JUNE 5, 2012 Cory's bday

That is really cool that you got to practice teaching the second lesson. I remember well that time when we practiced at the Busby's house. I remember that has become a part of my testimony too, that every time I testify of the Book of Mormon, the Spirit is there. There are a lot of people here that belong to the Pentecostal church and a lot of them don't listen to anything we say, and it seems like almost nobody can accept that there's another book of scripture, but I can always feel the Spirit bear witness of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. That has been one of the biggest things I've learned, to rely on the Spirit, not just use in a supporting role in the lesson. It sounds like our ward is going to have some prepared missionaries! That is so exciting. There are two missionaries leaving from Juncos. One just got his call to Arizona and leaves next week and one is waiting for his call. Those two went on splits with us last week and it was an awesome experience. I love seeing the missionaries who are leaving because I know what they're in for and that they have no way of knowing how much they'll learn and grow from their missions. I know I didn't understand it.

The thought hadn't even crossed my mind that I went to the temple a year ago today. I have grown to appreciate the temple so much more out here, especially learning about and teaching the Plan of Salvation, I've seen how important the temple covenants are. I especially like in Doctrine and Covenants section 84 about the oath and covenant of the priesthood and about how through the ordinances of the priesthood, the power of godliness is manifest. I was studying that today in my personal study, actually. I was in 3 Nephi when Jesus is teaching the discourse like the Sermon on the Mount and he says the pure in heart will see God, and I've made the connection recently between the priesthood ordinances of the temple and the privilege of seeing God. (there's a Topical Guide section called God, Privilege of seeing that helped me see that) anyway, I love this! I feel like every day I'm instructed from on high and I'm growing in a way I never could if I was sitting at home. Thanks for always helping me prepare for the mission. I've seen the blessings for that preparation.

Well I love you both, I'll talk more about the week in the other letter

Elder Duclos

March 17, 2012

Elder Visker and I are still together in Juncos. I'm excited because we've found some great people to teach. There's a new elder from Roy Utah in our district now too. I saw Elder Newman's picture up in the mission office a few weeks ago, and I recognized him but I'm not sure where he is now. Tell Evan good luck, and to stay away from all the cougars in Columbia.

This week has been great, and we've found some people with some good potential. Edgardo and Givendolee are progressing really well. We just taught them about the law of chastity using the family proclamation. The promises and declarations in that proclamation are so powerful. It made them really excited, and they committed to getting married. But, they're moving. I don't know if I mentioned this but we found out a little while ago that they're going to be moving to Humacao. It's close to Juncos, and the elders that work there are in our district but they'll be moving any time now. Probably within the next week or so. So now we're working on making sure the transistion goes well for them and they keep going just as strong in Humacao.

We also had a really great lesson yesterday, one of the best of my mission so far. It was with a guy named Edwin that we contacted a few days ago. While we were talking to him he said he believed in God but he didn't believe in the Bible or Jesus Christ. We didn't have time to talk about any more than that but we studied in Preach my Gospel about what it says to do to teach those without a Christian background. He is really sincere and has a lot of faith in God, and a strong relationship with Him. Because of that the principles from the message of the restoration made sense to him, and he could see the truthfulness of the message. During the lesson I could feel the Spirit reminding me of principles I'd read that helped us tesify of the importance of Jesus Christ. One of the things it says to do is to bear testimony about why you have chosen to follow Jesus Christ in your life. There was a perfect opportunity to do that during the lesson and the Spirit was so strong. He really felt it, and he recognized too that what he felt was from God. He was also excited to read the Book of Mormon. He has doubts about scripture because he says his relationship with God has been something really personal and he has a hard time seeing how scripture could apply to his life but he said he was willing to read and pray to ask Heavenly Father if it was true. It was a great lesson and so rewarding. I know this is God's work. I know He prepares His children to hear the gospel and I love being a part of that. The Church is true.

It's been great. Puerto Rico is still hot. It's just always hot, but I'm pretty used to it by now. We're still waiting for the neighbor's mangos to get ripe (that's part of the reason I was excited to stay in Juncos). I love it here. I learn so much every day about how the Spirit works, and how much our Heavenly Father loves all of us.

I love you. I'm glad everything's good back at home.

Elder Duclos

March 12, 2012

Don't worry, I'm not breaking the rules

So our P days are Mondays now. We now have our weekly planning session, district meetings and P days all on Monday. It should leave us with some more time during the week to get work done.

It hasn't been too long since the last email but it's been pretty crazy since then. That P day we went to Caguas because I had to get the brake cable on my bike fixed, and my license changed I don't know if I mentioned it but I realized that when I got my Puerto Rican license gave me a learner's permit. So we got that stuff done on P day and drove back to Juncos. When we got there the zone leaders called and told us Elder Visker had a meeting in Bayamon the next day. So on Thursday I worked with the elders in Caguas while Elder Visker had the meeting. It was cool to be in Caguas again. I was with Elder Hammer, who was also trained by Elder Griffin. The meeting went way longer than they expected and I ended up spending the whole day with them. Then on Friday, we went to the airport. While Elder Visker was at home, President found out that his grandma had served a medical mission and he asked her to come serve here. She landed on Friday night and President let Elder Visker go too to pick her up. So we've been all over the place.

