Elder Ryan Bird

Hey Mom,
Well, I'm in the same boat as you. All I can really think of is "SEE YOU NEXT WEEK!" (to my readers, that's exactly what my mom said to me).

I'll be spending next monday in the office so I probably won't be able to write home. So the next time you hear from me will be in person. This last week we had a tropical storm. We actually spent one full day in the house and the next day we spent a good portion in the house before leaving. We didn't have anything bad out here. We had a ton of rain but there was no report of ANY damage whatsoever in Barahona. But I'm doing well.

Anyway, that's about all for now. I'm trying to find a way to get all of Elder McMahan's photos, but these computers are messed up. I'll see what I can do.

Love,
-Elder Bird

Hey Mom,
Here we are with just another normal week. I wouldn't say that there's a whole lot new from me, but I'm glad to hear that all keeps going well back home. I am surprised to hear that Dad and I will be speaking on the same day. I think I've just been getting too lucky with my mission talks. I gave my farewell talk when Jared gave his homecoming talk, and I'll give my homecoming talk when dad is assigned to speak. That'll be fun.

Well, sounds like girls camp was a success this year. I hope Kara had the time of her life. Do you have any fun stories of wacked up things that happened? I didn't know Kara had an iTouch. I'm glad that she's making use of it. Maybe she'll have to teach me how to use one when I get home.

I think its funny how you mention the District 2 dvds. Dad mentioned them to me a while ago and I told him that its the same stuff that we see here in capacitations. We're supposed to use them on a weekly basis in district meetings, but we don't always have a tv nor dvd player available. But knowing what'll come to the mission, they'll become a little more available. But I'll be gone by then. Its all good though. I'm quite familiar with all the stories that you told about these investigators. It is kind of funny to see the reactions of some missionaries to these dvds. I think I told you that so long ago the first thing I noticed in these videos were carpeted floors. I would make a joke that I was getting 'trunky' when it would show downtown San Diego shots before the video. Elder McMahan asked me if I recognized where the missionaries lived. I told him that I didn't, but that I recognized all the bay shots that they do. I'm also convinced that one of the missionary companionships is located in La Jolla, but I don't know.

Well, things are going normal here in Barahona. I did mention that I was going on an intercambio back to Neyba last week. It was an unreal experience for me. I remember this area just about as well as the current missionaries. I went and contacted some old streets that I contacted and I taught in a house or two that I did when I was here so long ago. I did get a little gypped on the member visits though. I told Elder Vilorio that if there was time I would have liked to visit a couple specific members. When I thought that we were going to have time Elder Vilorio pulls out of nowhere an hour and a half lesson on tithing to 3 kids who aren't older than 10. I was a little bummed about that. But it's just what happened. I at least had the opportunity to see the area and see a couple of familiar faces.

Yesterday we had two guys from my group go to the office (who are going home early). Elder Grant and Elder Pratt are in the office right now waiting to go home. Elder Grant asked me if I had the chance to make the decision again if I would go home early or not if I would change anything. I told him that going home 2 weeks early would be convenient...but not needed. So here I stay in Barahona working out my last 2 weeks. These will fly like no other. Not to mention that I'll only be able to write home one more time. There isn't even enough time for me to send hand written letters home. Anything I send now will get home later than myself. We only had one mail visit so far and it was last week. So, I imagine that there are a lot of people wishing for a letter from me. But I'll make it up to them with a personal visit before that letter could ever get to them.

Anyway, Elder McMahan and I are working hard to find new people to teach. We have a few people of interest and we'll see how they progress. We are having a bit of a problem with one of our baptismal candidates who has been busy for the last 2 weeks. His dad, who is a member, is going to visit him today to try and motivate him a little more. After all we can do, the missionaries can't do more.

Well, that's all I got for now. Hope everyone is having a great summer and I can't wait to see you all soon.

Love,
-Elder Bird

Hey Mom,
Last week was definitely a crazy week with the strike. But all is well here and everything is back to how it was. When the stores opened back up I definitely went and bought a little more stock of food to have.

Sounds like Kara is going to have a fun summer. I hope that these 3 volleyball camps will serve her well. If you need help getting her to get in better shape for volleyball I could try talking to her =P But its all good. I imagine that the 3 volleyball camps will get her into good shape. I hope that these camps help her to just be even more ready to slam some ball in the next volleyball season. Does Kara have a chosen position that she wants to play? In the last season I heard that she played outside hitter...I think.

Chris went to London and Paris on his honeymoon? That sounds fun. Is there any motive besides the fact that Paris is the city of love? Does Amber speak french? Do they have any fun visits that they'll be doing? (monuments, parks, etc). I guess that may be a question for them.

I'm sure that dad is just loving giving talks in church once a month. I definitely had areas where I could completely relate to that. Sometimes I think that its a little funny that its easier to give a talk when there's an assigned topic. When there isn't an assignment...the sky is the limit on that. Sounds like dad gave a great topic and had some "fun" personal experiences to share. I remember when he came back from that rafting trip and basically said, "Yeah, I almost drowned out there." But dad seemed to know how to tie it in to how we gotta know "pure truth" to get us out of sticky situations.

Those are some pretty fun coincidences that you told me about. I assume that Tessa Walton is back from Israel then. I hope she had a great time. Its a bummer that Elder Young isn't in my zone anymore, he'd love to hear how Tessa is doing. And I think I heard that a girl from Chris' ward is coming here to the DR. I imagine that I won't see her as she comes in. I'll be in the mission office from Sunday afternoon until Wednesday morning. She'll just go straight from the airport to the CCM. But when I came to the DR we saw a group of guys in Texas who were coming home from their mission. And by the way, what time will I get home when I get home? It was a topic of discussion this last week and I don't know. Yesterday was my "1 month until I leave on the plane" day. Elder Grant was telling me about what time some elders are leaving, who they're leaving with, and what time they get home. Apparently he told me that I'll get back at a decent hour (5ish). But all is well.

You got a letter from President Almonte? That's cool. That brings me back to a question that I asked about 2 years ago, I don't remember if I got a response. After I got into the mission field, did you guys get a letter that had my "letter home" (handwritten) with a photo with the Almonte couple and I? I remember that Jared had a pretty legit picture with him and the Roundy couple, I just want to know if I'll be able to see that pic that I had.

Anyway, this last week was normal as always. We have an awesome district all in the same house. So we've been having fun telling mission stories, pre-mission stories, and just good ol' american talk. We're a house of just 6 basically best friends. We go out and work hard every day to come home to a great house with great people.

This last week we had a baptism, Anthony. He's a 13 year old who has a strong testimony. He's the first in his family to investigate the church and Elder McMahan and I want to start teaching the rest of his family. We'll see if they have any interest. I'm having some interesting camera problems. It always says that my fully charged batteries need more charge. I'm not sure if the problem is with the camera or the batteries. But I'm will to bet that its my camera that I've had for 3 1/2 years that has taken quite a few hard falls. So, McMahan has most of the collection of photos. I'll probably just get a copy of all of his photos at the end of the transfer so that I have something to remember this area. But I'll still do what I can with it. Anyways...Anthony was stoked for his baptism and we ate a BIG cake after it. It was a fun event.

On Sunday we had a pretty cool experience. We had an american family show up, the Tanner family, to church. Elder McMahan and I were waiting for a family outside of the chapel and out of no where a big SUV pulls up and a man walks out saying, "Hey Elders! Do you know a good place to eat breakfast?" We talked to them and they got a quite bite to eat somewhere locally and they ended up coming back and visiting our ward. They are a family of 12, but only 10 were there. So they made quite a...show (for lack of a better word) when they popped up. They apparently have been living here in the DR for 11 months and will be leaving pretty soon. The oldest kid who was here on the trip was 22 years old and is studying computer science. We had a fun talk to get to know this family.

Anyway, that's all I got for now. I hope things continue to go well. I hope Kara has a great volleyball camp this week!

Love,
-Elder Bird

Hey Mom,
Well, I guess I have to respond to what you're probably thinking right now. "Why hasn't Ryan written home yet?" And when you get this you'll probably wonder why I'm writing you on a Wednesday morning. So all will be answered right now. On Monday there was a nationwide "welga" (or a strike). It had something to do with the bus system but every store was shut down here in Barahona this day. We weren't able to do basically anything on Monday since there was nothing open. I, luckily, was probably the only elder in our house of 6 missionaries (that's right, 6 AMERICANS) that had a little bit of food. So I went the day fine and most other missionaries went hungry. I offered them what I had, but only a couple missionaries accepted. But, all is well. The joke I had is that I normally have a HUGE stock of food in the house, but since it was week 1 I haven't done all my shopping. Then when my first p-day comes around to do my big shopping, ALL stores are closed. But its all over now and there's no harm done.

