I can not count the amount of miracles we are seeing here in Gazcue. My goodness. This week we had basically decided that Santa would have to get baptized next week because when we went to set an appointment for her wedding, they told us they were too backed up and that we would have to wait. Well the Zone Leaders wouldn't accept that news so after a kneeling prayer in District Meeting, they went to go see if they could fix an appointment for the next day. They came back with a receipt in their hands and the news that Santa and Javier would be able to get married that Friday. Hermana Silva and I nearly screamed we were so happy. We got to be witnesses at their wedding and Santa got baptized the day after, on Saturday. Santa was so happy and even brought two friends to church! Wow. Really the Lord is pouring out His blessings. Her husband, Javier, is working to reactivate himself and is really excited to prepare to enter in the temple with her. The Contreras Family is still doing wonderfully. Rafael's baptism is getting changed to August but that's okay. He is so excited still. I'm in love with that family. The Acosta Family is doing great as well. This week we ran around, trying to fix their papers before their marriage. Pedro, the husband, would never listen to us before but has been slowly opening up. While we were fixing one of the papers in the government building, we began teasing Pedro about when he would get baptized... and he said "soon". We were shocked. We took advantage of the moment and asked him if he would get baptized in August. He said yes!!! I actually teared up in that government building. The next day we had the first lesson where he sat and listened to us talk about the gospel. Wow. That family. I love them. OH. Transfers news! So... I'm leaving Gazcue A... :..( BUT I'm not going too far! I'm going to be in Gazcue B now, so I'll still be in the same ward and the same house, but I'll be working in the other side and with a new companion. Hermana Silva is staying in our area and we're both going to train new sisters. Tomorrow I'll found out who my new companion is! I'm pretty excited. It'll be fun. We'll be whitewashing but at least I know some of the investigators already, so it's not exactly starting from ground 0. Gazcue is probably the best area to whitewash in as far as getting around goes because the streets are actually marked and there's a map. Woo! The mission is going crazy with higher goals and everyone is seeing more miracles. As a whole we are more obedient. As a whole we are more believing. The Lord is doing something great here in the Dominican Republic. More individuals and more families are getting baptized. It's kind of cool to be living by the office and see a little piece of the madness. The Sisters had a baptism on Sunday and we had to fill the font with water from buckets and 5-gallon bottles we found around the church. I got really wet. I love you all. I know that God lives and that He loves us. I know that His hand is in our lives. I know that miracles happen. The more we thank Him for them, the more we see. Keep shining, Hermana Shaw Our last Zone Meeting of the transfer! We were the witness at Santa and Javier's wedding Santa's baptism!
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I think I'm enjoying this transfer way too much. I love being here in Gazcue with Hermana Silva. The miracles are pouring in constantly. Reynaldo got baptized on Saturday! He is a living miracle for us. His member friends introduced him to the church, taught him almost everything he needed to know, and thanks to them, he's been going to church for 5-6 months now. He told everyone he was going to get baptized in July, and July came. He is living evidence that lives can change drastically because of the gospel and my testimony is strengthened when I hear his testimony and the change he's experienced. So I know at least my parents are wondering why I didn't write yesterday, so I suppose I'll tell you. Hermana Silva told Hermana Shaw on Sunday, "This p-day I want to change my braids and get new ones. Can we go to Rosalin's house and do that?" Hermana Shaw happily complied. Hermana Silva told her it would take less than 2 hours because that's how long it took last time. Hermana Silva and Hermana Shaw arrive at Rosalin's house at 2:00 so they have time to write their families after everything. Well, putting the braids on doesn't take not 1, nor 2, nor 3, yet 4 HOURS. So, lesson learned. By that time Hna Shaw and Hna Silva had to leave right away to go to lessons, so they called and asked permission to write on Tuesday. The Acosta Family is still doing great... the lessons are as crazy as usual with 9 kids in that house. A miracle happened and we finally were able to get their papers so they can get married! There's just a simple error that we are going to go fix on Wednesday, then they can get married and Feliicia can get baptized. We are also seeing miracles with her husband - he was very cold to us before and wouldn't even really look at us, but now he greets us happily and even asked us to offer two prayers before we left last night! One day he'll follow his family's example. The Contreras Family is also doing wonderfully and Rafael is preparing to get baptized on Sunday. I love visiting them. The Spirit is so strong. Rafael's less-active wife, Elizabeth is so supportive and so sweet. I am learning every day more and more the love that God has for each one of His children. It is grand and it is great. There is so much to do here and I love every second of it. The church is true. God lives, and he loves us. Keep shining people. I LOVE YOU ALL. Hermana Shaw Reynaldo got baptized on Saturday! He's the one closest to the sign. Us in our zone shirts that say "Dominicans be like..." then a bunch of Dominican phrases Rosalin's house, our awesome member friend we had to burn the tips of the braids and we had no candles so Rosalin lit a newspaper on fire but we learned quickly that that wasn't such a good idea Rosalin putting braids on Hna. Silva Hermana Frias aka my mom in the mission left today! Her family came to pick her up and we got to meet them.
