It was kind of cool to have had my first baptism and last baptism in the same font!

Mary Louise asked Phillip what he would like to eat when he gets home. His response is below. My mother asked the same thing when I returned from Korea many years ago. My response was a big bowl of rice with some side dishes of KimChee and bean sprouts. I didn’t get it, so I think that is what we should serve Phillip when he gets home! -Doug Letter from Phillip on August 13, 2012 Familia Mia, Wow, the days truly are counted. By the way, today was a great email day, thanks for the letters and updates. OK, we have come to the part of the email that actually has an eternal significance. Chantal is now a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! Thanks to the example of a good friend of hers. I´ll send you pictures of the baptism and a picture with her friend. It was certainly not the smoothest baptism I´ve had. Baptismal clothes didn´t fit, we had to go looking for her for the interview and so on. But in the end she´s a very intelligent girl that was happy to be baptized. It was kind of cool to have had my first baptism and last baptism in the same font! It really brought back some good memories of the people that have really touched my life out here in the Dominican Republic. Our relationship with God, Family and friends are what really matter. I know that Chantal drew herself closer to God and can truly change her life if she allows Him to help. We keep finding cool new people out here in Sabana Yegua. We contacted a very nice Haitian couple that have a lot of interest. A cool kid that is friends with all the young people of the ward. I read all the war chapters this week of Alma. I can´t say I gathered any fascinating life changing insights, but I will say this, Moroni and Teancum are both heroes of mine. Two of the coolest men in scripture! Not to mention the stripling warriors and their mothers. Mom, thanks for being a mom comparable to the Ammonite Woman! I wasn´t going to mention food in my emails at the risk of sounding trunky, but since you mentioned it, I´ll tell you. Mom, I want a room temperature cherry pie waiting for me when I get home. I want to go to a Waffle House the day I get back. And in the first week, I want some baked chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy. I hope I´m not asking too much. Love you all, Elder Phillip LeCheminant

"It's a magical world, Hobbes, ol' buddy...Let's go exploring!"

Letter from Phillip on July 16, 2012 My Dearest Family, Wow, I have officially entered into my last and final transfer! I am now a part of the oldest group of missionaries in the mission. Are you ready for some transfer news........drum roll.......I am staying in Sabana Yegua. I´m happy that I´m staying here for my last six weeks. I´ve grown to love the people that I am working and serving with. The verdict, Elder W. is leaving. Elder P. is replacing him. I don´t know much about Elder P., just that he grew up in both Mexico and the United States. One of those fluent English Spanish speakers. So, the English class every Saturday is still a go. I´ll be sad to see Elder W. leave. I wasn´t sure what to expect that first week, but we were two chill guys that worked hard. I think we helped each other out in our respective strengths and weaknesses. Atlanta is sounding like my kind of city. I´m excited to see what it´s like. I´m glad that you guys are all moved in, and that life is now normalizing. For the most part, our investigators are doing well. It´s always tough when you try and try to help people progress, but something always gets in the way. There is this great family. Miguel and Rafaela. High functioning family, Miguel works for the department of education, yet something always gets in the way of them going to Church. A young girl has been going to Church with her best friend. I think in terms of people that will most likely get to baptism, this girl Chantal is the best bet for this next transfer. She has a lot of enthusiasm and has great support. A lot of the people that we have found that have gone to Church are doing well, but they still lack that extra touch of conversion. I hope that they can get it. This last week, we had the end of transfer Azua lunch with the senior couple, Elder & Sister Browns. So much fun! The missionaries of Azua, along with the assistants, got together at the Browns apartment to eat hoagie sandwiches. I thought of Mark Johnson [Phillip’s friend who recently got back from Spain] last night. We saw a group of about 20 white people. I thought they were from the U.S., so I started speaking English but it turned out they were Spaniards from Barcelona! They are here on a 2 month service mission from the Catholic Church. Even though we both speak Spanish, I realized how different Mark’s mission experience must have been from mine while talking to the Spaniards. Their accent was so different. But, they all had an air of European sophistication which I am definitely not used to here. I told my comp that I have few goals for this next transfer. Finish marking my Spanish Book of Mormon, 2 baptisms, and become tight with all the new Spaniards visiting Sabana Yegua! Gretchen, I need you to do me a favor. There is a quote I want to write in my planner. It is what Calvin says in the last ever Calvin and Hobbes strip. [Gretchen responded to him and sent the following: "It's a magical world, Hobbes, ol' buddy...Let's go exploring!"] Con mucho cariño, Elder Phillip LeCheminant

