Back At It

Hey Everyone! 

So I'm just completing my first full week after returning home from Atlanta for two days! I was home for the funeral of my Dad and to strengthen my family, as we are going through this trial of life together! It was so amazing to be back home to snuggle with all of my brothers and sisters and mom! I was able to feel a special closeness to all of my Family and to my Heavenly Father! Although I loved being home, I couldn't be happier to be back in DR working hard everyday in the Lords vineyard!

 

Update! I now have four months as a missionary for the church of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints, I am still Fantino, Dominican Republic and I have a new companion. I am continuing to work hard everyday to bring others unto the knowledge and love that I have been so blessed to have in my life! My new companion is from Santo Domingo, he only has three months left on his mission, he is 5'1 aka really short, and has tons of energy. We have been getting along great and we are starting to truly become brothers as we help strengthen one another. 

The families here that we are teaching are really special! One family that my old companion and I contacted about two months ago is crazyy special! Their names are the Albrincole family! They live in

a tiny little shaq made of random pieces of tin and wood! They have two sons who are 14 and 12. It has been an amazing privilege to see this family accept, live and cherish the gospel of Jesus Christ as I have been blessed enough to teach them! It is crazy to me how poor they are and how they are literally always showing us love both spiritual and physical with food! They made us eat at their house for lunch for the past three days! They truly understand as I do that true happiness in life and all eternity only comes from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. They have born their testimony to me and all of their friends of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as they have prepared to be baptized and they will finally be making this covenant with God this Saturday! I am so excited and happy for this family! They are an amazing example to their community and the members here in Fantino! The Lord has continued to bless Fantino as we work in unity with him to do his will here in DR! I love these people and I love all of my family/friends that have supported me through my life experiences! 

I pray for all of you daily! It has been amazing to see the Lords plan for me and my family! At times when I feel so far away from family the Lord continues to draw me nearer to him! Life is not easy but with the Lord all things are possible! I am truly HAPPY and pray all of you can be as well. 

Hope to hear from you all soon! 

Thanks for all of the letters, they have helped me to continue on with love in my heart! 

Siempre con amor,

Elder Rincon

 

Seeking Understanding through Transition

Elder Rincons father passed away last Tuesday.

He was able to come home for the funeral but is now back in Dominican Republic serving, exactly where his father wants him to be.

If you have any memories with the Rincon family or donations or both please visit http://www.sonnyrincon.com/. All contributions will be greatly appreciated.

Elder Rincon needs some extra love right now, let's send him a few extra emails, shall we?

Extending The Tiny Branches

Saludo familia! 

This week was great! or as they say in DR, this week was heavy! 

Each additional week that I serve in Fantino has gotten better and better. The Lord is truly working hard with us as we give our all to serve his children. 

This past sunday we had 8 future members (investigators) and 11 less active members at church! For Fantino and our tiny branch, this is the most they have ever had in a really long time! I have never seen our branch building so packed and filled with families and friends. I literally could not stop smiling the entire time because the spirit was strong and everyone was so happy to be at church! We are also preparing a couple families for baptism and they were also able to attend church, which was great! 

One family has been really strong since we have been teaching them. Polo (dad), charro (mom), Blady (15 yr old son) and Leandro (12 yr old son). This family lives in the country country( double for emphasis) in a small shaq (see what I did there?) held together with random pieces of tin and wood. There are two rooms in the house and they cook with a fire every day. We found them through their son Blady who we were teaching with another family (his best friend) who, of course, happens to be distant cousins of mine. When we realized that Blady was progressing faster than this other family of cousin's we decided to open our hearts and share with his family too. Since DAY ONE they have attended general conference, church and almost every activity. They have a real love for the gospel, their Savior Jesus Christ, and for one another as a family. They have a baptismal date for November 30th and they are really excited to make this covenant as a family! I know that this GOSPEL of Jesus Christ truly changes lives and that every human being need it's blessings and happiness. 

As a missionary I have been able to see my own people change as they feel the presence and power of God. I know that I am working in the Lords work and that the Master truly works with his servants as they do His will! Through all of these experiences I have been blessed to be here in D.R and I am truly happy as I follow the example of Jesus Christ! My mission has not been easy and life never really is. I know that as I continually strive to become a better Disciple of Christ, I will need to go through tough times to grow and understand his life.

I love you all and hope to talk to you soon!

 

 

Siempre con amor,

Elder Rincon

P.S. The pictures are the before and after of yesterday's lunch! This land is feeding me like a jungle king!

