Palmar De Ocoa

mmm, the beach! in a place called Palmar de Ocoa, its like 3 hours away from our house, but awesome! there are some members that live down there!

HI! sorry for writing so late today! so i am super short on time, so sorry this is gonna be kinda lame today. but this week, in all honesty, was really not super great. we had to drop a lot of investigators, we only had 2 come to church, and it feels like we didn't make alot of progress with the people we have. but, the good thing is that if all goes well, we will be having a baptism next week! that should be good! his name is Juan Antonio, he is 17 and amazing. he is super stoked to be baptized and has alot of friends in the church, and was willing to change everything in his life so he  could be baptized. luckily, he doenst really need to change anything, he is already pretty much prepared haha. then today, we went down to Palmar de Ocoa for my zone leaders last pday. there are some really cool members that live there and so we went and they made us a bunch of food and we took TONS of pictures on the beach. that took forever to send, another reason I'm short on time haha. but it was super fun and really cool to see the ocean!

Palmar de ocoa is a gulf, but part of it you could see out to the full ocean, but super cool none the less!! but another thing is that my district is kinda crazy. well, mostly just one companionship. the senior comp is training, and he himself only has around 5 months and is working in a new area, and well, he is only teaching kids and all the friends of the kids. they are not looking for new families to teach, and there are lots since that area has never been worked in before. so i will be doing an intercambio with him this week to try and fix that. the kids are in need of baptism too, but in an area that has NO members, he needs to baptize others. hes consistently having around 20 investigators in church, but they are all primary age and loud and are taking away from the spirit in the church. so that has been a bit of a problem the last little bit, and we have talked to him and he really isn't understanding what we are saying and why he needs to look for new people. so, time to do something about it. haha. but anywho, that's really my only story for the week! i cant really think of anything else that has happened. its just been a hard week all around, but this week should be much much better! well i gotta role and I'm really sorry that this is so lame but I'm waaay beyond over my Internet time, so i gotta run! but i love you all and promise a really long awesome letter next week!!

Elder MacArthur

 

 

Diache...digo yo

OK, so this week. so Tuesday we start out with a lesson with these people named Ramon and Santa. they...well, Santa, the wife, she is really quite but is interested enough to take time to listen to us. Ramon is kinda crazy. he is cool, and he always reads what we leave him, but wow its hard to teach him. he goes off on the craziest tangents that are slightly related, but they take so long for him to explain! and he is always talking in a hypothetical way. anywho, we talked with him and it was a really long lesson, but good. he understood all of it and all. we then went to a different barrio on the other end of the city and started contacting there, we finished contacting the last area we were working in. so we go down and contact for ever and put very few lessons, i dunno what was up. everyone was either not home or about to leave for the capital. it was awful. 

Thursday we headed up to Parra again, and first off went to a little girl named Yanjelis, and she is just a difficult one. she loves to follow us around all day and thinks we are fascinating, but then when we go to her house to teach her (she is a reference, is like 11) she is just super...difficult. gets all quiet and dramatic, kinda funny actually. so we teach her, and then teach another lady, also a reference named margarita. she is about 40, and was going to get baptized about a year ago but couldn't because she had to move to the capital and work for awhile. it was an excellent lesson, the 2nd one that we have had with her and it was super amazing, she is super prepared. after that we visited a few other people and members and then had to go home, its a long walk to the house. on the way home we visited another old investigator named Ramona, she is cool, but has to get married. but, to make a REALLY long story short, she is engaged, and her husband gets outta jail tomorrow (he was framed for stealing a motorcycle and drug possession, but he didn't do it, hence hes getting released tomorrow) and so she was looking great to get baptized. then, when we pass by, she is all crabby, and says that she is not going to go to church anymore, cuz she doesn't like what we teach and how we "say the bible is wrong" and how she wont go because she doesn't like going to a church where she feels so uncomfortable.

Humph.

So, we were talking to her for about and hour and a half. so one thing, when people have doubts or problems like that, almost NEVER are those their actual problems, they use that to cover the real problem, and we found the real problem. she got offended by some members, and she knows alot of the members and they are complete hypocrites, and are different people in church and out of church. so, not good. we are working with her. but she knows its true, but she now cant get over those members. Thursday, was a long hot day. all we did was teach ramon and Santa again, which went well. we then contacted for ever and then visited some members there.

Friday, i did an intercambio and went to an area called sabana larga, and its in ocoa, but its far. the other companionship's are actually opening it. misisonaries have never worked there. we could work there, but since we are already working in parra, we couldn't balance it. but, its a huge area there. it was alot of fun, i went with elder peña, and he is super funny. probably the greatest story teller in the world. it made me really want a Dominican companion again. i really like my comp, but i want more Dominican comps. then Saturday we had a normal day, nothing special. just went and visited everyone and reminded them about church. then Sunday, i feel like crap. so, about 2 weeks ago i had a knarly cold, and i got over it mostly, but around Friday night it started to take revenge again. and Sunday i felt super awful, but i had to give a talk in church. so we go, and there was no power. (side note, here in my area, we have light 21 hours in the day which is AMAZING, but it always leaves in the morning, about the time of church) and the planta (generator) is outta gas. so i had a stuffy nose, sore throat, and raspy voice, and then had to give my talk without a mic, so i was trying to yell. but it was good, i talked about charity and it tied in really well since the people before me talked about faith and hope. bad news, NONE of our investigators came to church. it was super lame. we focused on that so much, and no one came. but, next week we will be going to the church in parra so hopefully we can drag some of them there. it should be good.
but ya, that was my week! Love you all, have a good week!
ELder MacArthur

Alchol and Mary

Family! this week was super duper long. after the hike last week for pday, i totally did not get any rest, so i have been trying to cover from that and that has not worked since every other day we are hiking an hour up the mountain to Parra to work. aye. but, its been good. we have a guy named Juan Antonio who is super amazing and really wants to get baptized and has a fecha for the 5th of November. he is 17 and is super excited for his baptism, and told us that he wants us to focus on him more so that he could get baptized faster hahaha.

