Sunshine in My Soul!

Family!  This week had lots of highlights and also some I-need-to-pray-for-more-patience moments.

Everything from having 9 people in church! and hanging out with Mama Taty! to getting stuck up in Cacao until 8 at night (we normally go down at 4 or 5) because the last guagua decided he wouldn't take us because there weren't enough passengers, and it wasn't worth it for him to go down. And we tried to flag down anyone who would give us a ride for several hours with no luck. Finally, we found a ride with a guy who was going to the capital and we lived on the way, so we were in no way inconvenient for him, but he still made us pay $1000 pesos! (Jen says this is only $20, but it is like asking for $50)

Mesi and Chichi, the two cutest Haitian kids we teach

Jenna playing a card game with Isbeka

We have FOUR people scheduled to be baptized in November. This will be my first baptism since I left Azua, my first area. I am so happy! All four of them live in this itty-bitty town some 30 minutes walk above Cacao called Las Avispas. I can't believe how random and crazy it is that I am a bajillion miles away from my home in this random town to find all these people that have just been waiting for the gospel! I like knowing I'm being used in God's hands.😊

  A guy with his green guineos (bananas)

I am trying to learn There is Sunshine in My Soul Today in Creole. Hermana Lopez and I made an Oreo smoothie on Friday, and we've been running everyday we don't need to go to Cacao or have Church (which is like 3 days of the week, but) and we are working hard every day rain or shine. But lately there's been more rain ☂ than shine.

I love you family! I hope you have a great week.
Hermana Ludlam

I made an agenda for Hermana Rubio. She likes pandas.

and Alberto (recent convert) making fritos

12 People at Church!

Fam!

I had a good week! This week the guagua for Cacao was up and at 'em and brought 7 people to church! And even though our phone ran out of minutes, and all odds were against us, and we didn't know how we could remind everyone to come to church, we still had a whopping total of 12 people we're teaching at church!! Woo hoo-- that's my record.

The ward members were AWESOME at accommodating everyone! They took everyone to their classes and scavenged the building for enough seats, and gave their Bibles to people who didn't have one, and one guy translated for our two Hatian investigators! I hope the visitors could feel how happy everyone was to have them!

In the picture above ↑, some drunk guy bought us breakfast while we waited for a guagua to take us to Cacao. Originally, he bought Malta Morena (liquid cardboard and stale carbon monoxide) and crackers, but Belito let us switch the Malta for chocolate milk, bless his heart.💓

Me, Alberto (recent convert), and Colombina from Cacao

We also had a great Zone Conference this week. We talked about lots of things. Our mission president is very motivated. He has caught the vision, he says.

Another good thing is that Hermana Lopez and I will be together for another transfer! 6 more weeks. We are going to conquer. 💑

I also gave a talk in church this week. I remembered to write it an hour before church. And I think it went okay.

We taught some Haitian girls who ended up coming to church the same week we found them! They don't really speak Spanish and we don't really speak Creole, and it was super stressful, but also super funny and we are definitely going back with a translator.

We bought $6000 pesos worth of food this week because the money came in and I got to go back to my area in Madre Vieja and --  ha ha --  I met my old freco (flirty person) friend. He remembers my name and I don't remember his. We transported our groceries from the moto taxi to the carrito to our house and struggled very much to carry all of our groceries to the house, but Dominicans came from far and wide to help us. I love how service-y people are here. <3

I love reading Nephi's story because it reminds me of my own conversion story. Born of goodly
parents, asked to leave my riches behind (to live in a 3rd world country), being blessed of the Lord, and being tied up by my siblings (jk). I like how Nephi just goes and DOES things and he doesn't have vergüenza (shame) and he doesn't question or doubt things.


Have a great week!
Hermana Ludlam

 

Mountains from Cambita. Too bad you can't tell how giant they are.

 

Me in the mountains driving through an itty bitty town

People are already getting their Christmas stuff out!

Dominican Moonpie and Conference! Can you see the message in the corner of the laptop screen that says I have bad internet?

Dominican: Do you want an orange? *has four oranges and only one of them is orange, but its not even an actual orange!
Me: What?

