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Letter From Rhys - Week # 49 – T.G.I MONDAYS!

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Feliz Lunes from the topical land of the Republica Dominicana! This week was a week full of interesting events.   The one that sticks out the most is what happened this past Friday! So Last Sunday, we heard that the youth of the ward were going on a temple trip! One of our recent converts was a youth and we’ve been teaching the rest of his family. So, he comes to his mom and says they’re going to the temple on Friday! When we heard this, we jumped on board and said we could all go to the temple together and give them a tour of the temple grounds. All was good to go, until Friday! Friday, I had some interviews for some baptismal candidates in the afternoon before the trip to the temple. In our effort to find a man to leave with us, the second counselor of the bishopric told us that the temple trip started a 4 not at 5 and that changed everything!!! So, scrambling ourselves to get everything ready for this sudden change in schedule was hectic! We scrambled about looking for

Letter From Rhys - Week # 48 – The big 11!!!

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Feliz Lunes from the tropical land of the Republica Dominicana! Today marks the day of month number 11 that I have officially been a missionary and in the Dominican Republic! Wow time flies doesn’t it?! It’s almost all down here from here people! This past year has been full of awesome fun and adventure and it’s time for me to start working even harder to bring more souls unto Christ. I only get 2 years to wear this black nametag and I’m almost halfway done! And there so much I still need to do!!!!! People who need to hear the Gospel! Lessons I still need to Learn! And most important, fun I still need to have!!! Speaking of fun, today we went to the caves again close to our area! Its transfers so we can’t leave our zone though there’s no change with Elder Rodriguez and I for the next 6 weeks.   Anyway, this week was a little tougher in the mission department; we had many appointments fall and lots of opposition. Though I was able to work out a few kinks that I had wit

Letter From Rhys - Week # 47 – Las Cuevas of Brisas Del Este!!!!

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Feliz Lunes from the tropical land of the Republica Dominicana! This past week, we were blessed with a very fun and awe-inspiring zone conference! We learned what we need to do to be more consecrated missionaries and the sacrifices we need to make to help bring people closer to Christ.   Hermana Smith even built a small cardboard alter made to look like rocks, to offer our sacrifices for the things of the world that are needed in the mission.   We wrote the things that we needed to sacrifice on little paper hearts and then tore them up and threw them in on the alter. They told us we were going to burn them, but I’m not sure if they actually did or not... We also had a baptism this weekend!!!! Let’s go!!!!!! The baptism was held yesterday after church. Recently, our Mission President has been wanting us to try to have a baptism every weekend of every month! So far, we’re on it because we have 4 or 5 more people scheduled to be baptized for the next 3 weekends!!! They are all s

Letter From Rhys - Week # 46 – Bautismo!!!!!!!!!

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Feliz lunes from the tropical land of the Republica Dominicana! This past week was awesome!!! Filled with fun and adventure and the best part... Getting Wet!!!!!! From the baptismal font that is. The weather has actually been very dry... but humid...Anywho, on Tuesday we ran to the church in the next ward over to play basketball with some people from the Brisas Ward.   We ran a solid mile and I was still hot and pumping lots of energy to play some basketball! I also had a nice exchange with some of the members in my district. I went to Boca Chica with Elder Roberts, and his companion Elder Chadwick came here. Rhys and Elder Roberts Elder Roberts is super cool and works super hard. The Following day we had our district meeting and interviews with President Smith!  It was also Hermana Smith’s birthday, so the zone put together something special to wish her happy birthday! It was a wonderful surprise and to top it all off, her son and his family came to visit us as well.

Letter From Rhys - Week # 45 – Fun times!

Feliz Lunes from the tropical land of the Republica Dominicana! This past week we’ve been having a lot of fun preaching and teaching and finding awesome people to baptize! We had an intercambio with the Zone Leaders last week and I learned a lot of how to talk to the youth and get their friends to come to church! In the process of teaching these youth we found a couple others as well who are prepared to be baptized. We found another family the other day, when a little girl brought her friend to a so called "English class with the missionaries"   No one else showed up so upon request we taught them how to read music.   Afterward, they told us they were going to come to church on Sunday! Because they’re awesome, they did!!!! And we were able to talk to one of the moms of one of the girls, last night! She was super receptive about our message and told us to come back as soon as possible to teach them more! She also was super glad that her daughter had a lot of fun

Letter From Rhys - Week # 44 – Timing Couldn’t Be More perfect!

Feliz lunes from the tropical land of the Republica Dominicana! This week was a ride and full of hard work and much more opposition.   We were supposed to have two baptisms this past weekend!   Their names were Emely, one 10 and the other 19.   These two young ladies are amazing people and love the message of the gospel.   Each one, however, had their own difficulties. This past weekend we tried super hard to get the permission from the younger Emely's parents so we could baptize her.   We got super close!!!!   So close I wish we were doing government work! Or lobbing hand-grenades. Or playing horseshoes.   At the end of it all, the mother refused to give the permission claiming that we were obligating her to sign the form.   She denied her daughter the opportunity to not only be baptized but to have any connection with the Church. This was not somewhere we wanted to go. My parents have taught me that the Lord’s hand is in everything we do and in every part of the wor

Letter From Rhys - Week # 43 – The good things of Life

Feliz Lunes from the tropical land of the Republica Dominicana! This past week, as you all know, was the first week of a new transfer! My new companion is sick [really cool] and he’s always using the word "dope."   All the time!   His name is Elder Rodriguez and he’s from Texas though many people think he’s Latino! It doesn’t help though that he does look Latino and his name is of Spanish origin. He has one transfer less than me but he is just under an year older than me.   He’s super cool and is helping me a lot to remember some of the basic things that I may have forgotten in the terms of teaching and the importance of staying focused on the work. We are actually a really good team and every day I get more pointers on how to be a better District Leader from all that are under my leadership.   This past week, I had my first experiences giving the baptismal interview before an investigator is baptized.   It’s a new perspective, definitely, being on the side of t