November 17, 2014 – Progressing!!!

Dear Mom, Dad, Lauren, and Ian,

Whew, this week has been something! Not just looking for and teaching people, but stuff within the district as well. I suppose I'll talk about this one first.

There's supposedly been a little tension in a companionship in my district. I won't name any names, but the Sister Training Leaders (STLs) and I have been working on trying to get them to fix it for a while. Well, more of planning out what we want accomplished in a companion exchange. The reason why I'm working with the STL's is because this certain companionship are sisters, and since I can't go on exchanges with sisters they do it for me and report to me on what happened. Well, their report to me was a little unsettling. Now, this companionship doesn't want to kill each other, it's nothing like that. But it's definitely a very big lack of communication. One sister thinks that everything is peachy keen and the other is miserable. Not the best kind of thing to hear within my district. XP  It's also more frustrating for me because I can't counsel sisters on these kinds of things. Hopefully, they can sort it out, but I really hope it is soon because there's a chance that one of them will be going home for bad health. If that happens, I would want it to be that she goes home on good terms with her companion. That's been in the back of my mind this week.  :P

On the positives! We're starting to really enjoy the fruits of our labors now. Pedro, whom I wrote about last week, has a baptismal date for the 28th of this month! And today, we're going to try and put a date with his wife as well! He's a very nice guy and loves coming to church. Before, he was attending with a Christian church, but after exploring ours, chose ours over the Christian church. He's also reading the book of Mormon as well! We hope that his wife can join us in the lesson tonight. Also we found a woman named Kirse, a referral from a member. The poor woman has lived a very hard life and is still in very tough conditions. Her outlook on life is all misery and sadness, and the question,” Why is This Happening to Me?”  We bore very heartfelt testimonies to her that she is a daughter of God and that he loves her, and that we're here to help her find the peace that she has been looking for all her life. That, among other things; it was a very spiritual lesson. She told us after the closing prayer that she felt more relaxed than she ever felt in a very long time. She can feel the Spirit! We're going to work very hard on her.

I sure hope that our other investigators can progress! And hopefully the sisters in my district can sort things out :P Thank you all for all your support! Happy Thanksgiving next week! Love you!

-Elder Froude

November 10, 2014 – They Call Me King!

Dear Mom, Dad, Lauren, and Ian,

This week has been a little weird. For some reason, a good chunk of our citas fell through. Luckily, one day of this week we were able to visit everyone we planned for, which saved us from a low lesson number this week, haha! But it was tough! Not all in vain though. Our back up plans helped us to find people that are pretty excited to learn more. Hopefully, they can progress well! One of them comes to church on his own, so we have a good feeling about that guy. But anyways, we're continuing in trying to get this area to progress. It is certainly much more than what we started with!

Hermana Santos, a rather sick sister in my district had to spend the whole week in the hospital for treatments on her lungs. They worked and she's able to work again but she can't push herself very hard. We're going to keep a good eye on her. ^_^ Also, we have two new sisters that are going to whitewash one of the areas in my District, Hermanas Peacock and Bocanegra. It will be their first time whitewashing, so it will be quite the adventure for them!

As for us, we're still looking diligently for more people to teach, and we are finding! They have yet to progress, but we will continue doing what we should. One of them is a family, a dad, mom, and their son. How we contacted them was funny! We were walking along and started talking to this woman we contacted the day before. When we were trying to put in another day with her, her husband, who's a pretty scary looking guy (but the nicest guy ever), walks out of his house and asks us who we are. We explained that we were missionaries that contacted his wife and wanted to make an appointment with the both of them to share the gospel. He said to come back on Saturday and we wrote it down and asked his name. In a deep voice, he said in English, "They Call Me King." And we were like "Yes sir! See you later!" And we went off. I was trying hard not to laugh in front of him not because his name didn't fit him, because it did. I just didn't expect that at all! But when we came back for the appointment, he turned out to be the nicest guy ever and is super interested in the gospel. He said he wants to become closer with God and would like to do that with his family. We have bright hopes for this guy!

Hopefully, we'll have more progress on these new investigators and help our old ones to church as well. It's hard, but it's worth it!

Times almost up, so I'll just write you all next week, ok? And HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOMORROW, MOMMY! Miss you and love you guys so much! Have a good Thanksgiving!

-Elder Froude

November 3, 2014 – I’m staying!

Dear Mom, Dad, Lauren, and Ian,

Transfers are over and the new one has begun! I'm going to be sticking around to finish Elder Tillmond's training. Hermana Petersen is going to finish her mission tomorrow, so for our last Zone Meeting we had her share her testimony. Really nice meeting.

