April 25th: Bucket Showers!?

Saludos,

Well another week passes by very fast. We had a good week had some good days and are having some progressing investigators. The one baptism that we were going to have didn't go through because he works too much and we couldn't get him interviewed but maybe in a few weeks. We have one baptism planned for this weekend with a younger girl Liz Karen. She is 18 and is the granddaughter of a member. she has been taking missionary lessons for over a year and a half. I guess something just clicked and she was ready. I went by their house to introduce E. Correa to her grandma. So we shared a scripture with them and invited her to church. She came and so we sent up an appointment to talk to her. So we talked to her and taught a few things then she asked when we were going to be holding the next baptism we told her and she said she was ready. Not sure what made her change her mind or what made her ready but whatever it was it was for the best. Her grandma is way excited about the whole thing and has been trying to help her get to church for many years. I guess the example her grandma was to her eventually made her decide she was ready.

We are still working with wendi and Yon carlos and trying to get them to have testimonies of the BoM. once they have that testimony things should start to move smooth. The BoM really is the thing that makes the deal. When you they receive a testimony of the BoM they can see how important all this stuff is and it helps them have more faith in God and that he really does answer prayers. It also helps them stay active after baptism.

We need to try to always strengthen our testimony of the BoM and the true church of Jesus Christ, and always be giving thanks for all that we have.

This week was holy week.  They celebrate the whole week as easter. There is a very strong christian background here which is really good, but the way they celabrate it isnt the best. People bring out pools smaller pools into the streets and fill them with water then play in them and drink alcohol all day. And i guess everyone goes to the beaches and hangs out there. Sometimes it is hard to remember why we really have holidays. It is important to remember the true meaning of the holidays we have.

Well we finally have water again for the last 4 days we havent had any running water so we have been showering from buckets and doing dishes from the buckets too. We have to go fill up the buckets in a well and carry them up to our apartment. I was so happy to see that we had water. We take things for granted in the U.S.

Well that is all from the DR. Hope all is well in the states with everyone.
Love you all.

con amor

Elder Holmes

April 18th and some new pictures!

Saludos de La Republica

Well things are going well with my new comp Elder Correa. He is a great elder and really knows how to teach. He worked in the office and was a zone leader right before he came here. He has 3 transfers left so I think that he will finish his mission here. We are still getting used to teaching styles but I have already learned a lot from him.  He knows perfect english which is nice and he is helping me a lot with my spanish.  My spanish is getting better. I surprise myself sometimes on how much I know but really that is just the Lord helping me out. I still study hard and still have a ways to go before I am fluent but things are definetely getting better.

We have a few good investigators and we are hoping that they will progress. Yon Carlos is ready to be baptized but he doesnt know it. He knows the church is true and that it is the right thing to do but he doesnt think he is prepared yet. We are helping him get prepared and hopefully he can be baptized this weekend.

Then gabriel the 17 year old is doing good he wants to be baptized and so we will wait until he is 18 on the first of june then he will be baptized. Or if we can get his mom to go to church and get her wanting to be baptized we can do it earlier. He is already fitting in with the ward and likes to go to the activities and really enjoys church. His mom is still sick with the flu and we are trying to help her get feeling better so she can go to church but you never know how she is going to be doing.

We are also teaching Yoni and Kelvin. they are a father and son and are great people. Kelvin wants to change his life and has really been enjoying church and our visits. he has a sincere desire to change his life and you can see a change in him already. Yoni has a different view on religion and believes that he can be saved only on faith. But faith without works is dead. So we are working with them a lot.

Wendi is still progressing and he is pretty much stopped smoking which is great. Now we are just working on tring to strengthen his testimony of the Book of Mormon and the gospel. His wife isnt completely supportive which makes it hard. We are still working with a lot of new people and are really trying to get people to come to church. once they come to church they can understand what we teach a lot more and are more receptive to the gospel.

