The Lord's Hand

Happy Thanksgiving! It was a great Thanksgiving. I ate a meat lovers pizza and I loved it. We got together with some other missionaries. It was fun. Nobody really cares about Thanksgiving here though. Oh well.

The Hermanas had a baptism. The dude who was going to do it had to work so I did it! Woooh! Her name is Maria Isabel. She has a strong testimony and I was happy that I got to do it.

We saw a car hit a moped pretty hard. The ambulance came but she was ok.

This super drunk guy in a colmado at 9 at night got like 6 inches away from my name tag to read it. He asked where I was from. I said Utah to mess with him because I didn't think he would know, then this guy who can barely think started talking about Karl Malone and John Stockton. I was very impressed.

We went and played basketball in Maimon today. When we left, I prayed that we God would put somebody in our path that we could share the Gospel with. When we were on the guagua to Maimon, it was basically empty and I was like well... that prayer wasn't answered but then we got to the basketball court there. We were playing with these kids that live around there. We played for a long time and after I was just shooting around with this kid. His name is Jorge and hadn't ever talked to missionaries before. He was really cool and I hope the missionaries over there can teach him a bunch. I felt like he was an answer to my prayer and I felt happy about it.

On Sunday, we left with this member to go to Los Arroces. We hadn't ever left with him before so we were waiting at a different place at a different time to catch the guagua than usual. This dude comes up to us and asks if we are Mormons. Then he said that he found an old Libro De Mormon and he read about a prophet named Alma and it made an impression on him. He said that he never knew that Christ visited the people in the Americas. It was SO COOL and I felt so blessed. The only bad part is that he lives in the area of the Hermanas. We are just out here finding Golden investigators for everybody else while the people in our own area act like some copper investigators sometimes. Pero... El Señor obrara! (idk how to put an accent on the A)

Pictures!

Thanksgiving Dinner!

Bautismo de Maria Isabel

What would I do if they didn't send me to a country that loves basketball???

A week in Bonao

This week was super good. A lot of things happened, but I don't remember them all but..

We started teaching this super cool guy named Edison. The first time we taught him he said that he would be baptized. This week we found out that his ¨wife¨ is 16 years old.... and she is pregnant. Nothing is easy here. But we will have to baptize the 3 of them.

We were in Los Arroces super far away. All of our plans fell through and we didn't know what to do. My companion said that we could go pass by this one old dude that we contacted once. It was super far away, but we decided to go. We got there and almost didn't share because they were sitting in the street and this dude was smoking something that smelled so bad, but we did. We started talking a little and he actually read the pamphlet that we left with him and had a lot of questions. We left him with a Book of Mormon and when we went back he had read! Heck yeah! He is super cool and his name is Simeon.

One day in the morning I was getting dressed and this GIGANTIC moth flew out of my closet. It scared me to death. It almost touched me. I don't know if I would be writing this email right now if it did. God always watches over his missionaries.

This happened a long time ago but remember the big bull in the movie Cars when they go cow/tractor tipping? Yeah, we saw one of those, it was awesome.

The church is true! Live the Gospel and you will be happier!!!

Pictures, 

This crazy little girl got in our picture. Jk it's Stefani!

After church on Sunday.

Visit from a 70

This week was super good. We had zone conferences and Elder Alonso from the 70 came. Presidente and Hermana Cowan talked about La Doctrina de Cristo (Faith, repentance, baptism, the reception of the gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End) and how we should be implementing that in every lesson. Elder Alonso spoke to us and it was so good. Oh my goodness. He blew my mind. I learned so many good things from him and he said that if we work for it we can achieve 200 baptisms every month which is more than twice of what we are doing right now. My testimony in Prophets and Apostles is so much stronger after listening to somebody that represents them.

We went on exchanges with the zone leaders. I learned a lot. We are teaching this kid named Andrew and his siblings. He is so receptive to our message which has been a good change from lots of other people we teach. We put a baptismal date with him and I have a lot of confidence in him.

We still work in this neighborhood super far away from were we live called Los Arroces. There are a lot of good people of there, but it's frustrating because we will have a good lesson, invite them to church and they will say yes. We will keep talking and realize they have no motorcycle or car and the church is super far away. If they let us buy a bus, we would fill the chapel every Sunday. 

This guy stopped us in the street today and told us they he was Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. And did it in English. I don't think it was actually Him though.

My life is very good as a missionary. I feel very blessed for the opportunity to be here. Being worthy of the Spirit is the best feeling that there is. I know that Jesus lives.

Go to church everybody.

Pictures,

There was a lizard in our house so we put a leash on him.

¡Viva Los Utah Jazz!

