Week 31 : The Lord Has His Own Time Frame (Nov. 17, 2014)

This week was hard.  I´ve never felt so stressed and so frustrated :P  First off, I´ve had a horrible spirt of headaches these past couple weeks which has put me out of the missionary groove.  I can´t think so straight and am tired all the time, but yet when I get home and night my mind is suddenly wide awake and I can´t sleep :P  Yup.  Livin the dream.  It´s been tough on my comp too because in my current state all I want to do is have things quiet and by myself.  Yeah, that doesn´t really work when you have someone by your side 24-7.  But she is awesome and really patient with me.

Juan Carlos had his baptismal interview and we were all sooo excited!  When the interview was over and he left, my district leader (Who did the interview) told us that there were some problems.  Some things from his past where a little in contrary to the standards of the church and have to be discussed with the Mission President.  My heart sunk.  I couldn´t believe it.  Juan Carlos is soooo ready for this!!  He has such a glow about him and he has changed sooo much.  My district leader later talked to President and he said that we had to wait two weeks and go over some stuff with Juan Carlos, then he will have an interview with President, and then we can set his new baptismal date.  Ugh it´s so frustrating!!  When we told Juan Carlos, we tried to be as positive as we could, but our efforts didn´t do much.  He began to cry which broke my heart.  But he, despite this set back, still wants to keep progressing.  He wants to be baptized so bad.  I´m so sad about the whole situation, but the Lord know what is best at this time, so we will move forward with faith.

We got our Liahonas this week with the conference talks.  I had the chance to read two of my favorites by Elder Uchtdorf and Elder Godoy.  They were both truly inspiring talks.  They especially helped me in my struggles this week.  I encourage everyone to re-read conferece. So powerful the second and even third or even fourth time.  I love it!!

Love you all

Love, Hermana Perry

Week 30 : Juan Carlos is GOLDEN (Nov.10, 2014)

Hola todos,

This week was a blur.  I honestly couldn´t tell you what we did this week (work obviously, but who and what-no idea).  With that in mind and the fact that I don´t have a whole lot of time today, this will be a short email. :P

Update on Juan Carlos:  He is awesome.  Just golden.  He came to church again and LOVED it again.  We talked about the importance of temple marriage in the investigators´ class and he kind of got a little down hearted (he is 44 and single/no kids).  But after explaining that he's special someone just hasn´t come along yet, he cheered right up haha ready to go find himself a girlfriend ;)  He was going around church telling everyone about his baptism on the 22nd.  We even posted a little announcement on the board at church.  Today we had a stake activity and he was so happy to be there.  He hung out with the members like they were old friends and was so willing to help out with everything.  He is going to be the best member ever.  

It´s been really rainy here lately,  and with the rain its been pretty cold (for the DR).  I wake up in the mornings freezing under my little sheet haha.  I never thought I´d say this, but I miss the Utah cold...... yup.  It´s the truth.  BUT not all of the cold.  Just the mornings when you wake up buried in a  mountain of warm blankets and the sound of the heater kicking on.  Yeah, I miss that.  But nonetheless all is well.  All y'all are stilling at home literally freezing your butts off and I´m enjoying the ¨cold¨ 73 degree weather.  What torture...

Anyhow, Love you all and yes, the church is still true.

Love, Hermana Perry

Week 29 : Carving Watermelons in the DR (Nov. 3, 2014)

Buenas :)

This week was once again a slow week as far as lesson go.  A lot of our lessons fell through :P  But it was still a good week.  Unfortuately, we may have just lost two of our oldest progressing investigators.  One may be moving to Spain next week and the other believes the church is true, but still doesn´t want to give up her religion... Tough stuff.

Juan Carlos is still doing awesome!! Every time we see him he has more energy and excitement to learn.  He is still working on quitting smoking.  It´s been a long process so far, but he is doing awesome!! He has so much support from the ward.  They all love seeing him at church!  Speaking of church, he came again!! He almost didn't because he had a work party, but said, ¨no, I`m going to church first.¨ He´s awesome!!

Halloween was awesome!!  Hermana Mejia and I dressed up as missionaries ;)  It was quite fun.  And we also carved a watermelon (pumpkins don´t really exist here).  And what is Halloween without chili?  Bro. Hansen´s tradition lives on even in the DR :)

On Saturday we had a Helping Hands service project in the church.  The members got together and we cleaned the church and the block on which it sits.  It was quite a project seeing as how this city (or country) isn´t the cleanest, but it felt good to help.  I did my best to pick up even the little pieces of trash and ended up getting crap from some crap from one of the youth.  He made a point of telling me that I didn´t need to pick up every little piece and when I objected, he tactfully placed more tiny pieces of trash in my path, making a game for him and the rest of the group.  They continued this game and didn´t mention a thing to me until the service project was over.... haha!  But what fun we had while serving.

This week is transfers.  Me and my comp will stay together for at least one more transfer.  One of the Hermanas in my house just finished her mission and her comp will be getting a mini missionary this transfer.   Interesting, we will see how things go.

Nothing too big to report this week, other than things are going good here in Lava Pies.

