Youth Activity, Package, Baseball

October 27, 2014 - A double, an RBI, Stolen base and a Run Scored

Yep you guessed it, those are my stats from today! 6 missionaries came over and we went and played some baseball with all the Dominican kids. It was super fun and I know my comp was in heaven. I think we ended up tying them but it was so much fun! I played first base and feel as though I contributed well. I am not a big baseball guy but I truly enjoyed it so hey. Glad to have my glove thanks again!

This week we had an activity that turned out really well. It was crazy and everyone ended up dirty at the end but we had 4 investigators show up and 4 less actives. There was a message and then games and if you answered wrong you got shaving cream in the face. Also a search for candy with your mouth in a pile of flour! I used my jolly ranchers as the prize. Thanks for sending the odds and ends candy. For a minute I thought someone took my candy but now I see it was just odds n ends haha.

So I got a package from the Mortimer's and a huge thanks to them for that! Way cool and a lot of stuff I wanted, like UNO and Beef Jerky and the precious Granola Bars. Who knew that Granola Bars here are so expensive so they are like gold! Great stuff! Thanks a million to them! And the great note that helped a ton!

I also got the talks from Am on General Conference! Wahoo! Thanks a million Am. I loved all of them and was happy to read them again. I am also reading Jesus the Christ and I am on page like 450! I am reading it super fast but enjoying it. It is helping me understand the bible way better!

Transfers are next week but I am pretty sure that I will stay here with E. Aplanalp. He is a good guy. He loves the Giants and is happy they are winning. I will keep being happy. That is the important part!

We had the Pimentel Family at church! All 5 of them! Wahoo. But the tough thing is they aren´t married yet. Neither is the Encrnación family and only their 2 daughters made it to church this week again. We are going to keep working hard and we have hope for them! We have some less actives we are working with and other people who are either just starting or people we are going to drop for a while.

Awesome that Utah won in the last seconds. Beating USC wahoo! Great to hear RSL is in safe. Against LA will be a blast! We can do it! Also great to hear that the Utah basketball is going well!

Thanks for being a great family. I love you all and I hope we can all be together forever!

Awesome Shantaye went to Husky Howl as the Power Puff Girls. Grandma´s party sounds great! Way cool.

Be safe everyone! I think that is everything for now!

W o W is ñapa which is DR Spanish. It is like bonus. So if you want them to top off your drink for free you just sya ñapa!

Well be safe all! lots of love

--

Love,

Elder Chez Green

October 20, 2014 - Hello All!

I hope all is well. I was just playing some UNO and eating some fried chicken. This morning we played a little baseball (catch and took some ground balls). My comp was in heaven I believe which is good. I had fun as well and I am happy to have the glove!

Yes I got my package, thank you so much! I am very grateful for the stuff especially the socks! Thanks for the glove and the Thai sauces. I was running low but I am all set now!

I am feeling better. I was just a little down after some things that happened but I am feeling better now. Thanks for asking everyone though.  We are still working with one family that seems interested. We are hopeful that they can come to church next week! The father read most of the pamphlet we read to them so we are excited for them. I feel good about them, I just pray they are ready to make a decision. They are the family Pimentel. 4 kids (one doesn´t live with them) and their parents. We don´t know if they are married though.

Luis David gave a talk on Sunday and it was really good. It was about baptism I was happy about that! He did a great job. He is ready to get or has the Priesthood now. I am looking forward to that! He has also invited his cousin to come to church with him which is awesome!

I really miss Thailand and Thai food. Sometimes I smell stuff here and it reminds me of that great place! Ahh good times.

On Sunday I gave the lesson in Priesthood but there were only 2 attendants plus the missionaries. That was a little sad.The class was on Joseph Fielding Smith´s teachings book. They have that in English right? We are working hard but the branch needs a lot of help. We always offer our help but we don´t know exactly what is needed but we will keep working with them!

