Blessed

I feel like every week goes by so fast and they are all good. but.. this week was good.

We went on intercambios with the zone leaders. We found this family that is pretty good. It's so awesome to find people that are receptive to our message! 

On Sunday, we had this kid that we are teaching come to church for the first time. We found him contacting in the morning which always sucks because its just old ladies cooking and its hot. But we contacted Joan and this other dude while they were fixing a bike. We saw them in this alley as we walked past and decided to turn around and talk to them. They didn't seem very interested but we put an appointment and when we went back Joan listened super good. He is 17 and is super humble and a little shy but he is cool! 

I shared my testimony on Sunday. I talked a little about the young rich man in the bible and how Jesus told him to leave everything and to follow him. We can't inherit all that God has if we are not willing to give all that we have. I feel like 2 years is so short and so little compared to the blessing that I have received and the blessing I will receive for being here. SACRIFICE BRINGS BLESSINGS!

Lately we haven't been having a lot of success here in Bonao, but I have learned a lot from it. The Lord gives us so many opportunities to get better and does all he can to help us. I feel like my relationship with Him has grown as I have struggled to help people here keep their commitments. I know that the church is true. Life is hard but it helps us grow. I know that if we have faith and repent then we will be happy. Spread the Gospel. Be a light. I'm very grateful to be a missionary. CRISTO VIVE!

It's almost Christmas!

This week was pretty good. I went on splits with Elder Jarvis from Cedar City and we stayed in my area and my companion left.  I had to find a bunch of people and talk a lot because he didn't know our area and almost every appointment fell through but we ended up finding something to do. We have kind of been struggling lately to find people to teach so its hard when people aren't in their houses when they say they will be. It was pretty nice to be with an American for a while and pretty weird to speak so much English.

So we were driving to pick up the Hermanas with a member because Hermana Lynch sprained her ankle. We are stopped at this light and the second counselor comes the other way and basically just stops in the intersection and tells us we are giving talks in 20 minutes. I was super freaked our but I talked for more that 10 minutes in Spanish and it was actually pretty good I think.

This place is NUTSSS

Hello everybody from the Dominican Republic!

This week was super good and it felt like forever but also I cant believe Im emailing again.

Last Friday we got to go on splits with the REAL missionaries. It was so fun. We got on a bus and drove the the stake center. The bus driver basically just did whatever he wanted on the street because hes so big. I went with Elder Clark from Houston and he was really cool. We got on the metro here which is basically the subway and there was this guy just like yelling where everybody was waiting and he was just preaching. We got of the metro and came up to this giant street. We walked over this bridge and there were just vendors that had there stuff laid out over blankets. We took this super ghetto taxi to this neighborhood. Its windshield was smashed and the whole inside was super old and we had to squish in with these two ladys so there were 7 people in a tiny toyota corolla from probably 1995.

We were going to teach this family but the parents werent there but the kids are baptized so we read the Book of Mormon with them. There were two girls and two boys and they were pretty nice. None of the houses have doors or windows so you just go in through the gate in front and there were just chickens everywhere.

All the houses are pretty ghetto and there is trash everywhere and it was SO COOL! Everybody just stares at you because you are white but I dont know if they know I can see them staring at me and they dont say anything unless you say something first. And everybody says "Saludos" to everybody. Everybody is just chilling outside because inside its so hot. We found this less active lady and she took us back in this alley into a room which was her house and it was way hot but it was really good. I didnt say a lot but I told her that reading the Book of Mormon everyday changed my life and I felt good about it. I can understand almost everything if they talk slow but everybody here talks 100mph.

Yesterday me and two other Elders went to the "doctors office" haha. It was super old creepy but we had to go for immigration stuff. They stuck this giant needle in my arm that was like 2 inches long and was super thick so it was basically a toothpick and I got kinda sick after because I hate needles but Im ok now!

Next Tuesday we leave the MTC! Finally! We get on a bus for like 2 hours I think then Ill get a new companion and get to teach real people and Ill have to speak spanish even though I dont know how yet haha. I think that we wont be able to email for a while because pday is a different day so Im not sure when that is yet.

I miss and love all of you! Its always hot here so it makes me sad to think the leaves are changing in Utah:(

Love Elder Eliason