My Last Email

Well, my mission is over. It has been incredible! I have changed so much and my testimony has grown so strong. 

This week was good. I was fasting and praying really hard for Jay to get baptized this week. She was sick during the week so she had to work on Sunday so she couldn't get baptized but I feel fine. She will probably get baptized this Saturday. I feel at peace about it.

Even though Jay didn't get baptized this other lady named Ina did. She is from the other area but we are in a tripanionship right now so I had a baptism this week haha. Her daughters have been members forever and she just didn't want to change from being catholic. The other day she just decided to get baptized and threw away all her catholic paintings and stuff. I got to do her baptismal interview and it was really cool. The baptism was really good and Jay got to go watch and she liked it. 

My mission has changed my life. I have loved being a missionary and wouldn't trade this experience for anything. I have seen many miracles in my 2 years here. I know that God is real and that He knows us. He sent His son, Jesucristo, to die for us. I love God and I love Jesus. I have been so blessed being a missionary. There are so many things that I have in my heart but I can't share them all. Ill talk more about it in Utah. I cant believe that my time here is up. Its very sad. I don't want to go but it will be good to be back. The Book of Mormon is SO true. Its the best book in the world. I read it everyday and will continue to read it everyday until I die. I love Spanish. Amo a la Republica Dominicana. Amo a mi Salvador. En el nombre de Jesucristo. Amen.

I'll show you all my pictures when I get home. These are from this week.

Some strange fruit called pitajaya or something like that PEET-AH-HI-AH

These are the young single adults of SALCEDO! I love them all. I will miss Salcedo.

Ardiente, Caliente

This week has been hot! Fevers, and fires in the street, and investigators making moves.

I got super sick this week. We went out to teach for a while, but I felt bad so we went home for an hour. We had some important appointments in the afternoon so I left with a fever of 102.1. Caliente! Then the first one wasn't even there so we taught the second person we had. I still felt sick, but I contacted this dude and he tells us that he hasn't ever been baptized and that he has been thinking about it lately and that he wants to get baptized. KHAN!

We have been teaching Jay for a while and she is doing really good. She has a baptismal date for Saturday but if she drinks she can't get baptized. Her whole family always drinks and we know that its hard for her. She disappeared for a few days and we got really nervous and I had a dream that she drank. But we found her on Sunday and had just been sick. And she told us that she hasn't drunken!

On Monday there was a riot in the whole Cibao (the north part of the country). They made us stay in our house the whole entire day. It was the first day of my mission in the field that I didn't go out to preach. I read a lot of the Book of Mormon though and updated the area book and cleaned the house so it was good. 

On our street they were burning some tires haha. There was a lot of smoke. It was cool. The whole day we could hear gunshots from all around Salcedo. 

I love the mission. The gospel is true. It makes me happy.

VIVA LA REPUBLICA DOMINICANA

stitches

This week was awesome!

First off, there are 4 elders in our house and so its not always super calm. My companion got his eyebrow split open at 10 at night so we had to go out into the world after 9 30. It was so weird. We went to this clinic by our house and they gave him 3 stitches. HAHA! It was awesome.

We are teaching a lot of awesome people right now. Jay went to church again. We were teaching her and Francisco walked in. He hadn't shared with us for a long time but Jay told him to sit down and basically begged him to go to church with her the next day and he went! She does more missionary work than lots of the members here haha. She has a baptismal date for the 17th, my last Saturday in the mission. Pray for her. She has the desire but she struggles a little with the word of wisdom so any prayers that are offered in her sake will be greatly appreciated. 

We found this 17 year old girl a while ago but she lives half the time in a far away city that's also part of our area. She came to Salcedo for the weekend and we talked to her. She went to church on Sunday! Wooooh! She really needs the gospel in her life. On Sunday afternoon we went over to her house to teach her and her mom. I asked her what her favorite part about church was and her mom said, ¨los acompañantes¨ Uhhhh. At least she went to church haha.

I love the mission. I have decided to stay here forever.

The church is true and the gospel blesses lives. Keep the commandments and you will be happier.

We are friends with the guy that manages this place and he gave us the keys this morning to go play. It was so fun.

que chevere

This week we had a zone conference in La Vega. It was my last zone conference ever! Me and a few other missionaries gave our last testimonies because we are going home at the end of this transfer. I can't believe that it so close.

