Bon Tardi di Santo Domingo!! Buenas tardes de Santo Domingo!
We are doing fantastic here in Santo Domingo! Things are better than I ever could have hoped for back here! The flight out of Aruba went great, I flew to Curacao, and then I flew direct from there to Santo Domingo. It was awesome landing in Santo Domingo, we had to descend through the clouds, it was absolutely amazing. I flew in on Wednesday afternoon, and I showed the elders the Nashville Tribute Band CD, and we all haven't been able to stop listening to it since then.
So we come into the office everyday, Monday through Friday. On Monday we do P-Day stuff when we want to though. On Saturdays we have planning in the mornings, and then we just have a normal afternoon. Every day we try to be out of the office by 3:30 in the afternoon and we go out and do normal missionary things until 9 like normal. I have been loving it!! It's such a blessing, because this will be great preparation for after my mission and give me great experience. During the morning we get to run a lot of errands, those are pretty fun, we have to go all over to do them.
So my new companion Elder Ellis was born in California, but he lives in Highland, UT now. Besides the two of us there are two other elders who are in charge of the houses in the mission, they are Elder Linares, and he is training Elder DeLarosa to take his place. So, after this transfer, I will be companions with Elder DeLarosa. The assistants are Elder Mecham (also trained by Elder Blake, my trainer), and Elder Green, he is from England, the London South Mission actually, he is from the Bristol Stake if Kade ever served there. It is awesome, I am loving it so far.
All of the office elders live together in the same apartment right by the office. If you look up the mission office on Googlemaps, it's in Gazuce, and it's on the Bolivar almost where it crosses the Delgado. We live on the street that goes directly south of the mission office, and it is the first apartment building on that road.
Wow, Sister Graham called you? That is awesome!! Wow, they were such good people. It's amazing to see what a small world it is! (We received a call from a sweet sister named Sister Graham. She and her husband live in CA. They vacationed in Aruba last week and visited with Jeff and his companion at church that Sunday. They asked Jeff where he was from and when he told them Gilbert AZ they told him their son was engaged to marry a girl from Gilbert AZ. Jeff asked for the name of the girl and it is Rebecca Sellers, one of our dear friends! I just attended her bridal shower last Saturday. We love the Sellers family! We were in the same ward with them for a couple of years a few years ago. I was serving in YW at that time so I know Rebecca and her sister Elizabeth very well. It was wonderful to talk with Sister Graham! She has had two sons serve missions so she knew how much it would mean to us to get a call from someone who has been with our son! She told me that he and his companion look great! She said they look happy and healthy and that they are GREAT missionaries! What a wonderful blessing to talk with her!)
Oh, I forgot to tell Dad, haha, the golf ball I sent in the package is special because it's from the Tierra Del Sol Golf course, the nicest one in Aruba, a good souvenir. And I bought the flag a long time ago to put in my room and at my house some day, haha.
We were able to set a baptismal date with a man named Jonathan here in Gazcue for the first week of December, already receiving blessings from the Lord! He actually lives in the Conde, you remember me telling you about that mom, the oldest road in this hemisphere? That's part of my area now, haha, it's awesome!
I tried to attach a few pictures, a couple from the Aruba, and then a picture from the office, but I think it's of Elder Ellis, haha, and then also a picture of the Temple, we got to go by there on an errand. (Henry will put the pictures on the blog later tonight.)
Things really are great here. Elder Ellis and I are doing great together, and I'm grateful that he is so willing to help me learn the ropes here. I got to meet the Lee's from Bonaire today!!! They are the senior couple that were serving on Bonaire when I was in Aruba. They said that Brother Lee's brother, Larry, lived there in their house in Gilbert before they did, so it might be that we lived in his brother's ward for a while, and then after we moved, this set of Lee's that are here in my mission moved in, we'll have to figure it out sometime. (We do know Larry Lee and his wife Judy! Jeff is correct, we were in their ward for a about 18 months when Jeff was a baby.)
I am so grateful for the Plan that the Lord has for me and for the knowledge that I have that the Lord is always with me and that I never have to be alone. I truly know that He lives and that He knows every one of us, and that He is always walking beside us.
I love you!
Love,
Elder DeSpain
P.S.-Sorry about all of the transactions on the debit card, I'm getting settled into the DR again, so it will hopefully get better this week.
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