¡Saludos a mis amigos y familia!
Here in the Dominican Republic, November is the month of the family, so I hope you can feel the extra love! As usual, lots of stuff has been happening and changing in the past week...except for the weather haha...humidity and heat are still going strong:) Transfer calls are coming on Saturday, but my companion was personally called by our mission president last night and was asked to be an Hermana Training Leader!! 2 HTLs are leaving, and they´re both in the capital, which means that Hermana DIbble will be going to an area in Santo Domingo! And I´ll be getting a new companion! Saturday will be an exciting day:)
We helped deep-clean the church this morning and had a planning meeting with the Young Women presidency. Last Monday, we got to go to the beach with our zone! It was a different one than last time, and the ocean was so pretty. We can only go to beaches where there are no other people, so we had it all to ourselves:) Saturday was some sort of national service day, so the missionaries, youth, and two adults walked up the mountain to the less-active town of Parra to clean and help prevent dengue, the scary mosquito disease here. Some less-active youth joined us while we were there, so we had an awesome group! The branch president never showed up with supplies, though, so we contacted and helped do household chores when the people let us (Dominicans, especially the women, are very stubborn and rarely let you help them.) That´s something valuable I've learned from Hermana Dibble, my comp: always ask if the people need help, whether it´s sweeping or washing the dog. That´s why we´re here, to serve!
I was asked if I got hit in the head with a baseball a couple weeks ago as I was playing or if I was walking. Funny enough, I really was just walking down the street when we were proselyting haha. I've only played baseball once here, but the Dominicans are obsessed! They play it and watch it on TV all the time.
Alexander didn't come to church yesterday because of work, but we´re starting to teach his dad and niece! I would love for them all to get baptized on the same day:) Karla is getting baptized this Saturday!!! We´re so excited for her! But investigators have to have a certain number of times attending church in this mission because the people are really inconsistent with it; kids under 12 need 12 times, youth need 8, and adults need 4. Karla was supposed to be baptized as soon as possible, which meant she had to come to church this Sunday, but she didn't show up to church, so H. Dibble left sacrament meeting and called her. Karla said she didn't want to come because she was embarrassed to not have a skirt to wear, even though she´s come all the other Sundays without one. So we went home, grabbed a skirt, and ran to her house to bring her for the last two hours of church. Oh, the things we do to get investigators to come:)
Karla is so ready, though; I think about her when I read this quote from President Dieter F. Uchtdorf: ¨The more we incline our hearts and minds towards God, the more heavenly light distills upon our souls. And each time we willingly and earnestly seek that light, we indicate to God our readiness to receive more light.¨ I love getting to share the light of the Gospel and of Christ with the people here! I love being a missionary, and I love you all dearly! Have a fabulous week!
Love,
Hermana Randall
Here in the Dominican Republic, November is the month of the family, so I hope you can feel the extra love! As usual, lots of stuff has been happening and changing in the past week...except for the weather haha...humidity and heat are still going strong:) Transfer calls are coming on Saturday, but my companion was personally called by our mission president last night and was asked to be an Hermana Training Leader!! 2 HTLs are leaving, and they´re both in the capital, which means that Hermana DIbble will be going to an area in Santo Domingo! And I´ll be getting a new companion! Saturday will be an exciting day:)
We helped deep-clean the church this morning and had a planning meeting with the Young Women presidency. Last Monday, we got to go to the beach with our zone! It was a different one than last time, and the ocean was so pretty. We can only go to beaches where there are no other people, so we had it all to ourselves:) Saturday was some sort of national service day, so the missionaries, youth, and two adults walked up the mountain to the less-active town of Parra to clean and help prevent dengue, the scary mosquito disease here. Some less-active youth joined us while we were there, so we had an awesome group! The branch president never showed up with supplies, though, so we contacted and helped do household chores when the people let us (Dominicans, especially the women, are very stubborn and rarely let you help them.) That´s something valuable I've learned from Hermana Dibble, my comp: always ask if the people need help, whether it´s sweeping or washing the dog. That´s why we´re here, to serve!
I was asked if I got hit in the head with a baseball a couple weeks ago as I was playing or if I was walking. Funny enough, I really was just walking down the street when we were proselyting haha. I've only played baseball once here, but the Dominicans are obsessed! They play it and watch it on TV all the time.
Alexander didn't come to church yesterday because of work, but we´re starting to teach his dad and niece! I would love for them all to get baptized on the same day:) Karla is getting baptized this Saturday!!! We´re so excited for her! But investigators have to have a certain number of times attending church in this mission because the people are really inconsistent with it; kids under 12 need 12 times, youth need 8, and adults need 4. Karla was supposed to be baptized as soon as possible, which meant she had to come to church this Sunday, but she didn't show up to church, so H. Dibble left sacrament meeting and called her. Karla said she didn't want to come because she was embarrassed to not have a skirt to wear, even though she´s come all the other Sundays without one. So we went home, grabbed a skirt, and ran to her house to bring her for the last two hours of church. Oh, the things we do to get investigators to come:)
Karla is so ready, though; I think about her when I read this quote from President Dieter F. Uchtdorf: ¨The more we incline our hearts and minds towards God, the more heavenly light distills upon our souls. And each time we willingly and earnestly seek that light, we indicate to God our readiness to receive more light.¨ I love getting to share the light of the Gospel and of Christ with the people here! I love being a missionary, and I love you all dearly! Have a fabulous week!
Love,
Hermana Randall