Boca Chica 16 - Handwritten Letter

Boca Chica 16 - Handwritten Letter

This is a letter that Taylor wrote home last week to the family.  When we emailed back and forth, he said that we could share it on his Twitter and Blog for other friends and extended family.  We really like the interesting insights into his daily experience.  Hope you enjoy:

 

 

 

Boca Chica 15 - God Works Miracles

God Works Miracles!

So this week was one of those weeks that makes all of the hard times in the mission - or times when things just aren´t going your way - worth it.
 

Maria de la Cruz was baptized on Saturday. Let me tell you, it wasn´t just a normal, peaceful, stress-free day. It was really, really stressful. First off, it was DUMPING rain all day long. It hasn´t rained in a while here and the people were really scared because they need the rain to survive. So their prayers were answered on Saturday, the day of the baptism. We had to clean up the baptismal font and make sure everything was in order and still get in teaching the lessons we had for the day. Some problems at the church made it hard to clean and fill the font too so that added to the stress of it all. But at 430, when my old comp or "dad" Elder Tate arrived to see the baptism we had it all figured out .  And so, "mojado hasta los huesos" (or completely soaked), we went back to the house to change and get ready. It was so awesome to see my old companion Elder Tate and it was really cool that the President gave permission for him to come back to see her baptism.
 

The baptism was an amazing experience. One of the most spiritually-edifying things I´ve had the pleasure to be a part of on the mission. Elder Tate gave a great talk on how God can change us and one of the sisters gave a really spiritual thought on baptism. And then I actually sang a solo, or kind of.   Maria had asked me before the baptism if I would be able to sing at her baptism, because we always sing a hymn to start off the lessons (at least we do with everyone we are comfortable teaching and where we have had a little time together, 'cause it´s a little awkward doing it when out contacting).  Anyway, she wanted me to sing. And so she picked the song "I Need Thee Every Hour". So I started to sing, and then the whole ward that was there just started singing along. It was awesome. Even though I didn´t really sing a solo, I´m glad I didn´t do it alone because the Spirit was way stronger with us singing together. But anyways, the baptism went great and it was another amazing thing to see her receive the gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday.
 

But with all of this happening, it´s really made me think and ponder on how God works. In the mission, I´ve had people that we've been teaching and that I thought were golden. People that had a perfect situation to become a member of the church. And then I´ve had others that were in tougher situations. And it has really surprised me who progresses. It really doesn´t have a correlation hardly at all with the starting situation of the person. It´s all about the Will of God. God has sent me here to affect the people I need to through the Spirit that we have as missionaries. Like it says in Luke 1:37 "through God, nothing is impossible." And it´s true. Everyone can change. Everyone is a Son or Daughter of God. And it doesn´t matter where someone lives, what race they are, or where they might be in their lives when they first hear this message, everyone can change. I know this message and church is true and I´m grateful for the influence of it in my life.
 

Also, if everybody could have a prayer in their hearts for my wonderful grandmother Raelene Brown who is battling with a difficult situation right now, that´d mean the absolute world to me. I love you Grandma and you´re loved and prayed for by many every day.

Elder J. Taylor Graff

 

 

P.S. -- I don't have time to send any pictures this week because we have to be back in the house in 5 min but I will send a lot next week. This place is really dangerous too for sending them 'cause it has a ton of viruses and pics get erased really easy here so just know that I love you guys and that Grandma will be in my prayers daily and in my thoughts and heart always.

Your Dominican Son,

Elder J. Taylor Graff

 

 

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."

Boca Chica 13 - I'm Convinced I Was Born in This Country

Boca Chica 13 -  I'm Convinced That I Was Born In This Country:

Hey everyone back at home what´s up?  I hope you all had a great week and just know that I found out yesterday who won the SuperBowl and I´m not too happy about it hahaha. A little late but better late then never.

 

Elder Mendez and I  --(aka Elder Chino y elder Girafa  hahaaha - "The chinese man and giraffe" which are our nicknames in the mission)

 

This week went really really well. First off, Elder Mendez is such a stud. We get along so well and he´s one of the funniest kids I´ve ever met. We work hard every day but we´re laughing about 90% of the time when we´re walking in the street cause he´s just a clown ..... but when we laugh here in a country where the people speak Spanish we laugh like this "jajajaja" instead of like this "hahahaha" !

