Week 100

well this was a great and emotional week, lots of goodbyes, but lots of tears of joy, cant wait to get home, but i am going to miss my dominican family!

 

the highlights this week were: 

 

leadership counsel, we sang the song i wrote, really sweet!

district meeting, last testimonies

temple trip with president for last time

baptism of Justino and Altagracia

i spoke in church on sunday, great meeting

lots of invites for food, and lots of goodbyes!

 

i will try to send pics later, not a lot of time today! love you all!

 

ELDER AUGER

 

nos vemos in the airport at 7:30 pm SLC intl!

Week 99

cant believe we are down to 8 days until i am home! the time has just flown and its crazy! the mission has been a great experience, and i am so happy to be finishing strong and very alive ;) hahaha

 

next weekend Justino and Altagracia will be baptized, and i am so happy for the both of them. we had a great lesson with justino and his wife natali, and we went up to the roof and looked out over the city and just reflected a little bit about the miracle it was that we found them! they honestly have been the miracle of this area, and maybe one of the biggest of my mission. i love this work, and love the difference that we can make in the lives of others. 

 

i can honestly say that the song how great shall be your joy is completely true. 

 

this week was a good one, we did a lot of service, met with the members and made plans to help the ward have more success, and we have planned some great activities. hopefully it motivates the members to invite their friends to come and see a little more of the LDS church! 

 

its been so hot lately, honestly not gonna miss that, im looking forward to a/c and ice water whenever i want it! hahaha

 

this week is full of goodbyes, we have our last leadership counsel, where we are going to sing the song i wrote "onto the next" or "continuaremos" it will be sung by the 25 who are going home in our group! super excited for that! then last district meeting thursday, im saying bye to paraiso oriental tomorrow, and saturday is the temple trip for those going home! trunkiness!!!

 

feeling great. love this work. miss my family and happy to see them. it really does feel like a dream that i am about to wake up from. i hope to continue doing the things that i learned here. i know it wont be easy, but its a necessary step, and just like my song says...

 

"we´ve gone as far as we could go,

we´ve learned by experience, but there´s more that we need to know,

with the help of our savior, its been a success, 

but this part of the plan is complete, so onto the next"

 

:)

 

love you all, hope you have a great week!

 

ELDER AUGER

 

Week 98

well, down to 2 weeks left, cant believe that all this stuff is happening, almost heading home and what not, but i am staying focused, working hard and enjoying the mission!

 

Highlight of the week was the marriage of Justino and Natali, which was a great time, we prepared everything during the week, which took a lot of work and overcoming opposition. 

because there baby had gotten sick, they had some worries about costs, because of all the expenses for the hospital stay for their son. so we called the bishop and the ward helped a lot! we set up everything for the marriage in the town hall, and they got married friday morning, then we celebrated the wedding on saturday! we went to the temple with them before and took pics, that was Natali´s Dream, it was sweet! lots of emotion and pure Joy! then we went to the chapel for the celebration and a bunch of members and there family was there, Janfreisi had a blast organizing everything for her parents wedding, its was fun to watch! she is paityns age, so i feel like its my little sister here from the DR! small cooincidence, i saw one of my converts from san vicente there, grisliedy, who is the niece of Natali! crazy! small world!

 

we are working for Justino to be baptized soon! hopefully this coming weekend! Natali is excited to be able to enter the temple now, she has worked so hard to be worthy!

 

then today for p day we went to chilis with elder Beecher and Elder Anderson, i will send pics of that asap!

 

all good in the hood, we are hanging on til the end!

 

Love you all!

 ELDER AUGER

 

 

 

Week 97

the highlight of this week was ward conference when they finally called a bishop! we had gone about 3 months without one and so it was a long wait, but the bishop is a stud, his name is wascar, a young 27 year old husband, no kids, but super qualified by the Lord, the ward is going to see miracles!