So, i have a few stories this week. so on Thursday, we had a crazy intercambio. at around 2:15 the AP´s showed up and wanted to an intercambio with me and one other companion ship. but it was a crazy one because it was completely random, and one of the APs, elder black, was already on an intercambio with elder wilkes, one of our zone leaders. so black went with the other companionship  and wilkes, our zone leader came with us.  it was a strange say. we had like 15 lessons planned and we only taught a few, partly for the fact that it was a downpour. one of our lessons, we we in a bar, and the back wall was just full of alchol and above it was a huge picture of Mary and Jesus. it was awesome. that lesson was even more interesting because she kept breast feeding (note:not weird at all. happens 5 times a day) and the kid wasn't interested so she just left it out and kept pointing it out to us...it was super strange! then, we found out that she had a 14 year old daughter who lived with her husband (also, not weird. that is a very normal age to get "married" here) and her "husband" is 32. GROSS!! heebie geebies for sure.

Then Friday we all get up (elder black and wilkes stayed the night, so there were 8 missionaries in out house haha) and we have to be to Bani (down the mountain) for interviews by 8. well, we leave the house at about 8 and put all 8 of us in the AP´s truck, not a big truck mind you. but from living here for 16 months we are all really good at fitting unreal amounts of people in small areas. we get there around 845 and then interviews start. one of our zone leaders, elder de la cruz, his interview was over an hour. more on that later. but while pres was doing interviews, one of the elderly couples, the browns, took our keys and were doing house inspections. our house was clean, since the APs  were just there and all, so no worries. then, Hna. Rodriguez, his wife, was talking to us about....DVD players! that's right. every companionship now has a portable dvd `player! and we can use it to listen to church music! oh man its amazing. we can also use it to watch church movies and to help us study with the Preach My Gospel DVDs- its really awesome.

Anywho, my interview went well, i really like Pres Rodriquez, he is an amazing guy. after my district was all done, we left and got some food and it started to downpour again. we then got a call from the browns that we need to come back an pick up our keys. all the other companionship's still had their keys, so they left to catch a bus back up to Ocoa. we went back to the chapel and got the keys, and asked the browns about our house, and i was totally not expecting the answer we got. she started freaking out, saying that our toilets are dirty (ya...that's what happens when you cant flush for a day or 2 when theres not much water and we don't have toilet scrubbers) and that it was filthy in every way. not true at all! i don't understand. elder black and wilkes both thought it was way clean, and black is an AP! hna. Rodriguez then told us that we couldn't have a p day and we had to stay home and clean. we then leave and go to get a bus to Ocoa. they are usually pretty full. and its about 20-30 min between buses. one passes, and its completely full. then another, also completely full. then another. finally, after 2 hours of waiting, at around 6:15 we get on the very last bus. we had to stand up in the isle, along with about 20 other people standing. it was awful. there were so many people that i couldn't even put both my feet down. i had to have one foot on top of the other. it was insane. and its not a short bus ride haha, we got to the house at 745 at night. lets just say i was (along with my companion) pretty crabby and utterly exhausted.

Saturday we had to go up to parra again, off schedule, since we were planning on going Thursday, but it was impossible since we got home so late. Saturday was a day of lots and LOTS of walking, and reminding people about  church and putting appts with people for other days. Sunday, only Juan Antonio came to church. it was lame. So i dunno if i explained another time, but we have the branch in the city, and then in parra, since its so far, there is a school that we rent out for the day and have a meeting there in the morning for the members up there, but its not an official branch, just a different meeting house. but we were talking to the branch pres and we are thinking that we are going to change the time so more inactive members can go and so that we can visit both of the on Sunday and talk to out investigators that go to both. so that should be changing in the next month. then last night, i get a call from one of the elders in my house, telling me that our zone leader, elder de la cruz, is getting demoted. pres found out that he had a personal cell phone and was stealing and saving up misison money and such, so he peaced out this morning and we have a new ZL, i dunno who it is though. ill find out tonight. I'm super happy about it though, he was in my zone in san cristobal and he is a little weenie, really, i dislike him. every time i was around him i got the willies. and i hated being DL and talking to him every night. so yay hes gone! so this morning we deep deep cleaned the house, and it wasn't even dirty like i said, but got it sparkling (literally, its a new house and the missionaries have only lived there for like 2 months or so) and then we took pictures to sent to hna Rodriguez to prove that we cleaned it. so ya, that was my week! i love you all and hope you have enjoyed my pictures, ill try and take more to send next week! love you all!
Elder MacArthur

Life!

Family! ok, so very first i will tell you about today, since its fresh on my mind. we had the coolest p day activity ever. we took like a 2 hour hike up the mountain following the river and it was amazing. we ended at a really sweet water fall and a little cave with bats! I'm trying to send pics, but every time i try the Internet is crashing, after i write this email ill try a bit harder, cuz i have some super sweet pictures. so ill try! but i don't have much time so i apologize in advance for this letter...we got home really late! anywho, this week was good. so basically we have now kinda got down how we are working. every Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday we are working up in Parra, the far away area, and the other days we are going to stay here in the pueblo to work. its good, but wholie molie i am more exhausted than i have ever been in my life. we are working really hard here, we have to! this week we got 6 references, all up in Parra and so up there we have been working super hard, but its good. alot of the references we have gotten have been excellent. bad news though, we are having a really hard time finding people here to teach in the city. we will have like 20 lessons set for the day, and then all of them fire us, aren't home, don't want to share, and so that has been really hard. but we are doing our best! Sunday was good, the chapel was full and everyone wants to get up and share their testimony. it was great. it could totally be a ward here, but Bani isn't a stake yet, we need 2 more units in this district to become a stake. but we are close!! so ya, good times. anywho, i don't have many other good stories. i really really like this area, and my comp, and all the people that i live with are awesome. so stoked. and we have interviews with president this week, so I'm stoked for that as well!! but really sorry for this lame  email. ill try and send some pics now!

