Week 13 10-31-16

We worked hard this week! We had a lot of appointments and the ward is starting to do activities and I'm finally starting to see a change! Well here is my week...

Monday: Monday was a fun and crazy day. We got our zone T-shirts today so that was cool. They turned out pretty good. The picture on the back is from "South Park", a TV show. After we went to the mall and it is a nice chunk of America. Super nice, clean, and is even nicer then the malls back in the states. We always eat lunch there because it is "American" fast food. It has all the basics like Wendy's, Taco bell, McDonalds, Carls Jr., etc. After we eat we usually go look at the stores so see the latest stuff like Nike, Apple, and stores like that. We went home and chilled out for a but before our appointments. On the way home we had the craziest Gua Gua ride (a bus that runs on the grace of God, I'll try to get a picture of one sometime). So we get on and this thing was packed! I had to go sit right next to the driver. This driver was crazy! So when he picks people up he just slows down a little bit, just enough for someone to jump on, then he would shift down, drop the clutch, and it just sounds like a sludge hammer hit the bus! So funny! Then there was a ton of traffic but he would just honk his horn and then go between cars with like 1" to spare! He had no fear! He was turning super hard and people started to complain and he said to just shut up and get off if they want! It was SOOO funny when he said that, I about lost it! The light turned red and he takes my hand and puts it on the money on the dash, and told me to hold on and just hits the gas and takes the turn so fast! That thing was squealing around the corner and we get up on this Porsche and he honks at it and passes. It is the nice turbo ones and we just pass it like it is standing still! That's how fast we were going! Words can't describe that experience but it was EXACTLY like the part in Harry Potter on the two storied bus. It was so much fun! We had two appointments and they where so far apart we had to take the metro to get to the other. That is how big our area is, we have to take a 10 minute subway ride to the next appointment! After our appointments we went home and had a party because Elder Morton is going home. He was an AWESOME missionary and he helped me out a ton and I would always ask him things he wish he would of done and things he shouldn't have haha. But it is tradition to stay up really late when a missionary goes home so we where up until 2:30am eating and partying hard (as much as a missionary can like listening to hymns and stuff). Yea that was my Monday.

Tuesday: Today was transfer day so the people who are still at the house in the morning, clean house. Of course, I was home with my companion so we cleaned house. We cleaned out some areas and threw out a ton of trash, so that as good. We mopped the floor and cleaned the kitchen. We had lunch with a member so we went to that and had beans, rice and meat. That is a classic here. The wife left with us and we went to our appointments. It is always awesome when a member can teach with us because it just makes it that much better. They have a testimony they can share and a lot of them are converts so that is another bonus. After our appointments we had a youth activity. They don't do them here. I brought it up to our bishopric and I am encouraging them started weekly activities.  We had our first one this Tuesday. We had ping pong, basketball, and a movie going and we had a lot of people show up actually. I hope we can make that a regular thing. Then we came home and met the new guys in the house, Elder Cook and Elder Hill. Elder Cook is also fresh out of the CCM so he is being trained by Elder Garcia. Elder Hill is with Elder Rodriguez and he has 18 months in the mission. He is also the new zone leader. Fun house of six.

Wednesday: This morning Elder Nieves, Elder Rodriguez and I went for a run. We went to the Olympic Center here to see if we could do a zone activity there. This place has is all! Soccer, Track, Football, Tennis, Basketball, Kick Boxing, Karate, Volleyball, a pool, and of coarse Baseball. It's open to the public so we want to see if we can play soccer there. We ran on the track for a bit then headed back to the house. After we planned our week. I read the way we are supposed to do it in Preach My Gospel and watched the videos how. It was not the same as we do it, so we did it a little differently and with a lot more prayer. We have an investigator we gave a Book of Mormon to a week ago and she is now in 2 Nephi 28! So crazy! She went to church too this week. We set a baptism date with her for the 3rd of December. The other lessons were good. We went to a members house for dinner. We had some great tacos! They have a house maid that made dinner and she is from Mexico. They where so good! The family is really cool! The husband served a mission in Denver, Colorado. He said the the Mortensen's sound familiar. But yea that ended our day there!

Thursday: Thursday was a pretty good day work wise. In the morning we had a district meeting. Always nice to hear other missionaries inputs on what we could do with our investigators. Our lesson we had were great though! First off, they were all home! To start the day we went to a recent converts and checked up with her then she left to go to our lessons with us. The first one sadly was a drop lesson. We taught it pretty well and her testimony fit right in. I think he is going to start trying again. We also had another perfect lesson with a new investigator we contacted. After that we headed over to Caridad, a investigator that has all the lessons and is reading in The Book Of Mormon. She also has a baptism date for the 3rd of December. The reason we wait so long is because we have what is called a "Noche Blanca". It is when the whole zone plans baptisms for one night and we have this huge baptism night with about 20 baptism from all over the capital. Even the Mission President comes and speaks and is really cool apparently! After Caridad we went to another members for dinner. It is also the Rodriguez family but it is the parents of the other family. We went to another recent convert and talked with her and read a chapter in her Book of  Mormon. That ended our day! Full of appointments and those are always the best days!

