Elder Ryan Bird

Hey Mom,
Glad to hear about Daxton's mission call to Boston. What is IRONIC...last week I failed to mention that with Jordan Walton's mission call, he'll see a TON of dominicans there and will probably share with a lot of them. With Dax, he'll probably come across quite a few. I've talked to a few members who've been to Boston. Now, the highest concentration of Dominicans in the US are as follows: New York City, New Jersey, and Miami. At least, to my knowledge that's how it is. I just know that those are the 3 places that I hear the most from Dominicans.

Anyway, I've got quite a few things to write for this week. Last week Elder Grant from my MTC district went on a missionary exchange but as a "helper to the assistants to the President." So, I just love to bring up how Elder Grant and I have just gone through the entire mission together. I can't think of a single Elder that I've seen more than him. He said that we're hard working missionaries and tells us to keep it up.

Last Wednesday was quite an eventful day for me. So, in the morning, there was a big parade going through the streets. It was apparently a holiday of some sort. I think it was "Duarte Day" or something like that. I'm aware of a couple big public figures, but I only know the story of one of the public figures. I only know the story of the "Butterfly Sisters" who are on the $200 peso bill. Besides that the big figures here in the DR are: Duarte, Mella, Sanchez, and Juan Bosche. Every city/town has at least one street with each name. I'll probably have to look them up after the mission or just ask a dominican who they are exactly when I've got a LOT of downtime. And how much downtime does Elder Bird have right now? I'd say little to none. I'm still struggling to get some letters written. Sorry my dear fans! But I'll try and get some out this week.

This same day we ran into some American missionaries from some organization. Here in San Juan it is quite common to see some outsiders. I've seen my fair share of other americans here and there are apparently a lot of German people who live here in San Juan. So its been quite an experience talking with other americans who are here and aren't involved with the LDS church.

Now, this is a story that I find funny...so don't panic nor cry for me. You know the sewer holes in streets? Well, they are sometimes found in sidewalks and here there are a ton. After this incident, I found that there are apparently some kids who try and set up traps for people. Basically I stepped on a sewer metal...plate thing and it rotated open since it wasn't set correctly. So my leg went into the hole and I hit my shin pretty good on the sidewalk. I walked it off after 10 minutes. We started walking right away and in 10 minutes I was walking at normal pace again. I'll just avoid walking on those metal plates for the rest of my life. It was just funny for Elder Espinal to be walking with his beloved companion when..."Where'd he go?"

Well, we did have an interesting experience this last week. We have an entire area that tested positive for parasites/amoebas (no it wasn't our area). Today they all went to Santo Domingo and only 2 of them will return here to San Juan. These Elders live in a pretty dirty place and we're not quite sure how they ALL got parasites. But I've been pretty involved with seeing how they're doing and I imagine that we'll verify that the house gets maintenance. I'll refrain from some details of what these missionaries had to deal with, but I'll just mention that the house needs work and it is not the missionaries' fault. I'll just say that I'm glad that I took care of maintenance in Yaguate when I could.

Yesterday was a pretty interesting day. I had my hair cut on Saturday (it had been 8 weeks since my last haircut cause I haven't been able to cut hair since transfers, and I usually cut during transfers) but the guy forgot to cut my bangs. So I had the opportunity to do some of my own work as a barber and cut my own hair. Mom, you just might be proud for me trying. But I don't think it turned out too bad. Now, the weird thing I saw. Apparently there was another huge parade yesterday, but it had some kind of Mexican Cowboy theme or something. All I have to say is that I saw a huge parade of guys on horses and every single one had some kind of hat. Be it cowboy hat or mexican sombrero. And they were playing mexican style music. I'm mad that I didn't take any pictures whatsoever.

Anyway, that's all I got for now. I apologize to all those who wrote me today and I wasn't able to write back. I didn't have a whole lot of time today to write because of...incidences. But I'll get to you all next week!

Love,
-Elder Bird

Hey Mom,
Well, in my last area I left you all hanging just because I didn't know all of the details of transfer calls. So now that I'm here in San Juan, I'll fill you all in. Here in the zone of San Juan there is only one Espinal...the zone leader...who is my companion as well. So, what does that mean? I've been given responsibility as zone leader in San Juan with Elder Espinal. This transfer has kind of been the transfer of when everyone as we say, "subir-ed." There are a lot of missionaries from my group who are zone leaders, Elder Grant from our group is what we call 'ayudante' (helper). He's basically an assistant in the 'campo' part of the mission but just doesn't have the official name of it. I may have mentioned at the beginning of the mission that we had 4 assistants when a normal mission has 2. Apparently the assistants in the capital had to clarify that the other two are 'helpers to the assistants' while I was in Ocoa. It's just a really complicated mission structure that we have. In the end, its our group who are now leading the mission basically.