Ocoa :)

Family!
Man, first and foremost, I'm in OCOA! like i said last week, i have always wanted to come here. and holie molie i cant even tell you how right i was! its amazing here. Dad, you would die to be here. really, I'm living in a city on the sides of mountains in the middle of the Caribbean. its so breathtakingly beautiful. so my companion is elder Adams, we lived to gether in las matas my first transfer there, he is really cool! it was also nice to already know him haha. we live in a 6 man house, and its brand new. they just moved into it last transfer. its probably the nicest house in the mission. hot water (if we have power) and 3 bathrooms, one for each companionship. one of the elders here, Elder Luzón is from Spain, but looks Dominican because his mom is Dominican. his accent is awesome. he is probably  my new favorite person ever. he is also gonna try to hook me up with some girls from Spain haha. but he is an amazing soccer player. so good in fact, he plays for Madrid Real, or to say, the best soccer team in the world. he is on the 3rd team, but none the less, amazing. he is training, and only has 4 months himself. Everyone else in my house is way cool as well.

view out my window

So right now we are going to start working in an area called Parra, its super far away, but alot of members live there and the have lots of references. to get there, we have to take off the shoes, roll up the pants and cross a decently sized river. then we have to hike straight up almost into the rain forest (almost). its waaaay up in the mountains. so beautiful. only problem is that its like an hour and a half to get there, across a river on a tiny trail, so there is no transport to get there faster. but its totally worth it. ill try and send some pics, i think this computer can handle it.

crossing the river to Parra

Conference was really good, they have the chapel hooked up the the internet and we just watched it at our own chapel over the Internet, which was great. it would be really hard to bring all the investigatores to Baní, really far down south down the canyon. Elder Cornish of the 70 was really cool to see talk, since he was here not long ago and talked to us for a few hours. he is the newest member of the Carribean area presidency, and probably the most brilliant man i have ever met. and his talk was himself speaking spanish. it was way cool. but ya i don't really have much else to say, i don't really have anything new except new area, but i know very very little about it. oh, I'm district leader again, boo.
anywho, ill go ahead and send some pics now.
bye!
Elder MacArthur

More of the path to Parra. Yes, the river waaaay in the back and down there is river we crossed earlier.

OCOA BOUND

Hey fam! ok, so this week was a little...hard. my and my comp have not been getting along as well. but i do have one really cool story. so, Saturday we were leaving a neighborhood and i went into a colmado to buy some water, and inside was a drunk guy. he grabbed my hand and starting rambling off about how he has a book that talks about Joseph smith and that we wants to talk to us. i was at first thinking he was crazy. i told him when we passed by his house, that he should call us then and we would talk to him when he wasn't drunk. he insisted, so i put a cita with him for Sunday evening.

 

Sunday we pass by his house, and at first he doesn't recognize us, and then finally remembers. he invites us in and we go and talk with him. we start the lesson and it actually starts really good. every time we brought out a scripture to teach a principal, he started to smile and understood exactly what we were trying to teach. the then goes in the back room and gets an old book. its an old D and C and Pearl of great price. way old, the first of the Spanish ones. that was the book he was talking about. now, even crazier. on Friday, the day before i met him, he had a feeling about that book and that he should start reading it. so he read a bit and was loving it, and then the next day we met. that lesson we had with him was one of the coolest lessons I've yet had in the misson. he is a chosen one for sure. he has so much faith and is positive that when he prays he will receive and answer that all we said was true. so amazing, really. but, i wont see him progress more, because I'm piecing outta Las Matas de Farfan! 

 

I'm going to Ocoa, its in like the middle of the county, google it and you ll see. its really green and mountain up there. in fact, its THE area that i have wanted to go to since i started the mission haha. i am really stoked. its also a 6 man house! there are 3 companionship's there. I'm going to be with Elder Adams, i lived with him my first transfer here, so that should be good! he is cool! we are really different, but i think we should get along just fine! so this letter is gonna be way lame I'm sorry but i spent all last night packing and today, and packed away my agenda with my list. ill give you all a good legit update next week, and hopefully ill have a good computer to send some pictures and such. we have to leave my area in about 2 hours and spend the night in San Juan since we cant leave here early in the morning. but i love you all and will for sure give you a good update next week!!

'Elder MacArthur

ps, anthony gets home on the 3rd!! so...ya. thats cool.

Shmoop

Hi! so this week, well, to tell the truth has been a more difficult one for me. so, Monday, after we left Internet, we went to English class with an inactive member who teaches it. it was good, i really like going to that class and helping them out. Tuesday, we set 2 new baptismal dates, there names are Yessher and Cenaida. they are awesome. Yessher is 26 and Cenaida, his mom, is like 62. but they are super amazing and have a ton of interest. Wednesday was really typical, and super duper hot. but nothing of any real note happened that day in truth. Thursday was insane. we had a TON of lessons planned and  we were running behind almost all day, and it wasn't really good, since all the people we taught had ZERO interest in what we were saying, only talking to us so that they wouldn't be rejecting the word of God. man, i feel bad for missionaries who go places where no one wants to talk to them or don't believe in God, but i assure you all when EVERYONE will talk to you just because you will be talking about God, who will be hearing but not listening, man, its suuuper frustrating! but ya, the last few lessons of the day we passed by just to put a lesson for the next day since we were out of time for the day, and far away from the house. 

 

Friday we had District Meeting, and the Zone leaders came to bring us some mail and to do an Intercambio. boo, i hate intercambios, i think they are soo inefficient. anywho, i was with Elder Vargas, he is cool. we had a alot of spare time that day, since we couldn't contact the day before and so we kinda went on an adventure in the middle of nowhere. it was cool enough, minus the super heat. then, that night we had organized a movie night with the members and investigators. Yessher and Cenaida came and it was great, we watched Legacy. Saturday, we got very little done, first we got fired by our first lesson, so we went to English class again, the teacher really wanted  to meet his Saturday afternoon class. it was awful, i remember why me and Hawks never went there, full of super flirty 13-16 year old girls. awful. we were about to leave, and out of NOWHERE the heavens burst. hard. it was raining suuuper hard. and then, it started to rain harder. come to find out that it was hailing. like, huge chunks of ice. it was insane. all the class was freaking out, i guess it is super rare for it to hail here even one time a year. then, about 20 min later it was blue sky with the sun shine out, and hotter than you can possibly imagine. aye aye aye. 

