November 13, 2017

This week I sent my comp home to Guatemala and I received my new companion from Brazil. She loves to sing the most random American songs, but doesn't know the meaning of what she's saying haha. But I'm teaching her. She wants to speak the language of cats...She wants to marry Captain America. She loves anime and in her free time she's drawing anime or writing a fantasy. She has the absolute biggest fear of dogs which is a bad fear to have here in the DR cause there are dogs all over in the streets and she grabs me and starts freaking out as we pass them. Also she is either pretty quiet and laid back or she has so much energy that she doesn't know how to control it and she just starts doing a lil dance type thing and being super happy. haha She's funny. 

This week we had the opportunity to hear from Elder Cook who was here in the DR. He said some really amazing things about missionary work that just gave me so much excitement to do this work. whooohooo Then he started talking about his divine calling as an apostle. and then he got quiet and everyone was just waiting for what he would say and the spirit was so strong and then he said ¨i know the Savior's face, and I know the Savior's voice. I've always heard that yes, these men are special witnesses of Jesus Christ but in that moment hearing this man, this apostle of God say those words.. ahh I don't know it was a feeling i can't explain. i was just filled with joy knowing that the leaders of our church really do know our Savior and that this isn't a church led by them but a church led by God and Jesus Christ because they receive instruction from them, whether its through inspiration through the holy ghost or through physically talking to them. WOW but knowing this gives us all the more reason to listen intently to their words and instructions because they are the words and instructions of God and Jesus Christ who are at the head of this church.  

November 6, 2017

 I don't know why she kept her glasses on for the pics but I didn't wanna ask...

Also yaya i got my hands on a guitar this week and played a lil song for Rosa at her baptism.

My zone rented a big bus and we took some of our investigators to the temple! It was a good time! 

This week was the baptism of my dear Rosa. So my whole time here in Herrera we have visited the cute old lady Hermana Areas. She's been a member for 30 years but now she's too old to get to church or do much. So we go over and read the scriptures with her and sing with her. And all this time I've noticed the in-house worker, Rosa. She lives with her and takes care of her. And about 6 weeks ago we invited her to come and read with us. And she loved it. Then we brought her her own Book of Mormon and then we threw in some lessons. Then she started coming to church, and now she's a baptized member! She's a funny weird lady. She gets so passionate talking about God and she starts moving her hands lots and kinda yelling....haha and that's exactly what she did this Sunday after she was confirmed a member. She got up at the pulpit and started talking super loud in the mic and everyone was a lil caught off guard but it was the sweetest, most energetic, happiest testimony I've ever seen! I'm soooo happy for her and so thankful for the hand of God in this work and for the chance to teach some of his children soooooo prepared! 

This week I was hit with a cold and fever and I learned a few things. According to Dominicans if you have a cold you shouldn't wash your hair or do the dishes cause i guess the dish soap and shampoo aren't good for the health. Also I drank soooo many different home made remedies that were terrible. Dominicans are strange but I love em. 

October 30, 2017

 The chunkiest baby I've ever seen. awwwwwww

My sweet Rosa had her interview for baptism! yaya Next Saturday is her big day! 

Also, this pic with Rosa... I promise that's not sweat on my shirt. Those lil boys with the CTR rings threw water on me. 

 This week one of my investigators told me I look like a cat cause I have green eyes. So I guess I look like a poofy dog cause of my hair and a cat cause of my eyes haha. ahh Speaking of my hair....several women in my ward right now have offered to take me to a salon so my hair can be straight and not so ¨"uncombed" haha But I've started telling them this is the way God made it and how He wants my hair and we can't do anything about it. It gets them to back off for a bit. haha

This week my comp and I threw down a lil Book of Mormon stand. it was really fun, just trying to talk to everyone who passed, talkin' 'bout this supah gooood book. Out of the hour and a half we were out there we only had one woman stop and talk to us. The rest were men haha.  All the women that passed just told us to get an umbrella for the sun and continued on. But I've got faith that at least one of those men will find more from that experience than just talking to two female foreigners, but that he will actually read this book and come to know the truth.

I love serving the mission because time and time again the spirit just testifies to me of the truth of this church. The other day we were teaching Charley, our boy band investigator hah and we had an incredible lesson where the spirit was so strong and Charley just kept saying "I feel good, I feel peace" and it's just so true that this gospel just makes you feel good. i can't imagine living without this peace that it brings. I've learned so much here on the mission and one thing is that we can create moments for ourselves where we can hear and feel the spirit. Put dat phone away, go somewhere quiet and invite the spirit into yo life! It's as easy as that. We have a Heavenly Father who wants so badly to talk to us, and he's just waiting for some peace and quiet and a little bit of our focus on the important things in life....and just like that we can create a very spiritual moment for ourselves and hear the things that God wants us to hear.  

October 23, 2017

My lil Haitian family. Well, not very little. Five adorable kids. I love this fam so much and the faith they have. They have been living in their tiny house without power for 16 days now. We were soooo close to having everything ready for them to be married and for the mom to be baptized, but now we discovered they don't have some document..... Neither of the parents have a job right now.....They have many reasons to be down-hearted. But they always have so much happiness and they trust in God so much that he will soon have everything work out. They are such a good example to be happy in the hard times, and no matter what, put your trust and faith in God. This night, in the darkness of their little house the kids were dancing around and we were all laughing and having a good time. Even with the trials we have, we can always find something to be happy about.

