Howdy!

Hey Everyone!

So this week has gone pretty well I guess... Pretty basic, normal week, but good. One huge highlight ws that we went to a zone meeting on Thursday and on the bus ride back we sat by a monkey! Some guy had a little monkey in a cage so he let it out and let us play with it for a little bit and I took pictures too! I forgot my camera at home, but I will make sure that I bring it next week to get some pics sent off. (Oh, by the way, I sent my memory card off Thursday too so hopefully it will come soon.)

We have been knocking on tons of doors lately looking for families and single men of priesthood age and we have actually found quite a few married couples! At least more than you would meet in other parts of the country. Anyways, we have met and taught with some really nice, cool couples but the problem is that they are all completely satisfied with how their life is going right now. I am guessing that's how missionary work in the states is, and if I'm right, I feel bad for those guys. We meet awesome couples who are already married because they wanted to live the commandments of God and for that they have been extremely blessed! They say they have peace in their lives from the churches they visit and that they believe that they are on the path that God has for them, so they see no need and don't really have much desire to switch churches... We bring the spirit to them and explain to them really well what the difference is in this church but they just don't want it! It gets a little frustrating at times but we are trucking along.

For the past three days the sky has looked like what I assume the end of the world will look like! Even thought it was storming hard right on the Haitian border, the island is small enough that we had some pretty hard winds and some constant, solid rain. Yesterday, it rained from 8 in the morning until 1 in the afternoon straight! I don't know if I have already told you yet or not, but Dominicans and Haitians are deathly afraid of the rain! They believe that if you get a raindrop on your head, you are automatically doomed to a severe cold, so you can imagine how many people ended up coming to church. A grand total of 12 members, including children!  Only 6 of them were actually Dominican, haha. The lack of investigators at church put back a lot of their progress, including Alfredo and Nerrpys, but I am getting a little worried that if we continue to push back their baptismal date, it won't happen. They are still doubting and he still isn't reading like he should but instead, is just waiting for the answer to come to him and it doesn't really work like that. To show God that you want an answer, you have to put forth an effort and show him and he hasn't really been doing it. We'll just keep praying our hardest for them and work our hardest but we can't really force them to do anything.

What I have is what the missionaries here call "The Rice Pooch." The only options for food here are either rice or pasta. Both of which are straight carbs, so yeah. I have a rice pooch from all of the carbs, not necessarily from all of the goodies, you can keep those coming haha! What the missionaries do here is the six months to sexy when the last six months of your mission, you get up extra early to work out super hard, diet, and pray so that the pooch disappears before you go home! So far I am on track to do just that. The resistance bands are actually really good mom, especially the jump rope. I won't really get buff from them or anything, but I can burn some extra calories. OH! I got your package on Thursday too! The Gold Bond and zip lock cups are lifesavers and good American chocolate candy is unbeatable.  I already read all of the priesthood and conference talks and I am so sad I missed it! It was and incredible session, especially President Uchtdorf and Elder Dearon.  I am way excited to read that whole conference over again.

Was the trip to San Francisco planned or spur of the moment?  That is awesome that you and Dad did a Segway tour and I want a pic of that if you have it.  Dad said you guys ate so much good food that it would be cruel to talk about it!

Apparently the hurricane wasn't too big of a deal in Haiti, but the bigger problem is that cholera is spreading around.  Word on the street is that the Dominican's are closing off the what used to be open border now and killing people who try to cross illegally to prevent the spreading of the sickness.  I have heard over 500 deaths from cholera up til now, but I don't know how reliable that is.

Thanks for the boys sports update!  That is cool that Dan is picking up volleyball so well and how are Alex' knees?  Fonze is really growing up.  The picture you send was hilarious - thanks!  Sorry that this e-mail isn't very blog friendly.  For some reason the flow of my writing is just off today.  If you could throw in some cortisone cream in the next package that would be my only request!  I love you so much and have a good week!

