Twice Instead of Thrice!

 Hi Family!

I LOVE being able to hear from all of you guys! 💓 I'm so grateful that you guys write me and give me the low down, even when I don't have time to write a half decent response. It's so unfair to only have an hour to communicate with all my fans!

It is tradition to decorate agendas (on left) for other people, so this is my first one! He is from Idaho, likes to do outdoor stuff, and Pokemon.

One story I've been meaning to write about from the MTC for a long time but I keep forgetting: My companions and I asked the elders if they could give us blessings before we got shipped out to the DR. On our last day, we gathered in the classroom. Hermana Geddes went first, then Hermana Day, then me.

On exchanges with Hermana Tew in the area next door, we thought the sign (photo on right) was funny."Don't Litter. Avoid Problems."

Family, I didn't tell anyone what I was worried about before getting to the DR, or what I needed help with-- and yet I got a priesthood blessing with everything I needed. The elder who blessed me even talked about things only found in my patriarchal blessing, and even used some of the same language. How was Elder Kunzler supposed to know to say any of that? Then after my blessing, all the elders proceeded to bless their companions (it was the first time to give a blessing for some of them) and the Spirit was so strong. The whole thing lasted for an entire hour.

Family, I have a testimony of the priesthood. It's the power given to worthy men to act in the name of God. The priesthood authority only exists in God's restored church-- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I'm so grateful to live in a time when we have access to that authority, and for this opportunity to teach others about it!

I got to teach some exciting lessons this week! I extended FIVE baptismal invitations, and all five accepted! Woo! And my companion and I trekked almost a half hour across our area to go get an investigator and remind her to come to church. Then we waited another half hour for her to get ready, but I don't even care how long it took or how far we had to walk because she came! And it was her first time. Also, we will have two baptisms this Saturday! We had lots of successes this week. I'm so grateful for even the small breakthroughs because they make me very happy inside. 😊

Speaking of breakthroughs, you guys wouldn't believe my Spanish! I only have to ask people to repeat themselves twice instead of thrice!

Also, I have officially been in the DR for as long as I was in the MTC! That is very weird to me. The mission goes faster than the MTC. It is also weird to me that all the girls I served as a leader to are all out in the field now.

I hope everyone has a great week. I pray for you guys a lot.

Love,
Hermana Ludlam

Le Poof...and no water

Getting better...

Le poof

Family-

Oh man. This week felt like the most flop week but it was also one for the books. Last Tuesday, after I just wrote about my yucky feet problems, my feet went poof. And then they went down a few days later. It's not like this is my first week walking around in this heat or these shoes. I don't know where these surprise problems are coming from.

We had a service project this week! It was supposed to be last Saturday but then they cancelled it, then we found out it was rescheduled for Wednesday, then it got postponed for Friday. I'm not sure who plans these things. We went to Barahona to pick up trash on the roadside. A clan of kids found us and wanted to help us, so they took our bags and went up to their neighbors and they started bringing out all their trash to us. That's one way to fill your bags! There was one ditch in the sidewalk that was just knee high with trash and some elders tried raking it out but it didn't work very well so the kids (in their bare feet!) jumped right in and started handing us all the trash. After we ran out of bags, the children wanted to braid the hermanas hair. Their hair styling tactics are a little harsh. One hermana lost a wad of hair :(

Hna Watkins found a giant centipede

Hermana Perez and I haven't had water in the house for four days. It´s been one long stinky week. I always forget how much normal everyday stuff requires water. I haven't been able to wash my clothes, wash dishes, or like, anything. Yucky yucky. We bought some gallons of water from the Colmado and I took my first bucket shower! It was warmer than my regular shower. I am not complaining though because there are lots of areas where they only ever take bucket showers.

I committed two people to baptism this week! One of them wasn't sure he could quit drinking before his date, but told him we'd help him. The other woman also thought the date was too soon, but then she just changed her mind and said “yes.” We asked her to pray to make sure she knows her decision was correct. I know it was! This woman’s name is Raysa and she is golden! I'll have to tell you more about her next week.

Love you all!!
Hermana Ludlam

Our beloved neighbors gave us non alcoholic beer.

Then there's Guillerma, who is normally really pretty,

but she didn't like flash so she looks a little grinchy. 

She's an investigator's cat. I named her. 

Taste testing hot dogs for our neighbor who owns a sandwich shop...

I just chugged through

Hola familia!
 
I went on a hike to a beautiful little waterfall today with some people from the ward. We went deep into the selva (jungle) in the mountains and it was a really nice change in scenery. We had good weather too.

