Dream Team

I have so much to share this week that I am not sure where to start and what to cut out! This will not be the prettiest letter or most well-written but at least it will include some of the millions of miracles we have seen.

We had a wonderful lesson with Erika and Deyvi about eternal families and they agreed to get married again!!!! We have been working with them on this goal for almost 2 months now. They have been coming back to church and could be such a strong family but aren´t obeying that commandment and so are missing out on so many blessings. I am so excited and hope that I will be here for their wedding (they still haven´t chosen a date yet because Erika wants Deyvi to propose to her again).

We were able to have a branch activity at Erika and Chico´s house on Thursday which went really well. We shared a message and played games with about the 30 people that came. We didn´t fit in the house so we just played in the dirt outside in the dark without light. I love the simplicity here. It also brought me such great joy to see Chico laughing and hosting a branch activity in his house. Just 3 months ago this man refused to admit he was a member...
 

We are teaching a Haitian family that does not speak Spanish very well. I have taught Haitians before and am getting pretty familiar with French. I can understand more or less what they say and have learned some words here and there. There is just something special about hearing the gospel in your own language and I wanted so badly for them to be able to feel the spirit of the lesson we were sharing.  So during the week I looked up words in the French Book of Mormon to figure out how to bear my testimony and then I practiced it a few times. Last week when we went the moment came and I started bearing my testimony in French but the amazing thing is that I started sharing more than I had practiced! I found myself testifying that God loves us and that Joseph Smith was a prophet and they can know the same through the power of the spirit, in French. I finished and they looked at me a little confused and said, "Why don´t you always teach in French?" I explained that I don´t know French and testified of the spirit and the gift of tongues. It truly was something incredible.
 

Today is transfer day and so this past week my companion and I were worried about who would be moved and what would happen. Yesterday we went to the meeting and Sister Ruiz was so stressed out. They announced her name and she started to cry and put her head in my shoulder. Then the zone leaders said, "Hermana Ruiz has a lot of time in her area... and she´s going to have a little more with her companion there." We were so happy to be together again in Conani. I love my companion and my area!
 

When we went to visit people yesterday we tried to tell everyone that one or both of us was leaving and not a single person believed us. We would walk in and say, "They´re going to take us both out and put elders here again because it´s too dangerous" and then these were some of the responses we heard, "No they´re not. Because I prayed last night that the two of you would stay together and I know that God answered my prayer." "Our branch hasn´t seen this kind of work in years. You are saving the area and the Lord can´t let us fail again. I prayed that you could stay together and keep working miracles." "I told mom we had to pray for you guys to stay together because if Sister Ruiz left Sister Ewell would be too sad and I don´t want to see her sad like that." haha Literally every single person we visited told us they had prayed for the same thing. The Lord didn´t have the option to transfer us because every person that we visit and a good number of members prayed that we would stay here together.
 

Last night we had Veronica´s baptism. She wanted to do it on her birthday and it was so special. There´s always a ton of kids outside where they live and it´s common to have 5-10 extra in the lessons. A good 30 of those neighborhood kids came to support her. She is such a sweet little girl and I call her my Dominican little sister. (One day she was crying because she doesn´t have a real family. It is just her dad and her because her mom abandoned them. We talked a little about how families come in lots of different ways and it´s not always just the people you live with. I told her a little about my family and how I have 2 little American sisters but that I had always wanted a Dominican sister and asked if she would be ok being my adopted little sister. She perked right up and told me it was a great idea).  I have never seen Veronica so happy. She was all giggles the whole time and just grinning from ear to ear. She´s so little that the water in the font went up to her neck! She was baptized and came up just smiling and with that same happiness just emanating from her. It filled my heart with some crazy emotion seeing her like that. Then when she was changing she said she felt so good that she wished she could do it again. It was absolutely incredible.
 

This truly is real happiness! I love the mission and love this gospel. We are being so blessed here and I am so grateful for the opportunity to be able to work hard again for another 6 weeks here in Conani. The Lord loves us!

 

Hermana Ewell

Erika and Chico's family

Veronica's baptism

 

Hermana Ewell and her Dominican little sister

Neighborhood kids at Veronica's baptism

Hermana Ruiz, Veronica, Hermana Ewell

Veronica's Baptism

Veronica and her dad

 

 Dear Hermana Ewell,

You are awesome!  Congratulations to you and Sister Ruiz on a
beautiful baptism.  You are helping the Lord's work to move forward in
so many ways.

I love you,
Hna. Fagersten

Hermana Ewell and Hermana Ruiz at Jarabacoa

Jarabacoa

 

Jarabacoa

Jarabacoa