Love, Elder McBride

 Elder Sunderhaus

What a Week

Dear Family!

Wow, that story was way cool about the girl you baptized in Chile still being strong in the church. Dad, you should definitely share some more of that stuff with me and the other boys, as well as some of grandpa's mission letters.  I would LOVE a few copies of some!

You said that you found a little Cuban place that you are going to try.  I hope you like it!  Out of all the foreigners that I have met in this area (tooooooooooons) - Cuban's are hands down the nicest out of all of them!  Americans all have the misconception that Cubans are all like Fidel Castro or something.  But they are the coolest, nicest people ever!  If the church could get into the country, I bet a ton of people would be baptized.

I haven't heard really anything about the uproar about the Boyd K. Packer talk, but I don't really understand why any faithful member of the church could get mad when all he said was established, true doctrine straight out of the scriptures?  Are members of the church starting to justify homosexuality of something?  If they are, they might as well just start drinking wine every once in a while because medical science says that it is healthy - right?  It's too bad that people are upset, because he is an apostle inspired by God.

Mom told me a little bit about the big storm you had last week and that sounds crazy!  Did the hail do a lot of damage to some cars or was everything in decent shape?  We have had a ton of rain this past week, but not any intense storms for a few weeks.  I still love the rain tho!  Us Arizona boys can't get enough of it.

Anyways, a little on the week over here in the DR.   We had a crazy one ourselves.  The power was out all week - so no washing machine and no fan.  We took our mattresses out on the porch to sleep but ended up sleeping on the tile floor because it was cooler.  It turns out that the light bill didn't get paid so we have been trying to work all that out.  Then today, the water got cut off (that happens all the time in this country), so today, we had to no electricity and no water - haha.  When we got back for the day, it was all back on - yay!

We have a baptismal goal/date!  There is a Haitian man named Emanuel who we have been visiting for some time and he was never a great investigator, but he would show up to church every once in a while. So, after a lot of talking it over with Elder Sunderhaus, we decided that the only thing to do was to give a baptismal goal to him and see if he would accept it.  If so, great - we would keep working with him.  Well, it turns out that he accepted the date of the 23rd of this month!  He was a little nervous about it, but I think it will all go well, and he came to church this last week - so I am really hoping that it will all work out!  President Antivilo will have to come out and do the baptismal interview, because there are no other missionaries in this mission allowed in our area.  Elder Sunderhaus and I and the President and that's all.  Not even the AP's or the zone leaders, so I hope that President will be able to make it out here by the 23rd, or it is even possible that he could do it over the telephone . . . so we'll see.

So although we had a great week putting down a baptismal date, we also had something tragic happen.  One of our investigators was murdered.  His name was Junior.  He was Haitian and he was just in town for a few months to visit his brother who lives over here.  on Saturday night he went down to the town of Veron - about a 20 minute walk from our house - to go visit a friend.  Somewhere between 9:30 and 10:00, a man from England who's wife had cheated on him, walked into the streets with a gun and started shooting everyone in sight, then himself . . . Junior just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and was killed.  I can't help but wonder about how he is right now . . . he was accepting the message well, but if he honestly had plans to visit us in church the next day, he probably would have been safe in his house.  I am just glad that my companion and I were being obedient and weren't out late.  That could have been the end of us as well....It is a sad experience, but it has really made me realize that the amazing act that Jesus Christ completed, takes away the sting of death.

We have interviews with the President this Thursday, which I am really excited for!  The church mission headquarters changed interviews with the President from every transfer, to every other transfer - so it has been a good 3 months since I have really been able to sit down and have a good talk with him.  I really wish that the missionaries had more opportunities to get closer to the president, but I will take what the church gives me. :)

That is about all that I have to say for this week, but take care and I will talk to you next week!

Love, Elder McBride

Spiritually Fed

Hey Mom!

