Heavenly Choir

 

Hermana Romero from Honduras is one of my favorite humans - so hilarious

 

This week cruised by! We had zone conference on Tuesday and it was wonderful. Elder Zivic from the seventy spoke to us; he is also in the area presidency for the Caribbean. Let me just say we put an end to the misconception that all women can sing. They asked the Hermanas to do a special musical number. We put together The Spirit of God and practiced singing it half in Spanish, half in English. The chorus is similar so we thought it sounded good; however we didn’t practice with the instruments. Two of the Hermanas played the floute and piana. They decided to take it up a few octaves. So pretty much it was just the four of us singing The Spirit of God as high as we could.... well it was more like three singing because I was trying to compose myself the whole time to refrain from laughing. It was a disaster. I feel so bad for disturbing the ears of all the listeners especially Elder Zivic and Presidente Hernandez and their wives. And the picture I attached of Zone conference was just La Romana missionaries; there was an additional zone there that was blessed to hear our lovely voices. One elder came and found us after the conference and tried to make us feel better. Bless his heart he had the best of intentions but he told us that he admires us for our courage and when we fall we just have to learn to get back up again. All the other elders may be laughing and talking about it, but they need to learn to listen with celestial ears. Thanks elder. Made us feel worse. 

I love the district we have right now!

Gracias for the talks you sent me! I especially love Grounded, Rooted, Established, and Settled by Neal A. Maxwell. It is a reminder that we need to find meaning and purpose despite the routine of life that at times appears very mundane. It is incredibly applicable for a missionary. Every day on the mission is absolutely the same and yet very different. I am learning so much about how to gauge success and growth and to enjoy every day. Maxwell says:

 

Occasionally I see individuals who are meeting life's challenges reasonably well but who unfortunately fail to appreciate the general adequacy of their response. They let the seeming ordinariness of life dampen their spirits. Though actually coping and growing, some lack the quiet inner-soul satisfaction which can steady them. Instead they seem to experience a lingering sense that there is something more important they should be doing or that their chores are somehow not quite what was expected, as if what is quietly achieved in righteous individual living or in parenthood is not sufficiently spectacular. 

Loved this talk! Loved his analysis on how we can find meaning. Also, this week we have had a couple experiences that prove a lot of times we are planting seeds for future missionaries. One man we contacted said he had visited the church twenty years ago and could never forget some of the things he had heard about the Book of Mormon. We are now teaching him and we went to church on Sunday and loved it. There is another investigator with a similar story. Effort is never wasted. 

 

Les Quiero

Hermana Christensen

 

Dogs

 

We have one investigator progressing right now. That is we have one that is going to church. He is an older man, really tall and skinny. He loves to read and write. He has a giant satchel of all sorts of stuff he has written on notebook paper and collections of pamphlets and newspapers. He gets embarrassed to go to church because he thinks he is too skinny. He is very kind and humble. He gave me a note but it appears to be in some ancient writing so I'm going to have to find a Urim and Thummim to decifer it. Hopefully he can continue to progress.

It is official, I hate dogs. Whenever we are in certain neighborhoods that I know contain a plethera of dogs, I arm myself with a stick or rocks. Another exciting update is that Dominicans' don't like licorice. We can find a lot of the same treats here that we have at home but Hermana Thomas loves licorice and couldn't find any so her family sent her a ton in her birthday package. We have been giving it out occasionally. Almost always they make a face of disgust or spit it out and say it needs sugar.

 

I have mentioned before how incredibly religious the DR is. From what I have noticed, it is mainly divided into Catholics and Evangelicals (who usually call themselves Christianas). Many of the Sects are quite radical and don't permit make-up, listening to music, or wearing pants. Quite often, when we meet people they right away want to know what our rules are. I am still trying to come up with a good response but I never answer it directly. I don't want them to close their ears out of fear of our "rules", and I especially don't want people to only be interested because the rules are comfortable. We have the "rules" to help prepare us. It makes me think of a talk by President Uchtdorf where he said we should never forget the why - why we have certain standards

Wow, Spence looks like he is baptizing all of Mexico! Keep up the good work Spence. Hermana Thomas and I also have a baptism every week - I just forget to mention it and send the photos... But I was talking to an Elder from Mexico and he was telling me about an area in Mexico where something bad happened four years ago. Then I asked Spence about that area and it is the area he just reopened after four years of being closed... ah scary! Everyone pray for Spencer.

