IN the DR AT LAST!

Wow I can´t believe I´m actually here...even after a week!

First off, sorry family and friends I couldn´t email last Monday (on PDay) because I was traveling all day and didn´t have a chance to get on the computer, but thank you so much for the Dear Elders and emails! Seriously they mean so much to me!

Well I´ll fill you in on the last two weeks!

My last days in the MTC. Sunday was probably my favorite day at the MTC! Sheri Dew, a well known LDS woman in the church, came to speak to us during Relief Society. She´s absolutely amazing! She said lots of things that got me prepared & motivated. She shared with us that conversion required immersion. She explained that she wasn´t only talking about baptism, but she really was referring to everything we continue to do after that, we must immerse ourselves in the gospel everyday to become converted each and every day and come closer to Christ. We must read our scriptures and pray everyday, attend church each week, and attend the temple as often as we can. That just hit home and inspired me to do my absolute best, then push harder to reach my full conversion every day to come closer to Christ. She´s a great speaker. I recommend listening/watching her talks! FANTASTIC LADY & ROLE MODEL! She also finished her talk by saying that God held his most noble spirits for the last days. (D&C 138; Abraham 4)

We are all to work harder every day to invite people to come onto Christ. Just as our Apostles and Prophet have counseled us to. I know that if everyone works together, missionaries and non missionaries, to come unto Christ, we can be a great force in the Lord´s work! I know this to be true with all my heart!

My first week in the DR. Words can´t describe my experience this last week. I got here last Monday afternoon and I´ve witnessed the power of God´s plan for each of his children.

(side note: I arrived and was told that I wasn´t going to receive my companion and area until Thursday, so they gave me temporary companions, Hermana Brockman and Hermana Buhrley, in an area in the capitol called Quisquella)

Anyway, my first lesson was at 6pm that Monday night I arrived. It was with a boy named Jose Gabriel and he is 13 years old. Me and my temporary companions went to visit him. My companions had already planned with him that he would get baptized by the end of this month. Well, I wanted to get to know him better, so that I could better help him and my companions, so after he had told me a little bit about his family, I felt impressed to ask him what he expected of this life and I expected him to say something like, "I want to be a baseball player or a doctor," considering I have a 12 year old brother, who knows that he wants to be a football player. But I got quite the opposite. Jose Gabriel looked at me, then looked at the floor and shrugged his shoulders. The look on his face almost put me to tears. I felt him say without words, "Nothing. This is my life."

That hit me hard. I immediately came to realize as I walked the streets of Quiquella  that these kids are not only robbed of their innocence, but also of their aspirations. Jose Gabriel doesn´t have much like many here. But live from day to day and their faith is great! This country is beautiful, HUMID, and so humble when it comes to the style of living. The people are wonderful and loud and full of spirit and love.

I now have 4 days with my first companion in the mission and in my first area. Currently, I´m in a town an hour outside of the capitol called Santo Cristobal. I love it here, it´s so green and the people, well 90% of them are so great! My companion is from Mexico, her name is Hermana Ortiz and she´s been in the mission field for 3 months! We get along, but we´re just getting to know each other

MY MISSION is CHEVERE!! (that´s what they say here when something is great, sweet or awesome)

Well thank you again for all the support and love. I love hearing from you! Keep it coming!!

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!

Con Amor,

Hermana Fernandez