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

Time is flying!

Wow time just continues to get faster and faster. It feels like I just wrote to you all yesterday but yet so much has happened! We got fed so much yesterday it wasn’t even funny. Everyone was just giving us food. I probably ate one pound of rice. I felt so sick, but here it is really rude to turn down food so somehow we just keep eating. But we are feeling better today.

Franchesca is doing well! She participated in new beginnings with the young women this week and we are going to talk with her dad tonight for permission to be baptized this Sunday. So we are excited about this!

We are trying to find more opportunities to serve and find investigators that way, because service really does work.  People just invite you right into their house and let you serve them and then we just talk to them and ask if we can return and share our message with them.

In one of our lessons this week it was a little strange. Her mother in law is having some mental problems and runs away so this older lady was literally chained to a table by her foot. It was actually really sad. But an interesting story in the mission.

 

We also see many very large pigs in the countryside. They are also very dirty as pigs usually are!

Things are going well. I really do think I will be transferred. Our branch president had me speak in church with 10 minute warning. He said usually when he has these impressions it means I am leaving. So lots of people think i will be leaving. I will be sad to leave Yamasa, but I know that it means I am meant to be somewhere else!

I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Steed

I love getting letters!

Me at our zone activity after flour was
thrown into my face a few times