Hato Nuevo

Well hey everyone. Im doing just fine here in Las Caobas. NOthing really new has happened over the week. We started off a little slow because I was having troubles with my companion. HE just changed over night and acted like he hated me. I tried to see what was up and he just said some bad stuff to me. Well Its all good because were alright now. I think hes just sick of the area. We ended up the week very weel and worked our butts off. I actually am starting to feel the wear and tear in the mission. My legs and feet hurt. Its either that I´m old or that we are working super hard. Our area is very big and we walk a ton too. Im sure Ill be fine though. I can tell you im not looking forward to getting to be an old man. hahhahaha. Well here in Hato Nuevo we always havfe water in the house. But we have no waterhead. It just shoots out a stream of water. We had a great lesson in our sunday school class about Temples and the ordenances in it. The investigators loved the baptism for the dead. They asked great questions and learned a ton. ONe little old lady said she was catholic but that she was going to switch religions. It was neat. She came as a referance from some members. Well thats about it. Sorry its small, Ill see if next week I have more to say. All I can say is that it is still hot and it doesnt stop. ahahhaha

 

 

Spud

 

 

 

Stake Confrence

Well yesterday we were pleased to have Elder Fransico Viñas of the Seventy come talk to the Stake of Las Caobas. He is also the First Counsular in the Presidensy of the Carribean. Also President Almonte spoke too. It was very good. Elder Viñas spoke much about the family and how the people here need to raise their children good. He spoke much about having every generation better and sinking in the roots. The church ahs 30 years now but is still trying to get stabilized.  He said that the Stake of Las Caobas was the strongest he has seen in a latin american country. I concur too. It is amazing and there are tons of Active members. The Stake Center was overflowing and wasnt enough seats. It was tight. There were people out side watching TVs on short circut frecuencies. We had one investigator go because it was very far away. She is really cool.

 

Well now that I have 3 weeks under my belt here I can tell you all more about the Area. We have a huge Area. It is the biggest area in the Zone. And it is a field. It isnt the city as Los Alcarrizos. We have to take buses to other parts of the area too. It can get pretty spendy. But it is well worth it. We have great and faithful investigators and we always find new people to teach. We have 5 areas that we work in. Hato Nuevo, Barrio, Palave, Bella Colina, and Quita Sueño. We live in the area of Hato Nuevo. It is the most like a city and has many people. The other 4 we need to take buses to get there. This is the first area that I have to take buses to areas in the Mission. There are tons of Hatians in Palave and Bella Colina. Well it rained a bunch 4 days out  of the week. I got soaked to my bones in 2 of them. I guess my wife will be very pretty because Im in the rain a ton. THe rain season is just about over though. It hadnt rained for awile before this week.

 

A funny thing that happend last week is that we went out to Quita Sueño. It is the furthest area we have been too. AND there has never been missionaries out there before. We recievd a referance from there and now we will be going out there more. Well the funny thing is that we went a little later in the day adn work for awile up there. We we were about to leave we found out that the buses dont go through that late. It was getting late, about 8 o clock and then it started to rain. So we were stranded out in the middle of nowhere and in the dark on the side of a highway. We luckly found a man that was going back close to Hato Nuevo. He gave us a long ride and then left us at the big highway going into Hato Nuevo. We then took a bus back into town. ahahah. We did make a good contact out of it. The man has a family and works right next to the church.

 

We went to the Temple on Friday also. It had been 4 months since the last time I went to the Temple. I love the peace in the temple. It really helps me to focus on my life and put myself in a better road. It gives me so much understanding and also is a guide in my life. Im so excited to get back to work here adn work really hard. I always recive an excitement when I realized what the temple could mean for many of our Investigators. We have lots of great investigators and go to church but the arent married. We are very close with many of the though. I really hope everything goes right and that the can be baptized. It gives me such joy to see people choose the right and change their lives. I love this work. I love my Savior. It is such an honor to be here. I have learned so much adn I hope I can continue to grow spiritually and to make others happier. I have seen myself act more like Chist. That is a huge goal for me. I want to be an influence for good wherever I go. I hope I can better myself and be a better servant of the Lord. I know that the Lord is always with us and that we forget that all the time. I know that we have so much power but we just need to find out how to use it. We are to use it for the benefit of others. I have learned so much of Service and of giving. I love the sciptures and have leared much about what we need to do in this life to have eternal life and live happier. I love this work and appriciate all your support. I love you all.

 

 

