Hey everyone Im doing fine. I know you all want to hear a little about whats going on here so here we go.To be honest we are square dab in the Middle of the country. All it has really done is rained here. We are just now starting to see damage. There are about 2 rivers that are now starting to flood. In the poorer parts of the town there are houses that were just evacuated. The people are living in a school nearby. That is the other missionaries area. We never go down there. Today we went to see what has happend down in the area. The bridge that was seperating the 2 areas was destroyed and sweeped away. the river isnt really big until it rains really hard. All of our investigators are fine and their houses too. Here in Ocoa their really hasnt been too much damage. It rains like cats and dogs for 20 minutes then it just rains a couple other times in the day. It is always wet here but it rains about every 30 minutes off and on but not too hard. We have checked with a lot of people but mainly they are fine. Most of the houses that have been evacuated here are already taken care of. All of their things have been removed from their houses. On suday their were only 11 people in church. They were the peple that lived closer to church. Well Ill awnser all of your questions now.
-Do you have electricity? Yes, we have had about exactly the same amount of electricity in the House. I dont use my fan in the night though because it getts cold. I think im going to buy a jacket.
-How are you cooking your food? We are cooking food as normal. The colmados and the supermarkets are open. We have plenty of food. We have always cooked with a gas stove.
-How are you getting clean water? We have plenty of water. We buy those big jugs of water that they have in office buildings. We have always drank out of those. We are also gathering water in big trash cans to shower with. Our water just left 2 days ago. So we dont have running water. I think the line got damaged. BUt we are good with that. We wont have a problem with water. ahhaha.
-Is there flooding? Yes there is a little but not even close to the house. there is only flloding by the rivers. The peple that live by them have left.
-How are the missionaries and members? The members are fine. We are doing regular check ups. But we are working and teaching still. I guess that my wife will be very pretty because im doing a ton of walking in the rain. People think we are crazy because we are working in the hurricane.
-Are you doing service to help people? Right now we havent been able to but in a couple of days we will do clean up.
-What is your shower situation? Showering is alright like i said the water went out but we have lots of water out back.
-When the power is out at night, do you only rely on a flashlight? I really havent used my flashlight at all here in Ocoa. We always have light at night. I think we have not had light here only 2 times since i have been in ocoa. If we dont have light we use candles. They are easy bright, and really cheap.
How do you spend your time when it is dark and no lights? Before you sleep? We have a ton of light here in Ocoa. Usually the light leaves during the day when there is daylight and in the night we always have light. The people here pay their bills so we have light.
-How are you washing your clothes? We wash with our washer here. The drying is the problem. We have a spinner next to the washer that spins the water out. After that we hang them in the house and put our fans on them. I have rope above my bed close to the ceiling to hang my clothes.
-Do you have glass windows? We have glass shudders for window. The rain never comes trough the windows. There really hasnt been much wind. Only one day it was a little windy. We ran over to our neigbors house amd I climbed on their rood in the rain and wind and put cement blocks all over. It was a little scary but at least their roof didnt fly away.
How do you keep the rain out? It only comes in under the back door. We have put old rags in their to block it out. We only have a little in the hallway. Everything is good and dry.
I think the worst of the storm is up north at the coast. It is really hitting hard up theri. BUt here dont worry too much. Ill come home. I am protected. THey I actually just recived a call from the leaders of the zone and we are to be on watch for flash floods in BanÃ. Ill keep my eyes out.
Well we are really having a ton of success here. We are finding the chosen pople of the lord. ON the 20th we are going to have 2 more baptisms. Also the other day we found this awsome man and his family. He is in charge of the light company of Ocoa. He loved the message and will bring his whole family to church. We have tons of people saying that they would be baptised when they know this message is the truth.Im now asking people if they will be baptised on the first visit. If they are chisen servanets of God they will accept. So know we are contacting more people and having fewer planned lessons. Im only looking for the strong hearts and the people that will stay in the church. All my mission I have been finding the chosen ones. And now they are prospering in the church. Most of the missionaries are baptising who ever but I dont belive in that. Most of them will be inactive. With teaching the chosen ones we will build the church and have retention. We have plans to find one chesen one every day. If we find 1 each day we will have more than 5 baptisms every week. It is a perfect plan. Im workin really hard now and learning tons of spanish. I love to read the scriptures and learn from preach my Gospel. Lately I have taken on a better understanding of Preach my gospel and how to do things. I love you all and hope to recieve some sweet emails.
Elder Anderson
