This week has been the best week in the mission!

Hey guys give me light (a Dominican phrase- Dame luz)! Happy late Father's Day dad! Too bad I don't get a call for Father’s Day. This week has been the best week in the mission! I got to baptize Cesar and participate in his confirmation! That baptism was one of the most spiritual ones that I have been to. I love the branch we have here, it functions like a ward for the most part. They set up the program and some of Cesar’s good friends spoke and gave their testimonies. I did it right on the first try, not bad for never having done it before. When it was just me and him afterwards before we changed he gave a big hug and started crying in relief that he was finally baptized. He is stronger than ever, we are trying to get him the calling of ward mission leader because the one now does absolutely nothing. He is already fulfilling that calling. He left with us to teach with him last night and he has a strong testimony and knowledge of the doctrines. It is almost better teaching with him instead of teaching him. He has also made some visits to some of our investigators without us!

We have 2-3 people that as of right now are eligible to get baptized next week if they all got to church this week. So we will get some more baptisms this transfer. First we have Eddy a golden reference that we might prepare him for only a month to be baptized. He is one of Cesar’s good friends, but he was a reference from another member. Cesar goes over everyday and talks to him, so he has that support. Also we have Flavio and his wife, they have the desire and a testimony so if they come to church this week we will baptize them. We are finally getting some good support from the branch and they are helping us out a lot. We also have José Miguel who is 18 and is way smart and is already going to institute with his friends so he will be a member shortly.

Last night most of the Elders from La Vega came over to our house to eat pizza and Elder Jimenez (Mexican, not my companion), Elder Kinney and I decided to do something called the Kola Real challenge. In this challenge you have half an hour to drink a 2.6 liter thing of Kola Real (soda). The record in the mission was 12 minutes, so we decided that we wanted to break it. So we went at it Jimenez set a new record at 5 minutes, Elder Kinney 7, and me 10 minutes. We found out the key to drink it faster is drink it fast, throw up, and keep drinking till it is gone. So we all threw up a ton, but we broke the record. I think Jimenez will put it up on facebook in 2 weeks, he is finishing his mission this transfer. But other than that we went to Jarabacoa today, and it was way nice. It was cooler up in the mountains.

But hey guys stay busy, it sounds like everyone is having fun with their summer activities. Take care guys, I love y’all!

Love Elder Smith




Elder Jimenez, Cesar and Matthew/Elder Smith



Branch President, Matthew, Cesar and Elder Jimenez 

Cesar

Some of the Branch Members



Matthew and Cesar





Matthew and his companion, Elder Jimenez 





Elder Kinney, Matthew and Elder James




James, Kinney and Smith





Elders Jimenez, James, Smith and Kinney