Bautismo y Boda

Wow! It is crazy how much can change in just one week! It was one of the craziest, busiest, and mostexciting weeks of my mission. Manuela has been an investigator of Gazcue for a LOT of time. Her whole family got baptized about a year and a half ago, but she couldn't get baptized because she had her boyfriend and wasn't married to him. He never wanted to get married, but they stayed together. On Tuesday we went to go visit her and she told us the GOOD NEWS! Her and Fabio (her boyfriend) had finally decided to get married! We decided we needed to get them married before either of them

Fabio and Manuela's wedding

changed their mind...haha so we talked to the assistants immediately and started getting everything together for them to get married. We put the appointment for Saturday morning and the baptism for saturday night! The whole week we were preparing for the wedding and baptism (we bought rings for them, talked to members, EVERYTHING. IT WAS CRAZYYYY) Saturday morning came and the appointment was for 10 am. They were going to meet us at the church and then go to the junta (I don't know what to call it in english. the place to get married) together. We got there at like 9 and waited for them. It got to be like 9:30 and they still hadn't showed up! We called

and they said they were on their way. So we waited some more. 10:00 came and we were freaking out. We called the assistants and asked if there was any way we could call the junta and put the cita for 11:00. The lawyer guy said he would wait until 11, but if we weren't there, he was going to leave. We walked to Manuela's house and they were outside the house just waiting for her friend. We were like, no, we need to go. So we started walking and luckily we met up with her friend. We got into a guagua that told us that they were passing by the metro station (because we had to take the metro to get there). The guagua then went the the OPOSITE direction....it did pass by a metro station, which then we found out that it was the wrong line of metro. So long story short, we finally got onto the metro at like 10:45 and we were DYING. Freaking out because we could not be late! (i forgot to mention that we had Hna Steed with us because her companion was going home, so it was me and hna ferrer and hna steed with the family) Things happened and then it ended up being hna steed and i RUNNING to the junta, because it was like 11:15. We got there at 11:30ish sweating, panting, and really gross. They were all leaving, so we got there JUST IN TIME. Then we got them to preform the marriage, but Manuela forgot her ID, which

you CANNOT get married without it. Ugh. We begged and he did us a BIG favor and married them! I did not even explain a half of the crazy that happened and the miracle after miracle (Heavenly

Father was really watching over us) that we saw. I was asked to be one of the witnesses for the

Manuela's baptism

wedding, which was really cool! Then Manuela called me the Godmother...haha! Then later in the night, Manuela got baptized! We called this story a different version of 17 miracles :)  

Estela still needs a little more time to really make the decision to be baptized. But she's doing really well! She brought mangoes to church for us! YUM! 

Well, Love you ALL! Hope you all had the best week ever!

Hermana Lawrence

More adventures!

So this week was so good! We had zone conference (last one with the Corbitt's) which was

Hermana Lawrence translating

AMAZING. It was separated into 3 days to accomadate all of the missionaries. The first day I translated for Hna Corbitt. It was my first time translating, and lets just say translating is harder than it looks. Having to keep up with everything is difficult, but we survived! haha It got better when I translated a different day. Its really a talent that some people have! We saw a video that Presidnet and Hermana Smith made for all of us. There were people crying, just a lot of really mixed feelings because we all love the Corbitts, but we are all praying and already love the Smith's. In the zone conferences, We talked about la Fe Exceptional (president corbitt's favorite topic, and mine as well!) We talked about how we need to see our investigators already dressed in white, which now is a daily thing for me. It's funny because Sunday we got to church a little early and only one lady was there. We didn't know her so we went to go talk to her and she told us it was her first time at church. Later I

leaned over to Hna Ferrer and told her that Santa Julia (the woman) was already baptized in my mind.

Later we came to find out that, yes, she actually already is baptized. She is a menos activo that just moved into our area and a friend from work invited her to come back to church. She cried all through sacrament meeting and then later that night we went to go visit her and she cried all through that as well. She has wanted to come back to church for so long and she finally did and felt the spirit so stongly. It was fast and testimony meeting, but the majority of the testimonies given were 70's and really prestigious people (apparently in Gazcue we get a lot of visitors like that....) so the meeting was super great!

We've been working with an investigator named Estela. She's the mom of a member and she accepted to be baptized this week! She only has a couple of doubts about how she sells coffee. She doesn't drink any, but she wants to be completely clean of this before she gets baptized, which we understand. It's good to see that she really wants to change and leave behind everything. I love her so much! And her daughter, Dulce :)

We went to the Acuarium for P-Day! My favorite part was seeing the Sea! haha I still cannot believe that I live in such a beautiful place!