Anyway, I'm glad to hear that Chris' wedding went well. Where are they for their honeymoon? Sounds like the marriage was definitely a story. I'm glad to hear that there weren't any problems though (with food, events, etc).

But yeah, just to get the short message that President Rodriguez is giving us, I'll give a little up to date about the mission. I am so stoked that Elder McMahan is my last companion. Not only that but we have the coolest house in the mission. Its huge, has 24 hour light and water, and has the COOLEST missionaries. Myself (duh), Elder McMahan, Elder Grant, Elder Robertson (last Christmas I had his name for the gift exchange), Elder Money (I took his spot in Los Angeles), and Elder Brezack (I went on an intercambio with him in Azua and is the "son" of one of my favorite missionaries). I am so happy for this last transfer that I have. Not to mention that the entire zone has a lot of my great friends in it including: Elder Sanchez (from San Juan), Elder Goodmansen (from San Juan as well), Elder Rumbaugh (from my zone in Yaguate), Elder Falor (my ex-ayudante), and a couple other missionaries that I just know. I don't think that this transfer can get any better.

Yesterday we had interviews with President Rodriguez (so that's why we are writing today instead of yesterday). He took a good amount of time with each elder to get to know him. Elder McMahan and I were the first ones to go being the zone leaders. He basically didn't say a whole lot to me cause I'm "dying" this transfer as we say. To write more of our mission language, President Rodriguez asked me what my goal for the transfer is and I replied "I don't want to become a 'dead' missionary." He then shared with me that in his mission on his last day he worked and got home late at 10:00. So he encouraged me to work until the end and not let up any effort. And seeing as how I'm ending this transfer he didn't tell me a whole lot of things. He showed me some plans that he has for the mission and they're GREAT! I told him a ton, "Wow president, this'll help the mission a ton. I'll do what I can to help." I'm stoked for these missionaries who will be with President Rodriguez. Elder McMahan told me a ton of things that Pte. Rodriguez told him. They're going to apply a bunch of resources to the mission to have more efficient capacitations for the missionaries. Including personal DVD players and they'll probably let music back in the mission. I'm a little bummed that I won't be around for it. But I paid my price and I'm almost finishing. The most I can do is be excited for these other elders.

Anyway, I'll get more in later. We have a baptism planned for this week and the following and I'm excited for them. With the strike and interviews Elder McMahan and I are set a little behind for the week but we'll work hard to get this baptism ready and work hard. Love and miss you all!

Love,
-Elder Bird

Hey Mom,
I'm glad to hear about home and that you guys are having just a great vacation. Sounds like this is the week that all the fun begins. What day is Chris' wedding again? By the time you respond he may be married already. I just remember that its either the first or second week of July. But is all good.

Happy 4th of July to everyone back home. I celebrated today by wearing a sweet american tie. I happened to see an american girl in a restaurant that we ate in today (La Esquinita). She commented on my tie. It has an american flag design with the statue of liberty on it. Its just a one time deal. Since its p-day, not a whole lot of people will see me with it. I'm just being patriotic =D

I was thinking the other day of how Dan Tueller and Matt Bosen are getting home from their missions. Matt should be returning shortly after July 15th (he got the report date that I wanted/put on my papers, so that's why I remember that). So Dan should be returning probably the week before that. I remember when all of us left and now its our turn to come home.

Anyway, time for the news that you've all been waiting for...transfers. I'll just say, in the ENTIRE mission there are very few changes since we got a new mission president. I am one of the few who has a change. Yes, I am going. One thing I'll say is that this transfer can't be any more perfect for me. I've had a lot of things I've wanted to do at some point in the mission and a few things will happen just in this last transfer. So, I'm going to be Zone Leader in Barahona. This completes my desire to 1) Be in the Barahona zone to see the bay again, and 2) Be in a zone that has one of my old areas, specifically 3) Neyba. And I've got the coolest comp in the world and his name should ring a bell. My final companion will be 4) Elder McMahan who was my MTC companion. My very first companion in the mission will be my very last as well. Its so nuts. I'm stoked for it. So, to make it even more perfect, Elder Grant from my group will be in the same house with me and I have a few other friends who will be there with me in the zone. It couldn't be any more perfect for me. Not to mention Barahona apparently is a great tourist place, so I should be able to get some good souveniors there. Not to mention it has a rare stone that is only found in Barahona. That's something I've been wanting to get my hands on.

This last week we had our first zone conference with the new president, President Rodriguez. He has a young family for being a mission president. He has his wife and 3 kids with him. His oldest son is 15ish, his next son is 13ish, and his daughter is 10. President Rodriguez seems pretty motivated to work with us and help us. He gave us a list of things that he expects of us and he will do a lot of things to help us out. President Rodriguez served a mission a long time ago and knows what goes through the mind of missionaries. So he'll be a great help to us.

Well, there's only really one mission related thing that I really have from this last week. I went on an intercambio in Padre de las Casas with Elder Van Moos. This is the area that had a special transfer and was white-washed for it. So I was able to see how the elders have adjusted to their new area. Elder Van Moos commented to me that this as the best intercambio that he's ever had. I enjoy them and I try to make them enjoyable. It was a great experience for me. The missionaries there in PLC will continue strong and will work hard.

One funny story that happened before I end. You may ask why I share this, but its funny cause it was the only time it has happened and it was a very ironic moment. Every week when we wait for one of our members to leave with us we wait in the backyard under a big tree. The tree offers a nice shade for us to relax as we wait. This backyard also is FULL of pidgeons. Every week I have thought about how it kind of frightens me that they're above us. My companion, Elder Romero, also brought it up. ¨What if they decide to attack us?¨ I kind of chuckle and we stay under the tree. Minutes later...they NAILED me! I see something fall from above and land on my pants and my tie (luckily my shirt wasn't touched). I got pooped on by one of these pidgeons! What was even funnier was it happened at the beginning of the day. But luckily I was able to clean it up before heading out. Just something fun.

Anyway, hope all goes well with the wedding and hope you all have a great week!
Love and miss you all!
-Elder Bird
Only 6 weeks to go

Hey Mom,
With all the great things that you're doing I wonder how in the world my letters home can be the 'highlight' of your week. I honestly don't find them too exciting, but I always say that. Maybe I should just stick with my current style of responding home cause that seems to be the way you like to receive them.

I have definitely thought about staying in touch with mission friends after the mission. I have many friends, so I don't know who I'll stay in contact and for how long. I can definitely say that 3 guys from my group are going to BYU-I and they'll hang out after the mission. I'll definitely keep in touch through internet, but I don't know who I'll hang out with after the mission. There is an Elder in the mission that I'll probably see again, but that's cause I saw him in one of my classes before the mission (he was enrolled in CS with me). I definitely want to hang out with my step-kid (Elder Bagley, forgive my use of mission terms) when he finishes. Not to mention I'll probably look up my old american companions to hang out with them at least a time or two. I've done a lot of thinking about this topic.

President Almonte is heading out this week (I think Tuesday). Our new mission President, President Rodriguez, comes on Tuesday. I believe that I'll have two interviews with him. One to get to know him and one to send me off from the mission. We'll see what happens though. President Almonte had a tradition to take the leaving missionaries to a 5 star restaurant in the capital. We hope the new president continues that tradition. But we'll see.

President Northcutt is returning now? I remember when he got his call to be mission president. I'll bet he will have a ton of stories to share for the fireside that he'll do. I'm glad to hear that Mike Groesbeck is doing great in the MTC. I certainly can't wait for him to get out in the mission and start working. I hope he has a great experience. Although 9 weeks is long in the MTC, the elder who are going to Japan last about 3-4 months in the MTC. They're usually pretty tired of the MTC when they get to that time to leave.

Sounds like the summer fun is just about to start for our family. I can't believe that Chris' wedding is just around the corner. I remember hearing about it as if it were yesterday. What is the exact date again? I just remember that it's week 1 or 2 in July. That'll be here before we know it. Don't forget to send pictures! Of course, that comes from the hypocrite that hasn't sent photos for months. But I can say that last week my memories (camera and USB) were hit by a virus. My USB is still messed up, but I went to print photos off last week and there was a woman who cleaned up my camera memory for me. And speaking of great photos, we had a P-day activity were we took some great photos of the scenery here in Azua. We decided to go to climb to the top of a hill. Turns out our guide (a member in our branch) ended up taking us to the beach. Some guide, huh? So we took a couple photos of the ocean and beach and then we went and climbed up a nearby hill. I'm not sure if its the same one, but there are some great shots on my camera. I'll have to see what I can get uploaded when the time comes.

