The Book of Mormon Gives Them the Key to Discovering God’s Path!

53 weeks down. 51 to go. Yes, it´s true, I completed 1 year in the mission. Thursday was the day and we have plenty of pictures of the shirt we burned (a missionary tradition at the 1 year mark). We ate pizza, drank soda and had a good night without electricity!

OK, so this is my report for this past week. I had an excellent week despite the fact that they cut the water off for Los Alcarrizzos, for about 3 days! We had to buy the expensive drinking water to do everything. Shower, wash dishes, etc.

Here is more info about my roommates. Elder A. (my comp) continues to be an excellent missionary. He´s a hard worker. And even though we sometimes drive each other nuts, it´s the good kind of crazy. That really, deep down, comes from amor. Elder R. is from Mexico City. The kid is a character. And I really can´t fully describe him. Super funny. The other day, at 11:15 at night, I felt someone grab my leg. I thought it was my comp, but then heard someone giggling and realized that Elder R. was hiding behind my bed. There are now two Mexicanos in the zone. We´re all sad Cinco de Mayo isn´t coming up soon. Elder V. is a stud that cooks every single day! It´s paradise. The best part is, all his food tastes delicious. It´s rice every day, but the meat and the sauce always changes up. He made some banana bread the other day.

This last week, we´ve been really focusing on commitments. We decided to set the goal of putting 6 baptismal dates this week. We fulfilled our goal. We did it 4 times, in the first appointment. The majority of people realize that if God shows them the path, they will follow it.

We tried to help the people understand that the Book of Mormon gives them the key to discovering God’s path. It seems to be working, and I have less fear of inviting people to be baptized. We found one couple in the first appointment that have a lot of potential. They´re both in their 50s and they both committed to baptism if God tells them the message is true. This was on Saturday, and so they told us they had other commitments this Sunday, but are going to attend next week.

I had a good intercambio with a Dominican Elder F. I am liking the Ward that I´m in here. Oh and tomorrow, we are going to have a conference with 2 other zones with Elder Cornish. It´s all about faith. My companion Elder A. will be conducting.

Have a great week. I know I will.

Elder Phil

Headed to the Big City

Letter from Phillip on August 15, 2011

La Querida Familia Mia,

To everything there is a season, a time and a purpose under heaven. Think of the theme song of the classic 80's show “The Wonder Years.”

So, I assume you're all waiting on the big news. Without further ado, I have 2 words for you all. Saint Domingo. Why yes, I am being transferred to Santo Domingo. I'm going to be in Los Alcarrizo.

I've heard nothing but good things about my area and about my comp so I'm super excited. I've heard we live in a 4 man house but I'm not sure. I think I might be “3 D” which is the American slang that I'll be living with 3 Dominicans. But, I'm stoked to find out. I heard that my companion speaks excellent English. But to tell you the truth, I have no idea what it will be like. I'm leaving tomorrow at 10 in the morning. I'll let you know everything next week.

OK, well we all had a good week. On Tuesday, we watched an episode of “The District 2” for district meeting. I realized that all I need to do in order to have a great mission is watch “The District” once a week. It's sort of like watching “The Office”, except with missionaries. And without Michael Scott. Anyways, it pumped me up to spread the Gospel.

Juan is doing great. He is ready, and I assume that he'll have permission to get baptized. We just have to make sure he has a white shirt to wear to Church on Sundays. Marleny is also doing super well. However she didn't come to Church yesterday, so we'll have to see what happened. Evangelina is still going strong. We found an excellent investigator this past week. His name is Gerson. He's about 27. Just finished medical school in the capital. Is highly interested in the message. I don't know how far he'll progress because he works in the hospital most Sundays, but it's so fun having an investigator that listens to the message, understands the message, and asks excellent questions. It's too bad that I won't be able to see more of him.

To quote Bob Dylan, the times they are a changing. So wish me luck.

Love Elder Phil

The Spirit of God Must Have Touched His Heart

Excerpts from Phillip’s Email on July 25, 2011.

Familia Mia,

¿Que Tal?

First some updated news on the shoes. The other shoes weren´t as bad as I thought, so I wore them a couple times this past week. But a kid in the ward found a guy that did a complete makeover of the old shoes for 300 pesos. Yes, it´s true, I´m still sailing on my old shoes. Except this time with a thick, sturdy sole. My goal: Walk off of the airplane in August of 2012 with my Timberland dress shoes purchased from D.I. over 2 years ago!

Seeing how as my buddies Stephen Jensen and Jared Cowley have now finished their full time service to the Lord, let me say that if God seeth fit that they read this email, I want to congratulate both of them, and let them know that my goal this week is to become less "Haragan" (lazy) and write both of them prontito.

