¡Saludos! -- Monday, July 23, 2012

Family!

This week has been great!

On Tuesday we spent the day at the Transfer Chapel waiting for our new companions. They finally arrived, and they are AWESOME! I’ve learned SO much this week!

My Companion’s name is Elder Cabrera. He’s from the East side of the Capitol, he’s like 6’2”, he’s 100% Dominican, he’s hilarious, AND he’s obedient! Ha. He’s definitely made it a fun time! But sadly it’s short lived… L He and Elder Gomez (Elder Pemberton’s comp) are leaving for Mexico tomorrow… Ha. The mission is a ROLLER COASTER! Ha, but I’m so glad it happened this way! It was just good!

On Tuesday night, we locked ourselves out of our house… Ha. SUPER funny! The keys were RIGHT inside the window, but the big, metal, bar door was locked, and only we and our neighbor across the hall have keys to it. So we waited an hour for him to come home, but he didn’t, so the office Elders came and got us and we crashed on the floor in the office for the night. Ha. It actually worked out well, cuz all the missionaries that were going home were in the office too, so I got to see Elder Brezack one more time. AND he gave me some tips to work in our area! Ha. God Works in mysterious ways!!

On Sunday, we had an INCREDIBLE sacrament meeting. All the youth in our Ward went to EFY (it was the first time they’ve ever had it in this country!) last week, so our bishop had ALL (like 20 youth plus the Young single adults that participated as Counselors) of them share their testimonies one by one. It was AWESOME! The spirit was SO strong! The whole congregation was in tears by the end! It was mostly just a slap in the face for me, cuz those kids had such an incredible experience at EFY, and I´m pretty sure I took most of those experiences for granted in my youth… Ha. I just hope we can realise how blessed we are to be a part of this church and how blessed we are to live in an area where the church is prospering!

This church is true!!! It changes peoples lives EVERY SINGLE DAY! NEVER take it for granted!

I love you all! I hope this letter finds you doing well!


Love,

Elder Cade Mooney

This is the Sand Lot. Dominican style. These kids are playing a baseball game right next to Colonial Buildings built by Christopher Columbus. Also, It's POURING rain. Ha. No big deal, they LOVE baseball. Nothing stops them from playing ha. July 17, 2012

The view from our roof July 20, 2012

Me on Our Roof July 20, 2012

Me and Elder Cabrera (my comp) July 21, 2012

My Comp and I

Me and Elder Gomez (Elder Pemberton's comp) July 23, 2012

My Comp and I July 23, 2012

My comp made me panCAKEs. ha. July 23, 2012

¡Familia! -- Monday, July 17, 2012

¡Familia!

This week has been great! Ha.

Elder Brezack wrote in my Journal before he left, and he told me “The mission is just like a Roller Coaster; it's full of ups and downs, sometimes it´s fun, sometimes it´s terrifying, and sometimes it just makes you puke. But isn´t it funny how we´re always SO excited to run back around and get in line again?” I definitely agree with him. Ha. Every day is a roller coaster, but I´m always SO excited to wake up the next morning and do it all over again.

J

Last Monday after I got off the computer, we went and taught a lesson, and then went to the Hereria Family´s house to share a short message and ask them for a reference. I shared Alma 5:18 and I asked how hard it would be to stand in front of Christ and remember EVERYTHING you´ve ever done wrong. Then my comp, the fantastic man that he is, followed it up with Alma 7:13, and explained how through repentance we won´t have to stand in front of Christ at the judgment day in shame; all those mistakes can be erased, and we can hold our heads high and be proud of the life we led. It was SO awesome! Completely unplanned and completely led by the Spirit! Then Hermano Hereria said something awesome: He said that the Atonement isn´t just an eraser, it doesn´t just take off the marks on the surface; it completely changes us. Even our most stubborn bad habits can be changed through Christ. It was incredible!

Also, (mostly for Taylor, Cole and Demaree) we found a new investigator  (he was a reference from Carlos) named Saul. He’s 18 years old, and he’s practicing with a baseball team right now that feeds into the pro leagues.  He’s a pitcher and he already throws 92 MPH. Ha. He’s SUPER cool and he came to church yesterday! Ha. We’re definitely gonna baptize a pro baseball player!

