Well the work is going well here in Puerto Plata! We come home every night completely exhausted, fall into bed and then start again a few hours later. This past week we have been helping a member build his house. Let me just say that building a house is no small feat. We are still helping lay the foundation which means you´ve got 6 missionaries with shovels filling a 6 foot deep hole with dirt and rocks and anything else that´s there to get it ready to pour cement. We go in the morning after study and before lunch, then run home to cook and shower and leave to proselyte. It´s been cool to be able to help out but it definitely is a lot of hard work!

Last week we had a zone conference with President. They challenged us to try and have more gospel conversations with the people that we see every day. There are always plenty of people in the street here and we already had the habit of saying hello to everyone as we pass and stopping when we felt prompted so to do. When we left the meeting though we decided to step it up. As a zone the goal is to have 50 conversations about the gospel with people in a week apart from investigators. We just talk to people as we pass or whenever we buy something. It has been interesting to do and see the reactions of people. Right now my companion and I talk to about 15 people a day about the restoration or forever families or about the church. We have invited the members here to start doing the same thing. We are working with something called 8-4-2. So they have 8 conversations about the gospel with different people, invite 4 to church or a family home evening, and then give us 2 names of people we can visit from those people. I invite you guys to all do the same! It is so easy! Make a point to try and open your mouth. People are never offended at an invitation to learn more about your beliefs if you invite them with love and you never know if that person might end up talking with the missionaries afterward!

This stake is an absolute dream. Last Sunday we had stake conference and they talked a lot about missionary work. They challenged the wards to try and utilize the missionaries a little more. They reminded them that sharing the gospel is the member´s job and that we are here to help when needed. Then this week the stake president had a meeting with all fo the ward counsels and the missionaries. Right then and there they made plans on how to carry out Elder Zivic´s invitation from the week before. The members are really excited to be helping out and we have members signed up to leave with us every single day this week. Our bishop is also really involved here. We still don´t have a ward mission leader but we meet with the bishopric a few times a week to set goals with them and make sure that we are helping their ward progress in the way THEY would like it to. Members make all the difference in this work. There is no way that we can be successful missionaries on our own. I am so excited to be in an area where the members are willing to help us and are really working hard to help their neighbors and friends come to Christ.

Sunday I was able to give a talk. The bishop asked me about 10 minutes before because one of the speakers hadn´t shown up. He told me I would be the last of 4 speakers and would probably just need to share a scripture and introduce myself a little. The first 3 speakers all spoke for about 5 minutes so when I stood up there was still 20 minutes of the meeting. I just prayed that whatever I said would make sense and would be from the spirit and started to talk. I shared some different experiences about sharing the gospel and the effect that we can have in other people´s lives. Afterward a lot of people told me that it had been exactly what they were waiting to hear. I think it might have been one of the best talks I´ve ever given with absolutely nothing prepared. Just another testimony that when we open our mouths they are filled and the things that we say will be for the benefit of those that hear us.

We have some awesome investigators here with a lot that are progressing. We are teaching a reference from Hermana Douglas who is incredible! She knows the church is true but is still a little wary to leave her church because she is leader there. We challenged her to exercise her faith and trust in the Lord more than man. We have another investigator that is planning a party for us tomorrow so that she can invite all of her friends and neighbors and we can find some new people to teach. We also met a little kid this week that told us he wants to be baptized. We asked the bishop about him. He said he has been coming to church for 4 years and wanted to be baptized when he was 6. When he turned 8 he ran to the bishop´s house on his birthday to ask if he could be baptized but his dad didn't give permission. We were able to get permission from his parents this week to teach him again and if they give consent he will be baptized really soon too.

Good things are happening here! I love my mission and I feel a little sad when I think I only have 8 more months. Hope you all are doing well. Open your mouths this week! Get to know the missionaries in your area and fill up their planners. Share your blessings with your friends and neighbors. You will find such a joy and fulfillment when you do so.

Love you all!
Hermana Ewell