Hna Marilin came to church which was great. She is having a lot of financial problems with her family and with her pregnancy. But she keeps being firm and strong. We really want to help her but it is hard. I am not sure exactly what we can do now besides wait and be patience because I don´t think she will be able to get married anytime soon sadly.

I hope RSL can get a streak going to make the playoffs running! Awesome that the Utes won again! Boo ya keep it up. We need to get a bowl game and do well in the PAC 12. Awesome the bball team looks good too!

My comp says hello to all of the family!

The pancakes we make were out of a mix but now we do from scratch. My comp usually does them though.

I have been enjoying the clouds and sky and rainbows lately. I am trying to find joy in the little things!

Well I think that is all. W o W is adios which is goodbye! Take care all!

--

Love,

Elder Chez Green

October 13, 2014 - Wahoo! Playoffs!

So I saw RSL is officially in. Even without a lot of starters! Wahoo. I am wearing my RSL shirt to celebrate! Today I even got to play a little soccer. Boo yah. I was remembering the glory days from RHFC! 7 straight wahoo!

So anyways this week has had a lot of ups and downs. I fought a little bit of depression you might say but I have also been super blessed. So I just keep working hard!

So mom we ask the sister to cook for us when needed still!

WoW is jactar which means to boast. It is from the Book of Mormon!

So this week we found a new family. Last night actually. I hope they can progress and make the right decision! We have been working with a lot of people that aren´t keeping their commitments so we will keep looking for more. Little by little we go. We are talking to almost everyone we see in order to have success. I am enjoying the work though it is very hard as well!

This week was Fast Sunday and that was super great. We had a good meeting and some youth came to church which was cool. We are also working with a 19 year old less active and we talked to him about his patriarchal blessing, so I hope he can get it to help him be active and go on a mission!

The tough thing here is the Branch Pres. works a lot and he misses Sunday meetings a lot. The Branch has a lot of work to do!

Well the work keeps going. I am not sure what else happened this week. My comp loves pancakes so we make a lot of those for breakfast. All is well here!

The Internet guy is dancing right now ha-ha. Ah the DR. We have met some crazy people (it sounds mean but its true) lately. They were screaming stuff at us and what not, but I just laugh. I am talking more English because my comp is learning but all is well. I love you all and pray for each of you! Be Safe

Tell my friends and the ward hi please!

Lots of love!

Love,

Elder Chez Green

October 6, 2014 - Conference was just GREAT!

Hello everyone! I hope you all enjoyed conference as much as I did! Even though I got most of it in Spanish. We got to see Saturday morning for an hour in English but then the WiFI fell so we only got to see that one in English. The rest were in Spanish. It was hard but good as well. Harder for my comp than me! The part that stunk is on Sunday afternoon the internet fell and we missed most of the prophet´s message. But it was super good I would say I am a happy camper!

So I loved all the talks. Way cool they were in their native tongues as well! I loved Elder Huge Martinez´s talk because of that. He spoke very well and it was cool to say that I know him. It helped me relate even more to his talk and I felt the Spirit very strongly for that one, as well as others!

I loved the talk by E. Bednar and the one by Jorg Klebinant! Jorg´s talk was great with the 6 points that I loved! He was bold and great! All were great and helped answer some questions and make me better when I apply them!

I like how Tad R. Callister talked about the importance of dedicating time to our family. That is big! That was a big theme, family and how parents can help their kids, like family prayer and study and family home evening! I liked Tad´s talk because it reminded me of the oldies song ¨Little boy blue and the Man on the Moon¨ and how that song is sad but good. We don´t want to be like that though haha.

Elder Nelson gave a great testimony of the prophet, which was another theme (prophets called of God today). They also talked about the Sacrament.

I loved E. Andersen´s example of putting on our air mask first, and that was an example I shared at the beginning of my mission in San Pedro. It was cool to see it applied in conference!

This week I also found a favorite scripture in Jacob 3 verse 1. ¨...Look unto God with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will console you in your afflictions and he will please your cause...¨

Very powerful and I love it so much! The Book of Mormon is great and true! Of that I know!