 

But all jokes aside, our area is doing really well. Tonight we´re having our family home evening with Maria and her whole family. She´s doing so well in her progress with everything. They have the papers, the cake, her wedding dress, and we´re going in two days over to the marriage office so she can get married with German. We´re so excited and it´s gonna be awesome to see this happen because it really was only a dream about a month ago. It´s kind of crazy that two 18 and 20 year old kids are helping with the marriage and lives of a family, but it just goes to show how it´s not us and it´s God doing what he needs to do through us. She should be getting baptized on the 21st and we´re just waiting for the day.

 Maria during the lesson when she showed us the wedding rings. She loves to have the title of "My Dominican Grandmother" cause that´s what I call her sometimes hahaha. She´s legit.

 

We also have another guy we´re teaching named Martin. We contacted him in the street about a month ago. He was playing guitar and Elder Tate and I were on our way to a lesson and I just felt like I needed to talk to him even though we didn´t have a lot of time. So I asked if I could play a song on his guitar and he let me. I played and sang "El Espiritu de Dios" or "The Spirit of God" and at the end of the song, he invited us over to his house to teach him. But he was struggling with some doubts about the church and if he was ready or not to pursue the gospel and everything for all last month. So Elder Tate and I right before he left, invited him to read in the Book of Mormon and pray for an answer about his doubts and questions. Just yesterday, Elder Mendez and I visited him and he told us that he got his answer. He felt like he should read in Mosiah and he told us that "The words I read there in the stories and everything gave me my answer and I want to be a member of this Church". We invited him to be baptized and he accepted the invitation. We´re so happy about everything that´s going on and how much the Lord is blessing the people we´re teaching.

And just when I thought I wouldn´t ever see a bigger spider than the one we killed in our house about a month ago in my entire mission, we find this bad boy! In comparison, he´s about one and a fourth times bigger than my hand. We have nets though so I´m safe at least when I´m asleep haha!

After a rain strom that happened Saturday but we still left the house to teach. We just waded through water up to our shins in some places

 

About the title of my email or blog. During these past few weeks I´ve really been noticing how adjusted I am to this country and the atmosphere I´m living in. Things that I see daily that I would´ve thought were crazy if I was coming here for vacation 4 months ago are just normal life. I don´t know anything that´s going on back home really and it´s kind of weird to be so "cut off" from the world. But I´m really loving the mission. Just to realize how much I´ve been blessed. The changes you see in people and the feelings that you have as a missionary. They´re one of a kind. You can´t learn some things in this life, or it would take you a bajillion times longer to learn, without a mission. I´m grateful for the opportunity I have as a missionary and I thank each and every one of you that helped me be able to do this. I love you guys and hope all is well back home.

Until next week,

 

Elder J. Taylor Graff

A sign that I saw when a other elder and I were contacting in the capital waiting for Elder Mendez to finish with his training meeting as District leader. I swear you will only find this sign in the DR. 

 

 

Boca Chica 12 - Dominican Superbowl

Boca Chica 12 - Dominican Superbowl

Hey everybody hope you guys all had a fun time watching the SuperBowl yesterday and that the commercials were at least a little bit funny cause they were lame last year. I still don´t know what happened with the super bowl anything about it cause it´s not that big of a thing here haha. But I´m sure I´ll find out eventually.

 

But anyway, I don´t have a lot of time first off because all of the Internet centers that are close to us were full so we had to walk FAR to get to one that was open where we could write, so this letter will be pretty short and without pictures which I´m sorry about.

This week was crazy but awesome at the same time. First off, I had to say goodbye to my "dad" Elder Tate. He left early in the morning Tuesday for the capital and that goodbye was tough because we had such a good time together and he´s a stud. But I´ve heard he´s doing good over there right now. I did get a new companion though named Elder Mendez. Obviously by the name, he´s a Latin! He´s from Mexico and he has 10 months in the mission!! He´s so legit! Were really different people and we teach and think differently but we´re having an awesome time together so far. Elder Gee got a new companion too who has 7 months so we have a REALLY young house for the norm in this mission which will be interesting. 