Sorry about the pessimistic e-mail last week.  I really don't want to write those kinds of letters.  Oh well, leave the past behind you right?  I  have come to terms with the area and now I am just working my hardest to improve things any way I can.

You asked me if the families that I work with have more money than in my other areas.  The answer is there are really only two families that we are working with - and yes, they are a ton richer than pretty much any other place in the country.

In between sessions of conference, I ran a baptismal interview and had to fail someone for the first time - which was pretty disappointing. :(  He had some certain problems in his past and so now we have to wait until the mission president can come out and conduct another interview.  I just tried my best to reassure him that he still can get baptized if he has fully repented of his sins . . . and I really feel like he has, so I think he will get baptized in no time.

So conference was amazing wasn't it!  It seems to get better and better every time.  I am so jealous that Emily got to go to THREE sessions!!  Now that I have gotten my priorities straight on my mission, conference means so much more to me and I want to go watch it in person again sooo bad.  We went over to the neighboring city of Higuey to watch it with some of the missionaries there because we don't have a satellite here.  But, when we arrived, the missionaries were the only ones who had shown up to listen to the prophet!  With a little bit of time, some other people showed up, but it was a little bit disappointing.  We watched the first session in Spanish.  We can understand all of the translations, but there is so much more power in what they say when it is the voice of the actual speaker.  So, after that, we got a TV set up in English for the missionaries.  None of us were allowed to watch the priesthood session because it was too late and we were supposed to be in our houses before the time that it ended.  But, we did get to go to the Sunday sessions!  I know that I'm not a parent or anything, but that talk on parenting was soooo amazing!  It might have been my favorite talk of conference - if it wasn't the talk of President Eyring.  I was really impressed with how much they talked about putting our confidence in the Lord and having faith in Him.  Also, on how Satan leads us away by the neck with a flaxen cord until he binds us with his strong ones.  The first steps to becoming a disobedient missionary would be to get up 5 minutes late and would just evolve into becoming comfortable with more and more until it would make a missionary an ineffective servant of the Lord.  That to me, is why personal scripture study and prayer are so important.  To eliminate those little strings that Satan may have around us.  I just feel so much spiritual power after a general conference!  Just like I am invincible or something!  I am so grateful for the voice of a prophet who leads and guides us today.  If feels like he speaks specifically to me each time he bears testimony.

The rest of the week went pretty well.  Nothing too exciting or out of the ordinary, but I will keep you posted on the cool things that happen here in Bávaro!  I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love, Elder McBride

Hard Week

This is my cake a few days late!

Hey Momma!

I'm sorry my e-maiI's are kind of lacking in certain areas right now. I know how much you like to hear about the people I'm teaching and baptisms, and a little bit about their stories, but the truth is that I haven't written much about any of that stuff lately because nothing is happening. No matter how hard I work or how obedient I am, I haven't really seen any success or people progressing in the Gospel of Jesus Christ...I wish it were otherwise, and I wish I had cool stories to tell - but most of the day is spent sweating in the hot sun, knocking on doors, which get slammed in our faces a few seconds later. I had never had a door slammed in my face in the whole year I have been in the DR. That is the reason for not talking about people too recently. Alvin, the one I was talking about before, just kind of disappeared off the face of the earth, and we haven't been able to establish any kind of contact with him.
  
All of this stuff may seem kind of bad to you - but if anything, it has helped me a ton personally. When I am having a ton of success baptizing a person a week, I don't really have to concentrate on what I am doing wrong - because everything seems to be going great! Out here, I have had to question myself a million times wondering if I am the kind of missionary that I am supposed to be, and put myself through the refiner's fire to make sure that I am. I haven't seen much success lately, but I am comforted in knowing that I am doing all that I know how to do. I have learned to rely more on the Lord our here in Bávaro and serve with all of my heart, might, mind, and strength. I don't need to see cool miracles or have 100 baptisms to feel good, because I know that you guys and my Savior are proud of me if I am giving all that I am.
  
