I am Grateful

Hello everyone! wow the best holiday just hit!!!

I am grateful................

God, Family, the gospel, the book of Mormon, the prophet, Christ, the mission, temples, soda, pizza, toilets, hot water, 24 hour electricity, really heavy duty shoes, mud, my investigators, the members, the Dominican Republic!!!!....

I am grateful for everything and everything is a blessing! 

I LOVE YOU YOU ALL

I had a great week! My comp and I are getting better little by little I am getting more trust so that's great! The main story this week is a really spiritual lesson that was so great! We have a couple that we are teaching and one day we shared the restoration video and they watched it with us and they felt the spirit so strong, they were saying such cool things like...... yeah we have been praying and we think these things are true... I feel that God is trying to tell us something!!!!! I was so happy I was going crazy at night time when I was going to bed! Thanks to god none of that would have happen! Its crazy how people can change in an a second! love it! So we will see their progress in the future! 

Also a our secretary, mission leader left on his mission to Guatemala on Tuesday. He is such a good friend it was a little sad but great at the same! Stinks now because we don't have a secretary or a mission leader hahaha oh well its all good! 

But yeah tomorrow we are gonna go cook a little lunch with chicken and mashed potatoes at the church with the district its gonna be cool! Ill take pictures! but hey the next one we will be together! love you all and I hope you guys read  that scripture that I gave this week I want you guys to read Alma 1:25 meditate and pray and see what you all have to do! Love you all don't have to much fun without me! haha

Love Elder Santacruz

Our district

We are pretty much chefs

Chicken dinner!

Yum

Whats a Turkey dinner without Dr. Pepper?

Jeudy!

Young men Future missionaries

Armor of God

Yeah I know my English is terrible!!!!!!! UHHH hahaha I don't care! Ill practise it when I get home! haha

How was everyone's week!!!?? Mine was so great! We worked hard this week! All things are getting better with my comp! We are starting to work a lot better together. He has a problem talking and he didn't like talking to me in the start but hey things are looking up! I worked everyday to serve him I always tried talking to him even until I didn't want to! But then I really started to get to know him more and he has a really hard background! He is a good missionary he just needs the rest of the mission to help him! I love him a lot though!

We found a couple more people this week that might be interested in the message! We had received references from investigators which was super awesome! I was surprised that people we are teaching are doing missionary work! It truly is cool! I hope we all can follow the example of these people because a reference is really a Christmas present for any missionary! 

This week we have a chicken dinner we are gonna cook as a district! Its gonna be super dope we are gonna go big because its my last one and some others! We are gonna have a good fun time!!!! Oh and its gonna be a chicken dinner hahah there is no turkey here!!! ha lame.....

But also this week I was studying a great scripture that I want you guys to study! In Doctrine and Covenants 27:15-18.  I want you all to study it and ask yourselves how should I put this armor on spiritually! Love you all! and miss you! have a good week! 

Bunnies for days!

Do Not Fear Man

Hola! everyone! I hope everyone's week was amazing and that we all worked our best to serve the Lord!

This week we had put a date with a lady to be baptized! She accepted and I know that she will receive her answer in the time. She has to prepare herself to be ready to take this covenant with God! We had lessons with her this week and she had said that these things make her happy and that it gives her joy! That makes me really happy! Ill let you guys know about her progress!

So the families that we have been working with are still taking the lessons but we are mostly focused on 2 main families that are really working to change their lives!One family that we are teaching, the parents are reading the book of Mormon together and guess where they're at!! In Mosiah!!!! Yep its so cool! they say they love the book! They are a really poor family and they are not that intelligent but they want to keep working! Ill try to take a picture with them this week! They are awesome! 

Also this week we had a conference with all Santiago and it was so good! I love hearing President's advice but he talked about FEAR what are the things we fear in the mission and so he said that we need to fear GOD but not man! We shouldnt have fear to share the gospel to man and just be diligent to what the Lord says! Such a good talk! The things he told us to do I definitely want to work on through out the rest of my mission! 

That was my amazing week and I hope you all enjoyed it love you all! 

elder santacruz

Exchange for the day with Elder Hollingsworth!

La Luz Llego

HELLO GUYS! Wow what an interesting week!

