Esperar- waiting for and hoping for

Arrived July 11, 2016

Love the family more than the crazy missionary theories and rumors in the mission. It is really entertaining for me about how much information missionaries learn and pass between themselves. Everyone loves reading talks, manuals and having gospel discussions between themselves. Some of my favorites are the institute manuals, The Continuous Atonement and CES devotionals to listen to. I just barely finished the Doctrine and Covenants with the institute gospel manual and it blew my mind what I learned. Next up is the Pearl of Great Price.

It is good to hear about the army game in the family and the fun times enjoying summer. I predict a gorilla in the future as well....

We had a great start to this week with our 4th of July party but then we got back to business. It was a kind of difficult week but we have felt really blessed.

People continue to ask what the weird things I eat are and I thought I had tasted if not all of it, then some of the worst. I was proven wrong when a less active lady made us “el equipaje” or the equipment (in English). It was all the things that somebody would not want to eat, the heart, the kidneys, liver etc. The necessary equipment within a living animal. We didn’t probe much into what we were eating, but my companion thought about tossing some of his food out the window while I ate as much as I could, but then I hid the rest of it in napkins. 

Something a little sad is how an active member keeps asking us to come by his house because he has a 7 year-old daughter about to turn 8. The general feeling of missionaries is often that anything concerning baptisms, doctrinal knowledge, service and money pertains to them. Missionaries shouldn’t be the first source of these things. Also I can’t tell you how many times people come asking us for money and tell us they have a sick family member and they are members of the church. Part of it is because we are white. I am glad people love missionaries so much. 

Wednesday we were thrown for a loop when President called all of the zone leaders and Sister Training leaders to his house at 5:30. We ended up playing basketball, ping-pong, talking and eating food the whole time. It was kind of their one-year party and that they were happy about how the mission has really turned around and improved. Elder Hola and I broke out our tennis skills and played some nearly Asian level ping-pong.  

We gave a few baptismal interview for district leaders this week and gave talks in church. We ended up only having 10 minutes for the both of us and the pianist almost skipped my talk but things went well.

Saturday we spent a full hour walking around the area to invite as many people as possible to church. Every week we get somebody different and it seems to be a first and last time for each of them. Paulino said he likes the church and will go if we get a car to take him. This is a big obstacle but we got him a ride and he came. Tonight we are planning a hamburger party and lesson with him. We are hoping his health will improve because he is in his late 70s or around there and things aren’t that great. 

At church we ended up having Paulino and then part of the Mendoza family. They are strange but always get us laughing. 

We have a new investigator Coronel Luna, the boss of some firefighters in Santiago. We contacted his house and he was very open to the message. He is kind of a miracle case and doesn’t have any problems with the word of wisdom or the law of chastity as far as we can tell for now. He was very excited in our first lesson and greatest of all he reads! Lately I have been contacting anybody I see reading a book or magazine “o lo que sea”.

In my talk, I talked about Hope. In Spanish you use the same word, esperar, to say you are waiting for and hoping for. It had me thinking about if in waiting for Christ to come if we are just sitting down or if we are developing  ourselves and others. We can have hope because (Isaiah 53:4 and 5) He not only carries our burdens and griefs but caries us as well. I love the Holland talk in April 2015 general conference about the brother catching his brother from falling down the cliff. We can have hope and I promise there is hope because with every step forward and upward we are getting closer to Him and when things get hard he wont drop us. The only times we fall are when we ourselves let go, and this only temporary. Fear not only believe, fear not only hope. Faith is hoping even when we do not see. I hope that we all have hope and are working not just waiting.

Transfers are Wednesday and we are told tonight by phone so Ill probably have a new companion and area to talk about next week. 

Pictures:

My poor old Book of Mormon that I have temporarily fixed with glue 

McDonalds with the district. Here only the upper middle class go to Mcdonalds. Its a high quality place here.

p.s.

Just got transfers and I’m staying!! I will be killing (missionary slang for being the last companion of an elder) Elder Oldroyd. On kind of a lesser note I will be in our area for a total of 4 transfers at least and that means about 5 months and lots of struggles getting new investigators, but we are happy for now :)

Officially Half-way

Arrived July 4 2016

Love the fam like I love the Dominican people. Officially halfway through the mission and it is strange to think it has been this long. Even when things are hard or I complain- I love the people and I like the country. 

The week in review. 