Friday: Today wasn't the greatest day. In the morning the zone leaders and district leader has a zone meeting so they were out of the house. I was with Elder Cook, the new guy that Elder Garcia is training. He is pretty cool. We just stayed in the house and studied for an extra hour then I cooked lunch. We took a nap until the guys got back from their meeting. After that we headed out to go to our appointments for the day. Our first one fell through so we stopped by Carlos, the guy who denies Christ. He is still in denial but I shared with him a scripture in the Bible that I found that morning that says that God can't present himself before you if you don't show the slightest faith. We will see how he takes that scripture haha. I think the best thing we can do is give the guy a Book of Mormon because he loves to read and has a lot of time on his hands. After him we went to Jonathan, another investigator that wants to learn about the gospel so bad but works a TON. We finally had another lesson with him and I told him that if he wants to follow Christ it takes sacrifice but God will always provide a way. I hope he chooses Christ. After him we talked with his best friend who is also a investigator. We got really serious with him and had an awesome talk about the plan of salvation! He said that he realizes this is important because when we go to his house he feels the Spirit. Also he understands that he may have to sacrifice his job but I think he has the faith in Christ. After we went all the way to a less active that was a 30 minute walk away and she wasn't there. The life of a missionary. Then we walked 35 minutes back to the bishop's house and his wife left to go to a lesson with us. We walked 30 minutes to the appointment in another direction and she wasn't there. Sooooo we went to a member that was near by and just talked with her. We took the bishops wife back home and at that point it was 9:00pm so we just went home.

Saturday: Another rough day here on the mission. In the morning Elder Nieves had a another zone leader thing to do and the other Americans had service so I was stuck to teach English class again by myself. I had Elder Rodriguez with me but he is Dominican so he doesn't know English. Lesson wise also sucked a ton. We had 5 lessons planned and they all fell through so we went to a members house and lucky they were there. The worst part was that we had a member with us and we didn't even get to have a lesson with him. The best part of the day is we had another ward activity. A lot of people showed up and we ate food and talked. That was cool to see the ward come together! Starting to see some changes in this ward!

Sunday: Another Sunday down in La Fe (my area). Church was pretty good. We had one of our investigators come and she is the one with the baptism date. 2nd hour Elder Nieves and I taught the youth about missionary work and how they need to give us references pretty much haha. We will see how that works. After church we came home, cooked lunch and had our own time to do stuff until 3.We went to our lessons and they went really well for a Sunday. Usually we don't get into anyones houses but today we got into quite a few and had a full day. That was my Sunday to end the week!

The mission is such a blast and is hard at sometimes but it is only for a short time. I am learning so much not just about the gospel but how to deal with people, new language, new country, how to run a ward pretty much, and a never ending list. I have 3 months now and it feels like I just got here and have learned a lifetime of things!

Week 12

Another fun week on the mission! This island is a lot different then home. It is very third world but it is such an awesome experience! The weather is amazing! 80 plus degrees always! 

Wednesday was kind of sucky because Elder Nieves was sick so we didn't go out and proselyte. I wanted something to do so I convinced him to go the grocery store to get some hard core cleaning supplies for the bathroom. I cleaned that thing for two hours with this super storong acid that I had to have a full mask on and huge rubber gloves. One of the Dominican Elders saw the acid I bought and looked at me with big eyes and asked me if I wanted to die because it was so strong haha. Probably lost two years of my life but now I don't feel like I am getting dirtier when I shower. Elder Nieves and I also watched two movies; The Singles Ward and The RM. Those movies are SO funny!

Thursday morning we did a lot of study. Elder Nieves wasn't feeling great still but we went our for two lesson but then we came back because he looked terrible and the rain wasn't helping it at all. Instead I studied and watched the Preach My Gospel videos for three hours!! It kind of sucked but this area needs some help so I studied how to fix it. We have a lot of good ideas now and I hope this coming tranfer I can make a difference for this ward. There are a lot of basic things I learned that we haven't been doing. I brought them up to him and he said he used to do them but has been slacking off but I told him I want to do them agian. 

Friday was fun! We had "intercambios" with the CCM missionaries so they can practice speaking Spanish. I got to take one of them out by myself and show him what it's like. I had an Elder named Elder Gramm and he is exactly like me. He was big into motorcycles too before the mission and has two razors and stuff so that was fun. We honestly didn't talk a ton about it because we where so busy with lesson.  My Spanish is at the point that I can teach the lessons and understand almost everything. The gift of tongues is real!

