Ocoa

All is well here in San José de Ocoa. We are having a ton of sucess here now. Sometimes when you are white washed into an area it is hard to have immediate success. But now we are seeing the fruits of our labors. We are really getting great investigators and baptisms. It really is awesome seeing people change their lives and live better. We have an 18 year old that is supoer awesome. His whole face lights up when we teach him. He asked us what he needs to do and not do. He scribbled up the pamphlet that we gave him with tons of notes and underlines. He loves it. Im pretty sure that he will be baptized and then go on a mission next year. We also found a lady that was being taught before but she was dropped after the 2 elders left. She was to be baptized but due to a hurricane last year she couldnt. She is really cool adn has 2 kids. We also have 2 ladies that have eaten up the pamphlets too. The have read them 3 times and love them. Transfers are coming up in a week and 2 days and im afraid that I will be leaving. I love this area and the peple here., This has clearly been my favorite and the best area. I only want a little more time. We had interviews with the President on Saturday moring and I really enjoyed it. I really like our Mission President. We also had the 1st counselor of the Mission give a fireside in our Church yesturday. He is pretty cool. We have tons of exchanges this week with members and we are looking to have a great week.

 

 

Elder Spud

Sunny Sun Sun!!!!

Hey Familiy ,

 

Im doing Great here in Ocoa. We are really finding the chosen people of God. We have found a really tight family and also a pair of brothers who love the message. They could go on missions in a year and a half. Well  our district is doing very well. We had a great district meeting and we are very unified in our district. We are doing great this here. Elder Johnson and I dave talks in chur ch. I love to speak. I dont even feel scared to get up infront of people.  I know that i am being very strengthened here in my mission. I have learn so much about every thing. I can actually say that I am a man now. wooohooo. But Im still me. I love being a leader in the mission and helping others live up to their potential. It has actually been sunny for a week. Right after i ended typing last week we had clear and sunny sky.  I really love how cold this area is. THe rest of the mission is super hot. Your in my prayers and I hope that you may all find and have peace this week.

 

I love you all

 

Spud

THE DR

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 Baní. 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

Whats Up!!!

Hey Everyone,   Im so excited to be a missionary right now. I love how true our church is. This last week I have gotten into a few heated lessons which could have tried someones faith. But i realied on the spirit to tell me what to say and what was right. This church is so true. People can form their own little things of religion but prayer and sincire study will always lead you to the truth. I have gained such a strong bond with the spirit and I can not deny the feelings I have felt and the things I have seen. We have been working in a new area. Its called Sabana Larga. We found some really cool people and I am working to start a brach out there. I really think that the area with be huge. We already have 2 families up there that we are teaching. They will be the firstfruits of Sabana Larga. We just put a baptismal date with a lady yesturday and see will be baptized on the 20th. We will probably have 2 more that day. Im really loving spanish here. I am really learning a ton. Everyone really complements me on my spanish. I think I got it from my Dad. Well it rained quite a bit last tuesday but not too bad. I love you all.

 

 

Spud

Hey!!!

Well actually as i started the email I recieved a phone call from the zone leaders. They just now issued a hurricane warning. Before today it really didnt rain to bad. So i hope it wont be too bad. Thats really cool to hear that Russell Hill joined the church. It really is a cool thing. Hes such a good kid. I hope he does well against Boise State. But im pretty sure Im the biggest fan in the DR. I am a little bummed i cant be with my family and friends.I love being here though. I was just called to be the district leader here in Ocoa today. Im really excited to be an example to my District here. It is an awesome district. I love having my Kid Elder Simmons and Elder Johnson. Elder Johnson and I are form the same group. We really love to talk and to learn from each other. Today we went to the waterfall again. We loved it. I have pictures of me swinging from vines, cool videos andother tight pictures. I really am having tons of fun here in Ocoa. I love it. We are really close to putting a couple baptismal dates with 2 people. We did though, have to get rid of most of our families. They just werent progressing. We are still doing very well. I continue to learn as I teach Elder Simmons the ways of missionary work. Tommorow we have Zone confrence with 2 zones, Baní and Azua. We are going to Azua to have it. We will be privledged to have the President of the Area of the Carribean, Elder Johnson at hte meeting. I am super excited. I love this work so much. I have such a strong testimony. I LOve to read the scriptures and learn about the Gosdpel of Jesus Christ. It is such a priveledge to be a missionary and preach the Restoration of the church of Jesus Christ. I love you all and wish the best to you and your families.

