May 30th 1st week in Santo Domingo

Well buenas de La Capital. The capital is a little different for sure. It is a lot dirtier and more stores in my area then there was in my other. The people don't come pick up trash everyday so people just throw it in the streets and the dogs get into it and it gets everywhere. Also on the way over to this internet place we saw a buch of cows eating trash. It makes me not want to eat beef from here.  It is a good area though.  The ward isnt very strong (in numbers). It doesn't have a lot of people but it is a good ward with strong members. Sacrament starts at 8:00 in the morning so it is really hard to get people to come to church. We talk to people and invite them to church but when we say that it is at 8 they look at us weird and say ya i will be there but they don't have any intention of going. Right now we don't have hardly any investigators. we are working on gettting some new ones.

Elder Peña my comp is a amazing at talking to people, when he talks people listen and understand him very well. he is a great teacher and has only been in this ward for a transfer but knows everyone and everyone knows him. He is a great teacher too. My spanish is getting a lot better for talking about things other than the gospel. He helps me a lot with that and I help him with English. We get along well. He used to be in the military here in the DR and he went to Iraq for a year and a half.  I am learning a lot from him. He has 94 baptisms in his mission so far. That is a ton of people! We are going to try and find some families to teach.

Well last sat. Gabriel and Gladys were baptized and all went well. E. Correa said everything went well and that it was a success. I wish i could have been there but he said that he would send the pictures to me. I dont know when he will but when he does I will send them to you guys. Well i am trying to get used to the new area and a new comp. The first week with a new comp always goes by slow. But I hope that this next week goes by faster and that we can find some new people. 

Today was fun. I got to go to parke del este which is where all the missionaries in the capital come to play sports and stuff. I didnt play anything because we got there late but I got to see a lot of my friends and got to catch up with them which was great. We also went to megacentral which is a huge mall that has a ton of stores and places to eat. I got to eat taco bell which was really good.

That is about it from la Republica. I hope everyone is doing well you are all in my prayers. Always keep to have faith in Christ and to trust in him in all that you do. Thank you all for your support.

Love you all.

 con amor

Elder Holmes

May 23rd His first Transfer

Buenas Dias,

Well yesterday we got the call for transfers. I am leaving to go to the capital. I forgot the name of the place but it is the north east part of the capital. I really wanted to stay but dont really get to pick. My new comp is Elder Peña he is Dominican but doesnt know any english, so I will be thrown more into the culture then I have been. He is going home next transfer so by the end of next transfer I will have 5 comps in 5 transfers. It is kind of hard to get used to teaching styles and everything so it makes it difficult to change so often, but it will be good for me to get my spanish better. Elder Correa taught me a lot this transfer and I will get to apply the things to my mission. We really got along.

Well the weather here has been rainy. I think it was last tuesday when it started raining just a little bit at first but then eventually we had to run into an apartment building to get out of the rain. It rains unbelievably hard. We were stuck in the apartment building for over an hour waiting for the rain to stop. Some lady let us in her house so we were talking to her and her family for a while. The wind was blowing really hard too, and it even started hailing. It was quite a storm. It blew over 4 or 5 power poles so there wasnt power for a while. But the streets and everything were flooded for a few days. It was crazy. Then it rained really hard sunday right after church started so the people that usually show up later didnt come and we didnt have a great turn out for church. But Gladys and Gabriel and the 2 granddaughters came so that was good.

The area is going good. Gladys and Gabriel and the two granddaughters of gGladys are getting baptized next weekend which is geat. I wish i was here to see it but Elder Correa said he would send me the pictures. They were interviewed and everything and will be great members. Gabriel really is already part of the ward. I think he even has had an itnterview with the bishop. hHe will be a great addition to the young mens program.

We have some other great investigators that I hope will progress towards baptism and receive all the blessings that come with the gospel but you never know. Not a lot of people came to church this week cause of the rain. We were still trying to find new people and trying to help them recive the gospel but we are having trouble finding a lot of people who are willing to go to church. But there are always people looking for the truth even if they dont know it so we are really working hard on helping the people get to church so they can feel the spirit.

Well that is all from La Relpublica  I hope all is going well for everyone you are all in my prayers. Love you all and thanks for everything.

con amor

Elder Holmes

May 16th

Buenas de la Republica.

 

Everything here is going well. Not too much happened this week. We had zone conference which was good. there is only one more week untill the end of transfers, so Grandpa you were right, this time next week I will know if i am going anywhere. I hope not but you never know. Elder Correa and I get along really well. He is a great missionary and a great teacher.  I hope i can stay with him for another transfer and learn more from him.