Anyway, I'm glad to hear that you guys are all doing well with the summer preparations. Things have been pretty normal here in the DR. We are anxious to see what happens for transfers. We have been doing what we can to teach our investigators. They're willing to listen, we just need to help them to strengthen their faith a little more. This last week Elder Romero and I came to church to find that none of our investigators showed up. We went looking for them to remind them beforehand, but turns out that none of them came this week. We`ll see why the next time we visit them.

Our entire zone is working hard with not too many results. We have a couple areas that we need to help out. So we're going to have some intercambios this week to help these missionaries finish strong.

Well, I'm glad to hear that you guys are doing well. We're working hard to try and get some motivated investigators. We have a ton that are interested and have a lot of potential. We'll see how we end the transfer. I hope all continues to go well with all of you. The next time you hear from me you'll know how/where I'll finish the mission.

Love and miss you all!
-Elder Bird

Hey Mom,
Glad to hear that you guys had a fun week. You're certainly going to be QUITE busy in these next couple of weeks. The great thing about that is that it'll make time fly by faster for you. So all of these wonderful things that are going on will arrive before you know it and you'll just have a wonderful summer. I'm excited for Chris' upcoming wedding. That is something else that has kind of snuck up on me. I'm excited for everything (I originally wrote 'all the things,' I'm losing my english) that'll be happening in these upcoming weeks.

From a conversation that I had with dad in the previous week I certainly thought about when I'd be speaking in church. Seems like it's already planned out for the ONLY Sunday I'll be home. That's another thing that I thought about. When will I be heading up to BYU and when does BYU officially start? Those are two dates that would be good to know.

I hadn't thought about how this past weekend was Father's Day. I guess that's cause Father's Day here is at the end of the month. I'd like to extend a Happy Father's day to all who apply. I hope that it was a great day for everyone. I did chuckle at what you said about Dave Moehle's markers of a successful home improvement project, 1) Ending with less broken things than you started with, and 2) Getting a new tool from the project.

Anyway, this week stayed pretty normal. We have had quite a bit of cloudy weather which is supposedly strange here in Azua, but its been pretty common in my stay here. But I think its cause of the time of the year. Today we went to a city called "Peralta" and we took some great photos. It was a fun activity and a little longer that I wanted. But it was good. We ran into a group of 3 americans who were volunteers for "Amigos para America" or something like that. We met 3 juniors-to-be from Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It was a pretty fun experience to see what brings other people to foreign countries.

Its kind of funny to see what little notes I made throughout the week. It brings back some funny memories. So I mentioned that there was a special transfer going on last Monday. There were actually two that we had to help with. One of our areas was white-washed (both Elders left) and one of our 'ayudantes' switched spots with an elder in the office. So we spent basically all of our last P-day with the other ayudante as he waited for his new companion from the capital. He's a fun and great guy. Afterwards Elder Van Moos and Young (the very same who I was with in San Juan) came and we drove them to Padre de Las Casas in the ayudantes' truck (I didn't drive, but you get what I mean =D). We've got some pretty fun pictures from that day.

The following day, Tuesday, I had an intercambio in Sabana Yegua again with Elder Mejia. It was a good intercambio. I do have a funny story. At the end of the day I was really thirsty and I wanted to buy a big bottle of soda to last me the night and breakfast (yes, I sometimes drink soda for breakfast, but only on intercambios :) ). We were at a colmado that is right below the missionaries' home and I say, "Do you have a 'big liger' of soda?" Big liger is what they say here to mean a 2-liter soda or bigger. She goes, "Yeah" and gets me a small bottle of soda. I say, "No, BIGGER! Give me the biggest thing you have to drink." She then grabs me a bottle of soda that is a little bit bigger. And I go, "No.....BIIIIIGGER!! The biggest that you have." It was just a funny story because this little girl was trying to get me a soda but wasn't getting what I wanted. The mom had to come over and get me what I wanted. It was a fun little story.

My other intercambio was a story. I can't remember if I mentioned this, but we had a special transfer in week 2 where Elder Espinal, the one who was in my same room in the CCM, came. I went on an intercambio with him. It was fun because it had been so long since I had really seen him. We were able to talk about things that happened since the CCM. We share two areas in common, Yaguate and Los Angeles. So we were able to share stories and experiences from these two areas. He is a great guy....he is a little 'flojo' as we say. He needs a little more motivation to work and I tried my best to do so. It was a fun experience.

On Saturday we went and taught Carmen and Jimmy and for the first time in the mission I left with our Branch President to go teach. I've had some pretty busy leaders, but I'm glad that I was able to leave with the Branch President in this case. There really is a big difference between normal members who leave with us, and ex-missionaries/branch presidents. He was a big help for us and I'm grateful for his help.

Anyway, that leaves us to today. Things have been pretty normal lately. This week is President Almonte's last week as our president. Our new President will be President Rodriguez and we'll start with him next week. We have a special conference this week to what I believe is to say goodbye to President Almonte (despedir). So this will be a touchy week for the Almonte family.

Hope everything is still going great!
Love,
-Elder Bird

Hey Mom,
Glad to hear from you as always. I'll make a first announcement saying that we'll probably head out any minute now, so I'll get all I can in and then just send the email as is.

I'm glad that your Arizona trip went well. I had no idea that Kara hasn't played Settlers until yesterday. That is always a fun family game for us. I just remember that with the Francis Family that game gets....fun. As they say, "With whatever you get away is legal." I can't believe that Chris' wedding is coming up so soon. Its just around the corner.

Congratz to this year's graduating seniors. I remember when Whitney Petersen and I were in the same class (when I was a senior and she was a freshman). I don't know if you remember but we were in the same Internet Publishing class. Probably one of the classes that I had the most fun in. Feel free to ask Whitney about how much I loved our "Flash Projects." What are all the graduates' plans for college? I imagine that I'll see those who go to BYU.

Anyway, whatever news I can get in. One thing I didn't mention last week. My companion likes to cook chicken and has been cooking quite a bit of meat for us. Last week he bought a chicken and he says, "Awesome...we have the butt!" So, I've got two items to add to my list of interesting things to eat, "Chicken...rear" and this last week he convinced me to try eating a Chicken Foot. They're not quite as great as I thought it would've been. In fact, after trying at it and giving up my companion said to me, "Yeah, in all reality its not that good at all. But we dominicans love eating them." I don't know if I mentioned that dominicans eat chicken feet here. I don't even know what they eat, I learned this last week that it doesn't have any meat. Its just all bone and doms LOVE eating bones...as do the dogs here. I can't remember if I told you about my experience in Yaguate when I told a member to coach me through the process of eating a bone. Not one that I'll repeat but it was something that was fun to do.

Yesterday Sunday we had quite a surprise. 8 people that we invited to come to church came yesterday. 2 less active members and 6 non members. Our new investigators class was HUGE. So we've got some work to do. What is great is that all of these investigators are families or investigators with member "family members" (I hope that description makes sense). So, if I leave Azua in the upcoming transfers, I'll once again leave my area with a lot of baptismal dates (if I leave like I'm pretty sure I'll do). So that shows what my job has basically been like my whole mission. Take areas and turn them around. We'll see how these investigators progress. They each have their individual situations.

This last week we started our zone intercambios. I stayed here with Elder Ramirez who replaced me in Yaguate. We spent a TON of time talking about Yaguate stories and experiences. I confirmed with him that 3 of his baptisms there were investigators that I had when I left. He's a great kid and has a lot of motivation to work. It appears to me that Yaguate is an area that makes or breaks missionaries.

Anyway, there's not a whole lot from this past week that's out of the norm. So I'll give a little insight on our current investigators. Our investigators of great interest right now are a couple, Carmen and Jimmy. Both of them have religious background but do not currently attend a church regularly. They're both medical workers. Carmen is from here, Azua, and Jimmy is from Haiti. They're both very intelligent and very interested in listening to the messages that we share. We've been focusing a lot on Priesthood authority because Jimmy asked us if he joins the church if he'll need to be baptized again. Right now this is Jimmy's big doubt because he feels strongly about how he doesn't need to be baptized again. We have been teaching a lot about how the Priesthood was restored to Joseph Smith and has continued within the church until this day. After this lesson he's been a little less motivated but we're given him some time. But Carmen definitely took a BIG change. She started out a little uninterested but now understands what we teach and is reading the materials we leave for the family. They've gone to church twice now.