When the president called me a few weeks ago, he told me to work just in the area right around the church - to support the decision of the stake president in putting the branch here. So, I haven't been able to get to know the members as well as I would have like to. We have one member in our neighborhood, and the next closest is about a 30 minute bus ride away...One of the members in the new branch presidency is doing really well, and has come to church both times that we have had it. The other two haven't really been coming, but all we really need is one, right? there is one cool family, headed by an RM, who has come to church two weeks in a row! He was a branch president in the Capitol, and then fell away our here. We will try our best to get him reactivated again because he knows a ton about the scriptures and stuff, which is something that we really need out here.
  
So I opened the 1 year mark package a day earlier than I was supposed to because I found an ant trail leading into it, so I cleaned it out and taped it back up and . . . waited! Everything seems to be find though - thank you for everything! I also just got a package from Emiy today filled with goodies and a yoga book - which I am way pumped for! Still waiting on the Chelsea package ...
  
Well, I need to e-mail the boys back and finish up, but I hope you all enjoy general conference this weekend!

Love, Elder McBride

WHAT? - HALF DONE ALREADY!

Dear Family!
  
Sorry that the e-mail is coming a little bit late today.  We headed over to La Romana last night and are just getting back now because we had Zone unity stuff to start out the transfer - including a soccer game in which I scored the winning goal!
  
Thank you so much for all of the birthday stuff!  It was an awesome birthday even though I was so far away from everyone.  Mom, I got my birthday package and my half-way package when I went to the Capitol to pick up Elder Sunderhaus - so don't worry.  I didn't get the one from Chelsea though . . . sorry Chels.  The birthday package was so full of good stuff that I didn't even know what to do!  I especially appreciated the kit to make animal balloons!  I never would have even thought of asking for those, but they make the best little gifts for the little kids on the streets!  I am going to start doing that for the little member kids in the branch and I will be sure to send home pictures.  Elder Sunderhaus and I did end up going to Tony Romas for my birthday and WOW . . . it was amazing. :)  I had a blue cheese bacon burger and he got the half-rack of ribs - and we switched part way through to try the other's meal.  We also had onion rings and they brought out a big free ice cream brownie at the end for my b-day!  After all of that excitement it was a normal day of work, but it was a good time.  :)

 Elder Sunderhaus

My Bacon Blue Cheeseburger!

So this past week has been awesome with Elder Sunderhaus!  We get along great already and our only major problem is that we talk way too long into the night about all of the people we have in common and things like that.  He was way pumped when he found out that Trevor is going to Nicaragua and that Rob is going to Mexico.  They should all do great and we can all speak Spanish when we go home!  We are working super hard and being really obedient and clean.  Finally . . . a clean companion!  As a missionary, you find out a lot of things about yourself and I have realized that I am a pretty clean guy.  Unfortunately, most of my companions haven't been - and I refuse to clean up after them.  I even watched ants form an ant hill on a dirty plate of Elder _____________'s one time.  Gross Right?  Anyways, Elder Sunderhaus and I gave the house a good deep clean and we plan on keeping it that way!  We also decided to mess around with the hot water heater and it works now!  I can't express how wonderful a hot shower feels - even if it is really hot outside.  There is just something about it. :)
  
So when I went to transfers on Tuesday, I got to say hi to Elder Despain again!  He is doing great and was super excited to get started!  He said, "I feel like my entire life has just been building up to this moment", and he kind of looked amazingly filled with joy.   I took him one of my favorite ties and gave it to him to get him started on his missionary collection.  He will probably have a million more in no time, but I was the first!  His trainer is Elder Blake and he is downtown in the Capitol in the Santo Domingo Zone/Stake. - somewhere I have never been . . . I think I am doomed to stay far away from everyone for my whole mission.  I don't really know Elder Blake very well.  He is in Elder Campbell's (my old companion) group - so he has been out about 15 months now.  The only interaction I have really had with him has been kicking a soccer ball in his face as he was playing goalie a few months ago.  From that act of bravery and dedication, I am sure that he is the kind of missionary that gives 100%!  But, always remember, the trainer doesn't make the missionary.
  
