I'm waking up!

Keiron's baptism

Family!

Azua's a wet one this week. Three torrential rain storms for three consecutive days. ⛆⛆ The Trash River is now truly a river of trash, and it’s not crossable anymore! It has a super strong rushing current, and I am not sure why. Now, we have to take a long detour to get to the closest bridge everyday.

One day it was raining so bad that we walked home for a half an hour in the pouring rain (I put the umbrella away because it did nothing), wading through the trash on the streets. We had lots of people tell us, "You’re getting wet!" My comp and I looked at each other and asked, "Really?"😏

Jose got baptized! The baptism was planned and run by the Hermanas (with the help of Randy) BUT it doesn't even count as a missionary baptism because Jose has inactive parents and had a baby blessing. It counts as the ward baptism. It still counts for me, though. Jose is only 8 years old, but he’s a smart cookie and I'm so happy for him! He made it the goal to be baptized at 8, and he’s been looking forward to his fecha ever since!

Neftali made this creation for the Sisters

This week was just one of those weeks. We didn't have a lot of success this week. Also, I've been getting preoccupied with the urgency of the Gathering of Israel. It's real, and it's the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT work going on right now-- missionary work is the ultimate trump card. (That's why I was so happy to read Mom's letter about how you're getting out there on the streets of Dover! I'm so proud of you fam! Keep going!) But this week, a number of events has left me feeling slightly discouraged (that’s bad, I know) because it's an uphill battle with a bajillion pounds on my back. SO many converts have gone inactive and they had such strong testimonies!

Missionaries who served in this area previously ask me "Do you know Andrea? Santa? Cesar?" And it's sad. They stopped coming so long ago I never even knew them. Also, my first baptism here (Angel) hasn't come to church in three weeks. We have searched for him and cannot find him. I know the Good Shepherd left the 99 to find the one, but what do you do when you have to leave your 46 to find 54! (Mom, I really liked your Shepherd picture in your email :)

And this is on top of the enormous emphasis they put on numbers here. I'm just worried about the sheep that already partook of the fruit, but are losing their grasp on the rod for whatever reason. I know with all my heart that this is God's church, and I just wish I knew how to help everyone feel (or re-feel) the happiness I feel from my testimony in the restored gospel.

Really, the happiest moments on the mission are when you see the people you teach progress and really start to understand. It's like when Lehi tells his sons, "Awake!" because that's how I feel as my testimony grows. It's like I'M WAKING UP!-- I feel like I'm finally getting it!

Farewell from Jenna

If you guys have any ideas on how to help reactivate members, let me know! How do you keep your testimony fires going?

Love you lots! I'll be praying for the people you meet in Dover!

Love,
Hermana Ludlam

Hard But Good Week

Yoshwal's Baptism on Saturday!

F a m i l y !

Sunday picnic of "scraps-of-whatever sandwiches

This week was hard but good. We worked a lot and found some families that I'm excited to teach! We also got the most rejections than I've ever gotten in all my mission! People actually told us we couldn't come in. It was weird. Whenever Dominicans want to politely reject you, they seem to always start out with "Hm, how do I tell you...?" I heard that phrase more than a few times this week.

We dropped quite a few investigators this week, or some of them dropped us. Yanela got baptized into the Evangelical church, Berta just plain old wasn't progressing after several months, and we can't ever find Yira anymore, plus she never came to church. Jeremy has all the lessons but he's been super flaky the past weeks. But it's okay because while contacting, we found a bunch of people that are excited to hear the word of God.

Pretty mountains in Resoli

Also, this week, we did a lot more exploring of our area. There's a tiny residential town called Finca 6 and it's a 40+ minute walk down this carterra with nothing but selva (jungle) for forever. At least it was pretty, and we saw bazillions of MANGOS the size of footballs just hanging in the trees. Hna Rubio got some and carried them in her backpack the whole way home. We never actually made it to Finca 6 because it took too long and we wanted to get back to town in time for Noche de Hogar (Family Home Evening) with our downstairs neighbors. This week, we cut out time on Friday so we can get down there with enough time to do some contacting.

Spanish is still frustratingly slow, and Azua keeps losing power, and heat is hot, but things are just fine and I'm going to recommit myself to working extra hard this week. We have a baptism to look forward to on Saturday! His name is Jose and he’s 8 years old, and he goes to a Bible school that teaches him a lot of interesting things.

Story: We've been trying to find Alison, a reference, since General Conference in April. We stopped by his house the other day and met his dad who told us Alison wasn't available. We just talked with his dad for a bit and found out he's actually visited our church before. We asked if we could share a scripture before we left.  My comp let me choose what we could share with him. I flipped to 2 Nephi 25:26 in the Book of Mormon:

And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, 

we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies,
that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins. 

I was going to explain that our purpose as missionaries is to invite people to come unto Christ, and then bear my testimony, but then I saw I had a line in verse 23 highlighted.

For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren,
to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace
that we are saved, after all we can do.

I decided to share this with him. My comp read it and he said, "Amen, thank you." Then he wanted to read it again and the second time, he got goosebumps and said, "Oh sorry, I don't know if that's the Holy Ghost or what!" That scripture just really seemed to resonate with him, and it made me really happy. 😂 We're going to meet him again later this week to start the lessons!

