October 28, 2013 - My Lovely Family

Hello my lovely Family!

I am here in the Dominican Republic and I am safe! So smile and be happy! Ha-ha it is awesome. I am in San Pedro which is not the campo (meaning the outskirts-jungley area) so that is cool. There are stores around and concrete houses every where. My Branch (too small to be a ward) is Primavera! So cool. I am enjoying it here. My house has 5 rooms and the kicker to it is....

We don´t have water! hahaha. Yep so we go across the street to the church to use the bathroom and wash our faces and get water to clean dishes. We buy clean water for other things and then walk 15 minutes to another house of two missionaries Elder Carter and Elder Lara to shower. It is an adventure and I am having a lot of fun here! It´s good. My companion is Elder Valencia from Mexico City the Jefe. He said it's in Mission Oeste boundaries! So cool. He is way nice, doesn't know much English at all so I am trying to use my little Spanish to communicate with him. It is a fun time. I can understand my companion a lot better than I can understand the people here. They talk so fast and never use S´s. They also have such different words here than what they have in Mexico or other places. Fruits are different, objects its a fun learning experience here!

Here is my Letter Address (My book was correct because the mail system here is not good at all. Speaking of that I don´t have any letters but hey that is alright. 

Missionary Name

SDQ 4102

2250 NW 114th Ave. Unit 1A

Miami FL 33172-3652

Here is the Package Address (Caution!!!!!! I have to pay about $2 for every pound of packages so please be mindful of me and my money. I would love packages but I don´t want to have to pay too much to get them. Thanks a ton!)

Missionary Name

AP-000914

8532 NW 66th ST

Miami FL 33166

Okay on to other things I think. So on the morning of leaving the MTC we got up at 5 30 and packed. Took all our stuff down stairs ate waited for like 2 hours to get picked up. Had meetings in the mission home and waited some more. Got dropped off at a park with all our stuff (I put my suit in the mission home for two years ha-ha. they said we never use them.) Then we took a wawa or jaja or whatever. It's a bus to our area which is about 2 hours away from the capital. My companion has been on his mission for 7 months so he knows some stuff but he isn´t crazy versed or anything. We get to the apartment and it is a huge mess. Kinda disgusting really but we had to walk from the bus for 30 minutes with suitcases and it was late so we just changed, moved our beds and slept. The next day all we did was clean. Had to get the water from the church and it was a bugger. We still haven´t cleaned it all but we will try. I believe we are going to move houses this week but who knows. It´s all okay.

I believe DearElder´s are still okay out in the field. We had our Zone-District conference on Thursday. That was way cool! I got to see one or two of the guys from the MTC and then it was all in Spanish. Ha-ha hard to understand but fun! I enjoyed it a lot. We have gone to Jumbo (a store like Walmart) a couple times to buy things because our house was pretty much trash. We didn´t really have things to cook with, usable plates or anything to clean with so we had to buy it all and then I will get reimbursed for it. I have a debit card to use and then I have to use an ATM to get cash. We get about 8000 pesos per month (a little more I think) to live on. That includes everything. We get half deposited every two weeks. Its fun and I need to budget it of course but this first week was hard having to buy everything for our house. Once I am settled I can really budget it all.

It is super hot and humid here for sure. The breeze is always appreciated. My area is pretty close to the sea I hear so you have to be careful with bacteria getting into your food and clothes. Caution is always important and I am learning a lot! The sunsets here have actually competed with the ones in Utah (though not the same because I usually watched them in the soccer stadium ha-ha). I saw the ocean on my bus but I haven´t done anything else yet. Hopefully another p'day we will do something fun!

I gosh I almost deleted this whole email. Yikes! We are okay though! Here they are already doing Christmas! Christmas songs in the stores and what now. So crazy. They celebrate it for 3 months in a row and don´t do dia de los muertes or Halloween. Darn it ha-ha. Oh well its cool. Christmas spirit is alive here, though its hot and humid and sticky and there is no snow ha-ha.

Any letters you sent when I was in the MTC should be forwarded to me through the Mission home. That's what I believe anyways. I love all your emails thank you so much. sorry I don´t have a ton of time to respond specifically right now. Can´t believe the weather in Utah is so cold ha-ha.

I tried to explain Dad´s work in Spanish and I kind of think its impossible with my small amount of knowledge ha-ha but it was funny. The food here is good. We eat off the streets and make our own food as well. We are just always careful.

Spanish word for this week is Chin. I think that is how its spelled I don´t really know but that is how it is said. Here it means a little. Equivalent to un poco. They also use the phrase Mi madre here a lot and its not bad at all. That is what I am told anyways! ha-ha so much fun out here.