Muy Espanol!

Saludo! Como estan!

Yo quiero mucho hablar en espanol porque es empecando llegar a ser dificil hablar en ingles!
 Fantino is great! The Lord continues to bless this area of his vineyard as we work as one to strengthen his children. I have a baptism next Saturday and were preparing two families of distant cousins on the Almanzar side for baptism. (Carlos, a 30 year cousin who was a reference of the president of our branch has a baptism scheduled for this next Saturday and the family names of my cousins are (Jose-Smerline Almanzar) and (Miguelina-Juan Pablo Almanzar).

It has been crazy living so close to family and I meet a new cousin about once every three days contacting and talking to new people. It feels like I have an unlimited supply of cousins.

General Conference this past weekend was A M A Z I N G! I watched, sung every hymn, laughed, cried and took 15 pages of notes all by myself in the bishops office because I'm the only person in Fantino that watched conference in English. The spirit was so powerful and I was able to receive revelation through the Lords servants for the families I am teaching and for the less active members I am trying reactivate. My testimony was strengthened ten fold as I continue down the road of conversion. I am literally so happy in Fantino and its really hard not to smile when I'm surrounded by platano's, loud merengue-bachata music and the love of my Savior Jesus Christ.

Hope to hear from all of you soon!
I pray and think about you all daily.

Siempre Con Amor,

Elder Rincon

Families are Forever

What's up Everybody! 

I hope and pray all is well. I am doing great and loving my area!  

First off this week...family talk! This past week my district had exchanges. All of my district met in up Cotui and switched companions, one with another. I was exchanged with a missionary in cotui 2! My new companion for the day was Elder Espinoza from Provo, who arrived in DR the same day as I and doesn’t speak any Spanish. So, for a whole day Elder Espinoza and I walked around Cotui, met with tons of less active members, ate Dominican food, taught lessons and OH YEAH! I met about 50 other family members! So before we started the day with all of our lessons and visits, we stopped by my Tia Nenas house for a visit. I love stopping by Tia Nenas house to see her and all of my other cousins house because they always have so much love to give me and my companion. After we visited with all of my Almanzar Family, Maritza (the daughter of Miraldi who is the sister of my Grandma), began introducing me to the Rincon side of my family, which was just 3 blocks down the street. This part was crazy! As we were walking down the street on the way to my cousins houses I met and hugged about 15 other cousins who all gave me tons of love.  The first Rincon house I visited was the brother of myGrandpa “Papito” AKA  “Papi” in DR. I met my Tio and a lot of other cousins but I can’t remember his name because I met so many family members but he is one of the oldest. It was so special to finally meet other Rincon family and they all embraced as if they have known me my entire life and raised me!  He lives in the house were my Grandpa was born in which happens to be right next to the house my dad was born in. It was unreal to be in the houses of were so many generations of my family have lived. One of the greatest moments with this Tio was right before we left. He mustered up all of the strength in his body to stand up and give me a minute long hug! (he is a 90 yrs old and blind so the whole time during the hug I was showing him how tall I am by placing my nose on the top of his head).

I then visited the older sister of my Grandpa and his other brother Victoriano (who looks exactly like my Grandpa). Literally I met so many family members and they each embraced me in their love.  It is crazy to me that I’m actually a missionary in the DR and have the opportunity to meet and teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to hundreds of family members. I know that the Lord has a special plan for all of his children and I am starting to figure out mine. I love all of my family everywhere and know that blessings and happiness are possible for all who accept and live the Gospel. Hope to hear from each of you soon!

Siempre con Amor,

Elder Rincon

Family Reunion

Saludo! Wassup! 

This week was crazy! I am feeling great! (Thanks to saychelles essential oils) AND I have a crazy farmers tan! I am exhausted every night! I have been eating platanoes for breakfast and lunch every day! And my spanish is coming along great! (I'm still working on my Dominican Accent because everyone is able to communicate with me but they all know that I am from a different country because my accent is different).

 

So my companion and I are continuing to go hard everyday and this past sunday we had THE MOST investigators ever attend church. We are starting to see miracles in the lives of the people here as they put their faith in Jesus Christ and apply His gospel in their lives. Also this past sunday I was able to finally meet my prima Nelly Almanzar and her husband Juan Rodriguez. Literally the entire sunday at church I was smiling as I sat next to my family during class and listened to their talks during sacrament meeting (they each gave great talks in our sacrement meeting).