You asked for more info on my companion. I have learned muchísimas things from my companion Elder E. He´s taught me a better way to carry myself among the Dominican people. And carry myself in a way consistent with the sacred nature of a calling as a missionary. He´s highly intelligent. I get along with him. I´ve learned how to cook a mean plate of rice, beans, chicken, salami, and fried plantains (which, I plan to eat frequently after the mission).

And while, he´s not perfect, he´s taught me that a faith in the Lord Jesus Christ can truly change a person’s life. And also, that God will give a spiritual confirmation that the Book of Mormon is the word of God to anyone who reads, ponders, goes to Church, and prays to God with real intent to know if it´s true. Even if that someone is a 19 year old baseball, rock and roll, and girl junkie. So yes, about missionary work in the Dominican Republic, I may look back after the mission and realize that Elder E. taught me a great deal about how it´s done in the Caribbean!

Along the same lines that God is no respecter of persons; the true Gospel of Jesus Christ is slowly but surely being understood by our investigator Juan. The spirit of God must have touched his heart, because there is no other reason that someone would go to Church for 4 Sundays in a row after 65 years without the Church. He is excited for baptism on August 13th.

We had another woman that went to Church yesterday named Marleyney. To be honest, we didn´t see much potential in her. She seemed like your typical 25 year old Dominican woman. A great love of God, but without much interest in our message. Anyway, we invited her to Church and she said yes. We were just about to leave, when I jokingly said, Elder E. have you ever noticed that everyone says yes to coming to Church, but whenever we pass by on Sunday morning, a strange errand prevents them from going to Church. We all laughed, she caught the hint and said she was going to go just to prove us wrong. She did come. She said she truly enjoyed it, and that she´ll see us next week at Church.

Love,

Elder LeCheminant

What an incredible experience the mission is!

[Note: Here are two great reflections from Phillip about his mission taken from his emails over the past two weeks]

I had a good insight about mission work this past week during my personal study. Investigators need a testimony of the Book of Mormon. There are thousands of less active members in this country. Hundreds in my little area alone. And the majority of them don't know what the Book of Mormon is. In order to have a true conversion, the people need to read, ponder and pray about the Book of Mormon. As a missionary, I have the duty to encourage people to read, ponder and pray about this book. I've met people down here with testimonies of the book, and plenty of people without testimonies of the book. And those that read it are the first ones in Church every Sunday and stay strong in the faith!

This past week I realized what an incredible experience the mission is. To come to a different country; invite people to come unto Christ; and do the same yourself; learn from comps; attempt to separate yourself from the world; and learn a language and a culture! And even though it is by far the toughest thing I've ever done, I know it is what God wants me to do!

Love,

Elder LeCheminant

An elusive mystery, that I will always remember

[Note: Phillip’s current mission president, President Almonte, has completed his 3 years of service and goes home this week. His new mission president is also a native of the Dominican Republic. He is coming to Santo Domingo from the northern part of the island where he has been working for the Church Education System.]

I will share a highlight from this past week.

The final conference of Presidente Almonte. It began Wednesday morning with Hermana Almonte giving us some good advice. We have to be happy in the mission. We have to watch what we eat, and we have to clean off the mud from our shoes and iron our shirts.

Then Pres. Almonte gets up and delivers his `Sermon on the Mount`. The best talk I`ve heard from Pte. Almonte. It will definitely be one of my few memories of him after the mission. He went up to the pulpit, said he was going to go by the spirit. He told us to open up D & C 50. He said, “This is the constitution of mission work, you have 35 minutes, study it well.” We read it and then he went back up to the pulpit and explained the section verse by verse. He had some great insights. He said that every church preaches by the spirit, or the light of Christ. But the privilege to preach by the Holy Spirit, the third member of the trinity, belongs to only one church. La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos dias. To be worthy to preach with the Holy Ghost, you just need desire to be better. Ended off with some advice of always choosing righteousness. We all said our final goodbyes to them. My thoughts on Pte. Almonte: A spiritual giant, that I never really knew. An elusive mystery, that I will always remember as my first mission president.

The Best Definition of a True Friend!

The big story of the week! Baptism of William. Saturday morning we had the baptism interview. He came on time and everything went well.

We were just about to leave when we remembered to fill the baptismal font. We opened it up and it was absolutely filthy. Susisimo. With a tarantula crawling around inside! The shirt and shoes came off, the pants got rolled up, and we got to work. We cleaned it all out and it was all good for the baptism.

I got to baptize William. He was ready and it was a great experience and I really felt the spirit. All his ward buddies came which is important. Sunday was the confirmation. He didn`t have clean clothes and was wearing holy jeans and didn`t want to do it. However, his buddies changed their clothes so he could have some good clean clothes. That may be the best definition of a true friend: “Someone that will put on your dirty, holy jeans so that you can wear their clothes and look nice to be confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!”

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