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.