 

Later we had a few lessons and every single one fired us, we visited a few other people close by, and then had a meeting with the leadership at 6. and we learned something great in the meeting, the entire Caribbean area is now FORBIDDEN from reading from the Liahona magazine for talks in sacrament! it was a habit here now, people would get up, say "i chose my talk from the liahona of x month of x year" and then proceed to read an article, then testify for about 5 seconds about it, and leave. awful. it was so boring and awful. but from the area presidency it is now forbidden since all the missionaries were freaking out about it, it was awful. we also talked alot about improving the quality and reverence of sacrament meeting and such, its a really big problem here. so that was the first leadership meeting i have had here that we actually accomplished something. baby steps! then Sunday after church, we brought Yessher and Cenaida to the church and watched the Jose Smith, prophet of the Restoration video so they could learn more about him, they had questions after watching legacy about why there was so much persecution and why Jose smith was killed. but it was a really good lesson with them. And so ya, that was my week. Sorry this was not a great letter, once again i left my little list i had made in the house...but i love you all, have a good week!

-Elder MacArthur

¡Gallinas estan atacandome!

1y2 in the wilderness of las matass de farfan

 

 

Hi kids! ok, so I'm gonna try and write you all a better letter this week! ok, so, first off. Monday, right after we left Internet center, we went back to the house to pick up our stuff, and then go walk to the lessons we have. right before we get there, we get a call from the zone leaders, saying we have to sleep in azua that night, since we were going to the capital on Tuesday to go to the capital. azua is super far away, like, from las matas where i am, its about 2.5 hours. so, we immediately go back home to pack up our stuff, and catch a bus to San Juan, then from San Juan to azua. it was way awful. get to azua, then we have to split our entire zone into 4 houses. the house i was in was a 2 man house. we had 8 people there that night. it was awesome. then, we wake up at 5 am, and get a bus to the capital, like 2 hours and a bit. get to the temple por fin, and chill for a bit and wait for president and the APs to show up. go to the temple, which is always good, then we have to leave fast. we put way to many people in the office van, and go off to Caribe Tours (it a big bus company here) so we can get the 115 bus back to San Juan. we got there at 114. if we missed the 115 bus, the next isn't until 5. and its a 3 hour and a bit drive. and from San Juan to las matas is an hour. so if we missed it we wouldn't be home till at least 9. but, lucky there was a bus that was actually leaving at 2! so we got that one and all was good. so we got home at around 7, and we just showered and such, since we had gone 2 days without showering and nearly 10 hours of traveling.

awesome lagoon with chikitin, a cool member kid

more wilderness

Wednesday we start out the day contacting! ya! that is an excellent way to start the day....not! and we had a few lessons planned and the all fired us. lame! we had a lot of spare time after that, so we went and picked up the new pants that i had made and they are amazing, just FYI. then at night, we bought some real milk (as in, straight from cow) and my companion made an amazing sweet milk candy thing. wow. Thursday, was really, REALLY hot. like, really hot. for real. my companion made and amazing locro with ribs! mmmm soo good. we had like 16 lessons planned, we went to a few, and then it started to rain. like, Noah era type rain. lets just say, once it ended, to leave to area we were in, we had to get wet up to the knees. and we were walking on the sidewalk!! it was insane. it was only raining for like 30 or 40 min, but it rained SO much. also, there was a ton of lightning. this country is cool. especially in mountain areas like this one, we have electrical storms almost every night. just random lightning off in the distance all the time. its pretty cool. but anywho, ill try and send pics today, and if so i have some good ones! 

 

member with super cool shirt, named Coco

Friday, we had to go and visit all the people we couldn't visit on Thursday and share with them of put an appt with them for a different day. then we went to the other lessons that we had and it was another good day of nearly everyone firing us. the rest of the day we just visited a bunch of members and such. Saturday was good, it started with eating a cantaloupe sized mango, then we finally had a member to leave with us. and we taught like 10 lessons with him. it was really good, only problem was with the rain and everything, our agenda was a little messed up so we had to walk to one side of the area, and then the next lesson was on the other side, and it was like that all day. needless to say by the end of the day i was absolutely exhausted. we also ate a bunch of 10 peso bollitos, they are little things of yuca, and they are amazing! wow. anywho, now Sunday. Sunday so many random little things happened. so we go to church, and we had a record low of 44 people in church, including us 4 missionaries and little kids. it was awful. in elders class they just all argued about really unimportant doctrine. then we leave for the day, and our first lesson isn't until 430, so we decided to go and visit some members that live in Los cartones, witch is pretty far away. on the way we get stopped by a crazy drunk guy, asking us how long we have been in the service (ALOT of people think that we are military and that we are from the CIA, legitimately) and we told that it wasn't true and that we are missionaries, so he started yelling and saying "i am a chemist! i know that you are cia!" and really random stuff like that, and he kept saying he hate Americans but he wants to live with them and it was just super strange. 

 

stuck in the mud in the wilderness

 

 

So later on, at our first lesson, we are sharing with this girl and her super catholic neighbors, and her son is sitting on her lap. he is a little less than a year old i believe. now, some background. here, kids are ALWAYS naked. always. so, this naked baby is sitting on her lap, and i am in the middle of explaining how Christ established his church, and all the sudden we hear a way gross sound and the boy had just explosively pooped all over the ground. luckily it missed her, but the boy just acted like nothing happened. the neighbor lady just laughed and said "wow! without shame! (sorry, that's a bad translation...its better in Spanish "hai, sin vergüenza eh?!" ) and it was super funny. then, as they lady was cleaning it up, we hear another crazy sound. look back, and there is a chicken (also, LOTS of chickens roam the streets here) and it has a frog in its beak. yes, a frog. and it is just beating it to death against rocks and stuff. and there were a ton of other chickens around it trying to steal to frog. it was just super random and hilariously strange. then, things calm down, we finish the lesson, and it was great. it was a REALLY good lesson minus the pooping boy the the murderous gallina. then we go to one more lesson, and the go contact more. and when do you know, we contact a super crazy old lady, go to shake her hand. she grabs it strangely, kinda hunkers down, and super awkwardly kisses our hands. it was so weird. so ya, that was my week! 

