Write to Me

andrew.sheffield@myldsmail.net

Ave. Estrella Sadhala
#10 2nd Piso, Frente a Univ. UTESA
Santiago 51000
Dominican Republic

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Being D.L. was short lived

Arrived May 11, 2016
Love the family more than our investigator Roberto wants an American girlfriend. We have tried teaching him and his friend who work at a Colmado. They got distracted once and asked how they could get to know Americans. I tried not to crush his hopes so I told him that the ladies love men that dance. He seemed really happy and when we left he asked us to bring him back two girls for him and one for his friend. I'm not sure how well they will progress.

On Thursday all the district leaders in the misión had a reunión for how to work better with members and our districts. It was fun to see my old district leader and some of the people from my group. I got super excited to get working, a lot of new ideas for getting references. It was kinda short lived as I was called a few hours later to be companions with my zone leader. So last week our Polynesian zone leader, tore his MCL in his knee so, had to go home. My companion got moved up to district leader and got a mini missionary, which is just a member who lives as a missionary for the transfer. I’m companions with Elder Oldroyd from West Jordan Utah. Elder Markham was super excited for it all, I spent the time in a cold sweat as I packed my stuff up.

Elder Oldroyd has been showing me the ropes for stuff and it has gone well. We get along really well. I kinda feel bad for the guy because he has had some medical stuff, lost his comp, stressing over the girlfriend, has me as a companion and has 3 months left.

It is really strange to be companions wit somebody and feel like I’m the weaker side of the team. I have been studying and going over how I teach because it is amazing to see how Elder Oldroyd works. I’m used to stressing over how to plan things and lead the lessons so it is a change to be here. Not going to lie, it is a Little like having a break to just follow somebody around for a few days, I can’t help out as much as I wish since I’m so new. We are nearly whitewashing since my companion has two and a half weeks here and I have a few days. We have fun and work hard. I have enjoyed this week a lot.
Saturday we were going to have a baptism at our ward, Tierra Alta. The building is a stake center (Dizque the first chapel in Santiago) with us two elders and two sisters.  The sisters had a woman and we had a teenager. In the end the woman got baptized and we will have the man in a few weeks. Our ward misión leader is the mini missionary that replaced me and he wanted to come see the baptism, so he came and brought me old comp. It was strange to get a picture with my two companions, oh how the turn tables.
It has been a lot of contacting o sea door to door contacting which I don’t mind to much, we make it enjoyable. There are a few families that have testimonies of the Book of Mormon but have some challenges that we are trying to figure out and then help them with. I think as a missionary you try so hard to get people to come to know the Book of Mormon is true and so it blows my mind a Little bit that they may to understand exactly what that means.

We have this one investigator who accepted a date the other day named Josue (Joshua). He is a barber and a super tig. (Tigre a.k.a looks like a guy you don’t want to meet at night or in an alley) I really love teaching him because he has a natural desire to want to change and feel clean and not remorseful. I Love that even with how his life is he wants to be better and have a good life. It is inspiring really, he also says he would like to come to church. He will need a lot of changes in his life but it could work out.

Today we spent some time at the misión home for medical reasons for my companion, went to la Calle Del Sol, Street of the sun, where all the souvenir things are sold and my comp had some watches fixed by a guy. Cheap knock off watches are starting to look tempting, but so do machetes, Dominican whips and fabric to get myself some custom made pants. We headed over to Price Smart or the Dominican Costco where we loaded up on pancake mix and syrup. We bought enough mix for about 600 pancakes, which should last us a few months. We saw a lot of missionaries and every time we did they asked if my companion and I were on exchanges and got really wide eyes when we told them we are companions. Everyone is freaking out, including me.

Mom a tender mercy for you since you love them. It was stressful to buy food one meal at a time in Buenos Aires but looking back it helped me not to spend all my money on groceries which I would have had to leave at that house. If I would have bought everything at once like I normally do I would by without dinero. Ahora tengo pilas de pancakes.

Spiritual thought comes from Doctrine and covenants section 9 and verse 11. It talks about how Oliver Cowdry and the timing of the Lord. Sometimes in life there are things that do not wait for us, especially the salvation of man. He is patient but his work will not be stopped and so we must always be prepared and equally willing. Dont miss out on your part in His plan because you weren’t ready or hesitated. He asks us to be ready and willing for Him to make us able to do that which He would have us do.

Love Elder Sheffield

No comments:

Post a Comment