Fruits of his labors - May 30, 2016

Hey guys!

Thanks for all the love notes! Really appreciate it out here.

Sounds like you guys had a great Memorial Day weekend! You know what Memorial Day weekend has meant for me? Apoyo (monthly allotment of money from the mission) still hasn't gotten here! So... I've definitely pulled out like $50 in personal money, because there is no money left. I'm already developing a budget for the next apoyo, and I plan to take my time with it, since it'll be the one I use the whole rest of the mission.

So, remember how I told you about É**** C*****, the guy whose wife lives in NJ? He got baptized Sunday. Guess who did it? THIS GUY! He asked me to come back and baptize him, and President Corbitt gave me permission! It was awesome! The service was really special. His family was there, as well as most of the ward leadership. His father called in to give a talk (I'm not sure where he was). So, that was the first time I have physically baptized someone in my nearly nine months out here (NINE MONTHS? Goodness, how time flies).

We have two families we are working super hard with right now, and a third has just entered the picture. The first is the Familia M****-V****--J***, L***, A*** (18), and C*** (13ish). They are fixing an error in one of the birth certificates which didn't exist before (GAAH--that is a problem in almost every complete family I've met), but they are within two weeks of being able to get baptized. We have them set for the 11th of June. Also, we are visiting the Familia M***-- W****, J****, and J**** (15). They need to get married, too, but the issue there is having them pay a portion, since they are poor (not dirt-poor, but poor-finances-debt-and-credit poor). As soon as they get together a few hundred pesos, they are set. Finally, this week we found the Familia D****--M**** (they call him B***), his wife (can't remember her name), Y**** (8), and S**** (3). They are SUPER nice. The parents are Haitian, but are both legal citizens here in the DR. They love our visits, and we are going to start visiting them more often.

Pics next week--time is up for me here.

Élder Rowe