NINE MONTHS. The
school year. The time a woman is
pregnant. Beginning of Fall to end of
Spring. Start of our mission to half way
point. June 3, 2013. School teachers, a pregnant woman, mothers of
schoolers. Few would agree with me that
the previous nine months have flown by. I am sure the next nine months will fly
by even faster.
We waited and anxiously anticipated the privilege of coming
on a mission for many months/years.
Through many miracles, we are serving our Father in Heaven in the
Dominican Republic. Bonnie's passion of
music, and my passion for teaching, these two passions that we have are heavily
involved in our mission. Father has been
so good to us to call us to this mission.
Here is my list of the joys of our mission: Involvement with the youth of the Church,
teaching the gospel daily, especially the Book of Mormon, living on a Tropical
Island, visiting the beach often, getting to know and love each other more and more each day, seeing the
light of Christ in the eyes of so many each day, witnessing the growth of these
special young kids, working with the full time missionaries, witnessing the
results of President Monson's news of October 2012 conference concerning
missionaries, watching miracles happen in the lives of loved ones who are
helping support us through many means, Etc.
 |
| Andres, one of our guards - love that accordian! |
I am so proud of my beautiful companion. She is learning to
converse in Spanish, and is teaching in Spanish, and bearing her testimony in
Spanish. There are so many of these young adults who
love her and appreciate her continuous smile.
She is getting better keeping me straight and in line. I am so appreciative that the president won't
send us transfers.
In nine months, the joy of teaching has been magnified for
me. I have taught almost every day since
coming here, except the vacation days, and weekends. When I am teaching I feel the Holy Ghost
telling me what to say. When I am
preparing lessons, I get divine help.
Often as I am teaching, I receive a whisper telling me to forgo a
prepared section of the lesson and place emphasis on another part of the
lesson. The joy, my passion of teaching,
is amplified 100 fold when serving as His representative. I am here sharing, teaching, testifying of
the things these kids need. It is a joy
to be used as His instrument in teaching His gospel in His way.
And I have seen and bear witness of the students learning,
growing, "seeing" in a different light, and progressing in their
testimony, not because of me, but because this is His work and I am privileged
to do it with my eternal companion. What
a joy. Nine months will come and go too rapidly.
We are living our dream!!!
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Hump Day!
Wow, how time doth fly when you’re having fun! A few ramdom thoughts about our half-way
mark.
There’s so many things I love about our 3rd world
here. The colors for example. The colors they wear, the colors of the
cement buildings, the colors of the every blooming thing…glorious!
Our loving students.
They just can’t stop hugging us.
It’s definitely part of their culture and being the natural hugger (ya think?) that I am, it’s no problem for
me. Poor Dad has to withhold where the
girls are concerned but some of them just hug him anyway. And the boys love to hug him up, too. It’s way cute!
The Gospel light in our student’s eyes. They’re on fire with their love of the Gospel
and they have brightly burning testimonies.
The returned missionaries still have it and the ones preparing to go now
have it in abundance. It’s a joy to be
around them. They are happy in the midst
of their sometimes difficult circumstances.
They delight in the smallest things, a game of “bitilla” for
example. Think baseball with a broom stick
and rubber caps from 5 gal water jugs.
Music! A huge gift
for me! Violin lessons every week with
Sister Douglas. Amazing. I’m learning Adagio in G minor by Giazotto (I
know, it meant nothing to me either)
Can’t wait to try out my new techniques on something I recognize like “O
Divine Redeemer!” And I’m teaching the
students in our Institute choir (which blossomed this semester from 12 to 26!)
to sing several Primary songs…If the Savior Stood Beside Me and I Know Heavenly
Father Loves me…in Spanish. And we’re
attempting Mack Wilberg’s arrangement of Homeward Bound in English. Quite the undertaking but I’m telling you,
the kids love this song and we’re going to do a bang-up job performing it for Institute
Graduation in August. I just need to
pray in another accomplished pianist for the 4-hand piano accompaniment. J My sweet Elder Stratford who’s been a
life-saver is going home in July. I
can’t prevail upon him to extend…dang.
Walking with Billy. The
other day we were slogging around our 5k loop at the PUCMM, the catholic
college which we call “The Pookamyma.” We
were gaining ground on a group of men ahead of us and I whispered, “Put it in
hyper drive darlin’” so we lengthened our shuffle and blew right past
them! It was awesome!
Oh, and Spanish! I’m
finally starting to understand some of the stuff I learned in the MTC…it’s
making more sense to me. And I was actually speaking Spanish in a dream
recently. A breakthrough!
Our “sunshine visits.”
When we’re on a break from Institute, we try to visit some of the sister
missionaries that might need a goodwill visit and maybe lunch. Sister Johansen begged us to come cheer her
up. “I feel a depression coming
on.” McDonald’s did the trick! J (She's adorable...one of the new Sister
Assistants.)
The best of all is that Elder Partridge and I still love
each other.
We laugh every day an shed lots of tears of gratitude together for the privilege of being here, serving the Lord, doing our little part in building His Kingdom!
The ever-dignified and illustrious Sister Douglas...she started it!
One last note…I “lost” one of my tank tops between our
bedroom and the laundry room this morning…had it in my hand on the way to the washing
machine…it’s not there, not in the laundry basket, not hung up again on a
hanger in the closet…searched the apartment again and then wonder of wonder, I
found it in the kitchen garbage. I’m not
to be trusted with anything anymore.
That garbage angel of mine must be getting tired of coming to my rescue.
Life is good J
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