Transfers and a Sunday full of miracles!

Me with some of the great members in the Villa Verde ward!

Here in Villa Verde we have been working super hard with investigators, less actives, and recent converts!  And yesterday we saw miracles! On a normal Sunday in the gospel principles class we have about 6 to 8 recent converts-investigators.  But yesterday we had 20, yes 20!!!!  It was an amazing thing to see.  In sacrament meeting there was a group of young men that came in.  A couple with recent converts who are also less active and some of their friends that we started teaching.  The Lord blessed us so much it was an amazing sight to see!  This area is really growing and the work is progressing.  It was a wonderful, but bitter sweet day.

Luna a member that always
goes with us to lessons!

Why bitter sweet you may ask..... Well, I am being transferred.  In fact all 4 sisters are being transferred and 2 elders are coming to our area... lucky fellows.  But all 4 of us are really sad to be leaving.  I am being transferred to Los Solares, an area closer to the capital.  I will be white washing that area and opening it for Hermanas!  Wooo!!  Fun times ahead!  My companion will be Hermana Peralta from Peru, she is actually my Hermana Leader right now so I know her and am really excited to be her companion for the next 3 weeks!  I will be her last companion in the mission as she will be going home after this 3 week transfer!  

Time is flying by!  It is just not fair!  I have really enjoyed my time here in Villa Verde.  We taught Rosy this week, her boyfriend is a member and she accepted the invitation to be baptized.  She is really special!  We are also teaching other youth that have been coming to church and mutual.  Miracles are happening every day!  We kept busy this week with lessons and working with the members more and more!

Our zone, La Romana

This week we were leaving our zone lunch after zone meeting and we heard someone yell Sisters!  In English.  There was a lady there from Colorado with her family.  They are Mormon and are here teaching English and having some vacation time, you could tell by their skin!  haha

We also had a Bianchi Bar miracle!  One day my companion wanted a Bianchi Bar so as we were walking to an appointment we were stopping in Colmados to buy a Bianchi Bar.  Many of the Colmados didn’t have them, but finally we found one that did.  And as a mission we are to talk with everyone so we were contacting this one guy and I turned to my side and saw a woman listening intently.  Turns out her grandma used to assist our church and she wants to learn more!  The miracles that come from talking with everyone!

I am sad to be leaving but am excited for my new adventure!  The mission is going great!  I hope you all have a great lovely week!

Love,

Hermana Steed

  

We had a surprise party for one of the sister’s birthdays!

Only in the Dominican Republic do you find
a bag that says the end is near, repent!

With Hermana Santana and her son that always goes with
us to lessons as well and has us over for lunch

Us with Angie and Ismarlin our ward mission leader

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there!  I hope you had a wonderful day!

A little about a couple of our investigators.  Jaquelin is an 11 year old girl that we are teaching right now.  We are teaching her little by little as she doesn’t understand too much and she is learning to read, so we are teaching her with a lot of pictures and in different ways so it has been fun trying to get creative with our teaching methods.  But she is awesome and always comes to church and the activities and really wants to learn more about Christ.

Another young women we are teaching is Naigeli.  She is 14 and we teach her during the week, but then she goes to her moms, who is a recent convert, and attends church in another area and the elders teach her on the weekends.  But she is amazing.  She has prayed and received her answer that the church is true.  The youth are amazing!

On Tuesday it started raining really hard right before we left the house and my umbrella was broken so I went outside in just my rain coat and well it didn’t help much. haha.  I was wringing water out of my skirt, but it was a fun hour adventure walking in the rain talking with people!

On Wednesday we saw a miracle.  We had been looking for one of our investigators for 3 days and we could not figure out where he lived.  We knew in what street and about where he lived but not exactly so we just kept asking people in the street if they knew an Angel.  No one knew who he was.  So after the 3rd day after looking for quite a while we started to head back and who was in the street walking towards us, Angel, well Angelo is his name and maybe thats why no one knew who he was!  Haha oops!  But we had a lesson with him and he has great potential as well!  That evening we went to San Pedro for an interview with President and then he took us to McDonalds afterwards with some of the other sisters!  Woo!

Friday we had a surprise party for one of the Sisters I live with some of our investigators.  It was a fun surprise!  We had cake, played a game and shared a message!