 

We are still working hard and hoping and praying to find success. We are teaching good people but not a lot of people, so we are really looking hard to find new people who are ready to hear the gospel. We do have a few new people that went to church and we will start teaching them week and hope everything goes well with that. We are still trying to work with Jon Carlos on being confident for baptism. He passed his interview and everything. He knows it is true but just doesnt know if he is ready or if he wants to make the decision to get baptized. It is hard to work with him when we only can see him once a  week and that is just sometimes. We didnt see him this week to really teach him, but we will continue to work with him and let the spirit work within him.

 

We are still teaching Gabriel and Gladys they are progressing. Gabriel is ready for baptism and is just waiting for the 4th of June or to see if his mom is ready before that. She is sick a lot of the time so it is hard for her to  concentrate on the lessons. so we pass by a lot to try to find her in good health to teach her. She still wants to know more about the gospel and is waiting for an answer to see if the church is true. She was talking with the JW´s so she thinks that she has to study the bible with us for years before she can get baptized, so we are working on that. We have a few others progressing but not very fastly so we are just teaching them and hoping that they will gain the desire to follow the desires of their souls.

 

Well that is about it for this week. I hope all is going well for everyone you are all in my prayers daily. Thank you all so much for everything. Have a great week Vayan con Dios.

 

con amor

 

Elder Holmes

May 9, 2011 Short letter but we talked to him the day before!!

Liz Karen at her baptism

Well it was great to be able to talk to my family and friends. I really enjoyed all of it and to be able to hear their voices and talk directly and not through email. I hope all is going well for everyone. I dont have a lot to say cause I just talked to you yesterday. But everything here is going well.

We have some good investigators and we are hoping to have a baptism this weekend with Jon Carlos. He says he feels ready but he isn't 100 percent sure. So we are working on trying to get him prepared. He is a good guy and will be a great member. He has a lot of support in the church so he will be a strong member and help the ward out a lot.

We also have Gabriel and Gladys. Gladys had to go to the hospital last week she had heart problems, but now she is even more interested in the gospel and has a strong desire to be baptized. She knows the church is true and loves attending the meetings. Gabriel is still excited about gettng baptized and already he is part of the ward. 2 grand kids live with  Gladys too, and they go to church with her and love it so they might get baptized with them too. We have a goal for the 21st, so we will work hard to get them ready.

That is about it from the DR today. I hope all is well with all of you. God Bless.

con amor

Elder Holmes

May 2nd

Buenas de La Republica

How is everything going in the states? I hope well. Everything here is going well. We had a baptism this last weekend and it went really well. Lizkaren will be a strong member. You really can already tell the difference in her. The holy ghost really does illuminate people. She is so happy too, her grandma also. The whole service went well and you could definetly feel the spirit. It is going to be nice to have someone in the new members and investigators class that can share real strong testimony for the investigators there. We lost 2 new members last week to new callings that kind of dwindled our class but with her it will be strong again. I dont have pictures right now but i will try to upload them next week.

My mission president is a great man. I dont know him very well but you can tell from when you meet him. Because I am in La Romana I really dont know what goes on around the mission very much besides when I talk to friends but I dont have a lot of time for that. I was interviewed once right when I came in and one other time then that is it for him cause he is leaving in june. We have at least one meeting a transfer with him sometimes two. But I dont know him very well.

We are teaching some great people still. Gabriel and Gladys the son and mom are still progressing. Gabriel is ready to be baptized and asked us if he could get baptized earlier but we have to wait till he turns 18 or untill his mom wants to get baptized. He turns 18 the first of june so he will either be baptized this month or next month. I think we can get the mom to be baptized she has all the right questions and she is open so I think we can get the spirit working in her and get that desire to follow Jesus Christ.

We havent been finding a lot of new people wanting to go to church and progress so we have really been working hard on trying to get people to attend church then start teaching them it is a lot easier for them to understand our message after they have seen how the church runs and the spirit that is there. We had one new guy go to church this week so we are going to go over there and start to teach him today. He said he loved church and I think that he will be open to the gospel.

For pday today we went to the marvalas caves or cueves la maravillas, it was a way cool cave that had a lot of awesome stuff and rocks and paintings. But we werent alowed to take pictures so that kind of stunk but we did get a brochure.

Well i cant really think of anything else to say for this week. Oh but I do get to call home this week which will be great to talk to the family. I am excited for that. well I hope this email finds you all in great spirits and in the path of the lord. I love you all and pray for you all daily. Keep working hard on gaining a stronger testimony of the savior and always be learning more. When you arent learning you are declining.
 love ya all.

con amor

Elder Holmes