We've also found some good people to teach this week. I was telling dad about this but before we drove up to Caguas, we stopped by a place in the pueblo where we had taken a few pairs of pants to be sewn. We were in a hurry so we were going to just pick them up and go but he still hadn't sewn them. He told us we could wait if we wanted, and talk awhile about the Bible. We ended up talking to him for about an hour. He had questions about what we believed, especially about what we think happens after we die. We passed by again the other day and taught the rest of the plan of salvation. He liked it, especially that it's possible to live together forever as families. It's a different teaching situation than I've ever had, because he only has time during work and people are coming in and out. But that's good too because the customers hear stuff and get involved in the conversation and we give them our number when they leave. We had a lesson yesterday with the guy I contacted in Caguas who is now in our area. His name is Miguel Maldonado and he was really cool and interested. He lives in the same neighborhood as our bishop so we took him with us.

So things are going well. I love you and hope everything's okay at home. 

Elder Duclos

March 6, 2012

Another great week,

It has been pretty hard to get ahold of Edgardo and Givendolee this week. We've had about 3 appointments fall with them, all for different reasons. One day they were stuck in another city because their car broke down at the beach and they don't have a phone so they had to walk around to find somebody to help them fix it. We finally got to go by to teach them on Monday. They're still really excited for their baptism. We had left 2 Nephi 31 for them to read, that talks a lot about baptism. Edgardo especially understood it, and talked about how baptism was the beginning of the path, that it's the door and that they need to keep going after. We still have a lot to teach them, and the 17th might not work because we haven't been able to meet with them as much as we'd hoped, but they are still progressing and doing really well. Manuel and Keila have both been really busy studying for finals. He's got his next week and hers are this week so we haven't been able to go over at all. We've been trying but we've decided to just back off a little until they're done. It's a shame because I know how much it could help them even with their studies. We've still been out trying to find new investigators, and we've met a few people with potential. Yesterday I was looking through my first planner and I found a name and address I'd written down. I remembered that he was the security guard for an apartment complex in Caguas where we were visiting a member, and that he was pretty interested in learning more. We realized later though that he wasn't in our area, so we tried to pass on the reference but somehow it got lost in the mix. Anyway, when I looked at it yesterday I realized he lived in San Lorenzo, and that's actually in our area now. We figured it was worth calling him even though it was months ago that we contacted him. We called and he said we could come by Sunday, so we'll see what happens with that.

My bike broke the other day, the brake cable broke so we're going to Caguas today to get that fixed. It's been great here. I'm pretty used to the heat, and riding around on the bikes. I still get sunburned every once in awhile though. And, we found out some good news. We were at a member's house one day and they showed us their mango tree in their backyard. I didn't know what they looked like and when we got home and went in the backyard I noticed that the neighbor's huge tree that hangs over on our side of the fence is a mango tree, and there's fruit starting to grow. I'm really excited for that, I hope I'm not transferred before they're ripe.

Anyway, everything is going really well. I'm the happiest I ever have been and I am learning so much every day. I know the church is true and I love the gospel.

Elder Duclos

February 22, 2012

Another great week,

It has been pretty hard to get ahold of Edgardo and Givendolee this week. We've had about 3 appointments fall with them, all for different reasons. One day they were stuck in another city because their car broke down at the beach and they don't have a phone so they had to walk around to find somebody to help them fix it. We finally got to go by to teach them on Monday. They're still really excited for their baptism. We had left 2 Nephi 31 for them to read, that talks a lot about baptism. Edgardo especially understood it, and talked about how baptism was the beginning of the path, that it's the door and that they need to keep going after. We still have a lot to teach them, and the 17th might not work because we haven't been able to meet with them as much as we'd hoped, but they are still progressing and doing really well. Manuel and Keila have both been really busy studying for finals. He's got his next week and hers are this week so we haven't been able to go over at all. We've been trying but we've decided to just back off a little until they're done. It's a shame because I know how much it could help them even with their studies. We've still been out trying to find new investigators, and we've met a few people with potential. Yesterday I was looking through my first planner and I found a name and address I'd written down. I remembered that he was the security guard for an apartment complex in Caguas where we were visiting a member, and that he was pretty interested in learning more. We realized later though that he wasn't in our area, so we tried to pass on the reference but somehow it got lost in the mix. Anyway, when I looked at it yesterday I realized he lived in San Lorenzo, and that's actually in our area now. We figured it was worth calling him even though it was months ago that we contacted him. We called and he said we could come by Sunday, so we'll see what happens with that.

My bike broke the other day, the brake cable broke so we're going to Caguas today to get that fixed. It's been great here. I'm pretty used to the heat, and riding around on the bikes. I still get sunburned every once in awhile though. And, we found out some good news. We were at a member's house one day and they showed us their mango tree in their backyard. I didn't know what they looked like and when we got home and went in the backyard I noticed that the neighbor's huge tree that hangs over on our side of the fence is a mango tree, and there's fruit starting to grow. I'm really excited for that, I hope I'm not transferred before they're ripe.

