No Water, No Problem

The heading of this letter is a lie. Not having water is actually a huge problem for us here. This week, we were without water for three days. Had it again for two days, and then lost it again. It´s so true that you don´t really know what you´ve got until it´s gone. When you don´t have water you can´t: Shower, wash dishes, use the bathroom, get a haircut (because you´d have to shower), wash clothes, brush your teeth, mop the floor, or wash your hands. A few of the things (like brushing our teeth, and washing hands) we just use our jugs of drinking water for, and as for going to the bathroom, we just have to hold it until we go to the chapel. Oh well though! There´s not really anything we can do about it right now, so we have to just keep working, and then check if there´s water yet when we come home. 

This week wasn´t entirely uneventful, we went to Galvan, which is a little pueblito about a 25 minute guagua ride from Neyba. We have 1 active member from there, and she gave us a couple of references, so we went to go meet them and start teaching them. So, we started teaching this one lady. We start with a prayer, and we start talking about who Jesus was and what he did. Suddenly, she excused herself to talk with some girl (we were teaching outside on the street) and all of the sudden, the two girls (the one we were teaching, and the one who she was talking with) started to fight. Not just a small fight either! These were pretty big girls, and they were pulling hair, and one of them slammed the other down on the hood of a car! About 5 seconds later, there were about 30 people around, trying to pull the two girls apart. 30 seconds later, the crowd got them apart, and the two began yelling at each other. Needless to say, we didn´t end up finishing that lesson!

I asked my comp if I could give a talk on Sunday about the pioneers, because nobody seems to know who they are, so I did, and I thought it went really well. I think it´s so important for everyone to learn about the history of the church, and a huge part of that is the pioneers. Even though nobody here is related to them, I explained that it´s a shared heritage of everyone who is a member, and that they can follow the example by being pioneers in here in Neyba. We have quite a few pioneers here in Neyba. We´re preparing the branches first group of missionaries ever. The first missionary left about a month before I came to Neyba, and we have about 6 youth that are going to leave within the next year. I´m excited for all of them!

It was a crazy week, but a good one. I´m so glad to be serving here in Neyba, and in the Dominican Republic. There are some good people here who have desires to change, and I´m trying to find and help those people. I love you all, and I wish you a great week!

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Love, Elder Anderson