Semana Santa

Wow! What a week I can't believe that it is already Wednesday. We have done so much this week and have had a lot of success.

Thursday was planning in the morning. We had some really good lessons today. We were suppose to have an activity but idk (I don't know) what happened, but it got cancelled.

Friday we had intercambios. I went to Los Reyes (neighboring town)  with Hna Feliz. While we were walking to a cita for the first time since I have been here or that I can remember, some guy saw us walking and he started talking saying that I need to return to where I belong and that I need to leave his "place" here the Dominican Republic.... he just  kept going on and on talking saying I don't belong here. After we passed him we just started laughing and thinking it was funny. It was a lot of fun being in Los Reyes with  Hna Feliz.,  but I missed not  being in La Unión.

Saturday we got up earlier than normal so that we could go to the church to play basketball with the Elders. That was a lot of fun. I hadn't played in forever.  Afterwards we traveled back home. It was so nice to come back to La Unión. We had some good, hard, interesting citas.

Sunday we sang in church.... YES!!! I sang in church. I know~ right?? I can't sing,  but everyone here thinks I can. They might be deaf or something. lol! We sang A Child's Prayer. I sang in English and Hna Santana sang one verse in English with me and then when we combined she sang in Spanish and Manuela (a member) sang in Spanish. it turned out really cool and everyone loved it! Our day was awesome we had some really good citas and did a lot of service.

Monday was a really good day. We had so many citas. At the house of one of our citas a guy showed up and started flirtting with me and asking if I need anything..?  He said he will buy me anything I want and that he will come to church. Man,  it was so funny we were all cracking up. In one of our citas I was talking to an investigator that has had a lot of time with the missionaries; I was inspired to ask if she has ever asked God if this is the true church. Come to find out they have not so we challenged them to ask God. That  cita was very spiritual and really cool. I recommend anyone that doesn't know if this church is true to pray and ask God before you deny what you have not done to know for yourself.
 After that lesson it was  a members 8th birthday  and her baptism. It was a lot of fun going to her baptism.... Here is the DR when you say it starts at one time, it really  won´t start until an hour later. The baptism was so spiritual! I know that this church is true and I am so thankful for the opportunuity that I have to share this message with others to  help change lives.

Tuesday  was a wonderful day! We went on intercambios all day with a couple of members so we a lot of citas that day. Hna Santana and her member went and contacted  and my member and I went to the citas that we already had planned.
 We received a directory of all the members in the ward and there are 207 families. We only have about 15 or less that come to church every Sunday so we have a lot of work to do with the menos activos.
We had another English class . I  like teaching English.

Wednesday, (today) we went to the misión home to see the Doctor... because the pain still hasn´t gone away and now not only is it my chest it is my stomach and head too. I got that checked out and I got some medicine to take. On our way to the mission home we met a girl that is studying abroad here and is from St. Louis.
She was so nice, she didn't live in our área but we did give her a folleto with our number on it.
 After we saw the doctor we actually took a shower at the mission home because our water never came today and we felt nasty. For the first time in a long time I took a really nice HOT shower!!! It was awesome!
While in a ruta (taxi) we saw a SUBWAY that is being built here in Santiago; that was the coolest thing to see.  I miss Subway so much! Later on while walking to catch a ruta a guy on the street asked me if I wanted icecream and that he would buy for me... I told him no thanks! Man,  if i wasn't feeling sick maybe I would have said yes, haha:). Hna Santana just makes fun of me because the guys here are always asking me if I want something. (that's pretty common here with Americans) I told her we are going to start giving them pamphlets everytime they do that now.
It's the end of our day and we are emailing.  We have a good night planned and rest of the week planned for us. 

This week is going to be awesome because we have a lot of members planning to go out with us because they don't have anything else to do this week because everything is pretty much shut down for Semana Santa (Semana Santa is the Spanish term for Holy Week, the week preceding Easter) the people here are out of school all week and there is more drinking and partying in the streets.
We have Heard the weekend is even worse. Don´t worry we will be careful!
 

 I hope everyone has a HAPPY EASTER!
 

I love and miss you guys!

Until next week!
I hope you have a great week!


Hermana Heather Peugnet

Hermana Santana and I

Hermana Santana

A ward member and I

 

 

General Conference (4-9-14)

Hello:)

 

Thursday was a good day,  we did a lot. We planned for the next week all morning. We did intercambios (Someone who will talk with you in Spanish, an then in exchange you will talk with them in  English)  with a couple of members which was awesome.  We got a lot of citas done.

Friday was an interesting day. We both woke up not feeling good with the worst headaches ever so after we had our companion study we took a nap for about an hour, hoping it would help us feel better.... I wish it would have taken the pain away,  but it didn´t.:(   It didn't stop us from going out and doing the Lords work. We went and visited  several people.  We visited a lady named Evelyn who is a menos active (less active)... we had a really good lesson with her.  When we first saw her she told us not today.  We asked her if she was sure she wanted us to leave and she changed her mind. At the end of the lesson she was thankful that we had talked to her and that she had changed her mind because  she felt better after talking to us. That night we had English class at the church. It is so much fun teaching English...  and at the same time it always helps me with my Spanish too.