You asked how we got to spend time at that resort on our P-Day.  There is a semi-active member in our ward who is from Venezuela.  He is the Number 2 guy at the hotel and resorts RIU in the Dominican Republic.  He hooked us up with an all-access day pass and let us roam around free for the day!  It was soooooooo beautiful!  If you do come here, I would highly, highly recommend it.  We ate a ton of amazing food and played some sand court volleyball (don't worry - not on the beach) and just enjoyed the luxury and all that.  Probably the best P-Day in the history of all missionaries ever!  (It's amazing how different the circumstances are in the different areas Taylor has been in.  In Monte Plata, his first area, it was in the jungle and I felt like he was in the middle of Africa.  Now, look at him now in Punta Cana.  What a difference!)
     
The Stake President came last week and talked with me and asked for recommendations for new leadership in the Branch and he amazingly took my advice.  The Branch President is the same, but he put in two new counselors and a secretary who came a few amount of times.  I think that with their new responsibilities that they will step up their behavior and be the leaders we need.  I hope . . .  President Antivilo just wanted me to focus all of my time and talents on the missionary work because doing the stuff that I was doing was cutting into all of my proselyting time and just not stuff a missionary should have to worry about.  So, I am EXCITED!
  
That is way cool about Cole's mission call - and Brandee and Mason getting married, and all of the other stuff that is going on back at home!  Sorry that I don't have a lot of time to comment on it, but just know that I am paying attention!  I love you all so much!

Elder McBride

Just wanted to post some pics to contrast all 3 areas

Looking out the window in Monté Plata

Outside in Valienté

Taylor's Church/Home in Bávaro

Re: Happy 20th Birthday!

Dear Mom,
  
Thank you so much for the birthday wishes!  I haven't received those packages yet, but I might get them tomorrow at transfers!  I don't have a whole lot of time because we got to chill at the RIU resort today and eat at the buffet all day and do all of the cool activities that they offer that don't have the water.  It was sooooooo fun! - but I will talk a little more about it and send pics when I have time.

  
Transfer calls came last night . . . and I am staying here still to help the branch out!  The stake presidency visited us and called some counselors to help out the branch.  They are less-actives, but hopefully at least one of them will show up every Sunday.  I am getting sent Elder Sunderhaus - my friend from Red Mountain High School, so I am really, really excited!  He is a great elder and we are sure to work real hard together.  I should be going to the Capitol tomorrow to pick him up and escort him out here.  Hopefully I will be able to see Elder Despain and be able to know who his trainer is and stuff.  I am sure that he will get a good one.  I know some really good elders who are training this transfer. haha.
  
I am trying to reactivate a less-active in my branch who is a baptism of Elder Fuentes.  He told everyone out here that his family owns half of Arizona I guess . . . :) anyways, that is cool that you were able to chat about the mission with him a little bit.
  
Tell Dad happy birthday again for me!  I hope it goes well over there and I have plans myself to take a little bit of money out of the home account so that I can buy some Tony Romas for my b-day!  Yuuuum:)  Well, sorry that all my time got wasted at the hotel today.  I will make sure to write an extra super long e-mail this next week to make up for all of that.
  
I love you so much and tell everyone I said hi!  Oh, and I sent Sister Montgomery a letter pretty recently, so I hope that she gets that soon!  I got a shout-out from Elder McDermott last week!  One of the senior missionary couples in my mission has a grandson who is in the same mission as Brock and my name got mentioned.  He said to say hi to me.  Crazy small world right?!

Love, Elder McBride

Happy Birthday Daddio!

