And that is why one machete in every house is in accordance with mission rules!

Letter from Phillip on May 30, 2011

Hola Hola La Familia Mia!

Well, as we all know, we started up the new transfer right here in La Colonia. And to top it all off, a great baptism will occur this Saturday. William, will be baptized and make a covenant with God which will conduce him to eternal life if he persevera to the fin. He has a lot of animo and is excited to get baptized. More and more I read about the native general authorities, the more I realize that quite a few of them were young men when they got baptized and have stuck with it. William walks a long way to Church every day for Seminary and hasn`t missed a Sunday in a long time. I think he`s definitely prepared to be baptized.

Update on other investigators. Juan: Lots of desire. In the words of Juan, the more he reads the Book of Mormon, the more it amazes him. Juan`s wife, the Haitian cracks me up. They live a street up from our house. We were walking back to the house at night and I had just bought an egg to cook when we got back. My comp bought a lot. She called us back and said to me, what the heck are you doing with just one egg in the bag? That won`t do she says. Before I had the chance to speak she grabbed the bag from my hand, went into the house and came back a minute later with 8 eggs, a bottle of oil and spaghetti. She handed it back to me, and told me: “that’s better!” I sat there flabbergasted. She`s not into the Church, but I really hope she gets baptized one day.

We had a great lesson with a lady named Marta. Moraga and I had a couple excellent lessons with her. The first time we saw her, she introduced herself as an evangelical. Then she said, a lot of people say that those Mormons worship Jose Smith, but I know it`s not like that. So we said, yes, you`re right. We taught her, then invited her to Church. She showed up right in time for Church and enjoyed it. I`ll let you know if anything happens with Marta.

We had a meeting with the zone this past week. President talked to all the zone leaders and they talked to us. He had some great thoughts. He said on the street, we should be tame and meek, like little chickens. However, if robbers come in to the house, we should defend ourselves, like lions! And that is why one machete in every house is in accordance with mission rules!

He taught us that faith in Jesus Christ is the highest degree of faith. This gave me some food for thought. I admit, I had thought before the mission that the Gospel would bring happiness to one and all and that everyone would be lost without it. However I have realized that millions of people seem happy with their own way of living. This thought got me down a bit. But I have realized that there are different levels for everything. For example, I can feel the great power of a waterfall. But there is nothing in comparison to the power of the being who created the waterfall. People can have great joy in families, but when the power of the spirit comes in, the families have greater joy. The faith in Jesus Christ as presented in the Bible and the Book of Mormon is the highest degree of faith that exists in the whole world. And that is why we have such a great responsibility to share it, so that people can receive of the full truth of God on the earth. I have a long way to go before I fully exercise the true faith in Jesus Christ, but the goal is there.

Yesterday my comp had a great phone call home on Nicaraguan Mother’s day.

There are few words to describe the heat of Azua. It`s hot.

P-Day was fun. Played soccer, ate, now emailing home. Getting ready for a good week!

Love Phil

My Shoes are Still Going Strong!

Una Semana Vacanisima, y la que viene sera mejor.

I had an excellent missionary week. Lots of great experiences and strengthened testimony. First off, the transfer has ended. And the verdict is.....Elder LeCheminant and Elder Moraga se quedan. That`s right folks, I`m staying with Moraga one more.

OK, I have to take a couple paragraphs to talk about Juan. I wrote a little about him last week. The white Dominican with the Haitian wife. Monday, we were thinking of dropping him. He always found the Missionary lessons interesting, but in the words of Moraga, I think this guy thinks the Book of Mormon is a fiction story book, fun to theorize about. Anyways, we decided to go back one more time and see if he read and get his thoughts. Turns out that he had read and read and read. He read a bunch and understood everything. He decided to change up his prayers and he felt the spirit. He figured that the Bible had lost a lot of truths and that the Book of Mormon restored the truth. We ended up going every night to his house. He went to Church and told us he`s gonna keep on doing these things. The lessons with Juan are the lessons I imagined I would have before I left on the mission. Anyways, the moral of the story is I got a stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon. Those that read it will quickly recognize it as the word of God!

We have another great young man that will be baptized. A Haitian kid that moved here with his parents when he was a child. He`s friends with all the youth of the branch. He`s gone to Church for 4 months now but refused to be baptized until he got a testimony, and he says he`s ready now. He`s a great kid named William. June 4th is his scheduled baptism date.