 

elder hawks, my step son who just left me

Juan Antonio Moreta, my new mini misionary son! and dont worry, not getting fat again, just bad camera angle. i promise.

Oh, and not like its anything new, but it has been SUPER hot this week. man alive, and way more humid than normal. and our landlady is still crazy and so we haven't had water for 2 days. today i showered with just over 2 cups of water. yay being clean! also our light schedule has changed so we don't ever really have light at night. its so lame. and by light, i mean electricity. man. lame.

anywho, hope you all have a good week! tell dad that that kid who got called here can email me anytime and i would love to answer any of his questions. also let him know about my blog! ill try not to scare him too much :) haha.

but i love you all!

=Elder MacArthur

 

 

Stalker? Maybe so...

Wow, what a week. so, Monday, me and my comp are walking, and all the sudden i get a call, its private, and its from our investigator, Liliana. she starts to talk and express her love for me and such...ya. so, that sucked. so Tuesday we went to he house one last time, shared a bit and invited her to continue reading in the book of Mormon. so, we left, with the intention of never leaving again. then, we start getting texts from Liliana's sister and we find that she is in love with my companion. awesome. more on this later. 

 

So Wednesday we work for just a few hours, catch the last bus to San Juan, and then head down there to spend the night. i slept on the hard floor, with my book of Mormon as a pillow! ya! then early Wednesday morning we got the first bus to Azua to have zone conference with president and Elder Cornish(70, new presidency member of the Caribbean). it was super good, all about faith, but really, Really long. we were there from 8 am until 3 in the afternoon. it really so so long. but afterwords, me and my comp had to talk to president about the whole Liliana situation, and he almost special transferred us, but we told him that as of now, it wouldn't be a problem. she had called us over 10 times durning that conference...aye aye aye. 

 

Anywho, so we then go home, and because we got out there so late, we did not get back to our area until 8 at night. Friday was a normal day, just trying to get back on schedule and make up all the people we had to fire from getting back so late the day before. in the afternoon Liliana called us from a different number, and was asking why we hadn't come by, and my comp told her why, and then she just hung up. about 15 min later we get a long text message with a bunch of excuses, trying to tell us that its just a joke, and that if we don't pass by her mom will be all mad because she liked listening to us and such. then Saturday, me and my comp went to the market early to go and buy a bunch of food for the next few weeks. and on the way, guess who we ran into? you bet it was Liliana! she cornered us and started interrogating us, and we got outta there as fast as we could. sunday, she comes to church, and it was just super awkward. she then asks if she is still going to be getting baptized this coming Saturday, and we told her no. it really sucks, because she really does have a testimony and does want to be baptized but we can no longer do it. so, in a few months, when new missionaries are here they can give her a call and go and teach her. so ya. pretty much my week has been normal other than trying to deal with all this Liliana madness. 

 

Also, its been like flood raining everyday for a few hours. so, needless to say, we have AWFUL numbers. but none the less, we will be having another baptism this week if all goes good, her name is Yamilet, and she is 14, super cool. so that should be happing if all goes well!

 

Good news, were going to the temple tomorrow! so we once again have  to sleep in San Juan tonight, but I'm stoked to go to the temple again! even though round trip its over 8 hours of travel in one day...aye!

also, next p day is different, you all NEED to write me Sunday, not Monday. my p day ends at like 1 your time next week. so, ya. just be aware of that. that would be awesome.

anywho, love you all, and i will try and send pics next week, i keep getting unlucky and getting all the crappy computers that do not like to send pics, and its been awhile. so, ill try and do better with that next week. anywho, love you all!

-Elder MacArthur

Montame la Pura!

Family! so to answer every one of your questions about the hurricane, no, i did not get hit. at all. i didn't even get rain. ya, it DID NOT RAIN. at all. i was super disappointed. so, ya sorry. it was super anti-climactic. anywho, this week was a little weird. i do indeed have a few stories! so, Tuesday. we taught a billion lessons. it was insane. in the morning we had to take a bus to san juan (an hour away) and have a meeting with the zone leaders. it was a meeting for just the district leaders, stuff that president wanted us to talk about it the district meetings.  but story, like i said about the pres changing all the rules? ya. so now we cannot leave with members younger than 17, so our member present lessons have gone from 15-20 a week to 1-5 a week.yikes. and now when we contact we contact in a completely different way, and we are not allowed to put citas with girls unless they are part of a family or we are positive that they actually have real interest. which, i like, but also makes it really hard to have alot of lessons a day. and we are working WAY more with the leadership here since they are pretty apostate sometimes. so ya, more on that later. 

 

Wednesday, it was super cloudy and kinda windy from the hurricane, but that's it. no rain, no relief from hot. but, we had district meeting, and surprise! the APs show up to my district meeting! guess what? las matas de farfan is about a 4 hour drive for the APs! awesome. but it was really good, it was a good district meeting, i organized it well haha. so i got a big high five from one of the APs. Thursday, was a bad, bad day. i dunno why. i was super crabby, super tired, and had a gnarly headache all day. not a good day at all.  Friday was a normal day, nothing really spectacular happened. but Saturday, ya! we had a baptism! her name is Ambal and she is super cool, 9 years old. i baptized her, and when she went under she decided to take a nice big breath of water. awesome! but it was all good. so ya, su`per stoked about that! 

 

Then we had another fecha, named Liliana, but we are going to have to drop her. lets just say that is is 100% in love with me. as in, she called this morning from a blocked number and started saying that she loved me and my eyes and my way of being and such, and just kept saying "¡te quiero mucho!, ¿no me quieres?" which means, i love you! don't you love me? and it was not good....so we are going to have to drop her. craziness. and then we will be having another baptism on the 10th, a 14 year old girl, super smart and really stoked. so ya. things are kinda picken up here finally! its been good. my comp is defiantly not very obedient, but we defiantly are getting along and i can keep him under control. he also is a PHENOMINAL cook. so i will learn from him and cook you guys some amazing Dominican food when get home! it will be good.

