Alto, Blanco, y Flaco: Life of a Missionary in the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo East Mission: My son is CASH (or so he says)

Guess what? My kid already speaks Spanish too! Elder Williams is from Sandy, UT, loves skiing, and uses "cash" and "money" as though they meant "awesome" or "sick" (must be a Utah thing). He's really chill as a person, does his best to always be learning by asking tons of questions, and has TONS of energy. He wants to go talk to the whole world. It's just great. He is keeping me alive in this tiny place. Villa Esfuerzo is nice and all, but...I definitely had to set some personal goals to push myself this transfer so nothing gets old.

This week the area woke up again--we put 2 baptismal dates for next month and found a few new families. We also had 8 investigators at church this Sunday (which is super awesome becase we've been having problems getting people to church my whole time here despite the smallness of the area)! Also there are now 3 kids in the ward (all age 20) who are prepping to head out on their missions who all come out with us regularly (it's like as a companionship we have 3 sons)--W****, who is headed to Mérida MX early in November; J***, who is headed to Oxaca, MX at the end of November; and J***, who is working on his papers right now.

This transfer I've made a goal to make out companionship study more effective, and the results have been great. We have been studying more for others than for ourselves (obviously with balance, since Elder Williams needs training, too) and every lesson has felt much more powerful. Have you guys ever tried that? Thought of a person with whom you want to share the gospel, then sat down and studied how you'd do it (scriptures you'd share, materials, pamphlets, or videos you'd use, what you'd testify of)? There's my challenge for you guys.

AH. The reason I am writing today (not yesterday) is because we had Zone Conference yesterday. We left the house at 6:45 to be able to be at the mission office/Santo Domingo stake center at 8. We got caught in traffic, and didn't show up until 8:30. We find out that we were going to start at 8 because a doctor was going to give us shots, but we were saved from certain band-aids because he was not able to arrive. We sat and studied until 9:15ish when we started. We ended at 5. Yes, 5 pm. We were literally sitting in a meeting (with 2 -10 min breaks and a 30 min lunch) from 9 to 5. XD Because from 4:30 to 6:00ish the capitol is gridlocked trying to leave, we didn't get home until 8:00, and rushed to an FHE with a Haitian family who are progressing like crazy (even the wife, who has only just started to warm up to us). So yeah, it was good to not sit around all day today.

I don't think I have too many new things to say. Oh, our mission theme is D&C 6:36-37, if you want to read it. It goes with what the apostles have been sharing about recently as far as missionaries go--the next level lies in the attitude of the missionaries and who they think they are. It must be a celestial and faithful vision of the future.

Love you guys!

Élder Rowe