Week 15

I call this one ¨And Now... We wait.¨

This week has honestly been one of the coolest! I love teaching people and I love living in paradise. We are still passing by our less active members which I am actually starting to enjoy! We had a couple come to church this last week so I love seeing things work out with hard work! We have been teaching probably 4 to 7 lessons a day which actually kinda sucks but we are having a difficult time being lied to.. We get told by our less active members to pass by at a certain time but the time they tell us, is when they arent at home. So when we pass by a house early, I feel like an episode of Cops because we sneak up on them and we make them have that deer in the headlights look. Its priceless! I love teaching the people because they have a testimony, but you just have to dig down to find it! But I have to tell you about my favorite less active. I have fallen in love with her. She is honestly the apple of my eye of a less active member. Her name is Dolores and she is wonderful. She is 70 something years old but her testimony is of an RM. She has been talking with her Evangelic friends and she commited her friend to come to church this sunday, along with her. I told her I was so thankful for her example and she gave me a huge smile and I just wanted to hug her. It kills me that she has been so less active but she is doing missionary work. So weird. But we are truly building a church! It is so amazing here, the change that is going on! Well that is all for this week. I have an intercambio or companion exchange with Elder Hudson tomorrow and we are going to literally baptize all of his investigators tomorrow. We kill the game every time we are companions! Well I love and miss you all!

Elder Garfield

Week 14

My week has been wonderful. I call it ¨The Mission Santiago¨

I dont think I could have been sent to a better place than here! This place is truly paradise and each day gets so much more amazing. I have been putting all my trust in Christ and giving my heart to him and it has helped me do so much in my life. I think I change everyday! But this week has been great. We have been asked to continue visiting the less actives and talk with investigators on the side. We had 2 families come back to church last week and the branch welcomed them with smiles and open arms! I am so greatful I am in San Fran 4 with Elder Grover because he has taught me so much and gave me so many tips about this mission! This Monday, we had interviews with the President and I have to say, I have one of the best men in the world as my Mission President. He is so amazing and has giving me some useful tips in how I can not only change my area, but my whole view of this mission. I have been reading Jesus the Christ and have intense scripture study every morning and I must say, My mind gets blown everyday. So many things I didnt realize before my mission that I am just finding out. I am finally a missionary and I am madly in love with my mission. I am so thankful I got sent to this mission with such amazing people here to help me and guide me. My faith and knowledge of Christ has gone through the roof in just this last week, it is insane! Well thats all for this week! love and miss you all!

Pictures

 

Week 13

 This one is called Give Your Heart to the Lord.

This week has probably been one of the most spiritual weeks I have had here. We got asked by our Branch President last thursday to visit our near 300 less active members in our branch and share a message with them and invite them back to church. At the first thought,I just thought I was destined to not have any baptisms on this mission and I am going to go home looking like a loser after 2 years. But I decided to pray about it and ask Heavenly Father why I have to work so much with members and not investigators. So in my morning study on Friday, I decided to read a talk titled the 4th missionary! It blew me away! It talks about YOU are the decider of YOUR mission. If you want to find success, GIVE YOUR HEART TO THE LORD! I decided I was going to go throught this week sharing my testimony and ask inspired questions to all of our less active members. The first few was awkward because my spanish is no where near Dominican but I didnt stop! As I kept asking questions and sharing my testimony, people could feel the spirit and thanked me for my testimony! This last sunday, we had 4 less active member families visit church, all which I shared my testimony with! It is so amazing this work that I am doing here! I am so greatful to be here and doing the Lords work! It is so amazing to have the oppertunity to be here and love these people with all my heart! I hope to continue to see the same change this week as we visit the other 200 less active members. I love you all and hope all is well!

Elder Garfield

Week 12

I am going to name this one ¿QUE LO QUE?

So I am now living DR life. This week has been such an interesting one that I am going to explain it the best I can in words. So this weekend was Gen Conference. On friday we went past every member, less active and Investigators house to invite and remind them we have Gen Con on Sat and Sun. Waking up on Sat. I was super excited to see all of our wonderful members of the church and hopefully see some new faces. In all of the Sessions, guess how many of our investigators and less actives showed up: 0. Yep! None! Freaking Vainas! I was quite upset but General Conference was amazing! I got to watch it in English with Elder Pace, Hudson and the Hermanas. It was wonderful! I loved Elder Hollands and Bednars and Dube´s and Uchtdorfs! they were all amazing! Monday I woke up and have never been so homesick in my life. I just wanted to come home. So I did what I thought was best: Prayed. It was amazing. Such a transformation in my day. I went from hating being here to knowing that this is where I need to be! I freaking love the DR even thought the people Chupa (suck) as investigators! I can see a change in the future so I am preparing myself for that! We are splitting SAN FRAN 4 into two parts and guess who is the other elder!? Elder Grover! He is going to be in my district! I am so excited for that! this week has been a Dominican Roller Coaster but that is going to be my next 2 years and I am ready for it! I love and miss you guys so much! Hasta Luego!

Week 11

This week is called The Black Sheep.

So this week has made me realize I truly love this place! On Thursday of last week, we went on Companion Exchanges and I was paired up with Elder Hudson. We were assigned to proslyte in his area. So he came and picked me up, we walked back to his house, planned and went to work. In lack of better words, we killed the game. We taught everyone, I could understand everything and I put in 50 percent. It was amazing. The only 2 contacts we did were both successful and they plan on coming to church this Sunday. It boosted my confidence so much! We had a huge storm on Saturday and it flooded one of the members house so we went and visited them on Sunday and planned for service tomorrow. Yesterday I had my 5 week reunion in the mission and I can say I am the top 5 Spanish speaker in my group, everyone is so surprised. After we went to the Reuninion, we drove to Nagua to the District leaders house and got set up for the night to go the beach in the mornign. We slept on the roof of their house under the stars and it was one of the most memorable parts of my mission. We woke up at 6 in the mornign this morning to go to the beach where we played football, soccer and softball! It was such an amazing beach and I will send pictures next week! I love you and miss you all!

The answers is no, the mission pays for the rent. We eat at members house only on sunday, I have not seen Elder Day yet but we planned a beach visit in 3 weeks and I think that was all the questions.

 

He said he gets to watch Conference in English at the Chapel and he is so excited.