Ups and Downs

This week had some good ups and downs.

First, I went on exchanges with Elder Garcia, the new missionary. He has less then 2 weeks in the field and he is still learning Spanish. We had a super good day and it gave me a lot of confidence in my abilities as a missionary and also in Spanish! We taught 4 lessons that day which is actually pretty dang good.

We taught in English! We went to Papo's house and taught Ajecka in English. We talked about the Book of Mormon and it was actually pretty good. He says he believes in the bible and that the BOM has some weird names in it but he read what we left him. He has a lot of questions and I know that he can get his own testimony. It felt super good to bear my testimony in English and Elder Garcia said he really liked talking in English. Also, if everything goes good Papo is getting baptized this week!

Some things were pretty hard this week. I thought I was so cool after I finished my training, but I still have so much to learn as a missionary and also as a person. Im really grateful for this opportunity to learn and grow but sometimes it is hard. But I have a lot of faith and hope in God because I know he has a plan for everybody and he is shaping every one of us.

Also I gave a talk in church and it was medium.

This is a drawing that my companion did of me. Idk what to say. Tell me what you guys think.

Elder Hooker had his birthday and also I'm still pretty bald, but its coming back!

I love you all! I love la Republica Dominicana!

Semana Santa

This week was basically spring break for the Dominican Republic. I thought I was going to see a lot more crazy stuff but there were only a few fights and it wasn't super interesting.

A long time ago we contacted this house and we went back a little while ago and taught her. We went to her house again and had a really good lesson. She started asked us if you had to be married to join the church and some other questions like that and we didn't even bring up baptism. She is super good and super prepared but she will have to get married or leave her husband if she wants to get baptized. But I have faith and Im super happy that we found her.

Ajecka (the most interesting man) is doing good. We taught him in English, it was so weird, and he translated in sign language to his wife. I don't really know what we can do for them but hopefully when they move to Indiana the missionaries will find them so he can go to an English church. Papo is doing pretty good too. Hopefully he can get baptized in the next few weeks. 

Conference was pretty good. I learned some good stuff and we are really blessed to have a living prophet and apostles on the earth.

My companion is leaving and I dont know who is coming here so Ill let you all know next week! Also Elder Hooker is going to train so there will be a new missionary in my house!

I love you all. The church is true. The Book of Mormon is also true.

P.S. Eric has always wanted a buzz hair cut, but his dad would never let him. He not only got one, he did it himself!

I gave a haircut

Everything is going pretty good over here. I love the music here.

So one day we were walking and this guy said hi to us and we started talking to him. His name is Keni and he is 29. He is super cool and we have been teaching him a little bit. He is really nice and pretty shy. He came to church with us this Sunday and he said he felt good. He is pretty different and he needs friends so I'm really happy that we found him and he is just a really cool guy.

I don't know what the missionaries that were here before us did, but there are these two kids, Papo and Carlos, that have been going to the church for two months and hadn't talked with missionaries yet. Carlos' family is pretty cool but they are a little bit of a challenge, but I like that a lot.

It is starting to get hot here again and sometimes it is horrible. Nobody is ever home from 3 to 5 so we have a hard time finding people to teach and just walk in the hot sun forever. But also it's really cool here and I love living in a tropical climate.

I cut Elder Guajardo's hair and it looks amazing. He cut my hair and it could've been worse for his first time. The other picture is of me and a few missionaries from our zone.

The mission is going good. Sometimes its hard and I still have challenges but I feel very strongly that I am supposed to be here and that this is the best thing for me right now. I feel like my perspective on the world has gotten so much more broad. Life is hard and we all have challenges. We can choose the easy paths that bring short term happiness, but that will never take us where we want to go. If we are willing to take the harder paths and do the things we should be doing we will always be happier. Its not always easiest, but you will never regret making the right choice. This has been some of the hardest 6 months of my life and it is still hard sometimes, but I am so happy that I came to the Dominican Republic. The church is true. God is real and he loves us. Jesus loves us and we can find real lasting happiness through him and his suffering for us and our sins and trials. 

Elder Eliason

See you next year

Feliz año Nuevo!

I had a pretty good week. Almost everything was closed yesterday because it was the first so that is why Im writing on a tuesday. Everybody just blasted music and drank a lot of beer new year eve but I went to bed which was a lot nicer. New years day was pday and we went to get our hair cut and I think the guy is done then he flips the chair back and starts shaving my face for me and he spoke english and was really cool. We ate at one of the only places that was open and went to the roof of the hermanas apartment building which was super cool.

We have been struggling lately to find people but also we are really lucky. We have to walk to this place at least 5 or 6 miles away to get to this neighborhood but there are good people there. We saw this old investigator in the street yesterday and asked her when she was going to let us baptize her and she said next week or something so we are lucky haha.

Everything is going pretty good and I get a new companion in a week which is nice because we really struggle to get along sometimes.

Elder Eliason