 

Also, I just got back from eating lunch with Nelly and all of their family in Cotui. I also met twenty other Almanzars in Cotui that live right next door to Nelly. It's C R A Z Y how much family I have! I only met about thirty Almanzars cousins but the whole time they were telling me how I need to meet all of my other family down the street. Here are the names of the Cousins I was hanging out with today (Tia Nena, Nelly Almazar and her two kids, Nancy Almanzar and her kids, Cali Almanzar, Miraldi Almanzar who is the sister of my Grandma Emilia, her Daughter Mitza and a lot more).  It was so special to meet and talk with my family. They all have so much love for me and we talked as if we have known each other forever. We showed pictures, told stories, laughed, hugged, exchanged numbers, ate dominican food, and made arrangements to meet other cousins including my Rincon family. It was so special and I felt like I was back home chilling with my family. Everyone looked kind of like me and the craziest part was the sister of my grandma abuelita looked exactly like abuelita and titi mari.

 

I love my family so much and I know that they love me. 

I miss my family so much, but I know that I am doing the work of the Lord. 

My testimony of my Savior Jesus Christ continues to grow everyday as I pray and do all I can to strengthen the testimony of the people around me.

 

Siempre con Amor, 

Elder Rincon

 

P.S. I am receiving everyones letters except from Miami People!

Barefoot B-Boys & Family Connections

So I realize that my grammer in my letters has been rough, but I only have 30 minutes to tell the people I love most about all of the amazing experiences I had this week and I never have time to double check anything. First off, thanks for all of the Love I have been feeling from the letters. They literally bring so much joy into my heart when I read your words and can basically picture you guys talking to me. 

I also realize that I haven't really told you much about where I live and what my day to day schedule is. 

So! 

Right now, my companion and I live in the town Fantino and we live in the neighborhood Chinchilini. I was always told that Cotui (the town where all my family is from and lives) is the country, but after living in Fantino for three weeks, Cotui is like a large city compared to Fantino. I'm livin that country D.R lifestyle. My apartment is pretty ghetto, but compared to the houses and shacks around me, I have more than enough For my needs. I am completely surrounded by platanos, yuca, rice and beans, loud merengue music, dominican barbers,animals  and more platanoes. So you know I am having a great time! If you want more details you can probs just google it.

Every week that I have on my mission has been really special and I have loved this area. All of the other missionaries say that Fantino is a really hard area but my companion and I are having alot of success finding and teaching people. One person that we have been teaching is Carlos. He is always reading, asking questions and wanting to grow closer to his savior Jesus Christ. Every lesson that we have with Carlos has been really powerful and we all have been able to feel the testifying power of the Holy Spirit. He is a great Investigator and my companion and I pray daily that we will be able to continue his grow his testinomy of Jesus Christ and His Gopel. 

Other news: 

My Spanish is getting on point and I teach a lot of the lessons. Everybody thinks that I'm Dominican untill they hear me talk for a while and don't hear my accent...than they ask me where I'm from...sooo basically right now I'm trying to work on my Dominican accent. But other than that, the language is really coming.

Today I was able to play basketball at a park down the street from my house and there were tons of little kids (ten to 12) playing ball on another court. After a couple of minutes of me shooting around, some of them asked if they could play with me...and after a couple more minutes, we had a full game of Five vs. Five. It was crazy how good these little kids were! I was basically playing a bunch of Mio´s (my young cousin in Miami). All of the kids were barefoot and in busted t-shirts, while I was wearing my Adidas and dry fit clothes. It was a lot of fun and I may or may not have lost to these little kids...you'll probs just have to ask them. 

It´s crazy to me how everyone I see reminds of my family in the States. And a lot of them actually ARE my family. Yesterday I met the Husband of my cousin Nelly Almanzar. He told me all about the tons of family I have in Cotui (where they live) and about my grandparents in New York. I have also been in touch with Nelly these past couple of days and she is great. I have only met her husband in real life but next P Day, I plan on going to Cotui and visiting all of my cousins that haven't visited...who OF COURSE happen to live right next to the chapel in Cotui. I'm sure they will have a bunch of amazing stories to share with me and I am hoping they will also have a bunch of platanoes to share with me too.

I have literally been loving it here in my country and everyday I feel more at home. It is really hard to be away from all of my family and friends, but I know that I am doing the Lord's work every day and that inspires me to get up every morning at 6.30 am and not stop working untill 10.30 at night. I have never worked so hard in my life and given all of my time to build up the Lords Kingdom. My Savior Jesus Christ strengthens me every day and he is causing miracles to happen here in the lives of the people. I am honored to simply be an instrument in His hands. I love my Mission and I love all of you so much. Hope to hear from all of you soon.

