Boca Chica 3 - Happy Thanksgiving

Boca Chica 3 - Happy Thanksgiving 

Hola familia!!!!

         Hey guys hope everyone is having an awesome holiday season and enjoying this week before Thanksgiving. Things down here in La Republica Dominicana are awesome as ever. We have a lot of really great investigators that just need time and need to keep their commitments and we should have a lot of people ready to be baptized in December but it's all a matter of time and if they really want to change as of right now. But I'm doing really good. Losing weight fast but doing really, really good. I couldn't be happier. This week was pretty long and hard cause a lot of our appointments fell through but we did some contacting and found some other awesome individuals and families. The people here are such a loving and religious people. It's really different than the U.S., it truly is. Literally everyone wants to hear about Christ down here. 95% of the people down here believe there is a God and whether they want anything to do with our church, they ALWAYS want to hear a message about the Person who has given them everything - which isn't much. The people here really have changed my perspective on life. They've blessed me in ways I never thought they would and I'm really developing an overwhelming love for everyone I meet.

        But on a different note, it's actually starting to cool down here in the DR. And by cool down I mean it's like 85 instead of 92. Which down here people are busting out the "chaquetas" and sweaters which is crazy cause I'm still sweating like a dog. But I've really began to appreciate the blessing of cars down here cause we walk EVERYWHERE. We walk probably about 8 miles every day and I'm so glad my shoes are still holding up! But today was probably the best day that I've had on the mission. On Sunday, these white people came to church and to our sacrament meeting. And as you can guess we were dumbfounded because I haven't seen a white person in a month. But we got to know them and turns out that they were baseball players for the Cincinnati Reds, and the pitcher has a girlfriend that's LDS and he wants to know more about our church. REALLY cool guys. But anyways, they invited us out to their game which was today and we went. It was such an awesome facility. And it made me miss baseball so, so much. But Domincans are another breed when it comes to baseball. One of the guys we saw my first P-day when we played baseball was warming up with a softball and was pitching 91 MILES AN HOUR. I really haven't lost much of my baseball skills since I've been out here which is awesome. Me and my comp see kids playing in the street sometimes and we play with them for like 5 minutes. They play a game down here called "Batilla", which is with a big bottle cap and pipes and they flick the bottle cap and you try and hit it as far as you can, basically. It's so awesome hahaha. But the kids here are so creative when it comes to having fun. Which is why everyone can wheelie here. I swear, every time I see a kid riding by on a bike he's wheeling and he just rides it like it's nothing. But this P-day was sweet to say the least.

On a more spiritual note, one of our investigators, Alfredo is going through a really rough time. He's literally like Job out of the Bible. He doesn't have anything. Hardly a penny to his name. His family isn't there for him and he lives in a house the size of most bedrooms in America. But he is progressing so well. He doesn't have a lot but he is so strong in the gospel. He set aside time for work to come to church this week and we're really hopeful for him and his two daughters to get baptized this next month on the twentieth.

But anyways, the mission is awesome. My English is already going downhill, and my Spanish is getting better. We have so many awesome investigators and they're progressing well. But sometimes, it's really hard especially some days where a ton of appointments fall though and you walk everywhere for nothing. But God always has us on his mind. He's always there for us. He's always reaching for us. We just have to reach back. "Ask, and ye SHALL recieve. Knock, and it SHALL be opened unto you" All we have to do is ask. All we have to do is knock. I know this Gospel is true and hard, but it is not impossible. I love you all and miss you all so much and wish you the best for these upcoming holidays.

Signing off in the DR,

Elder J. Taylor Graff