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 señor 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

Week 45: Goodbye Los Alcarrizos Barrio & HIS BIRTHDAY IS JUNE 26TH

This next week I won't be able to access email, so if you would pretty please send him a quick line to wish him Happy Birthday.  His birthday is Monday, June 26th.  Please send them to his email at elderwolfedr.blogspot.com.  THX!!

Hey guys! Well this week was super good and sad at the same time. I don´t have enough time to write a big email but I think that is a good thing for you guys haha!

                

This month at church is specifically to invite people to come to church. Not just us missionaries but the whole ward. We had some pretty good success these first two weeks. Last Sunday we had 135 at church and this week was the same. These are almost breaking records but the best part is that it´s consistent for two weeks now. This week we visited all the new people who came to church and they are pretty good to be honest! I think that they will really be able to progress. The best appointment was probably with Ashly. We talked about the plan of salvation. Its cool because I have a map that a member made me and it makes it so much easier to teach. We taught the same lesson a couple times this week and they all went amazing. I really wanted to leave this area with a lot of investigators for the new Elder that comes. I left a lot of people to teach with people that can be baptized in a month or so.

                

I got the call Saturday night that I am going to be transferred to Barahona. It is in the south about 3 and a half hours from the capital. I hear that it is super cool there. You can get to the ocean in a 10 minute walk. I am going to be in a house of 4 missionaries and my companion is Elder Fransis. He is American and I will be with him until he ends.

 Sunday we just said goodbye to everyone and it was a lot harder then my last area. I got to know some really cool people here. Luckily in these days they all have Facebook so I can alway keep up with them.

Today all I have done is pack and clean. We have had people feeding us all week because they knew that I was going to be leaving. I don’t even eat dinner or breakfast anymore because we are eating so much.

                

Well I will talk with you guys in my 3rd area next week and my 6th companion.

Elder Wolfe

Week 44: Conjunctivitis & Teaching

Well this week has been full of sickness. The country has a sickness that is flying around in the air and has pegged hundreds of people, including me. I got it last Sunday and it is called conjunctivitis. I think it may be pink eye but not sure because it is a lot worse then the pink eye I have had. It turns your eyes super red and it feels like you have sand in your eyes all the time and it hurts to have them open and closed so it just sucks. I got hit with it first out of the 4 missionaries in the house. I left without sunglasses the first few days but apparently that is bad and I can testify now because my eyes where SUPER red! Pretty fun! I got some drops from a member on Tuesday and it took it away right then. It is healing up now but a blood vessel popped in my eye and it has a pretty gnarly splotch. After that the other elders started to receive it. The worst is the elder from Wyoming. He got it so bad and there was so much puss leaking out and way more red than mine and couldn’t even leave to work! Sucks for him but I will see if I can send a picture! My companion just got it Sunday so lets see how his body reacts to it.

On the works side it wasn’t terrible! I have had worst weeks. P-Day was super chill at the house cleaning and organizing and resting. I was pretty pooped and wanted my eyes to heal fast. We left that night to go watch 17 Miracles with a family but the power left 20 minuets into the movie and they don’t have back up batteries like we do.

Tuesday we went and bought food in the morning because the money came and for lunch we went to a members house. They invited us over and we ate white rice with pork and salad and tomato. A classic! We are teaching a kid named Carlos and he is super smart. He is 16 and understands super well and we just finished teaching the restoration. He accepted the baptismal invitation but does not have a date quite yet. That night was a birthday of a member that we have been helping and then started to teach her daughter. We helped out with the surprise party for 10 minuets and tried to leave for our next appointment but they did not let us leave. At least they fed us and stuff haha!

Wednesday was good! We got to go visit some recent converts of mine and the other elders in the morning. That is always fun because we are close to them! In the afternoon we taught one of our new families that are super cool! They even invited us to eat with them and it is just the second appointment. We are also teaching someone called Solveda. She is a older lady that has been taught the lesson but then went to the U.S. to be a maid for a family but comes back every six months. She wants to be baptized but never could go to church but now she has the opportunity and wants to prepare for her baptism. She has had her conversion for sure! She has such great comments and when she shares her testimony it is so strong! She is so great and will be baptized in the new future.