We did have some AWESOME experiences with one of  our investigators Maria this week though. First when Elder Mendez and I went there for our lesson on Tuesday, as soon as we sat down inside she got really excited and told us they had a surprise for us. She ran and got her husband and brought out TWO MARRIAGE RINGS. Turns out that they saved up the money and got the rings, ordered pants for her husband, and they have the rest of the marriage papers. They´re getting married in 10 days and she has a date for her baptism the following Saturday on the 21 of February! We had the activity for the church at her house on Wednesday and a ton of people showed up from the Ward. The topic was "the family" and it was an awesome time.  I really think she felt the love and support that the Ward has for her which is going to help her a lot. And just last night, we went over there with a member named Neorka and had a really spiritual lesson. At the end, Elder Mendez and I felt inspired to ask Maria to share her testimony with her family about her progress and the things she now knows to be true about the gospel. It was one of the most powerful testimonies I have heard in my life. She got very emotional and just poured out all her feelings about the Church and the Savior and at the end thanked us for the Spirit and feelings that we´ve brought into her home. She is doing so well and we´re very excited for her.

That experience with her testimony really hit me hard and especially what she said about "The Spirit we have and the feelings we´ve brought into her home". It really hasn´t been anything we´ve said, done, or the friendship we have that has helped her get to this point where she is now in the gospel. It´s the TRUTHFULNESS and SPÎRIT that there is in this message. I´m so grateful for this church. I know it´s true. If I didn´t before my mission, I KNOW IT now. The changes that I have seen in myself and the lives of others has affected me and developed my testimony about this gospel so much. And I´m so grateful for the opportunity that I have to be a missionary.

All of the other people we´re teaching are doing well too and I wish I could share everything with you guys but I just don´t have the time. Just know that I´m doing awesome and that everything is fine down here. I hope you all have a good week and that everything is going well.

Hasta la proxima semana,

Elder J. Taylor Graff (Tgraff)

Boca Chica 11 - The Boca Chica "Beach Boys"

SICK picture from our run this morning. Reminds me of The Life of Pi with the boat and stuff. The DR has the best sunrises by the way.

 

Hey guys, I hope you all had a great week and that everything is going good back in the US.

 

First off, I have officially been out here for a total of four months now. It really only seems like I just got here, but at the same time it feels like I´ve been here for my entire life. "Time" is a lie on the mission and I´ve learned to just try not to focus on it, and just focus on the work and everything will turn out the way it´s supposed to.

 

So we have transfers this week and we got the call last night that my companion Elder Tate is leaving for the capital and that I´m staying here in Boca Chica and Elder Buehner is also leaving for La Victoria leaving Elder Gee and I, who both have four months, to run the area. So the "Boca Chica Beach Boys" are going into retirement. I also found out that I´m getting a Latin missionary from Mexico named Elder Mendez as a new companion.  We´ll be with each other by tomorrow morning. I´ve heard really good things about him and I´m stoked to be getting a Hispanic companion.

 

One of the pics from the temple visit last week with Elder Tate and I.

 

This week went really well. Our investigator that is progressing the most right now is Maria, who I wrote about last week. She´s been going to church for about 9 weeks straight now. I still remember when we first contacted her. Just looking at her, you would´ve never guessed that she would progress. When we talked to her for the first time about two months ago, she wasn´t interested at all and we taught her for a week and a half but she wasn´t going anywhere. So we left her for about 4 days and she came to church for the first time. We were really, really surprised so we started teaching her more and more and she has now done all the things she needs to do to be baptized besides marriage. And so these past two weeks we´ve been working really hard with her husband German to try and get this process going. She told us she started on it a week and a half ago, on the papers and everything, but usually it takes a long time because of the way the DR is set up. BUT SHE GOT HALF OF THE PAPERS THREE DAYS AGO AND SHE IS LEAVING FOR SAN PEDRO TO GET THE REST TOMORROW. So as you can guess by the all caps, we´re really excited for her cause it´s possible for her to get married and baptized these upcoming 3 weeks. It´s just helped my testimony grow so much to see the changes she´s made in her life and how much she loves the Gospel now. She´s already a strong part of the Ward and we´re having the church activity at HER house on Wednesday cause she said she wanted to. She´s become family to me and Elder Tate and I are both very excited for her.

