Hello from the dripping hot Dominican Republic!!!

Hello from the dripping hot Dominican Republic!!!
How are you all? Well I had an interesting week. Holy Week like I told you . And instead of remembering Christ here, they like to drench the streets in beer. It smelled really good. Haha JK. But it was good. I started it out by having a root canal. That was my first one! It HURT!!! And it made me have some serious head pains. But we made it through and now I feel soooo much better. But it did worry me because all of the people I told about my tooth told me that they too had had a root canal before and they all ended up having to just get the tooth pulled because it was too painful! Uhhhhh.....I hope that doesn’t happen to me. Oh Dominican dentistry!
This week I read a really good talk by Quentin L. Cook that I really liked. It helped me to focus a little better because being the Semana Santa it was a little hard. Everyone was drinking and swimming in their blow up pools, and almost all of the appointments that we had fell through. But we didn’t loose the spirit. I want to share a few quotes from the talk... "Our obligation is to love and teach and never give up." "Even though our journey may be fraught with tribulation, the destination is truly glorious." It was a really good talk, and I so conveniently forgot the name of it, but I know that although sometimes it is hard to press forward, it’s worth it because the Lord truly blesses you.
We received our blessing for having such a hard week yesterday. On Tuesday we contacted a lady that said that we could come back to her house Sunday, so we passed by and she wasn’t there but her 2 daughters were. They are twins, and they said that they had been waiting for us all week, and were so excited as soon as their mom told them that the Mormon Missionaries were going to be passing by. They have 2 LDS friends at school and have always wanted to learn more. They said that their dad has always wanted to go to the church but they have never known the schedule and whenever they pass by it’s always locked. So they were really excited. I know that it was a blessing because they have such a thirst for the knowledge, and that is where it truly starts. I know that I am where I am supposed to be, and that I can never give up. I love you all so much!
Con Amor,
Hermana Reay

This week is Holy week!! Enjoy?

Hello to all who read my blog,
This week is Holy week, or Semana Santa, here in the DR. Although we were talking to a member yesterday, and he was telling us that the people here just use it as vacation time. They really don’t do anything that applies the Savior more in their lives because they either put out their swimming pools in the street, sleep, go to the beach, or DRINK! Yeah it’s kinda interesting. But maybe with our special message we can help some of that to change. I am so grateful that I have had commandments in my life that keep me grounded and that I know that this is a time of year to think of Jesus Christ. Really the sacrifice that he made for us, we can’t even understand. I know that He has an infinite Love, and that everything that He did in the last week of His life is so significant, and teaches us things that we need to apply in our lives today. I have such a testimony of Him and know that if we always put Him first in our lives, and follow in His path we will always have happiness, peace, and joy.
We are teaching a boy named Jeeter, he is really great. He is 11 years old, his sister and his grandpa are members. Well he goes to church every week and we thought that he was a member, but he isn’t. He loves primary and he has so many friends at church. We have shared with him at his house just a couple times now, but last Sunday he came up to us with his "Faith in God" booklet, and told us that he wanted to invite us over for a Family Home Evening so that he could pass a few things off in his booklet to finish it before he turns 12. He is adorable, so we went over there, and he taught the whole lesson, and he really has such a strong testimony. I know that he will be a great member, and definitely a future missionary. I gave him a sticker that says "future missionary" and he put it in his Book of Mormon, (which he is already reading like crazy) and he was so excited. His sister lives with his grandpa in a different ward, but he comes every week on his bike by himself. I wish that everyone could exercise the faith and show the dedication that Jeeter shows, and he is only 11.
I am so grateful for all of the examples that I have in the people here that I am meeting. I know that if they continue to be great examples for those around them, they can help in the growing of the Church here in the Dominican Republic.
I am still freaking out a little bit, that I only have one more transfer after this, but we are living it up every minute! I love you all so much and hope that you are happy! Oh and happy birthday to Lois Lee this week! 1 years old, and I haven’t known one minute of it! But I´ll be there soon!
Con Amor,
Hermana Reay

I had to take one by the swan because this IS my idea of fun! ;)

I absolutely loved it!!!!

