My Dear Family,
So first off Sara was unable to get baptized this last week. We had her all set but during the interview some things came up and we felt it best to have her wait for two more weeks. It’s actually a good thing though. This way her mom can hopefully get baptized too with her. Her mom really has so much faith and does know it’s true but her husband or rather man she has been living with for the past thirty years doesn’t want to get legally married. We gave them a Proclamation copy and had him read it out loud with the family and even though he denied it I know he felt it was true. The spirit was super strong and Mari y Sara were crying quite a bit in the lesson. After Mari shook my hand and told me thanks so much for all your patience with us and all I could really think was I should be the one thanking her. I know it’s not easy to have two young Americans come to your house trying to speak Spanish and explain to you what you should do for salvation but I am so grateful she opened up the door and more importantly her heart. I was very grateful for the bishop of our ward as well who after sacrament meeting yesterday visited with Sara and offered her some good counsel and encouragement. He is a fantastic bishop in truth. Elder Ramos is doing better. He told me a few things about the Dominican Republic he heard back in Honduras and he is kinda freaked out about the country. You know how Latins can be. They are very quick to believe the first bad thing they hear and assume it all to be true. He told me he is terrified to leave the capital someday and I told him I started my mission down in the south and that he doesn’t need to be afraid. You really are protected from all the bad things as long as you just do what’s right. Wow I can’t believe Eli is already four! I love showing his pictures to the Dominicans because they absolutely love his blonde hair and blue eyes. I remember there was this one little boy in Bani who was super smart and had about 2 years but talked super well. He also had really blue eyes and blondish hair (not Eli blonde) and when he saw that picture of Eli he said oh he looks just like me. I laughed and laughed and was really reminded in that moment that that little boy was my little brother too and god had given me the chance to teach his family the gospel of Jesus Christ. Being a missionary is really the coolest thing in the world to me for that reason. Give Eli a big hug for me and wish him a super feliz cumpleanos. Any way it sounds like everything is going great up there in the old Utah. I haven’t heard from Elder Mortensen, we can’t write the other elders in our mission but I know he is doing just fine. He is a great missionary and I’m so grateful for the chance I had to get to know him and help him start his mission. They do celebrate Valentine’s day here. The Dominican Republic es el mejor lugar en el mundo entero y estoy bien animado para vivir aqui por 18 meces mas. (the DR really is the best place in the entire world and I am so happy to be able to work here for another 18 months). I really can’t see myself doing anything else besides this.
I love you all,
Elder Spèncer Hulsey