I can't believe it's another Monday and the start of another great week. We are living in what my mom calls "working euphoria," where there is just so much to do and the work is so dang satisfying. We are working hard and seeing lots of opposition and seeing so many miracles all at the same time. There's a new Bishop in the ward and he's really young and a return missionary, so it's so awesome to see how excited he is about missionary work. This ward is going to see some pretty awesome changes and miracles. We are working on getting two couples married so they can get baptized (or at least the wife of the two couples; one of the husbands doesn't want to and the other is already a member). It's crazy how many people don't get married here. If someone says they are married by the law it's a miracle in and of itself and if you're a missionary you start to dance on the spot, just hearing those magical words. But with sacrifice comes blessings and these couples shall see many soon!
I don't even know what to write. I think there's too much to say. My companion is the bomb and I love the work. We are in working euphoria and I am loving the mission. We are always laughing and running and talking with everyone and putting in every last drop of energy we have. Life is good. Being on a mission has taught me so much about faith. It is incredible what faith can do. If we have faith, we are hopeful. We believe in the promised blessings of the Lord. We believe He will bless us. And, even if everything isn't going our way, it gives us the drive to keep going and not become discouraged. We must see ourselves, others, our lives.. with the eye of faith and with a perfect brightness of hope. I love you all. Keep shining. Hermana Shaw OKAY. APOLOGY AND EXPLANATION WILL COME BEFORE THS EMAIL. Today we went to the Jardin Botanico and we came back and there was no electricity and long story short I have a very limited time on the computer today. So uh... if you wrote me... I am printing it and I will read it later.
Okay. But this week. It was awesome! We are so busy! Today we wandered on over to the Santo Domingo West Mission and explored some awesome gardens. It was super great. We took this train thing and visited the little museum they have. We have been teaching Santa a lot. She's the girlfriend of the less-active, the one that showed up at the office to tell the Elders she wanted to be a member. She came to church yesterday and she's preparing to get baptized this month! She's awesome and very humble. She anounced her baptism in The Relief Society. It was so cute! We are also teaching Shaitan, the son of a less-active. He is nine years old but so smart! He passed his interview and is getting baptized this Saturday. He is the cutest. His mom is this adorable, wandering artist who is very confident and spunky. She is definitely a unique, beautiful person. We are still teaching The Acosta Family and the mom, Felicia, is preparing for baptism. She couldn't come to church yesterday because her son is in the hospital. We are praying really hard for them right now. She was supposed to get baptized this Saturday but we may have to change the date. Her oldest daughter is still preparing to get baptized as well this month. Gazcue is so awesome. I love it here. I love my companion. I love our investigadors. I love missonary work! And sorry but I am running out of time... this was a very rushed letter but I LOVE YOU ALL. May the week go well. And may all your wildest dreams come true :) Hermanita Shaw Happy 4th of July! We celebrated with an awesome Zone Activity that included, a grill, lots of hot dogs, water balloons, and some games. I'm wearing my red, white, and blue, like any proud American would. This week was spent showering without light in the bathroom until we could finally buy a light bulb today (no time people), a shower with a water bottle because there was no water on Wednesday, and a sleepless night because there was no electricity to make the fans work (thankfully just for one night). It was also a week of miracles. Bryan got baptized on Wednesday and it was awesome! There were a lot of primary kids there to support him and they all did a special musical number with us. It was rather amazing because the attendance at baptisms here is normally not too much. Bryan's mom is preparing to get baptized in July and three of his siblings are already members. We have met so many awesome people this week with so much potential. A less active and her son showed up to Bryan's baptismal service, and she told us she wanted us to teach her son so that he could get baptized. The next day we went and had a lesson with her 9-year-old son, Shaitan. He is such a bright, imaginative boy and he is now preparing to get baptized in July. A less active's girlfriend also showed up at the church and told the Elders in the office that she wants to be a member of the church. They immediately called us up and we rushed over to have a lesson. She accepted the baptismal invitation, is preparing for July, and came to church yesterday. Life is so good in the Dominican Republic. I love my companion, Hermana Silva, and really we can see the Lord's hand in this work. He is working miracles here in Gazcue. There is way too much potential here and sometimes I just wish we had a car or like another set of us to get everything done. It is amazing how our eternal perspective affects our decision making and our reaction to our trials in life. As we understand that this is just a brief moment and that everything is for our experience, we are better able to accept the will of God, no matter the outcome. Faith is not just trusting that we will receive blessings, rather it is trusting that all will be well, even if what we want doesn't happen. I love you all. Keep shining. Hermana Shaw Hermana Silva, Hermana Frias and I at the temple Zona Santo Domingo at the temple Bryan's baptism! Look at the little girl in the bottom corner's face! Such sass!! HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY 4th of July Zone Activity. We made hot dogs on the grill and the Elders got into a hot dog eating competition.