Hello Everyone!
Today we had transfers again, I can’t believe how fast the time is going, this last transfer seemed like it lasted a day, and I absolutely loved it. Well I am going to be staying in the same area with the same companion. I couldn’t be happier to be staying with Hermana Bradley for the next transfer, she is such a wonderful missionary and I am learning so much from her every day. Today was hard because she lost her camera card from the whole first part of her mission, I feel really bad, but she will get over it and have a really positive attitude I just know it.
Well something that made me really happy was that yesterday at church we had a lot of investigators and the reason why was because we had two families there. It was great. We are teaching 2 families of 5 and they are both wonderful. Yaritza and her husband Suare need to get married and at first it was really hard to teach him. But the Lord has given us a lot of blessings with him. He is now home every time that we pass by, and he went to general conference and loved it. Now he has an excitement for the gospel and it makes us so happy because Yaritza couldn’t be more ready for baptism. She is always bearing her testimony and she just reads and reads. They are great. We are just hoping that they will be able to get married soon, so that in a year’s time they will be able to go to the temple and have their family sealed. They have 3 beautiful children, and I know that the gospel would just bless their lives immensely.
Well on another note, we are preparing Evelyn for her baptism, she is excited. AND oh my goodness there are just soooo many people that we are teaching we just don’t even have time. And yesterday we recieved 6 references, it’s crazy. I am hoping that all of our hard work and the seeds that we planted last transfer, will all blossom during this transfer and we can see more people come to the waters of baptism. We just want to make sure that they are ready, and that they understand the blessings that baptism will bring to their lives. I have changed my teachings a lot these last couple weeks, because I want the people to realize the blessings that they can receive from the gospel, and that this is the only way to have eternal life so we are putting that into our lessons a lot.
I am so grateful for the gospel. I don’t know what I would do without it in my life. I just know that the greatest gifts all come from God, and the only true happiness that we can find is in the Restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I love it and I love Him. I love you all as well and am thankful for you all! Thanks for all that you do.
Con amor,
Hermana Reay
(p.s. Today we went to the beach!!!! Well we didn’t really go there, we just saw it and snapped a quick pic or 2, I had to take one by the swan because this IS my idea of fun! ;) (it didn’[t work) Oh an there is one from when we went to the caves last week. Sorry the computer is SO SLOW, so I am not going to upload more. Love you)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SEAN!!! Love you so much!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SEAN!!! Love you so much!
Today for your birthday we went to the 3 ojos as a Zone. They are caves that are in the ground that are really cool. We totally felt like we were in Harry Potter! Ha ha. We had a really good time, and it was fun because I think that we were able to grow closer as a Zone as well. We really have great Zone Leaders, and our District Leader is great as well. The bus also let us out on the side of the ocean today so we snapped a few pics and were able to smell the salt in the breeze!
Well I loved conference. We were running around for a lot of it trying to get it in French for some of our investigators, and then when we sat down to watch it in English it didn't work either, but in the end we got it all figured out and we were able to watch the afternoon sessions for both days. I am excited to get the Liahona to read the talks over again. I felt that I was really able to apply a lot of their teachings in my own life, and to apply them to our investigators. I was glad that they talked a lot about marriage and the importance of it, because a lot of our investigators need to get married. I hope that they were thinking of those things as well, and that the talks will help them to accept the Gospel in their lives. I especially liked when Elder Holland said, "For all of you who are members, and all of you who will be..." Because if they were listening with open hearts, There is no way that they didnt feel the spirit.
I also wanted to tell you about a cool experience that we had. Last week we taught Evelyn. She is a reference from a member, and when we first met her, she wasn't really receptive, but now she is amazing, and a lot of it has to do with when we taught her the Plan of Salvation. This lesson was definitely guided by the spirit because in the beginning, I asked her one simple question about a picture frame that I saw on the wall, and then she started into the story of her family. Her mother and Father were killed in a car accident when she was 21 and she is the oldest in the family with 5 kids, and she is the only girl. Her youngest brother was 9. She had a really hard time, and within that first year, 4 other people from her family passed away. She got really emotional, and we could tell that she is still struggling with this. so we taught her the Plan of Salvation and she just ate it right up. She loved it and she was asking all the perfect questions, and she told us that she knew right then that this has to be true. She is great. She accepted a date to be baptized and she came to church and she is just happy, her life is changing a lot, and I know that she will be a wonderful sister in the church. She is going to invite all of her family as well to listen to us, and I know that it will be the start of something wonderful.
I love being able to teach all of the gospel doctrines and principles to the people who really need them and that have a hard life without them. I am just so grateful to my family and for the knowledge of the gospel that I have always had because I couldnt imagine living all this time like she has without knowing of the possiblity of being able to see her family again. Time seems to be flying and I can't believe that this transfer will end next week, this exact day in 2 transfers I will see my family. It blows my mind. But I do want you all to know I love my mission. I love the missionary things that I get to do. I love teaching the people and I love being able to talk of Christ, and invite others to come unto Him. I love that I am learning so much, not only about the Gospel but about myself as well. I know that I will forever be grateful that I served a mission. Love you all!
Con Amor,
Hermana Reay