I loved the part when the guy is courting the girl

Letter from Phillip on June 18, 2012 Well, let me tell you all a bit about the week. The big news was the zone conference. It was good to see everybody again. Elder B. is doing a great job as an assistant. I liked the conference so much because of all the senior missionary couples who spoke. The senior couples in our mission are the best. All so loving. The MTC doctor, Dr. Shaver, spoke about the importance of cleanliness. The McDermids are the mental health professionals here. The wife spoke and reminded me so much of Mom. I dropped your name dad but they didn`t know you. My favorite senior couple in the mission are the Fords from Bountiful Utah. They`re in charge of the finances. I still have the touch. I can get Sister Ford to laugh every time I talk to her. President spoke about a talk given by a General Authority called the “4th missionary.” It talked about different kinds of missionaries and how the only missionaries truly changed by their mission are the “4th missionary.” It wasn`t so much focused on obedience as it was focused on giving the Lord your heart. The “3rd missionary” is obedient and serves and has a lot of success. But he does it for the honors of men and works to finish his mission holding back his heart. The “4th missionary” serves in order to progress spiritually. The “4th missionary” is a missionary of consecration. He has qualities of Christ. The mission is difficult for both. Both may think it`s difficult to knock on doors and take cold water bucket showers. But the 3rd does it out of resentment and hate while the 4th does it because it`s intelligent and will lead to progression and joy. The big news of the week. Bolivar`s wife, Esther, went to Church for the first time yesterday! [Phillip had the chance to teach and baptize Bolivar when he was in this same area the first part of his mission!] We had a good lesson on Friday and she committed to Church and went to Church with her family! We`ll see what happens. We`ll keep praying for her. We found 2 great families contacting this week. Super cool families with a mom and dad that have interest. I`ll let you know next week if they start progressing. I`ve been reading in the book of Isaiah lately. I think that Dad and I will have some good Isaiah chats after the study that I`m having. I keep reading and marking in the Book of Mormon. I`ve watched the movie legacy countless times in Spanish, but Elder W. had it in English so I watched it last night. Haha great film! I loved the part when the guy is courting the girl and he says, amidst the tribulation, persecution and problems of life, God allows us joy as well, just after kissing her. Love, Elder LeCheminant

It was good to be able to talk to you all about my life, your life, investigators

We had a great (and lengthy) visit with Phillip on Mother’s day yesterday. He is healthy, feels very good about his companion and roommates, has a baptism planned for this coming weekend, and is focused for the last 3 months of his mission. Here is his email today: Letter from Phillip on May 14, 2012 Querida familia mia, Wow, that was so great to talk to all you guys yesterday. What a great day. It was good to be able to talk to you all about my life, your life, investigators, Atlanta, Georgia, etc. But anyways, I`m trying to find some good things to tell you that we didn`t talk about yesterday. Today for P-Day, we called up the missionaries in Bayona. There are 4 good missionaries there and we made some homemade pizza! Haha, not great, but decent. We also decided to explore some big hardware store that was in our area. As you might tell, there really aren`t too many options of things to do out here. This is a good story. At the internet center just now, I saw a girl I knew in my first area. Her brother was in the branch presidency there and is now on his mission. He had sent her some photos and he`s looking good. Serving in Bolivia. This week there was a mission fireside. Our ward mission leader planned it, and we didn`t know about it until this week, but it turned out well. We had a pioneer activity and watched the John Tanner video and some Mormon messages about pioneers. Two weeks ago was Stake Conference, and yesterday was ward conference. The Stake President is a great guy. He spoke on overcoming sin. We should avoid having favorite sins. He also taught the class in Priesthood meeting. I think that he`s the director of the Institute Program in Santo Domingo. Say hi to Grammy, Granddaddy Bob, and Grandma Teedie and wish them a most happy Mother`s Day from me. Love you all, Phil

Six Mission Photos from the D.R.

