Week 20 : Pouring Beers Out (Sept 1)

Ay Mi Madre what a crazy week.

So on tuesday we were walking to a cita with a less active lady and we say Carlos (our progressing investigator) driving his little scooter.  He saw us and stopped and the first words out of his mouth were "Yo bebi." --- "I drank."  Ugh my heart sank.  He was progressing soooo well.  Just a few days before he told us that he was only 5% from being Mormon.  I was soooo sad.  He was really drunk too.  We asked him what happened and he just said he was sad so he decided to drink.  As we kept talking to him and expressing how dissappointed we were in him, he didn't even seem to care.  He just kept laughing and joking.  I was getting to mad and he didn't even seem like he actually knew what was going on.  He had a beer in his and was slowy drinking it and it was making so mad, so I took the beer from his hand and I poured it in the street.  It didn't even seem to faze him.  He told us he wanted another beer but we told him "heck NO" so finally he told us he would go home.  We finally left because we had to get to a cita.  I wanted to cry so bad as we were standing there with him.  It broke my heart to see him that way and see how much progress he lost.  So we went to the next cita and my head was still a little jumbled.  As we were walking to the next cita, who do we see?  Yup, Carlos.  At the Bar.  With another big beer.  I was sooooo mad.  We chewed him out pretty good and then went and told his mother.  She had no idea where he was but when we told her, she said "don't you even worry, I will tell him.  Oh you'll see, don't even worry." Haha I love his Mom.  Later in the week we went to talk him he felt soooo bad.  He looked like a little puppy who just ripped up the couch.  He knew he was in trouble with us.  As we talked about what happened, he told us that he was getting his hair cut and he heard a voice in his head that said "Go home and read the Book of Mormon."  He brushed it off but then heard it again "Go home and read the Book or Mormon."  Somehow among those thoughts he decided to go drink.  He ended up getting really sick the next day and ended up in the Hospital.... Secretly Hermana Hernandez and I were praying that he would feel really bad and be really sick... haha it worked ;P  We helped him realize that those voices were the spirit.  It was sad that he relapsed, but I think it was necessary for him to really gain a testimony.

So that same day that we found Carlos drinking in the streets (it was quite an eventful day), we were visiting our other really awesome investigator, Karubi, and her mom comes out in a towel (keep in mind that Karubi, her friends, and her brothers were all there, and the front door was wide open).  Hermana Hernandez jokingly said, "you need to put some clothes on while the missionaries are here."  So her mom said "What are you afraid to see this?" and rips off her towel flashing all of us!!! Oh my gosh... Everyone was laughing, except me and Hermana Hermandez who screemed.  I dont think we will be visiting her mother again any time soon...

Today was an eventful day.  We got up at 5 and went on a "45 minute walk" to some waterfalls.  Our district President took us and it was really cool.  Except for the fact that we didn't get back until 3:30 pm.  And it was much more that just a "walk".  We crossed the same river probably 30 times no joke, scaled the side of the mountain that was covered in foliage (I have no idea if that is spelled right..).  But we did seem some amazing things.  The waterfalls were unbelieveable and everything is sooo green.  SO Green.  I love the DR soooo much.  I can't even express.  Presidente Brito got us a little lost and I got eaten by bugs.  But it was worth it.

Crazy week, as always, but awesome.  My first temple trip tomorrow!! SO EXCITED!!

Love you all!!  The Church is true.  There is nothing like a mission.

Love, Hermana Perry

Hermana Hernandez reminds Ashlyn of McKaye

Hiking

Hermana Hernandez and Hermana Perry

Beautiful hike

Hermana Hernandez and Hermana Perry

Largest Leaf she has ever seen

A house I thought my Mom would like.

Beautiful waterfalls everywhere

My little Lizard friend who wouldn't leave my finger

My legs after the hike, but so worth it!

Week 19 : DR People tell me I'm Going to Die! (Aug25)

Bueno, 

I had a brilliant idea to write out my weekly letter and just send pictures of it, but now the computer won´t read my memory card... backfire.. :P

En pocas palabras... this week was good.  Carlos is working on quitting coffee.  Is progressing so well, even recognizing the spirit.  I can't wait for his baptism.  Hopefully his mom won't be far behind.  They are both so great :)

I got a mysterious bug bite on  my foot this week and is swelled up and turned red and what not.  Some Dominican lady made it sound like I was going to die and told me to go to the hospital, but I'm fine now. The swelling has gone down alot and it hardly hurts anymore.

