Hey Guys! Thursday, May 17, 2012

This week has been really good!

Right after we got off the computers last week we went to the Botanical Gardens, which is huge (probably over a hundred acres). They had all kinds of different plants from all over the world that they cultivate to grow here (cuz the climate here is practically perfect in every way). It was basically a modern day Jurassic Park, minus the dinosaurs, plus some gardens designed to resemble gardens from other continents. Ha. It was BEAUTIFUL. There were all kinds of trees, shrubs and flowers. We took a train and had a tour of the whole park, and then we took a tour of the museum they had there which had a bunch of displays which depicted different ecosystems in the Dominican Republic. It was way cool! They had a bunch of Taxidermy in the displays, which was really cool cuz we've seen quite a few of the animals out in the wild. 

Botanical Gardens Thursday, May 10, 2012

Our district with the Haitian Missionaries

Our District

 

On Friday we went and contacted at the University again. It was really good! We placed 5 pamphlets and a Book of Mormon. Sadly we didn't find Pavel again. :( I just hope he was proactive and called the other missionaries. We did meet a guy named Ezekiel who was a pretty devout Catholic, but when we walked up to him and introduced ourselves he started asking questions about "the Mormons." He was really curious, so we gave him the Restoration Pamphlet and explained it. When we got to the Book of Mormon he got excited and started asking questions, so in our broken Spanish we gave him a copy and told him to read it. He was already going through it as we were walking away, so hopefully we planted some sort of a seed in him. :)

Saturday was another really long class day.

Sunday was good. We watched a Devotional by Elder Oaks on staying worthy through partaking of the sacrament weekly. It was really great! He stressed the importance of constantly keeping the Holy Ghost with us, and constantly being worthy to have the Spirit with us at all times. Then I called home. Ha. That was rough. It was SUPER good to hear from everyone, but you really don't realize how much you miss people until you hear their voice...
After that, we had some more meetings, and we had to go over some things to prepare for the Latins to come this week. Then we watched the Testaments as a district and had our Sunday night Ice Cream (affectionately refer to as Yum-Yum haha).

Monday was our service day. This week we went to the university and picked up trash for an hour. Ha. It was good to experience the mid-day heat that I'm gonna have to live in in the field (cuz we definitely keep it at 21 degrees Celsius in the CCM. Yup, we're pampered). Then on Monday evening we had TRC with the same couple missionaries, the Browns. We taught them about receiving personal revelation through prayer, and the importance of prayer. The spirit was really strong! They said it went really well and gave us some really good feedback! And they told us some of the stuff that's going on in the outside world, particularly in the West Mission, and most of it is a little sketch. Ha. The elections for the Dominican President are happening this weekend, and apparently there are some pretty hardcore riots that happen because people get so worked up about the outcome of the Election. Ha. I'm glad I'm in the CCM still, cuz those poor missionaries out in the field have to stay in their apartments with their shutters closed for four or five days of this weekend/next week. Ha. But don't worry, cuz as long as they're obedient, nothing bad can happen to them. :)

On Tuesday we got to go to the Supermarcado! It was a GIGANTIC store that was about the size of a Super-Walmart, but it had two floors, so there was twice as much stuff. We got some more flash cards, some more pens and some notebooks (we write a lot..), and we got some Dominican cookies and some Dominican candy. We figure "when in Rome do as the Romans." It was cool to see the culture differences, and all the different fruits and vegetables they have in the produce section. Their clothing styles are kinda different, but they're cool. Also, everything here is really. Really cheap. My companion got some really nice dress slacks for 1000 pesos which is approximately 25 American dollars. It was cool. :) I'm excited to get out into the field and actually experience and be immersed the culture here.

Yesterday was the "la llegada de los latinos." We got 29 new missionaries during the day yesterday and the early hours of the morning this morning. We have 6 new Hermanas and 23 new Elders. They are actually really cool! Elder Shepherd and I went around the Residence Hall last night and met all of them. They're all super nice, and they're all super willing to help us with our Spanish and talk slow enough so we can understand. Haha. Everybody was in their rooms and in bed on time as well, so I think last night was a success. The president kept telling us they were gonna be a handful, and that really wasn't the case last night. I guess only time will tell, so I'll keep you updated.

As of right now, all is SUPER DUPER well. I love being a missionary.

I love you all, I hope everything is going well back in the United States.

Love,

Elder Cade Mooney