 

Also, it is defiantly Agosto. super hot. wowsers, and to dad, i WISH it was got to 73 in our house at night! and was less than 90 degrees in the evening when we get home!

 

Also, side note. this week, was SUPER hard in general for me. i dunno why, i have been super home sick this week. it went away with the baptism. but wow, i dunno what happened to me. i was freaking out i was so homesick. but i love you guys and i pray for you all constantly, and i love the mission, but i also cant wait till i can see you all again! thanks so much for supporting me and being the greatest family in the world! love you all!

Elder MacArthur

Brady, thats me!

Family! ok, so this week was defiantly a good one. so,

Tuesday, we go to caribe tours bus station to pick up my comp, and i remember him! he was in my zone for 1 transfer in San Cristobal, and i remember that he was one of the only Dominicans that i could not understand at all when i left there. he has a really raspy voice and has an accent from cibaou (the north part of the country). but as the week has progressed, he keeps asking seemingly innocent questions, but were questions trying to determine what kind of missionary that i am and what he could get away with while he is with me. but, all in all we have been getting along really well. we have not had any problems at all.

Friday we had zone conference. it was insane. the new president and his wife are going crazy. in a good way, but wow. the zone leaders were in the capital ALL DAY at a conference on Thursday, then Friday they tell all the stuff to us. so, we started at 9, the zone leaders knowing we would all have alot of questions about what was happening. he was right! he changed sooo many things. and apparently he is going to be bringing back music maybe, if people are obedient to the new rules he has given. basically he hit the reset to default button on the mission and then is tweaking it slightly to fit the mission better. its just a BIG change from Pte. Almonte. so we will see how everything will go! oh, and I'm still District Leader. Saturday had the baptism of one of the other companionship's, he is amazing. named Tito, and really a great guy, he has completely changed his life around t be baptized!

But nothing really more happened. we are gonna have a baptism this weekend, por FIN! a 9 year old girl named Amber. she is part of a a member family. then we should have 2 more in the next 2 weeks, so we shall see! I'm just glad to finally start having some success again, its been a long dry spell here in Las Matas...
so, apparently there is a hurricane that's gonna be passing by here in not much time. nothing is really happening here, nothing ever does haha. so no worries! ill just have muddy shoes for a few days, not like that's unusual!

Also, random thing of the week, on of our investigators, Lilian, has a 22 year old sister, who is pregnant. we were trapped in their house during a torrential downpour yesterday yesterday and they asked for my first name. they couldn't say it very well, but apparently said 22 year old girl really likes the name Brady, and plans to name her baby boy Brady in December when he is due. she is also very upset that i will not be there for the birth in December, and proceeded to pout in a corner. it was a very strange experience to tell you the least haha. but ya, i am really jealous that you were all at bear lake, i wanna go swimming so bad! haha, but no worries, 9 ish months....
but, i love you all!

Elder MacArthur

HI GUYS

Hello family! this week was pretty standard. working with my mini missionary was way cool, he is amazing, and is a really great teacher and has a super strong testimony. i learned alot of stuff from him. he left this morning and so i am just in a trio for today and tomorrow morning till i receive my new companion. his name is elder Martinez, is Dominican, and supposedly he is super not so fun. not obedient at all, so we will see how that will go. so ya, ill tell you next week how he is! anywho, so right now i will give you a little update. so, right now we have 3 people who have a fecha. Amber, she is 9, and a reference from a less active family, the mom is now active but the dad is far from it. but the amber is super stoked to be baptized and will do it the 27th of Agosto.

Then we have a girl named yamilet, she is also amazing. she is 14 and is super smart and stoked to be baptized. she lives here with her grandma, her parents live in the capital, are members, but abandoned her and her 2 brothers at her grandmas house, they are all sick. have some sort of blood disease and so they are really small, and one brother is super handicapped. but none the less she is awesome and should be baptized the first weekend of September. then we have another girl named Liliana. she is 25, and a little flirty, but in all reality for sure is interested. she is super smart and really learns from the folletos we leave and stuff. we can leave chapters in the BOM and she reads them and understands it all. she is really amazing, was at church and really enjoyed it. she has a fecha for the 10th of Sept. im so stoked for this.

This transfer passed was the first transfer with no baptisms for me. that really sucks, but i really think that we will have a few this next transfer! but i am happy to be getting another Dominican so i can start learning Spanish again, but i have just been hearing so many things that aren't so great about him, like getting caught multiple times with personal cell phones, and stuff like that. just a really tigre missionary. so, I'm gonna have to be on my toes this whole time. super.
but anywho, that's about it! i cant respond to most you cuz once again, i only got a letter from heather (an excellent letter from heather, i will say)
so ya, please write me. i really don't like going a week, let alone 2, without knowing about how you guys are doing...
but i love you!
Elder MacArthur

Family!

Hey fam! so, first off it you were wondering if the hurricane hit me, no. i will get into that later.

So! Monday. as i said last week it was a special transfer, and i got a mini missionary. tal vez is not his name, that translates to "maybe" in English. Tuesday, i found that my companion (Hno. Moreta) teaches very well! we were walking to a lesson and then all the sudden i get a call from a zone leader, saying that a hurricane is coming, we have to go home and buy a weeks worth of food. that was crazy. so i give the rest of my district a call, and find that the other companionship here left their cell phone in the house of an investigator on accident. i was freaking out to say the least. i couldn't get ahold of him and we had to go home and buy food and stay in the house until we got the green light to go back out. so Wednesday, we are still housebound. we stayed in the house the whole day, it was awfully boring. and to make it worse, they kept saying the hurricane was close, but it was suuuper hot, no wind, no clouds. it was lame. that is all that happened.

Thursday we wake up and it is super windy and cloudy. we think for sure were going to have to stay in today. nope! they gave us the go ahead to leave, so it was a miserable wet windy muddy day. had to go and visit all the people that we fired the day before and it was just not a fun day, and was raining hard enough so that we were not able to set citas for the next day. . Friday was a bit better, but we had nothing to do because of the lack of contacting the day before. we visited old investigators, members, inactive members, and was a suuuper long day. and the end of the day we went to an English class that and inactive member teaches, and alas no one showed up. so that was also a waste of time. sigh. lets just say it was a really hard week in all this week. not to mention the ridiculous humidity and heat the last few days, it has been killer!

