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!