"Out with the old, in with the new..." - Week 30

February 2nd, 2015

     So, Im here in Ponce, which is much much closer to the city. You can actually see the capital from the top of a high building one of our members live in. So far its great! Its a house of two, and boy is it an upgrade... This house actually has drainage, we each get a shower, not too many mosquitos, the water situation is much better, and even though the light in the area is worse, our inversor (which stores energy from the street while its there so you can use it when its not) actually works, so the fans don't go out at night. "Out with the old spiritual mumbo jumbo, the superstitions, and the backward ways. We're gonna see a brave new world where they run everybody a wire and hook us all up to a grid."

     I'm with Elder Valdes, from El Paso Texas. His family is mexican, so he speaks fluent spanish. He's a real nice guy, and we work really well together. He was actually in the district I just left. Our branch here in Ponce shares its church meeting house with the ward in Guaricano, which is the area right next to ours. The missionaries of Guaricano are actually E. Zarate from Guatemala, (whom I lived with back in La Victoria) and E. Castro from Peru (who knows an amazing amount of classic rock), so it's been super fun to have them here in our district.

     This Sunday we had a special conference, held and displayed only for the Caribean. It was great! Elder Holland and President Packer spoke. They were great! We also got to hear a bit of our apostles spanish! Just a bit though, the rest was translated. Elder Holland actually said that he'll be visiting the Caribean in March, so we have our fingers crossed. 

     Due to that conference, and the stake conference that we will have this upcoming week, we won't have the opportunity to really meet all the members in church for the first two weeks of "blanking the area"... But blanking is actually really fun. Its like we're playing detective every day... Tracing clues, tracking down people and places, finding pieces to the puzzle. It hard, but its awesome! 

     Our Neighbor who lives above us, Willy Valasquez, invited us up to talk one night just for a bit. It turned into 2 hours. He's a super interesting and affable guy. He's a leader in the Catholic church here in the Republic, he plays guitar, he's running for senator or something, so he's into politics. He loves getting to know all the new missionaries that live below him. We talked about religion, culture, the arts, and our own backgrounds. He gave me a prayer book to borrow full of Psalms that you read and recite daily. Its pretty sweet.

All is well here! Thank you so much for your prayers, know that you're all in mine.

Elder Brady

Whenever this kid would see me in the street, he'd yell "Chino!" 
then start kung fu fighting. 
I'd always act like I was about to fight him, then just put my hands together, 
bow, and say "Paz Sensei... Paz" And he'd do the same. 

One time, we played some baseball with some kids in Gonzalo, and I'd always do the Farris Beuller's Day Off "Hey batterbatterbatter Swing batta!... Kennedy kennedy kennedy... Swing batta". They flippin loved it! Pretty soon after that, everywhere I went in Gonzalo, these kids would say that as I passed. I'd just keep walking a bit, then down the road I'd give a "Swing Batter!" followed by cheering from behind. Somehow it even spread to Sabbana.... Elder Atkinson and I were pretty suprised. 
It was like I was a "kids celebrity" or something.

Some photos from Sabbana. Me and Estefani

Daniel and I

Nathaniel and his fam

The girl on the right is Katty, our investigator. The rest are just a bunch of annoying people we've never met. 

Dominicans like having photos taken of themselves.

Hermana Camino and her kids

The Barber Shop Gang! The one I have my arm around we call Pepino, 
cause his face looks like a pickle.

Ruben y Yo! Tenemos mucho flo!

Elder Atkinson, Ruben and I

Ruben, me, Alejandro, and some guy we played futbol with once.

We bought cotton candy our last night at the fair

Some dancing!

The colmado people!

After seeing them everyday, buying everything from them, for 3 months, 

you come to know these good people pretty well, and grow to love them.

The interior of our new house

It rained...

A lot...

Elder Castro, Me, Elder Valdes

We went to a park for P-Day

"Transfers are in..." - Week 29

January 26,2015

Hello everyone, 

     Well, transfers came. I'm moving! Going to La Zona Villa Mella, to an area called Ponce. We'll see how it is down there tomorrow. My new companion is actually in my district right now. Elder Valdes, a chicano from El Paso Texas. He's a good guy, and I'm sure we'll have fun. We're blanking though! Which will be fun but difficult at the same time. I'm excited for it. Elder Atkinson is staying here, and is jokingly ticked at me for coming to this area after him, and leaving before. He'll be here for 6 months. It's just kind of a rough area, but he'll be great. Elder Ponce is going to La Romana as a district leader. He's been with me, in my district since the beginning of my mission, and I suppose that since my new area's name is "Ponce" still, he'll finish his mission with me after all! Well, thank you all for everything, and you'll hear all about my new area next week!

