I welcome you to the city of La Colonia, Azua, Dominican Republic!

City life baby. Sometimes...

I´ll do my best to fill you in on my new area.

First off, my comp is Elder Moraga. I didn´t expect it, but of all my comps I´ve had so far in the mission, he is the most tranquilo. Very chill. He´s from Nicaragua, 21 years old. And is a good guy.

The house at La Colonia is better than expected. It´s big and there is always electricity and water. Count your blessings with having 24 hours of electricity and water. It´s about 19 hours of electricity here. But we get it at night time unlike Sabana Yegua.

There are a few city parts in our area. Which is somewhat like suburban America, but the majority is good Dominican living.

There are more members that go to church in La Colonia. It seems like a good branch. We´ve got some good youth in the ward. One lady named Juana has a son is in the Santiago mission now. She is always giving us food.

We have some good investigators with baptismal dates. And I guess it wasn´t just a Sabana Yegua thing, but a D.R. thing in that everyone needs to get married. But, everyone here is willing to get married. There are 3 women we are teaching with baptismal dates. Their husbands aren´t into the message, but with time, they´ll be brought into the fold.

We are teaching a kid that looks exactly like Jacob from Twilight! Right down to him taking the lessons without his shirt on. His name is Nicholas and he´s a great guy. The only problem is he works a lot on Sundays, but we´re gonna continue to work with him.

My comp loves to cook. And believe me, I don´t complain. We eat some good rice and guandules modos at mid-day. Good, good times.

We have zone conference tomorrow with all the zones from the south. I´m looking forward to it.

There was a wild storm the other night. It rains about once every three months in Azua. It was a big rain storm and I ended up walking back to the apartment in a foot of water. However, the good news is, that it didn´t ruin my shoes and they´re still going strong.

I finished the Acts of the Apostles this week. Paul has some great missionary stories.

Living the dream. Serving a mission. Wish me luck as I cry repentance unto this sinful generation.

Love,
Elder LeCheminant

Phillip’s First Transfer & Memories of Sabana Yegua

The big news of the week: Elder LeCheminant se va! Yes it's true, Elder LeCheminant is leaving Sabana Yegua. And is being switched with another missionary inside the same zone. I'm still in Azua district. I will be in the La Colonia branch! Twenty minutes from Sabana Yegua. I'm still going to come back and visit here on P-Days. I'm going to be with Elder Moraga; a native Nicaraguan.

Since I'm going to La Colonia, and Elder Mejilla, who is in La Colonia is coming here, some time tomorrow morning I'll have a taxi drive us there, and he'll take Elder Mejilla back with Elder Juarez. I've packed up just about everything. The one thing I am disappointed about is the house we're moving into. Sabana Yegua's house is one of the best in the mission. La Colonia's floor is just a step above cement. But at least the electricity is much better in the city. There, when we come back at night, there is always light. So tradeoffs.

I'll be honest, I had my dreams of the Capital or Barahona, but I know that my time will come. At least I get to experience a bit of a city. Paved roads to walk on will be a benefit. I'm going in with a good positive attitude. I've heard a lot of good things about the branch in La Colonia.

Anyways, I thought I would focus my email on a few of my favorite memories of Sabana Yegua.

First day that I arrived here with my trainer, we went to Olvito's and Dionela's house and played with them and the kids. I was as lost as can be. No one understood me, and I didn't understand a word of what they were saying.

My first cambioneta ride into Azua. We hop in the bed of the truck with others while we fly down the highway. I was clutching the truck with fear that I was going to fall out! Also, learning a whole batch of obnoxious Spanish songs; for example, Controla tu Noca (or "Control your Crazy Girlfriend"…Noca equals Novia [Girlfriend] plus Loca [Crazy]).

My first baptism here was legit. It was of Melen. Just a little kid, with the cutest smile you could imagine. He gave me the biggest smile right before I baptized him.

Spending time with the family of Bolivar practically every day for six months. At least a ten minute water break chatting with them. I loved the baptism of Bolivar and Carlito, and I am so grateful that I was here to do it.

I don’t know why, but one of my favorite memories here is when I realized who truly is living the dream. It has to be 15 year old Melbin, who will strip off all his clothes, except his underpants, at any time of day, with anyone around, and jump into the canal right outside his house. Then get out as if nothing had ever happened.

The Christmas baptism of Olvito and Dionela, who had waited 7 months to get married, was definitely a highlight.

