Dear Mom, Dad, Lauren, and Ian,
Hey, everybody! Happy New Year! A bit of sad news though...
Today is a holiday here in the DR; this particular one lets everyone have a day
to relax, which means nothing is open, even the internet cafes. I'm in the
church e-mailing right now, but there's only one computer, and Elder Rocha
needs a turn too. So we agreed to only send whatever pictures we have and one
long email so it would be fair. Sorry, guys. :( But I have a lot to talk about from this
week! I'll start with the pictures ok?
It's a little downy hearing about Ian's predicament with
the bed bugs. Yikes! But, hopefully, they won't BUG him for much longer. Aha.
Aha. Aha. Ok, the puns are done. Anyway!
It's pretty weird to say that it's 2014. It was a very fast year, especially
since I left. It's like a year's worth of events happened within the past few
months; I leave for my mission, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Dad gets released, Ian
comes home, Christmas, and New Year's. Next is Lauren having her second little
girl! Woo! That's a lot of stuff to happen in just a couple of months. Out
here, a lot of stuff has happened, good stuff! I read back through my journal
the other night and I noticed I sound different now than I did on Day 1. It’s a
good different! I still have my enthusiasm but it's like every day I understand
a little more why I am here. Not that I didn't know why I came! It’s really
hard to explain... Ian and Richard should understand what I'm trying to say;
maybe they can translate my vague thoughts into regular English, hehe!
Anyway, this week has been great! The work hasn't slowed
down at all since Christmas! It started with us finding a new investigator,
Elvin. He's the husband of Manuela, one of our other investigators we found a
month or so ago working in a banco (there are two kinds of bancos or banks
here; one that works as an actual bank, and the other that sells lotto tickets.
The latter ones are tiny, essentially a
concrete box with a glass window and a door.). We usually taught her in her little booth
since very few people came through, but she said that she would be working in
another banco much closer to her house so we should just continue the lessons
there. She also said her husband would be at home too, and we asked if we could
include him in the lessons and she said yes!
We had no idea how receptive he would be! We placed a Book of Mormon
with him after the first lesson, on the 1st of January, and we visited with
them again just yesterday. They have been reading it and are already in the
Book of Jacob, and they prayed and said they knew the Book of Mormon was true!
AAAHHH! Felicidad!!! We're making sure to meet with them as much as we can! For
now, it's only on Sundays because that's when they're both together, but we're
praying for other days too!
This week was also the last District meeting for our DL,
Elder Cudd. We baked him Nutella cookies before he left that day. It was a really fun District Meeting. ^_^ My district is just the right amount of crazy!
:D
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| That's Elder Cudd we're holding. |
Also this week, our ZL's asked us to fast for the zone
and for miracles since it was the first fast of the year. This fast was
particularly hard because we walked around a lot that Saturday (here, we start
fasts Saturday before lunch and end them Sundays at lunch), and during one of
our citas we were offered Chicherron (Lechon to us Filipinos), which Elder
Rocha and I have been craving for weeks. Ugggghhhhhh! But they understood and
said they would save us some for tomorrow.
It was sooo good! Mmmmm! ^_^ But the fast did bring miracles because
yesterday we had 7 Investigators at church! For some missions, that's pretty
regular, even a low number. But for our humble little branch, that's a really
good Sunday! We were really happy! ^_^ Alexandra also bore her first testimony
ever! Paraphrasing, she talked about how dark her life was until Elder Rocha
and I showed her the Gospel and Holy Spirit, which brought her light and
happiness. I almost cried, not because I was in a testimony meeting, but
because looking back in my life, I don't think I've ever done anything more
important than help bring Alexandra to the waters of Baptism, and I hope to
bring much more!
That's all I have for this week :) The next transfer will
happen next week, so I’ll tell you then if I'm staying or going or gonna be a
trainer or all that good stuff! I miss and love you all! Ian, Good luck in college! Lauren, take good
care and feel better from that flu! Mom and Dad, thank you both for raising me,
Ian, and Lauren the way we are. :) Until
Next Monday!
-Elder Froude
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| This was our New Year's Day feast. Thanks for the Hickory Farms! We loved it! |
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| Elder Rocha and I cooked breakfast this morning. I made the pancakes and he made the quesadillas. Yum! |
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