December 8, 2014 – Getting close to Christmas!

Dear Mom, Dad, Lauren, and Ian,

We're finally going to have a baptism this week! Pedro's baptismal interview will be tomorrow, and he's so ready! He's really excited too. He hasn't missed going to church since we started about a month and a half ago. The ward needs to get on getting him another friend or two, but he's cool with the Bishop, so that should help out.

This past weekend, the Priesthood had a Christmas activity. An open house. Simple right? Well... miren lo que pasó. Look at what happened. During the open house, the people coming in will go into a room to listen to a message and then rotate to another one until we all meet up together in the chapel. We had four rooms and two of the teachers didn't show up. So, me and another elder had to fill in and only had 5 minutes to prepare. When we started, only our investigators showed up (one of ours, and one of the other companionship's), some of the people in charge, and maybe 4 members. Not to say it was a disaster, because our investigator, an older woman named Daisy, said she liked it! But I feel like it would have run better if the people in charge would have planned it more than two days in advance before the activity.

Speaking of things being sprung upon me in the latest minute possible, I taught Gospel Principles yesterday at church! I had a whole minute to prepare too! Actually, it went really well. I taught about the Sacrament. And I used up the whole 45 minute lesson very well. Thank you Holy Spirit! Lol, I can't say this is the first time this has happened to me, nor can I say it will be the last time.

Now about the sisters in my district, it was really up and down for a bit this week with me. Hna. Santos will be returning to Puerto Rico this coming Tuesday for health, but with honors. It wasn't completely unexpected, but I was hoping that they would be able to end on good terms before then. They had talked with each other and had arrived on some sort of compromise, but I saw that things were still a little shaky with them. I got frustrated because the Sister Leaders and I were hoping that one of them would start showing even a little charity by now. I thought a lot about what it is that we could do to make them part as friends. After talking with my companion and prayer, I came to the conclusion that we've already done all that we could. Now, it's time to see if they learned what we've taught them. If you teach a kid to ride a bike, you teach them by holding on so they don't fall. But you have to let go at one point, don't you? How else are you going to see if they really did learn? I brought this up with the Sister Leaders, luckily before they called them, and they agreed.

It's amazing how much a person learns when all they do is offer service to others. Such a simple little act brings forth a fortune of lessons and knowledge, it's incredible! I still have got so much to learn, of course, but I can't imagine how different my life would be like if I hadn't come out here to learn these things. Yay, I'm growing up, haha!

I'm gonna take a TON of pictures this week because we'll have a special District meeting and a Zone conference the day after, and a baptism! I'll take a lot and send them all! I'll write you all next week ok? Love you all! Thank you for all your support and gifts! They mean so much!

-Elder Froude

December 1, 2014 – Christmas already?

Dear Mom, Dad, Lauren, and Ian,

Tis the season! People here have already started decorating their houses and put up their Christmas trees. I'd be more excited for the holidays here but people here celebrate Christmas like they do any other holiday, with a ton of alcohol and large speakers attached to their cars blasting Dimbo and Bachata music. Also, as far I know, we aren't allowed to go teaching on Christmas or New Year’s for safety reasons. I think we can visit with a member close by, but for now, it's that way, like last year. At least I'll be with other missionaries! If I get transferred to an area with 2 other missionaries that is, lol!

So this week was pretty good! We found a ton of new people to teach, finally, and more people are starting to progress! We had to postpone Pedro's date to the next week so that we can prepare him better for his interview. But we had a pretty cool lesson just yesterday! We're teaching a woman named Idalia and her neighbor, Julio. Idalia had a lesson with missionaries before but she says she likes us a lot more. Yesterday, we introduced to her the Book of Mormon and during the lesson she had to tell us that she liked our form of teaching. When we asked what she meant, she said that she could feel that we really believe what we were teaching her, which makes her want to learn more. She said the last missionaries a long time ago that gave her a book of Mormon didn't explain it well and didn't make her want to read it. That was the first time anyone has ever told us that they like the way we teach. It made me feel all fuzzy inside! Thankfully, it didn't puff me u, because I know who's the real one teaching during the lessons. Haha!