What follows are 6 mission photos in no particular order. 1) Deciding who makes the better candy bar, the LSU Tigers or the Alabama Crimson Tide; 2) Enjoying some local Christmas decorations; 3) A Christmas pig; 4) A mission conference at Christmas; 5) Thanksgiving dinner; and 6) P-Day in the D.R. Country side.

We had 9 investigators in Church yesterday!

Ok, Familia:

I can’t believe Gretchen entered the MTC 3 years ago yesterday! Time really does fly sometimes.

We had a good week. We had zone conference. I really liked it a lot. Hermana Rodriguez talked about health and obedience. And Presidente talked about repentance. However, I’m realizing right now that I´m blanking out and I can´t remember too many details or insights about what he spoke about. But it´s not about what I learned, but what I felt. We also did some role plays and practice. Elder H. and I had a lot of participation. We talked about the successes and goals of the last transfer and the transfer to come. It went well. Another piece of good news, I´ll be able to talk to Francisco and Santa on Tuesday night. Presidente wants us to call the families we baptize about once a month. So, hopefully I´ll be able to talk to them and Horbito and Dianella from Sabana Yegua.

Our other investigators are all doing well. There was a night last week where a couple people weren´t in their house so we decided to pass by to see Luz, because we hadn´t seen her in a while. We set another appointment and got her to Church. I was very happy about that. We had 9 investigators in Church yesterday! All we need to do now is help them progress up until baptism. The members here have given some great support. It makes a big difference when the members sit by the investigators and help them feel comfortable.

We´ve been getting lucky here with food. A lot of members have been feeding us well. The Old Bishop´s family fed us on Saturday afternoon and another great family fed us on Sunday. A great way to break a Fast!

General Conference is this Saturday. We´re going to have it in our chapel. If investigators come, we can go on Saturday. So don´t worry, we´ll be trying to find some people for Saturday. Also on Friday, we have interviews with Presidente. I´ll let you know how those go next week.

English class is growing more and more each week.

This morning we played basketball. I wanted to get a haircut before we went, but somehow on the way there, 500 pesos fell out of my pocket. Which is a shame, because I was going to barely make it through the end of the week with what I had. So, just letting you know.

Love, Phil

I`ve been studying more and thinking more about the greatness of the grace of God.

Letter from Phillip on March 5, 2012

Hola Familia,

Here is a picture of our baptism from last week. I forgot and left my tie at home, but Elder H. loaned me his tie for the baptism.

Let me tell you a bit about this week. We didn´t have a super eventful week, but we did have some good lessons, put some baptismal dates and found some new people to teach.

English class. We started out 3 weeks ago, but it`s already a hit baby. We had about 20 people come to the English class on Saturday. We divided the class up into 2. An advanced class and a beginner class. Elder B. and I took the advanced class and it was great. We did it all in English. We were wondering how everybody found out about it. I think we`ll end up finding some people to teach out of all of it.

We did a service project this week as well. We cleaned a kid`s house in our ward. His name is Angelo. He`s a funny kid who loves to theorize about deep doctrine. He`s preparing for his mission, and always helps us out, so we decided to return the favor.

We have the coolest former bishop ever. He just got released, but he has so much excitement to help others. Everyone looks up to his family as the model family in the ward. Our current bishop is great too. We just have to drop by his house more often.

We got an awesome referral this past week. Her name is Paola and lives with a recent convert. She`s 18, and had a lot of questions about the Book of Mormon. She read the testimonies at the front of the book and was ticked off that there were no woman witnesses. She thought it was somewhat sexist. But she went to Church yesterday and liked it. We have an appointment with her soon.