Saturday sucked but one really good thing happened. I finished The Book of Mormon! My goal was to finish it in a transfer and I got it! The best part was is now I underdstand all the words and meanings. It is such a good book full of stories and wars. It is the word of God! The rest of the day sucked because all of our lessons fell through. We walk 10 plus miles and walked our entire area! The two lessons we did have was just stopping by a members because we needed a break from walking for 7 hours! We did get to remind everyone about church though so that was good.

Sunday was solid. We had a investagator come to church and she seems very intersted. We got to teach her during second hour and she really likes the teachings! We gave her a BOM last week and she is already at 2 Nephi 23!! Crazy! After church we went to the Bishops for dinner and then went to all of our lessons that day. They where all good solid lessons!

That was my week here in the DR! I am loving the mission! The happiness you feel here is way better then any worldly happiness. I love being this close to the Lord and feeling the Spirit as much as I do! I will talk to you  guys next week!

Elder Wolfe

Week 11 10-17-16

Hey guys! Almost the end of my first transfer here in the DR! Still loving it so much! The area is tough but still fun!

Monday: After email we heading to a mall for food and look around. After that we went to KTM finally! It is super nice actually and has all the 2017 bikes! That was super cool! After that we went home and chilled there until our dinner appointment with a member. We drank some fake beer that was real nice! (NOT) They said to just drink it all at one time so I did but it was nasty. Apparently its good for your body every once and while.

Tuesday: That day was a very busy day! We had time to go work in the morning and all the appointments fell through so we did some good old fashion contacting! Super fun! After that I came home and made lunch for real this time. I made some rice and salami and beans all mixed together then put in a tortilla. It was very cheap and didn’t taste to bad! After lunch we went out and we had a ton of appointments! We even had the opportunity to give three blessing!

Wednesday: We had a four week checking this day so that is when the trainers and trainees get back together and see how its going. Kind of useful and kind of not but oh well. After that we had another very busy day! We had a ton with members so thats always a good time.

Thursday: We had one of the assistants with us today and it happened to be my trainers, trainer. So grandpa in the mission world. That was awesome! We had I would say my best lesson. We contacted this guy and he was very hard hearted and didn't want to hear anything because he didn't believe there is a God. We where persistent missionaries and sweet talked him into a 5 minuet chat. The spirt was very strong and the Lord softened his heart and you could tell that he was feeling something. His hands started to shake you know when your nervous and we knew he was feeling the love so we asked him "Carlos, what are you feeling right now?" He looked down and got emotional and cried a little and didn't answer. We had some silence for like a minuet then Elder Sydel says "This is the Love of God?" and it just sent chills down you. It was awesome and we set another appointment for Saturday! Other then that we went to some more contacts and had great lessons!

Friday: We took the CCM kids out this week and I had to take a guy by myself this time! That means I have to do all the talking! Was a little nervous but it turned out great! The Lord helped me out and I understood everything! We had a lesson with a convert that wasn't really progressing and I taught him and he said he wasn't feeling the spirit. I shared a scripture that says you cant feel the spirit if you dont show your faith. He realized he hasn't read for a while and I was speaking word in Spanish I barley new through the spirit and he even got emotional! Very cool! Love those lessons!

Saturday: These days are crazy. In the morning we had a zone meeting and then we went to work. We had a youth with us and Elder Morton because his companion got transferred early. We went and reminded everyone to come to church. We also taught Carlos again from Thursday and it went good again. He cried again and I think he is going to be baptized. It is amazing to see a person go from so hard hearted and not believing in God to crying from how strong the spirit is!

Sunday: I had my first talk today at church! I was very nervous because the Spanish but it went very well. I talked about building your foundation on Christ and it lasted like 10 minutes or more and I felt like I was speaking in English! So cool! We only had 2 investigators show up and some less actives. That was disappointing but thats part of the mission. After church we ate at a members then went to all our lessons.

Monday: In the morning we went to the grocery store and stalked up! After that we ate Tacobell and then went home. After a nap we worked hard and had a ton of appointments and they where all with members. We had a family home evening at a investigators house with four different members that where all converts. We had a testimony meeting and we all shared and it was awesome! They even fed us so that was awesome!

Tuesday Morning: This morning we went to the temple. That part was great but getting there was a nightmare. The car that passes by to go that way never showed up so we stopped a random guy and gave him 250 pecos to take us there. The traffic was terrible and then he runs out of gas... he still made us pay full and then we had to walk to a metro and stake it there then walk a ton. We where way late but we got there. After then temple we headed here so that was my week! Talk top you guys next Monday!