So here, the mission has started the initiative He is the Gift, in Spanish, El es la Dadiva. I'm sure you guys already know about it. They asked that we really apply this to our work and report certain numbers along with this initiative. We just started so we don't know much for now, but as the month goes on we'll see how well this works, and I'm sure that it will!

Btw, I got a little fever last night, but I woke up fine this morning. I don't know where it came from. At church I was fine, but the rest of the day I just started getting really tired. When I got home at like 9 pm, I laid down and I felt warmer under the sheets than usual, then I told myself, Yep, I got a fever. Haha! I took some Tylenol and went to sleep.

Man, Christmas is coming on way too fast! This will be my last one here... I have so much to do here and so little time! I'll take advantage of every minute I have here. I'll write you all next week! More progress on the investigators and Operation: He is the Gift! Thank you so much for all your love and support!  Love you guys!

-Elder Froude

November 24, 2014 – Belated Happy Thanksgiving and Anniverary

Dear Mom, Dad, Lauren, and Ian,

As a request from Dad, I'll make the majority of this email about how I'm doing personally. Now that I look back, I do notice that I'm writing a lot about how others are doing and less about how I'm doing. I've been doing that a lot out here, worrying about the needs of others over my own :P I'll think about myself for a tiny bit, I guess! ^_^

My district is keeping me nice and stressed out.  XD  I've been praying a lot and working with them for a while now. They don't anger me or anything like that; I really do want the best for them. It's just that they know what they have to do; they just aren't doing it. I won't give up on them though!

I am, however, enjoying the rain here. The past few days it has been pouring! Well, pouring for about 20 or 30 minutes at most, and then the rest of the day, sunshine. Actually, there were a few days of overcast, so that was a nice break from the sun! Daylight savings also doesn't exist here. So, it's the same everything until I go home. XP Oh my goodness, I go home in almost 9 months!  Man, the time flies way too fast. Elders and sisters I met when I started are already going home. Well, sisters more than elders. O:  But the sister from my group, Hermana Hilburn, is already going home next transfer! Sometimes to a missionary 2 years seems so long, yet the next day, 2 years doesn't seem like enough time. I'm freaking out that I have so little time left!  Others will say, ''Psh, 9 months? That's forever!''  I'm almost positive that kids in high school will say that. I know I did, lol! But it seemed like Ian was gone forever! Maybe more so for me because I won't see him till I come home. O:  That’s 3 years and 8 months!

We still can’t have any zone activities per Pres. Corbitt.  We can do one as a district, but I won't be able to because my district are all sisters.  XD And about eating, we are not allowed to eat at member’s homes anymore (but at first we just couldn't eat with investigators (I only ever ate with members).  But for lots of missionaries, it's really hard to kindly refuse the food without offending them. We actually lose investigators when we do that.  It’s the new rule because of safety (missionaries are getting sick from eating some food.  I, personally, never got sick.) and time constraints. Dominicans have the habit of cooking something after the lesson for the missionaries to be nice, and it wastes time because they cook for so long. I never had that problem because the food was already ready by the time we got there. So President is meeting up with the Stake Presidents to set something in stone for us.  P-days are basically spent doing laundry, cleaning the house, and shopping for food for the week.

So, those are my feelings for now. As I look back on what I did, it seems so short. It only seems like a few weeks ago since I was in Bavarro, and even shorter since I was in Los Tres Brazos. It's crazy! I'm loving the experience though. I'm learning so much as I go on! I just feel bad that I can become the best missionary I can ever be the day I fly home. I'm trying to soak in as much as I can. All your letters of help and love and support helps me get through it all. Thank you so much for everything! I miss you! I love you guys!

-Elder Froude

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