as of September 11, 2013

Monday, May 12, 2014

May 12, 2014 - Happy Mother's Day!!!

Dear Mom, Dad, Lauren, and Ian,

Happy Mother's Day!! It was really fun to talk to you guys yesterday! ^_^ It was really great to meet Baby Hannah too! She's so beautiful! ^_^ Well, I don't have much to write in this letter because I already told you everything yesterday… haha! I do feel a tiny bit homesick though. But that's normal because I just saw you guys! I'm feeling better though. ^_^ I'm going to take all your suggestions and talk about them with the bishop so we can have something to work with. Well, I already told you that the week wasn't the best because of the rain and our appointments falling through easily, but I'm not that easily discouraged! People that know me know that I have a pretty unique mind set. :P In this case, I'm not discouraged because the work here is hard. If it was easy, not only would I not grow from the experience, it would be ridiculously boring. That's the weird way of how I see life. ^_^ If life was easy, it wouldn't be interesting. I also wouldn't have cool stories to tell my kids when I'm old and wrinkly, haha! So Mom and Dad, don't worry, I'm still happy and working through the hard and tough. How can I not be when I know that the Lord is always on my side!

I miss you guys lots! Happy Mother's Day, Mom and Lauren! Give Laney and Hannah a kiss for me! Love you all!


-Elder Froude

Here's a picture of Elder Froude during Hangout with us! A little blurry, though.

Thursday, May 8, 2014

May 5, 2014 – We baptize when they are ready

Dear Mom, Dad, Lauren, and Ian,

Howdy! Happy late May 4th! Lol! It made me laugh that you're still watching Big Bang Theory. :D

I don't have a whole lot to write about today. We did something really nice for our neighbor that lives below us. She and her family aren't members, but they are really good friends with the missionaries and they are always taking good care of us. So for her birthday this past Saturday, the 4 of us bought her a cake and we had a little celebration to thank her for everything. She really appreciated it! We sang happy birthday to her with her kids and she cried, lol ^_^ She actually told us that she would like her son to be a missionary because of all the cool stuff she's seen the missionaries do!

The progress in the area is good, but at a pretty slow pace. We're trying to pick it up a little. This week we have had good citas, but I'm afraid that our only baptismal date has fallen through. The investigator said that she was not sure if she could keep a commitment that we gave her. At least she was honest and told us straightway, and that also means that she doesn't feel forced by us to be baptized. That's a good thing, because as missionaries, we invite people to do things, but we never obligate. Perhaps she just needs more time to build her own testimony and not rely on the words of our own. We'll still be around to help that investigator. ^_^

That's all I have to write about this week. It isn't terribly long. But I'll try and look for more adventure and little things to share with you next week! ^_^ Happy Cinco de Mayo! Miss you all!! Love you all :) Can't wait to talk you all on Mother's Day!


-Elder Froude

April 28, 2014 – Who moved my cheese? Quien se Movio Mi Queso?

Dear Mom, Dad, Lauren, and Ian,

First I'll write about the progress in the area, and then tell you about the awesome analogy about missionary work I heard in the Zone Conference this past week!

So the progress in the area is doing great! We're finding a lot of really awesome people. One of them is a family of a single mother named Vicky, who has a baptismal date for the 10th. We're also working on a baptismal date that same day for her two children (she actually has four but two aren't old enough to be baptized yet) to be baptized, but neither have been in the same room yet. We'd like to ask them together. I also realized I haven't told much about what the church is like here. :P I live in a ward now. It’s a pretty good size ward! I haven't gotten to know a lot of the members yet because a lot of them live in the other half of the area, where the other companionship works. We'll work on that as well! I don't eat with members as much as I did my last area, mostly because they live outside our area. Haha! But actually, the neighbors that live beneath us feed us quite a bit. They're so nice to us! Two of the neighbor's kids are being taught by the other missionaries and have agreed to be baptized as well! The work here is a lot better than it has been before, I hear.

This past week we had Zone Conference where the mission president, Presidente Hernandez ,showed us a video of a long analogy about missionary work called "Who Moved My Cheese?” (it’s a book as well) In Spanish, Quien se Movio mi Queso? It's about two mice and two little people that are in a huge maze looking for cheese. Both groups look hard for the cheese using two methods that work. They both find the cheese and are happy. The two rats repeat what they do without fail, while the two people start to become lazy and complacent, because they're sure that the cheese will be there. After a while, they eat up all the cheese. When the two mice return, it doesn't surprise them that all the cheese is gone and go looking again somewhere else. The two people return and are shocked that all the cheese is gone, and are preoccupied with their cheese being gone that they don't go looking for more.