 

Elder Tate and I again. I´m gonna miss this fool.....Everyone thinks I´m from Brazil cause of my accent and my look too - which is funny 'cause I´m as white as white gets.

 

During my time here, I´ve learned a lot. I´ve already changed so much as a person. My thoughts have changed from "what I want and what I need" to "what others are lacking in their lives". I´ve learned so much patience and love for everybody I see.  I found a scripture in my studies this week that really touched me. It´s in the Bible, in First Samuel 16:7 and it might not quote it completely right 'cause I don´t exactly carry my English scriptures with me. But it reads:

 

"And Jehova responded to Samuel "Don´t look at the image and grandness of stature, because I have forbid it, because Jehova doesn´t see how men see. Men look at what is in front of their eyes, but God looks upon the heart". 

Pic with two of our other investigators named Jose and Mary. Jose is CRAZY good at guitar and they´re both from Haiti. We´re just working on marriage for them too and they can get baptized but we´ll have to see because it´s hard for Haitians to get married due to discrimination and stuff here. But they´re such an AWESOME family.

 

I have come to learn out here - where a lot of people don´t exactly look like "church going people" - that is this true. A lot of the times, the image and quality of a person is not what´s on the outside. It´s who they are on the inside.  God loves EVERYONE. Not just those people that are perfect and doing what´s righteous right now. He wants everyone to have a chance to come back and do the things that are right. I know that He loves each and every one of us no matter our circumstances and that He wants to help us. We just have to do our part.

 

I love you guys and hope you all have a great week.

From the DR,

 

Elder Graff



Boca Chica 10 - Time is Flying

The Santo Domingo temple which - in my opinion - is the most beautiful temple in the world tied with Gilbert. It looks so much better in real life, too.

 

I don't know how it's P-day again. It seems like the P-days are kind of just coming now. I don't really anticipate it all that much anymore. Before I know it, it's already Sunday night and I just think to myself where the week went.

 

But this week was AWESOME. First off, we had the temple day on Tuesday. The temple here in the Dominican Republic is beautiful. Palm trees, tropical flowers, and the weather right now is really nice. But more than just the view and outside of the temple, the visit to the temple was exactly what I needed. It was so peaceful and it was a great experience to be in the House of the Lord with all of the other missionaries in our mission. I loved it and it really motivated me this week and just helped me to stay energized and animated, because the mission is NOT EASY. I never really understood what a mission was until I got here. I mean, I always wanted to be a missionary but I never knew how much it required. What you do, the work you're accomplishing, and how ready you have to be for the challenges and hard things that will come. There are ups and downs every week. But I'm loving my time here right now.

 

As the transfer, or these six weeks, are coming to an end, my companion Elder Tate and I are working really hard and trying to help our investigators overcome their challenges and be able to recieve the blessings of baptism and this church. But we have been focusing on one investigator in particular lately.

Elder Aplanalp and I looking about as thug as missionaries can get hahaha.

 

We have a woman named Maria that we are teaching.. She's been coming to church constantly for 7 weeks in a row now. She was a contact that Elder Tate and I had at the start of our time together. The amount she's grown and progressed in our time together is crazy. She quit alcohol, we got her discs of the Book of Mormon so she can read, and just recently we helped them set a date for her marriage with her husband. Her husband isn't really interested in listening to the message, but we had an awesome lesson with both of them about 5 days ago. He said that he would support her in her decision to become a member of the Church and so they have a date to get married for the 31st of this month and hopefully soon after she can get baptized. We're really excited for her and everything she's doing.

 

I'm seeing miracles in the lives of people that we know here every single week. As my companion and I have been working and praying and fasting for everyone we're teaching, the progression they've made is dumbfounding. God's helping us out big time and I'm having a lot of experiences out here.

 

On a side note too, we went to the beach this morning for our exercise and it was LEGIT so I'm gonna' hopefully have time to send some pics of that too.

Pic from the many beaches we have down her in Boca Chica. Every P-day we either run or take a bus out to a beach for morning study. We´re one of the only areas with a beach in our area. Our president is legit enough to allow it too as long as it´s early and the beach is empty.

 

Hope everything is going good and that everyone is loving life.

Love,

Elder Graff