Love you so so much. Big air hug all the way from La Republica Dominicana.

xoxo

Hermana Christina, Christensence, Christen. (The names I usually get)

Sister Thomas Burning a Blouse She is Sick of at 6 Month Mark

 

Rubi

My Hermanita Rubi

 

Hola hola!! Here is the summary of the week in bullet points:

-There has been a lot of emphasis lately about the importance of loving your companion. I think a lot of companionships are having a hard time. You are with them 24/7 so it is so important to get along. It is so true that you can learn something from every companion.

- There is a group of Jehovah's Witnesses Missionaries that we see everywhere. We are pals with them and always talk. We will have to take a photo with them, the Mormons and the Witnesses.

- I have been thinking a lot lately about, in general, whether we are slaves of our circumstances or if we have the ability to overcome our circumstances. I have noticed that for the most part, when the parent is a drunk on the corner, the child also becomes a drunk on the corner. But we ran into a lady this week that proved otherwise, I really liked her story. We were contacting in a really nice neighborhood and we met a woman sitting on her porch and immediately told us to come in. She said she was baptized in the church but after she moved houses she hasn’t attended the new ward. Her story is pretty great. Her dad left the family when she was young and her mom left not long after that. With time, she got involved with drugs and ended up on the streets. She said she was always getting into fights and would eat whatever she could find. She ended up having three kids of her own and she said the worst thing she has done in her life is leave her kids. But she was able to turn around her life. She came in contact with the church, got help with her drug problem, got a job selling purses, and went back to her kids. She said she used to blame her problems on other people and focused on what others had done to her. The turning point for her was when she realized that she was in charge of her fate. Now, she works really hard and has a beautiful family and home.

 - The avocado season is in its prime. The avocados here are green on the outside and HUGE.

- There is a man on our street that is always drinking and every time we pass he laughs and (jokingly) tries to get me take a sip.

- Hermana Thomas did the cinnamon challenge for the first time last night. Very funny! (Eat a spoonful of cinnamon, it’s impossible)

 

Hey! I GOT YOUR PACKAGE that you sent with Cowley’s! Thank you so much; love all the treats. It was perfect, you know me too well. Thank you thank you for sending new shoes!!! haha desperately needed.I love you so much and thank you for all the updates. Grandpa Reed wrote me! haha I was shocked.

" Faith to be faith, must center around something that is not known. Faith, to be faith, must go beyond that for which there is confirming evidence. faith to be faith, must go into the unkown. Faith, to be faith, must walk to the edge of the light, and then a few steps into the darkness. If everything has to be known, if everything has to be explained, if everything has to be certified, there is no need for faith. Indeed, there is no room for it."

                                                                                                                - Boyd K Packer

 

Big Bang

Another fun P-day has come and gone. The first p-day of every transfer all of the missionaries in the zone get together to play games at a park or something. We went to a stadium and hung-out and played soccer. Talking and getting to know other missionaries is one of my favorite things. Most of the missionaries here are from South or Central American and are people I would never otherwise know but it’s crazy how you can build friendships quite easily when you are experiencing something like a mission together. 

We had a really good week and had really high hopes for the investigators that would go to church. There are a handful that are really starting to progress. We were doing the math and figured that there would five or six that would for sure go to church and then a few other maybes. Shakespeare said "expectation is the root of all heartache." Heartache may be overly-dramatic but we were disappointed when only one investigator was able to attend.  Especially because when we passed by the house of our main investigator to go to church together as we had planned, her daughter said she was sick with stomach problems. But when we were walking back from church we saw them on a bus headed to the beach. But, it was a really good Sunday at church. In Relief Society they started talking about the "Big Bang" and they were just laughing at how ridiculous they thought it was. They kept saying Big Bang in English. To Dominicans’ God is a huge part of their culture so the idea of the Big Bang is ridiculous. Hermana Thomas and I were laughing thinking that this would be a heated discussion in the states. 

