2 MONTHS!

Hola mi familia y amigos!

I hope you've all had a great week!

So this past week I had my first cumplemez out in the field.  Cumplemez is like your birthday from the first day in the mission.  On Feb 17, I hit my 2 month mark here in the Dominican Republic.  Its crazy how time flies.  Also its funny because I definitely feel like I've been here much longer than 2 months!

This past week was full of a lot of awesome experiences. I'll share just a couple.

So my district here in Vicente Noble consists of me and 3 other Hermanas who live in the house with me and 2 Elders, who actually work in a small pueblo called Tamayo which is like a 45 minute or hour long walk away.  On Sundays, we spend the morning at church in Vicente Noble and then walk to Tamayo to attend the church service for those who live there.  When we walk there, its literally just along the side of the road and its so beautiful to see the campo everywhere around us.  We usually try to catch a bola each week.  A bola is basically hitch hiking.  We yell Tamayo at a passing truck and if they stop we hop in the back.  This past Sunday was my first time successfully catching a bola and it was one of the most simple but funnest moments on my mission so far.  We just hoped into the back of this truck and he drove us into Tamayo.  It was so fun to have the wind blowing our hair and get to see the beautiful Domincan countryside passing us by.

We also got to attend a Zone Conference in Azua this week which was amazing.  A zone conference is when several  zones meet together for a conference with President & Hermana Nuckols.  It was great to see some missionaries from other zones, including Hermana Larson who is also serving in the South in San Juan.  The conference was an awesome learning experience and it was great to hear advice and instruction from our mission leaders about how to be better missionaries.  The focus of the mission this month is helping people keep commitments.  As part of teaching, we invite our people to do certain things to increase their faith, like pray or read or attend church.  In the conference, we talk about how essential these commitments are to helping people come unto Christ.  Its so simple but powerful.  In order to truly come unto Christ, we must make changes in our lives and really actively seek after the Spirit in our lives.  It was so nice to attend this conference and learn so much.

Also on our way home from the conference, I had a really cool experience.  So in order to travel from city to city, we take a bus called a gwagwa.  Its basically just these people who have large vans and drive people from city to city.  So we got onto a gwagwa in order to go back to Vicente Noble.  The gwagwa was really full so we all ended up sitting separately from one another because there was no room.  As soon as the missionaries in my district sat down, they immediately started contacting the person next to them.  They started a conversation on get to know them and introduced themselves as missionaries for the church.  It was such a cool and funny missionary moment to see how naturally all these missionaries just immediately started to contact these people.  I ended up finding the courage to talk to the girl next to me as well, which was nerve wracking because I had to carry out the whole conversation in Spanish by myself. She was a sweet 20 year old who lives our near Tamayo and is going to school is be a history teacher. Even though I was nervous, I was able to talk to this sweet Dominican woman and get to know her.  It was such a sweet opportunity to speak the language and get to know another awesome person who live here in the DR.

While my experience with the language is still small, I know the Lord provides opporunities for me to practice and become more comfortable as a missionary.  The longer I'm here, the more I want to learn and be better at using Spanish.  With time, I will  finally be able to speak and get to know these people like I really want to.  And then I can be better at really serving them and helping them learn of Christ's love for them.

I hope you all have a great week!

CON AMOR,

Hermana Graham

Another Week in Vicente Noble!!

Hola mi familia y amigos!

Espero que ustedes tuiveron una semana maravillosa!  Espero que tendran salud y felicidad esta semana y gracias por TODO!!!

Haha I know that is mostly gramatically incorrect but I continue trying.  This past week in Vicente Noble has been great.  It's crazy to think that I've already been here 3 weeks.  At the same time, I can't believe its only been 3 weeks!!  Time out here on the mission is so interesting.

So this past week, we really just worked a lot.  I am learning so much each day about how to be diligent and really apply myself with Spanish and teaching.  Hermana Johnson is such a good teacher and example and trainer.  It's great to be able to learn from her and also really serve the people here.

This week we found a lot of new people.  It was also crazy because most of our days did not go as planned.  We plan citas and people to visit, but we had serveral days when people werent home or time just went crazy.  We used our Plans B, C, D etc.  We found a lot of people but also had many disappointments when we couldn't teach people we had prepared for.  I learned a lot about how to just keep working and trust in the Lord.  Sometimes things dont go as planned because the Lord needs us somewhere else.  This was especially true one morning this week.  Hma Johnson and I planned a powerful lesson for a menos activa.  Her husband used to be the President of our branch, but they are both now inactive.  We planned to talk to her about eternal life, and about how its really a choice.  We can choose now to do the things necessary to be able to return and live with Heavnely Father after this life.  We were so ready and excited to share, and then she wasn't home.  Somewhat disappointed, we went to go see if someone else was home who lives across town.  On our way over, we were contacting and found a woman.  She had been taught by some missionaries before.  As we spoke a little about our purpose and Christ, the topic of eternal life came up.  We had a great conversation about eternal life and about how everything Christ did in his life on Earth was so that we could obtain eternal life.  We left in good spirits and I realized that had we not prepared that morning for our menos actvia, but for this woman.  It was such a sweet and awesome moment and opportunity to be led by the Spirit.

OKay I've run out of time again.  I'm so sorry!!

But life here in the DR is awesome and it's AMAZING to be able to serve the Lord here.  I love every moment!

I hope you're all well.  Have a great week!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Graham

Week 8!! Metas y Fechas y Getting to know Vicente Noble!

Hola mi Familia y Amigas!!

I hope you're all having a fantastic week and that life is good!