We are teaching this really awesome Hatian family. The moms name is Enise and she is super prepared. She doesn't speak Spanish super good but she always tells us that she wants to change her life. She went to church alone on Sunday with her 1 year old daughter. She is a great example to me and she has a lot of faith. Whenever we decide to change and repent the Lord will accept us. Its up to us!

Also Jay went to church on Sunday. She is my favorite person that we are teaching. She is awesome! We were teaching her in her house and we got her sister to come listen. We were reading 3 Nefi 11 where Jesus comes to visit the Nefitas and her sister thought that it was really interesting. Jay invited her sister to church and told her that she was going to be baptized. GO JAY!

I like the mission. I don't want to go home but also I do. I'm going to miss this country a lot. The church is true. 

These are the only pictures I took so you guys can look at some other missionaries.

one month left

We saw some awesome things this week!

We committed a bunch of people to go to church on Sunday like always and a bunch of people bailed out on us Saturday night and Sunday morning. We got to church early and there was nobody there but right as it was about to start this lady that we have taught named Rosa walked in! It was a miracle.

We found Rosa a few weeks ago. We were SUPER far away from everything one morning and we were contacting. We went into this dead end street and talked to a few people. We talked to this lady that was really mean to us and she was a testigo de Jehova. We left and started walking up to the last 2 houses that were on the street. The lady told us that nobody was home up there. But we went anyways and found Rosa. She told us that she didn't know if she had felt the spirit before but that she wanted to. We have taught her a few times and she is really good.

On Thursday there was a big riot here. We didn't go into this one ghetto neighborhood that we had a few appointments in because we heard a bunch of gunshots over there. We stayed on the tranquilo part of Salcedo for the day, but we heard a bunch of gunshots from like 5 until 10. When they do riots they just make big fires in the streets with tires and then the police come and shoot guns. VIVA LA REPUBLICA DOMINICANA

This is Elder Amann from Arizona.

This is yaroa. Fries, chicken, cheese, ketchup, mayonnaise. WOWOWOWOW!!! I love it!

A Summer Miracle

Hello world,

This week was incredible!

On Tuesday we in a neighborhood that was pretty far away. We just got done teaching this lady and we were walking. I was pretty frustrated because she understood everything we taught really good but just said that she wouldn't got to church. As we were walking I started to think about miracles. I was thinking really deeply about it and while we were walking I said a little silent prayer and asked God to let us see a miracle that day.

We keep walking and we see this guy sitting outside his house. We go over and start talking to him. We introduce ourselves and guess what he says?!..... I'm catholic. So he wasn't the miracle we were looking for so we asked him for references and if there is a family with a new baby around. I've never ask that, but I did. So he sends us back the way we came and we go to the house that I had already taught at like 4 months ago. Nobody good was there so we go back the way we came from but we go down this street we passed the first time. 

So were walking and we get to this apartment building. I told my companion that we were going to go to the colmado because I was hungry then go find somebody that was going to get baptized on the second floor of the apartments. So we go up and the very first door we knock on a girl comes to the door and says that we can come back later. So we keep going and knock on this other door. This super nice guy came to the door and let us in. He lives with his wife and his 2 month old daughter. His name is Darlin and he has been talking a lot about the church with a member. His wife is Melissa and she used to talk to missionaries and she really likes our church. We gave them a Libro de Mormon and he hugged it and said that it meant a lot to them and that he was very grateful for it. I only have a few more weeks here so I don't know if Ill get to see their baptism but it was the miracle of my mission. I know that God heard my prayer and He answered it a lot quicker than I expected. It strengthened my testimony so much and Ill never go astray from the church or the commandments! God is real and He hears His children!

A lot of other good things happened this week. We finally had a few people come to church. Im still working really hard and Im going to miss the mission when I go so Im trying to make the most of it while I can.

The church is true!

pelota

Francisco didn't go to church on Sunday which was a real bummer, but his aunt did. We had taught her a few times and she is really cool and she talks A LOT. They both told us that they were going to church on Saturday night and on Sunday morning she comes walking in alone without Francisco. She said he didn't get to her house on time so she left him haha. But it was testimony meeting on Sunday and halfway through the meeting she just gets up and starts walking to the front hahaa. I got SUPER nervous because I didn't know what was going to happen but she said that she felt a lot of peace and she thanked everybody for their testimonies. She is the MVP! It was awesome! After she told some people that she wasn't a member, but that she would be.