Anyway, that's all I got for now. Sorry that this email isn't that exciting, but I'm still working hard everyday. Each day just seems to similar with all the things we do, but each day we as busy as nothing else. I get home everyday exhausted. Love and miss you all!

Love,
-Elder Bird

Hey Mom,
I got an email from Alisha telling me about our newborn family member. I guess this makes another kid from one of my siblings that I'll need to meet. Back when I heard that Alisha was pregnant, something did make me think that she'd be delivering in July. But, that's fine. Even better, Alisha told me that there were no problems and that all is well with the family. When you said "I love the newborn stage where you just hold the baby and they just sleep ever so peacefully" I definitely thought that it isn't just for newborns but also for old time missionaries. If someone came and held me right now I'd sleep peacefully in their arms! =D I won't even cry, I promise. lol...I hope you got a good laugh out of that. I hope you enjoy your last couple days out there in Utah visiting family.

I'll go ahead and address this question before talking about my week. I definitely have been keeping eyes open for souvenirs to buy. I can't see anything real traditional (like the instrument that Jared bought me). I can just see some great things to buy that would be great from "who-knows-where in the world it came from." They've mostly been great ceramic items that would break easily in my suitcase. So I've been keeping my eyes open to see what would look good. I think I mentioned that an idea place for me would be to go to "La Sirena" since they have Dominican Republic specific souvenirs. I can't say that I have seen any weapons stores to bring home things like Chris' swords and his axe that he got for us. But I'll keep looking =D Not to mention that I'm pretty sure that I'll be ending the mission in a different area. So we'll see what happens with that. I'm definitely open for ideas. I'll probably take a look at some clothes stores to see if I find some cool shirts. Not to mention that the Haitian market is 75% clothes.

Anyway, this last week was a pretty normal week of missionary work. I did mention that we were going to have a baptism last week and it happened just as planned. Again, her name is Anabelis and she practically said, "I'll get baptized on this day and not a single day after." She was really excited and happy for her baptism and basically all of her member friends came to her baptism.

This last week has been quite interesting with water situations. We had a ton of rain this last week. Once again, that's quite unusual for Azua. My companion is kind of trippin' out from it. Also, our water pump for our building has been broken for quite a while. I find it a little funny because we have 'tinacos' which are big water containers that typically will last us a week. So it makes me wonder what our neighbors were doing with the pump BEFORE we ran out of water. But we were at least able to fill up some containers from a different neighbor to last us for a while. So last week was the first time in a long time that I took a bucket shower almost everyday. On Saturday we were able to get water into our 'sisterna' (well) and we pumped water up to our 'tinaco.' So we've got water now. Elder Romero and I will take responsibility over the pumps to make sure that we get water. Before it was just our neighbors, but they're pretty tight on time. So we offered to help them out.

I do have a funny story that happened on Sunday. We were out contacting and we met a wonderful family in the process. In introducing ourselves they introduced each other one by one. The mother had a small boy on her lap and says, "Como te llamas?" (What's your name?) and he says, "El DIABLO!" (the Devil). It was kind of funny. What makes it funnier, 'diablo' is a pretty strong word here in the DR. I don't know if it is other latino countries, but whenever I talk about 'the devil' I tend to say 'Satan' instead. I don't know if I mentioned this, but the youth here have a pretty loose tongue and say quite a few curse words in Spanish...and English. When you explain to them that they're terrible words to say it just causes them to say it more.

On Sunday for church we had quite a surprise. We have quite a number of interested investigators but haven't come to church yet. This last Sunday we had a family show up in the middle of a lesson I was giving in Sunday School. I was pretty stoked to see them because our last lesson with them was...bold is what I'll say. Not strong...but bold. So they showed up Sunday to church and the husband AND wife had a good experience. So I imagine that we'll see them more in church. We've been focusing with them the importance of Priesthood Authority to teach about a baptism is valid if done with the proper authority from God and done properly. So we'll see how they progress. We also plan on working with Clarinel's mom, Claribel, to try and help her take steps towards baptism. Claribel is going through some steps (attending church, participating in lessons) but we'll see if we can get her motivated to be baptized. She wants to be, but she said she needs some time.

Anyway, the missionary work is progressing here in Azua. I can't believe that we're starting week 3 already. I'm almost halfway done with my 2nd to last transfer and it feels like I started it just yesterday. I'm glad that all is well back home and I hope things continue like so.

Love and miss you all!
-Elder Bird

I'm glad to hear from home and glad to hear that things are going well. I will start off the email by telling one of my few highlights for the week. This past week I got two letters in the mail from 2 of my best friends in the whole wide world. I'll say that DearElder has worked some magic while I've been out here. One of them was a friend that I haven't heard from since I was in the MTC in Provo and I was just completely ecstatic to hear from him. I'll send letters out this week to reply to them.

Well...you can still say that I have a new niece...but you can't say it and tell the truth at the same time ;) I'm excited for Alisha and the Youngberg family. Alisha did tell me that she had a goal to have a kid for each younger brother while they were in the mission. I think when Alisha first told me that she was pregnant I think she said that she was expecting in July-ish. Is she early or am I remembering wrong? Anyway, I hope that the delivery goes well in the next day or two. I can't wait to meet two new family members when I get home (Andrew and Alisha's soon-to-be daughter).

Dax had his farewell this last week? That's good to hear. I can't believe how fast time is moving along. It was just like yesterday that I had my farewell talk and it won't be too long that I have my homecoming talk. Speaking of which, has that day been planned? I imagine not seeing as how I still have 2 1/2 months, but I imagine that with the little amount of time between my arrival and my departure for BYU that we'll need to plan exactly when it'll be.

Sounds like you've had a fun trip there in Utah. Having family gatherings (and reunions) is always fun. I was wondering how so many family members were there for Dax's farewell, but I guess that we do have a lot of family that live pretty close together out there in Utah. Sounds like it was quite an activity. When is Dax's report date again? And he's going Spanish speaking in Boston, right?

Anyway, this last week was a pretty fun week for us. President had his last Zone Leader Council with us and he spoke to us a lot about our Purpose as missionaries. The things that he shared with us made it a little difficult to have our Zone Meeting for the first week, but it was a good message. He just had us share basic principles. His message for the past couple of Council meetings have been mostly about having a smooth transition with the new mission president. But this time it seemed like he wants us to remember why we're out here.

With the start of a new transfer, as always in Week 1 and especially with a new companion, we had a couple of problems come up. But we were able to pull through with our planned baptism, Clarinel. We had to do it Saturday morning to be able to comply with her mother's work schedule. Elder Romero and I worked to the best of our ability to announce to everyone that the baptism was at 10:00 in the morning, but we had a pretty small show up. For me, it was a typical 'campo' baptismal meeting. Although this week should go better with our next baptism. This is Anabelis who I mentioned had the missionary lessons already and didn't get parental permission to get baptized until quite recently. She's very intelligent and very animated. She's excited to be baptized and has a LOT of friends in the church already.

Yesterday, Sunday, we had a mission capacitation that our branch mission leader directed. Until two weeks ago we haven't had a mission leader, so its been quite difficult planning things here in Azua. I told Elder Romero the other day that although I have almost 22 months in the mission, I still don't really know what a 1) Ward Mission leader nor a 2) Ward missionary does. I told him that with my 6 areas, 3 of them didn't have one, 2 of them didn't do anything, and the last one was always working. And even still, I'll probably only spend one transfer with this mission leader and we're thinking that I'll be transferred out for my last transfer in the mission.

Today we had a fun zone activity. But I'm looking forward to what we'll be doing next week. I won't give any details because I want to surprise all of you. But today we went and played soccer as a zone. I don't know if I've said this, but we have quite a cultural zone. Of 12 missionaries we have: 3 Americans (wow, very few), 1 Nicaraguan, 2 Salvadoreans, 1 Chilean, and the rest are Dominicans (which should be 5). So all the south americans were crazy about playing soccer today. Not to mention that we had a random haitian kid playing with us, and soccer is big in Haiti (according to my haitian comp).

Anyway, that's all that I can think of for now. I hope all of you just a wonderful week this week. Summer is just around the corner, so I wish luck to everyone who has finals coming up. Love and miss you all!