I believe the world is coming to an end because it is raining in Azua!!  We hardly ever get rain here.  It started on satruday morning and has been rain basically the whole time since.  I love it!  We had the brilliant idea to save the rain water since we haven't received water for 6 weeks now.  We spent 1 1/2 hours last night filling buckest from runoff from the roof and putting it into the spare bathroom tub.  By morning though, the water in the tub was gone. After pugging it better this morning (or so we thought)  We filled it once more (because it was STILL raining).  We decided to shower like the Dominicans do and wash our hair in the rain spout, which was quite fun!! ;)  When we came back in, the tub was empty :P  Oh well...  

Sorry this is lame and short.  I spent most of my time trying to get my memory card to work :P  Love you all

Love, Hermana Perry

Week 18 : New Companion, Hermana Hernandez (Aug18)

Hola todos!!! Esta semana fue bien chevere!

Ahh what a good week.  This was the first week of my 3rd transfer in the field and also with my new companion.  Her name is Hermana Hernandez and she is so great!! She is from Chile but speaks perfect english so I'm at an advantage/disadvantage.  Ha but I love her.  I have learned so much from her already and my love for missionary work has grown so much this week.  She has taught me how to teach people and not lessons, how to be happy in the mornings (I know, right?!? what's happening to me?!?), how to give a good boche but with love, and soo soooooo much more.  I LOVE it!!  

Our investigator Carlos finally came to church!! He was late so me missed the sacrament, but he stayed for the rest of it and loved it! He participated in classes and everything.  After church he took us to his daughter's house because he wants her to have the gospel too and man is he awesome! He was teaching her more about the church than we did!  He is going to change the world.  

Sad thing: we were teaching one of our investigators the other day and all seemed fine and dandy when all of the sudden he said "yeah, because now that I'm converted the Evangelico church..."  WHAT??!  Then he told us he doesn't see the difference between our religion and the Evangelico, so we gave him a few scriptures and told him to ask his preacher about them.  He was liken "oh, yeah..." and we gave him a boche about how the Evangelico church doesn't use the old or the other testiment and he was like "yeah where are they??"  So we had him back on our side and all was good, but then last night when we were walking home, we saw him coming out of the crazy church that's on the corner by our house... Ugh goodness :P

But on a good note, we had lesson with a lady we found while we were looking for another investigator the other day.  We were doing "how to begin teaching" to get to know her and find out her needs.  We asked quite a few questions and nothing was ringing a bell, so I decided to ask her about her previous experience with religion and out of my mouth comes "Have you prayed much in your life?"  It shocked me a little when I said it, but just brushed it off, but then she procceeded to tell us that she stopped praying because she was depressed because her dad died.  Bam.  She needs the plan on Salvation! It was so awesome the second she said that, the spirit just slapped me in the face.  So cool!  So powerful!!  We are going back to teach her whole family and I am so excited!!  She was so excited to read the folleta about the Plan of Salvation we gave her.  This gospel is so powerful, soooo real.   I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!!!!

The church is true and the DR is the best place in the WORLD!!! Feel free to be jealous that I get to walk around the 110 degree sun all day and get yelled at by freko guys.  Yup, this is the life ;) haha love you all!!

Love, Hermana Perry

Week 17 : 2nd Transfers and My Mother is Leaving Me! (Aug 12)

Well, I have just reached the end of my 2nd transfer in the field.  It´s very bitter sweet.  Bitter because my mother is leaving me, meaning I am no longer in training.  Sweet because I´m really getting the hang of things here in Azua.  Things are starting to take off!  We are starting to really work with the new Branch President and he has already made so many awesome changes and things are only going to get better.  We have some awewsome investigators too!!  Carlos has been progressing so fast it´s insane!! We taught him Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity just recently and he is so ready to change his life.  He gave up drinking and hasn´t touched alcohol in over a week which is crazy for him (he used to drink A LOT).  He is still working on giving up coffee, but he really wants to.  He accepted to be baptized, And he is really excited for it!! Not like before when he would say "vamos a ver (we will see)" or "si Dios quiere (if God wants--or just a way to politely say no)".  He is awesome and his mom won't be too far behind.  Ahh the work is great!! Hard, but sooo worth it!!

