Mormon conspiracy theory

This week has been rather ordinary as far as lessons go and so I´m going to tell you guys a few of the funny stories of the good ol DR. This country literally is unlike any other and I´m pretty sure they are a little insane.

We were visiting with a less active this week whose husband is a prophet in another religion (hence her inactivity). She wants to come back to the church but doesn´t want to cause problems in her marriage (kids, this is why you marry someone that shares your standards). We called her husband to see if we could share a message with his family and he proceeded to ask me if I was American and why I was here, etc. Turns out he thinks that missionaries are a conspiracy theory of the US government. They use the mask of a church to get into other countries and spy on the people. So he didn´t want an American in his home gathering information for the FBI. It took just about all I had to not bust up laughing. That´s one of the most ridiculous things I´ve ever heard! First, the extreme separation of church and state there. The kids can´t even say ´merry christmas´ in the school so it makes no sense why the gov would enlist a church to spy for them. Even less sense to send 18 and 19  year olds as the spies. And second...It´s the US government and the MORMONS. Read our history.

We have also been having some insane rain. I thought I had seen a pretty good storm during the summer but it was nothing compared to what we have gotten this last week. One day we weren´t able to leave for 3 hours because it looked like a cyclone. It was SOOOO windy and rainy and we were without power. I have never seen anything like it. I imagine the second coming may be something like that. My companion and I played in the rain up on the roof for awhile. I really do like her. We danced and ´swam´in the giant puddles up there. We have a lot of fun together.

We had 4 of those storms this week. The other 3 we were out walking when they hit and literally ran to the nearest member´s home that we could to take shelter because it´s not safe to be out in those storms. It also makes it mildly impossible to teach lessons. Everyone has tin roofs and with the pounding rain even yelling at the top of your lungs it´s hard to hear the person next to you. Plus yelling isn´t very conducive to the spirit...and there´s rarely power so you can´t see to read either. We did manage to teach one lesson one of the days by candlelight in a house with a concrete roof. It was kind of cool actually to sit there in a dim room as it stormed outside and talk about the gospel.

We had a movie night for an activity this week but of course we had some rather funny events happen solely because we live in the DR. First of all the movie was pirated...and the computer was most likely stolen and then sold again. We had a lot of problems trying to get them to work together between all the illegalities. You just laugh and shake your head at that point. What do you do...you´re in the DR.

The other unfortunate thing that night was the Ward Mission Leader had bought icecream for the activity...that had alcohol in it. I guess the people had heard him wrong. When we walked into the kitchen to dish it up I turned to my companion and asked her if she smelled the alcohol too. We informed him that we couldn´t give that to anyone and laughed it off. Afterward we had to leave to be in the house on time and he said he´d throw it away. Fast forward to the next day, Sunday. To our horror we walked into sunday school to see every primary child with a cup of icecream in their hands. We tried to take away what was left but they had all already eaten enough. We inadvertently made the entire primary drunk...and a lot of kids were sick after church. Only in the DR...

Well peeps, I love it here and love the mission. There is one thing that I have been thinking of this past week. We extended an invitation for a family to do family prayer and scripture study and it made me think about the members. Are we living the gospel fully? Are you as members doing the things that we ask mere investigators of the church to do? Do you have family home evening each week and study the scriptures together as a family and personally each day? Do you pray together and on your own frequently? Have you prayed to know that truth of all of these things? My invitation to all of you this week is to think of the things that you are not doing that you could be. We have been blessed with countless blessings in this life. We have the Book of Mormon and a living prophet. We have a loving Savior. We know the truth and the secret to happiness and success in this life. We cannot afford to let that all go to waste. I know that there are blessings when we do these things. If you are not active in the GOSPEL right now, I invite you to be. The Lord loves us and is waiting with open arms to receive us. He will open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing upon us if we will just do the things He has asked us to do.

I know the atonement is real. That Jesus Christ knows and loves each and every one of us personally. The Lord has a plan for us and is so loving and merciful. I love you guys and appreciate your support always!

Hermana Ewell