Well Everything is going great here in the DR. We are working very hard with families and have a couple of baptismal dates. Im really excited for all the more oppertunities I will have here. Its great. Elder Simmons and I are doing great and we have a really cool house with another American and a Dominican. Its so nice to be able to be on a mission. Im learning so much and really growing. Im so glad that that was the last Familiy reunion I missed. Today I hit 14 months. WOW. I hope that you all have great weeks. I look forward to your letters.

 

 

Spencer

Hello My Friends ,

 

I love my Area here in San José de Ocoa. Im having a great time with Elder Simmions and the other 2 missionaries. We are having much sucess between the two companionships.   We had a great lesson with Kengi. She is an awesome investigator. We had a great lesson and the spirit was very strong. I was told by the spirit to say some very important things and the spirit was super strong. My mind was clear and I had a perfect understanding of the situation. I spoke perfect spanish as We disscussed some  things. It was amazing. She was filled by the spirit and she couldnt hold it in. I felt like giving her a huge because she is so great.   I know that the spirit is real and  that is toches us more than often. We really need to learn how to heed it. Also we have Darina who will get  baptismed is a few weeks. She´s awesome. She knows so much about the Gospel, probably more than many  members. She is really progressing.   We also had an older Family go to churh. My heart was filled with joy and love as they walk in through the doors. After the sacrament meeting  I showed them off to everyone. They now love the church and have tons of friends. They were talking all about the church when we weny over to their house again. They want to invite their friends too. THeir son and his family are great prospects too.  ONe thing that I love to do here in the mission field is do little things of service. When ever I see people peeling Sweet Peas I always ask to help  them. It is awesome. We can give service, get to know the people, and have a great lessons. Its usually always older ladys too who peel and sell htem. I love talking with them and being their friends. I love people. hahaha Well today we played baseball on a horse and pig field inthe mountains. We played with some members and it was fun. We played with a sock ball and a homemade bat. I laso got some sweet videos of me chasing and trying to catch pigs. The members here love me and think Im the coolest guy. I love playing with the kids and helping out the members. Im also hte crazy one here. hahah I  think Im turing back to the Spudman.  Im having a great time here.

 

Elder Anderson

San Jose de Ocoa

Hey Everyone,

 

I´m doing great here in the DR. As I said before I was transfered to Ocoa. This place remindes me a little of McCall. It is way in hte top of hte mountains and is set in a little vally. All around the little city is mountains. I heard there are many waterfalls and caves here. So we will have some fun P-Days.  Also I am 2 bus rides from my old area of Nizao. Maybe one day I will show my kid, Elder Simmons the beach. Also our Area has a bunch of little towns or dwellings in the Mountains. So we went to a place called, Parra. This place was way in the mountains. It is about 8 kilometers up a huge and steep mountain. We spent the whole day up ther and learned that their used to be a huge mini  branch up there. But most of the peple went inactive. I had a feeling that we are needed in that area. So we will dedicate 2 days out of the week to see If  we can get things started up there again.  

 

 The members here are really cool. I have already fell good with the members. I love to talk to them and learn about them and the country.  We have recieved many references and the members like to go out with us. We are living with another pair of missionaries. One American and another a Dominican. The American is from my same group. His name is Elder Johnson. He´s from St. George.

 

Well it turns out  that 2 Dominicans before us did nothing in the Area. So we had to start over again. We have been contacting this entire week and now we have many new investigators. I love being in this area. It is so fun.  The people here love everyone. I have already made some great friendships. We are searching for families and nothing less. I know that the Lord will show us the way to them. There are so many great families here. This branch needs an energizer. The need new families and  strong testimonies. We are already seen hte fruits of our labors. It seems as theough a change has come over me. I´m teaching with more power and with  more authority. I have never felt this good in my life. I feel great as a missionary.

 

Elder Simmons is a cool kid from Idaho Falls. He went to BYU-Idaho before his mission. We love talking about Idaho and about everything. We are always joking around. Im so grateful for this opportuniy I have been given to be a Trainer. It is hard I will tell you that. I cant belive I started off as he did. Now I know Spanish almost perfectly. I´m really soaking up this opportunity to learn too. I told Elder Simmons that we are here to learn together. I´m not perfect and I told him I will make mistakes and that I´m not hte best missionary. I told him I want to share this message and help others come unto Christ. I love this Gospel and I´m traying so hard to help this people accept it. I love telling the story of Noah and how today a prophet is do the same thing.

 

He are being super obedient and are leaving even earlier than usual.  I want to help the people of Ocoa to be the strongest Branch in  the country. What they need are families and Priesthood. It all makes sence. If we preach that families are Eternal we need to be baptizing famlilies then. Many of the missionaries like to Baptize kid and Youth. I have a diffrent look on things. Im not looking for the long run but Im looking for immediate results and blessings. These families need  the Gospel. This transfer i´m going  to really push my prayers and I´m going to fast often. I know that we need his power and help, in order for us to fulfill his will.