Also, we are teaching the rest of Maora`s family. They are all going to Church and a couple of them have accepted to be baptized.

I`ve been reading a lot in the book of Romans. The apostle Paul is still one of the best missionaries ever. If only we could all be as smooth as him. Ever since that Grace talk you sent me by Brad Wilcox, I`ve been studying more and thinking more about the greatness of the grace of God.

Have a great week!

Elder LeCheminant

The things of eternal significance

January 30, 2012

Let us begin with the things of eternal significance. Maria was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Saturday night by her uncle. She was truly ready to become a member of the Church and will be a strength to the wards she lives in. She is studying to become a doctor at Santo Domingo University. We watched the movie The Restoration at her baptism. Before my mission, I had known the doctrine of the Church, but in my mission I´ve come to a greater understanding of the doctrine. I was reading Acts of the Apostles this past week, and I more fully understood that I belong to the same church as Apollos, Paul, Peter and Timothy. It was a true restoration. So, long story short, the baptism was a success.

Operation Ingrown Toenail

Operation Ingrown Toenail. You heard right. I´ve had an ingrown toenail for about a year, but it´s never bugged me too bad until a couple weeks ago. So I called Hermana Rodriguez last night, and she told me to go to the MTC doctor this morning. Elder Shaver, from Eagle Idaho operated on me. We had some good mutual Eagle connections, so we passed the time well. He numbed the toe, and cut out the bad part of the nail. Quite anti-climactic, but now my toe is better than ever. We stopped by McDonalds afterwards on our way to the metro. All in all, an excellent morning in downtown Santo Domingo!

We´ve started teaching a man who has been less active for about 13 years. He lost a little daughter a couple weeks ago and decided to come back to church. We decided to teach his family, and have put baptismal dates with his two kids. Ashley (10), and get this, John Taylor (8). We´ve had some good visits and I think they´re going to progress. Maria is doing great. She´s still looking good for baptism on the 28th of this month. Gabriela has a lot of interest. Her husband´s a super chill guy that is very nice, but works most Sundays.

In other news, I read an excellent talk by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin called Sunday Will Come. I loved it. He related it to Christ´s resurrection. We all have our Fridays, when everything goes wrong in life. However, Sunday morning will always come. That´s what I like about religion. I can´t imagine living life without the hope that everything will be made fair and just in the end. Let´s be honest, all too often, this life is not fair. But that is why we believe in a compensating after life. If we keep that hope kindled in our everyday life, life treats us better.

Love to all,

Elder LeCheminant

I thought a lot about the mercy and compassion of God

Dear Family & Friends

We finished the year in style, and have started the new with pizazz. I´m not quite sure what that means, but I do know that we´re gonna find out if the Mayans were right this year.

We had an excellent week. Francisco, the man that we´ve worked with closely for the past 5 months entered into the waters of baptism on Saturday night. Then, the first day of 2012 he was confirmed a member of the Church. It was an incredible experience. I thought a lot about the mercy and compassion of God. He´s always there to accept us when we repent and do our part. His wife Santa shared her testimony at the baptism and they both shared their testimonies on Sunday. After the baptism, Santa made us a mean Dominican stew and we all felt good.

New Years Eve here is wild. Loud music is always a part of the culture here. But it was only amplified. These past two weeks, everybody has spent their vacations by sitting outside, dancing bachata, and drinking beer.

I will tell you another story of the week. TERREMOTO! My first earthquake. It was at about 5 A.M and it scared us all when we felt all the beds shaking. No need to fear, it was just a little one, and it did nothing else but give us good conversation starters throughout the week. I said we were going to be looking for some good new investigators, and we were blessed to find a few new people with a lot of interest.

We contacted a super cool woman named Gabriela. She´s a mother that went to all three hours of Church yesterday with her two children. She´s got a lot of personality. She told us to mark off some chapters in the Book of Mormon that will help her. She´s accepted a baptismal date, and is excited to learn more.