Things here have been good though. It rained a couple times last week and when it rains here it really rains, we had to go inside a colmado for about 20 min untill it stopped. The streets were flooded for about an hour after too. It is still really hot during the day and cool at night. I dont have much time today so that is about it. I posted a few pictures of our apartment and stuff hope you enjoy.

Always have an eternal prospect on life and you will be more likely to make the right choices. Everything we do has an eternal consequence whether it be good or bad. we need to always remember the sacrifice that Jesus made for us especially during this Easter time. Love you all and pray for you all.

con amor

Here are some more pics of his apartment and surrounding area. Needless to say, they are messy Elders!

April 11th

Well everything here is doing good. We received where everyone was going for this next transfer and I am staying but my comp elder Alldredge is leaving which is weird to only stay in an area for 1 transfer but it happens he is only moving over one area to be a zone leader. I am getting elder Correa as an companion. He is dominican and a good elder. He was a zone leader and worked in the office so he has to be pretty good. It is getting hotter and hotter but I guess this is as hot as it gets in la romana but it is just here earlier then usual.

 

Our power has been out for this whole morning which is unusual for here but my comp said that I am finally getting to know what most of the D.R. is like. It is hard to not notice how blessed we are to live in the states and how we take advantage of it.

 

I was excited about this next transfer with elder alldredge we have a lot of great investigators. I am still excited but it is hard getting used to teaching styles and stuff like that especially with the investigators. But I am still excited and ready to work. Wendi is still progressing. we dropped his baptismal date but still working hard with him. His wife is starting to show some interest also which is really good cause she kind of wears the pants in the family. They have doubts but it really all comes down to praying and asking God if these things are true. Which is always the deal breaker. If the people have a sincer desire and listen and pay attention for an answer it always comes. A lot of people have a lot of doubts but when you tell them to ask God about it they cant argue with us.

 

We are teaching some other people too that have a lot of potential and we are excited about. I hope everything continues to work out. it is sad to see when people dont except the message and to know how many blessings that they are missing out on. But people have their agency and we have to just do all we can to help them make the right decisions.

 

Well that is all I have from here. I hope everything is going well with every one else. You are all in my prayers and I thank you alll for your support. always pray to God and build a strong relationship with him remember that he is never too busy for us and always listens and gives us what we truly need even if we dont think it is.

 

con amor

 

Elder Holmes

April 4th

Saludos de la Republica, everything here is doing well and i hope that all is well in the states. Conference this week was great it is always a great spiritual experience to here from the leaders of the church. Try to apply what they said to our lives. They receive revalation for us and we need to listen to what they say and really try to pay attention to what they warned us of. They talked a lot about families and how important they are. The need to have families based on the gospel of Jesus Christ is important. It gives us the direction we need and help in the hard times. We need to have an eternal look on life and try to make the decisions that are going to be best for our eternal salvation and not look at just the moment. We are so blessed to have the knowledge that we have. We also need to share it with all that we know and just mention how the gospel has blessed our lives.

 

We have been teaching a lot of people and not a lot are progressing very fast but we have some great investigators. One investigator Gabriel he is american but both his parents are dominicans and he lives with his mom in the D.R. now. He went to 3 sessions of conference which is way more then the members do. He enjoyed all of them and could really feel the spirit. The problem is that he is 17 and in this mission if they are not 18 then they need to live a member or be baptized with a family member. So we have been teaching his mom too but she is sick and cant really go to church. She is interested too though. so we will keep working with them and hope that we can get her to church.

 

Wendi is still progressing and he really enjoyed conference too. His son wants to be baptized with him but since the mom is way catholic and he is already been baptized in the catholic church it might be hard.

 

We found a lot of new investigators this week and have been working hard on getting them progressing. People here have a desire to hear of the gospel but sometimes just dont know how important it is. There are churches on every block here so some people are really attached to their churchs and are blinded from the truth.

