Second off... This week rocked. Ha. I am sure you're all sick of hearing it, but I truly cannot believe how quickly these weeks are going by. It was like a couple minutes ago I was writing you last week's letter, and suddenly, time grew some wings, and now I'm back in this chair staring at a computer screen again. Ha.
Also, in the background of said computer screen, Total Eclipse of the Heart is playing IN SPANISH! ha. I vote you all look it up, cuz it's HILARIOUS! Though you won't get the Dominican, Internet Center guy singing along with it.... lol. Just not the same. I think the Dominicans could give the Taiwanese a run for their money in Tone-Deafness. ha.
Anyway. Last Monday right after updating you all on my dominican doings, we went down to La Barra (a neighborhood in our area) and had a Noche de Hogar with the youth, and our missionary mom, Juana. Ha. Well, seeing that I'm not in the capital anymore, light (electricity) comes and goes when it pleases... So we had a super great lesson on agency by Mama Juana, and then we played night games by the light of the moon. Ha. I actually kind of love it when the light leaves; it's like we're camping, and seeing that we live in a green, little valley, it's basically like being back home in the Wasatch Mountains. 'Cept I really think God likes this place more, cuz the stars and the moon and the clouds and just everything is more beautiful here. Ha.
Tuesday was great. We had a district meeting (the usual reports on our investigators, and a spiritual pep talk from my comp (our district leader), then I headed up to Sábana Larga with Elder Mendosa (6'1" 175 lbs, from Nicaragua) for a hard core intercambio. He is a working machine. We had out of control numbers in the 24 hours I was with him. I was sort of blown away, but at the same time I realized how important it is to actually spend time with your investigators, and teach to their needs. Elder Mendosa and I got A LOT of lessons in, but I felt like a robot the whole time. It was a good learning experience, and I have made a goal to talk about something outside the missionary lessons in all my lessons. Half of my calling as a missionary is to love these people as Christ would. You can't love someone you don't know.
Also, during said Intercambio (I dunno for sure, cuz I've never actually looked it up, but Intercambio means Exchange in Spanish... Which in missionary lingo is basically a required sleepover with another missionary in your district for learning purposes and such) I made dinner (your regular Dominican style boiled green bananas with fried eggs and sauteed onions) with Bananas picked from the back yard. Ha. The missionary house up in Sábana Larga is basically on a farm. Ha. There are Banana, Plantain, Papaya, Avocado, Lime, and Mandarin Orange trees in the back yard, and on the side of the house there are Yucca (I believe it's tapioca in English... But not sure, It's a root that they eat/prepare like a potato) and Yam plants. HA; As in HOW AWESOME!!!
Also, I woke up to a rooster crowing, and cows mooing in the morning. That was unexpected. Ha. I doubt I will ever chose to live on a farm... Just sayin'.
Ha. Another funny thing... I (even though it's only been a 2 weeks) have become a spoiled missionary... I woke up on Wednesday to the roosters, and realized how freezing it was (in reality it was like 65 degrees, but I am currently accustomed to anywhere between 80 and 100, so burrrrrr)... Sábana Larga is even higher in altitude than Ocoa... But regardless of the temperature, Mendosa got up and took his regular old bucket shower from the Tinaco (the tank on the roof)... Ha, I was not having that. I am way too used to my water heater in Ocoa. So I boiled a big pot of water and dumped it in my bucket to mix with the FREEZING water before throwing it on my shivering body. lol.
On Wednesday after we came back to the Village, I helped Elder Tuanama cook some hard core Peruvian food. I don't know if I told you last week, but I currently live with my comp (American), Elder Tuanama (Peruvian), and Elder Leyva (Mexican). So I speak lots of Spanish and eat LOTS of delicious food. :)
Then we went out to work, and while we were down in La Barra we taught a lesson in Mama Juana's house, and afterwards she brought us some Beet, Carrot juice. Ha. I didn't think it was all that bad... But oh my... My companion had the hardest time gagging that stuff down! Ha. He would take a swallow and say something out the side of his mouth like "holy crap I think she just gave us horse pee," lol. Obviously in English, but then he would turn, smile all big and tell Juana how "rico" (rich or delicious) her juice was. HA!!! I was cracking up!
Thursday.... The Browns (our Fairly God Parents out here in the South; lol they make weekly trips to the capital and bring us our mail, and other stuff we need) stopped by and dropped off the CONFERENCE EDITION of the Liahona!!!! I was so happy. Ha. They even brought us a copy in English!!! I went straight to my room and read a couple of talks. lol. What a geeky missionary. But it was actually really cool, I would highly suggest that you all reread them. Seeing that the first time I heard them they were in a foreign language, I definitely have gotten a lot more out of them this time!