 This is Alberto's chick. My comp named him Chicken Nugget. I think being in a pan and the thought of becoming a real chicken nugget was a sensory overload for this chick. He died two days after this pic was taken.

The guagua driver pulled over to pick us up on the side of the road but he felt a little sleepy so we waited for him to take a 5 minute power nap before we got back on the road.

We're Starting a Church!

Welcome to Los Cacaos!

Hi Fam!

Woo! Cambita! I love my new area. It's just a tiny branch, but the members are on fire! Especially the recent converts! There's lots of work to do here.

We're starting a church! 🏫

There's a little town called Los Cacaos about an hour's drive away-- clear up in the mountains, and the branch president had it in his bonnet to start a branch up there, so Hermana Lopez and I make the trip up there twice a week! Missionaries haven't ever tried to get up there before but we are finding so many people READY and it's super exciting!!

Albert is the first convert in this town and he has ganas (desires) to baptize the whole mundazo (world). He's the best member missionary ever! He takes us to meet all his friends. Our only progressing investigators are from Cacao i.e. Marlon, who accepted a fecha to be baptized his first cita, and Boly told us she had a dream that she has to join our church. Didi is almost ready to be baptized, and he wants to bring his kids, too, now. We keep meeting all these prepared people.

Good luck on the guaguas!

The only stressful part is catching the guaguas to get up and down because nothing has a fixed schedule-- and this week the guagua didn't come to pick up the investigators for church! Only Alberto and Didi made it down on a motorcycle, and 5 were left waiting above. We could've had 8 investigators total at church :/

Even though Hermana Lopez and I get reimbursed for the $1000 pesos we spend getting up to Cacao every week, we're still left super super poor, so if anyone wants to send us some poor people recipes, we could use those. I don't know how we're going to pay to get up this week. I wish there was some possible way to capture how beautiful the drive is to Cacao. I love mountains! 🌄

Falls in Los Cacaos

Have a great week family! I love you!
Hna Ludlam

Surprise Transfer to Cambita!

Jenna's new area, Cambita, near San Cristobal

Hi familia!

Guess who didn´t last 3 weeks in the capital? I just got emergency transfered to Cambita Garabitos (I'm back in San Cristobal!) and my new comp is Hermana Lopez from Mexico! I'm so excited. She's a great missionary. She's one of the missionaries who blanked my first area in Azua (meaning after they took out me and Hermana Rubio, Hermana Lopez and another missionary had to start from scratch). It was great to have her tell me about how everyone is doing!

A little lower elevation now (red marker)

Azua is thriving thanks to those sisters(and a new branch president)! If you read the blog post from May 20, there´s a guy named Jesús that got goosebumps when we read a scripture, and Hermana Lopez ended up baptizing him! He's a super super strong member now. Happy for Jesús!

They closed my last area in Los Alcarrizos, so no more missionaries are going there. I'm very happy to be in Cambita.😊

Also, General Conference (click here)! Woo!! Except I'm just gonna have to wait for the Liahona to come out with all the written talks because the internet was just the biggest headache. I watched it in English with another Hermana and sometimes we would finish a half hour after everyone watched it in Spanish because it would lag every .5 seconds. Very hard to follow.

President Nelson wasn't kidding about taking your vitamins (click here to watch)! I feel like this conference was like last conference, part two, and that their messages are to get people ready to receive the Messiah and help us obtain the highest happiness. I also noticed the main focus of all these changes they're making, starting with the shift from visiting teaching to ministering, is to take away any check box approaches to living the gospel. You cannot just be a church–on–Sunday member anymore! Wheat and tares divided like the Red Sea. Woosh! Also how many speakers said the word ¨distraction¨ and how many people spoke about ¨joy¨?

I hope everyone has a great week! I love you all!
Hermana Ludlam

Be a Good Branch

Children in the English class

Dear Family,

This week started out really good. I had lots of animo (enthusiasm) after talking to the family, specifically after my chat with Lia and Mom. Thanks guys. I could tell my animo battery was way low by Saturday. I'm back for a recharge.

I went on an intercambio (exchange sompanions with other missionaries), watched my comp spray Raid on the most enormous spider on the ceiling (big enough to be a tarantula) and then we squealed when it fell to the floor and ran around and then died.