 

Well i hope all is well with everyone. you are all in my prayers. Love you all

 

con amor

 

Elder Holmes

 

March 28, 2011

Hey well things here are doing great. I guess I will answer your questions first.

How is your spanish? Do you even have to concentrate on it any more or is it pretty easy for you?



My spanish is getting better and better each day. I can talk alright but I still have a hard accent and am still translating directly so it isnt always right. I can understand close to everything and am working on getting better each day. I did give a talk in church last week I hope people were able to understand me but who knows.

Did you talk to the YW president and ask of they wanted to do the pen pal thing with us? We have already done ours so I hope they will respond.  Should I send it pouch, or if I email it can you print them off? They have pictures of the girls and stuff.
No I havent talked to her.Idont remember cause it is about a week away so I dont remember. I will write it down in my planner and will hopefully remember. But they dont have a mail system here so the mission is the only way to get things places so when I leave then you wouldnt be able to send it to them. So I dont know how you want to do it.

Have you been able to take a picture for your plaque or do you want me to just use something I have here?
Just do something there. Or take one of the pictures that i have uploaded.

What do you usually have for lunch and dinner? Do they have Mac and cheese type stuff there or do you still do the chicken & rice stuff?
Lunch I have a few different things depending on what happens sometimes I have hotdogs, spaghetti, rice and beans, just depends or burgerking. It is in our area so everyonce in a while we go there. Or to colmadoras they cook so we get rice and beans and chicken there which is good. Then for dinner i dont do much. we dont take time out to eat dinner so we just eat when we get back so i usually have peanut butter and jelly sanwhich. or something easy. I am always eating a lot of fruit too cause it is cheap and realy good. And there is a bakery by us that sells bread that is way good.

So it all kind of depends. They have name brand stuff but it is really expensive. There is a grocery store we go to that is just like an american place called jumbo so they have everything that you need it is kind of like a walmart supercenter but not as big.

What about candy and cereal etc? Do they have any of he same brands there? Craving anything from home?
Ya they have a lot of the same candy and stuff. but not as much of a variety and it is expensive. The cereal that is american is way expensive so I just get the dominican stuff. I crave stuff everyonce in a while but not horribly. I loved the package and everything in it. I dont think I can send stuff like that through the pouch and to send stuff through something else cost alot so probable wont be worth it.

I do need a few more things like 3 more white shirts. I forgot to bring some more and need about 3 more. And there is a cd called tribute to nashville and it is church songs in country music that is really good  that would be nice to have.

The weather is getting way hotter during the day and still chilly at night but.I have to drink a lot of water to stay hydrated.

What about candy and cereal etc? Do they have any of he same brands there? Craving anything from home?


La Romana is a safe city. there is only one plact that is somewhat dangerous and that is only at night and you can avoid it easily so it is not a big deal. I havent felt threatened at all.

We are teaching a lot people andhave been working hard on trying to find the chosen people ready to hear the gospel. we are teaching some good families and are hoping things turn out good for them. Wendi came to church yesterday and has a baptism date for the 9th. We are really trying to get his wife animated but she is very catholic and has doubts.

Then we have a younger man Yan carlos or John carlos who is a reference who has gone to church 3 times and really likes it. He has a lot of friends in the ward. He should be a great investigator but he is only open saturdays so we cant teach him very often. But we are trying and he is reading and keeping commitments so we are excited about him.

We have really been trying to get people to come to church and feel the spirit that is here but it is hard to get peple to come. But the people that want it and are chosen will come so it is a good way to find the ones prepared.

That is about all that is happening from the DR I hope all is well with you guys and hope that you are all doing good. Have fun in st george, and enjoy the sun though I think that I am getting enough sun for the all of us here. Keep strengthening your testimonies in the atonement of Jesus Christ and try to understand what he really did for us. The more we understand the more we will want to obey the commandments and return to our father in heaven. Love you all.

con amor

Elder Holmes