Anyway, everything is going really well. I'm the happiest I ever have been and I am learning so much every day. I know the church is true and I love the gospel.

Elder Duclos

February 15, 2012

The church is still true

It seems like yesterday was P day, the weeks go by so fast. But there was a lot that happened in between too. On Thursday we had zone conference, and that was so cool. We have been learning a lot about faith. In preparation for Bishop McMullin's visit he gave us two talks to study, both by Elder Bednar - Ask in faith and seek learning by faith. They both focus a lot on the responsibility we have to act. That true faith really leads to action. I've learned a lot about that principle in the past week, and how each thing we learn and do needs to lead to action, to applying the Atonement to make a positive change in our lives. In zone conference we learned about how our planning, studies and teaching should all be working together so that we receive revelation for our investigators and their needs and then help them develop the faith to repent and accept Jesus Christ and the Atonement in their lives. It's amazing how profound the simple things are. On Sunday, we had stake conference in the Caguas Stake. We had one couple who committed to coming and one who said they might be able to but neither ended up coming. I wished they had because it was a really great meeting. The stake president, President Santos spoke. His talk was so humble and genuine and I could see the love he had for the people of the stake. I wish our investigators could have seen that, the kind of leaders we have in the church. Bishop McMullin's talk was powerful. He only had about 20 minutes to speak, and even less because it was being interpreted, but he exhorted the members of the Caguas stake to get their Patriarchal Blessings, and encourage their youth to do the same, and to pay their tithing. He was very straightforward and bold about that. He said "We cannot change the economic situation in the United States or Puerto Rico but pay your tithing..If you pay your tithing your children will never go without. If you pay your tithing the God of Heaven will never leave your cupboards empty". The next day we had a mission conference where he spoke to all the missionaries. He taught us a lot about how we need to be letting our missions change who we are, and that we will never be the same people. That is what the Atonement is all about. He also taught us a lot about how the Spirit works and how it communicates to us. It is a conscious effort on our part to receive and act on the impressions we get from the Spirit. I love the mission, and I am learning so much.

Up until this week, Elder Visker's bike has been broken but he got it fixed and we have been going out on bikes all day. It's been a lot of fun, but on Monday after the conference, about 15 minutes after we left, it started dumping rain on us. It was a lot of fun and we rode all around Juncos looking for people. We got rained on yesterday too, but not as bad. The other night we went to talk to the Rodriguez family, to see what had happened and where their doubt was. We were nervous to go over but when we got there they invited us in and we started talking. They said they recognized that baptism was a really strong commitment, and they wanted to make sure they were ready. We assured them that they wouldn't have to make that commitment until they knew they were ready for it, and they said they would like us to keep coming over. They said they were still reading from the Book of Mormon and praying daily. We had a lot of appointments with investigators fall through this week but we have made contact with everyone and they're all still doing well, it's just been hard to get any appointments. We were contacting in Manuel and Keila's urbanization and we found Manuel's dad, who lives there too. He said he'd talked to missionaries before and had the Book of Mormon. So that might end up being really good too, we may have an opportunity to teach Manuel's parents. The work has been going forward here, and I continue to see the Lord's hand in the work and in my own life. I know this is the true Gospel of Jesus Christ and that He is at the head of this church. I love this gospel and the opportunity I have to share it.

I love you,

Elder Duclos

February 8, 2012

It's been a good week but there have been some trials too

Friday was a great day, I could really feel the power of the fast. We were contacting and we found a lady that we'd talked to a few days before in the parking lot of a store. She hadn't been really receptive before but we had more time to testify, especially about the Book of Mormon. She accepted a copy of it and said she'd read. Then, a little while later when we were walking back to the car, we saw her next door neighbor outside. We talked to him and found out that he and his sister had met with the missionaries years before, and they said they passed by really often, but that they hadn't been baptized. We asked if we could come by and they said we could come by this Saturday. Then we got into another gated urbanization. We're just breaking down all the walls here in Juncos. It was even pretty cloudy all day without raining much so we weren't dying all day. It was great. Then, that night we went to a member's house for dinner. They made us chicken and I'm not sure if I've mentioned this but Elder Visker is allergic to chicken. So he told them and their daughter said one of her friends had mentioned that missionaries had visited them and that one was allergic to chicken. We found out it was the daughter of the Carasquillo family, so she already has a friend in the church. That was really exciting, and that will be a good connection for them to have. 

This morning during studies we got a call from the Negron family, they're the ones that have been going over with us to teach the Rodriguez family. Brother Negron told us that the Rodriguez family doesn't want us to come by anymore, we're not really sure what happened, they always seemed to really understand how it was helping them in their family. We're not sure what we're going to do but it's a really good thing they still have the Negron family to be there for them and to be examples and to be there for them if they ever feel like they're ready again. We'll see what happens with them. Edgardo and Givendolee's situation has been getting worse. They had us come over last night and we gave them blessings to help them get through. They're still looking for a house and haven't been able to find anything. Manuel and Keila have been good, we're still working on getting them to commit to a baptismal date though. 

