Los Molinos 4 - Toilet installation and Marriages

Los Molinos 4 - Toilet installation and Marriages

After so many letters home, sometimes it's difficult to think about how to start the letters I'm sending.

We had all week to work in our own area which is such a blessing! It's super nice to be able to just focus on your own investigators and their progress in the Gospel.

We've been leaving a LOT of responsibility with the members here. We've developed a super good relationship with them over these past 4 weeks and the majority of the people we're working with have now been references from Family Home Evenings and activities that the members themselves put on. It really makes the searching a lot easier and the lessons are 1000 times more powerful. We're really seeing miracles from it.

We had a service project and we installed a toilet at the house of a member which may not sound hard but let me tell you. First off, we had to take a bunch of dirt and rocks and everything to fill in the empty bathroom, then we had to dump out like a ton of concrete onto the floor, mix it around by shovel and then take it all and put it over where we installed the toilet. Let's just say I don't know how the workers here make it look like a piece of cake. 'Cause I was burnt outttt!!!  But it always feels good to lend a helping hand to someone in need.

We have two marriages coming up. We'll be seeing the Samboi Sierra family get married tomorrow and we're super excited. Elkins wife Victoria was reactivated in church yesterday and we're working with her sister and her family now too. Angelina is doing well and her family is slowly becoming more receptive to the message we're sharing. They'll be coming to her baptism so we'll see the effect that will have on their family. Enrique is strong in the things he's learned in the church. He got a job at a call center where the workers usually have to work on Sundays. When we heard it we were a bit devastated until he told us he said to his boss that he wasn't gonna work on Sundays. He still got the job though and they're gonna work it all out. Really touching to see his desire and faith in what we're teaching. And Preciado is just struggling as always with his health and his family but he told us that he knows that it's Satan trying to discourage him from making the decision he's gonna make this Saturday. All in all, we're seeing small mercies from God with this area and I'm loving every second working here.

I hope you all have a great week and that you let your loved ones know how much you care about them.

Elder Graff

Omni 1:26 

Los Molinos 3 - Great week

Los Molinos 3 - Great week - Pres. Corbitt, Elder Guzman, Samoi Sierra Family

What a week!

We had interviews with President on Thursday. He's such an inspired man and it's really cool how with just a couple words and advice, he can give you this motivation and peace that's hard to explain sometimes. He helped me with some answers I needed and more importantly how to end my time here in the mission on a high note and do everything I can to take advantage of this important part of my 2 years.

Oh, you know -- just the cliché picture of my comp with Elder Lopez and Elder Carillo after Internet time last week because, hey ... sunset!

 

And that's exactly what we're doing right now. Elder Guzman and I are trying to dedicate our all in the area of Los Molinos. It's gigantic, actually one of the areas where the mission is thinking about putting bikes in. Cause we walk like machines here. It'd be sweet to get a bike but the whole helmet head thing and the CRAZY motorcyclists might not be too fun. But we'll see how it all turns out. 

 

The hill from "down below" - you know, H-E-double hockey sticks?

 

Ayways, we set a marriage date with the Samboi Sierra family in the marriage office this week for the 26th. They're progressing really well towards the 30th which is a Noche Blanca we'll be having as a whole mission. In every zone, all the missionaries are trying to prepare as many people as they can so they can end their time as investigators and officially become members of the Church on the same night. Really cool.

 

We're also trying to put another marriage date with the Rosado Family, the parents of a returned missionary. They're so happy and the dad before the lesson we had with them on Thursday actually proposed to his "girlfriend of more than 20 years" haha. They're so happy and we're just getting everything figured out with the papers and birth certificates.

A SUPER good lunch we all made. Chopped and grilled chicken with lasagna sauce, green olives, and a bunch of other spices and whatever we could find. Even though it cost us a BUNCH of money, it's completely worth it - even if we have to live off black beans and rice for a couple days  :,)

We also got a PREPARED reference from Santiago two weeks ago named Angelina. We've been teaching her and her family (mother and older brother). We had an intensly spiritual lesson with them about family history work.  Now the son - maybe together with the mother - are gonna be coming to church next week.

An exchange we had with Elder Celaya and Elder Daniels in Valiente. Super sweet. A lot of planes are heard because it's right next to the airport so, ya' know, during the lessons whenever I heard jet engines I tried not to look up or get distracted. Seeing planes is a great way to either 1) get super, super motivated or 2) end up thinking about home for the rest of the day.

 

I'm just happy that things are turning out the way they have been. The mission is changing. And even though we went through a very difficult patch for a while, we're seeing the results of the obedience and hard work we're putting in. 

Love you guys. Have a great week.

Elder Graff

We decapitated a HUGE centipede during Sunday lunch with a member family. We were all eating together at the table talking and just having a good time and luckily I saw this guy booking it at the feet of the father. I forgot in the moment how to say "centipede" and so I just started yelling "Ten cuidado" and pointing like a missionary of 4 months. He lifted up his foot just in time to save him from a trip to the hospital cause these things are super poisonous. But everything turned out good and the rice tasted even better.