It's a Tongan!

Hello world,

This week was great! There were some ups and some downs, but it was really good. 

Elder Perez left me. We went and said goodbye to everybody. He seemed pretty excited to get out of here haha. They didn't tell me I was going to Santiago so on the day of transfers the bus gets to our house and I help my companion with his bags. They told me I was going with them and I looked down and was still in my pajamas so I changed the fastest that I ever have in my life.

My new companion is Elder Tupou! He is from Utah and he is Tongan. He is super cool and chill and we just play my ukulele all the time. I realized how much Spanish I've learned in the last year because I was just like him when I got here. He is still learning Spanish, but he is doing really good.

On Friday, we went to this meeting in Santiago. I saw Brandon... um I mean Elder Todd there. He just barely got to this mission and it was super weird to see somebody that I knew before the mission.

Sunday was fast and testimony meeting. Two of our investigators got up and shared their testimonies! ESO! HECK YEAH! It was so cool. They are doing really good, but just are having problems with leaving coffee.

The mission is really good. We are finding a lot of good people and working hard. We had some good spiritual experiences this week and we can see people changing. The church is true and Jesus lives!

Mine and Elder Perez's last picture together

Brandon?

My child, my dad, me

Padre Parte 2

Hello everybody!

This week was good. My companion is leaving. I'm sad about that, but we had a good transfer together. Presidente Cowan called on Monday and told me that I'm going to train! haha. It will be fun and I'm going to make him love the mission, whoever he is.

I went on an exchange with Elder Cutler from Cottonwood Heights. We played soccer against each other when we were little. He is a super good missionary and I learned so much from him. He is going home on Thursday. He is the closest one to the camera in the pizza picture.

We couldn't write on Monday because there was a riot because of the gas prices. haha. We went to this one restaurant that these Chinese people own. They saw a big group of people and got scared and locked us in, but it was actually nothing. We didn't see anything the whole day and I told my companion that the riot was lame, but I definitely changed my mind after we got to the house.

I called one of my converts, Elpidio, from Puerto Plata. He is like 55 years old and he told me that he is GETTING MARRIED! He is getting married to a member that lives across the street from him. He told us that he was in love with her when we were teaching him. That makes me so happy. He is such a good guy.

We have a lot of good people. There is so much sin in the world, but I know that I'm doing all that I can. I can't change the world, but I've been able to change the world of a few people and that feeling is priceless. I love the mission. The church is true. Cristo vive.

Pictures,

This is what I look like.

PIZZA

A better way to eat marshmallows... thoughts?

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY

This week was super good. Mainly today.

We were walking down the street one day and this guy called us over. He said he is a member, but has been going to another church for a long time. He started basically following us around and going to our appointments with us. He introduced us to a bunch of his family. They don't seem very receptive to the gospel, but we were walking and he contacted this one house for us haha. He just said, "Would you allow us to share a message with you?" Just super straight forward and I was like, dude that's not how you do it, but then they let us in and they are super cool and very nice. Maybe God put this crazy man in our path so that we would talk to this family...Who knows?

We had interviews with Presidente Cowan. He is such a good guy and I learn so much from him. In the interview, he asked me how everything was going and I said good then he just started saying a bunch of nice stuff about me. How could you not like this guy?

Today is my Birthday. I'm 20. We went to Santiago and I saw all of my missionary friends. My last birthday here we literally did not do anything so I would say that this was a big improvement.

This guy was drunk. My companion asked him what happened to his arm that he didn't have. He said he killed 14 people... uh...

This is what I look like when I'm 20. I don't know if there is that big of a difference from 19.

This week was super good haha.

I laughed about this all week long but we are teaching these two guys and I don't know if they have that much potential but they listen really good and ask a lot of questions. We were teaching them about the book of mormon and where it came from and all of that. They are asking a lot of good questions and stuff then this guy named Alec says, "Nephi and Moroni where Americans because they lived in America right? so why did Joseph Smith have to translate the book of mormon if it was already in English?" HAHAHAHA it was so funny. They are good guys, but sometimes don't think very much. We explained to them that Nefi's family came from Jerusalem so they didn't speak English. Then the other dude, Danilo, grabs the book of mormon and is looking at the pictures and said, "oh theres a mistake here." He said that Jesus didn't go to America. But we explained to him that it was the American continent and not The United States of America. Being a missionary is fun.

We are teaching this guy named Porfirio. He is super good. We taught the word of wisdom to him early in the week and he said he wont smoke or drink coffee again. He is struggling financially right now and so we took him some food that we had in the house. He is super humble and he should be getting baptized soon.