Saturday I was able to talk with Franchesca in Yamasa because she was finally baptized!  It was good to talk with her and congratulate her on that special day!

I was informed this week in a letter from my Dad that my English is getting really bad and sometimes I don’t make sense, so my apologies!  I type fast and my English is getting bad!  

This week I was reading in the Teaching of the Prophets: Gordon B. Hinckley and it had a phrase I really enjoyed that says

     Brothers and Sisters, without reservation I promise you that if you will prayerfully read the Book of Mormon regardless of how many times you previously have read it, there will come into your hearts an added measure of the Spirit of the Lord. There will come a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to his commandments and there will come a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God.

I really enjoyed that because there really is such power in the Book of Mormon.  I encourage you all to read it every day!  This week I have been studying in Alma when he is giving advice to his sons.  It talks so much about repentance and how it is all possible through Christ and that when we put our trust in God he delivers us out of our tribulations, but in His timing of course.  It also talks about how the scriptures can be our personal Liahona as we have faith and diligently study them.  They can give us amazing instruction in our lives.  Alma 36 and 37 are some of my favorites.

Well I hope you all have a great week!  Love you!

Hermana Steed

April Showers bring more May Showers and Heat!

My companion and I had sweet bread and watched
Meet the Mormons today for our P-day!

Hello Friends and Family!  It has been one hot week here in the Dominican Republic, but I am just soaking up the sun!

We began this month working really hard and saw some great miracles.  The members starting working with us more and we left with one older member this week and she was just contacting the whole street!  What a great member missionary! 

Weird story of the week!  We were walking to the church to have a lesson and we saw this women hitting something with a rock in her hand.  Well it was a huge rat, yes.  I admire her for being able to get that close to the rat, because I never could!  But we just could not believe what we were seeing, but it is better than the rat in the street!

Back to more spiritual things:

We had a lesson with Yuni this week and he really is awesome.  He knows the church is true and the Book of Mormon but is struggling to come to church.  We are trying to better understand his needs by being led by the Spirit.

My zone and our zone conference!

We also had another lesson with another young man who is a old investigator and are starting to work with him again.  We are actually working with lots of youth right now, which is really fun to see their enthusiasm and light in their eyes when they understand new things about their divine potential and the plan God has for them and the love he has for each and every one of them. 

I hope each of you knows how much God really loves each and every one of you.  He knows you personally and perfectly, you can rely on Him for every needful thing.  He is your Father!

Well I hope you all have a great week and enjoy the start of summer for some of you and others in a couple of weeks and others have fun at work!  But enjoy every moment and everything we are blessed with!

Love,

Hermana Steed 

My companion and I and her first companion
in the mission (her two mission moms).

Rain, zone conference, rain, companion exchanges, and more rain

Well it was a week full of rain.  It has been nice and cool so we have enjoyed it!  Tuesday we spent all day at the mission office having interviews and we had our zone conference.  It was a great meeting!  We talked about having exceptional faith and using our imagination to think of the promises already being completed and imaging that we already accomplished our goals.  This principle is actually taught all throughout the scriptures.  Some examples are Mosiah 3:13, Alma 5:15-19, Ether 12:19-22.  He had us write in our journals like it was the first of June and we were reflecting on the things we did in May.  It was a great exercise and I am really looking forward to the things this month!

This week we contacted the references we received and when we were contacting one her mom started yelling at her saying that they were of another church and that she didn’t want us in her house right in front of us.  Then she started walking towards us calling her child the devil.  I just don’t think it was her day.  So hopefully we can go back and present ourselves and catch her on her good day.  This reference is golden because she goes to activities with the members that live next door, so we are really hopeful!

The same day we also had an investigator hide from us.  An experience that every missionary has sadly.  And in the same day we had a lady yell at us.  It was a really weird day, but we just keep going with smiling faces!

We had a great lesson with a mom this week.  We were teaching the Book of Mormon and also started talking about families being together forever.  When we started talking about that her family can be together forever her eyes just lit up. The Spirit was there and we could just see the hope in her eyes!  It was a beautiful moment.  She didn’t think that families could be together after this life.  This is an important message we share and a beautiful one at that.  The family is so important and they really can be eternal.  What amazing knowledge we have of this truth!