Elder Wolfe

(Last week I asked Jeff about his schedule. He said they have a 2 hour lunch everyday as everyone in the city shuts down. His mission president encourages them to take a nap everyday. The mission president has been out 2.5 years. I told Jeff to enjoy his next 6 months as the party might be over with the new president. They don't take a dinner hour, just work on through. They have to come in at 8pm due to rough area. It gets a little crazy at night. Jeff calls it dangerous. It must be bad if HE considers it "dangerous". Stacey)

 Hey guys! It has been another fun week here in the Dominican Republic! Starting with last Monday's P-Day, it was pretty basic. We got our apoyo (support in English) which is when we get our money for the next 15 days. After I wrote you, we went to the grocery store to get food for the week. We went home as it was raining super hard all day to the point that the streets were flooded. It was also super windy, so we just stayed in the house. We didn't have time to go to KTM sadly hopefully today. In the house though, I cleaned like a mad man. It's probably the hardest part about the mission. The house is a flippin' pig pen! It is absolutely filthy. The other missionaries say that you get used to it and don't care. I don't feel like lowering my standards because the other guys are lazy. I swept, mopped and wiped stuff down for about 3 hours. It was pretty clean!

 Tuesday was a good day! It was very busy and those are the best days. The time flies by so fast when you are teaching all the time! We had 7 lessons which is very good for this area. I got to say the first vision in a lesson. It was by the grace of God I said it right. I hadn't recited it for like a month! When I said it the Spirit was so strong and I said it perfect! Very cool!

 Wednesday was a little different. Elder Nieves, my companion, is the Zone leader. The zone leaders in the house had a meeting that morning so I was on splits with another Elder. That morning I just did some laundry and cleaned the kitchen again because people can't figure out how to clean their own apparently. After we ran down a plantain truck and got some for lunch. They are like a banana but are a cross with a potato. What we do with them is make something called fritos. We peal them, cut them into little chips, deep fry them for a couple minutes, smash them thinner, then throw them back in the oil for a little longer. In the end they are like a fry, but better. You eat them with some nice salami. It's good, super unhealthy but super good. After lunch the other Elder and I went to one of his lessons. To sum up the lesson, I taught his investigator alone and he did the investigators math homework. Very odd but what fun to teach alone. After that lesson Elder Nieves got back luckly and he had your package! So glad to get my backpack and see all those pictures of home! I got pretty home sick seeing all those pictures but before I even looked at them all, I put them away and said lets go teach so I can get my mind off home haha! All the lessons went through so that was a good day over all! 

Thursday was pretty rough. A rich member fed us lunch. She has a maid that makes all the meals so that was pretty cool. Very good food! We went to our lessons and a lot of them fell through so that always sucks. Elder Nieves and I are coming up with a way to get more references from the ward members. We had a meeting with the bishopric (obispado in Spanish). That was good and they accepted it and we are starting to put it in gear now. I think its going to work great.

 Friday was pretty fun! That morning I had to get up at 5am for "immigration". It's when they take your urine, blood and x-rays for some reason. All the other missionaries from the CCM were there so I got to talk to my old companion. That was fun! When the lady took my blood right before she sticks the dag gum thing in my arm she sneezes and snorts and then jabs me before I can say anything. That was not cool... I have some congestion now. :( After we finished up there, we went to our lesson and it was a rough day, lesson wise.

 Saturday morning we wrote the callings for out new referral idea. We ate lunch and took our nap. Once we got up, we went and picked up a joven, or young men, and he went on splits with us all day. That was fun. We didn't have lessons because general conference messed our schedule up so we contacted until 6:30p. We had a ward activity that was super fun! We played soccer and basketball! It was a blast! The next day I was so sore I could hardly walk!

Yesterday was a ehh. None of our investigators showed up so that sucked. This area is really hard because no one keeps commitment. That's why its one of the top hardest areas. It was fast sunday so it was testimony meeting. At home I never bore my testimony on fast Sunday as you may know, but I said my first one yesterday. In Spanish! It went pretty well. I'm not going to lie, I was super nervous because of the whole Spanish thing. After church we didn't have a lunch appointment so we went home ate and took a good Sunday nap. After that we went to our appointments then Elder Nieves had another appointment. So I went on splits with Elder Torres and he is awesome! Taught some lessons and we saw a ton of RZR's driving around! That was pretty cool. This morning I mopped and clean the kitchen, my room, study area and the bathroom. Its real nice now!

So that was my week! Talk to you next week! Elder Wolfe

September 1, 2016

Week 4: (This has been posted out of order)

Hey guys it's the end of week 4! It was probably the slowest week so far in the CCM (MTC in spanish). I dont know why but my guess is because a new shipment of missionaries came in.

