Elder Conrad's Funeral

On Monday the many people who love Elder Conrad will join to celebrate his wonderful, and full life.  After a days and days of unspeakable grief we were finally able to mention his name without bursting into tears.  So we took the opportunity during zone conference this past week to celebrate Elder Conrad's contribution here in the mission.  We knew we had to give our missionaries hope and help them heal.  Everybody who knew Elder Conrad was aware that he was an outstanding missionary.  He has been a motivation to every one of us.  He was here on the  mission for the purest of motives, he rejoiced in bringing souls unto Christ.  He helped us remember how blessed we are to be about the Father's work.  We don't know why Heavenly Father called him to serve in another mission when he was doing so well here, but we know he will bless those he is teaching in the spirit world.  We consider it an honor to have served with him for this short time.

The Calvary Have Arrived

We received a new senior couple to serve in our mission today.  They had vacationed in the DR and liked it so much they request to serve their mission here!  If anybody knows senior couples in a position to serve, send them our way!

Behold! A royal army!

Two missions together- a royal army

Returned with honor

Our Darlings from Haiti

The Lord does work miracles.  We asked for Haitian missionaries just three weeks ago because we have thousands of Haitians living in our mission and nobody speaks creole.  We were told it would be very difficult to get Haitians because they all get called to serve in their own country.  Suddenly there is a giant riot in Haiti and now the church doesn't want to send the Hatians who were in the training center back to Haiti.  So guess what?  Our wish came true.

Just a little fence around the house

Saying goodbye is hard to do

This is clearly a work of love.  Our missionaries love the people they teach and they love one another.  Transfers are hard because it means some of those we love will be leaving to go home.  There is nothing that bonds us like serving together bringing souls to Christ.

Verifying the promise

Our missionaries put their name to their goals.  They all are committed to give everything they can to finding the people The Lord has prepared to receive the gospel.

Mission leadership council

All our Zone Leaders and Hermana Leaders gather monthly to brainstorm about how we can improve the mission.  But really the inspiration come from above.  How else could we have another month with OVER 300 BAPTISMS!!!  313 in January and January had only 4 weekends (December had 5 weekends)

Ever the innovators!

17 baptisms this weekend in one ward

Zone conference theme

A Thought About Stars

Many of you know we climbed to Everest Base Camp right before we came on the misión.  Base Camp is 17.6 thousand feet above sea level.  It’s really high.  One night during our journey, we left our habitación and looked up at the stars.  It was like we were standing inside a planetarium.  There were stars everywhere.  We didn’t even have to look up to see stars.  They were straight ahead on all sides, brilliant, and abundant.  It was truly a spectacular and very humbling sight.

            I was thinking what it required to see such beauty, and see such light.  I realized we had to get far away from civilization where there is a lot of light pollution.  The lights that men make through electricity obscure the light of the stars.   When we have gone camping, and been away from the man-made light pollution, we often see a beautiful sky full of stars.

            As beautiful as is the sky when we go camping, the view at 17.6 feet was beyond our imagination… truly breathtaking.  I realized to witness the light of Christ in our lives, we have to first get away from the things of the world, and we do this through repentance.  However, to truly receive all the light Christ has to offer, we need to climb the high mountains, go to the temple, make covenants and that’s where we really see the light.

A gift from an Hermana. It's real!

Teaching with some awesome hermanas

Nothing gets wasted here

Friends from the USA

We got to attend the baptism of the niece of the wife if the doctor our son works with in the states.  The doctor is from the Dominican Republic and his niece learned about the gospel while visiting him. When she returned she took the lessons and was baptized 

Getting a toe

So much to celebrate!

320 !! That's how many baptisms we had in the month of December.  Such a great way to start off the new year.  The mission has been striving to reach over 300 baptisms forever, and it's such a miracle we surpassed the goal in the month of December when 1/2 of the country flees their homes for vacations.  We have so much to be grateful for--consecrated missionaries, a receptive people, the true gospel of Jesus Christ restored again upon this earth!!  I can't express a part of what I feel.