First Full Week In The Office

Bon Tardi famianan i amigonan!

We had a great P-Day today!  The BYU baseball team is here in the DR for a week, and today they played the Yankees minor league team here in the DR.  We got to go!!  It was sweet!!  And, I guess by NCAA rule, it counts for BYU's overall record, and it was their first game of the year, what an opportunity!  I finally got to see a game here!  It was sweet, BYU ended up coming back and winning 6-3.  I met a lot of people there from Arizona.  No one that I had met before, but it was way neat!!  And, the starting shortstop for BYU served his mission in Aruba, so it was really cool to talk to him and talk about the people that we both knew from Aruba.  It was awesome!  And, the whole BYU team took a picture with the missionaries, it was sweet!  One of the coaches wives is going to send the picture to you in an email.  Luckily I got one of the kids to give me a ball after the game too, so that was legit too!

Days can be kind of hard to predict here, haha.  We do alot of different things.  We are in charge of most of the financial aspects of the mission, everything from plane tickets for Curacao to go to Aruba, to paying for the food for zone conference.  I was surprised by how much we actually have responsibility for.  So, after this transfer, I will be in charge of the financial things, and then my companion will be in charge of the houses and the cell phones, and then that will be for the most part it.  There is a senior couple here named the Eickbush's, and they do a lot of work here as well, and then there are 2 APs, and that's it, haha.  Right now we're being trained, so there are more missionaries here than normal, but after this transfer there will be a few less.

Jonathan is a single young Haitian guy.  He is way cool, he brought a friend to church this week!  (Jeff mentioned last week the name of Jonathan, a man who is planning to be baptized in early December.  We asked how things were going for him and wanted to learn more about him.) 

I did finally get to meet the Lees in person this week.  They are wonderful people.  They just flew out for Bonaire again today.

There are quite a few elders in my zone right now from Arizona.  Both of the zone leaders are from AZ. They're both really good guys.  One of them is named Elder Sunderhaus, and he is from about Mckellips and Greenfield, something like that, and the other one is named Elder Williams, and he is from Show low.

Man, it hurts to hear that my boys lost again!  Man, I hope that they can win this week and make a bowl game and I hope that they keep Dennis Erickson!  (Henry keeps Jeff updated on the ASU teams and the Cardinals.  He would update him on the Suns . . . but oh yeah . . . THERE AREN'T ANY GAMES TO WATCH!  Sorry, we're a little bitter over here about not having any NBA basketball to watch!  Jeff was sad when Henry told him that ASU lost to UofA this past weekend.  It was a painful game to watch.  Bummer!)

As for the Christmas package, I really would just need money to be able to make up for all of the money that I spent over the last little while, haha.  It would be nice to have some cereal, and some more of the exact same pants that you just sent me.  I love them!! If you could send me one more pair of those, that would be awesome!  Other than that, not much, I don't need new shoes right now too bad.  Actually, one pair of missionary shoes like you sent me last time would be good, the back of one my shoes in one pair is wearing out.  But that is not a big problem. I could easily go the rest of my mission on the shoes that I have, just a little annoying sometimes.

Sorry, I'm really short on time, but other that that's about it.  I think that that is everything that I needed to say.  Our errands are usually pretty sweet, like going to banks and to Western Union, which are mostly in the West Mission, so it's a big privilege for us to get to go over there.  

I am more and more grateful for how far the Lord has helped me to come in my mission.  He has helped me through some really hard times, and He has really strengthened my testimony through it.  It's amazing to see the blessings that will come if I will just hang on and keep walking when trials come my way.  I truly have seen that blessings far greater than we can imagine come through sacrifices, and trails.  How grateful I am for the Lord's perfect plan, and for His love and care for me.

I love you all, thanks so much for all that you do!

Love,

Elder DeSpain