I also decided to de-frost the freezer this week, which then turned into a snowball fight....It's been a while since that has happened in my life and I really didn't think it would happen in Republica Dominicana! haha

I love you all so much! (sorry my email is tuesday, pero ya ustedes sabe que la officina es loca) haha. Hope you all have the best, BEST week ever!

Hermana Lawrence

Estoy en Officina y Garzcue

Hermana Lawrence y Hermana Ferrer (front)

Hermana Silva Y Hermana Morales (back)

Wow! Lets just say a LOT has changed in this past week. I currently have 3 companions: Hermana Ferrer is my main companion. She is part Puerto Rican and part Chilean, but she speaks english perfectly! Hermana Silva is from Brasil and Hermana Morales is from Nicaragua. The two of them have health problems, so they can't proselyte but they are training Hna Ferrer and I in the office. They are ending their mission in two weeks and then it will just be hermana ferrer and I as hnas in the office. We work in the office 9am-5pm and then we proselyte from 5-9. We have been SUPER busy in the office this week! The whole mission is getting new phones and the phone companies messed up so we've been figuring that all out! So I'm not in the real jungle right now, but everyone is calling the office "the jungle" so you could say that I am still in one! haha 

Hna Ferrer and I have been  a little stressed because we're white washing the area, it's a super difficult area, we're both new hermana leaders, we're both new to the office and everything. Balancing between proselyting (we're still expected to have a normal amount of baptisms) and the office is still taking an adjustment. But all is good! I am excited to be here, and we are still able to see miracles. But it's true, being in Gazcue is a lot different than Yamasa! But I am still going to enjoy it!

I love you all! I love being a missionary and being able to share the wonderful message of the restoration with everyone! You all can be missionaries too!

Hermana Lawrence

Translados

I love Yamasa!

Transfers! I have actually known my transfer (kind of) for like 3 weeks now.

I´m going to the mission office to be an Office Hermana. I´ve known that for a while, but on Saturday night President Corbitt called (always a heart attack when you see his name on the phone) and told me I´m also going to be an Hermana Leader. Hna Jones is staying here in Yamasa as an Hermana Leader too!

Yesterday I bore my testimony in Sacrament meeting and I started crying. Like I always do. And then later in the afternoon we had consejo de Rama and the President of the Rama asked if I was sad. I said yes, and that Yamasa will always have a little piece of my heart. They all got a good kick out of me saying that...haha

I have a really big announcement! After 4ish weeks without normal functioning water in our house...WE HAVE WATER! A guy finally came and fixed it! haha

The Family De Leon are doing really well! They are progressing so well! We moved their baptismal date to June so they can get married and everything, but they are reading their books of mormon and going to church! We love them with all of our hearts. They are the sweetest people ever! 

Bartolina (the one from last week with the broken arm) and Yoly (her daughter) are doing so well! Yoly came to church with us yesterday and LOVED it! Whoo!

Well, I am super sad to leave Yamasa and the jungle, but I am excited for a new adventure in the office.

Love you all!

Hermana Lawrence

The missionary apartment in Yamasa

My area in Yamasa

My area in Yamasa

Baptisms!

Hermana Lawrence, Hermana Jones, Jenny and Franchesca

A great week! Jenny and Franchesca finally got baptized! On Wednesday they had their interviews. The Elder told us that they were the best interviews that he has ever done! That they knew so much and the spirit was so stong! That´s always good to hear about your converts :) Then on Saturday the baptism was supposed to start at 6:00, so we got there at 5:30 to set up and make sure all was good. The two of them were already at the church ready to go! We helped them change into their white jumpsuits and they ¨loved¨them haha. They did a little fashion show for us. We didn´t start the baptism until 7:15 because, lets be real, we´re in the Dominican

Republic. But it was so good! We sang Jenny´s favorite hymn to start (48-Divina Luz)(The song we sang in her first lesson) Franchesca was baptized first and when she was leaving the font she yelled ¨Me siente bien!¨ and then Jenny was baptized and she didn´t want to leave the water! She started swimming around a bit before all the water drained. We ended with Franchesca´s favorite hymn (100-Dios Bendícenos) Then Sunday they were both confirmed! It was also fast and testimony meeting so they both got up and shared their testimonies about their baptisms. They both said it was the best day of their lives and they are sooooo excited to be members :) I know that they are going to be members firmes for their whole lives! They´re already being major influences in the conversions of other people.

