September 8, 2014 – Seguimiento…Follow-up

Dear Mom, Dad, Lauren, and Ian,

It's nuts to think that I have been here almost a year!  I just got here!  

It seems that these last few letters has been me about how I have been struggling in this area. Well, I think I finally figured out what it is I had to learn here!  Follow-up. It's much easier said than done, quite honestly, and in my last areas I've had fixed appointments most of the time so I haven't had to work too hard on following up with investigators. Well, being here sure taught me otherwise! XD  It helped out a lot following up. Our numbers may be a little lower than usual, but we are working on it! Following up also helps to sift out promising investigators.  So far, the fruits are good! We found our first family here, and they're all super nice! The family is a good-sized one too, a mother and father, 2 daughters, and a son. They all seem pretty interested but are busy all week long. Seeming interested is interested enough!  Haha!  We'll do our best to continue with them. Also, our baptismal date, Jorge Nuñez is progressing well and has so much support from his family! His interview is this Saturday, so we'll be spending the week preparing him for it.  His bap date is Sept. 20.  We're still working on Kelvin...he just needs to come to church!

In other news, we're finally going to the temple tomorrow! I haven't gone since February, so we're all excited for that. Also I did my first baptismal interview this past Saturday. It is an investigator from one of my districts, Mi Hogar. His name is Rafael, and he's a solid one! Super ready for baptism! It was a really cool experience! I also decided personally that it would be something I take very seriously, interviewing people for baptism. Sure baptisms are important, but how much easier would it be to be sure that that baptism was still active 3 weeks after his baptism? The recent converts here were baptized the week before I arrived, and so far, we're still working with them to keep them active and to help them keep reading the Book of Mormon. Now I'm not going to ask these people super difficult and deep questions, but I'll be listening very closely to the Spirit during the interviews. And the interview I did, I felt that the brother was ready for baptism!

Still no changes about what we can and can't do on our P-days though. Missionaries here are starting to get a little unsettled about it. Not accounting for the fact about the strictness of things, it's a pretty steep change for us here, so I would say that that would be the biggest reason. We're still waiting for word from President, and he'll either say things will stay the same or he'll tell us what we can and can't do.  I hope he says something sometime this week!

Ok, well the clock on this thing is running out, so I gotta get going soon. Thanks for the advice, Dad! It's hard to make these people commit to stuff but yeah, sometimes we have to be stern with them.  XP

I'll write you all next week ok? Love you all and miss you!! Stay strong! I'm praying for you all!

-Elder Froude

Zone picture with Area 70 Elder Hugo E. Martinez and his wife and Pres. Corbitt and his wife

Happy 1 year as a missionary, Elder Froude!!!

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September 1, 2014 – Ups and downs

Dear Mom, Dad, Lauren, and Ian,

Happy anniversary!! I'm glad that you finally had some quiet time to enjoy together.  The rain let up a little bit now, but there's still a bit of storm passing by. About P-days, well, Pres. Corbitt is deciding what we can't and can do during P-days with a lot of prayer and fasting. He relies a LOT of revelation from the Lord to help him in his calling. But until he gets and gives us an answer, things are pretty strict as to what we can and can't do.

Well, this week hasn´t been one of my best. Thankfully, it was the little things this week that kept it from being my worst.  ^_^  Well, our numbers have become a little low. Our citas and back up plans this week have been falling through much more than usual. To top it off, our investigators that we have aren´t keeping up with commitments, not even our baptismal date, Kelvin, (which, as well, has fallen through) has gone to church yet. So, that adds to a bit of frustration.  :P  What´s more, we went contacting to look for more people to teach, with no success.  A lot of people here are Jehova´s Witnesses and they won´t give us the time of day, usually.

On the positive, however, some cool stuff happened this week. Just this past Tuesday, the mother (not a member) of a youth in the ward passed away and just hours after she died, I was asked to share a spiritually comforting message to his family who also weren´t members. When we got there, I saw the young man whose mother just passed away and he looked at peace compared to his other family members who were understandably sobbing. The first cool thing is that this young man has incredible faith in the Plan of Salvation. He knew where his mother was going and maybe even felt that she would accept the gospel there. The second cool thing was how I came upon sharing the message. While looking through the scriptures for a comforting message to share, I remembered a short section in D and C that I had found just that morning, section 137 verses 7 and 8. It was perfect! I shared those verses and bore a very spiritual testimony about the Plan of Salvation to this family. It was a very special experience for me.  ^_^ I had gone to 3 other occasions like this before, but this was the first one I had formally spoken at.

Well, the things about not finding people to teach have gotten a bit better as of yesterday. We went on a splits with the ward and our zone leaders came and helped out. We now have a lot of less-actives and some references to visit now! If not investigators, reactivating less-actives are just as important.

I sure hope that we can improve this week! I haven´t given up yet. Also, good luck in all your new callings Mom, Dad, Lauren, Richard, and Ian! I guess the Lord has lots of plans for us! Talk to you all next week!

Thank you for everything!  Love you all!!!

-Elder Froude

P.S.
Finally! Pictures from last week's zone activity where there was a storm and it flooded.  Best zone activity ever!!!  The hermanas are in my district.

My dream of playing in the rain and flood was fulfilled!

August 25, 2015 – Crazy storms

Dear Mom, Dad, Lauren, and Ian,

This week has been full of rain! A tropical storm has hit this part of the DR and it's been raining hard lately! I love it! It's the first time I haven't been sweating in almost a year! We also had an awesome zone activity today and we all played in the rain. So awesome! It was one of my dreams to play in some hard rain. I have awesome pictures too! Thanks to the waterproof camera! It' starting to flood here though. The sewage here isn't the best and in some parts it comes back out when it floods. We didn't cross any sewer water on the way home though, so that's good.

Anyway, as for the work here, we have a new promising investigator! It almost counts as a family, but the wife is a member and the 3 kids are too young to be baptized.  They’re the Nunez family and the guy’s name is Jorge. But he's really awesome! He's really receptive and likes the church a lot. We hope he can progress well; he has a lot of support from his wife. As for Kelvin, he's progressing very well.  He only needs to come to church!! He's still reading the Book of Mormon and loves it, but it's like every Sunday something comes up that keeps him from going to church. We aren't giving up on him yet! He has so much potential!!

Oh, a cool bit of news. This week we're going to be visited by the 2nd counselor of the presidency of the Area 70, Elder Hugo Martinez. It should be interesting! He's going on a mission tour and checking out all the zones, so we'll see how that goes. Other than that, we're still looking for more people to teach. They're out there; they're just a little tough to find. I hope we find them!

Well, I hope this storm doesn't keep us in for too long. I'll write you all next week and send more pictures! This internet doesn't have a USB port to send them, bleh. But until next week everyone! I love you all!

-Elder Froude

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!