This week is stake conference, and Bishop Keith McMullin is coming so that's exciting. He might be speaking to the mission too, I'm not sure. Anyway, everything is still good here, we're still being blessed and seeing little miracles every day. I have really learned this is God's work and His will is always done. It's just up to us to accept it, even when it's different from ours. I love you all. Thank you for all the support. 

Elder Duclos

February 1, 2012

Things this week have been going well as usual. Transfers are today, and I'll be staying in Juncos with Elder Visker. I'm excited because this will be when we see all the progress really happen. All the families we found have stayed steady and progressing. One of the Narnia families, the Valentin family, has been really busy and it's been hard to get in contact with them but they're still interested. Their neighbors, the Carasquillo family, aren't so busy so we are going to be able to go over there more often. We're expecting that to help the Valentins be more interested in making time. The wife of the Carasquillo family told us too that in their neighborhood, there's a group that gets together every Monday to talk about religion. They call it Café con Dios. We're hoping she'll get baptized and change it to Chocolate con Dios. Manuel and Keila have been good too. We had a good lesson with them the other day about the Plan of Salvation. Edgardo and Givendolee have been going through some hard times and they're going to have to move out of their house. They're not sure yet where they're going. That might make it hard for them to keep progressing but they've said they really want to do what they can to keep going, and to keep coming to church. They came for the rest of the meetings on Sunday and they loved it again. The 3 year old loved the primary class and had a lot of fun. The Rodriguez family is progressing really well too. We've been teaching the commandments with them. They've been really receptive to everything but they are nervous to accept a baptismal date. They said they're afraid they weren't ready to make the commitment, and they wanted to be sure that they wouldn't just be baptized and then stop going, so that's what we're working with with them. I've really noticed how when people start to investigate and really progress there are always challenges, big or small. But we're working hard with them and they're all still really excited to learn and progress. If you could include that in your fast, that would be really great.

We went to Humacao, another area in our district, so Elder Visker could do a baptismal interview for a family the elders have been teaching over there. This family has been investigating the church for 3 years now but they only just recently got married so they could be baptized. It was really great to see how excited they were to finally be able to make that covenant with Heavenly Father.

Well, we're still seeing miracles. Even with the challenges that have come up, we have seen how Heavenly Father really is helping His work to move along. I love being out here and being able to be a part of that work. I'm excited to see what happens on Friday. I love you. The Church is true.

Elder Duclos

January 25, 2012

	Jan 25

The stake must still be fasting for us

They're reading my letters in stake conference? I'm going to have to be more careful about what I write. Everything keeps going really well here, and we're still seeing miracles. All the families we found have stayed firm, and we've even found another one, Manuel and Keila. We made contact with the wife a little while ago and passed by for the appointment but they weren't home. The other day we were planning and we decided to go by one more time, just to give it another chance. We got there a little late, about 8 or so. The husband answered and recognized us because his wife had told him about us, (we were glad because we thought they'd forgotten completely). He said they couldn't talk right then but that we could go by the next day. When we went by they were great. We applied some principles we'd been studying from the 12 week program (the new program for new missionaries that the mission has been working a lot with) about teaching people, not lessons. It was a really good lesson, they felt really comfortable talking with us and sharing their concerns. It impacted him a lot that our invitation was to ask Heavenly Father to be able to know for himself if the message was true. He said there were so many different voices in the world saying they had the truth and that he didn't know what to do, or who to trust. It was great to show him that this was something he could have his own testimony of, and know without a doubt that the things we'd shared were true. He even committed to read the whole Book of Mormon. They also really loved when we talked about families. They have a little girl who's about a year old and they told us how important the family was for them, and how they make an effort to spend as much time as they can doing things together as a family. They were great and we're really excited for them.

Edgardo and Givendolee, the family with two little girls that came to church last week, couldn't make it to church this week because she got really sick. After church we went to their house to see why they hadn't come (they don't have a phone) and Edgardo was gone because he'd gone to the church to apologize for not being able to come. We've had some good lessons for them. We were showing the little girls pictures out of the gospel art book and the older one loved the picture of Helaman and the 2000 stripling warriors because of the horse he was riding and she kept asking to see it again.

The Rodriguez family who were the referral from the members are coming to a ward activity tomorrow, and that should be really good. We've taught them almost all the lessons and it's always impressive to see how much of a difference it makes to have the members there, supporting and helping them.

It's been really exciting to see all these things happening. Yesterday there was a meeing in Caguas for the district leaders. Elder Visker is the district leader so we went up there and I got to see all the Caguas elders again. During the meeting, the Rosario family needed something from the missionaries so I got to go on an exchange with Elder Hammer and see them again, so that was really good. Today I had to go change my Utah license to a Puerto Rican one so we drove up to Caguas again. All I had to do was take the written test but I got it done. I got the letters and stickers yesterday. Tell Brookie I'll try to find Rapunzel's tower with the map she gave me.

I love you all, have a good week

Elder Duclos

January 18, 2012

It's been another great week.