Dear Family,
  
First I will tackle the questions and comments:  1)That is coolio that Sister Despain read my blog about seeing Jeff.  I bet he is gettin' super pumped to come out into the field next week! 2) We were only in Santo Domingo for one day. We took a bus and headed straight back.  I saw Sister Antivilo this Sunday at stake conference and it was good to see her.  3) No, no apostles have come lately. 4) I stayed the night with the zone leaders.  One is from Managua, Nicaragua - which is where Trevor is going, right?  5) The president of my branch that is so sick is President Rafael Rodriguez and he has been president since a year ago when the branch opened.  6) No, I can't have a bike since my area is so big.  Bikes here get stolen or broken too easily so there aren't any in the entire mission.  7) You should tell Cassie to send me one of her wedding invitations!  Tell her and Jeremy hi for me and congratulations :)
  
So this past week was quite the week.  We were super busy the entire time, but hardly got any proselyting done at all!  It turns out that the old secretary of the branch was paying the power bills with undeposited tithing money, so I had to work with the stake to fix all of that up.  The electricity in the house went out - so I have had to try to get someone to fix that and it still isn't finished.  I had to find transportation for the members to use to get to stake conference and still try to find the time to teach people.
  
For all of those reasons and others, President Antivilo called me last night really late and we had a long discussion about the area.  He doesn't want me to have to deal with all of this stuff.  He doesn't like the situation he put me in at all.  He said that I am one of his hard working, high baptizing missionaries and he wants to put me somewhere I can be more effective.  He wants me to be a full-time missionary - and he doesn't know if this branch is stable enough to have missionaries . . . He made sure to tell me a thousand times that none of this is my fault, but he is going to have to really decide if this is an area that can progress anywhere in the next little while.  He told me that he put missionaries here because the stake president begged him to, but that he didn't really know the situation that well until he came to the La Romana Stake Conference this past week-end and talked a lot with the stake president.  So . . . where I was once sure that I was going to stay over here and be able to try to help the branch - now I just don't know.  It is kind of a toss up decision.  I would be pretty embarrassed if my area got shut down, but I know that none of the blame is really mine.  He just wants missionaries to work in a place where they can concentrate on the work and where there is priesthood leadership and support.  I want to try and turn this place around.  I will keep working my hardest and it will be hard to have to leave here after how badly I want to help fix it - but I will do whatever the president wants.  I guess we'll see what will go down next week in transfer calls.
  
Well the week was good besides that I guess.  Elder Martinez - a Puerto Rican Seventy came and spoke to us which was pretty cool.  It was kind of a cross between a stand up comedy session and an edifying talk.  Church leaders like that just inspire me!  Every time I hear someone like that, I just want to be exactly like them and it really just pumps me up.  President Antivilo spoke as well, and it is amazing how comfortable he looks and speaks in front of so many people.  I have seen that a few times now and it really impresses me.  I wouldn't be surprised if he goes pretty far in church leadership by the end of his life.
  
Today we went to Manatee Park finally!  Wooohooo!  It was actually really cool!  They had a bunch of shows like a dolphin, parrot, native and horse show.  They were all pretty good, even though they don't quite compare to Sea World exactly - but I wasn't expecting it to be like that either.  Another part that was really cool was the variety of people that were there.  We met people from England, Cananda, Poland, Russia, Brazil and pretty much every where else in the world.  I am pretty sure that I was the only American over there.
  
Sorry I had to draw out a little more money.  My watch broke so I had to go buy a new one, and I also took a little more out to support myself with.  It is like we are trying to live in America on a Dominican salary in this area.  I have talked with some people high up about it and they refund our traveling - but it doesn't help that much.
  
Well, that is pretty much it for right now.  Take care and make sure you make dad's birthday good!  Happy birthday dad - I already sent a letter a few weeks ago - so hopefully it will come in time.  If not, I'm sorry :)

Me by a HUGE iguana!

A huge motorcycle downtown

The dolphin show at the Manatee Park

Our house/church building

The downstairs of our house where we hold our meetings.