Crazy Dominican experiences for the week:

On Saturday we were doing service, cleaning up the trash and leaves and branches (when they prune trees here, they don´t clean up after themselves), and there was a branch that had been cut that was leaning up against a power line. So we (Elder Brezack and I) tried to get it down, but it was caught on a branch of the living tree. So I went to a neighbor and asked for a machete. Ha. Apparently everyone just has them here. And we used it to cut the branch loose, and then it CRASHED down. Ha. It was SUPER sweet!

Also, That same morning, I was putting on my running shoes (we were dressing in service clothes), and I felt something in the toe. So I took the shoe off and reached up into it to get the rock out… Ha. It wasn´t a rock. I big fat cockroach crawled up my arm and out of the shoe. Ha. I really have no Idea why Noah didn´t just squish those last two…. Lol.

Then we get to another the spiritual bump of the roller coaster:

Last night, we went to a devotional, and Elder Brezack got a super strong impression to go teach the last appointment that they had failed to get to to get to the the devotional on time. But his comp didn´t want to go. So he asked me to go with him. We went and taught her. It was a normal lesson; no fireworks or anything, and then we went back to the church.
Then last night we get our transfer calls… I´m going to what used to be Elder Brezack´s (last transfer was his last one) area and I'm getting a new, DOMINICAN companion. Ha. Pretty sure following the Spirit pays off. I now have at least one investigator in an area that I´m being white washed into. Ha. Should be an interesting transfer. Ha. I'll let you know all about the new comp and area next week. :)

 

Also, last night I gave my first blessing in Spanish. We went to Anamaria´s house and she was super sick. He whole family, including her mom and boyfriend (not members) were there. She asked for a blessing and she asked me to do it. It was UNREAL! The spirit was SO strong!  Then after we sent her to bed we had a great lesson on faith and Priesthood power with her family. J It was awesome!

I love being a missionary! I might just never come home. Ha.

I´m super out of time! But I love you all! I hope things are all good in the states!

Love you!

Love,

Elder Cade Mooney

¡Hola! -- Monday, July 2, 2012

Hey guys!

I cant believe another week has already passed! Crazy!

This last week was really good!

We've been working a lot in a new area que se llama El Café. It´s about a 45 minute walk from our house, so we get pretty good exercise haha. There are TONS of people up there that are just crammed in houses that are SUPER close together and STACKED on top of each other. All the people are way humble and they´re way receptive. Also, there´s a Haitian village up there. Ha. It´s super cool. In this last week alone we found 9 new investigators, and there are TONS of prospective investigators! It´s an awesome area! The only problem is that it´s almost an hour away from our church by foot.... And 98% of the people can´t afford cars... So we´ll be relying on faith. :) Also, it´s expensive, and it´s a pain in the butt process to get married in this country, so most couples aren´t married... Ha. More faith. But I´m excited to see the people up there progress. We´ve already got 3 strong member families that live up there, and if we can baptize some more, the church is gonna organize a Branch out there!! Therefore, it´s on our shoulders! Ha. It should be good. :)

Also this week, I had my first "Transferly Interview" with the Mission President. Ha. We have the biggest zone in the mission, so we were there ALL DAY (literally from 8:30 am to 8 pm) waiting for our turn to be interviewed. But During our wait we had some good instrucción from Hermana Rodriguéz, and then she took our blood pressure and our weight. HA! I´ve lost 35 pounds since I left. Lol. NUTS!

Anyway, after hours of waiting, I finally got to be interviewed! Ha. It went really well! I really like my President, and you can tell just from talking to him for 20 minutes that he loves this work and he loves his missionaries. He´s a good man. I´m glad I get him for my whole mission.

In other news, I bought a blender today!!! ha. I´m super pumped to use it! We have a drawer full of mangos (a lady in our ward gives us a grocery bag full every time we pass by) in the bottom of our fridge just waiting to be liquefied into smoothies. Ha. I´m happy about it. :)

But I´m outta time!
I love you all!
This church is true!! Never lose the faith!

Love,

Elder Mooney

Blender (from Elder Pemberton's pics)

Elder Mooney's Current Address

Elder Cade Mooney
C/ Hatuey #73
Urb. Los Cacicazgos
Santo Domingo, Republica Dominicana

The snail mail system in the Dominican Republic is not reliable; use at your own risk. ;) I'll be sending letters to Elder Mooney via FedEx. If you'd like me to add your letter to a FedEx package, please drop it off or send it to:

Elder Cade Mooney
4348 Pinnacle Drive
Cedar Hills, UT 84062