Love you all.

Love, Hermana Perry

Week 28 : Extra Companion By My Side (Oct.27,2014)

Hola todos!

This week was pretty good.  Some big events when down and I´ve come to a conclusion on a few things: 1.  I´m no a fan of intercambios  2. The Lord really does work in mysterious ways  3. The Priesthood is powerful.

So we had intercambios(companion exchange because my comp is an Hermana Leader) and I didn´t enjoy it.  ´Nough said.

This past saturday marked the 3rd anniversary of when my dad passed away.  The day started out normal and what not, but when we went out to teach something was different.  I felt more intune with the Spirit and more of a desire from my investigators to listen and act on the things we taught them.  After a few lessons I realized what the difference was.  I had an extra compaion: My dad.  He was right there with me, testifying of the truthfulness of this message.  It was powerful.  The day was just about done and we were heading back home when we passed one of our investigator´s house (Angie).  She was outside so we took the opportunity to talk to her because we didn´t find her their earlier in the day.  Seeing that she was a bit upset and distant, we decided to sing a hymn with her and head on our way.  When the hymn was finished, we looked up and saw that she was in tears.  After a short prayer so proceeded to tell us that she missed her dad and that he had passed away.  It hit me right then and there that it was no accident that she was outside her house just as we were passing.  I was able to share my testimony with her about the plan of Salvation like I never had with anyone.  I know without a doubt that she felt the spirit.  When she left she had a look of relief on her face rather than the pain that we saw upon arriving.  This gopsel is true.  It is so powerful.  I know without a doubt that I will see my dad again.  I will live with him again.  The spirit world is closer than we realize.  I feel so blessed to have my dad guiding me out here.  I couldn´t think of a better companion.

On sunday we finally had our investigator Juan Carlos at church!!! He has had to work every sunday until this one.  He almost didn´t come because he is sick with a bad cold, but decided to make the trek down the mountain (He lives pretty far from the church) to keep his promise to us and the Lord.  We also had arranged to give him a blessing to help him quit smoking so he can fully be ready for his baptism (Nov 22!!!)  After the second hour he wasn´t feeling good at all and told us he was going to go home, so we quickly grapped the Elders to give him a blessing.  We all gathered in the bishops office for the blessing and it was exactly what he needed.  The Elders didn´t know all that was going on with him, but yet they addressed almost every challenge that he has right now.  As he was leaving the chapel, he turned to us and he looked different.  He had the same look of relief on his face as Angie had.  He told us that his back no longer hurt.  This gospel is changing him.  The Priesthood is sooo powerful.  I didn´t realized actually how powerful until my faith was put to test with my investigators.  I can´t wait until Juan Carlos gets baptized!

The church is true.  Love you all :)

Love, Hermana Perry

Week 27: Crazy DR Family Names (Oct.20, 2014)

Hello People,

I didn´t think it could happen, but this week was the longest week ever.  It just dragged!  We had Zone conference on Wednesday and it was awesome.  Elder Cornish spoke to us about using members and strengthening less active members.  A scripture he shared that I really like is Alma 5:14, 26.  We are called to help them remember the covenant they made and receive His image in their countanence.  He also focused a lot on Preach My Gospel which was a big boche because I haven´t been using it as much as I should :P

This week we had a miracle with one of our investigators. Juan Carlos has had a big problem with smoking and his dad just died about 2 months ago. Last week when we went to visit him, he was not well at all. He didn´t want to quit smoking, wouldn´t pray, hadn´t read the Book of Mormon in a long time, and really looked like he was hurting a lot. We challenged him to simply touch the book once a day and hoped to find some way to bring him some peace. We returned, he had changed. He had not only read the Book of Mormon, but had read a good chunk of it and understood it. He was smiling and laughing with us, whereas the last week we could hardly get him to look at us. And the biggest miracle of all is that his has gone from 5 cigerettes a day to 1!! It is so awesome to see how this gospel can change people.

We had double intercambios this week... woohoo... :P  On thursday with the Hermanas in Nisao and Saturday with members of the ward.  Since we lost two works days this week, I went out with an awesome member, Sandra.  It was really cool to see her testimony as she shared it with our investigators and it really put to test my knowledge of the new area and my connection with the investogators.  It was definitely a learning experience, as it is with every intercambio.  

Interesting note of the week:  Dominican names (mind you, this is one family): Eliana, Omar, Eliani, Omaily, and Elian.  (Family number 2): Alexander, Alexandra, Alexis Miguel, and Miguel Alexis.  I don´t know how they handle it haha!

Now on a spiritual note, today my comp was reading in the bible and just stopped and turned to me with the biggest look of awe on her face.  She told me she had been reading in John 15 verses 13-16.  She read them to me and the spirit hit me strong.  Jesus Christ is my friend.  He loves me and cares for my like a true friend does.  I went back and read the whole chapter and it is all so powerful.  I especially like verses 26 and 27 as well.  We are to testify of the spirit and the spirit will testify of us.  So powerful!!  I love this gospel!!

Love you all sooooooo much!!