I had my companion exchange this week with Hermana Birch from Ephraim, Utah.  It is always fun to go for a day with another missionary and learn from them.

As I said it has been raining pretty much all week and the streets have been a little flooded.  We were in a house and she lives below the street a ways back and the water was just rushing in the yard part of these houses. It started to fill up and water began coming into her house.  We tried to help her keep it out, but it is normal where she lives.  We put cement blocks in front of her door to help keep it out though.  Then we had to go to another appointment and it was still pouring rain so we walked out in mid-calf deep water.  It was quite the adventure.  Everyone was in their house and I think they thought we were crazy being out in the rain.  Dominicans don’t like the rain and we were a little crazy for being out there.  But it was a fun adventure!  

We had a lesson with Yuni this week.  It was adorable when we asked him what he wanted to sing he said I am a child of God because he is memorizing it.  So he sang the first verse by himself and then we joined in for the next 2 verses!  It was adorable!  He knows the church is true and asked his mom if he could be baptized and she said yes, but we are having a couple of other challenges, but I know that through the guidance of the Spirit we will be able to help him!

I also received some excellent news this week from Yamasa!  Franchesca is getting baptized!  Her parents gave permission!  I am so excited for her that she can finally take this step and make a covenant with our Heavenly Father!  When my old companion called to tell me I just leapt for joy!  I am so excited and just can’t even stand it.  She is an amazing young women and daughter of God.

We all have such a divine potential to one day become like God.  We are to learn of Him and His Son Jesus Christ and follow Him.  This Gospel is perfect, the people are not so as Joseph Smith once said, “We must be merciful and overlook the small things.” Another quote I enjoy from Joseph Smith is, “If men do not comprehend the character of God, they do not comprehend themselves.”

We have such an amazing gift with this Gospel and have our Savior Jesus Christ to help us along the way.  I hope you all have an amazing week and keep smiling!

Love,

Hermana Steed

Flooded Streets and P-day Adventure!

A good, cool week here in La Romana!  Finally!  It has rained a little on a off, so it has been humid but the sun hasn't been killing us this week! Yay!

On Tuesday it rained quite a bit and the streets started to flood so we were walking in the water, well trying to avoid it as best as possible.  But I just kept laughing, I thought it was just a funny thing.  We were hugging walls to support us as we tried to go around the water!

Here in Villa Verde we are starting to work with the members more and more as they are such an important part of mission work, especially the retention.  We have quite a few members that go with us to lessons so that is so helpful and helps our investigators to feel more comfortable.

My and my companion

I had my first batida de mango this week and it was oh so divine.  It is mango, carnation, vanilla, sugar, and ice.  Everyone raved about them and I finally got to taste the magic.  There are so many mango trees here and the mangos are starting to ripen so we will be eating lots of mango!  I didn't really know how to eat one so it was really funny the first time!  Picture attached.

We are currently working with a young man named Yuni.  He is the best.  He is 13 years old and lives close to a couple of members.  He has received an answer that this church is true, but he won't accept a baptismal date.  I think some things with being young worry him.  But he was so cute he kept asking us in our last lesson about our baptism and our feelings so that was a fun spiritual moment!  He has such a good heart and will be a great member.  We continue to work with him and help him be ready to make a covenant with God.

Tomorrow we have zone conference in the capital and President asked each area if they had recent converts that could come.  We have one named Mauricio that is complete gold.  So loyal and knowledgeable and is preparing for a mission.  He is 16 and when we asked him to come he gladly accepted and said he won't be able to sleep the night before because he is so excited!  I just smiled at that!

Us with our thumbs down when our p-day attraction was closed.

As for P-day today we planned something super fun and in nature.  We called a taxi and we had some problems with him finding where we were so that took a while.  Then when we got in the taxi and said where we wanted to go he asked us if we had $25 and our passports because that is what we needed to get to this place.  We all said no and asked if there was another place.  He offered a suggestion and we called the assistants to ask permission.  They said yes and off we went.  Well on our way there was a dog in the street and he hit it.  It was horrible!  Then we got to the place and it was closed.  What a great p-day.  When I try to do something bad things happen!  haha.  But we were just in the back of the car laughing at what was happening!  But hopefully next p-day is better!  But poor dog!