Maria is still as strong as ever. She should be getting baptized in a couple of weeks.

For P-Day we cleaned and went to a priesthood ward activity playing dominoes. I´ll have to teach you all how to play Dominican dominoes.

It´s a big holiday here today. The Day of Kings; honoring the three wise men; so nobody´s working.

I got some great Christmas letters from friends and family. Tell everybody thanks!

Well, I´m doing well!

Love,

Felipe Victor

Four New Pictures of Elder LeCheminant

Here are a few fun photos that Phillip passed along to his parents recently. The first is with a few of his bunk mates; the second is him wearing a New York baseball shirt on P-Day; the third photo captures him taking a break while on the streets of the D.R.; and the last is a picture taken with his companion and President & Sister Rodriguez!

It was a spirit filled experience and he was very grateful for the opportunity to follow Jesus

Letter from Phillip on November 21, 2011

Mis Amores,

Wow, this week was an excellent week. The big news of the week would definitely be the baptism of Faustino. What an incredible man! He´s a short old guy, about 5’3”, but with a lot of class and style. He´s going on 80 years old, yet more active than the majority of 60 year olds here. Still going strong with his sculptures, and spending time with his family!

I got the chance to baptize him. We had some good support from the ward. The best part was after the baptism when he raised his hands in the air and gave thanks to God. Very evangelical, yet he pulled it off! It was a spirit filled experience and he was very grateful for the opportunity to follow Jesus. We learned a big lesson in the power of service from Faustino. He told us this past week that many years ago someone had given him a Book of Mormon and he lost it. So when he saw us, he felt he needed to ask and read that book.

OK, another sweet part of my week, was that we put a baptismal date with Santa, the wife of Francisco. This lady, is perhaps my favorite Dominican woman. She´s so funny. I hope you can one day meet this woman. Just to laugh along with her. But, she didn´t have any animo for baptism, but after so much time of chatting with us, she´s tentatively accepted a fecha (date).

Angela is doing well. She was going to be baptized this week, but she couldn´t go to Church yesterday, so she´ll be getting baptized in a couple of weeks.

Today at La Sirena, my roommates and I bought gravy packets, stuffing, cranberry jelly, and we´re buying a roast chicken on Thursday. Dia de pavo sera un dia vacanisimo....bueno sin el pavo, pero comoquiera, vamos a gozar (turkey day will be a sweet day, without turkey, but anyway, we´re going to have fun).

I recently saw a high school buddy, Elder T. We hadn´t seen each other the whole mission. Anyway, he´s doing great.

Well, love you all,

Phillip

"I was in the middle of a contact..."

Here are some excerpts from recent emails from Phillip:

“Funny contacting story of the week. I was in the middle of a contact with an evangelical woman, talking about how we have a gospel of peace and love. When all of a sudden, I get pegged by a plank of wood! I look back and see a teenage boy with his hands in the air giving thanks to God. I had no idea what the heck was going on, but the evangelical woman reprimanded the boy in the name of Jesus, and called him 'a shameless vagabond!' The kid left after that, and I went right back into the contact talking about our loving and peaceful gospel. Almost too much for a Thursday afternoon.”

"I think one of the most exciting thing that happened this past week was getting the water fixed and I was able to wash all my clothes in the washing machine. However, I can promise you that my ability to hand wash will come in handy one day."

“Spiritual insights this past week in studying the Book of Mormon. In Alma 46:15. It talks about the true meaning of a Christian. Those that joyfully take upon themselves the name of Christ. After you are baptized you commit to take upon yourself the name of Christ. But only those that take it upon themselves joyfully are really the true followers of Jesus Christ. So, the lesson I gleaned is that we should all take upon ourselves His name even more joyfully, and truly live our religion in the small day to day moments of our lives.”

"My companion, Elder A, is entering into his final week in the mission field. On Sunday, they are picking him up to go to the office for a few days before he is released. You know what, he hasn´t gotten trunky at all. I want to finish my mission just like that. Tranquilo. Like nothing has happened."

