Monday, October 31, 2016

Week 68



this week was one of a ton of progress in our area, we have people that are finally getting prepared for baptism, the spirit has touched various investigators and we feel more blessed than ever!

We put 2 new baptismal dates, and will have put three more by this thursday, people are really feeling the spirit, one of our investigators went to church for the first time (Patricia and Miguel Rodriguez) this week and the gospel principles class was on temples and family history work, the spirit of Elijah was there, touched her heart, she even had tears in her eyes, she said she wanted to be baptized. amazing miracle. also the family that went to the white night is progressing nicely, the two sons want to get baptized and we are planning on the 12 or the 19th (Dawris and Francisco) the parents need to be married and they arent really into that idea right now... then we also passed by a lady named Nollis, the daughter of sister encarnacion that went to church for the first time a few weeks ago, the lady that cant walk, anyways her daughter said that she had felt something prompting her throughout the whole week that she needed to go back to that church, that she felt something special, we explained the Holgy ghost and how it works with us in our lives, and she said it made sense, we invited her to be baptized at the end of november and she said "well i guess its something i should do huh?" sweet humble lady.

another fun thing that happened this week was that we did a service project for a recent convert, all 6 of the missionaries in the ward helped cut all the weeds with machetes! super fun, it reminded me of cutting the hedge behind the fence at home ;) hahaha then we took a sweet video that looks like pirates of the carribean, super dope! hahaha

overall good week, weird that today is halloween, cant wait to carve a pumpkin next year... miss you guys, love you tons, hope you have a great week, enjoy the cool temperature, im still sweating up a storm ;) haha

until next week!

ELDER AUGER
 
 we had a blast playing with the machetes! hahaha



 thanks giving is just around the corner, saw a wild turkey, made me a little hungry





 thursday we went to el ole to eat and elder charles, far right, and i chose a dessert that is basically against the word of wizdom, we ate about half before realizing that it had rum in it... oops... repentance exists for missionaries as well..







Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Week 67



So this week was a great one, to be brief, the main highlights were the white night, which was saturday in the evening, the graduation of the english class, saturday in the morning, and transfers, which elder lopez and I are staying the same!

the graduation was awesome, i played the piano as they handed out the certificates, we had a ton of people, i had to play for like an hour straight, a mashup of hymns, elder frogley sat at my side and kept saying to play a certain hymn and i would try to make it flow into that song as if it were a mashup pretty funny, he started telling me, give said the little stream, and then lord of the rings theme, and i just died laughing, good time.

then the white night was awesome, altough sadly we didnt baptize, no one was prepared for this weekend, however november should be a better month for us. This white night was on the beach, the people getting baptized were baptized in the ocean, super cool activity, sad we didnt baptize... but we took a family and like 6 other teenagers to see and participate, many of them said they want to be baptized next month, so that will be awesome!

we had a pretty lame monday, just got haircuts and sat in the house because of the rain and lack of power, for that reason we havent been able to write, so sorry for that... when i got my hair cut, it was one of my investigators who did it, and when he was half way through i asked him if he had ever cut an americans hairk, he said no, i could tell, because he was sweating and nervous the whole time, he messed up pretty bad, actually left like a mini mullet on the back, missed a ton of hair, but it was worth it, he said he is going to go to church this sunday! haha

excited for this next transfer, hoping to see more of the fruits of our labors here in the campo of valiente (campo means country, or outskirts) haha

love you tons, talk in 5 days! haha

ELDER AUGER

 my first comp elder beard baptizing in the ocean



we also took a huge zone pic in the stake center, matching t shirt we made, and i found this huge wooden spoon in the church kitchen and pretended it was an oar, funny stuff man!
 
 some more investigators that we are teaching, including jenny, who has a date for the 19th of november, she is the one in green in the back
 elder frampton who went home this last week, gonna miss that guy!
 
 couple pics of the white night, tons of people, like over 40 got baptized, super amazing night,
 we took a pic with some of the investigators that came, dont mind the punk in the middle who was giving the bird... we are teaching repentance and obedience...
A playing in Valiente Branch Before Power Went Out
Dear Brother and Sister Auger: I wanted to send you a picture of your son and his comp who is from Barahona here in the DR. Together they are Champions!! Your son has played the electric piano in Church this past Sunday - at least until the power went out- the breaker kept tripping and we kept losing lights and AC during the first hour. His playing added so much to the service and really invited the Spirit to enter the small rented building. He is an amazing young man who has had such an impact here in the East mission. I look forward to being at his homecoming talk when he returns in July-especially since he promised to go elk hunting with me and help drag out my elk!! Thank you both for raising this great young man who has touched so many lives here in the DR- Elder Mike McGuire



Monday, October 17, 2016

Week 66



This week was an amazing one, miracles happened in our area! we had 9 investigators come to church including a family of 7 (only 4 with the age of accountability) but it was amazing to see the faith of the people in our area. La hermana EncarnaciĆ³n showed exceptional faith, she can not walk, nor use her left arm, she is always confined to her bed, or recliner chair in her house, she doesnt have a wheel chair or anything, but she, her two childeren, and her 4 grandchilderen made it to church this week, it seriously brought tears to my eyes seeing here all dressed nicely sitting at the back of the chapel, we carried her in a chair all around the church and she felt the spirit so strongly, says she and her family want to continue coming to church. biggest blessing of the week for sure. Also, we found a couple more families and prepared people, Jenny now has a date for november, and we are working with 6 jovenes and thier families, kids from the english class, super cool and prepared! really am full of gratitude this week, We always try to express that gratitude and ask our heavenly father forgiveness for our many flaws as individuals and as a companionship. But the work is progressing and we couldnt be enjoying it more!
The branch president said he is going to talk with the stake, he was moved to see her show up as well!


another family that is progressing, even though they didnt make it to church this sunday was the Rodriguez family, miguel and patricia, miguel came with us, or better said, took us to a church activity this tuesday, he has a car and drove us from our area to the church, walking is about a half an hours distance, so that was a blessing. Miguel is pretty sick, with cancer, and lung problems from smoking, but he is very interested in the church, its cool to see him changing, at first he asked dim questions like "where was god when my christian neighbor got robbed, or when my wife got injured" and after explaining the plan of salvation, he could explain clearly to his wife that due to the fall, and our agency, we live in an imperfect world, but that in the next life all justice will be wrought! he is a stud to say the least...
really was a good week, missing home a little more now that the holidays are coming closer!
also, the power got fixed, so we have light now :)

we have an old gas stove, with a refillable tank, we have to take it to a gas pump and fill it up then connect it below the house, its an adventure...

not much more to say, today elder call and i are doing an exchange to go back to paraiso oriental so he can say goodbye and so we can visit Jesus and Kateryn, they are basically less active now... we are gonna see what we can do to help :)
love you all, hope you have a good week! CTR always! the Lord lives and answers prayers, pray always, he listens!
ELDER AUGER