Thursday we didn’t have anything noteworthy happen. Just a meeting in the evening but Friday in the morning we went and played basketball with a couple of the young men from the ward. That was really fun but the sun is coming up sooner now so it was way hot! We also had a district meeting that day but the afternoon we met a new guy named Saul. He is really cool and is 18. His younger brothers are baptized but he isn’t. The past Elders said that he never showed interest and could never get to him but he asked us to teach him so we did! He said he likes the religion and stuff but never understood why we don’t drink coffee. We told him why and shared a little of the restoration and said he would go to church on Sunday. The next best thing that happened this day is that we went to a family in the evening and we made empanadas with them and watched 17 Miracles. It was so much fun! Nights like those you always remember.

               

Saturday was very chill because the day before killed me of all my energy. When I got home at 10:30 I just hopped straight into bed! In the afternoon we went to a member and investigators house to help them move some things that are heavy in their house because they are remodeling. After that we went home and got cleaned up because our bishop left with us. We had so many appointments with him that day!

Sunday was what is called “Sunday of Invited”. Every member was asked to bring a non-member or less active. We had a great turn out! We had 135 people show up for sacrament! That is a record in my time here and I think for the ward in a long time. It was a very hot day to be honest. When we left in the afternoon I was melting of heat! But the best part is we ended the day at a fun family home evening! Fast week!

I will be getting called this coming Saturday to be transferred. I have about 5 months in this area so it is my turn to make like a baby and head out!

Elder Wolfe

Week 43: Mangos, Mopeds & Pink Eye!

Well today counts down another week here on the mission. It was kind of weird to be honest and I don´t really know why. It was fast but it was slow.

Monday was super fun because after I talked with home we helped an investigator of the other Elders. Her moped broke down and we pushed it back to her house for her. The problem was the throttle cable broke. I took a look at it with Elder Nelson, who lived on a farm in Wyoming, and decided we could fix it for her. We bought the part and swapped it all out. It was a little hard because you have to take almost all the plastics off but we got it done. Of course I had to test ride it to make sure it worked good. That made me really happy to look at my hands and to see gas and oil and smell it too. Successful P-Day!

On Tuesday we found a new investigator named Carlos. He is super cool and really smart! He has some friends that are members of the church but are a little loose on going to church. We are going to try to teach the lessons to the three of them so that they all get stronger spiritually together. 

Wednesday we found another family to teach. They are also cool and have two kids. The wife is very interested but the husband just like to hear the Word of God but let’s see what happens. We are also teaching an old investigator who left for the U.S. when she was being taught but came back and wants to take the lessons again. She is already so strong and knows that the church is true and wants to follow the example of Jesus Christ. After her though we went to a members house because Elder Nelson and the member had the same birthday. We had a super fun time and played a lot of dominos and ate pizza. I got the chance to ride another moped but this one was a little modified! I pulled a wheelie and got it so up that I scraped the the plastic fender on the ground and brought it back down! It was so awesome!

Thursday morning we had a district meeting and then we went and ate chicken! I also got to print off some baptism pictures. The best appointment we had that day was with Ashly. She is the daughter of the member that isn´t baptized. We taught her the Plan of Salvation. I have a diagram that a member here made me. It helps them understand it better and Ashly understood it very well. We will go back though and tell her some of the smaller details. We also had a member with us for that lesson.

Friday morning I went to our roof and played with the jump rope and push ups and planks thinking we weren’t going to go play basketball but I came back down and they said lets go. I played 4 full court games after that and was SOO drained of energy.  We then went to Ashly’s house again in the morning to fix their washing machine. They had the same problems as I did a couple months back and I offered to fix it because to call someone to fix it cost a arm and your two legs. She gave me the money and I went and bought the parts. The hardest part about these stupid things is that the screws always get super rusty and you can’t undo them. We couldn’t finish it in the morning because we needed one thing more but the store was far away. That afternoon was pretty slow but another amazing. We met with some of the families that we teach and they are progressing bit by bit.

Saturday morning we finished the washer job. That afternoon was kind of sucky because all of our appointments fell through. Sunday was alright though.  We had a couple good appointments but we went into a forest of mango trees with some members and found some really big ones! That night we made two pitchers of a mango shake! It was SOOOO good! That is the best part of this area is the fresh fruit. We put fresh pineapple on our hamburgers the other day too and that was glorious.

Well that was the week for me. It was pretty good with a lot of service. I will be hitting 10 months this week but it feels like I have only been here for like 2 months. Transfers are also the 13th of June. There is a very big change I will be transferred. I have 5 months in this area so its my turn. I love this area a lot but its part of the mission! Thanks for all your prayers and support!