On Sunday we went back to some people that I was teaching like 3 months ago because we have talked to entire neighborhoods and I don't know where to go to find new good people. It was actually really good and all 4 of them said that they would go to church. 

One of those people was this guy that read the bible 2 whole times but went to Santo Domingo to work for a while. But we read Moroni 8 with him and he said that he learned some new things about baptism. The Book of Mormon is true and we need it to understand the bible.

Today we went to San Francisco and played baseball. Soy Dominicano.

EL MAR

Hello world,

I'm writing you all from the Caribbean. I'm doing good. Salcedo is hard, but hard is good so Salcedo is good.

We are working really hard. I'm doing all that I can. The really good couple that we are teaching said that they don't have plans to get married. He has a testimony. He knows that this is the true church. I don't think she has as strong of a testimony as him, but she knows too. The hardest part about the mission is seeing things happen like that. We have taught a lot of people here in Salcedo that get to know that what we are teaching is true, but aren't willing to make the necessary changes to be baptized.

But some good news is that the kid we are teaching, Francisco, went to church. He has a baptismal date for the 13th of this month and he would be my first baptism here. He is a really good kid. It's kind of hard for him to focus in church but I didn't pay attention when I was 15 either.

I've learned a lot from the mission and I'm grateful for the opportunity God has given me to be here.

I had to go to Santo Domingo to get my residency renewed so we left Sunday night to Santiago. Monday morning we left at 6am and got back to Salcedo at 3. It was a little rough, but we got the see the OCEAN!!! It was awesome. This country is pretty.

la vida es un ciclo, lo que no sirve, yo no lo reciclo

Hello!

This week was good. We always work really hard no matter what and some weeks go better than others.

I feel satisfied with my work here. I am working as hard as I have ever worked in my mission and we find good people everyday. 

We found this lady named Miguelina who is trying to give a good example to her kid. She was very receptive to the message we shared with her and I see a lot of potential in her. I've been on every single street in this area but somehow we still find good people.

My companion ran into a wall super hard. hahaha

There was a cockroach in our house. We killed it like 3 times but it was still running around. My companion finished him with a sandal.

We have some really good people but they have some serious obstacles in their way. Alexander and Rosa are awesome. Alexander already has a really strong testimony, but Rosa is married to some dude in Panama so they can't get married for now. ugh. But they said they're going to talk to a lawyer. It seems pretty hard for them to get baptized, but I have faith. Pray for them.

This is Francisco. He is cool. haahha

This is Cokito. He got baptized a few weeks ago.

A dog.

It's mango season and everybody gives us giant bags of mangos. We can't eat them all so we have to do something productive with the ones we don't eat.

Me gusta la mision

We are teaching this really cool couple. I was talking about them in last weeks email but they are progressing really good. We taught them about the law of chastity and they want to get married. They got to church early on Sunday, like 20 minutes before us and they loved it. I went over to talk to them after sacrament meeting and Alexander said, ¨Esta es la iglesia verdadera.¨ This is the true church. I said,¨Amen.¨ The spirit testifies to people that have the desire to learn.

We are teaching this other really funny kid named Francisco. He talked to missionaries 2 years ago but didn't get baptized because they left and I guess missionaries just haven't talked to him since then. We put a baptismal date with him and he came to church on Sunday. He is a super funny kid and goofs off a lot.

We played basketball in this little arena here. It was cool. Ill send some pictures sometime.

We had interviews with Presidente Cowan. We talked about one of our investigators and about me going home. I started getting really sad because I only have 2 more months to be a missionary and help other people to change their lives and be happier. 

Some things have happened this week that have just made me realize how much better my life is when I keep the commandments. Sometimes its hard to be a missionary and keep all of the commandments but really its a lot harder to not live the Gospel and not have a strong relationship with God in your life. If you are reading this and are not satisfied with your life or how you feel I invite you to do something right now to get closer to God. The Gospel has blessed me so much. I feel good.

