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.!

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

The tall white American that doesn`t know the language like his companion

Hola!

How are you all doing this fine week?

News for the week. My boys Hanser and Leito were baptized! Both of them are doing well. I baptized both of them. A bit about Hanser and Leito. Hanser is a super smart kid. He`s studying computers in the university. Hanser, Leito, and Yoann the older brother all live together in one house. All three of them are sons of Confesora. And they all couldn`t be more different. Hanser is the studious type. Yoann is hilarious. He loves listening to the word of God. And Leito has desire and goes to church. He loves to make fun of me. I`m the tall white American that doesn`t know the language like my companion. I really hope that both of them make it.

This Saturday, we`re going to baptize a kid named Roberto. He`s twelve, lives across the street from a super active family with kids his age and knows more than everybody else we are teaching. He`s a really good kid. I assume he`ll serve a mission and be a strong member. I will tell you all about the baptism next week.

We had a great lesson last night in the house of Fledida. My Spanish was in good form. I taught all about the Book of Mormon and the significance of the Book of Mormon. And then Fledida shared her testimony of the Gospel. She told us that she had visited a lot of churches in her day and the most peaceful church that teaches the best values is our church. Then she said a prayer to see us off. It was good.

We`re going to the temple tomorrow. All in Spanish. I`m really excited. It should be a good experience. Early too! We have to be in Azua ready to go at 6:30 am.

In other news, I had 2 new pairs of tailored pants made with money from Grandma Teedie. A dark brown and a pinstripe navy blue. They look dang good!

Love,

Elder Phil

What do you like in your burger?

Well Hello Familia!

Once again, a good week here in Sabana Yegua. Teaching, contacting, baptizing, saving souls, the whole works! We had a good week with lessons. We got 39 “member present” lessons.

Me and my new companion, Elder Torres, get along great. You know how Dad and I, or Mark and I, would argue jokingly over little stupid stuff. That´s how it is with him, only in Spanish. Elder Torres is just a super witty guy. It makes the time in the apartment so much more enjoyable. Just learning the phrase “do you want to bet,” has greatly increased my fun in the mission field. Sadly, I lost just about every bet this past week. Anyway, my point with all of this is that I attribute my increased joking arguments in Spanish as to why I am learning to speak Spanish. I improved dramatically in just one week. It was a miracle.

We started teaching a family that has a lot of good enthusiasm, so everything is going well with them. The baptism of Bolivar should happen in about two weeks. Keep your fingers crossed.

Miscellaneous note: Send me the lyrics of Para Bailar la Bamba via email. It makes a difference when you understand everything, and Torres and I wrote a funny missionary version.

Also, I bought the COOLEST belt off a Haitian for after my mission. A white puma belt with a big pistol and Dollar signs for 100 pesos. I look forward to wearing it in two years.

I discovered a thing called Chimy´s here. The Dominican burger. Full of grilled cabbage and onions and everything else that is good. Tasty!

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Phil