The little morenito Alex who always hung out with us is someone that I'll never forget.

I loved sharing a short message at Hermana Santa's house. The lady that goes to the Catholic Church from 9 to 10, and our Church after, and sleeps with her baby goats. Yes, you heard me right, sleeps with her baby goats. I got a great picture of us with her and her chivitos (goats).

Well, I've had some good times here in Sabana Yegua, yet better times are ahead. I look forward to what is ahead; Elder Moraga and I are going to tear it up in La Colonia.

Love Elder LeCheminant

He waited 15 minutes on his knees, and he got an answer!

Antes de nada!

Wow, Mobile, Alabama sounds like a whole other country. All I have to say is, if Mobile is another country, I´m in another world. And these past couple weeks I´ve been so grateful for all the opportunities that I´ve had to learn.

What a week it was. We got the go ahead to teach a great sister in our area. She went to conference yesterday and is doing good. Her kids couldn´t be happier that she is taking the lessons.

I´ve pretty much contacted all of our town, except for some parts of Barrio San Francisco. This week, I actually had a lot of fun knocking doors in the outskirts of San Francisco. I´ve realized that there are truly people in the world without anything. I´m talking houses made from coffee tins with uneven dirt floors. The people love to hear the word of God and we´ve had some good teaching appointments.

I had another great intercambio with Elder Suero. I learned a lot about effective teaching from him this week. He teaches really simply, has a lot of enthusiasm, and gets along with everybody. And he doesn´t talk for too long either. We ended up teaching some good lessons and had some good times at the apartment. He finishes his mission in 3 months and starts med school soon after.

Saturday, was bittersweet. We didn’t get to watch Conference. But our baptism in the afternoon was great! And there is nothing like a good baptism. A baptismal service in our branch generally goes as follows: We plan on meeting at 6 pm. Everyone comes around 6:20 pm. At 6:30 pm we take pictures and a few minutes later, all the people playing basketball are rounded up. And then we have the baptism. The baptismal service is always great.

Christian is a great kid. You gotta love those kids – right? My buddy Nighter baptized him. Nighter is the 18 year old that moved from Haiti a year and a half ago. He learned Spanish like a native in 2 months. Christian´s family all came to the baptism. His Mom loves the message and has read all the pamphlets and gave him a lot of encouragement. All she needs to do is get baptized. One day...

Sunday was conference. It was great. I thought of my cousin Brian Hubbard and the great shout out for the Manaus Brazil Temple during President Monson´s talk. Elder Johnson was in top form. Sister Sylvia Allred talks much faster in Spanish than English, and the Spanish translation voice over finished 4 minutes before her English talk. I understood the majority of the talks in Espanol, but it has a better effect in English.

One of my favorite lines from Conference was from Elder Bednar, correct me if I misinterpreted this (I´m going from memory) but he said something like “many times we receive revelations, without realizing that we are receiving revelations.” I really liked the Joseph F. Smith quote that the Lord gave him his testimony little by little, until all doubt had been purged from his system. I really liked Elder Holland’s talk and appreciated his thought that these Conference talks are celestial messages, from mortal messengers. And I liked him telling about the life of President Monson and his years of service in the work of the Lord - which isn´t easy. It was nice to watch some Conference.

I was bummed this week when one of our investigators rejected us. Even, after a great first lesson! But we then found a great guy who owns a barber shop by the name of Jose. We set a date with him and all systems are go.

We are teaching two super cute kids right now. The boy is 11 and the girl is 8. They have family in the Church and they just wanted to hear the charla. We taught them for the first time. The girl practically had memorized the first page of the pamphlet. She recited it to us. The boy was so disappointed the first day back. He told us, “I prayed and I didn´t feel a thing.” I told him that if he “prayed with all the faith he could muster up, and ask a specific question to God, God will answer you.” He told us the next day that he did just that, and that he waited 15 minutes on his knees, and he got an answer! I wish you could have been there to see how sincere this kid was. He really wanted an answer. If everyone did that, the world would be a better place.

Next week, I´ll have transfer news. Oh and some time when you send a package, I want a head flashlight - like the spelunkers wear. It´s a pain at night time when there is no electricity and you have to hold a flashlight in your hand.

Love, Elder LeCheminant



Pictures below:

Elder LeCheminant & Elder Suero

A Christmas Feast in the D.R.!