Saturday was a normal day, nothing out of the ordinary, and Sunday, out of 16 appointments, only 3 were taught. wow. NO ONE was in there house, and like 3 of them hid when we got to the door which is always my favorite. so sorry this letter is not as good as last week, but I'm on an awful computer and it keeps shutting off and freezing, so i have been really struggling with it this whole time. sorry! ill try and get a better one next week, just seems like the whole world decided to use the Internet today and no Internet centers had 2 computers available but this one...boo! but i love you guys and i will talk to you next week! bye!

Do you like boys?

Hi family! OK, so I'm determined to write a good letter this week, as long as apes updates my blog. deal? cool beans. so, i forgot to tell you but last week for pday we went with some of the members into the wilderness of las matas, and explored come lagoons and such. it was way fun. pictures to come. then Tuesday, well lets just say that i was in pain from the mad sunburn i had from Monday....the whole coller tan leaves the neck quite vulnerable when wearing a normal tshirt again...but we had district meeting (i liked those way more when i didn't have to plan and direct them). it was my comps bday so we hit up some ice cream afterwards and then he opened up his gifts from the fam. the sent him a card game called Monopoly Deal, and its AMAZING. its monopoly, but in 15 min with cards. so amazing. but Tuesday we had about 15 lessons planned, and taught....none. they all fired us. lame'o. but that's kinda how are days have been lately.

Wednesday was kinda the same. had 11 lessons planed, and taught one. not much of a confidence booster.
Thursday was much better. out of 8 lessons we taught 3! but, defiantly did not set return citas...not good. they just all wanted to contend and dispute and such. but Thursday, wow, it was HOT HOT HOT! it is defiantly august! man alive sooo hot. and, here, the whole "warm before the storm" is more true than ever. it gets waaay humid and hot, and then the heavens BURST. it rained. and rained HARD.
Friday, we went and visited a few people, then had to go open the church for the other missionaries. we then got stuck there for 2 hours. they were having a youth activity there and no one had keys but us, and we cant leave when no one else can lock the doors. so we had to wait for two hours for someone with keys to come. let me just say i was less than happy about that. especially since that was our time to contact to put new lessons. right when we left, it started to downpour again, and here its impossible to contact while its raining. so, came Saturday and we had nothing to do. that was a hard day. made a bit better by the fact that we got stuck in a colmado for like 2 hours because it was nearly hurricane outside. it was some of the gnarliest rain i have ever seen. yes, we are about to enter hurricane season.

Saturday morning was cool, i got to do my first baptismal interview as district leader! it was of a 14 year old boy and he was way legit. super escogido! it was amazing. Then Saturday night we get in the house, and everything is wet! it was raining so hard that the walls and windows were pretty much leaking (and we might have left a few windows open...it was blue skies when we left!). and we get home and we have no water from the pipes, our landlady downstairs is drunk and blasting loud music. we call and complain to the office for the millionth time, and por fin gives us the go ahead to move! so all we have to do now is wait for the elderly missionaries to check off the huge amazing house we found and then we are moved and away from satan lady! oh, and we found out today that the water bill has not been paid for 5 and a half YEARS. that's right. she never gave us the bills so we didn't know, and there have only been missionaries there for 13 months. so we paid like 3500 pesos today for our debt and she has to pay the other near 120000 peso debt....which is alot...wow!

Sunday we finally had one of our investigators in church and so that was amazing. we have been teaching him for like 5 weeks. His name is Adrian and is way cool. just needs to get a litte more animated for his baptism and going to church. Then, Sunday we are on the way to pick up a member to leave with us, and i get a phone call. From the Assistants. that usually means I'm in trouble (and i didn't think i did anything wrong) or special transfer. turns out #2 was right! found out my comp was going to the capital and that i was going to receive a new comp that isn't even a missionary. he is a member! he is whats called a mini missionary and is my comp until the next transfer, so nearly exactly 2 weeks. so I'm basically training, but he is even more green than that, knows nothing of the mission. he arrived here today. he is way tall and seems cool! so it will be good, I'm really stoked. its just weird walking around with a guy that does not have a plaque on. way weird. but this happed i guess because alot of people left the mish yesterday, all ended. they left early for school or something so to fill in the vacancy's they send some people mini missionaries to fill in the vacancy i guess? they didn't tell us detailed. so, ya. that's about the week for ya. now, I'm going to send you lots of pictures since i have not done that for way too long.
bye, love you guys!
-Elder MacArthur

HiHIHI

Family! this week was not super special, as far as i can remember...haha. nothing really that exciting has happened. basically, me and my comp have just been contacting, teaching one lesson and then dropping them because they have NO interest. its super lame. but, i know that if we keep working then we will find someone who is ready to listen. in fact, we found an inactive family, and they have a 9 year old girl who is not baptized, and they have interest in going back to church so they can get their girl baptized. so that is way amazing. also, we found a family. 2 little kids that live with their aunt and grandma. their parents are members, but live in the capital. its kinda a weird situation. the dad abandoned the kids or something, but the little girl, she is 14, has a ton of interest. she has read the primary book of Mormon stories book 3 times. she loves it. so hopefully we can work with them and get that family animated about the Gospel. i just really hope we can help this area, its really close to being closed. only about 10% of members attend. we have a family home evening tonight with an inactive member we see alot at an English class he teaches, and hopefully we can get him to be a worthy priesthood holder again. so basically here, maybe my purpose here is to help rescue those that have fallen away. but, we will keep on working hard! i love you guys!
.Elder MAcArthur

Hi world!

 Hey kids! OK, so this week was a good one but strange. so, as i said last week, i am now district leader, and its cool but just really monotonous. all i do is take numbers and stuff, but hey, someone has to do it right? haha. so Wednesday we had interviews with the new pres. so, with Pres Almonte, the interviews were about 4 hours total for the zone. it was 6 with the new pres, but he had to get to know us all and talk about alot of things in the interviews. he is an amazing guy, I'm really stoked to have him as our new mission pres. but it was cool, and the interviews where in San Juan, meaning after the interviews we still had like an hour drive back to our area. we didn't get to work that day until like 6 pm haha. it was crazy. and then Thursday Friday and Saturday we have had some gnarly rain in the afternoon. so needless to say our numbers were a little low this week. but no worries, we still got alot done.

