No spiders this week

Heyo!

This week was pretty good. 

We finally went to this cool track thats in our area to exercise in the morning because my companion never wants to haha. I ran like 2 miles and it was really nice to run but the next day my calves hurt so bad I could hardly walk.

We are running out of investigators so we went contacting the other day. We went to this neighborhood called Las Carolinas which we never go to and we turned down this street with one house. People dont knock here they just yell into their house. So we yelled into their house and this like 25 year old guy with tattoos and corn rows comes. So we share a scripture with him and we are about to leave and he starts talking about how he has so many trials and he wants to change. He told us that everytime he does something bad or thinks about doing something bad the missionaries come and he was really emotional. He said he would be baptized the first time we saw him and Im really happy about it. Times like this really help me because I actually feel like Im helping people and Im supposed to be here. Also Alejandro is really cool and he is a professional dancer and he has the coolest motorcycle I have ever seen and hes really funny.

Other good news. I baptized Paula! She is pretty cool and I like her family a lot and the baptism was really good.

I miss all of you and thanks for your emails.

If you want to send me anything wink wink send it to this address

SDQ 8013

PO Box 025725

Miami, FL 33102-5725

Love Elder Eliason

TERRIBLE NEWS

HELLO AMERICA!

The beginning of this week wasnt very good but the ending was! 

Right after we finished emailing last week we went out into this crazy storm and there was so much water and it was almost up to my knees in some places. We only got to write for 45 minutes last time and I wasnt happy about that then we basically walked into the ocean. 

I went on exchanges with an Elder from utah this week and it was so nice because i got to get away from my companion for a little while. Sometimes he bugs me so bad but I learn a lot from him in different ways than you would think.

Elder Cook from the quorum of the 12 came and spoke to us which was really cool. He gave a really good talk and an even better testimony. He helped change my outlook on a lot of things and he helped me to have a more positive attitude. And I got to shake his hand!

So there are two things of bad news. Number one, there was this dog we saw in the road that got obliterated. I wont give details. Second, THERE WAS A TARANTULA IN OUR HOUSE! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. We got back at night and I was going to get a bowl of frosted flakes and I saw it on the wall. And it was so scary and big and ugly. I yelled for my companion and he wouldnt kill it because ¨he says its a creation of god. So i couldnt go into the kitchen and I started yelling at him to kill it and eventually he flame threw it with the bug spray. And it was terrifying. But it was the biggest spider and terrifying.

Aron cooked lunch for Elder Eliason and Elder Mieses today

"That's not the language they taught me in the MTC"

HEY!

Today is my 2 month mark! I feel like its so crazy that its already been two months but also I feel like I have been here for my entire life and I will be here for the rest of my life. 

The language is coming but also its so hard. I can understand slow spanish really good but the problem is that dominicans dont pronounce anything and they speak super fast so some people I can understand ok and some people I have no idea what they are saying. Sometimes its really hard to not be able to communicate because I came on a mission to talk to people not follow around my companion. But I have learned so much in the last two months its crazy!

I saw some crazy stuff this week. There are so many stray dogs that when one dies nobody is going to bury it so there was this giant dog on this street we always walk on and it smells so bad and Im not going to describe how it looks. I saw SIX people on a moped. I realized this place we walk by everyday is a washing machine repair shop so I thought that was funny. Also everybody has up Christmas decorations and yesterday i saw a doormat that said "Let it snow" but my dominican companion has never seen snow and its hot and humid everyday haha.

I will try to send pictures next week but its really slow right now and I dont have enough time. Thanks for all your emails and sorry if I didnt respond.

Love Elder Eliason

Que lo que

Que lo que everybody!

There are all sorts of trials during a mission. Last week I thought my companion was so awesome and perfect but now I am starting to realize that nobody is perfect. He doesnt speak English and sometimes we dont get along and I cant tell him whats going on all the time because I dont speak spanish. 

We had another baptism this week! His name is Diego and he is 11 years old. He is super energetic and he is always happy. He was super excited to get baptized and be a member of the church. Sometimes Im sad and complain but at the same time I have 3 baptisms and I havent even been here for that long haha.

So the other day we were in this ghetto part of our area and there are animals everywhere. There are horses and chickens and dogs and cats everywhere. I was watching these really cute kitties and I saw that one of them was eating something. It picked it up with its mouth and IT WAS A CHICKEN HEAD!!! AHHHHH!!! what the heck! It was really gross and the other kitties were trying to take it. That was pretty gross but kind of funny at the same time too.