Elder Spudwick ANDERSON

La Casa del Presidente

Well the Spudman is great here in the Dominican Republic. Im having a great time. Elder Vasquez and I are turninginto a great team. We are really good friends, and talk and Joke around. He is a cool Dominican. IN my experiance here there are only a couple really cool Dominicans. HE is one of them. HE has 13 months in the Mission. OUr investigators are really cool. We had 4 in church this sunday. We also had the President and his Wife to come to our church. We got to know our investigators and talked to them. It was a neet experiance. Today we also went over to the President´s house to have an activity. We played basketball and threw a football around. After we ate a ton of food, namely rice and salad. But it was very good. Well tonight we ahve a Family Home evening and also a Dinner Appoinment after at a familiy´s house. I was asked to speak or teach them. I will teach about the obediance. This family is really cool and it is an honor to be able to participate in their family. Here I feel as if I have a huge family. The members are so important to me and We are so important to them. It is such a great experiance to be a friend and counsler to those people. They really look up to us. SOme times I feel insufficient because I am so young but the Spirit helps me to say the right things and is guiding me to be a help to all people. Today as I was looking outside the balcony I saw a old lady trying to cut down weeds with a machete. I ran down there and stole the machete from her adn started to work. I´m really trying to be as Christ and give service. When we help others we help God. When we help God we recive Blessings. I can use many more blessings and strength here in the mission too. Lately we have been blessed with many opportunities to serve. We have done all sorts of help around houses and doing yard work. We go in and out and leave the place looking good. Im so glad that I learned how do do so many things at home. I learned how to work. I am so indebted to my family for their work ethic and example. I only learn from the best. I can do all sorts of things especially in building and doing household repairs. I learned much from Dad and from my work in  construction. We are working very hard here in Hato Nuevo.  We are leaving in the morning and doing service or we are contacting in the street. In the morning there are many people in the street so we take advantage of that time to do many contacts. We have many great investigators and many families here. The only problem is that most of them need to get married. It is hard here too becasue it is very onoganized and is sometimes expensive for teh poorer people. We have one family and teh husband has to get divorced from his ex-wife then get married to his wife now. It is really a pain and really makes the work harder. Be when all is said and done those people with be greatly blessed with the opportunity of being baptized. This week we are planning on putting 4 baptismal dates. It really should be a treat. We are very close to getting our investigators married. Well I have a cool story, While contacting we decided to go down a steep long drive way to a house. 3/4ths of the way down my companion told me to stop and when I realized what was going on I stopped to. Their we about 5 dogs down their. When we took about 3 steps backwards the Dogs started chasing us. I was terrified. My companion took off before I did so I was stuck staring at the dogs. I then quickly took off running up this hill. As I looked backwards the dogs approached me. I could here their claws scraping against the cement. It was hard for them to run up the hill but I then, bent down and acted like I was going to pick up and throw a rock. They slowed down, stopped then scampered off. My heart was going so fast. I was laughing histariacly with Elder Vasquez. He was a fast Dominican. ahahha. When we got up to the top we saw that some people saw the whole thing. My heart still racing with adrenaline, we made a contact with the people. It was heard for me to talk because my heart was going and I would just start laughing. Im so grateful that nothing happend and that we were protected. In this area I see how someone would get scared because when it is dark and there isnt power it gets dangerous. But I feel the Saviors protecction and It also helps having a dominican so we don´t got mugged. I feel safe here though. It is a country town and is very tranquil. Well I hope to here some cool stories and experiances from you all. I love you and pray much for your wellbeing and sucess.

 

Elder Spud

Hato Nuevo

WOW!!!! I loved confrence. It was amazing. I came out of confrence with a new life and new meaning to everything. I just realized that Jesus Christ is resembled in all the 15 apostles. We cant see the face of Jesus Christ, but we have these witnesses that we can see and hear. It is really amazing that those men emplifiy the attributes of Christ. I really want to be a great example. I am really trying to follow the rules. The president is really hitting hard on the people who disobey the rules. Im so grateful that I have keep strong during the first part of my mission. The mission was in apostasy. But know we are almost out and reciveing the blessings of being great missionaries. I have always had the mindset of being a exaordanairy maniac missionary. I have really tried my best to set a good example and it works. Many people dont want to do the right things here but they respect me and I help them to make a better choice. Im so glad that Im here on my mission and for all the support I have. It is such a great experiance. It seems as though the missionaries are the life of the members here. They always talk about the missionarie that have passed by. Im honored to be one of their favorites wherever I go. I love this people and feel as I as one of them. During confrence I just hung out with 5 other Dominicans. I was laughing and having a great time. I actually convinced a couple people that I was from Columbia. Later one I would tell them the truth. These people are great. I have so many close friends. But one thing is that the church is the same. No matter where we go. There only is one prophet and 1 church. I know that this church is unified. That is because we are under Chrsit. I felt very impressed when President Monson said that the first Presidency is completly unified under Christ. We too as individuals and as families, be unified under Christ. That is the key to Exaltaion. To be one with the spirit which leads to Christ. I feel as if I have changed so much in so little time. I feel that i give more service, that i am less selfish, that I dont have anger when things go wrong. Drew sent me a letter about a year ago which has greatly affected my mission. He said to never have a bad day. From that day I cant remember once having a bad day. Why be mad when we have so much to be grateful for. Im so happy. I have GOd and his Son. I have the Restored Gospel. I am sealed to the best family on Earth, and I have my friends. I live. Everyday I have one more chance to find the next Stake President. Every day I have the chance to lead others to their salvation. I love being a messenger og God. But it dosnt stop as missionaries. We are all disciples of Christ and we should act like it. We are so happy, but look at all the people around us. Their happiness will end. We should be happy when everyone else is not. Preach the Gospel, Set an Example, Be the Best we can be. We only live once. Every second has an end. What are we going to do with this second. We cant have it again. Our Investigator are really cool her. We already have a baptismal date with a Lady and her daughter. We will put 4 more in the next couple of weeks. We also are trying to get 2 families married so they can be baptized. I feel great about hte work here. There are about 65% Haitian here it is the most black people I have seen. ANd they are black. This area is really countrylike but it is in the Capital. It is more country than Nizao and Ocoa. And that says a ton. ahhaha.Elder Vasquez is awesome. HE is a fun Dominican. We always are laughing and having a great time. HE knows a ton about hte gospel. I am learing even more about hte language and I am teaching his English. He is really learning a ton. I can tell we are going to be great friends. I Love you all and wish you the best of Luck.

 

 

Elder Spencer Anderson