This week, Hermana Perez and I set up English classes! By ourselves! It's a church program called EnglishConnect and it has been successful in other areas, but the ward didn't help us kick start it at all. But everyone in Elder’s Quorum showed up to the actual class. And we even got a nonmember guy to show up! He works at our local Colmado (every street corner in the DR has a little store called a Colmado and they all sell the same thing) and we totally didn't think he'd come, but he did! He wants to be able to speak English with his American girlfriend.

Family, I have more gnarly feet problems. So they started sweating profusely this week? And now they're all pruney all the time and irritated. Some rocks got in my shoes and wreaked havoc and bruised the muscle to the point of excruciation. And every one of my toes has a big bad blister on it and they burn like fire all the time. Ha ha. I just limp around town. It's okay though! Because even though I keep walking and irritating them, the bruises are going away. So that's a huge blessing because the nurse specifically said stay off them. But. like. I have to teach people so I just chugged through and they're healing. Yay.

A mini miracle is we hadn't been able to find Sury for several weeks and H. Perez said "Ok, we'll have to drop Sury if we can't find her today," and then we found her! And we had the best lesson with her, and she actually read the pamphlet we left her and she was excited about what we were teaching. And we had some other good breakthroughs with other investigators. Berta can't read and she has trouble understanding what the deal is with prophets, and we could never find Yira, but then Yira and Berta happened to be at the same house, and we taught them at the same time, and they both really got into the lesson and the Restoration lesson really clicked with them. I think they talked more than we did.

I have been composing a list of how to be Dominican, but I'll finish it for next week.

Love you all lots,

Hermana Ludlam

My companion made Dominican food! Fried platanos, salami and eggs

Me on a hike in a tubi

Casitas in the Selva

Look Mom! We cleaned the church like Dominicans and flooded the floor and then swept the water out.

Also the guy is Yoshwal, an investigator, and before I took the photo I said "sonrisa!" (smile) And he pretended not to hear.

I'm Banana-ing!!

Santo Domingo Dominican Republic West and East Missions.   We are still looking for Jen, but she is there.

Jenna's Official Photo with Pres. & Sis Santos and Hna Perez

Angel Orvando is baptized!  Jen's first baptism.

One of my first days here, an investigator told me that I am going to "aplatanar" which means “to banana,” which means to become more Dominican, because Dominicans eat a lot of bananas. 😂

Woo hoo! I had my first baptism!! Angel Orvando is a 67-year old man who lives by himself. Whenever we come over, he's always working on his house. I made Dominican cement! Which is just a little bit of cement mix with lots of dirt and rocks and water mixed in and you just stir it on the ground. Angel was already well on his way to being baptized before I got here, but I was still very happy to be a part of that experience!! It was a crazy day trying to get everything set up and cleaned-- and we couldn't even find him for 3 hours-- but it was a happy day in the end!

This week, our 14-year old investigator, Yoshwal, said he prayed twice to know if the church was true, and both times, he felt normal. My comp, Hermana Perez, turns to me and translates his question and tells me to answer him. Woah woah woah! That's a hefty question and I have no idea how to answer in Spanish (or English, really) and I told my companion I'm just going to answer in English and she has to translate it. But then, all of a sudden, I started saying it in Spanish, and the words were fluidly coming out of my mouth! It wasn't exactly what I wanted to say because it kind of felt like a cookie-cutter answer (i.e. "we need to pray with real intent" and God knows when we're ready for our answer) but maybe that's what Yoshwal needed to hear.

I still don't know what anyone is saying but Hermana Perez is really patient. If anyone asks me a question, she repeats it back to me word by word and I nod if I understand and I shake my head if I don't. Everyone here talks too fast and I don't know why because it's not like they have anywhere to be! They all just sit in front of their houses in their broken plastic lawn chairs and blast the same three songs and play dominoes all day. I learned how to play dominoes with our neighbor, Killian. He's a pro. He's like Bup with chess. Killian is my friend because he knows a little bit of English.

Also, you must be getting a lot of snow in New Jersey because a guy here commented about it, and he didn't even know I was from New Jersey. I hope you guys are staying safe and getting buff from having to shovel the driveway all the time! And thanks to Harlan for being a good soul and helping the NJ Luke-gangs (that is how one guy here pronounces Ludlam) with their snow removal.

Love
Hermana Ludlam

Jenna's ready to ride!

Dominican Food

Evanyil (convert), Gensi (teaching) and ?

Only at the finest salon...

Hermanas Ludlam and Perez