 I will first go over the spiritual experiences then the funny ones. To start off I would like to share you something president said. We had a doctrine class on obedience. The quote that I like most that he said is "Every time we are obedient, we will receive blessings". It's such a simple statement but is often over looked. We also finally got to go to the temple! It was an awesome experience but stressful because I had to do it in Spanish! Very interesting but obviously felt the spirit.

My last one that I want to share is one of our lessons with our fake investigator. It was the same day we went to the temple and we where feeling the spirit and with out even looking at my companion we switched off without skipping a beat. It was very awesome and we both felt the spirit strong!

 Now on to the funny stuff! The CCM is full of funny things but I will tell you the best ones. First one is we eat a lot of bannanas here becaues fruits that you peel are always healthy to eat here but like strawberries are not to safe. So we had a bunch of peels and my companion was in the shower to we opened the door and threw them at him over the curtain but that is just the begging. After he got out I got in and he tries to get me back but misses and he starts running but I pick it up and nailed him in the chest with a nice soggy wet banana! Awesome! Everyone in the room has been pranked and we usually will just spray them with shaving cream but one time we did protein mix and shaving cream and it was such a mess but worth it. We also did a first here at the CCM.

We threw the first party in our room and we listened to BYU Vocal point and had stoplights and silly string for some reason and some of it is still hanging from the sealing! Cause what else do you do with your time at 10:00p. 

Another first thing my companion and I did to create history here is how fast we cut aa pizza. Every Sunday we eat pizza and it was our turn to make them. We cooked 30 pizzas so we had a lot of pizzas to practice with. We got our time down to 1.6 seconds to cut a full size pizza together! We had the CCM Presidents laughing so hard! It was such a fun time!

 We also watch a church movie on P-Days and last week was called "Freetown". It is a amazing movie that I request for all you guys to watch. It is about how these missionaries in Liberia had to leave because of rebels and it showed their dedication to the church! Very nerve racking and has guns involved so always good and that means anyone in the Dairy Creek ward wants to watch it now! 

Other then that this week has just been learning more Spanish. Tomorrow we get to go on splits for the first time tomorrow so cant wait for that! See ya later guys! Elder Wolfe

Friday, September 30

Hey guys! Today we where supposed to go to the temple but it was canceled due to a hurricane that is supposed to happen today! I cant wait! I want to see one so bad! Anyways this week has been a blast! The mission is so much fun! The days fly by so fast its crazy!  (He's referring to Hurricane Matthew that misses DR, but hits Haiti and kills 900 people. SDW)

On Tuesday we got to go to the institute building and they hosted a work shop for people to make resumes and get jobs! That was cool! I got to use my spanish a ton! It was rough but people understood! We had a 4-6 shift but we where there until 8 30. Oh well it was service . We had to reschedule all the apointments but people don't  care a whole lot here. You say you have an appointment at 3 and people show up about a hour and a half late. They are pretty layed back here. Even church starts like 30 min late haha! That morning we updated the area book for the first time in like 3 transfers. My trainer says he loves to have me because I know how to have fun and work really hard! This is a hard area and they haven't had any baptisms in a while but we have 5 scheduled! So much fun!

We have been teaching a lot lately. My spanish is getting a lot better. I can understand about 85% of what people say. The gift of toungs is real. I can speak pretty well too. Everyone is supprised how fast I am picking it up! I am the fist full american to be in this area in a long time so its quite the change for people haha! It pretty dangerous here. There are a lot of streets we have to avoid and we are supposed to head in at 8 because it starts to get wild. 

Durring one of out lessons we had a guy who speaks english come up and ask if we could teach him so we are going to start doing that soon. That will be cool. The guys have never heard of that in this mission so thats even more cool. On Friday we did splits with the CCM kids and sence my companion doesnt look american we pulled a prank that he only spoke spanish. We go out with the kids for about 6 hours and we didnt telll the guy until the end that he spoke english! It was so funny because he was so irritated! 

On saturday I got my hair cut. The guy shaved my sides down to like a 0.5! It is so short but it is nice and cool in the heat. The other missionaries had a baptism that day too. We brought some investigators too it. One of them started sweating really bad so much that he had to go to the bathroom to dry up! He felt the spirit for sure! Sunday was my first normal one.We had 6 investigators show up and thats a high for this area! Its awesome to see them there! After church we usually go to the people that didnt go to church and give them whats called here a ¨´ Boache¨´ or just chew them out in other words and share scriptures about going to church. It funny and pretty fun haha!