Now, a little bit about my new companion...Elder Espinal. Turns out he's from my group, I just didn't know him. We have 2 Elder Espinals from our group, the other one is the one who I have said looks like Barack Obama, and this is the other one. He's a really cool Elder and we get along well. He keeps telling me how great of a zone leader I am so far...but I keep telling him that I haven't really done anything yet, I'm still just following him everywhere and taking a TON of phone calls from missionaries. But, it'll be a fun transfer. He's a really cool guy.

Well, I'm glad to hear about all the things that are going on back home. Sounds like Kara is having...a great experience. Do they know where exactly the pain in her wrist is coming from? Could it be tied into all the volleyball she just did? I do believe that it has been a while since volleyball, but just thought I'd throw it in there. I hope that Kara gets the health that she needs. Keep me posted on how all of her doctor visits go. Tell her to drink lots of milk. That should take care of the things you told me about. And tell Kara to take care of herself =P

I do remember being told that Merrill served in this mission. What areas did he serve in? Just for my own curiosity. For all we know, my last area could be a place where he served.

I guess that for two weeks in a row I heard about my brothers getting girl friends. That's pretty tight if you ask me! I'll have to say that I heard from Alisha that Chris was seeing someone, but she didn't mention if they were official or not. Sounds like they are now. How did he meet her? Is she a native Arizonan? As I will say...

And as always, you know that I love hearing about mission calls. I'm excited for Daxton and can't believe that he's already getting his mission call. Keep me posted on that. And hearing about Jordan Walton's call makes me ecstatic. I do believe that Jordan was going for some kind of business major. Would you happen to know what he graduated in? I'm glad to hear about all this. Not to mention that I didn't know that the Waltons lived in our ward. I guess this'll add another missionary to our list of full-time missionaries from our ward that we've been needing.

One thing that came to mind while we're talking about the Waltons. Here in our zone is a missionary who was in Tessa Walton's ward at BYU. His name is Elder Young if you want to mention it to her or her family. I do know that there is another Elder that knows her, I don't know if it would be Elder Tyler (who is also in our zone). But, it just goes to show what a small world it is.

Well....this is a very interesting question you asked for this week. And frankly, I'm not sure if its one that I can answer. I can't remember if I talked about it with Jared, but it is something quite difficult for me to answer. For those who don't know, the question was 'What do you admire about [my mission president[ and his wife?" Forgive the improper bracket, but I can't figure out this keyboard. At the beginning of the mission I would only see the two of them once a transfer and now its gone to once every three months. So I frankly don't get to talk with them a whole lot and don't know them that well. President Almonte is someone who basically 'gets in and gets out.' We'll have interviews or zone conference and he just does what he needs to and leaves. So...all I can really say is that President Almonte can make some funny jokes every once in a while. But when he makes them...they're quite funny. I can say that one thing I thought was funny with Hermana Almonte was that one time for interviews she talked to all the Elders (outside of interviews) about what we need to do when looking for a wife. She pulled the 'look at her mother' tactic on us. I thought it was just a funny topic to hear from her and hear what she had for us basically saying that a daughter will copy exactly what her mother does...character-wise. That's all I can really say about the two of them.

But yeah, with the report of what went on this last week. Having a new responsibility as zone leader I got to go to Zone Leader Council last Wednesday and had to direct zone meeting last week in our zone. That was a new experience for me. The picture I uploaded is a picture of our group once again. You'll notice that I have pictures of the same people at the chapel in La Paz. However, each time is something different for us. The first time was just our first time being mostly reunited (missing a couple americans from our group) in a long time. The second was when we were all training (although I was only a step-dad rather than an actual trainer). And now we're all reunited again at La Paz as zone leaders. I just find it to be an incredible experience. Just watching all of us go through the same steps at the same time. And speaking of Elders from my group, one of them is actually here in our zone. His name is Elder Bremer. I don't know him too well. I haven't seen him since our first areas, mine being Neyba and his being Tomayo in the same zone.