Love,
-Elder Bird

Glad to hear on the update for the week. Sounds like things are just eventful as it always has been with the bird family. Not to mention that I'd like to congratulate WV on their CIF championship win. That was an exciting email for me to receive. I'm sure Coach Steve is excited to win that again.

So, I'll go ahead and spill the transfer information since you asked for it (not only that, but it was the first thing asked for). Elder Garcia is getting shipped out to be Zone Leader in Barahona for his last transfer. He'll be companions with a good friend of mine, Elder Alvarez, who was an excellent missionary when I was his zone leader out in San Juan. I'll be staying here in Azua and will receive a most excellent companion. I don't know if I ever mentioned Elder Romero in any of my emails home when I was back in Yaguate. He was one of my elders in my district. He's a really fun missionary and we're already great friends. We're going to have a fun transfer. The only thing that's weird is that he and I have the same amount of time left. Both of us only have 2 transfers left (can you believe it?!?!?). So we imagine that I'll get shipped out for my last transfer so that we don't leave Azua white-washed. But we'll see what happens in 6 weeks.

I'm excited for Alisha's oncoming baby girl. Let me know when I have a newborn niece. Do they have any ideas for her name yet?

I'm glad to hear that the seminary graduation went well. I have to say that Kara's theory is pretty accurate. At least, it was like that when I went through seminary. The freshman and sophomores were typically the ones who just dominated all of the seniors in all the competitions. I hope Kara had a great time/experience. But wow...that just made me realize that Kara is almost done with her freshman year. I hope that she enjoyed it. Has she signed up for next year's classes? I hope she takes AP classes. If not, that's fine. I remember telling Jared when I was in AP courses that there is a FINE difference between the type of people in AP classes and in regular classes. I liked the AP environment better.

So G-Mike has finally reported on his mission. I find it to be incredible. When he gets out to the mission field I'll only have 3 weeks left. I hope he has a great experience. And tell G-Matt to write G-Mike EVERY WEEK! I've really appreciated the fact that Jared writes me every week and its really been a big help. If someone more than just my parents write me, I feel really loved =D But yeah, when you told me that G-Mike concluded the YM program, it reminded me of how I did that as a Priest. It was a fun experience. Right now in the mission, when I give a talk I've been typically the last speaker. I always find it to be quite an honor and a 'burden' to be ¨The Caboose.¨

Well, transfers came at a pretty inconvenient time. I'll have a lot of things to take care of for this week and I hope that I pull it off with my new companion. We have Clarinel's baptism this week, but turns out that her mom is working this Saturday and wants to attend her baptism. Luckily, Elder Garcia and I will be taking care of that today (scheduling her exact time for her baptism) but I'll have to finish it. We also had a mission leader called in our branch here. His name is Cesar Valdez and he has an interesting story. He's blind (and apparently has been all his life) but still served a mission in Santiago many years ago. He's really gung-ho and really animated. I'm looking forward to working with him (which will be a big change for me cause I have YET to have an area where I work with the branch mission leader...if there is a leader). So we'll start meeting with him this week giving him updates and making plans with him. He gave a talk this last Sunday, at his request, and he gave a pretty big boche (reprimand) and a pretty awesome invitation. He basically told the members to get up and going and that he'll help everyone with it. If he leads, I'll bet everyone will follow. So yeah, with this new mission leader, I imagine that we'll get a lot of work done. Not to mention I just might finally learn HOW it has to be done. I've typically been left on my own with my companion for the entire two years that I've served.

Today we had a zone 'farewell.' We ate at a restaurant called 'La Esquinita' (the little corner) and I had probably one of the best plates of food I've had here in the mission. I had a pretty awesome equivalent to Chicken Cordon Bleu. I'm still pretty full from it. But yeah, it was a great activity that we had together and we'll all part ways tomorrow. I've got a great Elder coming into the zone from San Juan, so I'm excited to see him again, Elder Garret. We should have a pretty tranquil transfer for the next 6 weeks.

Yesterday my companion and I had a pretty fun experience. So, during my last interview with President Almonte, I told him that I needed to renew my temple recommend. So he told me to call him the following Monday to remind him. So I did...and he told me to call the following Thursday. So I did...and he didn't pick up. I called him last week because I heard that he was coming to one of our areas here in Azua and he told me to call him at 2:45 yesterday. So I did...no answer. I call him at 3:00 cause I didn't want to lose this opportunity and he picks up saying, ¨Elder, the meeting has already started. Stop by before 4:30 because I'll leave at this time.¨ ¨President, where are you?¨ ¨In the district.¨ ¨Where?¨ Turns out he had a meeting with all of the branch presidents in our mission in our very own building. So Elder Garcia and I got to our building at 4:20...and they get out of their meeting at 5ish. So after waiting for a good time, I go over to president with my temple recommend in my hand, ¨Oh Elder, give me that. I'll send it to you when I'm done with it.¨ End of problem. I found it funny that this problem just ended...LIKE THAT. An easy exchange. But at the very least, I got to see some old branch Presidents. Neyba doesn't have one, so I didn't see any old faces from there. But I saw President Roman from San Juan and to my surprise, President Mateo from San Jose de Ocoa recognized me after at least a year has passed. It was pretty amazing and we had a great discussion. I asked how the area was doing and things are just going great in Ocoa. This was a pretty cool experience for me. And not to mention that I got to talk with the District President from San Juan. So it was great to see some old faces...and by that I mean familiar faces =P

Anyway, that's what I've got for this week. I hope that all is well back home and that you all have a great week! 12 weeks left until I see you all!

Love,
-Elder Bird

Hey Mom,
This week was a good week for us. We got three references this last week, which is a big change from what the branch has been doing. All of these references came from the youth of the branch, but that's beside the fact. Elder Garcia and I are actually excited that we have some investigators now. One of these references had the missionary lessons somewhere between a year or two ago. She didn't get baptized because her mom didn't give her permission to do so. Apparently this last week or the week before she apparently told her mom that if she won't let her go to church that she just go and live on the street. That's apparently the story that Elder Garcia told me, I was on an intercambio at the time. So, on our second intercambio for the week, in which I stayed here in Azua, I had the opportunity to have our first lesson with her (not to get confused with "the first lesson"). She apparently knows everything already, so we'll just review everything with her just to make sure and we'll work with her towards baptism. She's pretty excited and she's pretty good. Her name is Anabelis.

While we're on the report for investigators, Clarinel is excited for her baptism, but it'll have to be the 28th of May. She is going to the capital this weekend, so she won't be able to be baptized this week, nor this transfer. Transfer calls are next week. Wow, that went so fast.

In all reality, our missionary activity was a flop. Most of the youth came (good), but hardly any adults came (bad), and they came at 7:30 (good) for an activity that was scheduled to start at 6:30 (BAD) and the activity actually started at 8:00 (VERY BAD). But at least the refreshments were good. We did what we could for them. We MIGHT try this activity again, but we'll see. We had a couple difficulties. Although we still went with the activities, no one could seem to understand the games that we planned. We had 3-legged relay races, and an activity where there were a couple blindfolded people who had to build a pyramid. They had people who weren't blindfolded give them orders, but they just couldn't touch the blindfolded people. It was a......wonderful activity is what I'll say. It was a great idea, just not a great result. But all is well.

I'm looking forward to a special announcement from Alisha. I can't wait to hear about her newborn daughter in the upcoming weeks. It'll just be another person for me to meet when I get home. I wish the best for the Youngberg family when the time comes.

Kara is learning Fantasy in D? That's a good song. When I first read your email I couldn't remember what song it was, I just recognized the title. When I got to this portion of writing my email home, I put the tune in my head. I do believe that it was Chris and Alisha who played this song. Its a good one. I'll have to get into classical music on the piano when I get back. But when I was at BYU I had plans to do all this and never got around to it. We'll see what I end up doing though. I give props to Kara for practicing though. Something that I regret not having done a whole lot of.

So, one question I had. The last comment you made to me, are we lacking Priesthood in our home ward? If returning college kids and Curtis had to bless the Sacrament, that must mean we don't have any priests back home. Has our ward finally converted into an 'old school' ward where there aren't any youth? Just...old schoolers? I hope that makes you laugh.

Anyway, one thing that I wrote from this last week was Elder Garcia and I helped a family fix their TV antenna. Now, you make think of an antenna on her TV, but I'm talking about something that involves a 20 foot pole and a big 'old school' (while we're using the phrase I'll throw it out there) metal spike thing. I love how great my explanations are. It was also difficult because this "pole" was 3 big sticks poorly lashed together. So, we had an adventure lifting this big pole and lashing it down so that it would stay. It was a fun, impromptu service that we did.