Just a few side notes. The pants I bought are the best pants I`ve ever owned in my life. I`m a new missionary when I wear them. It`s like Jerry Seinfeld and his suede jacket. And my shoes are still going strong [note: Phillip is referring to a pair of used dress shoes he bought about a year before his mission at D.I.!]. Elder Moraga is calling his family this week for Nicaraguan Mother’s Day.

Another cool D.R. Story. We were looking for a member, but the family told us he was at the Gallerina. Apparently it was right down the street, so we went. We want into this strange building, and ended up in perhaps the most legitimate cock fighting rink I`ve seen in real life or film. There were no cocks fighting at the time and nobody was there. I wish I could explain how cool and random this thing was. In the end, we found the member and had a good day preaching the Gospel.

Have a great week!

Elder Phil

I`m looking forward to a vacana semana!

Hola one and all! How are you all doing?

Great week in the missionary world. I decided to work on two things this week in the world of missionary work and I definitely saw the results. At our night time planning sessions, we`ve started talking about the lessons we had in the day, and what we can do to help the investigators progress instead of just counting the number of lessons we had. We ended up coming up with some great ideas in the planning sessions. That is one practice that I`m going to keep up in my mission which I think will yield some great results.

The other thing that we`ve started doing is improving studying time. It is absolutely incredible how much you can learn in one hour when you focus. I had some great study days and I`ve set some great goals for the mission. In comp study too. My whole mission for comp study all we`ve done is read from Preach My Gospel out loud. In all honesty I dreaded comp study every day. So on Tuesday, I finally said, OK, this is pointless, we`re doing some role play. And that`s what we`ve been doing for comp study. Role play, preparing for the investigators needs and questions. 10 times better!

We set a baptismal date with a great guy Juan. He reads a lot, and loves the message. He loves the Book of Mormon. He needs to come to church. Sometimes, we let him talk a bit too long about nonsense, such as Einstein’s theory of relativity. But we`re gonna keep working with him. We hope good things will come.

P-Day, a whole bunch of nothing today. We did clean the house this morning. Spick and span. It needed it.

I`m doing good and I`m looking forward to a vacana semana. A sweet week. Hope you are too. In the words of my cousin Brian Hubbard serving in Manaus, Brazil, “We be spreading da freshest word anybody eva herd!”

Love,

Elder Phil

“We`re still looking for your polochirt de gringo!”

Familia,

Es Mayo! Yes, it`s May!

OK, about this week, and the same old story of La Republica Dominicana. First off, let me tell you about two great women we are teaching. We convinced the spouse of the first woman to marry her. But this past week, he realized that he was still married to another woman and needs to get a divorce to get married. And she didn`t know about the other marriage! Anyway, we need to wait a bit until we get it all settled.

And the spouse of the other woman backed out after he said he would marry her. So we have to keep working with them. She is a great woman and would be a very strong baptism and a great convert in the Church. Very intelligent and believes in the gospel. Anyway, we all need to pray that the heart of her husband will be softened so that she can be baptized.

I had an intercambio this past week with Elder Kleiner. He`s from Mesa, and entered the mish 6 weeks before I came in. He`s a great guy and a good missionary. We had a lot of fun. We got pizza. 8 months without pizza, then two nights in a row!

Today was a super fun P-Day. We went to a Cascada (Waterfall). We all had a good time. It was a good hike and I saw plenty of Azua that I hadn`t seen before.

Funny Dominican Republic story. There is a T-shirt stand right next to our house. There was a sweet Nike shirt that I was gonna buy for 100 pesos. Anyway, I didn`t have my money when I first saw it, so I told them I was coming back soon. I came back the next day, and we looked and looked for my shirt, but couldn`t find it. Anyway, every time we walk by, all the workers yell out, “We`re still looking for your polochirt de gringo!” Here polo-shirt equals T-shirt in English. Said really fast in Spanish it comes out “polochirt.” I`m not really sure where I`m going with this story, other than I`ve heard the word “polochirt” many more times than I wanted to hear this past week.

I had a good week, we had some great lessons, and I put a baptismal date with a great guy in his 30s. Now we`ll wait for the true test and see if he comes to Church. But I have faith he will!

I love you all, and hope that you have a great week and will talk to you on MOTHER’S DAY baby!

Elder Phil

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.!