Amigos y Familia,
I am finally out of
the CCM and in the mission field!!!! I
love where I am serving. I am in an area called Villa Mella. It’s probably 30
minutes outside of Santo Domingo. It’s a wonderful place to serve. Sorry I didn’t
warn you guys I wouldn’t be writing on Thursday. My P-day is now Monday.
I love being a missionary. There is so much work to be done in Villa
Mella. I have never met kinder people. No matter what their religion or their
living circumstances, people invite us in because they want to hear about
Christ. I love it here. I’m finally doing what I dreamed of--sharing the gospel
of Jesus Christ with the people of the Dominican Republic--ALL DAY LONG. There
really couldn’t be anything better.
So you´ll never guess
who my companion/trainer is… Hermana Hansen!!! She’s from Texas and is a great
missionary. She’s been serving for 14 months and I’m learning a lot from her. Everyone says "Ustedes son Hermanas?
Primas? Familia?" Our answer is always "No, pero somos hermanas en
Cristo" Haha I love being a missionary. The other sisters in our apartment
are Hermana Barrington (from Utah) and Hermana Romero (from Columbia). I’ve
found out that I love Columbian food :)
So my Spanish is
coming along. I can understand most people pretty well, and I can usually get
my point across. Hermana Hansen lets me do a lot of the teaching so I’m
learning a lot. Dominicans speak
sooooooooooo fast! All of the Latino missionaries in our zone I can understand
almost perfectly but some Dominicans are almost impossible to understand. My
trainer tells me to be patient, first you have to learn Spanish, and then you
can learn Dominican :)
We do lots of walking.
Lots!! During the week we really don’t use any public transit. The streets are
pretty old and we have one of the biggest areas in the mission, so my shoes are
getting quite a workout. But I don’t mind the walking. I love exploring the
Dominican Republic :)
It is HOT here. I am
always sweating. The only place with AC is the church and the store. But on the
bright side, I’m never cold and I’m getting a great tan. The tan lines on my
feet are going to be awesome by the end of my mission.
I stick really stick
out here. Besides some of the missionaries, I’m the only white person I’ve seen
since I left the CCM. Plus the blonde hair doesn’t help. The whole time I walk
down the street I hear "Americana! Rubia (Blonde)! Mormona!" I’ve
never felt so different in my life :)
So I had a cool
experience on Saturday. Every Saturday the English speaking missionaries offer a free English class for
the city. Hermana Hansen and I taught probably 30 kids. It was so fun. But
afterwards we were talking to one of our investigators in the adult advanced English
class who had brought a friend. His friend knew I was a new missionary so he
wanted to hear my Spanish. After he ran out of questions to ask me, he said,
"teach me the gospel of Jesus Christ.” My companion looks at me, hands me
the pamphlet we use to teach the doctrine of Christ, and then gives me a look
like "go ahead.” So I taught him the whole lesson on the doctrine of
Christ. Then he wanted to hear more, so I taught him the whole lesson on the
restoration. He knew pretty good English, so he helped me with a few words I didn’t
know and corrected some of my conjugations BUT I taught the gospel IN SPANISH.
That felt amazing. I felt the Spirit guiding me in that lesson. And he and his
friends had some really good questions. He doesn’t live in my area, so I
referred him to the missionaries in his area and they are meeting with him. I
told him to pray about the things we talked about and then told him we would
talk more next week. I love being a missionary. I know the gospel of Jesus Christ
changes lives, and I cannot think of anything better than to share it.
I love you guys!
Thanks for all of your prayers. Sometimes when I’m lying in bed and I’m nervous
or feeling discouraged I think of all the people I know are praying for me that
night. That brings me so much peace and strength. God loves us! And he really
does answer prayers, often in ways that we don’t expect. But he does answer. We
must have faith, patience and diligence. When we do, miracles happen. I know
that is true because I have seen it occur over and over again as I have asked
for His help and trusted in my Heavenly Father.
Love you lots! Keep the letters coming! Dearelder.com is
still a great way to get in touch with me.
Hermana Hansen
All the Missionaries in the CCM
The Missionaries in my CCM District
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Hermana Hansen y Hermana Hansen
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