 

for the conference i played the piano, and we had 2 special musical numbers, one by the primary which brought a lot of tears to the congregation, and then a closing hymn by the choir, nearer my God to thee, when theres love at home, Elder Auger original, super good time playing that!  because of the long awaited conferece, lots of people invited friends, we had 17 investigators in church, and 215 attendance, compared to the usual 6 investigators and 80-90 attendance, super cool day!

 

then that same night, president Corbitt and his wife came to give a devotional to the YSA of various stakes, there were about 250 young single adults, and then Elder Ferrufino and I, we went originally because i need to download the video project ive been working on to presidents laptop, but when i got there, they asked if i could play the piano and then sister Corbitt needed someone to translate, so we stayed for the whole thing and took part. it was a little wierd, being a young single adult in that meeting, all that talk about marriage and stuff, i was trying hard to stay focused ;) hahaha Just kidding, im always focused!

 

then we visited Natali and Justino who have been in the hospital with their son, Nataniel, who has been sick, but is doing better, we gave him a blessing and then the new bishop also went to visit them, super stud! they are getting married this weekend!

 

then today we played some basketball with hermano curry, who has got to be my all time best friend here in maquiteria, he reminds me of Trevor Schenck, that same kind of loving spirit who likes to party, serve others, and is a spiritual giant! also took some pics in the faro a colon, pretty good time!

 

3 more weeks, i cant believe it! time to F2TF and ETTE! 

 

Love you all, hope it was a good week, CTR always!

 

ELDER AUGER

 

the last zone meeting of this transfer, im staying here to finish the mish tho!

visiting Natali and Justino in the Hospital, Janfriesy is the only one missing in the pic, they are such an awesome family! Justino is preparing to be baptized, he hasnt agreed to a specific date, but he is progressing tons! Natali is about to be able to go to the temple again, she is super excited!

 

pics in the Faro a Colon!

a pic with the old first counselor in the ward, hermano Liberato, who is also making my suit for when i come home! he plays the guitar, and super well, i said that if he ever comes by utah, we will have to Jam! hahaha

 

more pics, tried to work on my dominican modeling career, but i dont think it will go too far ;)

Week 96

It was a great week man! feel spoiled rotten for being able to visit La Llave with Elder Beard and Elder Ramos, for having Janfreisy get Baptized, and for being able to talk with the fam! 

 

first, friday we got permission to do an intercambio, but first we had a meeting with all the guys from my group talking with president about finishing the mish! then we practiced the song that i wrote for the end of the mission, you know there will be some tears when we sing that! Then I went with E. Beecher, and it was his birthday, we celebrated at night! but before that we went to La Llave and said good bye to members and old friends there! they had a sweet activity set up for us, where we answered questions that they had for us about finishing the mission, then questions to see how dominicanized we were, about the culture and language, super fun and funny!

 

then we took pics, and they gave us a certificate of appreciation for having served in there ward! super cool, then i played the piano and the youth sang a song! we ate empanadas at the end. super good to see Librada and Chandel, Melibeth, Oriana, David and Christopher and others! 

 

Janfreisy got baptized as well. her family is progressing so nicely, we are working on helping Natali and Justino get married at the end of this month! we had Luckson baptize her, he had to do it like 5 times though! hahaha he is a recent convert and that was the first time for him to be able to excercise the aaronic Priesthood! awesome!

 

then we got to talk with the fam, best time ever, cant wait to see you all in 29 days, i did some souvenir shopping in the conde today, getting trunky now! hahaha working hard though!

 

anyways, all is well here in Maquiteria, i hope you all had a great mothers day! 

 

I know this Church is True, Thought of the Week is to not forget the Army of Heleman, and how they followed the great example of their mothers in faith and obedience, I love you mom, thanks for your strong testimony! 

 

have a great week!

ELDER AUGER

 

Librada and her Brother who ended up getting baptized after we left!

