Ubre

Tomorrow is May. I literally cannot believe that I have already been out over a year. It has been quite the experience and I feel that I have learned and grown a lot and I hope that I have been able to help other people do the same.

We are teaching a lot of new people right now and planting a lot of seeds. We have definitely had some interesting experiences that last few weeks. We invited Ysmenia´s sister to pray about Joseph Smith to know if he was a prophet or not and she told us that she didn´t believe in praying to dead people. We told her that she needed to pray to God to know if Joseph Smith was one of His prophets and she told us that she didn´t understand why it mattered since he was dead. She was really concerned about him being dead. We explained in a different way what it means if he was a prophet (i.e. that this is the only true church on earth) and she told us that the pamphlet says he was a prophet and pamphlets usually don´t lie so she believes it too. After a good 10 minutes of trying to explain it in different ways I think that she finally understood us. Maybe her sister can walk her through it again if she needs. 

We have another reference that we received from one of the elderly members in the ward. She is very very Catholic and always tries to hide that she is interested in our message. Her neighbor is a member and this week she told us that she had seen her reading the Book of Mormon on her porch but had quickly hidden it whenever someone passed by. I chuckled a little bit but I´m glad to know that she has started reading because then it´s only a matter of time before they come to church. 

A different member gave us a reference for her neighbor who has a lot of problems with her teenage kids and drinks and smokes. She told us that she just believes that the gospel can really help her. We went 2 times this last week to visit her and both were interesting experiences. The first time she welcomed us very openly and we had a good lesson. The second time she was a little closed off at first and seemed a little upset. We started the lesson and asked if she had read what we had left with her. She responded, "I hate that religions are so hypocritical." Afterward she continued to explain that churches are full of members that don´t practice what they preach and that her son had had a problem with one of the members of the church this past week. A disagreement had now turned into something a lot bigger and some of the local gangs had gotten involved. She asked us to explain how in the world a member of the church could do this. We simply responded by saying that the church isn´t full of perfect people. It isn´t too complicated. After a good discussion she really opened up to us about her life and we were able to learn a lot about her. We asked her to just listen to the message and promised that the message is perfect even if the people are not. In the end she agreed to let us come back and I think it will be interesting to see the changes she makes in her life. It was a good reminder though that we are being watched at every minute. Whether you like it or not, every member is a representative of Christ´s church. People all around us are looking to see what we will do and how we will act and will form their opinion based on what they see. That is why it is so important to make sure that we are striving to do as Christ would do at every second of every day. 

Things truly are going well in Puerto Plata! We are enjoying a lot of sun and a lot of heat. We are also heading in to the rainy season and occasionally find ourselves running to escape the downpours. It all makes for a grand adventure. I also forgot to mention in my last email that I have officially eaten two of the most disgusting things I´ve ever seen/heard of. The first was Ubre (cow udders) and the other was a chicken foot. The cow udder was as awful as it sounds and I think the smell was the thing that got to me. My comp and I just chewed as fast as we could and then chugged the drink they gave us. Luckily with the chicken foot I didn´t have to eat all of it because there was an elder there who loves them and took it from my plate when the members weren´t looking. True friendship haha. 

I hope you are all doing well. Look for the ways to be an example this week! Love my mission and love you all!

Hermana Ewell

Ubre (cow udders)

Chicken foot

 

Ward activity with all the kids

The Reynoso family

 

There were 6 of us in the back of ruta (you can´t see one of the sisters)

Out working hard