Wedding, Waterfalls, and the Temple . . .

September 1, 2014

Dear Family,

My District

Things here are going really well!!  We were able to maintain all but one of of baptismal dates, and it wa a decision that we made to be able to make sure that the woman, Deysi, will stay active!!  But other than that, all of the people are still on for their baptismal dates!! We are super excited, and the people in the whole stake have been invited to this baptism, because it is going to be the biggest service that Azua has seen, maybe even in the whole country!!  We are hoping that everyone will come support us, because we really want to make this service super special and spiritual, so that all of the people feel welcomed and loved!!  That is one of the 3 main keys to helping these people stay active!!  A friend, a calling, and to be nourished by the good word!!!!  So we are hoping that they are going to recieve that right off the bat!!

Any way, so now I am going to give a run down of the week so that you can now exactly what I have been up to lately!!  :)

Elder McEwan, Elder Cisneros, Elder Gallo

Ok, on Tuesday we went to Las Charcas, and it was a great day!!!  We got everything squared off with Chichi to rent a bus to take people to the baptism!!  We are hoping to have a big support group there from Las Charcas, because we really want all of them to stay strong!!  We are also hoping that it will be a good opportunity to be able to get some references of family members of these recent converts!!

On Wednesday we had an intercambio.  I wanted to see how Cisneros is doing in his learning and teaching, because his training is going to be finished up this week.  I went with him to his area, and it was really good!!  It was crazy to think back on my time of being trained!!  Was that really over a year ago?!  Holy Cow!!  I was able to teach him about how to recognize the needs of his investigators through asking inspired questions!!  It was a really fun day, and we were able to teach lots of people!!

Elder Gallo, Abril, Wilton, Natali, Elder McEwan

Ok, so now for the highlight of the week,  Thursday....  Natali and Wilton got MARRIED!!!  I made them two cakes, and we went to Las Charcas to be able to watch the ceremony!!  We got there, and Natali was getting ready!! She looked great, and they were both super happy!!  Their little daughter, Abril, is super cute as well!  We went, and the judge even recognized us as the missionaries in the ceremony, that they were going to be married legally, and that we would teach them how to have their family forever!! It was super cool!!  They were all so happy!!  Then we went back to their house, and I made them do the cake tradition, where the bride and the groom feed each other cake, and told Wilton to kind of get Natali on the nose, and he did it!!!  ;)  Then we played Parchesi!!  Not sure if that is how it is spelled, but it was super fun, and I even won!!  Not sure how, but it was a good little break from the normal stuff that we do to be able to play a board game!!  Then we went to a family home evening with Kinsiño, and went home!!

Paisaje Dominicano

Friday we did a practice of the baptismal questions with the people, and they all did super well!! They don´t sturggle with hardly anything!! Some get confused with the name of The Word of Wisdom, but if we tell them that it is about health, they can explain it perfectly!!

Saturday was a great day in Las Charcas!!  We were able to meet the extended family of Edailin and Guario to be able to invite them to the baptism!!  We are also hoping to be able to start to teach them, because they looked really interested, and they are really supportive of their kids!!

Sunday was good, we had 17 investigators in church!!  I also gave 2 talks, taught the Señor Primary, and taught Sunday School!!  We also got the baptismal clothes all figured out!!  Any way, about the talks!!  It was my turn to speak in Las Charcas, so I was ready for that and expecting it!!  But, the President of La Colonia said that they needed a speaker, and wanted me to speak!!  I was able to speak on Repentance, so that was really cool!!  I was super excited, and the ward really liked the talk!!  Then we went to Las Charcas, and it was super good as well!!  All of the investigators came, and that was a huge blessing!!

Las Cascadas

And then today, I put together an activity!! We left at 5 in the morning and went on a hike to these waterfalls!"!  THe District President took us, and it was a blast!! Long, hard, and full of hornets, but was super sweet!!  The water felt great, even though we could only get our feet wet!!  We took tons of pictures, and it was fun to be able to get to know the President better!!  

Well, I hope you all are doing great!!  Something that could help you all is that you could study in a family home evening in PMG lession3 about the restoration!!  It is something that every member needs to know how to do!! Also, you should practice the practices at the end of the chapter with each other to be able to teach it!!

In some sad news, our Mission President was in a car accident, him in his car and a motorcyclist.  The motorcyclist ended up with both legs broken... :(  The president is fine, but obviously he (and his wife) are very shaken up.

In some good news, we go to the temple tomorrow and get to have a Special Meeting with the Temple President!!!

Well, I love you all, hope you have a great week!!

Love,

Elder Garrett McEwan

En La Orilla del canyon!