Monday was hard because no P-Day. But we made it haha! That morning we went to a book fair that is huge here and handed out Books of Mormon! That was really fun! We saw a homeless guy with a shirt that said Be Nice... I know santa. It was in english. I dont even know if he knew what it meant. We also where at a investigators house and he put on the song frozen becasue all the kids would sing a long. I swear like 30 people live in this house! Its insane! But the kids start to come outside and sing along and then the last kid that is like 7 runs out with a 9 inch nife singing along eating a lemon bare! We all broke out laughing so hard! Also durring the same lesson there is this guy who comes and wants us to drink beer! He ask every sing time with out missing! It is so funny and we say so and say we would take water or coke. He just walks away and we continute teaching. After like 30 minuets he comes back with a coke for us and is cheering COKEACOLA it was so funny! I think that this guy has been hamered sence he was 10! 

We where walking to church and this dog that has been killed was on the side of the road covered in flys! So nasty but on out way home we saw it but this time someone lit it on fire!!! It was the worst smell in the world!!! Same day we where on our way to a lesson and this kid was peeing in the middle of  the street. I guess you got to go when you got to go. That night was odd. Long story short a less actives daughter who is about 17 OD on sleeping pills and she was mumbling and my comp and I felt dark inside. That was very odd. We went back the next day to see how she was and she was all good. That was very odd. 

That ends the past week and a half again! Belive it or not there is a nice KTM dealer in my area! We are going to it today! Cant wait!

Sincerely,

Elder Wolfe

September 19, 2016

Hey guys! I am in the field! It is so much fun and hard but still a ton of fun! So much has happened in the past week and a half and I am going to leave out a lot details but oh well haha! 

Last Friday I went on splits again with Elder Pearson and was even more fun then last time! We had a couple lessons but mainly contacting. We were at a recent converts house and we were talking and drinking coke for awhile with these crappy little cups. Well when I was done I put it on the ground and their tiny dog came and put his head in it and got it stuck for a second but got it out. So after one of the kids took the dog's head in his left hand and with his right hand slammed the cup onto the dogs head.  It started running into everything until it fell off! So funny! After we finished contacting, we went and got a churro and it was the best one I have ever had! It was full of caramel and man it was just a piece of heaven!

Saturday was our last full day. It was just classes so nothing special. Sunday was good! My companion and I passed the sacrament and I wasn't picked to talk so always a good day when that happens. Monday was terrible because it was orientation and the longest day in the world but Tuesday was a different story.

My Tuesday started at 5 in the morning and I was all packed ready to go to the field. We ate, said good bye to our old companions and we got on two separate buses one to the East Mission and one to the best mission, the West Mission. We arrived at the chapel and had some more orientation but then we met our trainers! Or dads is what you call them in the mission! We all stood in two lines facing each other and they called us off and of coarse I was last! My new companion for the next 3 months is Elder Nieves.

Elder Nieves is a great companion so far and is half Puerto Rican. He's very good at Spanish and is a zone leader. He knows the gospel very well and is awesome to be around. He is obedient and has fun so what more could I ask for. He plays soccer and that's pretty much it. haha. He is from North Carolina and is 19.

Wednesday I had my first full day in the field! It was long but a blast! I met a lot of our investigators and a lot of members to. The biggest part of missionary work is working with the members. I didn't know that till I got here but members are the only way to get a convert to stay after the missionary leaves. My area is called La Fe and it is in the capital and very big. The apartment is a blast because we are the only area with six people! We are always laughing about something but the apartment itself is a flippin' pigsty. hahaha! At first I was very concerned but everyone says just lower your standards so I did and now its not to bad haha!

Oh! My fist day I was putting my shirt on and the fans here are very low. So I'm putting my arm in and my hand goes straight into the fan! It doesn't hurt too bad, just took a little skin off. Pretty funny! It happens to everyone here.  Apparently getting your head hit by one is pretty common!

Pay day here is called ´´Apoyo´´  which translates to support. We got our money and I was curious how much it was in American dollars so I ask the other Elders. I asked ´´What is this in english´´. It was hilarious, had to be there. After we got it, we went to the grocery store and got our food for the next two weeks. After we took all of our food, six of us piled into a clapped out Toyota and it is a flippin' miracle that thing still runs. We have three people in the front and four in the back and like 150 pound of food in the trunk. The bumpers where dragging and the tires where touching the  wheel wells. Pretty dope I would say!

All the days in between were the same. We wake up, work out, shower, personal study, then comp study. After we usually have a meeting or something to do but then we come home at 12. From 12 to 2 its lunch country wide. We just eat then take a nap. While I am in training I take 2-2:30 to study Spanish then we go preach until 9pm, then dinner, then bed. 

In the house there are a lot of cockroaches and ants. I went to go get some shorts out of my drawer and a dad gum 1.5 inch cockroach climbs out of my cloths. I don't use that drawer any more. Literally right after I walk to the living room and Elder Parra had a 1 inch cockroach on one of those fly swatters that is electric just roasting it for like a minute until it was smoking saying "DIE" in Spanish! Hilarious! 