Love you lots, family! You're always in my prayers.

Love,
Hermana Ludlam

Fancy "Tamo Heavy" Shirts (We're Cool!)

Foot Update:  Good! The top layer of skin got too brown and started shredding

Hermana Rubio -- the kind of missionary I want to be!

Elders Jenkins, ?, Lucero, Oyler, ?,Carly, and Gledhill

Hermanas Rubio, Jenna! Geddes! ? Salazar,  Lyme, and Matos

Hi family!

It was so fun to talk to you guys yesterday! And today! And all the days! I hope all the moms in the world had a nice day. And it was Bup’s birthday!! I hope Bup had a nice day too.

I want to say how much I appreciate my mom and my dad! Dominican parenting is rather different than what I'm accustomed to, and I feel spoiled. I am so grateful for my infinitely wise parents. I am grateful that they´re so supportive of me, and that I can always reach out to them.

Here, the influence parents have on their kids is minimal-- that is, if the parents even live with their kids. Dominican parents, especially dads, are just not really around. I already knew I was a lucky duck, but now I feel like a lucky duck.

This week was okay... I had to lead the area, meaning I have to plan our day out, and what we’re going to teach everyone. I find my way around to all our appointments, and know what to do for a backup plan when they fall through. Which, this week was full of appointments falling through.😞 It was kind of hard, but my companion, Hermana Rubio, is the best! (next to Jenna in the group shot) She's a great worker. I am learning sooo much from her. She's already the kind of missionary I want to be, even though she only has two more months than me. It helps that she already knows the language, but I'm getting there.

Kerion was baptized!

We had Kerion's baptism!! Woo hoo! And SO many people came! It's unheard of to have more than 10 people attend a baptism, but we had a bajillion. Usually, we have to wait around for several hours until we can get enough priesthood to show up, but the baptism ran smooth! Even though that stinkin’ hyperactive dog showed up again.

I have a feeling this will be a good week. We're going to work hard and get stuff done

Love you all!
Hermana Ludlam

Jen decorates her companion's agenda

A forest fire on the mountain where Jen teaches

Meet My Madrastra

FAMILY! (Jenna had problems downloading her pictures this week, so we'll hope for next week!)

I am officially done with my training! Hermana Perez went on to Baní today and now I am with Hermana Rubio!! (Who does transfers on P-day? This mission just decided to -_- and it doesn't make me happy.)

Hermana Rubio is from Guatemala and she’s great. She has 6 months on the mission, she doesn't speak English, and she's super funny. I'm very excited for this transfer! On the mission, they call your second companion your step-parent, so now I have a step-mom (madrastra)! Also, I spent half the day with Hermana Geddes waiting for my new comp to get here! We got lost once trying to find our way back to the chapel to pick up our new comps, but almost everyone knows the "Mormons" here so we just asked around.

This whole week was an adventure. The wet season is starting so it’s a challenge to cross the Trash River. It fills up with water really fast, and so when it rains, we have to find alternate routes. I’ve also been pretty nervous all week because Hermana Perez was leaving and I don’t feel ready to lead the area. I know where everything is, but it’s still super difficult to communicate. I feel okay right now with Hermana Rubio, but I guess I'll know for sure how things are going to go when we start proselyting.

Hermana Cannon joined Hma Perez and I this week and we were in a trio! Her old comp went home early, and she emergency transferred into our area for 3 days. It was fun to have her around. She was with us for a lesson where I explained the importance of Adam and Eve in the Plan of Salvation, and I felt like I explained it pretty bad since I was all over and I couldn't ever think of the words to say. Afterwards, she told me I did great and that my Spanish is really coming along. I appreciated her comment, especially because she's not a native Spanish speaker and she can relate to having to learn the language.

We had Yoshwal's baptism! We had so many people show up, including the branch president!! It was such a nice way to send off Hermana Perez. And the same dog from Yensis and Lisbeth's baptism got in the church again. It was a very nice event. We're hoping to have the baptism of two more this Saturday! And we got a bunch more lined up after that. It's will be a good transfer. Hermana Rubio came at a good time.

Mom, I SO enjoyed your letter and your talk from last week! Holy smokes that was so full of deep goodness. I liked your diagram showing Sabbath Observance and Temple Worship side by side. In your talk, one part that stuck out to me is where you said that we're given more responsibility for our own gospel learning, and you pointed out how much the Lord trusts us.

There's an eternal investigator here who was very unsettled by the fact that the church allowed Evenyil, an 11-year old recent convert, to receive the priesthood. I think it's even crazier that God calls a bunch of 18-20 year-olds to be His instruments in gathering Israel. Sometimes we’re a bunch of disobedient knuckleheads. God also sent us here to earth so we could have the opportunity to learn and grow and be like Him, knowing that we’d sin-- but He trusts us to make those good decisions and find our way back to Him.

I'm so happy to be here! I feel excited 😊, but still nervous. I hope everyone has a great week!

Love you all!  Hermana Ludlam