Well that was my week in a nutshell.  We have been working really hard and see miracles everyday. It is the Lords work and he gets it done in his way in his time!  Thank you all for your love and support! Have a great week!

Love,
Hermana Steed

My companion and I with other sisters in our zone at the mission office.

The sunrise outside of my window

My companion and I,

7 months and New Area!

Another week has come and gone!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter Sunday and had time to think about our Savior Jesus Christ, that He lives!  What wonderful knowlege that is!

People dont really celebrate Easter that big here, just Holy Week in general.  So I saw lots of people in swimming pools in the streets spending time with their families.  Also a tradition here is that they make habichuelas con dulce.  Sweet beans!  It sounds so weird but they are so good.  But one day we had 3 people offer them so I was really sweet and plump that day!

We had transfers so I am now in my new area with my new companion.  I am still in Villa Verde just the other part of the ward boundry  so it was a weird change.  It didnt really feel like a change but yet it did because all the people changed.

My companion Hermana Lana is from Minas, Gerais Brazil.  It is central Brazil is what she told me.  She is 19 and the youngest of 6 in her family.  We are getting along well and working together.

We have quite a few investigators I am still working on getting to know them all and understanding each of their situations.  We had a lesson with one of our investigators named Miguel.  He is about 30 years old and lives by himself.  We taught him about the Book of Mormon and he accepted a baptismal date for next month so that was exciting!  We also are teaching a family.  A couple and 2 little children.  They are really interested and want to come to church!  Yay!  I am excited to see what this transfer holds, good things!

I had a few mouse and rat situations this week.  One day we were sitting outside with a recent convert and someone came out of their house smacking a broom on the ground then I saw it!  I nice mouse!  I jumped up knocking my chair over and gave a little scream.  As did everyone else around me!  It was funny.  Also we were walking the other day in the street and my companion just stopped and gave a wail.  then I saw it.  I nice huge flattened rat in the road that had been run over.  It was huge!  Ew, yes ew!

One day this week in my personal study I studied about adversity.  In True to the Faith it gives the example found in 1 Nephi 16:15-32 when the bows of Nephi, laman, and Lemuel break.  it talks about how we can deal with adversity.  We can either complain and ask why is this happening to me or we can ask ourselves what can I learn, what does the Lord want me to learn, whom can I help?  I really enjoyed this perspective and example in the scriptures.  What an amazing gift the Book of Mormon is and scripture in general.  We can learn so much and be given so much strength if we read every day.  I challenge you all to read and pray everyday and I promise you will receive a new light in your life and more blessings.  God always wants to bless us, but we must first keep His commandments!

Well I hope you all had a great week and have another great week!  Enjoy it!

Love,
Hermana Steed

Companion Exchange after Companion Exchange!

Hermana Howard, she is from my
MTC group and I at the immigration
office!

Hello Family and friends,

This week was an interesting one.  As a result of my companion going home tomorrow she had so many meetings and things to go to this week that I had so many companion exchanges.  Also I had to go to the capital on Wednesday night to be ready to go to the immigration office for my visa.  So I really was not in my area much this week.  But I got to come to Higuey another part of the country so that was fun to get to know another area a little bit!

My district!

As for transfers I will be finishing Hermana Lana´s training and will be switching areas.  It is pretty funny actually.  So for the past six weeks I was in the area Villa Verde A.  In my house lives 4 sisters: us and the sisters from Villa Verde B.  I will be switching areas to Villa Verde B.  So just the other half of the city!  I will be moving my stuff from one room to the other in our house!  But yes I will be finishing training.  Hermana Lana is from Brazil.  I am excited I think it will be a great fun experience.  It is really cool because we already know each other a little bit, but now I can learn more about her!  She is great and has a wonderful sweet spirit!  But yes they will be white washing my area that I have been in. 

Lots of changes but I am excited to start this transfer off with lots of energy and find those people prepared to come unto Christ!  Yesterday we received 2 references from a member!  Pure gold in a missionaries eyes!  Sadly I will be leaving the area, but what a great way to start off for the new missionaries!

