General Conference Weekend in the D.R. . . .

Dear Family,

I am so glad to hear that you are all doing so well!!  Sounds like life if going super well for all of you guys!!  Dad, I am glad to receive the forward of the Nature Sunshine Staffing Changes!!  SO cool!  By the way, I saw a Nature Sunshine truck here.

I am doing very well!!  The weather is super hot and humid here all the time.  Just got sunburned a bit today walking around, but other than that I am doing fine!!

We were able to watch conference here in English on the Bishop´s laptop!!  We could have watched it in Spanish, but it was so good to hear the actual voices of the Lord´s servants!!  I learned a ton about the family, eternal families, and positive attitudes.  Unfortunately we were unable to attend the Priesthood Session because it started so late (8)!

So about how the teaching is going...  I will start with the Familia Suarez.  They are progressing so well!!  They have been taught the Restoration, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the Plan of Salvation!! They believe in all of it so strongly, and have a baptismal date of November 16!!  That is three girls, ages 16, 20, and 23, and a mom. The dad will most likely get baptized, if we could ever meet with him!! He comes home super late!!  Two of the girls actually came to conference and loved it!!  The mom and youngest sister were unable to come because they had the flu, so that was sad, but they are going to watch it on the internet!!

Next, we have Dominguito and Raquel... They are in a bad financial situation, so they work a lot.  They have had a hard time coming to church because they have to work on Sundays, but they are super ready to get baptized!!

Then, we have a man named Marius.  He is Haitian, and has been taught all the lessons, and reads the Book of Mormon.  He has a baptismal date of November 2!!  He is very ready to be baptized, and wants to serve a mission!!  He is 23, so we will be helping him towards that goal!!  He is a very cool guy, and came to conference with us this weekend!!  His favorite part was Sunday Morning when the prophet spoke, so that was amazing!!

Next, we have a man named Hermano Jr.  He is the spouse of a member, Hermana Josefina.  He was going to be baptized before, but fell away. I felt prompted one night to share with him specifically, and we just started talking.  I shared with him in Mosiah 4, when King Benjamin is chastising his people.  He is telling them that there is one and only one way to be with God, to be saved if you will.  I felt prompted to talk about repentance and the Atonement, and then shared in Alma 7. This was so cool, because when I invited him to be baptized, he said very humbly that he was not worthy to be in God´s presence.  We told him that through the Atonement, he would be worthy.  He now is going to be baptized on November 16.

We continue to work hard, and look for a camera.  We are going to go to a place called El Canal next Monday to look for a camera. The El Canal is like a mall. Hopefully we can find one!!  Also, some little kids, like 13 years old, stole my food through our window.  The window has bars on it, but they just reached through and stole all of my cereal, so I had no breakfast food.  Good thing I budgeted so that I would have over a thousand pesos of apollo left, so I went and bought more today.  I talked to them about it, and they lied.  We used to pay them to do little chores, like take the trash out so we could kind of help them because they are really poor!  But now, we won´t anymore.

So about food, we don´t eat with members, it is a rule...  But I eat really well!!  Chicken, hot dogs, avocados, apples, burritos, lasagna, rice... pretty much everything I ate at home!!  So good!!  My weight is staying constant so that is good!!  Probably the best thing I have had is empanadas with chicken and cheese and beans!!  So good, so
worth it!!

Transfers are in two weeks, but no one in my house will be transferred.  The other new elder, Elder Pedersen, is being trained as well, so all of us will stay.  Then after the next transfer, Elder Thomas will go home and Elder Galindo will most likely be transferred, because it will have been his sixth transfer here.  Me and Elder Pedersen will most likely stay in Los Girasoles for a while!!  Elder LeFevre is in our district, and will most likely stay with his companion, Elder Rodriguez.

I am glad that you are getting closer with the Eagle stuff!!  I want to be able to help them, because they have almost nothing to play with!!  So that will be really good!!

I am glad that you received the pictures.  I still have not received your letters, but maybe they will come soon!!  DearElder.com is a good place, and I usually get those letters within a week!!

Well I have to go, I have a cita in like 15 minutes, so I will talk to you guys next week!!  I love you all so much!! say hi to dad for me!!

I love you all so much, and hope you are doing well!!

Love forever and always,

Elder Garrett McEwan :)