As for transfers... My mom (my trainer) is leaving me to go to the Capital.  I am staying here is Azua to hold down the fort with Hermana Bush (her comp, Hermana Flores, is going to San Juan).  My step-mom (second in-field comp) will be Hermana Hernandez who I've heard from Hermana Francis is awesome, so I'm excited.  As for being the head hancho in the area, I'm kind of freaking out.  I know my way around, but I now I'll be the only who know the area and the people for a while. Scary!!! But thus goes mission life... :)

Love you all so much! 

Until next week, Hermana Perry

Week 16 : Recorded Jehova mi Pastor es (The Lord is my Shepherd) (Aug 4)

This week was crazy (well, I guess every week is crazy).  I went on intercambios with Hermana Tejeda while Hermana Francis was in the capital and it scared me to death.  We started out in my area so I was the one leading where usually both Hma Francis and I know the area and the people. It really stressed me out, but it was also a good learning experience.  It really showed me how much I am capable of and also how to lead by the spirit more.  I learned a lot from Hma Tejeda and loved her area.  She is friends with all her investigators and really cares about them, but yet we had short and to the point lessons which allowed for more time for more lessons which I like.  

We just had a breakthrough point with an investigator.  He always expressed that he knows he wants to change but never did anything about it.  The other day we went to teach him the word of Wisdom (He has a drinking problem) and it was like he flipped a switch.  He prayed for the first time in a lesson and was really willing to do it!!  He told us how just a few days before he decided he wanted to stop drinking and even turned down an invite to go to the bar.  It was great! We finally got him his own Libro de Mormon (him and his mom have been sharing) and he is really bumped to read it.  We are really excited to see him progress.  

Also, just found a prime investigator.  The other day it was pouring POURING rain and we were walking between citas, so some people call us over to stay under their patio until it stopped.  We got talking and found out that one of them is a menos activo!  Woohoo!  We set a cita to come back.  When we did come back, the dudes cousin was the only one home so we taught her.  She didn't seem interested at all but, she being Dominican, invited us back just becasue.  When we went back that third time, we were just starting the lesson with the girl Dinanji when her sister-in-law asked if she could listen too.  WHAT?!? That never happens!!! We usually have to asked them if they will join us!! So she sat in as we taught the first lesson and she had a ton of questions, which also never happens either.  Later we felt impressed to invite her to a baptism that the other Hermanas were having and she said she would come.  And even better, SHE CAME!!! Ahh it was awesome!!  When we walked her home from the baptism she asked us for a Book of Mormon so she could start reading it.  We haven't been able to meet with us since but she keeps texting us asking when she can go back to church! CRAZY!! I'm so excited to teach her :)

This week it cooled off a lot because of the rain, but it turned back into Azua weather :P

This morning Hma Francis and I went to one of our contacts recording studios.  She showed us a bachata song he is working on recording then he had us sing for him!  We recorded Jehova mi Pastor es (The Lord is my Shepherd) and it turned out so beautiful.  Music is so powerful!! 

Love you all muchisimo!!!

Love, Hermana Perry

Week 15 : Bucket Shower Challenge (July28)

