Boca Chica 14 - Happy Birhday Momma Bear!

Boca Chica 14 - Happy Birhday Momma Bear!  

So first off to start off my big group email for this week, I want to give a HUGE shout out to my mom today, on the 16th of February, for her birthday!! She's turning 25 today (or something like that) so if you see her in these next few days, give her a huge hug from her Dominican son for me ok? I LOVE YOU MOM.

A picture of all the elders that live in our house when we were at the church activity on Wednesday.

So this week went really well over in Boca Chica. We were super busy and it was hard to get everything in with everything that was going on but we had a great week.

 

First off, Maria and German got married. We went to the marriage office out in the depths of Boca Chica on Wednesday with them and all her sons to see the marriage. It was such an awesome experience and I got to sign the witness testament and marriage papers which was AWESOME. It was just so cool to see how happy her sons were and the entire family. It was an experience that I'll never forget. Then, on Friday Maria had her baptismal interview so the zone leaders had to come down from their area to do it and they told us she was ready so that was another great day.

 Maria and German the day of the wedding in the office laughing at some joke that I probably didn't get cause it was in Spanish

My sig on a legal document in the DR which is pretty legit. 

Saturday, Elder Mendez and I had to leave our area for a baptismal interview in the morning for the zone leaders and then that night we had the celebration of the marriage at the church. THE CELEBRATION WAS LEGIT!!!! The whole ward helped to set it up and her entire family tree basically came to the event. It was set up perfectly and it was just such a great night. She's planning on getting baptized in 5 days and we're just working with her and her family to make sure she's ready and that we can get as much of her family to be there as possible.

 The set up of the wedding celebration and I was SUPRISED when I saw how good the decorations were. The members in our ward are awesome and we're going to try and make brownies with the "oven" we have to thank them haha.

THE CAKE. Looked a lot better than it tasted, but it was still the best cake I've tried here in the DR to date.  The DR doesn't exactly have Coldstone or a professional bakery on deck.

But other than that, things are going pretty regularly here. We're finding a lot of other people and we talked to two families this week that both say their going to come to the baptism.  We're really hoping we can use this upcoming Saturday with Maria as an opportunity to find other people to teach.

 

My last half of my letter I want to dedicate to my mother. During these last few days in my studies in the scriptures, I've really been focusing on the subject of family and the home. I know it's kind of weird I guess for an 18 year old kid to be focusing on that stuff this early but just with everything going on with Maria and her family and my moms birthday I've really been focused on that. And I found a story and a scripture that i want to share real quick. The first one is in Alma 57 in the Book of Mormon. In this chapter, 2000 kids or the sons of Helaman are preparing to tear it up in a war to defend their homes and lands. But they aren't nervous at all. For me that kind of shocked me how they could be so calm before they are about to lay down their lives at such a young age. But in verse 21, I found out why they were so focused and not afraid.

This verse is happening during the middle of the war and it says "Yea, and they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness; yea, and even according to their faith it was done unto them; and I did remember the words which they said unto me that THEIR MOTHERS HAD TAUGHT THEM"

The reason they had so much confidence going into battle is because they'd be taught and prepared for what they were going into since they were born. Through strong parents and a good home, they developed the kind of skills and confidence necessary for what they were about to do. And it's true. If we listen to the things our parents tell and teach us and try our best to do everything "with exactness" unto the Lord, we'll be blessed. And even though we might have tough times, we'll be strong enough to live through those tough times and receive the blessings of our trials.

A HUGE rain storm hit Boca Chica for about 2 hours and the streets were literally lakes.

It was awesome

I'm so grateful for the family and the blessings this Gospel has brought to my life and the lives of the people I'm teaching here in the DR.   I love you guys and hope you're all doing good and that you're enjoying life in the Red White and Blue.

Cuidense mucho,

Elder J. Taylor Graff

D&C 88:119 "Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God."