as of September 11, 2013

Monday, August 18, 2014

August 18, 2014 – New companion, Elder Pena

Dear Mom, Dad, Lauren, and Ian,

Well, this week has been interesting! It started with getting my new companion, Elder Peña. He's a Guatemalan elder that has 14 months on the mission and he's a cool and funny guy. A little quiet during the lessons, but I'm sure that when he gets to know everyone he'll open up. I also got to meet the new sisters in my district. They are both trainees, Hermana Pichardo from the DR and Hermana Cuevas from Florida. Her parents are Dominican and she already knows Spanish. They're both super excited to work! I noticed that that Spirit has lifted up and encouraged  and motivated the sisters already in my district too! So that's good!  We’re helping them with a service project tomorrow.

Now for the week. We still haven't visited with Kelvin; he's still mourning a bit for his grandma who passed away, but he said we can continue teaching him tomorrow. He's been pretty out of it lately, and we totally understand. When we first started teaching him, we told him that even though he's seeing changes in his life, it won't always be any easier, in fact, it would be a little harder. I'm glad I said it then because he's still willing to be taught. But I also feel horrible because his grandma passed away, which can be extremely hard for anyone. We'll see what happens with his progression.

Oh! Funny story! My companion and I were kinda tricked into going to a bible study group. XD We contacted this lady who said she'd love to hear about what the Mormons are all about but when we came back on the day of the appointment, there were 7 or 8 people sitting in a circle with all their bibles out. I thought, ´´It's a Trap!!´´ So, we sat down and started to listen, and boy, they had some interesting interpretations of who God is and other things. Usually, during a lesson, we would try to humbly correct people about the scriptures if it was necessary, to teach them something about our lesson, but my companion and I both felt that it wouldn't be wise. Mostly because the environment of the appointment was not conducive to learning. If we said something, a person would pull out a scripture trying to prove us wrong with his or her interpretation, and if we answered, another person would do the same. However, if somebody directly asked us a question, we answered it with scripture, sometimes not along the lines of their beliefs, bore our testimony, and let them continue. They seemed satisfied with our answers though. But boy, they said some pretty funky stuff, like God is Knowledge and that baptism shouldn't be by immersion because water isn't knowledge or something like that. XD Other than that, we didn't say much. It was actually pretty funny how it all happened! Haha!

Well, hopefully this week we'll get to visit and find some more people. This week all the people we found are either part of another church or aren't interested. But we will keep looking! Anyway, that's all for this week. I'll write you more stories and send more pictures! Talk to you guys later! Love you!


-Elder Froude
We had FHE with this amazing family and we baked the brownies that you sent me for my birthday.
It was yummy!  Thank you!
Elder Pronk's last day in our area.
With Elder Bateman
With Elder Granados.  He looks like he's 12. Haha!
Love this quote from director Cecil B. DeMille.
 

August 11, 2014 – Happy transfer day tomorrow but I’m staying

Dear Mom, Dad, Lauren, and Ian,

After a long 8-week transfer, transfer day has finally come. There are lots of changes going on out here! New leaders and new areas and a bunch of stuff! My companion, Elder Pronk, had a hunch he was leaving because he had already been here for 3 transfers. And he is being transferred to an area close to where I was born in the mission, Higuey. He's been wanting to go to the campo part of the mission so good for him! :D He'll love it. My district is also changing too! Firstly, the work in their areas are improving quite a bit. They're such troopers… so proud of them! Also, one sister in each companionship is transferring. The ones that are staying are going to be training. It will be their first trainee, I believe. They're both excited!

This week was another day in the office; looking for people and trying to find less active members. The ward gave us a list and we went looking for them. A lot of them are too busy living outside of the ward boundaries though, so we'll have to report that. Really, we've just been teaching Kelvin all week who is progressing very well. Unfortunately, his grandmother passed away a few days ago after a surgery for a hernia. They said the surgery went well, but I guess it was just her time. We're going to visit him today to check up on him. He still hasn't come to church yet, and it wasn't his fault for not coming either. I guess that adversary really doesn't want him to be a member. But guess what?! We haven't given up on him! We still have a lot of hope for Kelvin!

Well, the week was definitely much better than the last. We have a lot to look forward to, even my new companion, which I forgot to mention until now! He's Elder Peña from Guatemala. I never met him before but let's see how this goes. I heard good things about him, so that’s good!

I will write next week with more news and how my new companionship is! Until next week! I love and miss you all! Bye!


-Elder Froude

August 4, 2014 – Thanks for my birthday gifts!

Dear Mom, Dad, Lauren, and Ian,

Well, this week has been much better than past weeks! Still got some tough stuff going on, but we finally found someone promising! We unfortunately had to drop the girl that had a baptismal date, though. She just plain isn't ready yet and isn't too pumped about seeing us either. Perhaps another time.