Also Christopher and David, and there friend Deivi who got baptized after we left! such a great activity

 when they gave us the certificate for serving in La Llave, check out my name, thats basically how the dominicans pronounce it! hahahaha

 Elderes Ramos Beard and Auger!

tons of people went to the activity! as Elder Beard said it felt like a homecoming! hahaha cant wait to see everyone again!

baptism of Janfreisy

Week 95

well, Brayan was baptized and confirmed this week! so awesome, he has made such a turn around in his life! he took out all his piercings, cut his hair down, and is progressing nicely, we are preparing him to recieve the priesthood now!

 

Janfreisy and her family are awesome, she will be baptized this friday! 

 

we invited her parents to get married, Natali, the mom shared us her personal testimony after we invited them to be married the 27th... "i have been praying that the Lord will help me and my husband get married as soon as possible, because i want to be worthy to take the sacrament again, and enter the temple. I cant believe the same day, you guys come over and invite us to be married this month!" she is now waiting the go ahead from Justino, they just need to make plans and notify their family, but they are progressing amazingly as a familiy! I love it!

 

today for p day we played football, and president played all time QB so awesome! i got pretty sun burnt, but it was worth it!

 

i realized that i will never have a week 4 in a transfer in the mission again! only 5 weeks til i get home and get to be with all the fam again! cant wait!

 

So sorry for the Loss of the loved ones in the Ward. the families of Jenelle Adams and Andrea Gardner will be in my prayers! know that I know that the Plan of Salvation is real, its real because the Book of Mormon is the biggest modern day proof that God lives. He spoke with Joseph Smith and gave him the power to translate it. when pain and fear come, I remember the Book of Mormon. I testify that it is true. the Gospel is true, God lives, He loves us, and his plan for us is perfect. I know that These beloved sisters of the Pioneer Ward are only waiting a few years so that they can be with their families for ALL of eternity. The temple and its powers are True. I know it. I love you all and Hope that the Atonement can comfort you in these moments of trial and sadness. God hears your prayers and knows your sorrows. 

 

I love this Gospel. I love my family. I thank God everyday for these two things. They bring Eternal Happiness. 

 

I send my love and concern, I hope to meet with both these amazing families soon, thanks for your great faith and testimony!

 

ELDER AUGER

 

here are the pics from the baptism of Brayan! 

here are the pics from football. super good time! one of the missionaries that we played with was Elder Millburn from morgan Utah, He played with tyler Kelsey, stud muffin! he made a couple diving catches and on turf, one handed a couple times. MVP!

 

he is the one with me planning out our passing tree!

Week 94

these past two weeks have been great in the work here in maquiteria. angelo was baptized and confirmed this week. he was super excited and has been prepared to take this step for a while, he just needed to make the decision!

 

also, brayan accepted the date for this coming weekend, he is preparing himself nicely, as well as janfreisi, she accepted the date for the 13th, her parents and little siblings all went to church this week, super awesome!

 

we had zone conference this week and we talked about an interesting topic, which i think has to do a lot with what is going on back home...

 

we talked about the pre earth life. the opposition that there was there, so much that 1/3 of our spiritual brothers and sisters decided to reject our heavenly fathers plan, even being in his presence! but the amazing part is how all of us that have, and will recieve a body here on earth will recieve the oportunity to progress. then there is the question, and what about those who came to the earth with different circumstances? president Corbitt talked about his personal experience, how he was born in a part of the world to a family that didnt have the gospel. but now he is a mission president! its interesting how we as members take part in the salvation of our brothers and sisters, i think thats why the prophet Joseph Smith said that preaching the gospel is the most important thing we can do! 

 

Gods plan is perfect. He does love us. i quoted the words of my dads song "welcome home" 

 

"we are brothers and sisters far away from home, 

father sent us down here and now we are on our own,

He sent us down to see, just how good we could be,

though we struggle and we fall, we will make it home after all."

 

the spirit was there.

 

i love you all, know that the book of mormon is the rock of my testimony, when doubt and fear arise, i turn to the book of mormon, and it fortifies all the knowledge of the gospel and plan of salvation. God Lives, Jesus is the Christ, Families can be together forever!

 

ELDER AUGER

 

angelo and his baptism. 

p day basketball in valiente, went to say goodbye to the people there!