Juncos has been really good, it's been different from what I've been used to, but things have been happening like crazy here. In Juncos there aren't as many areas where the houses are all close together, like the neighborhoods in Utah (they're called urbanizations here) so we've been working a lot in the areas that are more spread out. We were contacting in one of those areas the other day and we noticed that to the side there was a big section of a wall missing on the lot of an abandoned house. We went through the lot to see what was on the other side and it was a gated urbanization that we wouldn't have been able to get into if the wall hadn't been missing. We contacted there for awhile and found one family that invited us to come back. We went back yesterday and they were awesome. They fed us and were really attentive and receptive and they had even invited another family to come over and listen. It was the most people I'd ever taught at once, it was kind of scary but they were great.

We also found a family while we were contacting in a parking lot. They were eating Wendy's by a Burger King. We contacted them and got a return appointment, and didn't think much of it. He didn't have an address to give us but just gave a description of where to go to find his house so we weren't even sure if we'd be able to find it. We went by on the day we scheduled and found the house. When we got there they were really excited to have us there and they had a lot of interest and a lot of questions. They were really impressed when we shared the message of the restoration and they asked if they could come to church. We told them they could. They came on Sunday and loved it. We went by their house before so we could show them how to get there and their 3 year old daughter was really excited to go. They had to leave after Sacrament meeting but they said they didn't want to go, and they'd definitely be back. They said they'd been looking for something that would "fill them" and that they felt something when we talked to them and when they were at church. We have an appointment with them tonight.

The other day while we were in a lesson with a less active family, a member kept calling us. We finished the lesson and called back and the member couple asked if we could go with them to somebody's house. They were friends with a family that has been going through some hard times recently and they saw the opportunity to bless their life with the gospel. We went with them and had a really good lesson, and they're really interested to hear more. It was really great to see how important the members are in missionary work. Because they had that relationship, they were able to introduce the family to the gospel when they were the most likely to be receptive. It made things so much more sincere and personal to have them there, testifying of how the gospel had blessed their lives and how it can help them with their trials. It was a really great experience. The work has been going really well in Juncos. I've never picked up so many solid investigators in such a short time, and especially not this many families. We really have been noticing the power of the ward's fasting and prayers. It has been amazing. Little things have been happening that we know aren't coincidences. We ran into a less active family in a parking lot that Elder Visker had been trying to contact for awhile before he left. We talked to them a little bit, got their number so we could set up an appointment, and they came to church Sunday too. It's really exciting, and there's a lot of work to do now! I can't wait to see what's going to happen on February 3.

Anyway, that's what I've been up to. It's still hot here. We saw a sign the other day up in the mountains that said "for sale, rabbits and rabbit tacos." I wonder how they decide which ones to sell and which ones to cook.

Well, I hope everything's going well at home. I love you all.

Elder Ducloshunterallenrobinson.blogspot.com

January 4, 2012

Only 20 months left!!

Hey,

Puerto Rico has been great. The weather is still hot, and it doesn't rain much, it's been pretty dry lately. They don't use tortillas here, I've only had them when we buy them at home but I have had flan a few times. They make a really good dessert called tembleque, I don't know how to describe it, but maybe you can look it up. That and arroz con dulce, (a dessert made out of rice with sweet stuff) but the food is really good, we're always well fed. Man, Wyatt's just driving everyone in the ward out of town, what's he teaching them? That's too bad that I won't see Mikelson when I get home. New Year's is crazy here. In Puerto Rico they celebrate Three kings day sometime early in January so from Christmas to Three kings is just one big party, and on new year's eve they go crazy with the fireworks. They told us we had to be inside by 6 that night, either at home or at an appointment, so the Rosario family invited us over to their house. We ate dinner there and after we played Monopoly with their son that just got home from the Salt Lake City mission. That was a lot of fun, it reminded me of playing Monopoly at home on new years eve. So things have been fun, we're going to have a big mission activity for three kings sometime this week. Dad's talk sounded great, I wish I could have been there to hear it.

Everything has been going well with the investigators, Angel is coming along. He's learning a lot and understands really well, but we're just praying to know what to say that will help him feel that need to pray to know the Book of Mormon is true. We asked Alex to come over with us so he can share his experience with prayer. We hope that will be good for him. It's good to hear everything is going well. I love you

Elder Duclos

December 28, 2011

Hey,

It was great talking to everyone on Christmas. I'm glad everyone is doing well, but I still haven't gotten my machete. I've been anticipating that. We've been eating candy for pretty much every meal, so that's been pretty typical of the days after Christmas. Everyone liked the Canadian chocolate. The weirdest thing I have eaten in Puerto Rico was blood sausage. They make it a lot at Christmastime, and I only ate it once, but it was nasty. I ate it at the Rosario's house right before we called. We went from one food appointment over to their house where they had food for us, so I was already really full but I just had to get it down so I could call. It was pretty bad. The rest of the food is really good though. It's mostly just beans and rice but there's a lot of bananas too. I like it.

We've been finding a lot of people recently. I told you about Elizabeth's baptism, that was really cool. We sat with them at church the next day. The 11 year old son, Kevin already has a really strong testimony. He was reading along with all the scriptures in sacrament meeting and everything. I gave them both CTR rings that I got from Karie and they loved them,  thanks! Angel went to their baptism and their confirmation on Sunday, so we're hoping that will get him excited about taking the same step in his life. Last night we were over at Alex and Eugenia's house and Alex was talking about how he's been preparing to share the gospel with his children that live in Puerto Rico, he said one of his daughters was really curious about everything and he said he knows that now that he knows this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ that he has a responsibility to share it with his family. It's so exciting to see someone so converted to the gospel. So we will be following up on them. We also found a new young family, Jose Villagran. We've taught them twice now and they have a lot of interest in the Book of Mormon. So everything has been really exciting with the work here. We're hoping to get a baptismal date for Angel for the 11th of January (because there's nothing else going on that day). So pray for him, please.