Oh I had a small allergic reaction the past couple days. I don´t think I washed the grapes well enough. That one is on me. Anyways I took a pill Saturday night and Sunday morning and then during church I was dead tired. Like I almost fell asleep so many times. That wasn´t the best look but I was having trouble staying awake. Especially because it was all in Spanish. ha-ha oh well.

This area is new for my companion so we have been contacting a ton of members and anyone else we can. The area seems pretty big but I don´t have any exact measurements. This part was kind of let in ruins by the last missionaries. No map, the area book is a total mess without any papers but that's okay. we can fix it. I told my companion now we can work our bottoms off and make it the way we want it (translate that in Spanish ha-ha. That isn´t word for word of course).

Thanks for your prayers and your love!

--

Love,

Elder Chez Green

Hola Hola Mi Familia! - October 17, 2013

Hola Familia!

So on Friday I went on splits with a missionary out in the field. I can't remember the name of the area but I do have a surprise. The missionary I went on splits with was Elder Clint Hubbard! He was two years older than me and played on the Hillcrest soccer team! That was so awesome! I enjoyed getting to teach with him. He was a great example to me in High School and now I get to see him here! He leaves in December and I am just starting. I get to work with him again tomorrow for splits as well. That is an awesome experience to get to see the places you could be serving and I went to Santo Domingo East so it could be my area. We taught one investigator and then I shared scriptures with 3 members I think. That was fun and spiritual and I actually understood more Spanish than I thought I would. I do love that feeling. I was worried going in but it all worked out. We talked to a group of ladies that were a little rambunctious which was way funny! That is a story for another time, but it sufficeth me to say that one of them said she was going to wait for me for 2 years. Ay AY AY! I told her no but that was interesting. I hear that happens a lot and you just have to brush it off. haha these people are so funny and I am starting to love them already!

An Area 70 came to the MTC on Tuesday night and gave a talk in Spanish. We had translator devices but I chose not to use it. I wanted to see how I was doing and I got a lot out of it! It was by Elder and Sister Zivic who are part of the Area 70 I believe. I really enjoyed their talk. Sister Zivic gave the talk like she was our Mother (Don't worry Mom, no one can replace you!) and that was very touching! I enjoyed the counsel she gave to us. And Elder Zivic had some good stories and advice for us as well. He told us how we need to work with members to really use all our resources. He gave an analogy that just the missionaries working is like tying a tie with one hand and if you use the members it is like using two! I enjoyed that a lot!

I got a Dear Elder from JJ which was awesome! I think you can send me dear elders to my mission home for free when I am in the field right? Don't know exactly but I believe so! Thank you so much for that! Still haven't gotten any snail-mail. Not sure if it will arrive or not, but hey, like one of the Temple workers was saying today as he gave out tic tacs! "Don't worry, be happy"! I love that man he is so very nice. His name is Brother Kunyanga I believe. Has an awesome African accent and is very loving! Today was the last time I get to go to the temple for a while probably, but all is well! I should get to go 2 times during the year so 4 times total for the next 2 years of my mission. That is a blessing compared to some missionaries who don't get to go at all!

Today will also be my last P-day for a while! Next time you hear from me, I will be in the field (or campo as they call it here). That is a crazy but very exciting thought! I can't wait to get out in the field after the taste I had last Friday! I got experience some fresh lime juice, ride the metro and just walk around to get engrossed in the culture. I loved it a ton!

Last Saturday our Teacher Hna Matos taught us how to make Tres Leches during gym time (it was worth the sacrifice) and it was delicious. I have the recipe now so I should be able to make it (though the recipe is in Spanish. Oh well, it can encourage and motivate me to learn even more! haha). It was amazing and I was glad to have a slice of heaven. Dulce, rico, y delicioso.

The Spanish lessons are getting a lot harder and I am not understanding it all. I am trying my best but Subjunctive tenses and Object pronouns (especially combined ones) are proving to be a little difficult. Also the verb haber is a bugger for me to learn. But I will keep trying hard to understand it. I really only have two more days of language lessons because Sunday's we don't get taught, Monday is orientation and then Tuesday morning early I will be out in the field or at a conference or at the mission home. However it works here. I am getting way excited for that. I am enjoying the change. It reminds me of the talk be Pres. Monson about change in our lives. I really enjoyed that talk. It also remind me of the talk of "Come What May and Love it" By Elder Wirthlin I believe. I am getting spiritually fed here, that is for sure!

I have some Mormon message videos that you can look up. They are a great watch, help you feel the spirit and are less than 5 minutes usually. "The Will of God" is an amazing one that I really enjoy! If something isn't working out in you life, watch that one and you will understand. "Earthly Father, Heavenly Father" is also super great. It makes me excited to be a Dad some day and tells us how amazing and loving our Heavenly Father really is. and how endearing the term Father should be. The last one I love is "The Sting of a Scorpion" which is the story I shared in my farewell talk. That one will always be an all time favorite. So watch them, they are great to lift spirits in times of needs or encourage you to serve others!

