7/9-7/29

Elder Stimpson's mother have been negligent in posting into weekly blog.  She is feeling very apologetic.

Here's the juice!

There are no photos but some news.  Elder Stimpson have been with his companion for six weeks. His companion's name is Elder Johnson and he was out for ten months.  Elder Stimpson already had five months under his belt.  Time is so fleeting and we are nearly at 1/4 mark.  Elder Stimpson haven't been sending us a lot of emails but chatted with us online on hang out app.  

Elder Stimpson and his companion often goes to two branches and one group.  One was so far that they had to go hitchhiking and ride on back of trucks.  Their travel on back of truck lasted for 30-45 minutes.  They had only each other to hang out for Preparation days.  The nearest mission companion set lived 15-20 minutes away.  They can't go out of their assigned boundaries to hang out with other missionaries.  Elder Stimpson said the town they live in only had a cafe, bakery and grocery store.  They got around fine and worked so hard all day long.  Elder Stimpson said he walked so much that he got blisters on top of blisters.

Missionaries diet consisted primarily of rice, canned vegetables, fruits with peels, pig's meat/chicken's meat.  Elder Stimpson cooks a lot of meat on fire and grill.  They tract on beaches on regular basis.  Elder Stimpson was excited about being able to get his hands on bull whip.  He made few tentative attempts but succeeded at hitting himself.  It takes skill to truly whip.

Occasionally would few women from neighborhood cry, ¡Quiero tu cuerpo!

and attempt to pull Elder Stimpson into their house. Of course, they never succeed. Elder Stimpson is pretty large and too heavy to even budge. (Translation: I want your body).

In area where Elder Stimpson and his companion live, they frequently have black outs so they have inversor to to provide electricity whenever they need it. Elder Stimpson rarely has fan running overnight as he used to in Santo Domingo due to sporadic electricity access.

Elder Stimpson just informed his mother yesterday that they are expecting transfers today (Tuesday, August 30). Elder Stimpson only received phone call on Sunday night that he is transferring so he had to pack his suitcases and get ready to travel by bus to meet up at one of two chapels to make switches and receive assignments. There are a large influx of missionaries outgoing and going in. I heard there's 25 missionaries coming in from CCM to replace those leaving. They are losing a lot of zone leaders because of that. Elder Stimpson is going to Bani chapel and will update us on where he is going to live and who is his companion. Their mission president is deliberately keeping mum until transfer on assignments due to gossips he didn't want to hear.

Though that Elder Stimpson doesn't understand why he is transferring so soon after just being in area for six weeks, he is determined to roll with punches.

7/1-7/8

Elder Stimpson just went on a temple trip with the entire mission and he enjoyed it immensely.  Dominican Republic temple is sized in similar way as Mt. Timpanogos temple.    Elder Stimpson still is struggling with blisters on his feet because of constant walking but he is happy to have lost 50 lbs, making it a little easier.  Our hangout conversation wasn't very long since he used all of his day with his bus trip to get his resident card in Santo Domingo.

today started out pretty early. a couple days ago we got a call a couple days ago from one of the senior couple missionaries saying that I needed to go to the capital for immigration. this morning we woke up at 5 in the morning to make it to the office on time. luckily the bus had air conditioning. this week has been a pretty normal week. a bunch of walking here and a bit of preaching there. down here in the south there are a few good souvenirs I would like to get for me and the family. they have a type of stone here called larimar. the only place I have heard you can get it is here in the Dominican republic. normally it is pretty expensive but my companion knows where to get some for pretty cheap. One of the towns in our area sells whips I can get one for about 300 pesos which is about 6 usd. in our zone leaders area there is a Peruvian that makes paintings of the beach or lakes with houses on the edge with missionaries in it. I will be getting one for you mom. I think you would really appreciate it. we did a couple of exchanges this past week. they were very fun but the times I stayed in our area I got us lost in our area. On sunday we decided to go contact down by the beach and we found a guy from Connecticut. we talked for a bit and shared our message. I asked a bit about fishing to see if we could go down on a monday to go fishing. there is no where that rents and that was what I wanted to do. we did however find someone who was selling poles I will look into that. the guy from Connecticut also said he could buy one from the internet for me which is something else I will be looking into it.

6/24-6/30

I haggled for a pair of shoes today.  yeah I think I found some pretty good shoes. I was able to get them from 1,500 pesos to 1,200 pesos. its not much but every little bit counts. I think I could have done better but dominicans don't have much patience. nike but it is a 50 percent chance they might be fake. I can take a picture and send them to you.  my week was good. working harder than I have been.  my week was good. working harder than I have been.  btw do you remember how much I weighed before the mission?  I gained 10 lbs in the mtc. but I lost 50 lbs in the past 3.5 months.  (Mom asked how he's sleeping)  sleeping I am getting 8 hrs or more. eating its kind of hard to find the healthiest food here but I am eating a lot of rice with peas and salami as well as fresh fruits. the ones that peel.  there are not a lot of good vegetables out here. the best I can find are in a can. they have mixed vegetables, peas or corn. and some of them have coconut milk mixed in. I also drink a lot of juice and eat a lot of crackers.  the mission president came to our house.  normally the mission pres. is supposed to interview everyone once a transfer. we did have a zone conference but it was a week before.  I think it shows that the president cares. it is just mainly to see how we are doing how well we are taking care of our selves and to help us improve as a mission.  I love the mission work my only problem is being out in the sun all day. I can walk all day with blisters and have to talk to a lot of people but with the sun beating down on me all day its kind of hard.

my spanish is really good at the moment I am just fine tuning it. there are very few errors gramatical and other words I don't know but if I don't know the word its easy for them to explain it to me.

oh and another thing if you could also send the pictures on the ring about my life back home.(don't forget the pics).

another week in the mission. I got buried in the south who knows when I will return to the capital. I miss my old comp as well. but there are people that need me in barahona. its a smaller town that has almost nothing. it is still big compared to the small towns in idaho like malad. and they have a burger king. we have nothing like that here. in the capital there are wendy's, pizza hut, little ceasers, applebees, PF changs. and down here there is nothing. we do have the best bakery down the street from us though. its called panetti's and it is fairly good. and kind of cheap the only problem is at night. that is when all the people come so we go around lunch if we go to panetti's.

the house is one of the nicest houses in the mission and has real good water pressure. there are only two houses better in the mission. that is in los alcorizos and the office in the capital where the assistants live. those houses have heated water. the office has air conditioning and is the only house with it in all of the houses owned by the church in this mission.

oh and mom I have a list of things that I want sent in the next package or two.

fit what you can in the first package and send the rest in another package.  I would like: massage balls for feet, hammock with straps, a few of my lures and flies (there is a black lure with a spinning tail that one I want for sure, but maybe 5 different lures and 10 different flies. you can buy a small fly box from walmart to hold the flies and put the lures in a smaller box with the hooks wrapped in tape. dad can help pick out some of the lures, don't send any soft plastic lures.), the garments in large, a webcam ( I am having difficulty finding those, especially in the capital and won't be able to find one where I am at.), model boat ( to sit on my desk and look pretty along with the lures, you can either send me a already built one which is perferable or you can send one for me to build along with some model glue, if you can't send model glue I will try to find something instead to use.), and some american snacks that are hard to find here that will be easy to send here ( like cheez its, beef jerky, etc.). I wish I came more prepared.

I will also send a few pictures a picture my new companion, a really cool motorcycle that if the police find out that it was there they would take it and send it back to the states, and anakin would be happy know that I was able to find his favorite ramen out in the middle of no where. these will be in a seperate email.