Los Molinos 2 - I Love Los Molinos

 Los Molinos 2 - I Love Los Molinos

How about that buzz cut though? Heard that there's this thing called a selfie stick that people use to take selfies. Don't think I need it though with my orangutan arms. 

Well,it's official. I love Los Molinos. 

It honestly reminds me so much of Boca Chica and the people are super, super receptive. Sure there's the hard days but we're working smart and teaching more with the members. We found a ton of new people, including a family of a recently returned missionary that are super prepared. It's been so cool just in these last two weeks to see their desire. They're planning on getting married soon, we think at least from what we've heard. We'll be teaching about the Law of Chastity, the "big lesson" haha, on Wednesday. But we think that this time around they're going to do it. Because it's been crazy to see how much they've changed from the testimony they have of the Gospel now. 

We took a 2 hour trip we took to La Romana, the farthest zone in the mission to do an exchange with Elder Breshears (who was in the house with me in Boca Chica) and Elder Blunt from my group. It was the first time I had been to what they call "campo" which is super rural. There are wild horses that cross the road and a lot of people live in basically nothing. Really humbling to see but a super cool group of people with STORIES to tell.

 

ELDER BRESHEARS -the one and only -straight from the potato fields of Idaho. Honestly had one of the best days of my mission with this guy.

We've also been working with the Del Vier family a bit. They were a family that Elder Guzman and his companion found about a week before I came to the area. The father is a "metaphysician" or something like that (don't really know the translation from Spanish). But basically he believes in things like reincarnation and focuses on the unseen spiritual aspect of life. He was having a hard time feeling the Spirit and noticing when the Spirit was present. So Elder Guzman and I prayed our hearts out and prepared a really powerful lesson with Brother Benaut from Haiti. That man has a testimony of gold. Right after we ended with a prayer, Luis kind of stopped for a little and we could tell something was happening. And that's when he told us, "I feel it." He described to us that every lesson he kind of felt that way. But that this time, he noticed. Almost as if it was a current running through his body in his words, he felt the confirmation that what we were saying is true. He LOVES the plan of Salvation now and instead of seeing the differences in our religion, he's noticing the common ground. And how the message we're teaching him will bring him and his family something more. Him and his wife both accepted to be baptized on the 20th of February. It won't be easy and I'm sure there will be plenty of hurdles we'll have to get over with all the people we're teaching. But we're seeing the miracles in the mission and in our area. We're teaching by the inspiration of God. And that's really how it should be.

David and Goliath (aka Elder Lopez and "Junior"). Just like in the Bible, David won. 

I testify that this church is true. I love serving the Lord and it honestly gives me more than the little sacrifices I may be giving. I hope you all have a great week - and my email box is always open because I don't exactly have any other way to say "what's up" haha.

 

Elder Graff

Family Home Evening with the family of the returned missionary. We played a game called "Little Cute Cat" which sounds super weird and it kind of is but it's hilarious. We got the idea from the bishop. It's basically where someone in the room starts off imitating a cat and the first person to laugh has to be the cat. Super simple but when we got done with the lesson and we were waiting for the refreshments we played it and I was crying I was laughing so hard.

That buzz cut though. I got the first buzz of my entire life from a barber (who had tripped out when I asked him to cut with scissors because he didn't know how to). So instead, he just shaved all my hair off. But it's cool   :)

 

 John 16:13 "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into ALL truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that he shall speak: and he will shew you things TO COME".

Los Molinos 1 - New Area / New Companion

Los Molinos 1 - New Area / New Companion Elder Guzman
 

The most tears I've shed in a long time

Happy New Years! Hope everyone had a great time with the family and everything and that everyone got home safe.  So like I said last week I got transferred.  Now I'm in Los Molinos with a studly companion Elder Guzman from Nicaragua. Our area is gigantic. We honestly should have bikes 'cause we probably walk on a good day like 9 to 10 miles. BUT I LOVE IT. We're working so hard and trying to be as good of friends as we possibly can with all of the members. They're ready to work and I honestly feel super good about the work we're gonna do. 

The baptism of Emmanuel, the son of recent converts in the ward of Espaillat. Really cool family and people I will definitely be visiting again soon

 

We're gonna be setting up a marriage this week! We had a super powerful lesson with the bishop with a couple that Elder Guzman and his companion just had barely started teaching. It was awesome. And they're super excited to get married. Really prepared family. We're also working with a young guy named Enrique who's 19 years old. He was "Aventista", but he came to church yesterday and loved it. We played baseball with him and a bunch of the single adults this morning and it was super cool. He's really good friends with a lot of people from the ward now which is an important part for him. I "balled out" too (for not having playing serious baseball in about 11 months - haha). Still throwing decent. 

BASEBALL 2K16 ya tu sabes bateando como un loco. Jugé en las grandes ligas cuando tenía catorce años, pana.

But I had such a good New Year's Eve and Christmas. Really no better way to spend it than being a missionary! I've set some great personal goals and I'm so ready to end my mission out with a bang, working hard until the last second. I know this time of my mission is when I can bless the lives of many more people. I know the language, I've improved my teaching, and with the help of God and the Holy Ghost, I know that this Ward can grow. 

 

Love you guys and hope you all have a great week.

Elder Graff