D.R. Hospitals & The Book of Mormon

Dear Followers of the D.R. Phil Blogosphere,

I welcome you to my humble abode; that of Santo Domingo!  I wish my 8 faithful followers well, and pray that we can navigate this mission quest together, one soul at a time.

Well, I've had my first real adventure to report on the blog.  I have seen a snippet of real life in Santo Domingo.  I have spent two nights in a downtown Third-World hospital.  On the cold dirt floor, while nurses ran around disposing of needles directly next to my pillow!  Ahhh, just kidding!  It was just like an American hospital.  I slept on the couch.  Slept great by the way, while my companion was in bed recovering from pneumonia.  Most of the doctors spoke English, and, if nothing else it made for a good journal entry.  About as exciting as MTC Mission life can get I suppose.  To pass the time, I read a lot of the Book of Mormon, both in Spanish and English.  And I gleaned some new theories from the Book of Revelation (or Apocolipsis in Spanish)! 

I still have a tough time understanding the people when they're talking quickly, but I'm getting to the point where I can read the Book of Mormon in Spanish halfway decent.  My favorite story from the hospital though relates to a nurse whose name is Norma.  I saw her first a couple days before when my comp had an appointment with the Doctor.  I started talking to her and she told me that she had seen some programs on TV about the Mormons.  Sadly, I didn't have a Libro De Mormon with me that first time, but I got here name, number and address.  Luckily though, last night, I was grabbing some water in the hallway and I ran into her again.  She was happy to see me.  I led her into the room, wrote my testimony in the Book of Mormon I gave her and then committed her to read it.  She then led my companion and me into the room where all the new babies were.  She was so happy to show us the newborns! 

I hope you all know that I'm doing great.  I'm excited about the work that I'm doing and I'm looking forward to leaving the MTC and entering the field next week.  More adventures await and I'll tell you all about them! The Church is true!

Love,

Elder LeCheminant

Welcome to D.R. Phil!

Phil is still in the Dominican Republic MTC--he's got about a week and a half left. 
From his October 14th email...
"Some way or another, even though I can't communicate too well, I've gotten all the janitors and maintenance guys to love me.  Everyone except the cooks.  You should see the look of dissapointment on their face when I say "No habichuelas hoy."  No beans today.  I don't know if I have told you guys about it yet, but the fruit here is to die for.  The pineapple here is unreal.  And mom, a couple times a week we get papaya too.  My abdominal system has never been running smoother.  On the subject of food, my big accomplishment for the past couple of weeks is this: I have  gotten used to the milk.  I came here expecting no cold cereal for the next 2 years.  After 1 week I couldn't take it anymore, so I ate a bowl of  corn flakes without slurping the milk. Now, I'm banging out 2-3 bowls of cereal every morning, downing that milk like it's nothing.  I have hope for the next 2 years."

We're like the Donny and Marie of missionaries

To the tune of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing"

Just a mission girl
Livin' in a BC world
She took the mornin' flight going to Salt Lake

Just a missionary
Goin' to the MTC
He's got just three short weeks and he's on his way

Chorus:
Siblings, waiting, heading out to serve the Lord
Their nametags gleaming in the niiiiight
All the people, waiting just to find the gospel
In two years, we'll meet again in the liiiight

Don't stop believin'
Just because you're leavin'
We'll meet again in the light

(Written by Gretchen in her last email as a missionary)