Elder Brady

Found some dinosaur eggs in Gonzalo... 
Guess who's making a cameo in Jurassic World?! 

Tag line... "Nature Always Finds A Way..."

We documented the nest 
and R.U.N.N.O.F.T. as quick as we could... 

scared outa our whits for the mama T Rex! 

From a high point in Gonzalo

Found a barn on top of a hill

La Zona Hainamosa!

Sticker of Jesus in a gua gua. Thought I'd share

These kids are the best! 
They gave us a version of a UFC fight.

This is the face of pure, unadulterated insanity. 
Nobody messes with this guy!

Reminds me of "Satan's Cavemen" from Nacho Libre :)

Cats and Dogs living in harmony

There's a little fair in town for the week

Every time we pass this guy, he tells us "Merry Christmas!"
 Pretty great!

"Temple Trip!" - Week 28

January 19th, 2015

Headed into the fire. Ready to preach to every living creature!

He actually took the lessons well, and there weren't too many "snorts" to give.

I call this, "Guy with horse."

Ya, we walk here.

Found this guy. Pretty common!

Another Investigator!

Had a Birthday party for a member. This poor girl, her own mom forgot her birthday,

 it was a good thing we were there.

What a beautiful sight!

Santo Domingo!

Some joined in the fun.

Went to the Temple. Holiness to the Lord, House of the Lord. It was such a nice spiritual refreshment.

My bud Atkinson and I.

Intercambio with Elder Quintero.

We went to a mall called Mega Centro today for P-day. T´was quite awesome. 
Almost America... 

not quite, but Burger King was a familiar sight.

Anyway, thanks for all the love and support! Love you all!

Elder Brady

"Sink Pipe Wars" - Week 27

January 12th, 2015

     Well, we go to the Temple this week, and that's why I'm emailing so early. P-days are cut short the weeks we go to the Temple. I'm super excited to go! I've only gone once before in the field, and it'll be great to go again. A bit of an update with an investigator. She's kind of a miracle. One night we stopped her on the side of the street, invited her to church... Just one of those things, really not expecting her to show up. But the next day she was there, and has rarely missed a day in the last 2 and half months. She's just about ready, and it's super exciting. We just have to wait a bit cause she's only 15 and has no members in her family. Well, that's about it. Thanks for everything. Love you all!

Elder Brady

The pipes in our sink got clogged up. We had to clean them out. I don't think anyone had ever cleaned them out since the missionaries have been renting this house... 
It was a dirty job. This hankerchief was generously sprayed with fabreeze before applied to my face as a protective barrier between my nose and the repugnant odor of months and months of decaying food.

The paint is my mark of a warrior, fearlessly marching into battle.

I made tacos for the guys one day. That table definitely wasn't clean after we were through with it.

Took a picture next to this horse statue... because... well because its a horse statue...

Went to Monte Plata for a baptismal interview.

Dominican sunset

"6 months down... wow!" - Week 26

January 5th, 2015

     Well hello everyone! Hope all is well. This week was pretty good. Yesterday however was a pretty sad turn out in the Gonzalo branch. It was just us, the first counselor, the secretary, two members, an investigator and a couple of kids. It was the strangest sacrament meeting I've ever had. And we didn't even have classes or anything before it...Nobody showed... It was interesting. Then after church, we went to give the sacrament to a member who can't make it to church. They're over 70 yrs old, and his wife has some kind of very severe dementia or something. Its a very sad sight. She can't sit still, always getting up and walking to the door thinking someone's there. When her husband tells her to sit down, she screams "Suertame Hombre!". He now has a little seat belt strapped to the chair to contain her a bit. So sad for him to see his wife slowly slip away from him. He's cried several times in our visits, and theres simply nothing that can be done but to give continual support. Its a bit of a downer this story, but with the gospel, we know it has a happy ending. He's a very devoted spouse, and will receive his recompense in the life hereafter. Well, thanks for everything. Love you all!

Elder Brady

Elder Davis and I

Countryside in Gonzalo

One of these were lit at midnight for the New Year on almost every street here. 

We couldn't see them lit though...

According to tradition, we burnt ties to commemorate our 6 months in the Mission.

I could make some kind of analogy here with the burning fire of the Spirit or something, but really it's just us burning stuff! We don't completely grow up on the mission ya know...