Hay mi madre this week was crazy... So my comp is an Hermana Leader (meaning she is in charge of like 8
 Hermanas to see how they are doing and get updates and what not) so we had intercambios (exchanges) this
 week.  We first went to Vicente Nolbe which is the fartest out area where the Hermanas are allowed, right near
 Haiti.  So on wednesday morning we walked to the heart of Azua and hopped on a Guagua.  We thought it would take us right to Vicente Noble, but they decided to drop us off at the cross (that's what they called it), But they seriously just dropped us off in the middle of nowhere.  There were a few men on motors so we asked when a guagua would come to pick us up and they said no guaguas would come and that we weren't even at the cross.  They tried to have us hop of their motors but we can't so they told us to start walking and we would get to the cross.  So we did.  We seriously were in the middle of a desert, walking on the side of the road.  Hermana Francis said a little prayer that we would be "rescued" and not even 4 seconds later we look up and the office Elders are sitting there in their car.  They just happened to be coming back from an area farther out and saw us walking. CRAZY!!  Haha so they saved us and took us to Vicente Noble.  We had another intercambio on friday so we did the same hop on a guagua business and what not in Sabanayegua where I met my brother's black dopelganger!!! No joke!  It was a member in the branch over there and he came to lessons with us the whole day.  Sooo weird...  But yeah, we weren't in our area much this week, only like 4 days, which is a bummer :P  But we did have a pretty neat lesson with Philidelphia (she is hard core Catolico, but we are starting to see a change).  We talked to her about Peter walking on the water and how much faith he had to have.  It was a really powerful lesson, as all of them with her are.  She is like my Dominican Grandma :)  So our Branch President moved to the Capital like 3 weeks ago so we haven't had one for a while.  On sunday we finally got a new President which gives us high hopes for the Branch.  We had a meeting with him and the changes he wants to make are going to strengthen this branch so much!  This are good.  Crazy but good :) Azua is getting hotter (I realized how hot Azua actually is when I went to the other towns... hay mi madre it is hot).  2 weeks left in this transfer... AHH CRAZY HOW TIME FLIES!!

Love you all!!

Love, Hermana Perry

P.S.  

So for the past 2 weeks we haven't had water... No fun at all.  But somehow I'm still alive and I have a challenge for you all.  The Bucket Show Challenge: You get one 5 gallon bucket of water and a pitcher to shower.  Halfway through the first week you get cut down to half a bucket.  For 2 weeks.  Go.

Dallin's Dominican Doperlganger

Picture does not do justice, scares me how much he is like Dallin

week 14 : Improvise, Frozen Movie Night (July 21)

On my heavenes, time has gone so flippen fast.  This transfer just started and it already half way over!!

This week (I guess like any other week) was high stress, but so worth it.  Earlier in the week we were waiting for an investigator do we done with work and decided to talk to the old cupple (Ramon and Angela) sitting across the street.  We set a cita to come back and went on our way thinking nothing of it.  When we went back their daughter (Amantina) and their cute grandchildren were all there and we had a powerful lesson.  We got they all to commit to pray and set another cita.

Later in the week, on friday, we had a movie night.  We organized the whole thing and passed out flyers and what not.  Just before it was to start, we walked all over basically our whole area to get people to come which was pretty successfull.  As we were walking, we happened to pass Amantina's house and they came out, all of the cute little kids all dressed in their church clothes, ready to go to the activity! It was so darn cute. We hadn't planned on passing but it turned out awesome that we just happened to pass.  

The activity was a major fail/success.  When we got there, no one knew how to set up the projector and what not.  When someone finally got there to set it up, the church didn't have power!  So many people were already there, ready to watch Frozen and we couldn't just send them away, so we got up on stage and began to improvise.  Hermana Francis sang a billion songs and did some activities, then I got up there and sang "Popcorn popping" and "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes".  Just as we were about to call the activity off, it somehow miraculously worked!  It was a big hit and everyone loved the movie.

On saturday, we had another baptism (the other Hermanas in my house, that is).  It was for a joven named Randy who has special needs.  He didn't have the need to be bapized because he is innocent, but he wanted to soooo bad, so he got baptized.  Haha it was a struggle to get him under that water though... He kept popping his feet up and flaying his arms ;) He has such a sweet spirit.

Today was AWESOME!! We went the beach as a District and it was serioulsy the best beach trip ever.  We just chilled on the beach, found a lobster, a crab, a dead jellyfish, and a star fish right on that little beach we were on.  We were basically the only ones on the whole island, or so it felt.  What made my day was that there were countless conch shells littered on the beach.  I have never seen so many in my life!! It was awesome, although I did get a little sun :P  Oddly, it got me so pumped to get out there and work this week.  I can't wait to see how our new investigators progress.

All is well here in Azua.  I love this gospel, I love being a missionary, and yes, the church is still true.  Love you all!!!

Love, Hermana Perry

 This is the beach we were on, so beautiful

My little Friends

Mom would "Crazy in Love",  snorkeling here!