This week I met an Italian guy on a bus and invited him to the church page as he was on vacation. I got to talk about Italy with him with a couple Italian words, and he spoke to me in Italian slash Spanish. It was cool though!

I got the package from the Mesa park YW. Thanks a ton! It was super great and arrived just in time for conference! Wahoo!!

Today we played some soccer and cleaned the house. Now we are emailing then we will rest a little before teaching! We are still searching for families to teach. We have some but we hope they will keep progressing. We have had trouble lately with getting people to church, and only 1 investigator came to conference because it is like 25 min away walking.

Bummer RSL lost but way to go Utes. RSL will keep trucking along and make the playoffs. I have faith!

Well W of W is babosa which is snail here. My comp likes to fake fist bump people then make it look like a snail. It is pretty funny. Some people get mad, and others just laugh. I like it. We always try to be happy and joke around to get to know people! He is learning quickly, though sometimes it is very hard. All is well in the ¨Old Ship Zion¨ as our Prophet said!

Be safe. Lots of love to all!

--

Love,

Elder Chez Green

September 29, 2014 - Ho Ho Hello!

So the moment of truth is now...

My new companion is from....

Utah! Yep that´s right! La mata (the tree) as they call it here. He is from St. George. His name is Elder Aplanalp. He likes baseball a lot. His father served here in the DR in 1984 when there was only 1 mission here which is pretty cool.

W of Week has to do with his nickname. He said that the people here always called his dad ¨Aplandora¨ which means steamroller. Pretty cool!

Being ZL was fun but I am excited to train. The baptism was really good on Saturday! We had 3 young investigators that showed up and a lot of youth as you can see from the pictures. There were some members that made it as well, which was good. Luis David asked me to do the ordinance and then E. Aplanalp participated in the confirmation on Sunday which was cool! We are excited for him to receive the Priesthood very soon. Other than that, our investigators are not really progressing so we are on the hunt again to find those that really are prepared and ready!

Pres. came to our district meeting again which was super cool. He talked bout the importance of obeying the rules and being responsible. Then he shared the story in John 4 about Jesus and the Samaritan at the well. It is a good story and he loves it. He also talked about the importance of trainers and thanked me personally for my work as a ZL in front of everyone. It was cool but I didn´t want all that attention on me.

The trainers meeting went really well in the capital last Tuesday. I learned a lot and I can really see why Pres. only wants the best and most obedient to train. I am doing my best to be as obedient as possible!

I have enjoyed these days and have really seen the hand of the Lord. We have been trying to talk to almost anyone in the street and have found a lot of less actives and some new people through that. We are putting in practice what Pres wants and we have seen the blessings!

A bummer that The Utes lost by a point and that RSL also lost.

Conference this Saturday and Sunday! Make sure you all get questions ready so the Lord can answer them through his servants. I am excited. We may be able to see it in Spanish but I am not sure. We will see!

Wow I didn´t know that the speakers can give their talk in their native tongue! That is super cool but interesting. Now when I get home I will have to have a feed in Spanish and in English. 

Well that is all for now. I love you all!

--

Love,

Elder Chez Green

---

September 22, 2014 - Voy a Entrenar!

Hi Family,

Well I have some biggish news! As you could see from the title (for the Spanish speakers) I am going to be training a new Elder coming in. I will stay in my area here in Valiente. That means I am being relieved as Zone Leader. It was a good experience, and a fast one as well. But I learned a lot and now I am on to a new learning experience of helping a new Elder adapt and learn! They changed where the ZL´s live now. I didn´t expect it but I look forward to it! Pres. said that training a new missionary is the most important assignment in the mission and that is why he changed us from ZL to trainers. He also did it with his last 2 assistants and a lot of other ZL´s. I am excited and nervous as well. It will be a good experience for sure. E. Palomino will also be training for his last two transfers. E. Palomino and I were together for a transfer and a half, so about 2 months.