As for our week, we definitely have some stuff to do now. Joel didn't make it to church this Sunday because of something he had to do with his family. It has actually been pretty hard to meet up with him lately. We've seen him but he's always doing sports or something. But there's a pretty big need to teach him the Word of Wisdom though.  We saw him at his friend's birthday party and they were ALL drinking alcohol. It's actually so normal here that a lot of parents buy it for the teens at parties and nobody bats an eye. He isn't binge drinking, of course, but that's our next lesson for him, lol!

On the subject of drinking, my companion and I met one of the cleanest drunkards I have ever met. This Seventh Day Adventists kid called us over to ''preach'' to a man that is always drunk and always says pretty awful stuff to people whenever they try to preach to him. Honestly, I first thought, ''Oh boy... this should be fun.'' So, we went to him on the street and introduced ourselves as the Mormon missionaries. Surprisingly from the beginning, he didn't swear or anything. He just tried to shrug us off by saying he was Atheist. We said that was all good, we don't try to change people's beliefs or lack thereof. But for some little thing, he quoted a scripture. I asked him if he was with a religion at one point because it's pretty weird for an Atheist to know the Bible. He said no, but he knew the bible.  After more talking, he said he was Agnostic, and then with more talk, he said believed in the Living Christ and the Eternal Father. We then opened up with the Restoration and he actually listened! It was a really interesting experience, but now that I think about it, these are the exact kind of people that Jesus Christ would preach to and heal. His name is Haibe, and he also invited himself to church with us on Sunday. We'll be with him this week to try and prepare him well to come. My companion and I have a good feeling about this one.

On the negative side of things, I learned that one of my old companions, who was in Pueblo Bavarro with me, was sent home early. Not for anything he did bad, but all I heard was family issues. I sure hope everything is ok.

Apparently, I still have something to do in this area, whether it be to finish Elder Tillmond's training or finding somebody or I don't know what. But I'll keep working hard. We're starting to see the fruits of our determination and your prayers. Thank you for everything! I'll write next week!  Love you all! Have fun at Apple Hill!

-Elder Froude

With Bishop handing out vests.

With Hermana Narda and her youngest, Aylin.

With Oliver, the bishop's son.

Some of the youth in our ward.

Mormon Helping Hands.  Some ward members.

Add caption

My District

Selfies during Zone meeting.

Our Zone.

Elder Garcia

Elders Montero & Ruiz

Hermana Santos & Hermana Peterson who is leaving tomorrow.

Hermana Pichardo

Elder Kirk

Dominican grasshopper called Esperanza, or Hope.

October 27, 2014 – Last week of transfer already!

Dear Mom, Dad, Lauren, and Ian,

Wow, it's already the last week of the transfer! It has been a pretty tough one, but I learned a ton from it. There's a good sized pool of people we are teaching now, and one of them is coming to church now! A boy named Joel. We're teaching a lot of his friends too, but he has been at every single meeting we set up so far. He's also reading the Book of Mormon now as well! His friends are as well! Joel and his whole group of friends are between 15 and 19 years old. Joel is 17, I believe. But yes, a lot of them are starting the Book of Mormon now, and they like it so far. We have a few others that are yet to progress, so we will continue with them!

Stake conference was yesterday! The talks were great. President Corbitt also spoke to the congregation, and had a great talk about the missionary work. Said that the members have just as big a responsibility of missionary work as the missionaries do, and he's right! Out here it's a little tough to get references from members, not because they don't want to give us references, but mostly because they aren't looking. There are those few members who are just golden and help us out however they can, though. And then Elder Zivic spoke to us as well! He had a lot of time to talk, so he talked about different things but a big focus was the Book of Mormon. It was perfect because our investigator Joel was there to listen to it! As a highlight, Elder Zivic talked about an intended Anti-Mormon sign he saw when he was traveling through Tampa, Florida. It said ''Don't pray about the Book of Mormon; it's how they get'cha''. Lol! He then proceeded to talk about how that is the only way we can ever know if it is true. If not, we'll never have a strong basis or testimony of the Book of Mormon. He said a lot of other stuff as well, and Joel was listening very intently.

Boy, this area is finally starting to grow. It took a LOT of work, and a companion that was willing to put in that work, and now things are happening. It just like how you always tell me; “When you give your all and then a little bit more, miracles happen.” Thank you so much for helping me with all your counsel and advice and love! I'll try to see if they can fix the photos problem here. Until next week! Love you all! Thanks for everything and the package! Send my love to everyone at the Celebration of Life thing!

-Elder Froude

October 20, 2014 – Happy birthday, Brody!