I love you all. Im only sending 9 more of these emails. The church is true.

WAWAWA

Hello world,

I'm still here in La Republica Dominicana and I love it!

Everything is going good over here. We were able to see some miracles here this week.

We have to talk to 130 new people every week and give them an opportunity to learn more about the gospel. Sometimes its hard to do because Salcedo is pretty small and we have to find time in between appointments to find people but its going really good. We are working hard to do it and it seems like contact numbers 125 to 130 are always good. We have found some really good people late at night when we are tired.

We found this couple that seems pretty good. We just shared something small with them the first visit. They had lots of good questions so we left them with 2 pamphlets to answer their questions. When we went back Alexander told us that he felt something different and that he read the whole folleto. He felt the spirit and noticed the difference from just reading a little. AWESOME!

On Saturday we were on our way to an appointment and we contacted this house. We talked to this kid and he said that he's never been to a church but his dad wants him to go. Turns out his dad got baptized in our church and he loves it. We went to their house in the morning to go with him and he was sleeping. We were yelling into the house for so long and his dad finally came to the door and said that he would try to send him. Then 5 minutes before sacrament meeting he got to church!!! It was awesome.

We were playing dominos in our house the other day. I don't know if anybody knows how to play but me and elder durham were loosing 114 to 419 and we were going to 500. We made an epic comeback. SOMO´ LO´ MA´ DURO´

WAWAWA por el mundo entero!

We play basketball all the time. I love it.

I've gotten used to the heat and humidity so I don't talk about it anymore but look at my shirt haha.

I bought a suit to take home!

Milagros

This week Elder Garcia left. It was really sad. We were together for 3 months and we got along good and worked good together. He was one of my favorite companions. My new companion is Elder Corpus from Dallas, Texas. He has been out for a little more than a year.

Transfers were Wednesday morning so me and Elder Durham were together. We went to my area to teach this lady but she couldn't share with us so we went to contact. We found this really good lady named Yanelis (Jahn-el-ees). She already is really good friends with some members and she has wanted to go to church but just hasn't decided yet. She is like 25 or something and has a kid. And she is MARRIED BY THE LAW! It's a miracle. I have a lot of hope for her!

We have been teaching these people named Randal and Clarinez for a while. They are siblings. Randal is 19 and Clarinez is 18. They have progressed really good for a while and have a desire to change their lives and be baptized. They are super good and ESCOGIDOS, but they haven't been to church yet. We weren't planning on going by but Clarinez called and said she wanted us to go over. She said she wish she would've gone to church last Sunday and promised us that she would go this Sunday. So Sunday morning comes around and she wont answer her phone which always happen. I got kind of frustrated. I'm pretty sure it was the spirit that gave me the idea but we decided to walk to their house super far away right before church started. We woke them up and they came to the second hour of church and they liked it a lot. Its a miracle because if they didn't go to church we would have left them but now they are going to get baptized in a few weeks if everything goes good.

I'm getting closer to the end of my mission but I am full of energy to work and offer the Gospel to everybody! I feel really good and I love being a missionary. We talk to so many people everyday and there are so many people that don't want to hear us, but every once in a while God sends us to somebody that needs us. I know that the church is true and Jesus is our Savior and if we live the Gospel, even when its hard, we will be happier.

I put some good pictures in this email

We are teaching a lady and she is really good. We were going over the baptismal questions with her to make sure she was ready for her baptism on Saturday. Turns out her whole family moved to Salcedo to get away from some bad stuff that they were in and we have to do a bunch of things to see if she can get baptized. So close but so far away.

We are doing really good with some things here but struggling a lot too. Never in my mission have I had more people that read what we leave them. It's so awesome. They read and have questions and some people actually write down what they read. It's a miracle. But, nobody is going to church. AHHH! It's so frustrating. We can't keep teaching people that don't go to church but they are good. It's hard, but we are trying to do what the Lord wants us to do here.

We were walking on this and decided to contact a house that we already contacted. We talked to this super cool dude that has read the bible all the way through 2 times, but hasn't heard about the Book of Mormon. We gave it to him and started reading it while we we're still talking to him. SWEET! MIRACLES!