I love you all, I hope everything is good, and I'll talk to you next week

Elder Duclos

December 21, 2011

Hey!

I'm still not quite sure how the call will work out on Christmas. We still haven't found anywhere that we'll be able to skype so the most likely situation is that we'll all go over to a member's house to use the phone there. I've been excited to hear from everyone. The Christmas program in Caguas was this past Sunday, it was really cool, and there were a lot of people there. There was a part with a bunch of little kids on the stage and they had a few of us go stand in front to make sure none of them fell, so I even got to be a part of it. We did great. Transfers are today, we don't have many changes though. One elder finished his mission and his companion was transferred, so there are only four of us in the apartment now. The other companionship works in Aguas Buenas so we're the only two elders in Caguas. We have a lot more area to cover now, so that's pretty exciting. Everything has been going well here. The sisters in our district have a baptism tomorrow for a lady named Elizabeth and her kids. Elder Griffin and I were the ones that found her so it's exciting to see that. I'll cut this a little short because we'll talk on Sunday, and I'm going to write the letter to the ward. I love you and I'm excited for the phone call

Elder Duclos

December 7, 2011

Hey,

Today has been pretty great. President Viñas, the Caribbean area
president came and talked to the whole mission. They told us that
visits like this don't happen very often but we've been praying and
fasting a lot for help in reaching some goals we've made as a mission.
President Víñas was in his office the other day and he just got the
impression that he needed to come here to help us increase our faith,
so he emailed president and set up the appointment. It was definitely
an answer to our prayers. We woke up at 5 to make it to the meeting on
time, and his talk was really good, but not what I expected. He talked
about how faith is accepting the Lord's will and timing, and if we
make goals and work our hardest at them, then it's up to the Lord to
give us success, according to the agency of the people. It was a
really cool talk and really motivating.

Things have been pretty good in Caguas too. We've been finding some
people to teach. We started teaching Angel, who was a reference from
the sisters. He understands that it would mean a big change in his
life if he was baptized, so he's been a little hesitant. We also met
Robert, who believes really firmly in the Bible, and said that he was
looking for a church whose teachings were in harmony with the Bible so
we taught him about the restoration and how the doctrine we teach is
the pure doctrine of Jesus Christ, the same that he and the prophets
throughout history have taught and he seemed really excited. We
brought Alex Burgos, the recent convert, with us to a lesson and they
got along well with each other.

I'm glad to hear about Evan's call. I hope he gets it today, you'll
have to let me know asap as possible where he's going. The
missionaries in Utah probably don't appreciate the dinner appointments
like they should. One of the members here has a son on a mission in
Utah, Elder Rosario, but they didn't know what city he was in. He's on
his last transfer anyway, so he'll be leaving within the next two
weeks or so. Anyway, things are going well here, and I'm still happy.

I love you,

Elder Duclos



Thanks for the Costco membership, I'll go pick up my card. It may not
be today, usually we only go to Costco at the beginning of the month.
I don't think I need anything else though. Thanks for everything

Elder Duclo

November 30, 2011

Hey,

I have heard that on Christmas we can choose either to skype or to call home, but I don't know anything more than that, so I'll let you know when I know more. Also, I had a question about Costco cards. We have been using one Elder's costco card to do our shopping every month, but he's moving out, so I was just wondering what it would take to get added to your account, or if it would be better to just get one myself, or if it wasn't worth the trouble at all.

I haven't been getting too homesick, even during thanksgiving. I do miss everyone a lot, and all of the traditions and the cold weather but I've still been able to keep my focus and use all those good memories to motivate me to share that with everyone.

I love you, thanks for everything you do

Elder Duclos

November 22, 2011, Caguas

Hey,

It's still hot here, even on the day before Thanksgiving. Today we're emailing last because we had a turkey bowl with all the elders in the zone. It was a lot of fun. We have a few appointments for tomorrow. We're going somewhere for lunch, and we have an appointment with both the Gonzalez family and the Rosarios (they are in Aguas Buenas, a different zone, but he's the mission leader for their branch and he invited all of us over). So we should be taken care of. It's still weird to be wearing short sleeves though. 