Dear Mom, Dad, Lauren, and Ian,

Firstly, Happy Birthday Brody!!!!! I don't know about you, but he's feeling 22!! Lol, I'm silly. I've been waiting to use that one!  XD But yeah brody! Do something awesome for your birthday! Unfortunately, for me, as you already know, it'll just be another day in the office for me. I'll party with you on the inside!!

Mom, thank you for sending me the pictures of the funeral. Everyone looks great even though it was a somber occasion.  Tito Chuck was a loved man I can tell. There’s a ton of people who attended his funeral!  I'm glad that they liked my letter. To be honest, I wasn't sure if they were the right things to say but I'm glad that Tita Jackie and Cameron appreciate it.

Well anyway, this week has been a little less than interesting. The work this week has been a little slow. We went 2 days without a single cita because they had all fallen through the whole day. We planned out so that we can avoid that from happening again. And so far, it's working pretty well. But it will be this week where we make it or break it because Elder Zivic wants to meet our investigators, and we haven't had an investigator at church in a while. We have investigators, and we're going to make a big push to try to get them to church. Oh that's right! I mention Elder Zivic because he will be attending our Stake Conference this Sunday. Should be a good conference!

Unfortunately, other than this, there isn't much else to mention. My companion and I are getting a long well and he's a great worker. Still working on Spanish of course, but that comes with time. Oh, and our investigator, Kelvin, moved away all of a sudden. 

Everything is ok here.  Weather is cooling down a little, and no, they don't celebrate Halloween here.  They sell the candy though! 

Send all my love again to the family when you meet up with them again on Nov 1! That's all I have for this week. It's a little short, but hopefully this coming week will go better! Love you all! Until next week!

-Elder Froude

October 13, 2014 - Things are looking up!

Dear Mom, Dad, Lauren, and Ian,

Last week went pretty well for a change! We're starting to get a good groove going on and we're doing more and more stuff every day. Our little strategy with the members is starting to kick-in. We're getting a better relationship with the ward and Bishop, and are working with a lot of the ward's less-actives. Hopefully, this'll show the ward that we're here to work. We're trying very hard. Elder Tillmond, whom I'm training, is adjusting well too! We're still on Spanish of course, but as soon as he learns to talk without mistakes, he'll learn two times faster. He's got a great spirit about him, and I'm glad, this is exactly what this area needs!

So in a few weeks or so is Stake Conference and Elder Zivic will be present and has forewarned us that he wants to meet our investigators. So, we better get cracking! Luckily, we do have a few new ones that we're teaching! Four teens that, actually, are very well instructed in the gospel and like what the Lord's message says! One of them actually read the pamphlet a few times before we came back the next day because he liked it so much! We have bright hopes for these boys.

President Corbitt also told us that he'll do another mission interview tour, and on Wednesday it's my Zone's turn! That should be fun! President Corbitt has been doing so much since he got here. I've seen him more times in just a few months than I did with President Hernandez in like 8 months.

Welp! That's about it for this week. But this coming week I feel like a lot will happen, with the work and the interview. We'll see what happens! Mom, the email to the family will come right after this. I love you all! See you soon!

-Elder Froude

Hermana Cuevas, one of the sisters in my district, was called to Aruba to replace a sister that was sick, so they essentially switched places. She's an awesome missionary and SO funny!

October 13, 2015 – Rest in peace, Tito Chuck

Dear Family,

I hope that these past few days the Holy Spirit has touched you and brought you all comfort in this time of great sadness with Tito Chuck’s passing. I felt a good deal of sadness out here, too, especially since I won't be able to go and mourn with all of you. Thankfully, I've also found a great deal of comfort. You all have heard it once or twice from my parents, sister, brother, and I about the LDS gospel. That we believe that there is a happy life after this earthly life. Now, I won't use up this letter to start preaching, but I feel that I should share with you all how much peace this gospel has brought me. Out here in the Dominican Republic, I've already attended 4 funerals, and recently, I was asked to speak at one, to a boy's family, who were not members of our faith. Understandably, these people were found in an almost inconsolable sadness. But when I started speaking, I felt a very special spirit fill the room, and I think that it had, maybe for a moment, helped this family to feel warmth, the love of our Heavenly Father, in their souls.

If anything, I hope that this letter does the same for you all. Tito Chuck may be gone, but it is only for now. I promise you that we will see him again one day, along with Lolo and Lola, the world's best Darl and Darl. I know that when that day comes, we'll all feel a happiness that we won't be able to describe. I hope that this letter was able to bring some of the feelings that I have felt out here to you; feelings that the Lord is watching us, and that he mourns with us when we mourn, and also rejoices with us when we rejoice. I send all of my love to all of you, and you are all in my prayers. Until next year, family…

Love,

-Elder Ryan Froude