There is this thing called Dominican time. Which means if we put a time to leave with a member, or we have a meeting or anything where you put a time....it will actually be about 20 to 30 min after the actual time we put. So part of the mission life is lots of waiting. 

October 16, 2017

All my comps haha 

You know the song Concrete Jungle? Yeah, it actually wasn't talking about New York. It was talking about Herrera

My cutie pie Adriana lookin good for church

So this week I will hit nine months in the mission. To be honest, not quite sure how I feel about the fact that I am already halfway done with the mission. Time is going by a lil too fast. Teaching people the truth all day errday is da best and I don't want it to end!

This week God blessed us bigtime! We were out contacting an area we had never been and weren't having much success. but then we came upon this building with two apartments. So we climbed the stairs and were met by this cute dog that led us to this open door. And there in this apartment sat a 24 year old Haitaian man as if he was just waiting for us to come to his door. We shared with him about the Book of Mormon, and then we somehow got on the topic of priesthood and this power that worthy men can have. I shared about how blessed I have been in my life to have men who hold the priesthood and some of the amazing things that the priesthood can do, and then he said "I want that. What do I have to do to have this?" Then we talked about the gift of the holy ghost. and he said the same thing. "I want this. What do i need to do to have these things? What can I do to be a part of this?" My comp and I just looked at each other in awe and then we told him he had to be a baptized member. Then he said. "Okay, I like things fast. And I want these things as soon as possible, so when can I do this?" Then we asked him to be baptized on November 4th. and he said yes!! 

I was literally so giddy during and after that lesson. God had his hand in this experience. The fact that we decided to go to that area, walk down that road, go to that buidling. It was all the Spirit guiding us. I am so thankful for the gift of the Holy Ghost and priesthood power. And so thankful that Heavenly Father led us to Jessy so he can soon have these amazing blessings! 

October 9, 2017

Everyone says I look like Shakira. Literally one of the things I hear most these days. 

Also I think hurricane Irma and Maria just arrived a lil late. The other night it started to doooownpour while we were walking home, and then that night the lightning and thunder that was goin' down was insane. I've never heard thunder so loud. Our apartment building was shaking and car alarms were going off, all due to the thunder. It was a pretty good time.

               So we are teaching this guy named Charlie. He started talking to us on the street one night in English and at first I thought he was just one of the flirts on the street so I gave him kind of a half-hearted greeting, but then we ended up talking for a bit and discovered that this guy is awesome and he's searching for the truth. Anyways so we've been teaching him, and turns out he was in this boy band back in the day. And during one lesson he went on and on about it and showed us pics too. Some of the pics were so posed and so cheesy, it was hard to not bust up laughing. So ya. I'm teaching the equivalent of a Backstreet Boy. Just Dominican. So dat's pretty cool.  

                  The mission is so great these days. I have such a love for this work. It really is the Lord's work and as a missionary I'm representing Jesus Christ. I've been trying to remember that more, and I've just been able to feel the love that our brother and Savior has for each person. I'm so grateful for this time in my life as a missionary. yayayayay

October 2, 2017

I could die, because of the amount of food people give us. At one house we get a giant plate of rice and meat, at the next a giant plate of pasta, and then later that night we get some more rice from someone else. And these meals are always paired with soda, and ah, its just too much these days. 

I have a new comp. Hermana Yillatoro. She's from Guatemala and it looks like I'm walking with a 10 year old all day. I'm not very tall myself, but this women is tiny. i will be "killing" her as the missionaries are calling it these days, as in this is her last transfer, and I'm her last comp. She loves using her selfie stick.

Two miracles went down this week. The first one: Jenny got baptized. Woohooo. After a good amount of time investigating the church, she finally felt ready and knew the truth. After she got out of the font, she just gave me a big wet hug. My heart was just so full knowing that this amazing daughter of God finally made the best choice in her life. 

The other miracle: To make a long story short we were called to do intercambios with the MTC. All the MTC kids were very late, so it would have been pointless to travel back to our areas with only like an hour to proselyte, but guess what. We were in my old area Piantini. So I went and visited my convert, Leonnel, who now has the priesthood! and has an even stronger testimony than before. It was so great to see him, and see how the gospel has just become part of his life. It's still something new to him but he has just embraced it. It made me think. cause i was born in the church as many of us are, and its always just been there. It's never really been something new for me...for us, which is okay because we have always had a sense of this wonderful knowledge, but like Leonel, a new convert, we need to always be actively learning about the church we are in. We can't get lazy because we have had it our whole lives. We need to be doing the little things that new converts are so excited about. reading the scriptures, going to church, listening to the words of the leaders of the church. During conference this weekend i was sitting next to Marilin who was baptized last Saturday, so very new in the church. and she was just so excited and listening so intently to their words and every time she liked something they said, she would look at me and just give a smile and a big nod agreeing with what they were saying. These converts may be new but their testimonies are so so strong because they are actively learning more about their new church...their new life as a member. 

it just opened my eyes that we as long-time members can't get in the rut of thinking we have enough because we have been members our whole lives. We need to be like the new excited converts who are ready at any moment to obtain more knowledge and a stronger testimony of their church. well yep...thats all. love you all!!!