Monday, July 24, 2017

Week 50: Endure to the End

To be honest it is kind of crazy how fast the weeks go by! It doesn´t seem real! Well just to start I want to say that the mission is so much fun! This week wasn´t the best in finding new people but when things are tough that is also when you need to learn from them. We had some very good appointments this week and many with good spiritual experiences. The way we are trying to find right now is a little more effective because we are visiting all of the members and asking for them to start thinking of friends and invite them to the activities we put on like movie night, English class, and another fun activity that is for young single adults. This week we had a really good turn out for the movie night. We watched the new Beauty and the Beast. We had about 40 people there! Of those 40 we had about 8 investigators and it helps them have a better relationship with members. 

Some of the best lessons we had this week were probably with less actives. Two of the less actives are recent converts but we have them a very well planned lesson on enduring to the end and what happens if we don´t. Lets just say they went to the activities and church this week for the first time over 4 weeks. The better one though wan´t even to planned. We passed by and we taught him mainly about the Plan of Salvation because his dad died and he is now doing bad things. We talked with him about how he can see his dad again but has to make good choices and the Spirit was super strong and he cried and I almost cried too. 

It was a pretty fun week too because we had a member leave with us from the young men. We had good appointments with him and we even found a lady we have been teaching for a while but then she left out of town for a while but is now back. The English class went well too and I got to talk with Elder Buhler who is one of the senior couples in the mission and a less active who knows English.

Well this week was great and fun but I hope you all have another great summer week! Oh FYI, I will be home in exactly a year from now.

Love ya!

Elder Wolfe
Santo Domingo Oeste Mision



Week 49: Just asked for a million dollars, but everything will be okay!

Group July 10, 2017

Well another 2 weeks has been down since I have written a big email. Sorry I didn´t send one last week. My P'Day was really weird and didn´t have the opportunity to take the time to write a group e'mail. Other then that though everything is going great! 

Last P'Day I hit 11 months here on the mission. We have been working hard here in Barahona. We have been contacting a lot because there are not to many progressing investigators here. We are also trying to work with the members for references but so far we haven´t received to many. 

My companion had to go out to the capital which is like 4 hours away on Wednesday and Thursday so that meant I was stuck in a triple companionship. I was not down for that so I made some serious calls and got members to leave with me the 2 days so I could work in my area and I even found 6 new people in those two days! That was fun but I was glad to get my companion back. 

We also started a English class here that went pretty well the first time. We invite everyone and their mom to activities and church but no one comes here. The people here are pretty lazy from what I can see. If you leave them a commitment to do in there house like read something small they will do it. Once you ask them to walk two blocks down you just asked for a million dollars! But there are people here who will make the sacrifice for their salvation. 

On Sunday after church my companion had to go back to the capital for his visa because he´s illegal at the moment and if he leaves like this the country will charge him $100. There was another guy in my house who also had to go so I stayed with his companion. 

This P-Day has been really slow though because we are just playing card and eating but it is nice to just chill out. 

My knowledge and testimony is growing every day! On Saturday when we got the call that my companion had to leave again I wasn´t happy because of splits. I really don´t like splits because one it´s usually not in my area and two I don´t know how the other missionary teaches. I was kind of stressed out about that but I prayed for help and I felt this feeling in my heart that everything will go okay. In the end I just went to the other guys area like I thought but I felt in my heart that I didn´t need to be stressed out about it. These past two weeks have been fast and pretty fun to be honest. The mission is flying by and it is so cool to hear family and friends leaving on their missions too! I hope you guys have a great week!

Love,


Elder Wolfe

Monday, July 10, 2017

Week 48: No group email :(

He didn't send a group email this week or we didn't receive it.  He seemed distracted when we were emailing back n' forth.  There were a couple new pictures.  He loves his new area & they've been working hard.


Week 47: My 19th Birthday

Group June 26, 2017      My 19th Birthday

 Well another super fun and fast week here in Barahona. I really do love this area because it is so clean and beautiful! It has been pretty hot this week because one I am next to the beach and two we are in the summertime now. When we leave at lunch time the temperature is between 85 and 90 degrees!

We have been trying to find a lot of people lately and we have been having success. We have been able to put 3 baptismal dates this week. We also have found more people that can progress and I hope by August we will have 4 baptisms here and so far it is looking good.

A funny thing that happened this week would be we had an activity this Saturday for young single adult put on by the senior missionaries. It was funny because they did karaoke and they danced to some of the songs and it was actually a really good time!

The coolest spiritual experience this week would be pretty much every time we put a baptism date. The spirit is always super strong when we invite them to follow the example of Jesus Christ. I love the way we introduce it with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so glad that I can be this special representative of our Lord Jesus Christ and invite other to come unto him and share this great message that the authority of God to baptize is reestablished here on the earth after that time of darkness without it as prophesied in Amos. It is such a great blessing that we have the priesthood here on the earth again!
               
Well the hardest thing this week would probably be either walking in the flipin’ hot sun or Sunday because we didn´t have that good of a turn out and a lot of our appointments fell through. But those are little things that makes you appreciate the great times!
               
This was a pretty darn good week for many reasons. All the work that is progressing, a package from home, the rides in the backs of trucks, the trips to the beach, and my birthday! Thanks for all of your love and support! This coming week we will be receiving our new mission president also FYI!

Love,


Elder Wolfe

Week 46: Satan can't touch this!

Well I have finished my first week now in my new area. It is called
Barahona and is about 3 and a half out of the capital. It is like
the country. When I am walking down the roads there are a ton of goats
and even a kid that always runs around on his donkey. This place is
very very cool. I am about 10 minutes walking from the beach. You can
see it from the house. It is A LOT hotter here. I don´t know if it is
just the area or the time of year but it is always about 85 degrees
but with direct sunlight it feels like a 1000. I am going to get a lot
more tan here.
    The first few days all we have been doing is visiting members and
trying to find new people. They really don´t have any investigators
and no one has baptism dates. We have been doing a
LOT of contacting trying to find new people. We have found very few
but we will be contacting a LOT more this week. On Sunday we found
about 5 new super cool people and my companion said he has never found
so many good people so fast here! I have faith that we are going to do
miracles here in the country.
    The people here are very different then my other areas. The girls
here are very very flirty. That is very annoying but satan can´t touch
this! There are also a lot of very rich people here with big houses. A
big benefit how clean it is here. There is barley any trash on the
streets! I like that so much! There is also a seƱor couple that live
in my area! They are super cool and even lived in Oregon for a while
in Beaverton and Aloha. They lived in Colorado right before they came.
They put on a really good activity every Saturday for the Young
adults. Sunday we have about 80 people. It is a branch but they seemed
pretty organized.
    I have high hopes for this area and I really want to make a big
difference here. I think I am going to be able to help the area a lot
with my companion. He is also very cool from Las Vegas. He goes home
the 2nd of August which is exactly one year here for me on the mission!
Super cool! Well thanks for your prayers!


Love,  Elder Wolfe