Well I will let you know how it all goes next week! Thank you all for your love and support!  I encourage you alll to read the Book of Mormon and learn more about its truthfulness everyday, what a wonderful gift it is!

Love,

Hermana Steed

A cruise ship that docked in Higuey

A cathedral that is a tourist spot

Another bug that likes to come into our house

 

What an amazing General Conference!!!

Dear Family and Friends,

Some of the sisters when we had a conference
with Elder Andersen.

What a great General Conference weekend we had!  We were blessed to hear from the Lords apostles and prophet.  The themes that stood out to me were those of Faith and listening to the Holy Ghost.  We can accomplish so much by our Faith in our Savior Jesus Christ.  Faith truly is a principle of power and the Holy Ghost plays such an important role in each of our lives and is such a special gift as we remain worthy of it.  And of course I think one of the favorite talks of every missionary was one of a seventy when he invited all investigators to be baptized as it will change their lives forever.  So powerful!  I was blessed to watch the conference in English with other missionaries so that was really nice!  We are so blessed to be able to hear the actual voices of the apostles and prophets, something I always took for granted!  But I hope you all enjoyed General Conference and had the opportunity to watch or read all the talks.  I hope you all took some things and will apply them to your life so that we can all progress and become better people through our Savior Jesus Christ.

One thing this week was as we passed by members I love asking them how they came to know the church and eventually become a member.  I love hearing their sweet stories of opposition and pure joy as well as they come unto Christ and find the truth in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, truly the Church of our Savior Jesus Christ.

The ocean is so blue here

This week when we had our district meeting I saw the Branch President from Yamasa.  President Ramirez and he updated me a bit on Franchesca, one of my sweet investigators there!  They have been working with her family to receive permission for her to be baptized and have been making some progress.  I called my old companion who still is in Yamasa and she said that they made progress in one direction, but now another member of the family doesn’t want to give permission.  I love her so much and I know that she will be baptized in the time that the Lord wants her to be.  She is so special to me and I know the Lord is watching over her.  She is so strong and such a great example.  But it was a great highlight of my week to hear about the progress that is happening with her!

Something funny this week was in between the sessions of conference on Sunday we were eating with a member and she asked if I had tried pata de pollo before.  Well those of you who know Spanish know that this is chicken feet.  People love it here, not all but many.  Well I tried chicken feet!  I wouldn’t say that I would never eat it again, but also I would never say that I would crave chicken feet.  It doesn’t have any meet really so I am not sure what I was eating, but I am living and it was a fun experience!

We have found more people to teach this week and are trying to work with more youth so it should be a good busy week!  

Hopefully there will be more to report next week!

Have a wonderful first week of April!

Love,

Hermana Steed

Zapote is a weird fruit here that is delicious and
makes great batidas (smoothie, shake things)

Calor, calor, calor! Bienvenidas a La Romana y Republica Dominicana

Hello Family and Friends!  

The heat has really kicked in this week and it will just keep getting hotter.  Semana Santa is soon and everyone says it gets really hot at this time so I am just drinking lots of water and sweating it all out!  

Anyway, this week was good.  We had zone conference this week and talked a lot about exceptional faith and how it is the motor to everything and how we need to be always increasing our faith.  Also we talked about talking with all of our soul as is talked about in Alma 5:43.  It was a good conference.  It is always a great time to reflect and think about how I can improve and become a better instrument in the Lords hands.

This week we had a tender mercy.  Yesterday we went out early to pick up investigators for church, but no one could come or they werent home.  I got a little discouraged, but after the sacrament when the doors opened one of our contacts, who we havent even taught yet, was standing there with his son and neighbor!!  It really was a miracle in my eyes.  When people have the desire to come to church on their own it is just one of the best feelings.  We have a lesson with him tonight and we are excited to see his progress!  It was also amazing because he brought a reference!! It was a missionaries heaven!  Haha.  But it was a good week and is going to be an even better week this week.  We are ready to just work so hard this week to find investigators and the people whom the Lord has prepared.

I hope you all have a wonderful week and enjoy the Spring weather!  

Love,

Hermana Steed

6 months!!! What???

Wow I have completed a third of my mission.  That is just bizarre.  It has gone by so fast and I have only heard that it gets faster!  Only 1 year left!  