Another funny thing is how they lock there dogs up here. They just take them and put them on the roof and make it so they can't come down! So smart! 

We had a guy come up to us during a lesson hammered drunk and he offered us some beer! That was pretty funny. 

Another story about beer was probably the funniest thing this week. We are teaching someone the word of wisdom and right after we say beer is bad we have a guy on a motorcycle pass us on the side walk and he is just so far gone! He wanted to turn around, so he does a big U turn in the middle of the road holding on to his 40 ounce in one hand and steering with the other and the front tire slides out and he just gets thrown to the ground! We watched the whole thing happen and we turn back to out investigator and say ´´that is why we dont drink beer sister´´. God really wanted her to know why we don't drink I guess. haha! 

My last funny thing to finish this email is one of our investigators wanted me to say a prayer in English. It was so hard because I say all prayers in Spanish even personal ones.

Well that is it for this week! It is a blast and I am loving it! This is one of the most dangerous places so I am pretty excited!! 

Adios,

Elder Wolfe

Hey guys! 

We got to go on splits (splits are when you "split" your companionship and go with another missionary for a little while) for the first time on Friday and it was a blast! But it was probably some of the rarest conditions of all the missions in the world. The morning of, we just had our normal classes and then we went to lunch. After we hopped into some taxis and we went to one of the churches about 20 minuets away. There all of the greenies and about 9 sets of missionaries that have been out in the field for a while. Once everyone was there we split up into different companionships. There was a couple threesomes and I was in one of them with my companion Elder Williams. The Elder that we got paired up with was Elder Pearson. Jennaca Pearson's brother (my girlfriend)! It was kind of awkward at first but then it just turned into a blast! We went contacting mainly and had two lessons and it was so cool to see what the capital was like. Elder Pearson is an awesome missionary and really knows the gospel. He handled a potential bible bash so well! Its was cool to talk about home a little bit too and to bring him up to date on some stuff. We went to some very ghetto places and some pretty nice places. It was a lot cleaner then where we have been doing service and going contacting. I only shared a scripture and said my testimony and handful of times but it was just an amazing time! I am so anxious to get in the field! 

The people here are so nice and more open then Americans! There is always a place to get clean water so I am a lot less worried about that. My Spanish defiantly has some work to be done but I am a lot less scared now because all the missionaries said that its fine because you can pick it up pretty well in the field. There wasn't any crazy experiences it was just a good 7 hours of real missionary work before we went back to the CCM or jail as the missionaries call it.

The DR is an amazing place! The weather is nice and warm all the time and it gets a little hot at times but it is the hottest time of the year. Elder Pearson said that its usually not this hot. I dont think its to bad! 

Since I have got to the CCM I have gained about six or seven pounds! I weigh 160 now! It doesn't show anywhere that I see. Elder Williams and I have a workout routine we do everyday that includes push-ups and planks and chair dips and some other things. It has been nice! Trying not to look like a skinny twig anymore!

We have been doing quite a few tie trades.  I have traded five ties and they have all been for better ones! :p I will send you guys a pic. At the groceries store they sell these amazing ties for 200 pesos! Thats about four dollars. 

Other than that,  this week hasn't been to out of the normal. The week went by fast but its just class and food and service! Livin the life haha! We teach a lesson to a fake investigator in the morning and at night, and my companion and I have taught all the lessons. I feel pretty comfortable about the gospel as far as teaching it but Spanish just isn't perfect obviously. This is my last time emailing on a Thursday. My P-Day is going to switch to Monday but I don't think I get to email this Monday so it may be a week and a half. The CCM has gone by way fast for me and apparently its the slowest part of the mission! This thing will be over before I know it! Well I will email you guys in a week or so!!

Pic 1 MTC bedroom

Pic 2 & 3 Elder Williams, MTC Comp

Pic 4 MTC classroom

Pic 5 Tie swaps and cheap local ties

Pic 6 Elder Williams, MTC Teacher & Elder Wolfe

Pic 7 MTC & Domincan Republic temple

Pic 8 My companion, Elder Williams and I at the temple

Pic 9 MTC Cafteria

Pic 10 We put this hot sauce on everything

Elder Wolfe 

Aug 25th

August 25, 2016

Week three has is now over. It has been a great week and I had many wonderful experiences and I haven't even hit the field! The days are going by really fast honestly and I cant imagine how fast they will go in the field! 

