Santo Domingo, week 5

Hey! This week was alright, a little discouraging because pretty much all of our appointments fell through. LOTS of walking up and down the mountain. But I figure it is just one of those weeks in the mission. It is crazy that I only have one more week and I finish my first transfer in the field. Kekchi is really hard haha. I've started reading the Book of Mormon in Kekchi, Spanish and English all at the same time because we were promised by a Prophet that if you read the BOM in whatever language you are trying to learn you will be fluent. So hopefully that works! I still haven't received my Kekchi name plaque, I think I'll get it in the next two or three weeks.

 

So the big news is I do in fact have a parasite! And so does my companion! Not really sure how I managed to do that in my first change but I pulled it off haha. I just have some meds I'm supposed to take for ten days or so and it should be good.

 

As for General Conference, we got to watch Saturday morning in English but then we lost signal and didn't see any of Saturday afternoon. We saw half of the Priesthood session in Spanish and all of Sunday in Spanish. I had a pretty hard time following the Spanish so I will have to go back and read in English when I have time.

 

I haven't heard anything about the mudslides until you told me, so I don't know what's going on there.

 

Mom asked for the description of the houses here. They are almost all made out of sticks, and all have dirt floors. None have electricty or indoor plumbing, but they do have running water! It is just not pure so everything is always boiled and way hot.

 

As for lessons this week, we went up the mountain because we had two appointments, and when we got there they both fell through...so that kind of was a bummer. That was on Thursday. Tuesday me and my companion were both knocked out with the poops and throwing up and such so we had to stay in. Our goal for the month of October as a mission is 100 baptisms so we are hoping our fecha comes through once they are married.

 

As I said, I only really got to hear one session of Conference, but from what I got out of it, basically we need to get out of the Lord's way. It reminded me of the scripture in Isaiah where it talks about His ways being higher than our ways - "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8-9) We are going to be put through hard stuff. That is the Lord's will, not ours, and we will come out of it shaped how the Lord intends us to be.

 

Well, I love all of you!

Love Elder Toolson