8/1-8/19

Things have been very very hectic for Elder Stimpson.  We rarely got time to talk with him for two weeks in row.  Here's the information you all have been waiting for:

We received a letter from mission office beginning in August as this:

Dear Brother & Sister Stimpson,


We recently completed changes in assignments in our mission. I wanted to tell you that your son, Elder Matthian John Stimpson, has been asked to serve as a trainer to Elder --- ( name withheld for privacy purpose) from the Dominican Republic.  No responsibility is of greater importance than that of a trainer. The profound influence a first companion has on a new missionary is felt throughout their entire mission.


Elder Stimpson is a great missionary and has prepared well for this responsibility. I have complete confidence in Elder Stimpson's ability. I am grateful for your missionary's service and your support of his efforts here in the mission field. I will send you a photo of this new companionship later this week. You can be proud of his work.


Sincerely,





José M. Santos


Mission President

1. This Dominican republic native companion came in from mission in Mexico to serve with Elder Stimpson on the third month of his mission.  Elder Stimpson was so happy to have this privilege of serving with a new missionary.  Elder Stimpson just celebrated six months out and was very excited to share everything he knows with the new missionary.  Sadly, this new missionary had some concerns that prevented him from truly serving the Lord as a missionary and it concluded in him going home.  We pray and hope for him in his continued growth in the gospel while at home and know that sometimes things like that happen often happen for the best.  Elder Stimpson served briefly with other set of missionary companion(They went as trio).  His mission president received an answer to his prayer that it is best to have Elder Stimpson to serve in different area.  Here's Elder Stimpson's email to us:

hey guys hows it going? things are going well over here. just very hot and humid. I just got moved to another area in the middle of the transfer. I got moved from a trio to another trio. I had received a call from one of the assistants saying that the president has been praying and received some revelation that I am needed in hatillo which is in a place called san cristobal. its close to the capital.

this transfer has been a little busy and confusing. I started training at the beginning and things went really well the first week. then we had a long talk one night ... (some private stuff).  he came up to me Tuesday morning and asked me to call the president to tell him that my companion wanted to go home. I honestly think that might have been better for him. he was having difficulty with lots of stuff and I helped him the best I could.

we also took a trip to  some sand dunes in a city called bani. the sand dunes are right next to the ocean and the president was a little worried about some of the missionaries getting close to the water. I saw some pretty big iguanas and lots of sand. the president rented some sleds and a bunch of the missionaries went sledding down the dunes. it was one of the funnest activities that the mission has had in a while and there won't probably be another any time soon. because the mission president isn't really focused on that. as well as it was an elders only activity so that sucks for the sisters but it might have been good to separate them. the sisters had their own activity which was painting rocks which doesn't sound as fun as chasing iguanas and sledding down a hill of sand. I also got to see my companion form the mtc and we hung out for a bit and had some fun.

with the language i think I have improved a lot and fast as well. I am lucky that I started with more than one language when started learning spanish. that had helped me a lot to keep all of it in my head and add some more. as well as my accent is a lot easier to understand than a lot of the missionaries. i had a couple members telling another missionary and I that my accent was easier to understand than his and he has almost a year in the mission (not to sound prideful or anything). I am just glad I had lots of help along the way.

Elder Stimpson told me that he just transferred to join another set of companion in Hatillo.  

Elder Stimpson said his companions are:  Elder Kunzler who have been out six weeks longer than Elder Stimpson and Elder Reyes, out for thirteen months.  They both are from area of Salt Lake City.  Elder Stimpson is excited about working with them and will inform us what they are like.  Elder Stimpson shared some pictures of what he did today.  He was very excited to see his old MTC companion as well.