Dear Mom, Dad, Lauren, and Elder Froude1,
It seems like the P-days come faster and faster! It's
always really nice emailing back home. And thanks to everyone that keeps me
updated on what is happening, and If I'm missing anything. It means a lot!
So this past week, the MTC sent us out once more to the
local University campus and do first contacts with Dominican college students.
For those of you that don't know what first contacts are, essentially, it is a
first impression of the church given by missionaries. We don't necessarily
teach full lessons, but we do summarize very briefly what the church is all
about and what our message is. We usually hand out pamphlets for the questions
we don't have the time to answer, or even Books of Mormon. We're supposed to
keep the meetings brief so we can talk to as many people as we can. Anyway, the
experience was absolutely fantastic! My companion and I stretched the little
Spanish we knew and talked with people about the church. The people here are
soooooooooo kind and nice! Even if they aren't interested in our message,
they'll still listen and talk quite happily about what we have to say. Not one
person turned us away, or even showed reluctance to listen! Well, there was one
lady we tried to talk to and said no, but she was on her way to a big test, so
that's totally understandable! There was one instance where while we were
talking with someone, the subject of singing came up. My companion had the idea
that we could sing to this lady since she liked it. I thought why not! I can't
remember the title now, but we sang I Know That My Redeemer Lives in Spanish.
She thought it was awesome! What a great idea too. If we can't speak our
testimony, we can sing it! I play piano and I always felt that playing hymns
were a way I bore my testimony about the Gospel. It'd be especially handy out
here since I can't bear my testimony like I can in English! One more thing
about going to the university; I'll be completely honest, I barely understood
half of what the people were saying to me. XD As discouraging as it would be to
some, it's encouraging to me. It encourages me to learn as much as I can soon
so I can talk to these loving and humble people. They're so much fun to talk
to!
So that's the progress on my language, but what about my
progress as a missionary? I have one name to tell you about… Ramón. Ramón is a
practice investigator that one of my teachers, Hermano Ramirez plays so we can
practice teaching. It also so happens that Ramón is the HARDEST practice
investigator in the entire MTC. He's a lawyer, likes alcohol, reads the Bible a
lot, thinks that all churches are businesses, and thinks Mormons are the CIA
(it's a common belief here in the DR). However much my companion and I are struggling
with trying to teach this guy and how discouraged we get when lessons don't go
well, we learn three times as much about how to be a good missionary. Hermano
Ramirez is seriously one of the best teachers here. He would come into the
class room after the lesson and teach us something fantastic about being a
missionary. He prepares us so well; I know it will be a huge help when I get
out into the field. I'll be sure to write back when we finally commit Ramón to
baptism! ;D
So this coming week, we go to the University again
tomorrow and to the store on Tuesday. I need to stock up on my snacks again.
Chistes Chistes! Jokes Jokes! I'll write again next week; more adventures and
stories to come! Hasta proxima semana...Until next week!
-Elder Froude2
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| Important things that I got when we went to the city. :) |
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| My companion, Elder Merrell, and roommates, Elders Barnett and Hill. |
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