Christmas week

Hi to you all!  We had the privilege of talking with Elder Stimpson online twice this week.  On Monday and Wednesday.  He is doing great.  Just that this week, the missionary work became a bit more laidback due to the request of their mission president.  The new rules were laid out to all missionaries, particularly during this week.  A lot of Dominicans usually celebrate this holiday with a lot of drinking and parties.  Mission president didn't want his missionaries to get into a dangerous situation on streets and nighttime.  He asked them to stay off streets and go to home at eight p.m.

Dominicans don't exchange gifts but celebrate with huge groaning plates and plates of food to eat.  After Christmas day, they usually give the food out to passerby and neighbors.  Gifts exchanging usually are done on Three Kings Day and that's on January 6th.  As in the words of Wikipedia:  Biblically, Three Kings Day commemorates the day that the three wise men, Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar, visited baby Jesus after travelling across the desert for twelve days bringing him prophetic gifts. ... Here, in the Dominican Republic, there are many traditions that go along with Three Kings Day.Biblically, Three Kings Day commemorates the day that the three wise men, Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar, visited baby Jesus after travelling across the desert for twelve days bringing him prophetic gifts. ... Here, in the Dominican Republic, there are many traditions that go along with Three Kings Day.

Elder Stimpson and his companion will be facing transfer day in two weeks from now and they are waiting to hear from their mission president on which day they will be having a zone conference.  Elder Stimpson also talked about soon having hump day in February.  He is very excited about that!!!

Here's an email we received from him last Monday.

hey how's it going? things are going good. things have been rolling along. we have been working with a good amount of people one was almost baptized until we found out that she wasn't really married. she told us she was but not civilly. but I think the missionaries will still try to work with her. but other than that we have some that could show some promise but it's still too early to tell.

we had a pretty eventful monday though. I bought a couple fun things for christmas like a blow up hammock, a yoga mat, and some chips mostly salt and vinegar. we at out as well at a place called jade teriyaki style. which seems like an american made restaurant but it has a dominican twist.

yesterday we ate with our land lord who lives just below us. they gave us chicharron and tostones made from ripe plantains. chicharron is a big chunk of pig fat fried and tostones are fried plantains here they call them fritos in the poorer parts. 

Elder Stimpson gave us more news regarding the family . . .  And he has been developing his skills in playing piano.

hey hows it going? I have been doing pretty good. the work has been progressing well. my son and I get to stay together for a transfer more. I was biting my nails since yesterday hoping I would get to continue training and finally I get left alone. seems like president wanted to keep me in one place for once. but a family we met two weeks ago finally got baptized and lucky me I can go to their sealing in a year. this past week we have eaten with someone everyday so we have a lot of food stored up which means more spending on things I don't need (yay!). I got a big bag of sweets. to the season. they started planning a missionary choir and I showed up the first day and realized that I didn't want to do it any more only because it was chaos and the missionary who was supposed to help us improve only made it more complicated. thats ok though its the thought that counts. I have been thinking of buying a mini piano to practice because I found out I can play piano thanks to the 6 years of trombone and one year of percussion. lets see if I can become a master by the end of my mission. I also found an interesting banana that looks like two but they are stuck together. I am also sure that he only charged me for one so I got one free banana.  anyway thats about it. until next time

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11.27 e-mail

Elder Stimpson was very excited to share some news with us on 11/27.  He discovered a family who had testimony of the gospel and wanted to baptize.  Here's his words:

hey guys hows it going?  I am doing great. I feel a little more rested now after going to the temple even though I left earlier than normal. that was my second time going to the temple. and this time it was very relaxing. even though the temple is really close you don't get the chance to go as often as you want.

I finally got my camera and its very nice. exactly what I was looking for. its a samsung camera and I am able to connect to the wifi and send photos straight to the email from the camera. which means less chance of getting a virus on my camera.

that family of gold we found last week is getting baptized this saturday on the 30th and we are very excited. mom, be expecting some really nice pictures.

at the moment there hasn't been much going on.