Love, Hermana Perry

Week 26 : 37 Contacts from a Bus Ride (Oct 13,2014)

Hola todos!!

This week was good.  The highlight of the week was that we had Stake Conference.  Our Area Presidente, Elder Cornish, came and spoke and it was awesome.  He told us a story about a little girl that fell in a hole and it took them 3 days and billions of dollars to get her out, but they did and she survived.  Why someone would spend billions of dollars just to save one little baby.  Then he had a family of 3 and one on the way come up on the stand.  He asked them if they loved their daughter.  They said yes.  Then he asked them if they would be willing to give him their daughter because they are expecting another baby and they said no.  ¨But which one of your children are you going to love?¨ They said  both.  He then went on to ask them how they were going to love their two children.  ¨Because they are ours.¨  ¨Which are you going to love more?¨ ¨We will love them the same.¨  He then compared it to the love that Heavenly Father has for us.  He loves every single one of His children equally, but with a love that we can´t even imagine.  It really opened my eyes.  God really does love ALL of His children.  Even the freckos who blow me kisses on the streets.  It was a great conference.

Big news of the day:  We contacted a guagua (a bus)!!  We were on our way back from the capital and my comp was like ¨we gotta do it¨ haha so we stood up the guagua and introduced ourselves haha!  It was sooooo nerve wracking, but awesome at the same time!  We got 37 contacts from it ha!

Sorry their´s not much news this week :P  Investigators are the same, still working hard with them.

Love you all

Love, Hermana Perry

I just want to tell you that I love you soooo much.  I´m struggling a little, but after talking to President Nuckols,  I have felt worlds better.  I know that this all will pass, but its the pits while i´m going through it.  For the first part of my mission, I felt a lot of pressure from President to be ¨perfect¨because I was their ¨first born¨ as he says.  But after talking to him, I really feel that he and Hma Nuckols really do care about me and the other missionaries so much.  They have been so good about keeping an update on me this week and it´s just as if you and dad where here with me (not quite but as close as I´ll ever get).  He told me something that really hit me.  "If it´s not a struggle,  I´m not learning."  Some days are harder than others, but that just means I´m learning real good that day ;)  I realized that this time on the mission is a once in a lifetime chance to do what I am doing.  And as much as I want to sit down and cry some days,  I know I will look back at this time and be grateful for it.

I love you sooooooo much.  Your letters and support mean more than the world to me.  A scripture my comp shared with me that I really like: Alma 48:11-13 but replace Moroni with Mom & Dad. 

Love, Hermana Perry

This is a part of the email that I sent to President this week.  I thought I´d share it with you.  Love you lots :)

Right now the investigators we are working hardest with are all still waiting for their answers. One, Juan Carlos, I think is really having a hard time. His dad was investigating the church and was progressing really well, but he passed away two or so months ago before getting the chance to be baptized. We are trying to help him find comfort through the Atonement. Before I left, my Stake President said that my experience with everything with my dad would be something that will help me, help others and I feel like this is the very thing he was talking about. I've thought about it, and maybe this is the best way to get through this month in one piece--to help him find the same peace and comfort that I have found through Jesus Christ. 

Week 25 : General Conference in the DR (Oct 6)

Hola!!

This week was good.  Normalish. On friday my comp had to be in a meeting for all the leaders so we both got to go to the capital for the day.  I got to see all of my companions thus far!!! It was awesome! :)

Something funny, everyone is putting up Christmas decorations!!!  Trees, lights (even our house!! haha), the whole shabang!  They really love Christmas which makes sense because they are very Christ centered people.  

As I´m sure you all know, this weekend was General Conference.  We got see all of the sessions which was awesome!!  But all in spanish.  It was an interesting experience to not hear their real voices.  My favorite talks were Elder Uchtdorf´s and Elder Godoy.  I love how Elder Uchtdorf so firmly stated that the most important thing that we can gain in this life is a testimony of this gospel.  It is the most powerful thing.  Without a testimony of this truth, what are we living for?  ¨When we gain light and use it to praise God, we will gain more light.¨ So powerful.  Elder Godoy beautifully complemented Elder U´s talk when he spritiually slapped probably a lot of people in the face by saying ¨If you keep living the way you are, will you receive the blessings stated in you Patriarchal Blessing?¨  Boom.  This gospel is not a sit down and wait for the Lord to come again, but rather do everything in our power to prepare the world for when He does come.  Heavenly Father expects so much of us and in return He is willing to give us far more than we give Him.  I loved hearing the worlds of the Prophet and Apostles.  It brings a peace similar to that of the temple.

So this weekend being so special with Conference and all, we decided to fast with one of our investigators Sandra.  She has doubts and questions about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and has such a stong desire to get and answer.  She came to the first session on sunday and it was such an answer to our prayers that basically every speaker in that session talked about profets.  I know it was exactly the thing she needs to know that the BOM was written by and translated by Profets of God.  If all goes as planned, she will be baptized in about two weeks. :)

I have no doubt that this church is true.  I love the gospel so much and I couldn´t be more blessed than to be able to share it with the people here.  Thanks for your prayers and support.

Love, Hermana Perry