Love,

Elder LeCheminant

After 15 days (with only one day of running water)...

Letter from Phillip on October 10, 2011

I´m doing great. Loving spreading the word. We have a bunch of investigators!

The news of the week is that we have the baptismal date for this Saturday for Josefina. She´s an excellent woman and we always have such great spiritual experiences at her house. But she´s been afraid to be baptized. However, she has accepted for this Saturday, but is still partly iffy. I will let you know first thing next week if the baptism went through.

We found this one lady a few weeks ago and were sharing with her a bit. She´s 29, has a 13 year old daughter, and is super nice. We gave her a Book of Mormon and decided to pass by this past week to see how she was doing. She had read up until Jacob and knew everything. However, the biggest challenge we have is Church starts at 8 am. Siempre es un lío. It´s always a challenge to get them to Church.

We have a baptismal fecha with a woman named Angela. She´s a señora. In her 60´s, but loves us and should be getting baptized at the beginning of November.

Marino, the husband of the member is ready for baptism. He has all the desire in the world. He has only one leg, but luckily a member picked him up for Church yesterday. We have to figure out the way so that the members always pick him up, but only a few active members have cars, and they almost all have stake callings. But no worries; the Lord will provide!

Francisco now has all his papers. He should be getting married soon. He´s still fighting with cigarettes, but wants to get baptized. Hopefully soon.

After 15 days (with only one day of running water) the water is working again! It came back yesterday. I filled up the bucket with rain water and showered one day. But they fixed the electricity as well, so I should be doing some laundry tonight.

We played a ton of basketball today for the zone activity. It was great. Then our house of 4 Elders hung out with another house of 4 Elders and it made for a great P- Day.

This last week I read a lot from an Institute Manual about the Old Testament that Elder R. had been given. I learned a lot about the creation, Adam and Eve, and our purpose here in life.

Well, I love you all.

Elder Phil

Santo Domingo Temple and a Football Prediction

Letter from Phillip on September 12, 2011

La Familia Mia,

I just wanted to write ya´ll and tell you about my life down here in La Republica Dominicana. Life is going well.

Here´s the latest update on my life. The Temple in Santo Domingo; perhaps there is no better place on earth. We went on Friday with the Zone of San Geronimo. It was an excellent experience. There´s a definite blessing of hearing nothing but Spanish in the street and house for the past year. The endowment session sounded good to me in Spanish compared with the last time I went. My thoughts in the Temple were these: I felt good; the Lord will give me the strength to have a good year.

We´ve been teaching some excellent investigators. We have 4 investigators that are progressing, and are doing well. Yesterday, we had stake conference in the fancy chapel with air conditioning. They all went and enjoyed it. Their names are Bismaoris, a friend of all the young men. Claribell, a 35 year old woman that is friends with one of the counselors of the stake presidency. Francisco, and Josephina. They all have baptismal dates except for Josephina. But I think that´ll change soon. I also love the other elders I live with. Nothing better than getting back at night and hacer checha (make chitchat).

I got some pants made last week for 550 pesos. I picked them up and they didn´t fit me at all. I took them back and the tailor told me all the things he did to fix the pants. I put them back on and I realize the guy didn´t do a single thing. We were all laughing at the deceiving tailor. Long story short, I sold them to Elder V. for 400 pesos, and lost 4 dollars in the deal.

Best part of the week. Walking around downtown Santo Domingo after the temple and taking the metro in order to get back to los alcs. Good times.

Love,

Elder D.R. Phil

P.S. So the BYU-Utah game is this week? My prediction is that Utah wins 7-3, in what many say was the lamest rivalry game played in years. In 5 years, the rivalry fizzles out completely. And all the Jonny Harline and Austin Collie stories turn into myths lost in time!

P.S.S. The picture is of me at the temple with some of the people from my MTC group. It was good to see them again.

Four Photos of Elder LeCheminant

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