For example, Jenny told us that she had a reference for us: one of her friends named Ray Joemi. We met him and she asked when he could be baptized. We put the fecha with him right there. And then she was explaining the book of mormon to him and everything. EVERYTHING. It might have been a little overwhelming to him how much info Jenny was giving to him. haha So he now has a baptismal date for the 3rd of June! He was in church yesterday and loved it!

On Friday morning we were walking to go to a cita when we passed by a woman carrying some groceries. She had a broken arm. I had the distinct thought ¨help her¨ but we were already late to the cita so I brushed it off.(stupid hermana lawrence...) (later Hna Jones and I were talking and she had the same feeling) We passed by only saying hello, but then she asked us for help. I was embarassed that she had to ask, but all turned out well. We went to her house with her and we got talking to her and it turns out her son, who died four years ago, was a member! And her daughter wants to get baptized! And so many miracles! I´m still learning everyday to follow the promptings of the spirit haha

Well, love you all so much! Hope you all have the best weeeek evvveeerr!

Hermana Lawrence

Que passo con la lluvia?! (What happened to the rain?)

Hermana Jones y Hermana Lawrence

I want the rain back...now it is really hot...Count your many blessings! Haha

We had a misión activity on Friday night. We played games and had food. There were like 15ish investigators there! Really, really good turn out! The familia De León was there and they loved it! The food was weird. We planned with our misión leader that we would have pizza, but for some reason that fell through (probably because the pizza had to come from the capital because there are no pizza places in Yamasa) but we had hot dogs with cabbage on top and a cheese sauce....I have to admit that I didn´t try it..but yeah. I did try Malta Morena this week for the first time. It´s a super popular Dominican drink...IT IS DISGUSTING. I wanted to throw up. But I couldn´t say I didn´t like it because people were watching me...

We´ve been working with Antony, Jenny and Alejandro´s cousin and this week his whole family accepted to be baptized on the 3rd of June! It´s a mom, and three kids. They´re super cute!

We had stake conference yesterday and it was soooo great! The speakers were President Corbitt and his wife, The Temple president and his wife, and Elder Martínez (Area president or something like that I think...) and his wife. SOOOOOO goooooood.

Jenny and Franchesca are getting BAPTIZED this week! I am so excited and they are so ready. They already have a count down of days until their baptism and they tell us every time we see them! I love them so much!

We had a zone activity today in the Parque Mirador Norte. I think its like a national park or something...It was pretty. But I live in the jungle...so It was about the same haha

Love you all so much! I´m sorry my emails are terrible. Maybe someday I´ll try to improve haha

Hermana Lawrence  

Still raining...

Jostin, Alejando, and Hermana Lawrence

Hermana Jones, Hermana Lawrence, Jenny and Franchesca

Yep. Still raining. Yesterday we went to go visit investigators where you have to cross a bridge...the bridge was GONE because the river was so full and then it got washed away...haha we found a way across, though :)

We had conferencia de zona. IT WAS SOOO GREAT. I´m going to miss Pte Corbitt and Hna Corbitt so much! They´re the best! That day was quite the adventure, though. We left the house at 6:00 in the moring to get to the office on time and then we didn´t get back to the house until 9:30, but we arrived safely and that´s all that matters haha

I lost our phone. I don´t know how. But Hna Jones and I have heard stories about hnas that didn´t call their district leader and then president went to their house to find them. We didn´t want that to happen, so after an hour trying to find someone´s phone number from the mission to call (how do we not have anything written down..?) we were able to call and we have a phone that we´re borrowing.

WE FOUND A FAMILY THIS WEEK AND THEY ALL ACCEPTED TO GET BAPTIZED. They Familia D´Leon. It´s a mom, dad, and 3 girls 8, 10, and 13 years old. They all came to church yesterday, loved it and then we went to go teach them yesterday night and they accepted to be baptized the 27th of May! They are the cutest family and I am so excited for them! They´re going to be sealed together someday!!!

So the picture of the phone may not seem much to you all, but to me, It is everything. I´ve literally read the message 30 times. It´s what Franchesca sent President (of the rama) the morning her dad signed the paper. Maybe you can´t understand it....but it´s probably my favorite picture :)

Jenny is doing absolutely fantastic as well! She´s more a member than people that are already baptized. Her and Franchesca are super exctited. Really they could be baptized right now, but just for scheduling conflicts, we are waiting until the 13th :)

Love you all so much! 

Hermana Lawrence

This is a bridge we have to climb over to proselyte

I bought scripure cases! I LOVE THEM,

except I asked for the Ogden temple and if you look closely, it says Oquir Mountain temple...oh well.