The internet's down so I'm writing in hopes that it comes back soon and all this doesn't get erased. My goodness. The concept of everything possibly getting erased... okay. I shall not think of that. Hermana Silva is my companion now. She's from Brazil and is awesome! She speaks Portuguese and learned Spanish on the mission, but already speaks it practically perfectly. I'm still in Gazcue and life is good. INTERNET IS BACK! LIfe is good. This week we have been teaching Bryan a lot, and helping him be prepared for his baptism on Wednesday. He is 11 years old and doesn't know how to read, so teaching him is a little hard. We have gotten really creative with using pictures, our own made-up sign language, and chants/songs to help him remember the very basics of this gospel. He can now remember what he at first could not even capture. Miracles! We contacted someone this week that only spoke English. I tried so hard to speak with him. It was hard. Good thing he was understanding and patient as I fumbled over my words. I love one of the General Conference talks that speaks of how to have peace. As we learn, listen, and walk with Christ, we will find peace. His way was never easy, and our way will not be easy, yet we have the promise of peace as we trust in Him, learn of Him, and use His atonement in our lives. I love you all, Hermanita Shaw These little girls are the coolest. They make my life so happy. Familia Acosta :) Bryan, the one with the striped shirt and making the gun symbol is getting baptized on Wednesday this week! My new comp! Hermana Silva! Cifrida, a recent convert in the ward, cut my hair. Hermana Taylor was a witness of the act. I just wanted to get a picture of my short hair and all these hooligans decided they wanted to be in the picture too.
This Sunday in Relief Society we talked about extending your arm out to the lost sheep. I saw a lot of that this week. On Tuesday the ward got together to visit less actives. We got to go with Hermano Garbanzo and Leida to see Familia Contreras, the partial family we are teaching. Elizabeth is less active and Rafael has a baptismal date for July. It was so awesome. Really friendshipping in the church is priceless. When a missionary sees that members care for their investigators, there is no greater joy. The next day we had a Family Home Evening with Familia Contreras in another member's house. Then, when Familia Contreras showed up to church yesterday for the first time, everyone was so excited. They even welcomed them over the pulpit! When members care about our investigators, we are so so happy. On Monday we had another Family Home Evening with another family where the husband is less active and the wife is not a member. The members who hosted the FHE invited them. Go members! One of our investigators, Reynaldo, has basically been taught the lessons by his member friends. He has been coming to church for quite a few months now and has a firm testimony. We haven't been able to teach him because of his super busy work schedule, but he has just been embraced by many members and we are so grateful. Really. The work of members is priceless. Do we realize our role in reaching out to the lost sheep? Do we do it? Really there are so many people that need us. They just need a hand to reach out. Transfer calls came yesterday! Hermana Burrell is going home to Utah and I'm staying here in Gazcue to train a new Hermana Leader, Hermana Sylva. She's from Brazil so she speaks Portuguese! Sweet! Everyone went crazy telling me how great she is so I'm pretty dang excited. I love you all, Reach out to some lost sheep this week, Hermana Shaw Hermana Taylor and I get to hang out today since both our companions are leaving. I LOVE HER. Our zone shirt! Mision = mission and Mi Sion = My Zion. Cool, huh? We designed it together as a zone then I drew up the draft to make the shirt. Hermana Burrell finished her mission! It was so fun being her companion. She is so great.