One of the first talks on there was by Elder Cook. He related a story about a trip he and Elder Uchtdorf (if I remember right) took to the Amazon. He said how shocked he was at the fact that the people were living in shacks, but on top of their thatched roofs was a Satellite Dish... He went on to explain how far reaching the Internet and technology is, and because of it, Satan is destroy so many families... It hit me pretty hard. I can definitely relate... Here is the exact same way. These people live in cinder block or sheet metal houses with cement or dirt floors. They rarely have more than 3 rooms in their house, and it is a luxury to have a bathroom... But some how, some way, every single house we enter has a TV or a computer with some sort of Internet access. It is crazy to me how many people Satan has access to... Pornography is LITERALLY everywhere. Satan attacks the family through sex and lust. He more than attacks... He destroys. It is crazy to me how much power he has, and how young he starts... The second a child turns 8 (and sometimes even before that) he comes at them with EVERYTHING he's got. For instance... We are currently teaching a Mother and Daughter, and said daughter is 16 years old and already has a one year old child... Do the math... Satan knows that these generations being born in the fullness of times are truly the Loyal and Great ones. He wants to make sure that they, especially, are miserable just like him. TALK TO YOUR CHILDREN!!! It doesn't matter if they are 6, 9, or 17... I guarantee that they have already come in contact in some form or some way with Satan's Grime...
Anyway... Good news; said mom and daughter have both accepted baptismal dates for the 22nd of this month. :) They are both great and working hard to fix their lives, and prepare to be baptized!! We are stoked for them!!!
Ha. Thursday continued... we went down to a Haitian Market to check out some Jerseys that my comp wanted to buy and to see if I could find some cheap shoes... Ha. Sadly NO ONE in this country sells my size.
Anyway, on our walk back the assistants called us and told us they were on their way to our house for a surprise intercambio... (We found out later that they did the intercambio cuz our district has the best numbers in the mission; probably Mendosa's fault, but we felt good about ourselves) Ha. As much as I love authority breathing down my neck while I work, I wasn't too thrilled. lol. Well, they showed up and Elder Kirk (the American) came with my comp and I, and we sent Elder Luzón (Spaniard) up to be with Mendosa and Alfonseca (Dominican) in Sábana Larga.
The afternoon went well with Kirk. We taught a couple good lessons and then started contacting... While we were contacting we got HAMMERED with an Ocoa style tropical storm... It POURED. And we were contacting... with an Assistant... So we gritted our little teeth and we got wet... SUPER wet. Ha. We continued like that for about an hour, then took the 45 minute hike to the other side of our area... Still pouring rain. I have never been so wet.... Ha. Finally we got down to La Barra, and all of our appointments failed us... So we told Kirk we were calling it a day. Ha. Luckily he agreed and we waded back home.
We had a solid planning session with the AP, and then at like 8:30 we got a call from Elder Tuanama and Elder Leyva. They were stuck up in Parra (a part of Ocoa that you have to wade through a river, and hike up a mountain to get to), and the river had grown so much with the rain that they couldn't pass it... Ha. So what do we do? go for a rescue mission in the AP's truck obviously! lol. Dumb kids. We down to La Barra where the river was a bit less full, and Kirk attempted to drive the 2 wheel drive, Toyota Tacoma through the river... Ha. Yup, we got stuck. Up to our axles. lol. An hour and a half of digging and pushing with all the willing villagers, we finally gave up and had a guy call a guy to bring his hard core truck in to pull us out. lol. It was an adventure... We dubbed the river impassable, and gave up on our rescue effort. The other two Elders ended up sleeping on the floor of an investigator's house and came back down through the river the next day when the sun had come out and the river had gone back down. How AWESOME. lol.
Friday after a long day of proselyting we caught a ride up to Sabana Larga, snuck into Mendosa/Alfonseca's house, and decorated while Alfonseca stalled. Ha. Then we hid and when Mendosa walked in we all screamed "¡¡Feliz Cumple AÑO!!" ha. It was his year mark, so we had a party. We stayed up late, and Tuanama and I cooked Spaguetti with fried Plantains. Then slept over. Ha. By slept I mean rolled around freezing on the cement floor for 7 hours. But it was worth it. Mendosa was happy. :)
On Saturday evening I met Milagros. Ha. I have heard SO much about her. I even knew about her before coming to Ocoa. She is the all time greatest missionary mom ever. She is awesome! And Hilarious! She is sorta like a Dominican version of Favorite Aunt Shari and Uncle Awesome meshed together. HA! Also, her husband works for a cable company, so they have some hard core computer tech stuff, and more than likely we will be skyping from their house, so you guys might even get to meet her!! :)
Yesterday was chill. We had a combined meeting block with Sabana Larga, and Parra (they brought all the members down on buses), and I taught a hard core lesson in Sunday school on temple work and family history. Ha. I hope you are all still attending the temple regularly, and constantly searching for missionary experiences here as well as beyond the veil.
I love and miss you all. My time is again far spent. Ha. And I mean REALLY far spent. But hey, updates are crucial, right? ;)
Keep the faith! God is good!
Love,
Elder Mooney
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