Today for pday we bought a nice lunch, washed clothes and printed photos. The lunch was meat and fritos and mondongo (mashed fried plantain with a garlic butter sauce. My first time eating it. So good!). A good meal and a little pricey at 700 pesos for the both of us but we got 400 pesos cause we won the raffle in the mission! Wahoo!

The baptismo for Luis David is planned for Saturday at 5pm. We are looking forward to it! He is super ready for baptism and to receive the Priesthood. We are excited for him. Most of the rest of our investigators are not progressing so with my new comp we will be on the hunt once again!

WoW is telaraña which is spiderweb.

I am having some pants made for me that fit better and look great. Hopefully by next week!

The room we went in, in the temple is called the sala de asambleas solemnes in Spanish. I am not sure in English.

Awesome RSL won. The other day it was cloudy and a little breezy and I got thinking about how I truly miss watching the RSL games and going to Utah Ute games as well. As I really miss sports some days but all is well. I am enjoying it here. It is pouring rain as we speak. I hope all my clothes don´t get too wet. We will see ha-ha!

Pres. also announced that we will be able to go to the temple more often! Wahoo! The Preparation Days are changing and the rules are getting more strict (following the ¨White Bible¨now like we should) but it shouldn't be too bad. They just don´t want us to travel super far and they don´t want us to be in large groups. It is all good though!

We will see tomorrow who my new comp is, coming from the MTC. We had our council with Pres. Corbitt and it was super enjoyable. I loved it a lot. He taught us more about the Atonement which was super cool. We also talked about how we can make the mission even better.

Well I think that is all. Take care everyone! Lots of love!

Love,

Elder Chez Green

September 15, 2014 - Hello All!

I hope life is going well. Today has been a day of cleaning and getting things prepared for tomorrow at the Leader´s meeting. The sacrifices we make as leaders, but all is well! We got some nice rain today which was good, though it makes it a lot more humid.

So last Tuesday was amazing. We got to attend the temple! Wow such a great experience. I am grateful to have one so close to my mission, and in the country I am serving! So before we entered for the session, we enjoyed a message from the temple President and our Mission President. We got to meet together in the Solemn Assembly Room in the temple (in Spanish salón de semblellas I believe) This temple is one of 12 that have the room. It was a privilege and may be the only time I get to enter in a room such as that.

The session was very spiritual. I felt as though I received personal revelation and I understand a lot better the Gospel in certain aspects. The temple is so beautiful inside as always and it was a great experience. I will try to send pictures or photos another day, as I took a lot.

I have been studying a lot lately and I finished Reading the Joseph Fielding Smith book for Sunday school this year (in Spanish of course!) I am now Reading the Liahona and Jesús the Christ!

The Hodson Herald was fun to check out really quick!

Well we have a new baptism date for Luis David. He wants to be baptized the 27th of September, and he is progressing so fast that we are working for that now. He is more responsible then a lot of the youth members in the branch. The Leaders here all say he acts like a member so we are excited for him to keep improving and learning more!

This week E. Palomino and I took over for the mutual because the leaders didn´t show up and or tell someone in advance. We shared a message from For the Strength of Youth and played a game. It was enjoyable and we feel like it was worth it. We are trying our best to help the Valiente Branch here.

So transfers are next week. We will see but I am pretty sure that E. Palomino is going to leave. That will be sad but that is for next week!

Awesome Aunt Kathi got to ride in a Hot Air Balloon! Way cool! Sounds like something enjoyable for sure!

W of the Week is año. Yep year. Because I completed a year. Time flies wow. We went to the district meeting in Frailes (our zone is splint in two meetings because it is so big). We enjoyed it and feel like the Sister missionaries are improving a lot.

This week I read the talk ¨His Grace is Sufficient¨ and wow it is so great. I recommend that everyone take time to read it. He explains the Atonement and grace so perfectly. Read it!

Well I love you all. Be safe and we will talk next week! Our house is nice and clean which is great. I also have clean clothes!

Be safe, and remember ¨Good afternoon, good evening and goodnight!¨

Love Chez!

Aka

Elder Green