Credit goes to Esteban Nava Solorio!!
Thank you for letting me know that Ian gained one more friend at CCM.

Letter from Elder Stimpson's mission president

Ian's parents and Ian made arrangements that emails will do just fine except for special occasions.  Ian will notify us beforehand to expect his calls on those special occasion.  We felt good about this decision and it will help to facilitate Ian's independence if his parents do the littlest of intervention.  Ian will write email to his parents then parents will post it on the blog.  Meanwhile you all are free to write to him but don't expect a personalized letter.  Whatever you do will really help him out so much - knowing that people at home love him and are thinking of him.

The letter from his mission president:

February 17, 2019



Dear Parents of missionaries in the Santo Domingo West Mission,



You have undoubtedly heard of the church’s announcement that missionaries now have more options to communicate with their families.  We would like you to know how you can best incorporate this change into your son or daughter’s mission.

Please know that we view this as an opportunity for you to be more aware and appreciative of the service your son or daughter is providing.  We are confident that you understand that we and the Lord expects missionaries to be consecrated in every way.  A consecrated missionary puts God first and foremost in his life.  He has covenanted to give everything to the Lord: his talents, his time, his resources.  In addition, the missionaries have promised to serve not only with all their heart, might and strength, but with all their heart, might, strength and Mind.

A consecrated missionary must keep his mind in the mission, not in his home.  If he expects to receive personal revelation about his area and the people, he is teaching he must be pondering his area and the people he is teaching.  If his mind is in his home, he will be seriously distracted and unable to receive guidance from the Spirit regarding his calling.

Our missionaries often have a difficult first transfer because they are still thinking about their homes.  When they “forget themselves” and “go to work” as President Hinckley’s father so wisely advised, they begin to enjoy their mission and develop Christlike characteristics   They will not enjoy their mission if they are constantly thinking about home.

One of the best missionaries we ever had demonstrated what it means to be a consecrated missionary.  Her district leader casually asked her one day, “How is your family doing?”  She replied, “Oh my family is so great.  Five members will be baptized this weekend.”  The confused district leader responded, “But I thought your family was already members of the church.”  “No, we have been teaching them for several weeks now, and they are going to be baptized this weekend,” she replied.  The district leader realized this consecrated sister didn’t even realize he was asking about her family at home.  She was thinking about the family she was teaching here in the mission.  When missionaries can accomplish this level of consecration, they can become who God wants them to be.

Please note that this new announcement from the church asks that calls be initiated by the missionary rather than the family.  Please allow your missionary to call when he or she feels it is necessary, rather than requesting a call.  Also note that the purpose of the change is to “allow the family to be more involved in the missionary’s efforts and experiences.”  Clearly the conversations should not be about what is happening at home, but about what is happening in the mission.  We hope you will see this as an opportunity to take a greater interest in the work here in the mission, to get to know the people your missionary is teaching, to rejoice in their progress, and celebrate when they are baptized, confirmed and progress in the church.

We expect that changes in the Santo Domingo West mission will be positive albeit minor.  The missionaries have 75 minutes to use computers on their preparation day.  During this time, they must read a letter from the mission president, write a letter to the mission president, post their key indicators and write and respond to all other emails.  Please do not feel neglected if they choose to spend their time fulfilling their calling.

(this part of email was deleted due to private information being given out).   Thank you very much for having the same vision for a successful mission and successful missionary that we have.



Sincerely,



President and Sister Santos

Friday is his P-Day!!!

His mom waited, waited and waited and here the long awaited email was- early in the morning!!!

Here's his email:

sorry I haven't been able to email last week after arriving. I had found out that my p days are on Friday but they had counted Tuesday as my p day. my schedule has been pretty busy but i've been able to stay pretty relaxed even though my companion has been freaking out. btw my companion is the elder we met in the temple in my first endowment. he is very loud and likes to talk a lot while I have been very quiet. something cool I've found out is that the trees talk but you also want to avoid them because they will drop bombs. soy de lorax. there are many beautiful birds and palm trees (those are the trees that "talk"). the temp is about 60 to 70 degrees and i know that makes you jealous mom. I want to share a scripture that has kept me going and kept me so relaxed. 2 nephi 9:45, remember the lord and use him as your foundations and you can shake off anything. I have yet to find anyone who is going to the same mission as me other than my companion. every one who is in my district is going to Uruguay except me and my companion. my district are such awesome people and we get along pretty well. the new sleep schedule was pretty easy to get used to. the food is fairly good and we can eat as much as we want. doesn't mean i do though. learning Spanish has been a bit easier than I thought it would be but that's because we have the lord. Loved reading all the emails but dad you need to say a little more I want to read more from you. mom you are right Sundays are awesome it's like a breath of fresh air from all the work I had been doing. about being able to call home I don't know how often I would like to to that. probably only on special occasions like birthdays and holidays. I'll let you know ahead of time if I want to call on any other day. you'll have to remind me when everyone's birthdays are. I feel terrible for saying that I should already remember all your birthdays are. something else that is funny is my companion forgot so many things that we made a list. luckily he could find a lot of it at la tienda. sorry I have no pictures yet I will send you guys some next week. we're going to the temple today so  I can send you guys some pictures of that. oh and i also forgot to bring my keys for my suitcase so that worried me a little but I remembered I can just stick a pen between the zipper to open it so I could get to my clothes. I have been pretty careful so I don't think I will end up like the missionary in the Republica Dominicana. oh and mom I'm keeping my room clean and organized. I keep forgetting to put sunscreen on so I've got a bit of a sunburn. luckily i tan though. love you guys and I miss everyone. email you guys next week along with some pictures. 

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It is pretty neat to know that he is going to Mexico City Temple!



He is in his second week at CCM.  As is expected, he is very very busy.

Elder Ian Stimpson's departure to Mexico City.

We said goodbye to our Elder Stimpson at Salt Lake City airport on Tuesday, February 12.  He was able to get on the airplane successfully due to it being delayed.

Here's his arrival email:

hi i landed safely had a bit of delay before we left had some problems with oxygen. got a bit of sleep. when I got on the plane found a familiar face elder Johnson from the temple. and sorry I couldn't find a phone. I hate to worry you. when we landed we had to wait another hour while they made a spot for our plane to go. we got on a bus and drove to the ccm the traffic is similar to Korea a few of the other elders were a little freaked out because of how aggressive the bus driver was. It also looks a bit like Korea but more colorful and Koreans are a lot cleaner. I already miss the snow. love you guys.