 

I love you all and I will tell you all the great news we will have next week.

 

Elder Anderson

San Jose de Ocoa

Hey everyone!!!! Im so stoked for these next two transfers. I will be training Elder Simmons. He is from guess where, thats right, IDAHO FALLS. I was so excited. Also I was tranfered back to my old Zone of Baní, remember my little area of Nizao. This time Im in the high mountains of the country and Is actually quite big. We will be sharing all of Ocoa with the other missionaries. There really arent any bounderies. It is awesome. Its pretty far away from everything but it is beautiful. In Ocoa it gets actually cool at nights. It is going to be perfect being in Ocoa for the summer. It gets super hot in the other parts of the country. This area is actually the best Area in the mission as the missionaries say. Im so excited to show my Kid the ropes of the mision. But Im only going to teach the good things. I know we are going to work super hard. He is a pretty cool missionary. He dosnt know any Spanish though. I can´t believe that at one point I was in the same shoes. Now I know a ton of Spanish and I can really work. I know that we will have much sucess here, even though I might not see the fruits I know htat it is worth it. The 2 dominican Elders before us did nothing. One just finished his mission and the otheris a tigre. They left horrible records and barley had any of them if that. But I know I can always try to do my best and to start helping the people of Ocoa to find the love and gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

i LOVE YOU ALL AND tHANK YOU for your letters.

 

 

Elder Spud

I´m Pregnent!!! dont worry!

Hey Everyone. Well I have tons of new news. I´m Pregnent!!!! Or I am going to be a trainer the next Transfer. Next wendesday is the transfer. Tommorow I will talk to president and he will give the trainers a Training. I´m so excited I can´t think about anything else. We are going to work our butts off. He is going to hate me as a dad because we are going to work hard. I will try my best to help him start his his big journey in this country.  He won´t know that much Spanish so we will learn together. Im not  perfect at Spanish so we will countinue to learn. That is one thing that I love about the mission is that one always learns something new. Sometimes we can get into a rut and think we know everything but we are continually humbled. I hpe that I can still strive to learn and get the most of these sweet 2 years.  Well back to the letter. My kid and I will be whitewashed or we will both be moved to a new area. So we will have to work from scratch. I´ll tell ya¨ll where I¨m at the next letter. 

 

This last week we met the new Mission President. President Almonte is awesome. He really loves the people and the missionaries. He is very personable. I really want to learn everything that he knows. He has an amazing vision of the work. He is all about contacting much and talking to everybody. Im so excited to work under his guidence and counsel. I know he is a man called of God to preside over this mission.

 

Today for P-Day we wnet hiking in the jungles north of Santo Domingo y Los Alcarrizos. It was a beautiful hike and I got some awesome pictures. We were searching for a hidden lake but we only found a beautiful river, I felt like I was in Jarrasic Park. My lone Leader adn I did some exploring down river adn enjoyed climbing over rocks and walking on hte side. He actually slipped on a rock as he was trying to jump form rock to rock and got his shoes wet. It was a very fun experiance. A couple of us sat on asome boulders and talked about deep doctrine and about what everything means, and what is coming for us. I felt the spirit very stronly being around such great men and leaders. I learned a lot today about obediance and just doing the little things to be more obedient. We have rules and commandments for a reason. We are here on the Earth to show that we can fulfill all the things that are given us from God. We are expected to be 100% obedient. If we aren´t obedient in this telestial world we sure wont be obedient in the Celestial Glory. We are going to be the same after this life but we are expected to learn form our mistakes. We are here to grow. Gods purpose is to bring to pass the inmortality and Eternal Life of man. In order to do that we MUST learn to be obedient.

 

Well I´m really excited to get out of Los Alcarrizos and to start a new legacy. We are here to bring these people to Christ. I have been called here to preach the 4 principals and ordenances of the Gospel. I pray everyday for the Holy Ghost to guide me to the chosen people of the Lord and that he can bless me with the words and thoughts to touch their hearts. I love this work. It is beautiful and is starting to grow so fast. I know that our Heavenly Fath loves us and that he will show us the truth through Sincire Prayer. We have so many promises and blessings of the Lord waiting for us. We only need to ask in prayer and fulfill his commandments.

 

I love you all and I pray that God will shed his blessings upon all of you. You are all example to me and I hope that maybe I could be an example to someelse. I thank you for all your emails and for your prayers. I love you and miss you.

 

 

Elder Anderson