I invited so many people to General Conference. Woo!!! And I am super excited for this weekend (click here to connect to Conference info). I'm trying to set up a way for me to listen to the conference in English. We also finally got some shelves so I don't have to live out of a suitcase! Thanks to the Elders in our ward who helped haul those big boys up the stairs.

Sometimes I feel like I still have no idea what these Dominican people are saying. If I didn't have a fluent comp, I would be stuck. There's a lot of Haitians too. Their Spanish (even though it's really good) is another level. "Ahora" becomes "ahola" and "sobre" becomes "somble" ha ha so interpreting what they say is just a big guessing game.

My Hermana leader (Hermana Hill) taught me a new perspective on the Jacob 5 Olive Tree Allegory (here). She had to give a talk yesterday and she wanted to talk about member missionary work and ministering. She said, "If we're a good branch, the Lord can chop us off and put us on any branch and we'll still bring forth good fruit." 🍎  And I like that.

I love you all! Have a great week.
Love,
Hermana Ludlam

Love our Lula

Hello Family!


We had some adventures this week. For district council, we had a potluck and played UNO and dominoes. Lots of rain this week! Super muddy. We went house hunting and found some new people to teach in the process. We also went to Jose's house (not in our area) to eat Kipes or something. (deep fried rolls with cheese or chicken inside)

Bowling with Sister Day!  Hurray!

We also picked cranberries in his front yard to make juice and played with the kids. Some other ward members came over and we had a good time. Everyone decided my name is pronounced Hermana Lula.

We saw a shooting star! ✨My first time seeing one! Jose's wife started squealing and jumping! "A shooting star! Right over my house!"

We also ran out of water on Sunday, and it only came back as we left the house to write today.

I saw the first episode of the Book of Mormon movie (click here to check it out)!  An elder in my district played a part in a King Benjamin episode, which won't be released until April, but he shared lots of behind-the-scenes info. He explained why they didn't choose a Nephi that was large of stature--they even gave this one a personal trainer :/  They just better not mess up big boy Ammon...and heaven forbid if Chief Captain Moroni is anything less than a masterpiece. No pressure.

I have been trying to read the Book of Mormon in Spanish for a while now and even though I understand it, it's very draining, so I haven't been making much progress. This week I decided it's time to get into it for real, and I just love that book. I wish everyone could understand how much of a gift it is and treasure it up.

My first brownie in a very long time.  Dreamy look...

Have a great week!

Hermana Lula

 Dominicans collecting rain water so they don't have to carry it back from the closest water source.  A lucky day!

Our house flooded.

This white kitten tried to keep up with us for a whole block. At least someone wants us.

Mercedes is kindly holding her cat for me so I could take a picture. 

Off to Los Alcarrizos

♥ Hermosa Hermana Jenna ♥

Streets of Los Alcarizos, DR

 Family!

I am writing to you from Los Alcarrizos!. I'm in the capital, but also out in the sticks. It's one of the most ¨dangerous¨ areas in the mission. The members give us boches (chastizments/ scoldings) every week at church about how we CANNOT be in this neighborhood, or that neighborhood, or that neighborhood at night. So basically I can't be in my area past 6 pm, according to them.

Sticks

My house is in the Elder's area, and the chapel is in the other sister's area (Hermana Geddes' area!), but the elders and us are in the same ward. I'm going house hunting this week to find a house that's in our area. The roads are super hilly and busted up/ rocky so I get to go hiking everyday.

I am prepping for General Conference! I was in training when we had the last one, and I thought the next one would be so far away. Now it´s already here! I cannot wait!!

Mariposa, Paulino, Sister Ludlam farewell

M & P made Jenna some special food

Last precious memories with Hermana Earl

 

Scenes from Madre Vieja

We had an English class this Saturday. Hermana Geddes and her trainee are in charge, and they run a good show, but there's a lot of rowdy children there, so I was glad we could help with crowd control. We were able to split the class into people who know nothing and people who already know the basics.

I'm looking forward to this transfer. It will be hard but I'm excited to put in practice all the things I learned from last transfer.

I love you, Family!
Hermana Ludlam