I think I said this before but if it werent for the other missionaries here I think I would be the only white person within a hundred miles. But everybody just yells at me in the streets because Im white. People are also really interested in my blue eyes and some people just cant even believe it haha. Almost everyday people will just be driving by on mopeds and a girl will yell something at me. I used to ask my companion what they where saying and it would always be something about a good looking white person so I just stopped asking and sometimes its kind of annoying... But also I guess there could be worse things than girls constantly telling me that Im good looking haha!

Sorry there are no pictures this week. I will try to send a lot next week.

Also I love all of your emails and pictures so thank you!

Elder Eliason

Another picture from Mom's favorite Dominican! ;)

Pics sent to Mom from Aron, an awesome member in La Vega!

2 down, 999,998 to go

hey everybody!

     i apologize in advance for the bad spelling and punctuation but i dont have time for that right now haha. so this week we got to leave the mtc and its crazy here. we got on this bus to santiago from santo domingo and we went to the mision home which was super nice. we just played basketball all day because the president had to have an interview with everybody and there were 12 of us.

     my compainion is elder mieses and if you are wondering if he is a native you are right and if you are wondering if he only speaks a little bit of english you are also right haha. but i like him a lot and he works really hard and he is always super positive which is good because sometimes its hard to think i still have more than 22 months to go. our area is called flamboyanes in la vega and i like it a lot. its one of the nicer parts but its still pretty ghetto and there is still trash everywhere. we can see the mountains from where we are and its super cool. also there are two sister missionaries in flamboyanes and they are both american but more importantly they speak english and i can understand what they say!

     the first day i asked what we were going to do and he pulls out his planner filled with appointments so we are almost always teaching. i cant understand a lot of what they are saying and sometimes elder mieses just stops talking and looks at me and i have no idea what is going on because i cant understand what they are saying but i am getting better haha.

   so... WE HAD TWO BAPTISMS THIS WEEK! its crazy that i already have two baptisms but also i take zero credit for them because they were already going to be baptized but i was there haha. the people we baptized are named jochy and marlenys. they just got married like a week ago and they are both pretty young. first elder mieses baptized jochy then i baptized marlenys IN SPANISH. i was super happy for them. when we got out of the font elder mieses pulled the phone out of his pocket and he baptized to phone too so that was pretty funny.

     thanks for all the birthday wishes. we didnt really do anything for my birthday except in the morning i said hey its my birthday but i dont really care that much.

     INTERESTING THINGS: i saw 5 people on a moped, i caught a lizard, everybody stares and me and every once in a while somebody just yells GRINGO, we j~walk across this big street everyday, everybody rides motorcycles and they just zoom like 6 inches past you, there are so many dogs, a bunch of the roads are dirt and there is trash literally everywhere, i sweat so much and its so hot, we eat breakfast and a big lunch and i drink water for dinner when we get back to the house. 

tarantula count: 0

Your Missionary Is Here

We are pleased to inform you that your missionary has arrived at the Mission Home in Santiago. They will meet their trainer and receive their area assignment tomorrow and will write you on P-day, next Monday.

Thank you,

Elder Decker

Secretario de la Misión Santiago

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

 

Ayo! Week 4!

Hey everybody!

I dont have a lot of time but this week has been really good. Conference was super good and I learned a lot.

We finally got to do some real missionary work and we went to this university to teach people. We talked to these two girls and they seemed a little interested and first and we talked to them for a long time. We told them about the church then they asked some questions about the church then they asked some questions about us and then they asked questions about us. One of them was born on the very same day as me. They asked if we had girlfriends and we said no because we are missionaries and then they asked if we would ever date a dominican and we didnt understand and said no so I think they got kind of offended but elder durham tried to tell them that we didnt understand the first time so that was funny. We asked for their number and they asked why and we said so we could give it to the other missionaries and they said they wanted us to come instead of the other missionaries so we are pretty sure they were more interested in us instead of the Gospel but it was pretty funny and a good learning experience.

The other day President gulbrandsen came into our classroom and told me to grab my stuff and come the other room and so now im companions with elder larson. His companion went home so they ripped me away from the TRIPANIONSHIP but elder larson is a pretty cool kid and I think we will get along pretty well.

Not as much cool stuff happened this week so sorry. I dont have any pictures either but in two weeks Ill be out of here and Ill have a lot more cool stories and actually cool pictures.

I love and miss all of you and I love your emails!

Elder Eliason