But anyway…we met this man named Kelvin, who has been fantastic since we met him! He's thoroughly studying the Book of Mormon and always has awesome questions! He believes it, because he told us the other day that he felt the Holy Spirit! That is probably the second or third time in my almost 11 months that someone has tried describing what they felt instead of just saying an unsure sounding ''good.'' Lol! But he's a really good guy; he's always out on his porch reading a pamphlet of ours or the Book of Mormon when we pass by his house. We also are working with him to stop smoking which he's willing to do! He used to smoke a pack a day or so, but when we taught him the Word of Wisdom we made a goal for him to smoke at the most 10 cigarettes a day. Asking people to stop smoking right away is almost impossible out here so we work slowly but with progress.  When we came back the next day, he said he smoked only 5! We're so happy for him! He only needs to come to church though. He couldn't this week because he had to rush his grandma to the hospital, nor the week after because it was Father's Day here. He promised us he'd come this coming Sunday though. Crossed fingers!

Well, along with the good, there's something pretty challenging that's keeping me busy too. My district is only my companion and I, and two companionships of sisters in an area called Mi Hogar, which is split into two; Mi Hogar A and B. To start, the sister in Mi Hogar B aren't getting along too well and are pretty stressed out.  :/ Even though Mi Hogar A are working well together, they both have a bit of trouble finding things to do because they have already worked in almost all of the area and are running out of people to find. That isn't too good either because they have less than 2 progressing investigators. I'm trying to give them some ideas on what they can do to keep themselves busy and while they take the ideas, they're just a little discouraged. So, I'll be working with some Sister Training Leaders in my Zone to see how we can help them out. Those leaders would be the ones doing exchanges since I won't be able to. Haha! But it's tough being in charge of a district that you can only call but not be able to go work with them (because elders and sisters cannot work/proselyte together). We'll see what happens this coming week.

Well, that's this past week summed up. I also want to thank you guys and Tita Jona and her family, and Tita Jackie, and Mama for sending me my birthday packages and money! The treats were yummy! I shared them with my companion as well, so don't worry! ^_^ I'll write next week with more progress on Kelvin and my district! Love you and miss you all!! Thanks for everything! All your support and love helps me out so much! :)

-Elder Froude

New haircut
Yummy breakfast that I made!


July 28, 2014 – Finally finding people

Dear Mom, Dad, Lauren, and Ian,

This week has been a little bit better than the last. We're starting to find better people to teach after dropping quite a few last week. Unfortunately, our baptism that was supposed to be this Saturday has fallen through. The little girl, Mirella, that we were teaching told us she wanted to be baptized so that she could have the Priesthood. Now we don't know who told her she could have it or if it was just a plain misunderstanding, but my companion and I decided that it was best to start over the lessons with her. That is, if she still has the desire to be baptized because we aren't sure if she knows why she's taking the lessons or why she goes to church. Her brothers all tell her to be baptized and, of course, they mean well but she almost never talks herself. Or rather, she relies a lot on her older siblings for answers. We'll see what happens with her this week.

On the positive, we found a man named Kelvin who, right now, is studying very carefully the Book of Mormon. We met him a few days ago and he was really interested in the first lesson, especially the Book of Mormon. We gave it to him the next day and since then he has been reading it a lot and marking stuff! We have an appointment with him tomorrow and we'll see what kinds of questions he has. So far, he's had really good questions!

Aside from the work, we went to the mall again today for P-Day. It wasn't the same mall, it was one closer to home, but a little smaller. We met up with awesome missionaries there, one of them going home soon! Actually, a few of them now that I think about it. But it's always a nice break from the work to just hang out with some fellow missionaries and sharing stories. We didn't do anything spectacular; we just ate and walked around a bit then went home. A lot of them actually went to play soccer in the parking lot, where there's an indoor soccer field. I didn't play because my companion couldn't and I didn't wanna make him wait. I'd rather not play anyway, not because I don't like soccer, but because we were already planning on hanging out with an Elder who wanted to chill with us one last time before he finished his mission. His name is Elder Peterson, and he's been a really good friend of mine and Elder Pronk.

Before I forget, thank you so much for the 2 birthday packages! The treats were delicious! Except we can't make the brownies cause our oven doesn't work.   We're thinking about cooking it in a member’s house who would really appreciate it. She doesn't have a whole lot of money.  The shirts fit! And my birthday was like another day in the office, lol! But we went to a frozen yogurt place at night called Sweet Frog, it’s like Big Spoon. Other than that, everything was ok!

Well, that's all for this week. Hopefully, we'll put some baptismal dates this week, but first they have to start coming to church! Praying and crossing my fingers! Talk to you all next week! Love you! Thanks for everything! I may not mention it much but I really do appreciate yours and dad's words of encouragement. It really goes a long way!


-Elder Froude

Birthday goodies from Mom and Dad!
Food court!