So first off, sorry for the quick and short email last week! We are still kind of trying to get a hold of this emailing thing and we keep running out of time. There are only so many places with internet access and they keep being closed!  Anyway it's all good and I´m excited to tell you all a bit more about my time here in the field and about my area and the people!!

Sooo, this is now my second week here in Vicente Nobles, which is a small pueblo that is out west from the Capitol.  It's typical campo and it has so many little quirks and things that make life here so funny and awesome.  Domincans are so funny and sweet and it's been great being able to see and experience life here.  Life is simple and awesome and I love being able to get to know these sweet people and teach them more about Christ!!

My companion is Hermana Johnson who has been serving here her whole mission so far.  We share an apartment with Hermanas Walter  and Wheatley.  Hermana Walter is from Saint Lucia and is 23.  Hermana Wheatley is from Arizona and is 26. They are all so funny and are great missionaries and examples.  We have a great time in the apartment talking about our days and cooking food.  I am already obsessed with fritos, which are fried platanos chips.  They are insane and we eat them too often.  It's a problem. :) Our apartment is really nice compared to a lot of homes in this area.  But our apartment has been kind of falling apart since I've been here which has made for some great experiences.  Since I've been here, our generator has been broken so we use flashlights ever morning to get ready and shower and all that.  The light works in the night time so we are good then, but mornings consist of having devotional with small flashlights and strolling around in the dark.  Our water also wasn't working for about 2 days so we had no running water!  It was a struggle but we finally got it fixed and it's great again.  The water is always ice cold so showering is sometimes painful but I've already gotten used to it so it's great!

The days here consist of studying and planning in the morning, then leaving to teach a few lessons. We come back to the apartment to eat lunch and prep more and then we leave to teach and find people from 2-8.  We are usually pretty busy with lessons but we also have days when our citas (appointments) fall through so we go contacting instead.  Everyone is so nice and willing to listen, even if they have different beliefs or go to other churches.  One day we were working really hard to get 30 contacts, which is a lot! We had this goal so we could meet our goal for the week.  It was amazing how much success we had at talking to people and sharing when we were really trying to find people! We ended up with 33 that days which was so amazing and definitely a blessing! I know Heavenly Father helped us to meet our goal and also find people who were willing to listen!

Anyway I'm just learning so much and I get more comfortable with the work and Spanish and these people every day. It's amazing how small lessons here and there can have a great impact on these people´s lives.  The Spirit is so sweet and subtle but I know its guiding us in everything we do.  With diligence and hard work, we are able to help the people here! I love having this opportunity to serve and lose myself, really thinking of others and how we can help me.  It's such a blessing and I'm learning so much about the gospel and how to teach it each day!

OKay last second AMAZING things!!

1.  We had a lesson with a menos activo about being more active and also temples.  He agreed to set a date for when he wanted to be worthy to go to the temple!  It was so amazing and he really has a desire to go to the temple

2.  I got to ask an investigator to be baptized this week and he said yes!! He has a fecha (date) and it was such a powerful moment.  Now we get to help him be prepared for this amazing convenant.  I know the Lord has prepared people for our message and that we can help them draw closer to Christ!

3. Lastly, ELDER HOLLAND is coming to our mission!!! On March 12.  I am already hyperventilating and can´t even wait! SO EXCITED! Plus my companion is going to be the chorister so I think we´ll sit near the front.  SCORE!!

Okay thats it for this week! I'm make sure to talk more about Dominicans and some awesome local quirks next week.

I love you all and think about you often.  Thank you so much!!

Con MUCHO MUCHO AMOR,

Hermana Graham

  

EL CAMPO! Week 6?

Hola Amigas y Familia!!

I'm sorry but this week's email is going to be a bit short. I have run out of time!!

Anyway, WEEK ONE IN THE FIELD!!

Last Tuesday I left the CCM early in the morning and transitioned into the field. The other missionaries serving in the West and I left and joined our mission President and his wife, the Nuckols, at a chapel and had a morning of training. They gave us a orientation and then we met our new companions and were assigned our area! I was beyond sad to have to say goodbye to Hermana Larson (who is seriously an angel and has helped me more than I ever thought possible) but I now have the awesome opportunity to be with Hermana Johnson. She is my trainer for the next 12 weeks. Here in the mission, we refer to her as my mom, because she is my trainer. She is from Thousand Oaks in CA and is super great. She has been serving here in our area for her whole mssion so far, because she was trained here too! So my area is Vicente Nobles. Its in EL CAMPO, or also refered to as the south. Basically here we categorize areas as either in the Capital (aka in the city, Santo Domingo) or El Campo which is everything West. I'm in a small town that is surrounded by trees and farmland and its a very humble place. Many people's homes have concrete or dirt floor. Its been raining so there's mud all over the place. There are small comidos which are kind of like corner stores and everyone drives through the streets on their Motos (aka motorcycles or scooter because very few people have cars). The people here are so humble and its been great to learn more of the Domincan culture.

 The first week was hard to transition. As much as the CCM prepared me, the work out here is defintely different. We share short and simple messages with scriptures. This town also has a branch as opposed to a ward, which just means that there's a smaller congregation size. We are focusing a lot on menos activos, or less actives who have stopped coming to church. While we might not have many baptisms, I know that this work is just as sacred and special. Helping these people feel the Spirit once more and remember the truths of the Restored Gospel is amazing. I am just learning so much and it's great here!

Okay I'm sorry but thats all the time I have today! I'm on a computer in our capilla (church building) and I'm out of time! Anyway I love you all so much and thank you for your continued emails and prayers!

I'm truly overjoyed to be here in this country and to have the opportunity to serve the Lord!

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Con mucho mucho amor,

Hermana Graham