The analogy is much longer than this, but the main thing I learned from this is to never become complacent. Complacency is laziness and missionaries shouldn't be lazy. Me personally, I'm always eager to find and find. I actually kinda felt that way when I blanked the area here. I had to change some of my working methods to find people again, and I found them! I'm also making sure not to become complacent either.

So I need to tell you about a man my comp and I met named Franklin. He's in Hios, mid thirty's and is paralyzed from half his body and down. 6 years ago he was shot in the chest and the bullet hit is spinal column. Back then it would have been fixable, but he didn't have enough money. Also, because he can't get the right medicine (now yes because his brother came to live with him) a lot of his lower body had rotted away. He told us very quickly that he wants to be baptized. I think that the Lord is completely capable of letting that happen. But I've never seen anyone like him before, we'll need a miracle. I know we have the authority to do that and all, but it doesn't feel like the time is right yet. We already gave him a blessing and stuff. I didn't promise him complete healing, I didn't feel like I should say it. But I did tell him that he would have the opportunity to bless the lives of those around him, and that he would have the opportunity to attend church and be baptized.

Everything's all good over here! Working like always. But I think I might have lost my camera... :P I left it at the other house on accident, but my old comp says he hasn't found it yet. Man! DX

Well, I believe that will be all for this week. Mother's day is coming up soon! I can't wait for that! :D I'll write you next week! Love you! I'm praying for you!


-Elder Froude

April 21, 2014 – Why waste your time Bible bashing with people?

Dear Mom, Dad, Lauren, and Ian,

I'll talk more about the title of this letter later, but worry not! I, fortunately was not a victim of Bible bashing, nor did I participate in it. Because, de la verdad, honestly, it's really dumb. But anyway, I have a lot to tell about the week! And about what I missed to tell last week.

So like I said, last week, I've been transferred out of the lovely Punta Cana to go into the capital, Santo Domingo. Well, just outside of the capital. Really, just outside of the city is a LOT of rain forest with buildings in between. I personally am not a huge fan of big cities. Too much noise and too little space for me. But in my area, called Los Tres Brazos, it looks like those poor villages in Brazil like you see in the movies. There's just enough space for me to feel comfortable.  ^_^ I'm also training another missionary now! In terms of a missionary, I have a son! And like my trainer, or my papa, he's from Guatemala. His name is Elder Herrera. He's a really good missionary, very well prepared. But I'll help him as much as I can these next 3 months.

So, Easter for me was pretty similar to Christmas; nobody is very enthusiastic about it, but it's a pretty cool excuse to drink. Well, maybe a little more so than Christmas. People like to go to the beaches for Easter, or as they call it here, Semana Santa so the majority of the people are gone. But the people that stick around drink all day for the whole weekend. The AP's called and told us that for the weekend we had to be back at the house for safety. But at least our downstairs neighbors fed us. They're so awesome!!! We ate a dish with rice and a fish called Bacalao, it's a dried salted fish. Does that sound familiar? They aren't members, but they know all about missionaries because, one, they’ve had missionaries as neighbors for years, and two, one day an Elder left his mission manual at their house and they all read it. So they know all our rules! lol! They are Catholic, but the youngest son is working on getting baptized! He came to church with us yesterday.

But yes, everything is going pretty well so far. ^_^ Now, I'm going to talk about why it's silly to bible bash. It started when I went to a service project with the Zone. I was talking with some missionaries from my zone and sharing stories. Two missionaries went back and forth about how they met people that constantly fought with them about the bible, and all the scriptures they used to prove the person wrong and the missionary right. But they said something interesting. They said that even though they had all the right scriptures, the people still continued to fight with them. Now don't get me wrong, I have respect for these Elders and their knowledge of the Bible; it's something all Elders should have. But we should be careful about how we use that knowledge of the scriptures. We use our knowledge to teach, not to contend. Jesus Christ never contended with anybody during his ministry, even with the Pharisees who always tried to confuse and contend with Him, with no success I might add. As His representatives, we missionaries should be no different. Besides, Bible bashing is a waste of our short and precious time. There are three main kinds of people you meet as a missionary; those who want to learn, those who don't, and those who want to contend. Those who want to contend couldn't care less about what we have to say to them, even if it is the truth. They simply don't care. You can use all the right scriptures to answer all their confusing questions, but what you say goes in one ear and out the other. All they want to do is confuse you and fight with you. I personally have no intention to entertain these kind of people. I'll spend the little time I have to talk with people who will sincerely benefit from what I have to say.

Sorry! That's much louder than how I usually sound! I'm just pretty serious about this subject. :P But anyway, that's about all I have for this week. I'll write more of my awesome adventures this next Monday! Happy Easter Guys! Love you!


-Elder Froude