Jose got set apart yesterday for his mission and we got to go. It was really good and I felt the spirit. It reminded me of when I was set apart. I thought a lot about the importance of this calling that the blessing it is to be a missionary. I love being a missionary even though sometimes its hard. 

Look up yaroa on google. That's what we eat every night.

Pictures,

Some little kids that we schooled playing soccer.

Good news, Spiderman wants to be baptized. Bad news, he is only 5 years old.

I have become a pretty good artist in the last few months.

This escalator in Santiago was broken when I got here.

The biggest tarantula I have ever seen. This is as close as I would get to it. It's in the gutter.

Our zone.

Me.

Jose got set apart as a missionary yesterday and is leaving today for Mexico.

i like being a missionary

This week was really good. 

We are working hard and talking to a lot of people. 

I don't have very much time but some cool things happened this week. We were walking down the street and we decided to talk to this lady. We already knew her because she was friends of the lady whose husband died but we hadn't talked to her about the gospel. She was really nice and let us in. She said she felt a really strong desire to go to a church the other day because she wanted more peace in her life. She went to a church and she didn't like it at all so we invited her to ours. She got a little emotional while we were talking to her which usually doesn't happen when we are contacting but I know that the Lord led us there.

Pictures,

Me in San Francisco de Macoris

1 broom stick, 1 pvc pipe, 2 shoelaces, 1 hanger, 1 plastic bag, 1 paper clip equals GUAYABA!!!! we are so smart

20 MONTHS WHATS UP!

My mission call said September 6, 2017. 20 months ago. WOWOWOW.

My companion hit 4 months and so we cut all of his hair off.

We live in a house of 4 and this week Elder Vallejos went home to Nicaragua. He only had like 3 months in the mission. He left this morning so now we are in a tripanionship. Its sad that he left. Being on a mission is the best thing Ive ever done and Ive learned too many things in my short time here. The good news is that Im companions with Elder Durham again! Heck yeah!

We had a zone conference and I saw everybody that I love again. I love my mission. Presidente Cowan is a super good guy. We talked a lot about faith and repentance and how repentance is when we actually change. I know I still lack a lot but I have definitely changed a lot in my time here as a missionary and Ive repented of a lot of my imperfections. Ive been able to see a lot of changes and blessings as Ive made those changes. Living the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a better way to live.

It was like 11:55 in the morning and we were about to go to eat but we decided to contact one more house. We yelled in the house and there were obviously people there but they didnt come to the door. Ugh. Right as we were about to leave this guy walks up to the door and he is really nice and he invites us in. He tells us about how he had heart surgery and that hes been looking for something more in his life. He said hes been to the catholic church and the 7th day adventists but hes still searching so we are his guys.

Good news: I ate a lot of chicken this week.

Pictures,

Me about to take the biggest bite of all time out of this piece of chicken. Ft. Jimmy and Paola hiding in the back.

One big piece of chicken. 

Its super blurry but this is the last picture with Elder Vallejos.

otro milagro

This week was super good.

We got this SUPER good reference from some members. Her name is Nancy and she has an 11 year old son named Jordany. She went to church the first time in 2000 and has been so many times, but has just been afraid to get baptized but now she has decided she's ready. We went over to her house and talked to her and she basically just told us that she is ready now. Miracles. She came to church on Sunday and has a baptismal date for the 11th!

We met this guy named El Guerrero Negro. He told us he is a singer and he gave us a cd of his music. Haha

We played basketball for 3 and a half hours today. I'm so tired.

I've seen myself change a lot in the last 20 months. Sometimes when people used to be rude to us I would get mad at them, but now I don't even think anything about it. I feel like I have a lot more peace in my life. The Atonement of Jesus Christ changes lives.

Paola bought us ice cream. God bless her. She is going to make us food today too!

This is me and my milk.

blessings

This week we taught Paola again. She is incredible. We had a super good lesson with her. She has been through a lot of hard things, but she has a lot of faith. On Sunday, she brought her brother to church. Her testimony is so strong and she's helped me a lot to strengthen my own. She has to change a few things to get baptized but she remembers her baptismal date really good. 18 de Mayo.

We found this girl named Ashley that is awesome too! She is 18 and her best friend is a member. She likes sharing with us and she went to church on Sunday! I feel blessed to have such good people.

