October 10, 2011

Oh, my goodness, that was weird. Dad looks like he has lost some weight. But wow. Even if it was miss-shaped pictures it was weird.

Okay. So make sure you tell Melissa happy birthday! And the twinnies are pretty soon after her so happy future birthday, Adrie and Andie, just in case I forget because I have a terrible memory. Wow.  They are going to be all grown up before I get back. It is funny because all of the little girls I see that are about their age remind me of them. One of our investigator's daughters reminds me of Adrie so much. The last time we were over there she had to show us her shoes and told us about how she can´t wait for her birthday, the end of this month, to get new ones. Then one of the member’s daughters reminds me of Andie. She is super smart. It is so funny because almost every little rambunctious 4 year old reminds me of Cash. It’s crazy. They are all going to be so big when I get back.

Anyways I was going to send a handwritten letter last week but the ZLs were in Gascque so they picked up the mail and didn´t drop any off.  The ZLs also told me that there was a huge package waiting for me in the office because they couldn´t carry it...I am pretty sure it is from Nana!Thanks, Nan! Elder Newell said it was the biggest package they have ever seen. I can´t wait to see it. 


Well, you will be happy to know that we cleaned the rest of the house today. I mopped the kitchen floor with a mixture of dish soap and water and it should be pretty nice. I think I am going to be able to eat off of the floor....or not. But yeah, Hermana Hernandez is going to be inspecting every house in the mission so everyone is cleaning their houses really well because this is the first time this has ever happened since the oldest Elders have been here. It seems like the Hernandez's are going to be really big on cleanliness which is awesome because I    don't want to go to a dirty house. It is awesome that she is doing it. The only problem is that for a lot of people they can´t get rid of their trash. Trash bags are expensive for people to spend their money on so everyone uses grocery bags but the real problem is that the garbage men have no set schedule so you could go a month without getting to throw away your garbage. Luckily for us we haven´t had that problem. Our house is pretty clean.

We had a pretty good week. It looks like we won´t have the baptism this weekend but it could be the 22 or 29 of this month. We also have a really cool family that I am not sure I have told you about. They had the charlas 15 years ago and we found them contacting. It would be awesome if we get to baptize a whole family. The parents are married and they have a daughter who is in her 20s and just gave birth (literally yesterday) and a 16 year old son named MICHAEL! The daughter would be the one most interested in the church and she lives with the parents and not the baby´s dad so we will see how all of that unfolds. We have another family that is awesome. The mother has been catholic her whole life but about 3 months ago she had a dream that her daughters needed to join our church. The girls have been attending since the early summer and they really like the church and want to be baptized but the dad has had some doubts so he has not allowed them to be baptized. But thanks to the wonderful bishopric we have they resolved his doubts and now the whole family is listening to our lessons. It is awesome when you can teach lessons to whole families and see their understandings of the their lives change. Like we explained the whole concept of the Godhead yesterday. The mom had always believed that they were one being but we explained that they were one in purpose but three separate beings. We used Stephen´s martyrdom in Acts and Christ´s baptism as an example. After we explained that, she came up with the example of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. It is awesome when they understand.

Oh, before I forget, I got a few mission hand-me-down ties from Elder Yates which was cool. Mom, guess whose tie I have? One of Elder McBride´s ties. That is pretty cool huh? The tie is hideous and I will have to clean it before I wear it but it is cool to have something that has been passed down from missionary to missionary. 


Oh, and about the maps, if you look on the map "A" and see where it says baseball field and look to the right there is a street called M. Cabral and this is the street we live on. We live on the north side of the road in the second house from the baseball field in the second story.

Now to your questions.

Q: Did you watch the video we sent or look at the pictures?
A: I looked at the pictures but I haven´t watched the video because I don´t know if it is going to have to download to the computer or
anything.

Q: Do you have a ward mission leader?
A: Haha, no.

Q: What's your ward's BSA DR troop number?
A: 911.... no such thing as Boy Scouts of AMERICA in the DR. You guys are hilarious.

Q: Did you get grandpa's dear elder?
A: Yeah! I´m going to write a handwritten letter today for the mail on Thursday.

Q: Did you get the Sedona Red surprise?
A: Nope. But I did walk through a colmado the other night and the D-Backs were playing the Brewers. It may have been the elimination game. I don´t know - I had to get out of there.

Q: Do you want us to print you anything from Conference?
A: Nope. We will get the Liahona and I should be able to read those.

Q: Have you spoken in church yet?
A: Nope we have a big ward so I probably will be exempt.

Q: How are the people?
A:Pretty tranquilo here...ask Troy if he loves that word as much as the Dominicans do... when you ask someone how they are doing, they usually say "tranquilo" and I still think it is funny.

Q: Any bugs?
A: Not that I can think of.

Q: Do they do anything for Halloween down there?
A: Well,they think it is a holiday of the Devil so nothing.

Q: How are you? - Brandon
A: Oh, hey, Brandon.  I´m good you know. Living off of PB and J sandwiches and taking freezing cold showers at night because it has been raining like crazy the past two days but I would have to say I´m great. The real question is how are you? Oh and Tyler, cuentame. You need to write me about this your life. I haven´t heard from you in forever.

Q: Do you celebrate Columbus Day?
A: Nope

Q: You're coming up on 2 months in the DR. Is there anything that's different or changed?
A: Yeah, they don´t speak as fast anymore and I know the area that we live in pretty well. The mission is awesome and I can´t believe it has almost been 2 months. Time flies.

Oh, and is Brian home? If he is, welcome home Elder Skidmore.  Oh, and I don´t think I ever told Tyler welcome home. I hope they are doing well.

Well, I am going to try to send pictures so I am going to go but love you all and tell all the family I love them too. Have a good week and Alyssa will like one of the pictures I send.

Love,
THE Elder Coniam

The hand-me-down tie

A shirt we signed for Michael

A Dominican Hamburger

Peanut Butter & Jelly