We have started a new batch of investigators. the goal is to constantly bring people in and sadly let people go, but most of the time it is in batches. You get a big batch of new people because there aren’t people left and then you go through them until they can’t go further. Imagine a batch of cookies in the oven and the majority of the dough won’t be cooked enough and then fall to the bottom of the oven. The goal is like the escalators where people get on and off constantly until they reach the top. Domingo is a new investigator, who had a few key indicators for a good investigator. He is married, not just living with a woman, he has a motor vehicle, so he can make it to church, and he offered us juice. A wise member of the church once said that the investigators that give you juice are the ones who are going to progress, so naturally that was a good sign. Most people fall into three categories. 1. they don’t want to talk  2. they aren’t concerned much if you come back or not 3. they will accept you because they love the word of God and therefore allow anybody who preaches. Domingo is more on level three.

We gave our recent convert a big lesson on opposition and how he will always find reasons to not come to church. He hasn’t come for a while and so we are concerned about him. He loved the lesson and got it but on Sunday even after passing by his house to wake him up, he didn’t come to church.

Cesar and Ilumindada are to the end of the line as well. They kind of don’t want to progress more, but they said they would try hard to get an answer from God of yes or no. They didn’t drop us but neither did they put the effort into praying to get an answer. Ignacio hasn’t been able to share for a little while and couldn’t come to church. We ended up not having anybody in church even with us and two other members passing by people’s houses Sunday morning. It is frustrating when you walk into church late and sweaty, with the feeling of failure and the stares from members. It is like showing the world after all your work there are no results. 

Our investigator Confessor, we gave a copy of the Book of Mormon and he received it well and with the challenge to read it. I thought it was the most likely to be read copy I have given out and I wasn’t disappointed. He read it and prayed about it! Then he went on to explain to us that God answers prayers, but in his own time. I was very happy and it doubled when he said he wanted to give us juice the next time we came back! 

On Thursday, we had a talent show activity with the ward and it turned out better than expected. With usual lack of punctuality, it was started but turned out well with several singers, a few skits, a game and my companion juggling. We figured out a way to juggle with fire but with my disapproval, in the end we just did normal juggling with the possibility of problems if burning balls of flame scattered across the church.

On my one year mark we had the mission leaders council so I got a great lunch and to see various people from my group. President and Sister Castillo entered the same day we did so they also were celebrating one year. They brought cake for everyone and it was amazing. That night I did the traditional burning of the shirt and we ate a chocolate cake we had made for the occasion. 

Saturday there were two baptisms! However, both of them were members who had to be baptized again because of lost records and things. It did help out our numbers, we will take what we can get, since one was a member in our area and the other in the are of the sisters. We also got to visit the wedding of two investigators of my companion in another part of our zone. They were one of the few couples who really understand what fornicating is and then choose to be married legally. The wedding was very Dominican with rice, beans, and a lot of dancing. We did appreciate the lack of alcohol though. The couple will be baptized next week.

Today we had a big 4th of July activity with another zone at our chapel. We grilled food, played ping pong and uno, sang the national anthem and then our district had a go in with water balloons. Go America! 

Some great spiritual moments were Confesor but also with these two roommates called Blanchi and Jeffri. They had come up to Oldroyd one day and like something out of the movie the Saratov Approach had asked him if he was a mormon missionary and then if he could come to their house to teach them. We didn’t get kidnapped, which was a good twist in the plot. They are always working so it has been hard to teach them, but in our last lesson we had some success. With talking about the apostasy Jeffri really understood and we felt the spirit. At the end of the lesson they told us they want to visit us in the church one day, that they have walked the streets but want to change their lives. Many times in the mission you get discouraged that you aren’t a success story from the Liahona, so it is really encouraging even when there is a glimmer of hope like this. There is goodness in everyone and you have to be ready for when the Lord helps the people bring it to the surface.

I was thinking of somethings that I wish I would have known before and beginning the mission (besides the umbrella I wish I had had) wishing I was more outgoing and courageous and wishing I had a bigger suitcase, I was thinking of some more important things. If I could help others or go back in time and help myself I would say learn to pray better, be better at scripture study and lead on visits with missionaries. Living with missionaries helps realize that people are people and you have to help them not just teach them words. Scripture study is a two-man thing. Not only are you there but the spirit should be there and be your tutor. I wish I would have studied the gospel with the spirit and not just with my self-righteous and sleepiness late at night and early in the morning. Also I wish I would have had a better relationship with Christ and with God. Often times we pray and communicate with God but this is just words coming out. I wish I would have known how to have a relationship with my Father. I encourage everyone to work on these things if they need to be improved and they always do.

When I left on the mission I left with the scripture Alma 26:12 on my mind, and now halfway through I have another from the same chapter. I think of Alma 26:26 through 28. I have been changed in my heart because I have had to give up what I want for what the lord wants. I try daily to give up my life and live the one the lord wants me to. I have come here to help bring Gods children to love their savior and their god, I know the gospel is true. It works.