We found this other 16 year old girl whose cousin is a member. She is super nice too. When we leave things with her to read she actually reads and then understands. Wow! God bless her. She is progressing really good. 

Last week I sent a picture of our iron that broke. We took it to some people that we taught and they said that it was "unfixable". This morning we had nothing to do. I took it apart. Cut a few wires. Put a few wires back together. And it works! hahaha! I didn't electrocute myself either!

Everything is going really good here in Salcedo. All of the 4 good progressing people that we are teaching are women between 16 and 24. Haha. The mission is good.

I felt the spirit a lot this week and I know that this is what I should be doing right now. There are still a lot of hard things but its worth it. Jesus lives and loves us!

sorry no pictures this week

The mission is cool.

I say that every week is good but this week was REALLY good.

We are teaching this lady named Paola. We taught her a few times and read the Book of Mormon but then we could never get together with her to share. We were walking Saturday morning and she pulls up in her car. She said that she wanted us to come by. We went over in the night and she wasn't there but we came back later and had the lesson of my mission with her. She told us that she had been reading El Libro de Mormon and that she had been wanting us to come over. We taught her about the Restoration of Jesus' church. The spirit was so strong and there were some tears. YES! We invited her to be baptized and she accepted. I know that the Gospel will bless her life. She is awesome!

We are teaching this other lady named Angelina. She told is super good and wants to change her life, but she told us she was coming to church 3 times and didn't. We were going to leave her if she didn't come this Sunday. But she did! She has lots of potential to be baptized. She is awesome too!

We are finding a bunch of good people who need the gospel in their lives. We are teaching a lot of new teenagers that I like teaching because they remind me of myself and I know the Gospel will help them to have better lives.

We played basketball today!

Living in a house of 4 is still really fun. We do a lot of wrestling.

My trainer is going home this week. I learned a lot of things from that big black Dominican man. 

Pictures,

Me and Jesucristo!

Elder Vallejos dropped the iron and it stopped working. He took it apart. It doesnt work any better now than it did before. 

Papa Mieses

Learning how to carry heavy burdens in the mission.

happy april fools last week

This week had some ups and downs.

First things first, sorry for the April fools joke. I actually did ask our mission president, but he said he had only heard rumors too. I'll be back in August though.

There is this Hatian dude in our ward that is super cool, but he isn't friends with a lot of people. We left with him this week and it was awesome! He said that he hadn't left with the missionaries in so long. Two of our appointments fell in the night and he called somebody and told them we are coming over. He takes us to this super cool family and we share with them and he just knows everybody so we met a bunch of people. It was super good.

We are teaching this family that is awesome! We went and taught the mom this week with two of her kids. We had a SUPER spiritual lesson and I'm super excited to see what happens with this family. Their names are Eddy and Katerine and they have a one year old daughter named Caylee and she is so cute. I love families!

General Conference was super good too! Everybody was waiting for a big announcement, but the real big announcement is that we need to repent. hehe. I learned so much though and we are so blessed to have a prophet and apostles. If we listen to them and apply their words we will be happier and receive more blessings.

I didn't take any pictures this week. sorry

SEE YOU SOON UTAH!

Hello everybody!!!

So... I have some GREAT NEWS! So I'm sure you all have heard a lot about mission calls and the rumors about the length of a mission being changed. I've heard a lot about it too and a lot of rumors, but this week we had interviews with our mission president. We had a normal interview and at the end he asked me if I had any questions. I asked him what he had heard about that and I can't say everything that he told me. But he talked about a lot of things that he has heard and long story short... there is a 95% chance that I will see you all in 3 weeks!

But, other than that we saw some really awesome things happen this week. We taught this one lady last week and it was alright. We went back this week and we read 2 Nefi 31 with here and it was great.

We also found this other family and they are super good too. We sat down and started talking to this guy and he had a lot of questions and he said that he is willing to listen to us and give our church a chance. We taught him the Restoration and after he said that we answered a lot of his questions and he is very excited for us to come back.

Other good news... we played basketball today.

Pictures,

Missionaries from San Francisco, Elder Mieses, my trainer goes home this transfer

Brandon

Some people that we are teaching

There is a cemetery behind our house. It's scary.

Happy April Fools day! I'm still coming home in August. hahhhhahhaha