Things were pretty good this week. We had Zone Conference on Friday and that was awesome. President was there, and we learned a lot of really good things to help our area and zone. He told us about when the area was dedicated for the preaching of the gospel that it happened in the Caguas chapel, where we meet. The general authority who was giving the prayer (I can't remember who it was) said in the prayer that government officials would take notice of what was happening with the Church and they'd have an interest in it. That was over 30 years ago and just recently that has happened. There was a conference or something on peace, and the stake president was invited to talk and to share about the church. There is also an activity put on by the church throughout the island, in all the stake centers called the Christmas extravaganza. It's going to be a kind of concert with choirs and soloists and all kinds of stuff, but the Caguas city government heard about it and decided to help put it on, so instead of being held in the Caguas stake center, they're having it at a giant city pavilion that holds up to 10,000 people, and the city is going to be announcing it all week. It's pretty exciting to hear, and it will be an awesome opportunity to share the gospel with a lot of people here in Caguas.Braylin's baptism was really good. I have some pictures, but I might not get a chance to upload them today. We went by Irelsi's house and had another good lesson on faith, and how important faith is in gaining a testimony. We used Alma 32, where it compares faith to a seed, and we told her we could tell she'd planted the seed but that it was up to her to keep the commitments we invete her to make so she can have a perfect knowledge that this is the church of Jesus Christ on the earth. It was good. 

Anyway, I hope Thanksgiving is good, know that we're being taken care of over here. I love you 

Elder Duclos

November 15, 2011 Caguas

Hello,

Wow, it seems like yesterday was P day, the weeks go by so fast out here. But there is also so much going on. We had to stop going to Alex's house. He just hasn't been keeping any commitments. It was hard because he loves it when we come over and we always have spiritual lessons, but he's just not willing to do what's necessary to gain his own testimony. We'll keep stopping by every once in awhile though. Sister Gonzalez's dad has been good. We go over every Monday for Family home evening and teach him. This Monday was the day his son left for the MTC in Utah, so he was kind of sad but I really think that's where his interest is coming from. We taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ -  faith repentance baptism receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. It was a really good lesson and we could tell he had a strong testimony of Jesus Christ. Brailyn's baptism was moved from today to tomorrow because the youth are having an activity tonight that they want him to go to with his brother. So tomorrow he'll be baptized and so will Eugenia, whose husband was baptized a few weeks ago on the same day as Randy, Brailyn's brother. The zone leaders have been teaching Eugenia and yesterday one of them, Elder Wardell, went out with us so we passed by her house. It was a good lesson, we just finished up teaching all of the commandments, she was a little unsure about being baptized on Thursday, and wanted to move it to Saturday or next week so we said we could change the date but we invited her to pray about it. Later that night she called and said she'd gotten her answer and that Thursday was the day. That was awesome. So they'll be baptized tomorrow. Elder Griffin and I also have another investigator, I don't think I've mentioned her before. Her name is Irelsi, we found her knocking on doors. Right after we met her, we were talking about how much the Plan of Salvation would help her. Right before we went by again, we were planning what to teach and we decided just to teach the restoration. So we got there and got to know her a little bit and started the lesson and every question she had had to do with the plan of salvation, so we switched and taught her the plan of salvation. It was really good, she always has a lot of questions, and understands everything really well, and she's read everything we've left her to read. She says she still doesn't know that this is the one true church of Jesus Christ but she is also on her way to find that out. We've gone by three times now, with three different members of the ward and four different missionaries (because of exchanges). Yesterday we went by and talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was probably the best lesson I've had on the mission. We started out and she'd read from the beginning of the Book of Mormon, she had a bunch of questions about the testimony of Joseph Smith in there and about Nephi and Lehi. Then we taught about Jesus Christ and we testified that He knows her personally and that He has felt everything she has ever gone through in her life and that it's by coming to Him that we can be completely clean from our sins. It was really powerful and she's coming to the baptism tomorrow night and church on Sunday. The member who was with us yesterday offered to give her a ride and everything. Members help so much with missionary work. When we have members at lessons to share their testimonies and to get to know the investigators, it makes them so much better. So do everything you can to be involved in missionary work. 

So even though it feels like P day was yesterday there has been a lot going on. People still keep telling me I look like their relatives. Last night a family said I look like their cousin's husband, and the other day we were at Randy and Brailyn's house and they were looking up pictures of Harry Potter on Google, because they said I look like him. Elders are moving in and out of our apartment, they're reopening an area nearby so some elders were living here and are now leaving, so that's been kind of crazy. Also, it's really cool that Steve served in Caguas. I've asked a few people about Miri Flores, but nobody has recognized the name, and they do always use straws to drink from cans here. I've always been sure to use one, thanks Bekah. 

Anyways, that's what's been happening around here. Everything is good and we're doing well. The church is still true.

I love you

Elder Duclos

November 8, 2011 CAGAUS

Hello Everybody,

Everything has been really good here. Today we had transfers, I'm
still here in Caguas with Elder Griffin. One elder left, but his
replacement and another companionship are moving in, so we'll have 10
elders in our house. It's pretty crazy. It's really exciting to hear
about Joseph's mission call! I'm glad to hear about everyone going
out, I don't know if you told me which mission Hunter was going to,
but Elder Geronimo, who lives in our house, is from a place called
Azua in the Dominican Republic. He was excited when I said that my
friend was going there. Where is Nick's new job? I was excited to hear
that he got one, I've been praying for them. And Kendall and Megan are
going to Taiwan!? That's crazy.

