Arrived April 13 2016
We had a branch activity this week! The highlights were
sweaty basketball in my shirt and tie, potato chips and the Joseph Smith Prophet
of the restoration video! Gotta love the goose bumps when he stands up in the
jail and silences the guards.
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| The parrot is trying to steal my name bag! |
Today we went to a mall named Bravo and explored a bit
before going to the Wendy’s there. There was a cool pet store. There was a
parrot that tried to either take my nametag, see if I was ticklish or make of
with me pen. We also saw a snake eating a mouse, pug puppies, a pile of sleeping
turtles and five foot twos Elder Green playing in the kiddy playground.
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| Our p-day at the mall |
SO our church activity was after a good long contacting
day...and nobody showed up when it started. We sat around, I practiced the
piano since we don’t play a lot, and waited. After a while of waiting
with the movie set up, we decided to just make it another time. I played
basketball for a few minutes with some of the seminary students who had
finished class when Johan and his family walked into the church grounds! They
showed up an hour late and asked what had happened haha! We continued to move
on with the activity which went well! In the end a few member families showed
up, and two couples of less actives and their girlfriends. We had lays potato
chips and soda to make the John Tanner movie a real hit. We decided the day (and
wait) were worth it.
We made a new contact the other day at a house and a
light skinned lady with blue eyes came out the door. I think we were both
shocked to see another white person that we were a little quiet as Elder Bouwhuis
and I explained who we were. Christiana and her family are from Madrid, but are
living here. I tried not to get my hopes up that they were Americans. The 18
year old son Cristofer is really excited, but the mom and him don’t have
matching schedules really. He said that his mom is interested too but she is
pretty involved with her church. Our first real lesson with him, all the
cousins were home too and Elder Bouwhuis and I knocked it out of the park, spiritual
lesson and new funny American friends.
It has been an interesting week trying to find the
houses of the couples that came to the activity. If I was crazy rich I would
pay the DR to generalize street sign and house numbers. Oh well the walking keeps
us from getting rice pot-bellies. The weather is now 30 degrees Celsius or into
the 90s, I forgot how the country really is. My collar tan line on my neck
continues to get worse, Elder Bouwhuis makes fun of me since he doesn’t have
one, lucky “Dominicans”.
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| Helping with a service project |
Our district has been focusing more on working with
members and less actives lately which I enjoy a lot but it requires patience.
The members could use some mission work and the less actives are reference
jack-pots, they just need to come back a little. Some of my favorite less-actives
are Delma, who calls us her sons and the funny family Rivas. Both know the
right things, but lack the desire. It is the same with Cristian and Isabel.
Isabel has to divorce her old husband before her and Cristian can get married
then baptized. It’s a big process and she just doesn’t really have the desire
to start it. Its sad that life is ok for her and she doesn’t really have
interest in putting the effort into something better.
It has been a interesting time preparing for Cristofer’s
baptism this week. The baptismal papers are fun, I have been getting gray hair
figuring out things for his interview, interview questions and working with
members, but I think it will turn out great though. I’m a worrier and I even
get worried that I worry to much haha. My last companion Elder Jeppesen is
trying to come to the baptism and we have invited everyone. Lets cross our
fingers.
There were intercambios again this week, making it
almost an intercambio every week this transfer. Elder Bouwhuis and Elder Green
are best buddies, and Elder Hola and I are pretty good friends. Elder Hola was
trying to get things set for him and I to play tennis today, but it didn’t work
out. We ended up going to Wendy’s and exploring different malls. The pet store
was in one and at Wendy’s I got a huge frosty with a cheesy bacon baked potato!
Sorry you lost the bet Emily (about when we would watch
conference), we saw conference in actual time. I thought of our family singing
secret prayer in conference, I had never heard it in English so Elder Hola and
I sang in Spanish. I never took ceramics but congrats to Josh and freaking
congrats on being SBO Pres! That makes three of us five, lets go Wheffields! I didn’t
know there was a new Saturdays Warrior and I didn’t know it could get
cheesier.
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| What the beginning of a lesson would look like |
With transfers next week, and a really high possibility
I have been thinking about what I was able to do here. I wish more could’ve
been done and everything, I have worked hard and want to keep it up to the last
minute. I take comfort in our duty to take whatever we receive in life and try
to make more with it. I have grown here, half my mission here, and the branch
has continued onward. Elder Bouwhuis is a great missionary and feels really
prepared. One of my goals is that every area I go to, I put my heart into and
when I leave that it breaks a little. We should never be content with where we
are. If we don’t put our heart into things what is the point? I am tired of not
being better. I will feel a little guilty and still disappointed if I leave and
it doesn’t hurt to leave the people here. If Christ gave it all for us, we
should be able to give a little bit of our time, of our heart and of our soul
for the benefit of others. Our lives are not our own, and are only valuable
when shared.
Elder Sheffield
P.s. camara chord isnt working again, pictures another
maybe
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