We have a little family that we are working with, but aren't suuuper interested. they like sharing, but aren't super sure about baptism yet. but i think that they will feel better when they go to the church. they haven't been able to come for the last 3 weeks but this week they have assured me that they are going to go. we shall see. but other then them we are still in a dry spell when in comes to people to teach. but, cant give up hope! we have been working alot with in actives, or trying to, and we got a guy to come to to church again finally after like 15 years of inactivity. his son came too. it was amazing, i really hope that he keeps on coming and becomes a worthy priesthood holder again. but ya, that's about how things are going here in Las Matas. but I'll send some pics, attached here are 3 of a crazy lagoon about 40 min from the house, with a couple of the members. its waaay out in the middle of nowhere, next to some American medonnites, who sell AMAZING yogurt, milk, and cheese. mmmmm....

'Elder MacArthur

Mr. DL

So it was wonderful to hear from you guys! thanks much!!

So this week was pretty standard. we really have nothing right now. really. its super depressing. but my house is amazing. not the actual house, but the people. elder Clyde is so fun, he is from my group. we were in the same room in the mtc. and his kid is really cool and funny too. so that's saving my life right now. so ya, that's cool. the only real news i have is that i am District Leader! so that's kinda cool, kinda lame though. all i do is all the stuff no one else wants to do, just gather numbers and such. but, meh, I'm stoked none the less. I'm DL over my house and 2 other elders in Elias Piña.

This week, we have interviews with the new president, so i am really excited for that. it should be really good, I'm excited to talk to him and get to know him .
So, in response to your emails, man, i am SO jealous you guys took a ride on the cruiser!! i LOVE that boat so much. i wanna go on it again more than anything. that would be amazing.

I feel bad for having another lame letter, but last week really wasn't very spectacular. and i left my agenda at the house and so i don't have my list of things to tell you...so, my bad. but i love you all! have a good week! ill write a better letter next week, ill be at a better Internet center and at have more time to write. so, love you!

burgers! sooo glad elder clyde can cook!

dew and diddy p!! all of this...500 Pesos! aye! meaning, about a doller and 19 cents each one. wow.

4th of July! we only have like 3 Dominicans in our zone, so we hung out and had an American party for pday haha.note my happy birthday America tie!

Happy Birthday America!

Well, this week would have been better if i would have gotten a letter from the parents or anyone else. Heather, thanks! i love you! but, this week was very weird. we didn't work for 3 days haha. well, we did, just differently. Tuesday and Wednesday we had to go and help the assistants of the south clean and paint a house in our zone, the area got shut down and so we had to help them clean it out and put all the stuff from that house and store it in our house (which is already really small) and then paint it. that took 2 days, then Thursday we had a conference with the new president and it was way good, he is a great guy. super spiritual. I'm stoked. and transfer are tomorrow and I'm staying here with my same comp, and I'm getting another guy from my group in the house, elder Clyde, and he is training. and 2 guys from my group went zone leader. so that's kinda cool i guess. but right now, we have nothing. we don't really have investigators, don't have much at all. this area blows. bah, but oh well. gotta keep working eh? but that's really all i have to say. but, HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!! i miss you! haha. and also, that package that you supposedly sent after mothers day? ya...not here. so, ya. that's kinda lame. need that. and i cant respond to anything that happened to you all, cuz i dunno. sad panda. i like hearing from family...
but, love you all, and have a good week!

Limones!

Family! OK, so story! this week, we had a baptism! finally! i wont yet have to break my goal of having a baptism every transfer! it was a very sad one though....so Friday we were supposed to have his interview, and he couldn't come. so Saturday we had his interview, the same day. he passed with flying colors, and then about 2 hours before the baptism, find out the branch pres is in azua (like, 3 or 4 hours away) and then it starts to rain. and i mean RAIN. a torrential downpour, probably the gnarliest i have seen yet here. so we are all freaking out thinking the baptism is going to fall. me and my comp get to the chapel, and alas, he is across the street waiting out the rain! he is amazing, really. he will be an amazing help to that little branch. but the baptism was...well, sad to say the least. it was just me, my companion, and the other 2 missionaries in our house. and that's it. that's who came. sigh. it was super sad, but with the rain and all he understood, Dominicans hate the rain! alot. so, it was all good, and now he is so much happier! after his confirmation on Sunday, he walked back to his seat with a huge smile. I'm sooo happy. but I'm gonna have to cut this one really short, sorry! i have little time and this Internet center is no good. but i have a bunch of things to tell you, but i have a list for next week. haha. but the other 2 missionaries in our house are getting special transferred tomorrow because of some other peoples dumb actions, so we gotta go and get that all figured out. but i promise a better letter next week! love you all!

It makes alot of heat!

So this week, nothing all that special happened. again. haha. man, i really need to try harder to get some good stories, eh? well, this week we should have a baptism and it will be great! his name is Jose Luis, and he is incredible. I'm so stoked. and so is he! so some news, we get our new mish pres this weekend i believe. no one is really sure yet, but that's what we have heard. we have a conference in azua this Thursday with Pres Almonte, and I'm guessing its a goodbye think. it will be so crazy to get a new pres!

So its been hot recently, like, REALLLY hot. man. i forgot that it was hotter during the summer. man alive its soo hot. and humid because we keep getting little 5 min rainstorms  and then loooots of sunshine. el diache its hot! so this is a really lame letter this week, but honestly this was a very very uneventful week. the biggest thing that happened i think is i got a letter! the first one I've gotten in like 5 months haha. make sure to tell the Britons and the Taylor's thanks for their postcards and letters. well, ill send some pics and try and be more interesting this next week. my bad.
love you! bye!
.ElderMacArthur

And now for some pictures of the different animal life in the DR:  Frogs, bees, spiders and caterpillars!