P.S. Please tell Omari and Miami Fam to show me some Love.

Siempre con Amor,

Elder Rincon

First Baptisms

Saludo! Como estan mi familia! 

As you can tell from those first two lines, I am basically fluent now! And still living that Dominican missionary lifestyle! First off, I want to thank everyone for the dear elders and emails. Its incredible how much love you can feel through words on a piece of paper or computer screen. In the letters that I have received so far, you guys had a couple of questions for me. So I want to answer those first.

DR is amazing! It is literally everything I have dreamt of! Its crazy walking the streets everyday and saying hello to all of these people that look just like your family. All the Dominicans in my area (Fantino) are crazy nice and are always saying Hi to us and inviting us in to talk about Jesus Christ and share a message. Its basically like a Dominican cummings georgia, times two on that crazy nice scale.

Fantino is very country compared to all of the oher areas in santiago. So my companion and I do a lot of walking on dirt roads, through random trails and over hot oxen doodoo. There are tons of oxen, dogs, chickens and horses that roam the streets and do what they want.

Physically it is always hot and humid and nobody has air conditioning. I get a great exercise everyday and I am now the proud owner of an amazing farmers tan and watch tan. I also have been eating tons of rice, beans, mangu, platanoes maduro, chicken and sancocho. Everything is really cheap; it is only 25 cents (american) for one large platano, so you know I've been doing work on that! 

Spiritually, it has been amazing! It's crazy how great I feel every night after knowing that I have worked my best to serve, invite, teach and testify of the gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone that I meet! My companion and I have been having success here in Fantino and we were able to baptize an amazing family this past saturday. The hardest thing for me here in Fantino is being away from my family in the U.S. It's basically impossible for me to talk, read about or hear songs or testimonies about families without crying. I love my Family so much! But it is more than worth it to help other families enjoy the eternal happiness and blessings that come from the gospel of Jesus Christ. I don't have any more time but I am loving D.R with all my heart and I feel comfortable about my spanish. I pray for each of you every night and I know how much the Lord loves each of you! 

Hope to hear from you soon!

Siempre con amor,

Elder Rincon 

DR Lifestyle

This first week has been crazy! I bonded with my dominican brother-companion, I walked everywhere, and I taught a bunch of people (one of them, who I found out after, is my cousin!) I went to sleep every night exhausted, listening to merengue blasting from the houses and stores around my apartment. I also met the local members and had an amazing sunday sacrament meeting. 

Literally there are so many experiences that I want to share with my family, but i know that there is just not enough time (so you all probably just have to serve a mission in DR to understand lol).

Here are the best experiences:
Each day I contact with my companion (Elder Montes de Oca from Santo Domingo) at least two hours a day. Which is basically just talking with people about the gospel while sitting on their porch together. Talking to people is really cool because everyone invites us in and wants to listen to a message about Jesus Christ. Everyone believes that Jesus Christ is everything to them, but a lot of poeple don't go to church and don't like to pray...it's a weird combo but I can feel everyones love for the Savior. One family that we have have been teaching is pretty special! Familia Ortiz; they have great faith and a yearning for the gospel of Jesus Christ! All four of their children have a baptism this saturday, but the parents are not able to until they get married. I am really excited for their baptism, because I know how special and sacred baptism is and how much they will be blessed for taking this great leap of faith. I love this family because they're loud, big and love to talk about the gospel, a lot like my family. All of their little kids (and the kids here in fantino) try to speak english with me and I teach them funny words. It's pretty fun because they're better than most of the adults. I'll keep you updated on this family next time and I should have pictures of the baptism.

So the ward here is pretty small with about 40 active members and 30 inactive members. A big part of the missionary work here is visiting the non active members and sharing spiritual messages with them or just seeing what we can do to serve them. For example; last saturday my companion and I and two other members sang two songs in sacrament meeting and this week I have a talk. This past sunday was a great fast and testimony meeting. The spirit was so strong and I was able to share my testimony with my new ward family. The combination of their strong testimonies and my singing of families can be together forever overwhelmed me with happiness and love. It's so crazy to finally mix my loud and amazing dominican culture with my spiritual beliefs.

I know that there is going to be a lot of success in this area if I continue to work hard with my companion.  