This week I stepped in dog poop two times. BUT I ate sushi once (chicken sushi because we can't eat fish) and ice cream three times. Good wins. Today we got dropped by an investigator that was going to get baptized on Sunday. She didn't show up to church and called us three times today to make sure we understood she didn't want anything to do with us. We told her we understood. BUT this week we got to go to the temple and had an absolutely beautiful lesson with the Contreras Family. The wife is less active but wants to return to church, and now her husband wants to get baptized! He's preparing for baptism in July. The lesson we had with them was awesome and they committed to prepare to enter into the temple in a year from now. Good wins. Another investigator, Chepe, that was supposed to get baptized on Sunday didn't show up to church because he had to bail his friend out of jail. BUT we had a lesson with him yesterday and he is still really excited about everything and is totally on board for getting baptized another day. Good wins. Manuela, this lovely girl we are teaching, who's preparing to get baptized in July, told us yesterday that she doesn't want to get married and that baptism is on "pause" for now. BUT thanks to the guidance of the Spirit, we had a really good lesson after that about 1 Nephi 3:7 (I will go and do what the Lord has commanded..) and she left with a greater belief that she would be able to get baptized in July. She is excited and agreed to continue to prepare herself for baptism in July. Good wins. Sometimes our lives are filled with constant ups and downs. But good always prevails. I love you all. Look for the good. Hope for good. Be the good. Hermana Shaw Hermana Juchau, my old CCM companion, en el Consejo de Lideres. She ALWAYS blinks when there's flash. My cute companion, Hermana Burrell, at Manuela's house as we wait for them to get ready for church.
Oh man. Today was good. We had a Talent Show for the Zone Activity. Everyone got pretty creative and we saw talents from eating bread in 20 seconds to pranking to drawing to doing the splits to singing to playing the acareen, a wind instrument that is circular and small. It was pretty entertaining. As a zone, we also went to the temple on Saturday to have a lesson with all the missionaries and their investigators. We brought a family we are teaching. Three of the kids are members, and now their mom, older sister, and another brother of there's wants to get baptized. The temple trip was miraculous because before, Felicia, the mom, was adamently against getting married and was unwilling to go to church. Manuela, the older sister, was about to accept a job in another city where she'd work for 15 days straight then return again for 2 days and so on and so forth, making it impossible to come to church. And Brahyan, the brother, just didn't want much to do with us. Yet the temple changed everything. Half the family showed up after the lesson we had together, so we decided to have a separate lesson outside with just us teaching it. It was a little crazy with all the kids running all over the place (she has 9 children), but Felicia finally said she was willing to get married and go to church. Manuela said she was going to postpone her job. And all three, Felicia, Manuela, and Brahyan, accepted to prepare for baptism in July. There is so much work to do with that family and lessons are hard with so many young ones, but we are thanking the Lord for the spirit that is found present at the temple. The mission is upping their goals and seeing many miracles. The mission goal went from baptizing one a month to two this month and in July it will be three. This means we are on our knees a lot and then on our feet right after. Hard work, obedience, and prayer. It is a bit stressful at times but the Lord definitely has His hand in the work. I love you all! Do something to share what makes you so happy this week. Invite someone to hear more. Trust me, the missionaries (and God) will be really happy. There are more prepared people out there than we think. Love, Hermana Shaw So the Sisters are now allowed to wear pants in our mission. Crazy, right? On Thursday we all received pictures of approved pants and long skirts. We told a member about the new rule. She then gifted me a pair of pants she didn't want anymore and insisted we take them home. Honestly I don't know if I will ever wear them outside. It's pretty hot for that. But now I've got the option. We went crazy in the house, just joking a lot about the new pants situation. Living with four sisters is really fun. It's especially great because I get to live with my "mission-mom," Hermana Frias. It was Mother's Day here on Sunday so we got to celebrate a little. Today we explored more of our area and arrived at Christopher Colombus' son's house, Diego Colombus. It was neat. This week after walking out of a difficult lesson, a mango dropped right in front of my path. Blessings from heaven! It definitely made the day a little more sweet.
On Thursday we had Consejo de Zona. Hermana Burrell and I sang, "I Know that My Redeemer Lives," and we led a discussion about our relationship with our Father in Heaven, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. As we get to know our Heavenly Father and His Son, we feel their love more present. With practice we can hone our communication skills with the Spirit. We had a lesson this week with a lady and her house guests. There was one guy that was really excited and was like, "We're going to church this Sunday!" He didn't live in our area so we took down his information for the other missionaries, and explained that there must be a church closer to where he lives. Despite that, he showed up to our church on Sunday! We were not expecting that, since he lives like 30 minutes way. But he showed up and gave us each a book about the history of the Dominican Republic. Looks like I've got some new good reading material for after the mission. I love you guys! Hermana Shaw "Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you." -1 Peter 3:15 |
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Letters: Sophia Shaw Santo Domingo East MIssion SDQ 4102, 2250 NW 114th Ave. Miami, FL 33172-3652 Packages: Sophia Shaw AP-000914 8540 NW 66th St. Miami, FL 33195 - 2698 lds.org mormon.org Dominican Republic Santo Domingo East MissionArchives
February 2017
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