Well, that's all I got for now. I hope all is well back home. I love and miss you all. I completed 21 months this last week.

Love,
-Elder Bird

Hey Mom,
It was great hearing from you in our phone call yesterday. I can't remember if I told you what happened right before calling you. So I mentioned that I called right at 3:00, and didn't get an answer. I called at 3:15ish, and still no answer. So, I go to call at 3:30 (in which you told me that you were home at this time) and as I go to push the "call" button, the ayudantes call me for our weekly report. So I push the "call/accept" button with the intention of calling you, so we had to do that before calling you.

Anyway, it was great talking to every that I did. As mentioned, the FaceTime chats (yes, I was made aware of what that is) were a little hard to hear via phone, but I was at least able to communicate. I do have to say that that's a brilliant idea to let me call more than my family in just our house. I remember when you did that for our last phonecall, I was SOOO confused when I started talking to Alisha. "Alisha, you told me you were going to Idaho for Christmas." Response: "Ryan, we are in Idaho." Elder Bird: "Say WHAAAAT?" Jared: "What." (I think only Jared will get that joke). I was talking to some missionaries and apparently there are some cool things you can do with the internet to make free phonecalls. Using a GMail account, I saw when they came out with the "phone call" feature. I'm not sure how it works, but I have definitely thought about how the world is changing and I probably won't recognize it when I go back home.

Wow...sounds like I won't recognize anyone in church when I go home. Sounds like the whole world is moving out. Just checking, will there be anyone I'll recognize when I get home in August? Sounds like I'll give my homecoming talk to a congregation of strangers.

I don't remember Sam's dad. Did I meet his family at some point in time? I know that I've met some family members from Sam's family, but I can't remember them. Is there a specific event that would help me remember?

Well, this last week has just been a normal week. In our phone call I mentioned what a typical day in Azua is like. Go teaching and have less than a 25% chance of finding our appointments in their homes. After that, fill up the next day. We're going to have an activity this Saturday to try and get some help from the Branch members. We were originally going to have it this last Saturday, but it got postponed for District Conference for Azua which ended up getting postponed as well. But all is well. I had a pretty crazy day yesterday. I mentioned that I'm still playing the piano in the branch here and 15 minutes before Sacrament Meeting started I was asked to give a talk. Which I have no problem with. What was interesting was that I was the final assigned speaker and I started with 30 minutes left in the meeting. Luckily, the Branch President said that he was going to say some things as well.

My talk was based on the scripture in 3 Nephi 27:27, "What manner of men ought ye to be? Even as I, [Jesus Christ]" I focused on how we need to love one another, serve one another, and help one another as Jesus Christ taught us. It went in perfectly with the theme because the other speakers were all youth who spoke about a specific trait from "For the Strength of Youth." So after hearing about these traits I spoke on how we ought to be like Christ and how these were specific traits that we can apply. Don't you just love it when the talks just flow perfectly like that ;)

So yeah, this last week was pretty normal for us. I had two intercambios here in Azua, so I ran the show a couple times by myself. From these two intercambios we had some great lessons, but we couldn't put a day to return since they're going out of town. Towards the end of this week we'll stop by again and see if they got back. They had a lot of interest and understood well, but scheduling was a problem with them. I hope a lot for this week with some other plans that we have.

Anyway, that's all I got for now. I hope everything is going well back home.
Love,
-Elder Bird

Hey Mom,
Its great to hear from you. Not to mention all the great things you have to tell me...one being the information on my itinerary. I will have to say that it isn't quite like my flight plans here (flying through Puerto Rico), but at least it'll get me home. I imagine that I'll be able to make a phonecall or two on my trip home, but we'll see when the time comes. And speaking of phonecalls, I found it rather funny when you mentioned "so we can talk anytime after 3:00 pm your time." It actually happens to work PERFECTLY with what I've spoken with Elder Garcia. I was afraid that you guys still had 12:00 church and that we'd have to plan something a little more intense. Elder Garcia and I will get home at 12:00 and do our zone leader phonecalls until 2:30ish, eat, and finish probably around 3ish. So, we may not have a specific time to set, but we'll aim for around 3/3:30 our time to call home.

I'm trying to remember if Jared told me that he was ward pianist. I want to say that it was a topic of discussion for the two of us, but I can't remember how long ago that was. I mentioned to dad that this was something I wanted to develop. Although I imagine that Jared does a much better job than I do. But its not a competition ;)

I had been wondering lately how Alisha's been doing. It hadn't occured to me that her baby could be coming up soon. I was thinking that she was expecting to deliver late June or early July. But sounds like my 2nd "family baby to meet when I get home" could be coming sooner that I remembered. Keep me posted on that situation.

I happened to see the front page of the newspaper walking around town this morning and I saw that Osama Bin Laden was killed. I hope that means that the war in the Middle East will settle down. I can see one of the two extremes happening, things getting better or worse.

Anyway, I can't believe either that it's May already. Time is flying by like no other. I've only got 2 1/2 tranfers (15 weeks) left. That means that I've only got 15 emails left to send home. I have been thinking about how the mission is going to end. We've got interviews this week with President Almonte (my last interview with him, I should have 1 interview at least with the new President). I'll probably ask him for advice that he has for me.

Work in Azua has been pretty rough. No one really is ever home, but I've had a couple areas that are just like that. So it's not new to me. One thing I'll say though that makes our week even more difficult is that we had a handful of sick Elders in the zone. I'll just mention that I was one of them. It didn't effect the work a whole lot...but I think that its because I'm a little gung-ho. Last Tuesday I felt really tired after eating lunch, we left to work and I had a headache that worsened the entire day. At the end of the day I felt pretty warm and took my temperature and had two readings of 102.4 (I believe its also a great radio show in San Diego). You can probably imagine that I wasn't feeling so great and I took the coldest shower I've ever had to help cool off. My fever left pretty fast though. I'm fine right now. So don't worry for me.

This last week Elder Garcia and I decided to show 'The Restoration' video to Clarinel. We were hoping that it'd help her get a testimony. What I can see from her is that it seems like she takes things in intellectually and not with her heart. So, Dr. Bird will see what he can do to open her heart. That's a problem that we've had a lot here in the DR. I guess I've dealt with the two extremes...the too intelligent, or the wise, and the not intelligent enough. The Gospel doesn't require intelligence, but it requires understanding. Although it can be understood by a child, some people just can't get it. But it has to do more with interest. If someone really wants to learn, they will.

Today we went to a waterfall here in Azua. We went as a zone and we have some pretty sweet pictures. It has been a while since I've uploaded photos and I've been pretty lazy with that. But I think I've mentioned that it just might make my 'mission slideshow' more of a surprise and more interesting when I give it to the family. Kara told me that she's stoked for that. It was quite a walk though, I don't think any of the elders want to do it again. We left at 8 in the morning, and got back at around 2ish. We spent most of the time walking.

There isn't a whole lot new from this last week as I mentioned. But we're still working as hard as we can. It seems like we walk more than we sit (search more than we teach). But things will still move forward. This week should be full of things to talk about for next week though.

Love and miss you all!
-Elder Bird

Hey Mom,
Its great to hear from you and of all the great things that go on back home.

That is quite a coincidence that happened at Cam's graduation. Not to mention that I still can't believe that he graduated already. I'm getting too old for this. I was just thinking the other day that I have to grow up and soon I'll be following in Cam's footsteps. Soon I'll actually have to get a life, a job, and marriage. I can only imagine so many of my friends have already done so, I guess when I get back I'll find out who exactly.

Wow...my last package is on its way. It did occur to me that in the upcoming weeks will be our last phone call. I can't remember exactly which day it is (I'm too lazy to look right now) but just so we don't have to plan later, I'm assuming that we'll do the same thing as we've always done for phone calls. Calling time is what I'll be announcing in the upcoming weeks. My time is about up...

I did read Chris' email and I'm stoked to have another sister-in-law. He did mention that they'll be getting married a month before my arrival due to family issues, but I'm not one to hold Chris back. If you need to, you can print off a paper face of me and hold it up in every photo that I need to be in. I wish happiness to the happy couple, Chris and Amber.

I used to know what an Itinerary is...I can't tell if I should be excited to hear that you got 'my itinerary.' Is that a paper that basically says that I'm coming home, so don't forget to pick me up at the airport? Maybe you can clarify something for me then. Elder Grant in the office keeps telling me that I'll be going home on August 16th, but some Elders tell me (just missionary gossip) that it'll be the 17th.