Saturday we went and cleaned the church in the morning before Conference. A little bit later we went to the store to grab a couple of treats to share for Conference. We didn't get to watch Conference because the connection was bad but,  we did get to listen to it with the Familia Oritz. It was hard listening with their little girl running around and people talking & asking questions. However it was a fun expereince!

Sunday Conference was the same as Saturday (bad connection, so we only got to listen) except this time other  members came too. They brought their kids into the room where we were trying to listen to Conference just to hang out and talk, like we were there to babysit. It was a little interesting but funny at the same time.

I just cannot wait to read it in the Liahonna so that i can study it and get something out of it...

Monday was a good day we had a district meeting and learned a lot like always. We had some amazing citas. It is so cool to see how that  the gospel can change peoples lives for the best, and to see people that actually want to change their lives and come unto Christ. At the end of the night we had a NHD with Sandra, her son Andy and the Elders. We talked about baptism. I sure hope one day he will get baptized and see all of the blessings that God has in store for him. We actually talked a lot about about baptism that day.

Tuesday  morning we helped the Familia Ortiz move. Yes, it is possible to move someone in just 2 hours and  we did it! When we arrived nothing had been packed... so when we got there we started from scratch. It was a lot of fun! Later we had a couple of citas with menos activos that have been hard for us to get a hold of.. It was awesome to finally be able to get to meet with them. We, actually Hna Santana taught English.  It was so much fun watching her teach English. I helped her when she was stuck. We were only teaching how to introduce ourselves so it was pretty easy.

Last week we worked a lot with the menos activos that we have. During this transfer it is my goal to activate a couple of the menos activos because we have so many in our area.

Our companionship is getting so much better too. We are learning from each other.

Until next week! 

I hope you have a great week!

Te Quiero Mucho!!! 

Love,

Hermana Heather Peugnet

General Conference with Familia Oritz

General Conference with Familia Oritz

Moving day for Familia Oritz

Moving Day:)

 

 

CHANGES....

Wow~ not only was my companion changed,  but some of the people have changed here too. Quite a few actually are helping us more by going out with us. It has been so nice!

 So, yes this week has been very interesting with a new companion and all.  It has been a little hard, but I know that we were put us together for a reason.  It has been good.

Thursday and Friday I don't really remember all that  happened, but I do know that they were good days. We were able to do a lot and get a lot of citas done. If a cita fell through, we would stop by  investigators and members houses  so that Hermana Santana could meet them.

Saturday was a  good day. We had a couple of citas that were really good.

 

 Unfortunately on Saturday evening when we went to go watch Women's Conference (in English... yes my companion and an member too)  it just kept freezing on us so we weren´t able to watch it. So,  because we had a member with us that speaks English we watched a conference talk from President Monson. It was so cool, because the talk we chose ended up being exactly what she has been needing in her life right now.

 

Here it is in case you would like to listen to it:)

     

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/we-never-walk-alone?lang=eng&query=

 

Sunday was a really hard but good day. Everyone at church or our investigators who didn´t know that Hermana Colton left was asking me about her. It has been a challenge adjusting to a new companion. Hermana Colton was always there for me to talk to about anything... it didn't matter, I trust her so much. For some reason it was a very emotional day. However, we had some really good citas later on durning the day. The  members are helping Hermana Santana get more in the area are trying to help more with the work too.

 

Monday and Tuesday were good days with citas, and it has been awesome having the members help us more.

 

Right now we are also in the search of finding new investigators as well as working really hard with the menos activos too.

 

We had a NDH with the Familia Ortiz, it was so cool! We also started up an English class this week that was a lot of fun. I started them from the beginning with they ABC´s. I love watching them try so hard to  learn. It is cool because I know what they are experiencing because I am still trying to improve and learn Spanish better.  Learning another language is NOT easy. :)

 

Wednesday we hiked El Pico. It was a lot of fun. This time we took a different trail... it wasn't the same as the last time but it was still good. After we got back I got a phone call from a family asking us to do service. We didn't get back from doing that service in time to email yesterday so that's why this is a day late.

 

Today has been a good day so far. I am so tired from our hike yesterdady,  but that's just  part of life right??! 

 

The mission is not easy but it is so worth it I have learned so much since I have been on my mission and my life has changed so much! 

 

Hermana Santana: She is 20 years old, from Santo Domingo.  For the last 2 years she has been living in Utah going to BYU. Yes, she speaks English and has been  helping me a lot with my Spanish and I have been helping her with her English. She is 1 of 4 kids in her family and is the youngest. She has 6 months in the mission. We are already learning so much from each other it is awesome!    

Until next week! 

I hope you have a great week!

Te Quiero Mucho!!! 

Love,

Hermana Heather Peugnet

Made it to the top of El Pico

View from El Pico

Up in the clouds on El Pico

El Pico

Frameli, Leah and I on top of El Pico

Frameli, Leah, me and 3 Elders

Lala, Dailene, Hermana Santana and I

Hikers:)

On our way to El Pico

Scenery along our hike to the top of El Pico

My Zone!!

My new companion HERMANA SANTANA and me