But I hope all is well with all of you.

Tuesday we had a conference with Elder Anderson and with many other 70s and the Presidency of the Area. It was a fabulous conference and we learned a lot. Elder Andersen had great advice for our mission and for our lives as well. He said that every convert needs to show two things before they are baptized. 1) They need to have felt the love and grace of the Savior as they have repented and 2) They need to have a love for the book of Mormon. So we need to teach repentance very well and also show them a love for the book of Mormon and have them dig into it and read it so they gain a love. It was great advice for our mission.

It was also fun because it was with the West Mission as well so I got to see all the people from the MTC in the West mission which was good to see them all on our 6 month mark!

We have a lot of eternal investigators here in this area but we are working with them to figure out their needs and also we are finding new people every day as missionaries do!

The light goes out a lot in our apartment and the town so that is fun. Sometimes we sit in the dark for a couple of hours, haha.

A funny-miracle in the supermarket was I found sour cream and Chobani yogurt. These things are so hard to come by in the country my jaw dropped when I saw them. And yes, you better believe I bought them. Haha

Also the heat is starting to come full force here. The soul and humidity are really in full force, well not full force, that comes in August, but luckily I have acclimated a little bit, but wish me luck!

I hope you all have a great week!  Love and miss you all!

Hermana Steed

Week 2 in La Romana

Hello everyone,

Not too much to report this week, just normal missionary activities. Finding and teaching a lot! We are working hard to find more people to teach as our investigator count is low right now, but we are finding people. 

This week we also went to the temple which is always awesome. We woke up at 4 to get on the bus at 5:30 and drove for 2 and a half hours to get to the captial for the temple. It was a great day!

Sorry not much else to report today. Tomorrow we are going to the capital again to hear Elder Andersen speak and another 70. We are all so excited to hear what they have to say and counsel us on!  

Have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Steed

First week in La Romana

Hello family and friends,

It was my first week in Villa Verde, La Romana.  I am close to the ocean and in some parts of my area I can see it from a distance.  We are really close to a tourist spot called Casa de campo.  We also see lots of Italians here, like a lot!  It is definitely different from Yamasa, but different is good.  Each area is good in its own way.

Some news from Yamasa was that Dioni received the priesthood yesterday so that was exciting.  Also one of our investigators was baptized yesterday.  I was a little sad not to be there, but thats not the important part.  The important part is that she was baptized and now can endure to the end.  I was excited to receive this news!

Things here in Villa Verde are good.  We just need to find more people to teach, as always.  We do have some investigators right now and I am just trying to get to know them and teach them and invite them to come unto Christ.  The members here are also very good to us.

I am in a ward and in the ward are 4 missionaries so that is a little different for me.  I also live with the 2 other missionaries.

My companion is Hermana Quezada who is from the DR, but from the West Mission.  This is her last transfer in the mission.

We also have a lot of Haitians that live in our area that dont speak Spanish.  So we have members that speak Creol that go with us to lessons.  They are so sweet.  So possibly I will be learning a little bit of Creol!  

Sorry not a lot of time today and the pictures are from Yamasa, but hopefully I will have pictures of my area next week!  Thanks for all the love and support.  Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Hermana Steed

Pictures are from my last week in Yamasa!

Me voy de Yamasa! Transfers!

Me voy de Yamasa Familia y amigos!

My time in Yamasa has come to an end.  I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here.  What a pleasure it has been.  the people here are amazing and it is just beautiful.  It has been an amazing 4 months in Yamasa!  I am being transferred to the province La Romana which is close to the ocean and more in the east part of the country.  I have heard it is beautiful and the people are great so I am excited to be going.  It is sad to leave Yamasa, but it is a part of the mission and I know the Lord needs me in a different place at this time.

But this week went well.  We are having some troubles receiving permission for Franchesca to be baptized but the missionaries and the branch president are going to keep working with her on that.  She has a desire to be baptized and I know in the future she will be.  She is amazing, goes to church every Sunday, goes to seminary and mutual.  She is so prepared!

But not a lot of time today.  But I hope you are all doing well and great.  I will talk to you next week from La Romana!

Love,

Hermana Steed