 

No one can drink the water out of the faucets so everyone gets big blue bottles and rotates them. It's about the equivalent of 50 cents to re-fill that thing. I’m getting strong from carrying them... just kidding, not really. 

All is well here! I’m sending lots and lots of love home from the DR. 

"Make it a point to do something every day that you don't want to do. This is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain."                            -Mark Twain

xoxo

Meg 

 

 

Will Smith Revisited

 

Another week in La Republica Dominicana has passed. I would think that I would be accustomed to the walking and my shoes but this week was the best week yet as far as blisters go. Hermana Thomas and I are staying in Benjamin for another transfer together. By the end of this transfer we will have seven months living together. 

  

This week we had the first ever meeting for the Hermanas in our mission. There are now about 40 Hermanas in this mission. It was so fun to go to the capital and reunite with Sister Coe and my other old companions. It was also great to see all the Hermanas together. Everyone kept coming up to Hermana Thomas and me saying we were the only ones they hadn't ever seen. Yes, it’s because we are way out in the boonies. Also, one Hermana came up to me and was a little hesitant but said she wanted to tell me something strange. She said she had had a dream a week ago of a Hermana that she had never seen and the Hermana kept telling her to remember a specific date in March or May. She said as soon as she saw me she knew it was me. Who knows?? Maybe we'll be companions at that time. But she's already forgotten this date I apparently told her to remember.

 

Another story of a dream: We are teaching a man named Eduardo. His family joined the church some time ago in my old area Villa Verde. The story of their conversion is kind of funny. Eduardo was a young teenager and saw the elders walking down the street and yelled at them to come teach his family. Well, his mom and two of his brothers ended up getting baptized but Eduardo never had any interest in the church. But for twenty years missionaries have passed by and tried teaching him; he just never felt like it was for him. But a few weeks ago his mom died after a year of suffering from cancer. About a week ago we showed up at his door and he kindly let us in. He said he knew we would come and felt good about it. He had a dream where he and his mom were lost in the Grand Canyon. They were stuck with nowhere to go. But then they saw Christ who showed them a path leading out. He saw his mom following the path and decided that he too was going to follow this path. He feels like he is ready to accept Christ in his life. 

 

Another Will Smith story: We met this really tall guy about our age who asked if we could come teach him. He was super flirty the first visit but stayed quiet during the lesson. Then the second lesson he went all crazy on us and freaked out saying we need to change our lives and repent and stop worshiping Will Smith. I knew he meant Joseph Smith but I just lost it laughing. It was an interesting visit. Then I asked him to say the closing prayer and he did this really intense shouting prayer which sounded like the language Voldemort’s snake speaks in Harry Potter. Anyways, he was using that language in his prayer and shouting and then I heard him get up and walk towards us and I was getting real nervous and trying so hard not to laugh. He came over and put his hands on our heads during this prayer to bless us. 

Reunion

"It is not given to us to see the end from the beginning. But the habits we develop will eventually determine what the end will be. 

xoxo

Meg

 

Soccer/Volleyball

This is not Megan in the Dominican Republic

I was looking at pictures of her the other day and

this reminded me how much I miss this little girl.

We had a really great week in Benjamin. We had some really great lessons and some investigators are starting to flourish. In particular, there is one family that I love to visit. The three kids are less active members and the parents are not members. They have already recieved all the lessons so we have just been picking a chapter of the Book of Mormon to read or we pick a theme to learn about and discuss. I always come away from the lessons feeling great. The mom, Nanci, has such a desire to learn and is so intelligent and kind. This week in particular we discussed the Plan of Salvation and the potencial we all have. At the end of our discussion I asked her if she would be baptized. She smiled and slowly nodded. It was such a satisfying moment for me. She is wonderful. We have also been meeting with this cute single mom of three. She can't find work but sells fruit outside her house. I bought an avacado from her and asked if we could meet with her. Her little girl Melanie is such a doll. She is twelve but has some kind of height problem and is just a cute little thing. But she loves to talk. She loves the hymns and asked if we could translate a hymn for her in English. I wish I could write more about the people we're teaching but... no time. 

