11/5/2014

This week has been a busy one!

We are leading our zone in most lessons with a member present because we have a new convert in our ward who is amazing and so excited about the work. His name is Marcello and has only been a member for 3 months but is honestly the best member in the ward!

On Saturday we had a stake service project at a school in Los Cocos from 8am to 1pm! It was great and we did a lot for the school and helped them a bunch! One of the things we did was paint pictures on the walls for the little kids. The pictures turned out amazing and I can't believe how good they looked! We literally had to draw everything on our own with only a picture to look at with drawings on it. I helped with a couple them and then decided to draw my version of Los Cocos! Not the best drawling of them all, but it turned out great surprisingly! Anyone who knows my artistic ability will question it, but I have pictures to prove it!
Our whole ward are converts and are so great, however, Elder Rodriguez and I have been noticing some things that need correcting and such. We have had some times when things have fallen through because of members or problems that should have never occurred. One of the many duties as an Elder is to correct things that need correcting and to make sure the church is orderly. So Elder Rodriguez and I decided to put together and plan an activity/fireside for our ward to help them get better and let them know how we can make changes for the better as a ward and as individuals. We got the other elders and sisters in our ward involved and they helped us. We did it Sunday night and it went really well! Not everyone that needed to be there was there, but we got a good amount of our members there and they all seemed to like it a lot. We taught them for a while and mixed in some activities where they could learn how to be better missionaries and get excited about sharing the gospel. One of the activities was speed dating, except instead of flirting, we had them share the gospel with one another. It was really fun and cool and they were all way excited about it and wanted to do something like that again, so they want to have us do this often and make it a regular thing. So we are going to do it every other week on Sunday night. Sometimes you just have to get creative and get people excited about the work. There is always something more to do. Even when you think you have done it all. There is always something.

Last week we also got invited to go to one of our investigators houses to listen to his brother, a preacher, preach and share their beliefs to whoever he preaches to. We were a bit nervous about it at first cause we didn't want it to turn into a bible bash or any bad feelings towards us. But we prayed for it to go well and to get something good from it. When we arrived, they welcomed us in and the brother/preacher was preaching from a manual. I didn't quite understand everything, but it seemed to be going well and he was talking about Jesus and His sacrifices. The lesson was about to end, but I was not about to leave there without at least saying my testimony. So I asked to say something and he let me. I stood us and bore my testimony about the Savior and the Atonement. The spirit was definitely there and strong. I could feel the words in Spanish roll out of my mouth with ease as I passionately spoke. As I finished, I felt confident that they all felt the spirit too and could feel my love for the Lord and His Atoning sacrifice. My companion then bore his testimony and shared a scripture from the Book of Mormon. They all really liked the scripture which was cool because it was from the Book of Mormon. He also shared a scripture from the Bible which was great so they could see that we believe in both and they work hand in hand and support each other. We then set up dates to teach everyone there! Even the preacher! They were all really nice to us and interested to learn more. We gave them pamphlets to read until we teach them. The preacher was super cool and talked with us after. He liked what we said and told us he doesn't care who is giving the word of God. It is the same God and he is open to any sort of gospel talk. Way cool night. I am thankful for those of other faiths who are willing to listen and learn about other faiths, not just theirs. It would have been easy for us to not go, but how are we supposed to expect others to be willing to talk with us if we aren't willing to talk to them about their beliefs? I love learning about other religions, not just mine. I respect everyone and their beliefs and I think it is great when people talk about the gospel and share rather than just keep it to themselves. We may not all have the same views or beliefs, but we can and should all respect one another’s.

It has been raining here nonstop for two days. Not just raining either, full on pouring and lightning storms. Yesterday we were at an investigators house and ended us getting trapped in because there were crazy flash floods and we couldn't get out of the house! Luckily we were there though, because their house began to flood and we helped them get rid of the water and move things to stop the water from going into their house. Eventually the rain calmed for a little so we were able to leave. We were soaked to the bone and it was a struggle to continue as the water flooded the streets and we had no other option then to walk in the water that was up to our ankles. But that’s life in the D.R. for ya! In a crazy way, I loved it! haha. Always an adventure!

Quick shout out to the White family in Washington for the package! Thanks so much! Packages are like cake to a fat boy when you're a missionary!

That's all for this week. Love you all and stay happy, Cause it could always be worse!

Elder Greer

I would like t take full credit for the Los Cocos painting! With the help of my comp of course!

I also did part of the train

Still in shock that she is in my mission! But here is, now, sister Vera aka my old investigator from the MTC

Merry Christmas already! Our neighbors are decked out!

Package from the White's!