One thing that I like about Elder Espinal and I is that we've been able to teach pretty well together. One specific time being our zone meeting that I conducted, but the two of us taught what President Almonte taught to us in the Council. He had a focus on teaching our own areas about Priesthood ordinances and teaching how they need to be done.

Last Friday I did my first baptismal interview. We didn't have district leaders called until last friday (hence all the phone calls I had to do). So we did baptismal interviews and I got to do that for the first time. It was a neat experience. I interviewed an 11 year old girl and she was ready to be baptized and she was very excited. She's the only member in her family who is attending church and is setting a great example for her family.

Another thing that I love about Elder Espinal is that he loves asking people what we can do to serve them. Last friday Elder Espinal and I got to chop some palm leaves from some small banana trees in a member's back yard. I don't know if I used proper terminology but I don't know any other way to explain it. We were just given a little knife and I became pretty good at taking out dead branches. I'd have to say that that was a fun experience.

And one more thing, yesterday we were able to invite an inactive member back to church. She has a skin disease that is very common here. I think its the same thing that Michael Jackson had where the skin loses its pigment color. So, she has skin as white as mine if not whiter. But the problem with this disease is that only parts of the skin looses its color and not all of it. So this woman has been afraid to go back to church because she thinks she looks ugly. Elder Espinal and I (mostly Espinal) were able to motivate her to go back to church and she had a great experience in going back to church.

And yet one more thing that just came to mind. The area that Elder Espinal and I work in is 45 minutes away walking distance. So we spend a considerable amount of time walking around. But to help these people go to church, there's a bus that I'm not sure what exactly is the connection, but this bus picks members up and takes them to church so that they don't have to walk so far. I was able to take that bus seeing as how we left early Sunday morning to look for our investigators.

Anyway, glad to hear that things are going well back home. Hope everything is going well and continues to go well. Love and miss you all!

Love,
-Elder Bird

Hey Mom,
Thanks for the email this week. The normal internet center that we use is closed for some reason and we are currently in another center. I actually had to wait 30-40 minutes before the next computer opened (I let Elder Jacobs have the open computer). I got onto this computer to write home to see a couple emails in my box. One of them being my first email that I've ever received from President Almonte. Just a little quote I'd like to share from what he said to me, "You are strong like a lion. Onward, faithful soldier, onward." It was just a little note that uplifted my day.

I do know of how people are more willing to listen to us here in the Dominican Republic than maybe doing door knocking in San Diego, but every mission has their difficulty. Being a little too accepting is a little bit of a problem here. I believe that the people are accustomed to accepting everyone into their house. We'll knock a door and they'll gladly invite us into their house, but when we ask them if we could pass by at a different time we'll get some kind of response that basically means "No." It's something that I still don't get a whole lot. If you'll invite me in now, why won't you later?

As mentioned for home improvement, I have a tinaco system going so that we have a LOT of water. But we can only use it by bucket. If I stay here another transfer, maybe I'll look into how I can get our tinaco water to flow through our house pipes. But I've started on the toilet and was going to finish putting concrete in the cracks in the tank, but we had a little...obstacle this morning. We got a call last night at 10:00 saying that we had a zone meeting this morning at 9:00 in San Cristobal. So...I wasn't too happy about it (only cause home improvement plans were interrupted). But our house is getting in better shape. But I look forward to coming home to seeing your own 'home improvement' projects that you told me about. Not to mention the 'cupcake project' that Kara just had (its not home improvement, but I still find it to be homely).

To answer your question, 'Are the homes there carpeted?' I can answer your question with two letters...No. I haven't seen a carpeted floor (excluding the Santo Domingo Temple) since being in the United States. I'll see rugs on a couple from doors...but even that is still rare. Many times people will use an old t-shirt for their rug and a vacuum would be something way too expensive for these people to buy. So, we have tiled or concrete floors in order to just clean the house with water, a bucket, and a mop.

Well, I'm glad to have such a thoughtful question for me. So, for my readers I'll repeat the question.

"I was hoping that you could share with me some of the things that you've learned on your mission. I'm sure that you can easily come up with 5 humorous things, but I'd like to hear 5 serious things that you've learned."