Anyway, this last week was Semana Santa, but we didn't see hardly anything here. So, I passed the mission without any problems with Carnival. Elder Garcia told me that here in the DR that there are only problems in the capital. Sounds like the capital is just the center of problems here in the DR. Sounds like a blessing to be in the campo (depending on how you view it). I keep myself safe here in the campo, but the people themselves admit that they're 'brutes' as they say. They admit that they're slow learners and not very intelligent. That just goes to show what I've dealt with for 2 years.

This last week was a pretty empty week. Most people were out vacationing, so we couldn't do a whole lot this last week. We worked the whole week, but we could only do so much. This upcoming week should be better for us. But at least we had a baptism, Santa. She's a sweet little girl and was really excited to be baptized. We had what I call a 'campo baptism' where basically we show up with about 5 members and plan the baptism (talks, opening/closing hymns, etc) on the spot. But that's how I've spent my whole mission. That's something else I've learned that's important. I want to support baptisms by attending them when they happen (even if I don't really know the person). I can really see how important it is to the person who gets baptized.

This last Sunday I offered to play the piano here in the branch and I did so. What was even better was that they didn't tell me until the meeting what hymns I was going to play. So I was a little rusty with the hymns I had to play (luckily they were all hymns I've played before), but it was much better than when I played a year ago in Ocoa. For not having played for 1 year, I didn't do too bad.

Anyway, our next investigator on our list is named Clarinel. No its not a typo, her name is Clarinel and her mother is named Claribel. Isn't that just wonderful? She's been a longtime investigator and was receiving the missionary lessons before Elder Garcia got here. When I got here, Elder Garcia told me that she won't get baptized until she truly feels that its right. So that has been our focus with her. We put a date/goal with her to get baptized on the 21st. So in these upcoming weeks, Elder Bird and Garcia are going to whip out the best of what they've got.

Well, that's all I got for now. I'm glad to hear that the family is doing just great and hope you all have a great week! Love and miss you all!

Love,
-Elder Bird

Hey Mom,
Glad to hear about your week and all that's going on back home. These activities that you've been in charge of sound like they were just a BLAST! Makes me kind of jealous of the youth now. I can really see what you mean now when you said that the last couple of weeks have been hectically busy for you. But sounds like you'll get a little of a break right now.

Wow....Cam's graduating this week!?!?!?! Dang...that's a sign of the times. But I guess that you guys warned me ahead of time that it was coming up. Does Cam have any post-graduation plans? Will he just keep working where he's at or does he have another job opportunity?

Well, I find it kind of interesting that you asked me to tell you more about how things are here in Azua now. What's ironic is that this last weekend my agenda just disappeared. Although I haven't written down my daily "stories for home" anymore (which probably explains why there are fewer stories nowadays) I lost my agenda for the first time in the mission. Luckily I lost it in week 1 rather than another week.

Anyway, I mentioned that my new companion is Elder Garcia who only has 2 more transfers left in the mission. He and I met in my first zone in the mission when we went on a intercambio in the Tamayo area. He's just as cool as I remember him being. He's from the part of the country that everyone calls "Cibao" which is just basically the Santiago mission area. But he's a stallion and we get along very well.

This week in Azua the entire district is having a campout for all the youth. This week is "Holy Week" being the week before Easter. What I find to be ironic is that although they call it "Semana Santa" it is a time when everyone just goes out and parties like no other. So, the branches here in Azua have a week long camp that they have where they just basically hide all the youth from things that they'll see people do here. Last year I was in Ocoa which is a pretty tranquil place and I imagine that Azua will still be fine as well. I've been told that things get crazy in the capital. One thing I'm looking forward to is if we get any traditional Dominican Easter food. They have a bean drink that's pretty good that I've had a handful of times called "Habichuelas con Dulce" (Beans with sweet is the exact translation). Beans in a drink sounds weird and it really is, but it's good.

We have a baptism planned for this week, her name is Santa. She's about 13 years old and is going on this week long campout. Which makes it difficult on us missionaries to teach her, but we've got everything sorted out so that she has everything taught and we'll have a chance to review everything with her Friday night.

Azua is a little infamous for being a pretty brutal area. It is hot here, but we've had some very weird weather this last week that has just been killing the missionaries out here. We'll leave the house with a little bit of cloudy shade, we'll find a member to leave with us and leave their house in scorching heat, and then we'll return to the house in rain. This is something that is a little strange for Azua, but I just think its rainy season here. So for that we're just the pawns in Mother Nature's game.

This last week I've had a bunch of confidence boosters, one of them being able to understand my companion when he speaks. So I've been pretty good this last week. Now I did mention that this is an area that's pretty brutal. We have a lot of people who aren't home when they say that they'll be. I think in a day we'll have about 10 people "fire us" as we say. We'll show up and no one is home. It seems like that's pretty big here.

I did have a fun talk with the District President here in Azua. One thing that he told me as advice to my companion and I is that he said there's a big difference in the missionary work when you work from your heart. You treat people differently and you do the same things but in a different way. He mentioned to us how important it is to just get to know the members. That's something I want to focus on in Azua. Not to mention I want to talk to my companion to see what we can do to help animate the branch with everything. We'll see what we can do to hopefully get me playing the piano in church. If I can get time to practice I'll definitely do it, if I can't practice I'll have my limitations. But there's lots of work to do here in Azua.

Anyway, that's all I got for now. Things are going great right now and I hope you have a great week!

Love,
-Elder Bird

PS. What's the status on my classes for BYU?

Hey Mom,
I guess this is where I have to apologize for what happened last week. If you want a confession, the power in the city went out (which doesn't happen so often in the neighborhood where we live) and the internet center didn't have any backup power. So I feel bad that I wasn't able to give you some input for my LAST missionary spotlight. But I'm glad that dad was able to pull something off. I guess you were well prepared with all those questions you've been asking me.

You certainly seem like you've been hard at work with your calling. I found it funny when you mentioned that for your activity you "printed 550 sheets of $100 bills." I was thinking that with a calling like that, I won't have to work in the future, you can just take care of me =P So how did this "Game of Life" work? Were the youth given X amount of money and had to make certain choices depending on the kinds of activities?

Well, you guys seem to have a lot of fun back home. I'm glad to hear about all the things you guys do. Keep yourselves busy and enjoy what you have, that always makes me smile =) Especially hearing about family visits.

So, first things first for this week. This week is transfer calls week. We got the call last night and I'm going to be Zone Leader in Azua now. Going here to Azua will now make it so that I'll have been in EVERY single zone outside of the capital. So I'm for sure a "campo" elder. One thing I do have to admit is that I can only count the Barahona zone because the old Neyba zone was combined with Barahona. So, I'm stoked. My companion is Elder Garcia who happens to be a very good friend of mine. Back in Neyba I went on an intercambio with him when he was in Tomayo. That's when I first met him and I've been saying "hi" to him every chance that I get. Who would've thought that we'd be companions? I'm looking forward to this upcoming transfer. The only downside is that Azua is notorious for being hot. But, I was "born" in the old Neyba zone. I'm used to the heat. Although I may be a little rusty since I've been freezing here in San Juan.

I'm excited for this call that I've had. Azua is the center of the 'campo.' So there are a few more responsibilities that I'll have just because I'll be in Azua. The assistants called me today to tell us how everyone will be transported and Elder Falor mentioned to me that I'll actually be helping out with transfers there in Azua. Azua has the transfer chapel for the campo. So this'll be fun.

Last week I had some good experiences. One on of my several intercambios last week I was able to go with Elder Foster who happens to be from San Diego as well. If I remember correctly, I think he technically lives in Oceanside but just tells everyone he's from San Diego. Our zone is full of missionaries who really put their heart into what they do. On these intercambios I've seen that I do the same as well. For a while I've been thinking that I've just been in a mindless routine. But being with another companion really showed me what I really do. Elder Foster and I had some pretty tranquil lessons and I felt really good about the work I do.

A specific thing that happened with another intercambio. I was with Elder Sanchez and we had a pretty bad day. Everyone wasn't home and things just weren't going too well. Both of us were pretty bummed when we finish the night with 2 great lessons. We had an investigator whose husband happened to be there when we passed by. As mentioned before, we have to deal with the Law of Chastity a lot here since everyone who lives together here isn't married. This specific husband told us that he can't ever be baptized because he "has two wives." Here, we were able to share with him that it was possible, but he just needs to make some changes in his life. I shared with him Jacob 2:26-28, 35 (the commandment and the consequences). We invited him to start making some changes by first praying to know that these things are true. Elder Sanchez and I left that lesson feeling much better. I love intercambios and I try and make them as great of an experience as I can for the other Elder. When we passed by again last night, the husband wasn't home but the wife was. In talking a little bit more about the subject I could definitely see that she described verse 35 when it says "ye have broken the hearts of your "precious/beautiful?" wives." I have come to see how sad people become when they don't follow church standards. They're here to protect us and avoid problems. This husband wanted to have his way and wasn't concerned about how his was was. I hope that he took our message to heart.