Elder Wolfe

Santo Domingo Oeste República Dominicana Misión

Week 42: Walner is baptized!

Warner's Baptism

Saturday May 20th, 2017

Elder Moradel & Elder Wolfe together for at least 3 more months

Zone Conference 

This is back when we went to the temple a few weeks ago

Well first off, sorry I didn’t write a big email last week. It was mother’s day so I got to talk with the family and didn’t have the  biggest desire to write a big email. I will talk about the best and worst parts of last week though.

Tuesday and Wednesday where normal in the sense that we left and visited people like normal. Thursday we helped some near by missionaries move houses. That was fun but I sweated a lot because we did it at 2 in the afternoon when the sun was roasting us. We came back to the house and got all cleaned up. We went to our appointments and the first 3 fell through so we tried to find new people and didn’t get anyone. We also had a meeting  and then our last appointment fell through. Just a rough day.

Friday wasn’t  any better. We were cooking lunch when we got a knock on the door. It was odd because people don´t come to our house very often. I opened the door and I found one of the member’s daughter telling me ¨He died.” I was thrown off because I didn’t understand who but she then said that her dad died. He was 40 years old and was a less active. I have been visiting the guy ever since I got here in this area. He was super cool and fun to visit and was really progressing! He was in the process of preparing to baptize his daughter. He passed away of a heart attack.  We later went to his house to help the family out. He has a wife and two daughters who live with him. They were very strong to be honest. What they do here in this country is they have the casket in the house, open for the people to see him. Finally we helped a lot of friends from the ward load him up into a truck to go straight to the cemetery. Once we got there my companion and I were some of the people who helped carry him to his grave. That was something I have never done before, especially someone I knew pretty close. They buried him and then we went back to their house. We sang hymns and talked with them about how this is part of life. It was a very sad day in the mission for me.

This week went by really fast! On Wednesday we were invited to eat at a member’s house. That was super fun because we ate and played a lot of dominos. We ate white rice with pigon beans and ham in the beans. Super good! 

Thursday I got to help a member out by fixing part of her washer. It was something super easy and I had it done in like 3 minutes once I got the part. The member’s mom is of a different religion and doesn’t like that her daughter changed churches. She still lives with her mom because she got divorced.  We are now teaching the member’s daughter so hopefully we gain a little trust of the member’s mom. We had a good appointment with a friend of ours that is having troubles leaving an addiction. We made a plan with him how he is going to drop this addiction & so far so good!

Friday we had a zone conference. The same stuff as normal but I forgot some things so it was good. That took almost all day but we did get to go visit a couple people in the evening. One of my recent converts in this are in going to seminary on her own now!

This week is transfers and we all thought I was going to leave so we have been talking to the cooler families and planning lunches and dinners so Saturday we ate a family of investigators. All the appointments fell through pretty much but luckily we had a baptism at night. The baptism went really well! His name is Walner. He is 31 and he is SUPER cool! He is what we call gold here on the mission! Sunday he received the Holy Ghost. I also ¨played¨ the piano. It’s electric and no one in the ward took the time to learn how to play it. It helped invite the spirit a lot! After church we met some new people and also the bishop left with us for a bit. We ate at a members house. It was SOO good! I will attach a picture. Its called ¨Mangu of plantane and salami¨. It was a good week! Not super awesome spiritual experiences but a good week!

Elder Wolfe

Week 41: Mother's Day Chat

Mother's Day Chat  

Family Photo Op

Jeff called us on our way home from church for our Mother's Day chat.  It was so fun to hear & see him.  He was at the church on a member's laptop.  It was pretty clear in the beginning, but as he added other lines on it became difficult to hear him.  Grandma & Grandpa Wolfe came up to the house to say hi.  Grandma Joyce & Aunt Jackie called in to say hi.  Zach, Brady & Jennica were on  the call as well.  He stayed on for 3 hours.  He had some great stories of baptisms, funeral processions, dogs, companions, wet weather & life in the DR.  He didn't write a letter the next day as we had just talked to him.  He's doing very well & is happy.  Everything a momma needs to know about her kiddo.  Ben, Hannah & I are going to the DR for a dental humanitarian trip in June.  We won't see him, but Jeff gave us a list of things to bring to the mission home for himself & his companions.  Some wet weather gear.  Logically ask the Oregonians to help you in that department.  We're so grateful he's working hard, loving the people & enjoying the work.