So, I'll start with the 5 humorous things:
1) Don't ever put protein powder into the pasta you cook.
2) Don't ever try to wake up Elder Muse from his afternoon ciesta.
3) Don't play games with dominicans, their rule is if you get away with something, its a legal part of the game.
4) If you run out of toilet paper, make sure you replace it or at the very least tell the others in the house (I didn't do it, but I'll just say it happened to me).
5) Don't throw egg shells into your back patio...the next door neighbor's chickens won't eat those (again, not something that I did, just saw/experienced the result)

Now, for the more serious results you were looking for. These are just things that I've been able to think here in the internet center.

1) Patience
The mission has been...very tryful (if that's a word). I'll just say that I've experienced LOOOOOONG-suffering. I've told Jared that this is the thing that I've learned the most. I consider myself to have been patient before the mission, but it hasn't been tried until here in the mission.

2) More about myself (getting along)
I hear stories about how other missionaries don't get along with their companions and I've only had one companion that I had problems with...and we were companions for only 2 weeks. I haven't been a burden to others (I think) and I tend to make friends easily.

3) Stand up for what's right
I have seen some things in the mission where I had my doubts about certain things that other missionaries were doing. In the end, they ended up getting in trouble. I have been a little worried sometimes about being considered a 'tattle-tale,' but I've learned that there are times when serious things need to be told, and sometimes you just need to take action to prevent more trouble from coming.

4) Enjoy reading
I've mentioned this one before. You should know that I wasn't that crazy about reading before the mission. I can at least tolerate it now. Back in Ocoa, I had a serious love for it...then I finished all the things I wanted to read (well...not ALL of them, just most of them). When I am able to, I enjoy reading...I still read slow, but I at least enjoy it.

5) Missionary Work
Before the mission I was a little bit 'flojo' in missionary work. I wouldn't really put an effort into anything. I would just ask questions when friends asked me, which isn't bad. But I have desire to leave and help with the missionaries back in my home ward and being a little more...sharing? I'm not quite sure what the word I look for is. But I was a little more timid before the mission, I want to be a little bolder/stronger in talking with others.

5.5) Impromptu
I thought of this during the email, but I've learned how to come up with lessons/talks on the spot. I had to share an hour lesson here in Yaguate without any preparation at all and I didn't have enough time to share. I can be asked to give a 15 minute talk in church as long as I have 5 minutes warning. If I don't have any warning I'll probably feel a little more nervous.

Well, I hope that answers your question, mom. If you have any more questions, feel free to swing away. But this last week was pretty normal. Elder Jacobs and I are working hard to help the people here. We had two blessings for the sick that we were asked to do. It was an opportunity for Elder Jacobs and I to grow and learn in helping others.

We had a fun experience last Tuesday. We went to an investigator's house a little early and noticed a pastor in her home yelling at her. I feel a little bad for not entering at this time, but I guess I was hoping to return later in hope that he had left. But, we returned later and he basically yelled at us saying a bunch of stuff that frankly I didn't understand (its hard to understand spanish when dominicans are mad). We just told him that we teach people and invite them to act on what they learn and feel. He just went ballistic with a lot of things which didn't make sense and we just ended up leaving. We went the following day to check up on our investigator saying that she was allowed to choose whether or not to listen to us and she just basically said that she wasn't really in agreement with what her pastor told her and she said that she was willing to listen. So, her response uplifted me and I hope that she progresses.

Mom, if you choose to show this to everyone, its your choice. But I got a call from Elder Grant last week who works in the office (he's from my MTC group and has just been with me the WHOLE mission) telling me my departure date. He asked me if I wanted to go home a few weeks early like some missionaries will do for schooling purposes. And mom, unless you have any objections, I'm down for serving 2 years. I'll just say that what I guessed in our phone call home to be my departure date is correct. So, hearing about that makes me feel like an old missionary. I did hear that the Johnsons (the missionary couple who works in the office and worked in Neyba when I was there) finished their service. So I find this to be really crazy. Most missionaries that I know are 'dying' (ending) soon. Before I know it, it'll be my turn. Just 5 more transfers...that should be just 2 more areas. And speaking of areas, transfer calls come next week and I'll keep you all posted.

Yesterday Elder Jacobs and I gave talks in church. I gave a talk about being an example. One of my favorite scriptures that I shared was Doctrine and Covenants 6:33-34,
Paraphrased, "Fear not to do that which is right...for the powers of Hell shall not prevail against you."

Again, that goes with one of the things that I've learned here on the mission...and sadly learned by experiencing mistakes. Now, I wasn't the one in trouble, but I could have avoided problems for other missionaries.

Anyway, that's all I got for now. Hope things are well back home. Love and miss you all!