Anyway, that's all I can think of for now. I have learned a ton in this last transfer. Not to mention that Elder Sanchez taught me with this lesson to "be direct." Not to mention that I have to be a little more bold, but not overwhelming. I hope all is well back home. I love and miss you all. I complete 20 months tomorrow!

Love,
-Elder Bird

Hey Mom,
I guess I need to explain why I'm writing so early in the day. Last week I mentioned that we'd be having a temple trip, it ended up getting postponed to this week. Being in San Juan we can't leave early enough in the morning to get to a morning session on time, so we had to postpone it to tomorrow and we're going to travel to the capital today. For that, I'm writing home right now so that I just at least get the chance to do so.

I have to admit that I kind of chuckled at your comment of my amazing memory. I guess here in the mission it seems that with some things that I have a terrible memory. I guess that my memory is selective. Some things I can't remember well, but I certainly remember what my missionaries need to have. I guess that I just have certain strengths....and many weaknesses. But I remember the 'stupid cow' story specifically cause it caught my interest and it wasn't too long ago that I read it. I find it funny that it was fairly recently that I finished reading general conference talks only to have general conference next week.

I certainly know the 'sweet' and 'bitter' experiences that you mentioned. The mission is full of them. Although I have to admit...the bitter is usually greater in number, but the sweet is greater in strength. So in the end...it typically balances out pretty well. I imagine that that's just how life is.

I'm excited to hear that Jordan Walton is heading out soon. Its "mission season." A bunch of missionaries will be leaving, and a bunch will be coming home. At the end of missionary season, a very special Elder here in the Dominican Republic will be returning to his home in San Diego. Keep me posted as missionaries come and go. I love hearing about it.

Well, I'd say that like you I just had a normal week. Nothing extraordinary from the norm. We had a very interesting District Conference for all of San Juan yesterday. President Almonte was there himself and gave a talk. He had a topic that appealed well to me. His focus was calling people to act. His basic message was that we won't be given all of the answers, we need to look for them. He had a quote from Joseph Smith that I've never heard before. "Pray to the Father as if all depended on him, then act as if all depended on you." I found it to be quite a motivating talk to get off the couch and do something.

Anyway, sorry for the short email, but its all I got for now. I hope all is well back home and that you all have a great week!

Love,
-Elder Bird
PS. Letters were sent out this last week (finally xD)

Hey Mom,
Glad to hear from you like always. I love to hear your commentary that you have.

Kara told me that you guys were going to Disneyland. One thing that I've thought about here in the mission is that before the mission I thought about how corny some of these places may seem. But when you go with family...who cares? I remember before the mission that one of my most memorable days with my friends was when we went to Disneyland and just had a BLAST together. It wasn't what we did...its how we did it. I made a comment to dad that these theme parks that I took for granted are things that I dream about here in the DR.

I thought you had a pretty funny comment about President Stubblefield's talk that he gave for the fireside. I am aware of the "stupid cow" story. It wasn't too long ago that I read the talk and learned about the "stupid cow" principle. If I remember correctly, it was Elder Arnold's wife who said that as a teenager. But I've come to learn the 'just go and do' attitude here in the mission. I guess what you specifically said goes more with the wisdom of Yoda..."Do...or do not. There is no try."

Well, the missionary work has been going about the same. I did notice how you mentioned that I've started talking about our investigators specifically. Ever since Los Angeles, I've found that I don't like to mention names of investigators just in case we have to 'botard' (drop) them as we say in the mission. To the Spanish speakers, its a spanglish word coming from "botar." Which apparently may be the case for what I have recently mentioned. Typically we go through investigators really fast here in the mission. We help them as much as we can until we can't do any more. And it is usually a fast process here. So, Morena has some difficulties that we'd love to help, but its beyond our power to do so. But we'll probably pass by every once in a while to see how she's doing.

Once again I continue my Zone leader duties by having some awesome intercambios. I was with Elder Young (again) this last week here in San Juan and on Friday I got to go spend a day in Elias Piña. I have a picture of what COULD be Haiti. Apparently these Elders work about a 10 minute drive from the border. I can just say that I had a pretty awesome view and just saw what looked like a pretty drastic change in landscape. It could be Haiti...but we don't know for sure. I'll try and get pictures up when I can. I can't make promises with how busy we are. I'll do what I can though.

One more thing I thought of. I've finally found out where to buy envelopes in this town (after 8 weeks). Tomorrow we'll be going to the capital for a temple trip and I'll be able to get letters sent out (FINALLY!). So I apologize to my lovely fans who have been suffering so much just over a lame reason of Elder Bird not being able to buy/find envelopes. Our local paper store doesn't have them for some obscure reason. But letters should be written and sent out by tomorrow.

Anyway, that's all I got for now. I hope all is well back home. Love and miss you all and see you in less than 5 months (wow...).

Love,
-Elder Bird

Hey Mom,
Love the email as always. I'm glad to hear that all is well back home. Although it sounds like that you're going to have quite a busy week. I hope all goes well with your calling.

We were able to visit Morena several times this past week. We have several investigators with a lot of potential and interest (its been about 4 transfers since I had one of those). We had a fun experience yesterday bringing investigators to church. Of 6 or so homes we went to go knock, we only had 1 investigator go to church just because we happened to find him in the street. So it was a little bit of a disappointment, but in talking with some of them afterwards, there were reasons. Although most of them were just sleeping in...that's besides the point. One family told us about how there were a bunch of drunks screaming in the street and kept the whole neighborhood up during the night, so they were excused. Not to mention, it made our teaching of the Word of Wisdom easier since they could see what alcohol does to people. We have a handful of investigators now who are pretty accepting of the commandments and are pretty motivated. Not to mention that I've motivated a couple more members to leave with us to go teaching since I got my new companion. So this transfer should be an exciting one here in San Juan.

I did hear about the earthquake in Japan. I find it interesting that that's the ONLY disaster that's happening these days. I hope these disasters cease when I get home. But, it's not within my power to change. I can name that after leaving on the mission there has been earthquakes in: Haiti, Chile, Mexico, and now Japan which have been pretty devastating. When I got here to San Juan we had an Elder who is from Chile and he showed me some pictures that he had of the devastation. It certainly is a sign of the times. I hope everyone in Japan is able to recover well from this disaster.

Well, glad to hear once again that things are well back home. I'm glad to hear that you had some family visits this last week. After being here in the mission for so long I've learned how important family visits are...but that's cause I don't get any. Jared told me about how he's looking into housing for BYU for the two of us (if he doesn't get married by then) and I look forward to spending a ton of time with him. Even if we don't room together I'll still spend a ton of time with him. Not to mention I'll be a little better about calling home xD and friends. I've been able to see how just a little phone call is needed and makes a difference.

This last week we continued working as we have been. My companion and I are working hard and so is our entire zone. We have a zone filled with great elders and we had some pretty good results from this past week. I just got a phone call today from the Assistants congratulating us as a zone. I'm pretty excited for this up coming transfer. I love each one of the elders in this zone and hope they have an awesome transfer.

When returning from a missionary exchange I talked with a guy on the bus who told me that he was going to USU (Utah State University if I'm not mistaken) on a scholarship in the upcoming months. He was practicing his english with me and he is a great person. We had a good conversation and I find it quite a coincidence that if he continues studying we'll be fairly close to each other after the mission. Might I mention that distance is relative. Most dominicans talk about how they're going to go study in Boston or New York. I can't remember if I mentioned a funny experience when that happened last transfer. A random man spoke to us in the street and asked where I was from. "California" I responded. He then asked me if I knew a "Victor" from California...which I told him that there are many. He then said, "Well, maybe we'll see each other when I go to the US to study." I then assumed that he was going to study in CA when he said, "Ya, I'll be studying in Boston." I didn't want to tell him that its about an 8-10 hour plane ride from my hometown to Boston. Just fun little things I see here in the DR.

Well, I'd say that's about all I got for now. I hope all is well back home and that you guys have a great week!

Love,
-Elder Bird