Some of the funniest things about DR is that everyone wears clothes, hats, and food that have english words on it but nobody knows how to speak english or what the words mean. There are a lot of bootleg things here. The other day I saw a Miami Heat hat with a MLB baseball sticker on the front of it...I started laughing but when I explained it to my companion in spanish, it wasn't funny. Oh yeah, I have only spoke spanish in the past week and I'm starting to find my dominican flow. 
Another funny thing is that my companion loves to sing english songs but kind of butchers them with his thick dominican accent. I have been teaching him english everyday and he is improving every day; this also helps me because he is able to sympathize with me when I don't understand spanish words because he only understands about 20 english words. 

Another really cool experience was going to cotui last monday for my district meeting. Being in cotui was a dream come true and meeting tons of people who know my cousin Nelly Almanzar was crazy! Apparently she now knows that I am serving about ten minutes away from where she lives! I have her number and I am going to call her tonight so we can get together. Literally I feel like everyone is related to me and a lot of them actually are. Like a cousin of mine who I have been visting. I found out that she was my cousin about two times after we visited with her family. She is not a member, but her sister in law is and she has a lot of active member friends. We'll all just have to wait and see what happens with my new found cousin Carmen! 

I love my country and the people here. I am livin my culture errday with platanos, loud merengue music and preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ in spanish with everyone I meet. I love my mission and I love Fantino! I love my family and I pray for each of you often! I miss each of you so much and it is really hard to be seperated from each of you, but I know that the Lord will bless each of you as I continue to give my all to serving him and his children. The Lord has entrusted me with a small portion of his earthly kingdom here in DR and I am doing all that I can to build it up with love. I know that am servant of my savior Jesus Christ and I have been given the oppurtunity to give back all that I have been blessed with to his children here in Fantino. It so easy to love the families here because the Lord has given my family so much love.

Hope to hear from all of you soon! 

But until then, NOS VEMOS!

siempre con amor, 
Elder Rincon

p-s I forgot my camera cord but Ill hopefully be sending tons of pictures soon!

Los Dos Primeros Dias!

Wow! I cant believe I am emailing everyone from DR!

I don't have much time but it literally seems like so much has happened since we were all crying on the phone in the Miami airport. First off, I am safe and I am loving my country. It was unreal to go onto the plane and look around to only see my family; literally everyone looked like me. It was amazing to see so many dominicans and I couldn't stop smiling because I was positive that I was sitting behind Imani, Omari, Titi Kenia, Papito etc. 

Once i got into Santiago with my district group, I was picked up by the Mission President and other missionaries. I then proceeded to, per Titi Kenia's request, take a huge breath in and smelled my ancestors. We smell great. I was then taken to the mission home and I got to see the city a little bit on the drive. It looks like a mixture of miami houses and new york people aka. craziness in the streets.

There is so much more that I want to tell you but i don't want to be late to my meeting! 

When I had my first meeting with my mission president he told me that he believed I would definitely have the opportunity to serve in Cotui, which is so crazy and exciting! When we all received our new companions and areas I was called to serve in Fantino; this is where I am now. Fantino is really close to Cotui and far from the city of Santiago.

I couldn't believe it. I am literally living a dream come true.

Today I took a 3 hour bus ride to Fantino and went straight through Cotui. I have pictures. It´s been the craziest couple of days of my life. I don't have enough time to upload pictures but I want to tell you a little more about my experience so far. I have loved every second. I went contacting my first day and my spanish was more or less on point. It's crazy to talk to my people in my country. Everyone is humble and willing to talk about religion, God and Christ. It was a lot of fun meeting, talking and sharing my testimony with random family members that I met in the street.

Also, I have never seen so much poverty in my entire life. It is hard to see my people in this kind of poverty because I love them so much. I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ will help them gain true happiness, receive crazy blessings and have the holy spirit with them always. It has blessed my life tremendously and I know that is the reason why I am here. I am in my home country because I have been extremely blessed in my life and it is my duty to God to do all that i can to share my greatest blessing, the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, with everyone who is ready to listen with their hearts. I know I am doing the work of the Lord.

Before I go I wanted to tell you that my companion is Dominican from Santo Domingo. We are already becoming good friends and my spanish is growing by leaps and bounds everyday because it is all I am speaking.

Please pray for the members in this country. In Fantino there are only forty members but I know that with the help of the Lord and hard work on my part, I will be able to be a tool in the Lords hands to grow his kingdom upon this earth.