The word/phrase today is: "Pecho y espalda" which means your front and your back. So when you ask "Qué necesitamos?" you can respond with that. Just a phrase I learned that I liked.

I think there are about 15 in the MTC going to DR Santo Domingo East. I probably won't e-mail until next Monday, yes mom. Sorry but I will be smart and safe as always. The DR Temple was dedicated on Sept 17, 2000.

I can't believe the Utes beat number 5 Stanford! Boo ya! I am so proud. Big game for RSL coming up! I have faith in them! I am glad you are renewing the season tickets, that has always been great fun!

I love you all so much! Not sure what else there is too say! Thanks for all your support and prayers. Love you mucho mucho!

--

Love,

Elder Chez Green

Hello Family - October 10, 2013

Hello family!

How is everyone doing? I hope all is well where you guys are (which is all over the world probably) haha. I hope that everyone enjoyed conference! If you didn´t watch it, I recommend you read some of the talks at least. I loved both of Uchtdorf´s talks he gave. I also loved the one by Richard J Maynes on Sunday Morning! That one was a delight to listen to. I liked the one by Edward Dube (he had a sweet accent). Conference is so good when you are a missionary. Our President said how conferences on your mission will be the best ones you ever watch. And I do truly believe that! I love some of the great quotes from it like "if the bitter cup doesn´t pass, drink it" which I think was Holland but I´m not sure. wow how cool is that! I also loved Richard J Maynes saying you must have Dedication Perseverance and Self Discipline. all the talks were so good. Dube said we should never look back when he gave his terrific story. I wish I had more time to talk about it all but sadly I don´t so read them instead! haha.

I also wanted to say how much of a blessing and privilege it is to have a temple here to go to. Temple work is so awesome and I love the feeling I get when I enter the temple. They are so beautiful too!

I hope the Utes and RSL are doing alright. Gotta bounce back from losses, just like in life.

I got the privilege to watch a talk by Bednar for missionaries only titled "The Characteristics of Christ" wow was that amazing. President Freestone said that is the best talk he thinks he has heard in years. It really is life changing. There is a similar talk he gave at BYUI (so Am you may have heard it) about the same thing. You can google it and find the transcript it is so cool. One thing I got out of the talk was to read the BOM with a question in mind. One question mark it all up (so get a cheap copy) and write on it then once you finish the BOM and have read it all the way through write a one or two paragraph summary answering your question. He said once your are his age you should have a book case full of BOM´s with a question on the inside of each of them. I thought that was awesome. I have also been studying the Power of the Atonement and how amazing that is. How it was only possible through Christ like attributes that we can have that privilege to be forgiven. I love studying that topic. It shows you so much and what sacrafic truly is. I recommend the talk Bednar gave at BYUI. There are some great insights and stories you get from it.

I also challenge you all to watch the Mormon Message "Mountains to Climb" on LDS.org. It is amazing. Made me cry like a little baby! But it is so amazing. That is one challenge you only need 5 min to do, so please at least do that one. But I recommend the other things just as much or more!

I am still having a ton of fun here! Which is so important right! I love my teacher Hmo Rodriguez. He shares amazing stories with us almost every night and he gets really personally and to the point with us. I just ahve a connection with him I would have never guessed in my life with an MTC teacher I´ll only know for 6 weeks. Its pretty awesome. I think we are going to make Tres Leches cake with our teacher Hma Matos on Saturday. I am really looking forward to that!

I went to the University last Friday and that was a blast. We talked to a lot of people (maybe like 15 or 17) there and gave out BOMs and pamphlets to them. Now tomorrow I get to go on splits with missionaries in the field and teach real investigator lessons and find people to teach! How cool and exciting that is, but very nerve racking!

My mission president has been pretty awesome. I am grateful he is here to help and guide us in the the MTC and it is nice getting actually face time with him since there are 60 to 70 missionaries here compared to Provo MTC. He loves teaching the gospel so he enjoys being in the MTC with a captive audience he said. He is a great man, and his wife is super nice too.

Word of the day is Cheverre which means cool. They use that so much here! it is probably their favorite word. Its pretty great!

Mom I will have to find the Bible video now of Jesus casting him out! I love that scripture. I can watch those here on my gym time but I am not sure how it will work in the field. I probably won´t have much access to electronic things. It´s about a second world country from what I can see, traffic is somewhat crazy but decent. People will be really poor though and I have heard stories about water going out for a day or two. And that there are some places that are run down but that´s everywhere.

I can´t believe it has already been 4 weeks! That is crazy! I still have not received your letter Mom or the one from Am. I hope they come soon but Se la vi! I will work on the mission address here! They have nice washers and dryers here! I also bought stain remover at the store for my shirt collars and anything else I need!

