It`s always a good spirit at baptisms.

Family,

Que tal? I hope that you are all doing well. It sounds like everything is perfect in the south.

I`ll tell you a bit about my week. To tell you the truth, right now, I don`t have too much time to write. My comp got called up last night by the zone leaders, and he gets to go to the temple today. He wasn`t able to go last transfer, so he and another missionary in the zone are going to the temple today and spending the night in the capital. I`ll have an exchange with Elder Brezack.

Ok, we had the baptism of the deaf girl this past week. Success! She had read all the pamphlets and wrote out a reason that she wants to be a part of the church. According to her, it`s just a really cute church and she wants to be a part of it. I got the chance to baptize her. It`s always a good spirit at baptisms. I felt bad because only her sister came to support her from her family. But, she had some good friend support and lots of the members in the branch came.

This week we are planning on baptizing a good kid. As they say in Spanish, un buen muchacho. His name is Christian. He lives in a house next door to the bakery owned by the Branch President and his family. He`s gone to church a lot and we`re getting him ready. I`ll tell you about the baptisms next week.

We had a great lesson with a woman named Wanda this past week. Super smart, in law school. I`ll tell you if we make any progress with her. We are going to challenge her to baptism tonight. Other than that, it`s going a bit slow right now in terms of teaching. Hopefully we can find some more people to teach.

Me and my comp are getting along well. He´s a good guy. He had a mighty change of heart from the time he was younger. I´m talking the very rough and tough streets of El Salvador. It really is an amazing story. My favorite line from him this past week was when he was talking about the punks of the street that talk big, and the things that come from Satan himself. He told me he was a part of that kind of life, but he let the Gospel back into his life. That is why we have the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Oh, and I had a real breakthrough last night in Spanish. We stayed up while I shared my political theories of the world with my comp. Anyways, it was a good week, and I´m stoked for General Conference. We´re going to have a baptism in between sessions too.

Keep looking for some good missionary opportunities.

And that´s the way it is.

Elder LeCheminant


[We are waiting on some new pics from Phillip. This is a pre-mission photo.]

He showed me his bible that he bought 17 years ago and had the date written inside.

Dear Family & Friends,

Wow what a week. The week was great! But far and away, the big news of the week was…Bolivar and his son Carlito were baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Finally! It was actually a miracle. So last week I payed for his passage into the capital so that he could get his final paper. We thought that everything was a go, but we found out on Tuesday that there was still one more paper that we needed to get. It was in the morning and he came by and told us that there was just one more thing. I was about to give him just the necessary 500 pesos, but luckily all I had left was a 1000 peso bill. I told him to bring me the change. When he got there, he said he prayed that this final paper would be taken out quickly. At first it didn´t look good, but then they said with 300 more pesos they could take it out and everything worked out perfect. It was a miracle I gave him a 1000 pesos.

Anyways, everything worked out, and on Friday he was married. Saturday, they got baptized. It was a great baptismal service. I baptized Bolivar, and Elder Torres baptized Carlito. Bolivar couldn´t have been more happy. He showed me his bible that he bought 17 years ago and had the date written inside. He said that´s when he started looking for God. All we gotta hope is that one day the wife gets baptized also.

I don´t know if I told you this, but Olvito had the exact same experience. He went to the capital with his wife in order to OK everything. When he went the third time, they denied him again. I guess I didn´t understand his story until he told it yesterday when we were talking about all these stories. But he sat down in a chair and prayed to God and said if I´m not worthy to be in your Church, tell me now and I´ll get out. And right after that, the woman came back and said, I think we can make this work. And it did. Anyways, I think sometimes we´re all pushed to the edge in life. And that´s when help generally comes!

Transfer calls came last night and the verdict is…Elder LeCheminant is staying in Sabana Yegua for his 4th transfer. Elder Juarez is going to be my companion. I haven´t heard too much about him. Other than he´s a Latino from El Salvador. Should be good. Elder Torres left today. I´m staying with the zone leader Suero tonight. His comp left today too. He tells me we have a family night planned for tonight with a woman that loads us up with American food.

Oh, Yesterday was Dominican´s independence day. Not quite your typical 4th of July like I´m used to, but cool nonetheless. There were kids dressed in crazy carnival masks, with horns, glitter, etc. In crazy suits, whipping the people in the street with their whips. Elder Torres told me that I haven´t seen anything, but need to go to La Vega in Santiago D.R. in order to truly celebrate Carnaval. Second largest Carnaval in the world, rivaled only by Brazil.

Have a great week,

Love,

Elder Phil