My favorite day would have to have been Friday last week. We got to go out contacting for the first time and see how bad our Spanish is. We got to go out after lunch all the way until after dinner even! We walked probably a total of about 3 or 4 of the hottest miles of my life. It was 85 degrees but on the pavement it felt like  100 plus with 85% humidity. I was dripping is sweat and soaked my shirt and pants. Despite all the heat it was an  awesome experience. I handed out my first Book of Mormon to a nice family having a picnic on the beach. Who knows what he did with it but oh well I did my job to share the gospel to everyone. Elder Williams and I got to go walk some of the beach and talk to some teenagers and played a little bit of baseball is the sand. That was an awesome experience! 

That was all in one day so you could guess why that was my favorite day. My second favorite day would be Sunday. My companion and I had the opportunity to bless the sacrament for the first time in Spanish and it is a lot harder then you think when it is in another language. You should look it up and try to say it out loud. It is hard to pronounce it all right. We both got it perfect the first time though so that was good. I also revived an answer to my prayer that day so that always makes it a good day. 

On Monday we had to say good bye to all the older guys who have been here for six weeks. I am so jealous that they get to get out of here but I only have three more weeks left so its not to long. Spanish is coming along pretty good. I can teach a lot more and people understand me better. I can’t wait until I can speak it fluently! The scheduled changed on Wednesday and we went out contacting again. Our goal was to hand out 20 pamphlets and 2 Books of Mormon. We achieved our goal and it went very well. I could talk to people and like 4 of the people seemed very interested. We committed one to read the Book of Mormon and she said she would and we gave her the number to some other missionaries that speak a lot better. That was very fun!  Well that concludes this week! I will talk to you guys later!    

    

Sincerely,

Elder Wolfe

August 18, 2016

Hey guys its the end off week 2 and I am still loving it! 

I printed off your long email and got around to reading them. The talks where great and I learned stuff about grandpa Jim I didn't even know. I am honored to have him as a grandpa. He was such a strong man. I honestly don't think I could of gone through what he did. I am so glad for him to be in heaven. He is in a way better place now with a perfect body. He probably has the biggest, most organized shop any of us can think of to him self! I have been studying the Plan of Salvation and when I read that he passed I was filled with as much joy as I did sorrow. Yea it sucks that he isn't here with us and we cant see him but he is in a way better place. 

Grandma, I want to bear my testimony about the Plan of Salvation to you. Our life on earth is just one part. You can relate it to coming on a mission. Say you came to the MTC with not remembering any of your life from home. You get here and they teach you your purpose and thats what you do for just two years then your done. God sent us down here and we all have a purpose. Grandpas spiritual soul was saved and he served in the church and did everything he was asked. He isn't gone forever, its just for the time being because he did what God needed him to do and he was ready to go to our true home. We can still talk to him whenever we want, wherever we want, we just cant see him. I have prayed to him and felt a warm feeling I have never felt before. He isn't suffering every day now and that just brings a big smile to my face. I will end these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

Now back to my MTC experience. The days are now exactly the same as the week before but they feel like they are going by faster. I am not tired of it quite yet luckily.Tomorrow we go out to a near by college and talk to people to practice! I am looking forward to that for sure! 

The food is awesome still I think even though its pretty much the same everyday but I can still put it away pretty fast. 

My companion is cool and we haven't killed each other quite yet so thats nice. We haven't had any arguments too so thats also a plus. 

Spanish is for sure getting better. I can actually say what I want to in Spanish so that takes a lot of the stress off. Its only week two and I feel that by week six I will feel good enough to go out in the field. We had a speaker that said everyone is the same level of Spanish at 3 months so that also takes some of the stress off. 

I have started reading the Book of Mormon cover to cover and I have never understood a book so clearly until now. I remember everything and I get into it and just start burning through the pages. Yes I never thought I would say that in my life too. Maybe I will start to like reading. 

The MTC is 4 floors and the cafeteria is on floor 1 and the rooms are on floor 4 so going down the stairs Elder Williams and I do these tricks all the way down and I can now do a 360 down 5 steps. I am pretty proud of that honestly. 

I have had the wonderful opportunity to give healing blessing to two people so far. The first one I sealed and the second I performed the blessing. It is two girls who are sick in my district and my comp and I did them both. Very spiritual experiance and I can start to talk a little more through the spirit. 

We also had the opportunity to hear from a general athority! He is the president of the area. His name is Elder Walter F. Gonzolez and his main point is to "open your mouth". What he means is we should open your mouth to everyone because they are all children of God. 

Well thats it for this week! Love you guys!  Jeff "Elder Wolfe"

Hey guys, I am emailing to let you know that I have arrived to the MTC! I love the weather so far but I have only been here for four hours. I am supposed to let you know to not send me anything yet and that my P-day is on Thursday. The next time I will e-mail you is next Thursday not tomorrow. The place is very third world I can say but this is going to be cool! I didn't even watch a movie on the way here I am pretty proud of myself. Well I will email you next Thursday! Love you guys! Elder Wolfe