Things have been going well with our investigators. We took the stake
president to a lesson with Alex, and they got along well. Alex told
him about how his dad died when he was 13, and President Santos bore
his testimony about how we can be together with our families for
eternity. We told him that the first step to achieving those blessings
was baptism, and that he needed to read and pray to get a testimony of
the prophet Joseph Smith and the restoration of the gospel. Also, with
things changing around we started working with a 14 year old kid that
the sisters were teaching. His mom was inactive and his older brother
was just baptized a few weeks ago. So we are preparing him for his
baptism on the 16th. His name is Brailyn and he's really cool. It's
cool to see the whole family supporting each other and learning the
gospel together. We are also going to start teaching somebody the Zone
leaders were teaching. She's the wife of a recent convert who was
baptized on the same day Brailyn's brother was. He's really awesome
and has been studying really hard to understand the gospel too. We
haven't met with her yet, but we'll go over tomorrow. We taught Sister
Gonzalez's dad about the Plan of Salvation on Monday. It was really
good again to see the power there is in a family supporting each other
in learning the gospel. He's still got some doubts but I can tell that
seeing his son leave on a mission had an impact on him.

It's still been pretty hot here, the past few days have been really
rainy, but still hot. It's hard to believe it's November already.

anyway, I love you and I'm glad to hear everything is okay with the family.

Elder Brock Duclos

PS Cory, what is that smell?

November 2, 2011 Caguas

Hey!

I'm glad to hear things are starting to get back to normal at home. I'm so glad Elise is home now, and I hope everything is okay with Holly. I'm so thankful for the eternal perspective we have because of the gospel. So many people here don't want to hear what we have to say because they already believe in Jesus Christ, but it's such a blessing to have the fulness of the gospel, to know Heavenly Father's plan for us, and what we need to do to follow it. That's why missionary work is so important, and everything going on at home has really strengthened my testimony of that. It's awesome to hear about Joseph, Hunter and Evan getting ready to go out. I'm excited to find out where Joseph is going, so let me know asap as possible. Its really cool that Hunter is going to the Dominican Republic. We have met quite a few Dominicans here, and they're all good people. and good cooks.

Things have been going well here. I think I told you about Sister Gonzalez's dad the other week. We had family night at their house again on Monday, and he's been reading the Book of Mormon. We had a lesson on it and how it can be a blessing in our lives, and next week we're going to teach him about the Plan of Salvation. They keep saying I look like his son, who is leaving on his mission to Honduras in a few days. I don't know what it is about the way I look but it seems like everyone in Puerto Rico has a son on grandson that looks exactly like me. We've been working hard here, and everything is going really well. We have some goals to strengthen the ward in Caguas, so please pray for the church here. The stake president made the goal to split the Caguas ward into two wards by the end of year so we are working really hard to make that happen. We will need a miracle. Last week was the primary program, and it was really good to see that. It good to see how blessed those kids were to have the gospel in their lives, and to havng of growing up in the church.

Anyways, everthing is going really well, and the church is stilll true.

I love you, 

Elder Duclos

October 19, 2011 Grandma D's Birthday

Hey,

It's been a really good week! We have some really solid investigators that we've been teaching. Alex, the guy we found on the first day, is progressing really well. We had a lesson with a ward member the other night and we taught him the Plan of Salvation. It was really powerful to be able to teach him what his potential is as a son of Heavenly Father, that God set up this whole plan so that he could obtain that potential and that we were there for that reason, to invite him to take the necessary steps that lead toward the Celestial Kingdom. That was really rewarding to watch him learn that because we knew it was something new for him but he accepted it and knew it was true. We have also been teaching Nelson, who is a pretty young kid. We've taught him a few times and he is always really willing to learn and make appointments for us to come back. We had an appointment with him yesterday but he didn't answer the door, we were worried but he called later and said it was because he was sick and he asked if we could come Thursday, so that was a good sign. On Monday we had Family Home Evening with the Gonzales family. The parents were both born in Puerto Rico but they moved to New York and started their family there and just moved in here recently, so the kids all speak English and are learning Spanish. Anyway, we taught the lesson, we taught about missionary work and how they can share the Gospel with their friends and family. One thing we didn't expect was that Sister Gonzales's dad was there, who wasn't a member, but he seemed interested and even participated in some of the practices. At the end we had everyone choose a pass along card to give out during the week and then we gave the family a Book of Mormon to give out too. When we did that the dad said, "hey can I have that, my daughter has been wanting me to read it" so we gave it to him and marked 3 Nephi 11 for him to read. After that, Sister Gonzales said her dad had met a lot of missionaries before and had never even talked to them, but this time he was interested. That was really cool to see.

Puerto Rico has been pretty cool. It's still really hot here. There are some weird things, like restaurants only ever serve Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, 7 Up and Fanta. I don't know why but it seems like that's just what all the Puerto Ricans like. Also in my apartment there's a bidet, but I still have not used it. Also, some people will sell these things called limbers from their houses, they're like popsicles but they're just in a little plastic cup, and they're really good. They also have a sandwich here called a tripleta. It's a huge sandwich with chunks of ham and chicken and all kinds of stuff. I got one the other day when I was on splits with my district leader, and that was probably the best thing I've eaten here. Anyways, I hope everything is going well at home, I love you and I'll talk to you later. The Church is true

Elder Duclos