We are teaching this really cool family. It's a couple and they have four daughters. They are so funny and I love going over to there house to teach them. They are super good, the only bad thing is that they live SUPER far away from the church and only have one motorcycle. This Sunday, two of the daughters came for the first time so we are very happy about that. They have a lot of potential and I'm excited to see what happens with them.

There is nothing cool to take pictures of in Bonao. Sorry. But this is me and my companion.

I LOVE YOU ALL! THE CHURCH IS TRUE!

Power

I feel like so many things have happened in the last week, I'll do my best.

First, on Tuesday we had the best day ever. We taught lessons the whole day long and we found a lot of good new people. Usually when we have nothing to do, we contact for a while. Every time we contacted, the first person we talked to let us it. It was weird but I felt super blessed. After our last lesson which was really good we are walking out of this apartment complex and there is a 50 peso bill laying on the ground. WOW. I don't know why but I felt so blessed and thanked God for it when I prayed in the night.

So it's Friday night. It's one thirty. We are sleeping. Then we hear this loud noise and there's this super bright light flashing outside. Then the power goes our and somebody knocks on our door. We jumped up super quick and went to the door. We live on the 3rd floor and the light post outside of our house was smoking so bad hahaha. It just like blew up in the middle of the night for no reason and now we haven't had power or water for 3 days. I live in a jungle.

It rains here basically everyday. Lighting struck like right across the street from us when we were in the house. It was so scary. I'm now afraid of lightning, I'm not joking.

General conference was super good. 2 HOUR CHURCH. HAHA. I don't know what I think about that. Hopefully it motivates more people to go to church. But I didn't see that coming at all. I really liked when President Nelson talked about the name of the church. THIS IS THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST. I felt the spirit super strong while he was talking about that and I know that this really is Jesus' church!

This is me and my companion leaving the house without light. He is from Texas and we get along really well. He is still learning a lot of things, but I have learned a lot from him despite his inexperience.

I love you all.

D&C 4:4

Eric was asked by his former seminary teacher for this video...

Where am I?

A lot has happened in the last 2 weeks.

I left Puerto Plata, the best place on earth. I love that place so much. It was really sad to go. There are so many good people there and I have so many friends there and my converts there are the best people ever. I feel like I was sent to the Dominican Republic for the people in Puerto Plata. I feel so blessed to have been in that area and to have been able to find the people that I did. YO AMO A PUERTO PLATA!

Anyways, my new area is Bonao 1 which is basically in the middle of the country, I don't know where I am. I'm pretty sure that Santo Domingo is closer to us than Santiago, but I don't care. This area is super cool. First off, we have the best house of all time! It's super clean and we have hot water, and we are on the third floor. Bonao is just surrounded by a bunch of mountains and it rains basically everyday. We work in Bonao which is pretty urban, but also we have this other neighborhood super far away called Los Arroces. It's named that because there are just a bunch of gigantic rice fields all over so that means that we have to walk forever to get to some houses. We have to take a little bus thing to get there and we preach there 3 days a week.

My companion is Elder Perez from Texas. He is a good guy. He has 8 months in the mission. Its pretty weird to speak English so much and I decided that it's a lot better for my Spanish if I have Latino companions. But me and my companion get along really well. He doesn't know how to cook and there aren't any cheap places to buy food by us so I have been experimenting with a few things lately. It's going pretty good, for the most part. haha

I love you all! The church is true!

Pictures

Me and a super cool mural

Me and Maceko and Rodrigo. I love them.

These people are cool. I kind of just wanted to take the picture because both ladies are pregnant haha

Worst Hurricane Ever

The worst hurricane ever passed through here this week. Not worst as in bad, but everybody just made a big deal of it and it only rained for a few minutes. oh well.

We went on exchanges (it took me a whole minute to remember that word in English), but Elder Kyle took me to the coolest wall of all time. I was so happy. Look at the picture. I have no idea how that got there haha.

Deurin and Marlen, my converts, had their baby! She came like 3 months early and is super tiny but she is doing good. They are the best family of all time. I feel so blessed to have met them.

Transfers are on Wednesday and I am out of here! I love Puerto Plata so much and I have enjoyed my mission and had a lot of success here. But also I'm happy to be leaving because I've knocked on every single door in this area. Not really, but this area is small and I'm ready for a change. I wouldn't change the experiences I've had and the people I've met here in Puerto Plata for anything else in the world. I love being a missionary!

Pictures,

VIVA LOS UTAH JAZZ YESSSSSS!!!!!

There is an abandoned basketball court in our area. super cool

I burned an old shirt in the house for my year. My shirt has a samuri on it.