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

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 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