 

This is Megan in the D.R.

I laughed out loud about Spence's description of the dog's in Mexico. Here in the DR, we also enjoy a numerous amount of stray dogs. The poor things are disgusting. Every time my companion and I pass one we sing Sara Mclakin's(?) "In The Arms of an Angel" (if you haven't seen this commercial consider yourself lucky). There is also a dog that has it out for Hermana Thomas and me. This dog is always very calm until we walk past and then it goes crazy and does this scary growl and follows us. We have started taking a very round-about route to make it past this pup. #dogproblems... (are hashtags still cool)? 

 
Today for P-day we played volleyball with the district and the district next to us. Because the majority of the missionaries are from South America it was actually more soccer-volleyball. It was really fun. The D.R. is very different than its fellow Latin American countries in that soccer is nowhere near being the sport of choice. Baseball is clearly number one. Basketball is second. The people here that are into baskeball are very familiar with the Utah Jazz and they love Karl Malone and John Stockton. You may think I missed the NBA finals - but I knew exactly what was going on. 

 Sister Thomas

Transfers are next week and as always, there is a buzz in the air from all the missionaries, wondering what's going to happen. We shall see.

 

Right now there is a cute little girl in the internet cafe that has pulled up a chair next to me and is leaning over me intently watching every word I type - not understanding any of it. 

Les quiero, 

Hermana Meg 

"Salvation" in Mormon thought is not a reward hereafter for a life of obedience here. It is, rather, a process of learning to live by christian ideals; of becoming more christlike in intent, feeling, and living. Beliefs and rituals are not ends in and of themselves. They must be translated into lives of integrity and love to be efficacious.                          - Lowell Bennion

Siervas

 

It was an eventful week here in Benjamin. 

We had interviews with President Hernandez this past Tuesday. I love being able to talk to President and hear his insights. He told me the same thing he told me when I entered the field and that is that the mission is for me. He said I'll be a better daughter, sister, mother, wife, student, and employee because of it. President and Hermana Hernandez are such wonderful people. They are from Puerto Rico and both are dentists. 

Wednesday we were told we couldn't leave our apartments at all because there was a storm passing through (Hurricane Chantel). It ended up being a lot more wimpy than anticipated and was just a little bit of rain and wind. But still we were told to stay inside. 

It was also a week of breakdowns. We have formed a wonderful relationship with a recent convert who just moved to the area. She has started to experience increasingly severe pain in her feet and hands and they are quite swollen. When we were visiting her she had a breakdown. She is scared about her health and worried she wont be able to work. One of our investigatores opened up about her failing marriage and dysfunctional family. Her husband comes home around 3am every morning after a night of partying. There is a young Haitian mother of a three-year-old baby who visited the church once so we've been meeting with her. She expressed her fear because neither her nor her husband can find a job and they literally have nothing. I went door to door with her for a while asking shops if they were looking for help cleaning or anything; but nobody was hiring. I know that isn't really my job as a missionary but its hard to just do nothing.

Almost everyone shares their hardships with us. People look at us as mesengers from God and seek comfort and advice. We always get called "siervas" (servants), meaning God's servants. The balance between caring about people and trying to help them and accepting the reality that I can't fix their problems is an interesting equation and one I have yet to master.

 

The mission is a time when you try not to think about yourself and dedicate your time to helping others. For me it can be a little tricky taking on the problems of others. My own problems are less complex and I feel more in control. This has given me a better taste of Christ's atonement. The way he carried all the loneliness, illness, poverty, abuse, and sin for all of us. I can't tell you how grateful I am for a loving family and for such wonderful friends. I love this church and I love the Dominican people. 

Love you

Hermana Christensen