Love Elder Sheffield

Pictures: our barbeque

one year 

and part of the group with Hermana Castillo

Obeying the little things

Arrived June 27 2016

Love the family more than fireflies! I had fun reading about Jacob seeing fireflies for the first time on the back east trip, it is weird to think of when we used to live in Kansas and I would go out catching them. I saw one the other night I think. I am not sure because I have only seen like two now and it was the size of a bumblebee. In my area everything is cement, grass yards are weird to see, so fireflies aren’t common but exist here.

Starting out with some more funny things. The daughter in a family we are teaching is a soon to the teenage mother and the other day we were talking before the lesson and she wanted to share some big new with us. When the baby is born in August she is going to name it after us.....Elder! Hahaha I had to hold a book up in front of my face to hide my laughter, not that it isn’t a good name, it is just interesting. She loves the name and we tried not to tear down her dreams in telling her it means old and or wise. For both my companion and I the smell of sunscreen and bug spray is making us a little home sick. Smelling those smells makes you think of the beach, camping, sports and its weird how the smell triggers all these feelings. My companion is finishing his mission next transfer and I will soon be at all out war trying to keep him and us focused.

It is fun to hear about things going-on back home like mission calls and friends getting engaged and people going on trips etc. It doesn’t make me home sick so don’t worry about that. 

Planning for my year mark this week I bought cake mix and frosting. I am also cheating missionary tradition a little bit by planning on burning an old shirt I found in the house instead of my own, for the ceremonial close and start of a year I need all the clean white shirts I can get my hands on.

This has been an interesting week with our investigators. Last week felt like we made some big head way, and this week it felt like we kind of lost some ground. Sunday’s kind of sum up your week of work because if people don’t come to church they aren’t progressing. Sundays aren’t relaxing or very enjoyable at times. We had two investigators show up, Yanela and her daughter Casey, but it wasn’t the expected four who we were hoping for. Just in case anybody is interested, we have three people with baptismal dates, we taught seven lessons with members present, nineteen other lessons, we received one contact and taught five lessons to less-actives. These are kind of our average numbers for a week.

Our recent convert Wadri has been slacking a little bit since he has been missing church for a little while. We are implementing a point system for him to gain waffles or brownies etc. by reading the scriptures, coming to church and praying. He is animated but needs the foundation. Our best investigators Ignacio and Paulino, are progressing but didn’t come to church so kinda arent. Both have baptismal dates but Ignacio needs to read more and Paulino can’t read, so he needs to come to church. 

We had intercambios with a district leader and it shocks me how far I have come in my spanish, teaching and abilities as a missionary. 

Some new investigators we have are Blanchi and Eddi and also Confesor. Blanchi and Eddi walked up to my companion one day (while I was in another area) and like something out of the Saratov Approach movie asked if we were the Mormons and if we could go to their house sometimes and teach them. We haven’t been kidnapped yet- like the movie, which is good, but these investigators are never home so I think they might have, who knows. Confesor is an older fellow but one of the only Dominicans I have seen that has a book collection or somewhat of a library. All his books are religious too, which got me excited. We gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and he said he would read it. Of all the copies I have given out I think this one has the highest possibility of being read. People here usual aren’t the type to read, unless they are rich and very catholic. 

In one of our lessons, a member did an amazing job helping teach and also offered to pick up the couple for church. I couldn’t believe our luck since I have never seen a member have a car and be able to take an investigator to church. Even though they didn’t come, it was a good first time.

On Saturday us four missionaries, two tiny Peruvian sisters, a medium sized American and a super tall American, cleaned the church. The members went to the temple so it was our turn. Without any carpet, the church is nice since you sweep it and the hose it down. The members had a good time even though the Sica virus is sweeping through the area. Our church is very nice since we have air conditioning, but it makes Elder Oldroyd and I sleepy to be at normal room temperature. 

I have been studying the Doctrine and Covenants lately and so my thought comes from section 88 verse 22. By the way reading this chapter in the mission has blown my mind. Basically the verse talks about how we will receive according to our obedience, and we will be able to support the glory we will receive. I love to imagine that as obedience strengthening us to bear the innumerable blessing promised to us. Not only does obedience protect us but without it we would not be able to bear the greatness of our Father. Life scares me a little bit. With every advancement of days, of position in life, loque sea, I get nervous. I worry a lot. But I feel like if we worry ourselves about obeying the little things. Read the scriptures. Pray. Going to church. Then the big things will fall into place. If we cannot obey the little then we cannot obey the big. If we are unable to obey and have instruction then there is no way for us to work independently and for ourselves. Christ and his atonement enable us when we obey. I hope we can all be strong enough to submit and wise enough to obey. Obedience with understanding. 

Elder Sheffield

Primera foto: Limpiando la capilla en Sábado

Segunda foto: El río cuando llueve mucho