First we didn't have power the whole week! Literally 7 days haha it was pretty lame but hey gotta love the mission! We had a huge storm and it knocked out the electricity but we finally got it yesterday and when we got it we were screaming in the streets saying LA LUZ LLEGO!!!!!!!! haha it was funny but everything is all good! 

 

Another thing that was really cool is that we had some really great lessons this week we had felt the spirit so strong and found so many new people! My comp is doing better with the language he is working hard to get better but it is definitely helping me with my patience hahah  I know this transfer I am going to work on my Christ like attributes a lot harder but I Love him and I need to work on loving him even more! haha

This week we have a conference with the whole mission and so its going to be awesome we are all gonna be together! We are gonna have our turkey dinner woooohooo! but we are going to hear from our mission pres. and just be filled with the spirit! Im pretty excited! Everything is going great! Wow 1 more month til Christmas yeah buddy! I hope we can baptize a family this month! That will just be the best! 

Love you all glad that you guys got my cards! Love you all tons! 

Love Elder Santacruz

SKIMICE! The Haitians sell these popsicles 

Had a lesson with baptist missionaries

Branch Night!

Happy Halloween

Hello to all! Wow this week was so awesome and really hard! First, we have been teaching around 5 families and they are all so cool! Wow two families have been reading everything and they really want to go to church this week! We really need them to go so that we can put a date with them! We are gonna work so hard!

My comp is Elder Vake is still new and hes working on his Spanish. Its pretty hard because its something new for me not having a companion speak Spanish but we will work harder on his Spanish and it will all get better in time! Its helping me a lot with my patience but I totally love it such a new experience! I know that this is to help Elder Vake to become a better a missionary!

I am really excited for La Herradura .....its going to grow so fast! I know this is my work to help build a firm foundation in the DR so that other missionaries will come and pick the fruit! love you all have a great week! 

Good Bye to Elder Perez

Hey guys! How is it going today was a sad day. My comp left to go to another area! Now I am a step dad! I am helping a missionary finish his training he only has a few months! We are gonna teach him Spanish! I cant wait to work with him! Hes from Texas he is a Tongan. Hes so dope I cant wait to work with him we are gonna see miracles! We are very excited to work here and to show the Lord what we got! Hes super happy and has a great attitude! I dont really know him that much I will get to know him more this week then I will let you guys know how hes like! I am so happy to be with him I know he will help me a lot to be a better missionary and I hope I can teach him more as well!

This week was a little wet.... there was a lot of rain so we didn't have too many lessons because we couldn't get to the next lesson but all was well! My last companion Elder Perez wow what an amazing missionary. He helped me so much last transfer we worked hard! My comp taught me the importance of love and kindness he taught it on another level! It was a great lesson! I will forever remember that transfer! 

I am here to make an area very strong! I love this area! The people are amazing. It's a little hard to get there attention but I know we will help a couple people this week! Love you all! Miss you all! Have a spiritual filled week! 

Love, 

E.Santacruz

Elder Perez is leaving :(

We made kites out of sticks and bags :)

Spreading the Gospel like Wild Fire

Hey guys wow what a week and wow the transfer is almost over what? My week started out with a talk on Sunday! It was different to see only 20 people in front of me but definitely easier to get everyone's attention! I talked about the Savior and his atonement. I talked a little about how we should understand the feeling of that pain that Christ felt so that we may realize, we needed those things to happen for us to be able to repent of our sins! I talked about Alma 7:11-13 so that the people would be able to understand and have a better experience taking the sacrament! I loved that opportunity and I definitely felt the spirit!

The branch is getting better, we are starting to have branch night in one of the members house each week! It was so cool even though it wasn't a big turnout we still bonded as a branch! President will finally get a 1st counselor soon. He did everything by himself, so now he will have someone to help him! how great! It will help us also because we do a lot for him to take the pressure off! 

Its crazy that a member left with us everyday this week! It made me so happy that the people really do want to change things here its so cool! Everything is getting better every week! Thanks for all the prayers, they are working! I really do love this gospel its truly amazing to have the truth it just keeps me going! Hey we might not have a lot of people but I know that things will take time here and it will just spread like wild fire! I know this gospel is completely true and I want my testimony to be so firm so that I remain faithful to the day I see my Savior! I know this church is true! I love the work of the Lord! 

peace! 

Elder Santacruz

I have a CHICK in the mission

Four year old Emanuel

Mission Leader to Guatemala