I AM SOOOOO EXCITED FOR CONFERENCE I CAN’T EVEN EXPRESS MYSELF.

Hello all!
Well I just finished writing a whole email to you all and it got erased, so sorry that this one might be a little bit shorter. I hope that this email finds you all happy! Well we still live in our house without water but we are hoping to move this week. But now we are just used to it. Ha ha it’s like we are out in the campo or something. Well it rained once last week and with it came the humidity. It feels like July again! But hey I am sweating up a storm and loving the mission. We are teaching some wonderful people. I love being in this area too because there are a lot of Haitians and they are just so humble and wonderful. We teach an English class every Saturday as well and that’s fun. So there are a lot of things going on. The ward here is a little more difficult though. They aren’t as into the work or into any activities for that matter so we are trying to help the bishop to change a few things.
On a different note, I AM SOOOOO EXCITED FOR CONFERENCE I CAN’T EVEN EXPRESS MYSELF. I hope that it will always be this way! Ha ha next conference I want to go! It is going to be a blast and I just know that we are going to hear a lot about the conditions of the world and maybe something about preparing ourselves a lot. I am excited to know what the Lord has to tell us about all of these crisis’s that are happening.
Well today was special because we went to Gazcue and all of the Hermana´s (except 2) from our mission got together and we made 2 big cards for the Whitaker’s .(they work in the mission home.) We all wanted to say our goodbyes because they are leaving soon. They are going home the 7th of April. We are all going to miss them sooo much, the mission won’t be the same. I am including a picture. I miss you all and I am sorry that I can’t write more. Next week I will definitely be better.
Hermana Reay

I take pleasure in infirmities!

Is today really the 21st? In 3 months from today my family will arrive here to the heat and humidity that is the DR!!! Yay!
This last week has been very trying. ( But also great.) There are so many wonderful investigators that we have in this area, they all just eat up the gospel. I know that it is just what they need and they will always stay firm. They just have obstacles and can’t be baptized. It’s difficult. Almost all of them can’t be baptized because they need to get married but for odd reasons they can’t. But I know that they all will get there, they are wonderful and help my testimony to grow. It’s amazing when you are in Relief Society and the people that are commenting are your investigators, that are smarter than the members! Haha I love it!
Our baptism that we had on Saturday fell through and it was really sad. My companion was REALLY sad, but afterwards we decided that all things happen for a reason and that we need to love all the moments that we have because they are the moments that make us strong. Just like it says in 2 Corinthians 12:10; "Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong." I know that I have a bigger purpose here than I can see at times, and I am grateful for all of the lessons that we have because I think that sometimes I learn more than the investigators do. I learn so much from them as well and I know that through teaching them and hearing their comments, my testimony is strengthened every day!
I can’t believe about all of the disasters that are going on. I was really sad to hear that a lot of the missionaries were sent home that were serving in Japan. It would be weird to just have the last couple months of your mission randomly end. We know that it was for a reason and I am just glad that they are all ok. But it would be harder to just have to leave your mission because it was literally dissolved.
I love being with Hermana Bradley. I love being able to express myself completely and we are working hard! There is a lot of work here to do and I just hope that we can help to make a difference. We are just hoping that we can move this week because we are a little tired of living without water. 5 weeks have already passed in this house without water, and now the apartment building started robbing light from the apartment building across the street. It’s all a little sketchy. But we will survive.
I love you all so much. I am so grateful for you and for your prayers, I am so grateful that I am from Utah where the church is strong and that I learned the things I did from all of you to make me who I am. Thanks for everything.
Con Amor,
Hermana Reay