. I honestly hit the jackpot with the fam I got. I'm so thankful that we will have the chance to be together for eternity if each of us makes the correct choices. Let's not have anyone missing up there in heaven! Each of you have played such a big part in my life. 

Dad, you make me laugh more than anyone. I've always tried to look on the bright side and have a good attitude, and I have you to thank for that. You always try to look on the bright side of things. 90-10 rule. So I'm thankful for the way you've taught me to look at life. Also your three Ps have helped me so much in the mission. Positivity, prayer and patience. 

Mom, all the talents I have are thanks to you. You were the one that suggested Joe and I take guitar lessons. Then you were the one that forced me to sing with my guitar. Remember when we were gonna sing at the Tulip Festival and I was sooooo mad at you cause I didn't want to sing in front of anyone hah. But you've always pushed me to strengthen my talents. Whether it's a pottery class or helping me sew something, just always there to encourage me to learn new things. In every occasion you've put your family first. and I've always noticed that and love that about you. 

Bruce...well couldn't have asked for a better or cooler big bro. All the coolness this fam has was planted by your seeds haha. It's incredible to me your faith and desire to do exactly what God wants you to do. You are so prayerful in your decisions and it's always so clear that the decisions you've made were not just your own opinions and desires but it was a decision you made with Heavenly Father. I'll never forget the time we spent traveling together. Some big bro time very much needed in my life.

Veronica. You've been my girl since day one. God knew what he was doing when he put us as sisters cause without you i would be lost. Before you left on your mission I never really had good, close friends cause i didn't need them. I had you and that was perfect for me. You've been my best friend since we were lil lasses and I know you will always be my best friend. You're so humble. Like when you notice something in your life that you want to make better or change, you start immediately to better yourself. You serve everyone and have such a love for people.

Joooee my baby brother. I use that term every time I show a pic of my fam to anyone, cause you're still my baby bro no matter how big or adult-like you are. Joe, my baby brother, you are such an example of hard work and how if you have a goal that you want to reach you gotta work at it. You're such a good  leader and example to the fam and all your friends.

Well I could go on and on about each of you, but just know I love you all sooooo much. I hope you know the effects you've had in my life.

Yay for when a whole less active family comes to church for the first time in ages!

Also, yay for giant pigs! I was so pumped.

BeBo got baptized! His sister was baptized a few years ago and he never showed interest in the church until she left for the mission. He's the funniest kid. He's waiting to be signed to play baseball. I guess he's super good and he says when he's rich he's gonna buy a big house with a pool and have two pitbulls haha. 

This week I hit a year in the mission. It has without a doubt been the best year of my life. Thinking back to the MTC, it's crazy how fast the time has passed. It's been hard at times, but with each difficulty I've grown and that's the thing that I've noticed most out here in the mission. How I've grown. My testimony is the strongest it's ever been. I feel like little by little I'm learning to become more of the person God wants me to be. There is such a joy that being a missionary brings. It's indescribable to teach and watch people obtain a testimony. For example, we are teaching an atheist right now and the other day, he prayed for the first time in years. When he told us, I was just so happy. This week, BeBo was baptized and when he came out of the font he had the biggest smile on his face. This gospel brings joy, so much joy, and I've felt it more on my mission than ever. It's my favorite thing ever to help others feel some of the joy it can bring. I'm thankful that God sent me to the DR. I love these people and this country with all my heart. And I love my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ even more! 

January 15, 2018

Cute 97 year old man.

 MUY IMPORTANTE! We need all the prayers we can get for our investigator Luis. About two weeks ago we were at the house of a new investigator who wasn't answering the door, but on the level above there was a shirtless man smoking and he told us his daughter who lives there wasn't home. So then I asked him if we could share a quick scripture with him. He said yes and invited us to go around to his front door. In this moment my comp was in one of her moods and got mad at me for talking to a shirtless man who was smoking. But we got to the front door and there he was with a shirt on, and his wife behind him. So they invited us in, and we got to know them a lil bit and discovered that they are married! Wooohooo that's a miracle to meet a married couple here in the DR. Anyways we shared with them, and just wow! In the first meeting they were so great, so I was feelin pretty pumped, not only to have met some solid new people to teach but also that my companion had to take back her words about me talking to a shirtless smoking man. #naturalman 

So we returned the next week and taught them and saw even more of just how amazing they are, so we asked them to be baptized if they gain a testimony of this church. They said yes and then the husband asked what our rules were so he could be prepared to be baptized. We talked about the word of wisdom. They both have problems with coffee and he has his problems with smoking, but his first reaction was "okay I need to quit smoking then." Later we talked about setting goals. He told us he smokes 10 cigarettes a day, so we suggested trying to only do 5 a day to start with. But Luis said "No I will only do 3 a day". haha But he has such faith and such a desire to follow Christ. He has all the potential to leave this habit. It will be a challenge but I know God will help him through this trial! Love you all! 

January 8, 2018

This last Sunday this family walked into church with their dog on a leash. Then the woman took the lil dog off the leash and wrapped it up in a blanket, and the entire sacrament meeting, she held this dog in a blanket like a baby. And then this Sunday a different little dog was walking around the church building and nobody questioned why. It was like it was a regular thing to have this dog in church. I guess in the coming Sundays I will find out if this is like a normal thing here to have dogs in church, but this is definitely the first time I've seen dogs in church. haha

I've loved being able to teach with the new year. It's fun to hear people's goals, and those who don't have goals, to help them set goals. Many times people don't realize that God is there to help with any type of goal. They think they are on their own. But that's not the case at all. It doesn't matter if your goal is temporal or spiritual, God is there to help cause if it's important to us, it's important to him. He wants us to be the happiest possible, and when we complete goals we feel good and accomplished and happy. So that's what he wants for us. We will complete more of our temporal goals, with the help of God if we put our spiritual goals as first priority. And this is the part I love, because with a new year, it really is a fresh start. we can leave the past behind and look forward with hope. I was thinking about how if this was my last year here on earth, how would I want to use my time, who would I  want to become? it just pushes me so much more to do the things that I really need to do to please God because in the long run, lots of things won't matter, but what will matter is what we do to strengthen our testimony of this gospel, or what we do to make our relationship with God and Jesus Christ better. Sometimes we feel like this life is long and that we have time to spare, but it's not. This is only a tiny part of eternity and we need to act now on the goals that will bring us closer to our Savior so that we can be prepared to meet him! Let's make this year the best one yet!! 

January 2, 2018

I'm in my new area! and I love it! We are up real high in the mountains, which will make for some good p-days. This p-day we hiked to a waterfall and caves with some youth in our ward. It was super fun and pretty and cool until something got in my eye as you can see in this pic of me in the cave with my eye a lil red. This was like 10 min after the thing got in my eye, but several hours later I couldn't even open my eye it was so swollen and red. And it  hurt so bad to open it and so our branch president took me to the doc to get it cleaned out. Funny thing is that last week for p-day we were playing baseball with our investigator in the pic above. He's only 12 just so you know. haha Anyways I suck at baseball and was trying to swing at the ball but then the ball hit my eye and I had a lil black eye for several days. Soooooo.....my right eye has been though a lot here in my new area, but all is well! There is lots of work to be done here and I'm pumped to try and grow this lil branch with lots of new members! woohooo. feliz ano nuevo!