I am drawing a blank on anything else to share so I love you all very much! keep working hard and having fun. Keep praying everyday, I know it makes a difference. Besos y Abrazos!

--

Love,

Elder Chez Green

Mi familia! - October 3, 2013

Hi Family!!

How is everything going back in the USA/International travel (I can't say Utah because you are all so spread out now, and I won't even think about commenting about the weather because it's all probably different for each of you!) I first off have a couple requests (Oh and I'm not sure how to get my enter key to work again, it seems like every week you have to do something to get it to work, but I don't know what.) 

Well this week has been pretty good. Last Friday we got to go to the university that is about a mile and did some street contacting. What a huge surprise that was! Wow talk about getting thrown into the fire 2 weeks in or so. But it was a good experience. My companion and I handed out I think 6-7 pamphlets about the restoration and one Book of Mormon. We had a cool experience too with the first person that we contacted. His name was Isaac and he was part of the Evangelical church. (This is a real person mind you, not a "investigator") We were trying our best to talk in Spanish with him but we found out that he understands English and that is what he really want to talk in. So we said what we could in Spanish and did the rest in English. He seemed very interested and was very polite. He was 17 years old I believe and had been in college since he was 15 and 1/2. Talk about a smart kid! We read part of the introduction of the book of Mormon and encouraged him to read some more. We also left the phone number for some missionaries who he could talk to more about the gospel. Wow what a cool experience, all while I was still part of the MTC. I am grateful that I had that opportunity, and I get to do it again tomorrow, so wish me luck and pray for me. Its very intimating to just go up to people and talk gospel. It's very new for me.

Sundays are usually really good. Last Sunday we got a Doctrinal Class from the MTC President, Pres. Freestone. He does it every week but last weeks was especially good. He talked about obedience and how important it is on a mission. Way awesome stuff there! I loved it a lot. He gave great scriptural references for it, mentioned conference talks and all of that good stuff! It's nice to get those every week, because then you learn in detail about certain subjects, not that you will ever teach your investigators that. Pres. Freestone also told a very good, personal story about his mother and her obedience through a hard life of divorce, and other hardships. It was very touching and I loved it a lot. (FYI found a tough way to do paragraphs ha-ha) We also get to watch a church movie every Sunday and this week it was "How Rare a Possession". I had never seen that but I thought it was very good! It's my one chance to watch movies here! Even if they are just church ones, they are still really good and uplifting! I enjoy that part a lot!

My teacher Hmo Rodriguez served in the Santiago Mission Dad. He has some awesome stories that really help you understand what missionary life is like and I am grateful for that! He and Hmo Nuñez have been telling us stories about their missions and it is great to hear. I love journaling what they have shared so that I can remember it for later. One of Hmo Rodriguez's stories was from last year when he was an EFY music director for they opening of EFY in the DR. He had prepared some great work but there ended up being a tropical storm that canceled the week of EFY. He talked about Bednar's talk where he mentions "Faith to not be healed" and he shared a scripture in Juan about Jesus casting out an evil spirit in a man's son. The man said "help thou my unbelief". (I can't remember the exact scripture right now, sorry) I love that scripture a lot and am grateful Jamie Pruden shared it with me in YM a while ago.

I get to go to the store next Tuesday for the last time I believe which will be good! I am looking forward to that. The store has almost everything we do at a Wal-Mart. It is pretty nice and they also have ATM's so you can get cash out to use!

Thanks for the sports updates mom and dad! I appreciate it. A real bugger that RSL did not win the Open Cup! How is that even possible! Crazy we started reserves in the Vancouver game. I wonder what is going on with my team right now! But oh well. Mom have fun at the UCLA Utah game tonight and cheer loud! I am wearing my Utah shirt to support them! Go Utes!

Grandma and Grandpa I love you guys so much! I am glad that you are reading my emails and thanks so much for your generosity. It is greatly appreciated I hope you know! I also wanted to thank both of you for being great examples to me as grandparents. I have been blessed with great grandparents on both sides of my family and I truly believe that makes a huge difference. So thank you for all you do!

I am not sure what else. I think that is mostly everything. Oh Spanish phrases this week are Machuca (fist bump) and Chocala (high five). I will be using those with the niños for sure. I hope all the missionaries that are out in the field are doing great, especially those from our ward! I love all of you!

Mom and Dad I don't really need anything right now and I have no idea what would be a good gift for Christmas. Maybe something cool that you could just buy, wrap up and leave on my bed for two years for when I get back hahaha. I will try to think about it and get back to you! Love you all so much! "Go my favorite sports team go" as Brian Reagan would say.

Love,

Elder Chez Green