Love,
-Elder Bird

Hey Mom,
Thanks for the birthday wish it is very well appreciated. It always takes me at least several weeks (in some cases months) to get used to saying my new age and the new year number (2011). There has been quite a bit of drinking here in Yaguate since Christmas eve. There's a lot of music playing in the streets. At the very least I'm in the "campo" part of the country, so it's a little more tranquil than the capital.

In thinking of Matt Bosen's missionary spotlight, you made me think of a fun story when you mentioned that Matt Bosen is thankful for 'carpet.' We've seen some videos in zone/district meetings where we would see little clips of missionary lessons. One of the first things that stood out to us was a carpeted floor. I think I spazzed out a little bit. I'd have to say that I'm thankful for 24 hour light (power) and water. Not to mention drinkable water.

Kara brought a friend with her to the stake dance? So she's turning into a little missionary. Feel free to tell her that I'm proud of her. Is she someone I know? If Kara needs some advice, she's got some excellent sources to ask (dad, brothers who've served missions, and a brother currently on one).

On our phone call for Christmas, Grandpa made a comment of how there was a lot of rain in San Diego. Sorry to hear that it messed with your plans a little bit. But I hope it was still enjoyable. It makes me think of the rain I had back in the capital in Los Angeles. I would be in the internet center and then all of a sudden just hear buckets and buckets of water hitting the streets outside. There hasn't been as much rain lately, but hurricane season is over. So I imagine that I'll be back to bright and sunny days as I've had for the majority of the mission.

Anyway, you have guessed correctly in saying that these last few weeks have been a little difficult for us. And I imagine that this week will be a little better. I do have to say that this area here in Yaguate is just an interesting one. I wouldn't quite say that it was the holidays that made it so difficult (although it did play a huge part). The area itself just has a difficult nature to it. I think its just the area. But little by little I try to show people that we're friends and not the CIA. In speaking of this, we had a guy come up to us this last week (I believe he was drunk) and asked us if we were "willing to kill criminals." I find it kind of ridiculous what people think we are...especially after when we tell them that we're missionaries.

This last week was pretty normal until my birthday. On the 31st, I got to eat dinner at Hna. Morena's house again. We originally were going to eat elsewhere, but it fell through at the last minute. I pulled a funny trick on Hna. Morena. For Christmas Elder Jacobs got a box of Mike and Ike's and shared that with the family. For my birthday, I planned to eat a box of "Zours" that I got in one of my wonderful Christmas packages. I gave her a "zour" and it basically sucked her face in. She spat it out and threw it out the window screaming, "Oh that's SOUR!" It was pretty funny.

I do have to say that my best birthday present was probably a full "tinaco." These are giant tanks of water that are supposed to run water in your house when water from the city goes out. I've been working pretty hard lately to get our tinaco system working so that we can have water always. This morning I bought a house so that we can get water out of our tinaco. So we'll be able to live a better life now =D. I have a system set up so it'll refill automatically when there's water and we'll just be able to enjoy a...cleaner life. Don't think that I've been living in filth, I've just had to make some...sacrifices from a normal life.

This morning we did a gift exchange. This was supposed to be for Christmas, but all missionaries tend to use up their money a little while before transfers end. Its kind of funny. But we had the exchange today. I bought Elder Robertson (he has the same time as Bagley and Jacobs) a bag of lollipops and a bag of army toys to preserve his "american self." Elder Yeip, one of our zone leaders, gave me a little top...gun thing (reference to Tom Cruise movie not intended) with a little dart board. Last night Elder Vasquez called us in behalf of the Elder who had Elder Jacobs to see what he wanted. I had a fun description explaining that the elder only needed to get some kind of gift that was funny or something thoughtful. That's what made the exchange so much better.

And now we lead up to right here. I've been having quite a bit of "home improvement" (reference to the Tim Allen show sort of intended) goals lately. This week I have the tinaco system running, but I hope to have it completely figured out. I also bought stuff to make repairs to the holes in our toilet so that we can hopefully start using the handle to flush it instead of pouring water from a bucket to flush it. I'll be quite the handy/house man when I get home. All the fun things I can cook and fix in the house. Might I mention that although Elder Jacobs is the one cooking rice and beans for lunch, the bean recipe that we use was inspired by me and I did it the first couple times. I just see what we have and throw stuff together to make something yummy!

Take care and wish you all the best!
Love,
-Elder Bird