I love everyone here and I love all of my family so much.
I miss each of you so much, but I will be home soon enough.

The Lord has a special plan for me here and I am just starting to figure it out. 

Los Amos Siempre,

Elder Rincon

P.S. My Prep days are now on Wednesdays! and I will have pictures next week :)

Jose's First Blessing

Hey Everyone! 

2 days left in the MTC! It has gone by so fast! I am so excited to finally be leaving for D.R.! Thanks for all of the of the packages! I have received all of the workout clothes, power bars, suitcase,debit card and doterra oils. I feel everyones love and prayers! It felt like christmas errday this week. Also this week I was able to host new missionaries, finish all of my big meetings (meetings about the mission field), went to the temple and had powerful spiritual experiences with my district and zone. Here are some of those spiritual experiences. So you can have a lil taste of the spirit I have been feeling on my mission. 

So this last week of my zones stay here in the MTC has been really exciting! There is a lot of emotion that goes into preparing to be a missionary in another country and for most of the missionaries in my zone they are going to Argentina. All of the Argentina missionaries were told in their missionary call that they would be reassigned for a couple of months, so because of this, all of them were anxious to find out their reassignments. about four days ago, unexpectedly, all of the Argentina missionaries received their flight itinerary and were going crazy. All of the missionaries going to Argentina (I know at least 40 personally ,but their are a couple hundred in the MTC) received tourist visas and would not be reassigned. Literally everyone was crying, jumping, praying and some were even crying as they jumped and prayed. It was a miracle for them. Well their is one sister in my district who is going to Spain Madrid mission and was the only sister missionary in our zone going to to Spain who has not received her visa yet. I could tell that she was worried and also troubled by visa issues and other missionary worries. The morning after all the Argentina missionaries had received their visas, she asked me if I would give her a priesthood blessing of comfort. I told her that I would love to and we made a plan for later on in the afternoon during our personal study time. The entire morning I prayed for the spirit to be with us in this blessing. I prayed that I may be used to as instrument in the Lord's hand to be able to express to her what the Lord wants her to know and most importantly feel. I have never given a blessing a comfort to someone outside of my family before so I was a little nervous ,but I knew that the Lord trust's me and I had faith in the priesthood power of God. When it came time to give sister Reyes a blessing, a powerful spirit entered the room and we were all (four missionaries) able to feel a special peace . Honestly, I do not remember what I said or what I expressed, But I can distinctly remember how I felt and the tears of joy and comfort that I saw on sister Reyes face. I know that the Lord used me as his instrument to express to her what the Lord needed her to hear. It was amazing. The power of the priesthood is so real and I was able to witness the power and comfort it can have on one of His beloved children. I am so thankful for the opportunity I have to be worthy of and exercise His priesthood. I know that it is one of the key tools that God uses to build up his kingdom. I know I am only one of thousands of workers in the Lord's army ,but It brings me so much joy to do my little part.   

Do you want to know why people say serving a mission is the one of the most rewarding things you can ever do? it is because you are constantly (24/7) giving your life to the Lord. Everything I do as a representative of Jesus Christ is to build the kingdom of God upon the earth. I have not even left the MTC yet and I have already experienced the blessings of this work. It is a miracle to me how when lose yourself through helping others, you actually find yourself. It doesn't really make sense untill you do it. I know this to be true and I know that Jesus Christ is at the Head of this work. I love Him and I know how much he loves all of us. I love all of you and I pray you for you all daily. Next letter I send will be from D.R! Yeah, I know! It's going to be hard living on a tropical island, eating all of my favorite foods, but someone has to do it.

IMPORTANT: I will be in the Miami airport from 6:40 to 8:40 august 26th so I will be calling family on the pay phone (with a phone card thing) at that time. I don't know everyones number by memory so please send me a dear elder with your phone number if you want a call. I hope I can talk to all of you so you need to be ready to pick up the phone. Hope to hear your voice soon through that payphone.

Love, 

Elder Rincon

Special Devotional: August 16th Letter

Hey everyone! 

I have been in the MTC for 31 days now! My mission is already flying by! Only 634 days left of being a full time missionary. How is everyone doing? Whats new? I love your letters and they help strengthen me when I need it the most. I had another great week! I truly am living my dream as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day saints! Some news from me, I received my travel plans (for D.R) today, I just got back from the Provo temple (this morning) and my Spanish is improving every day. Also I went to a devotional (Live) by Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the twelve Apostles. All of these experiences were amazing and have each strengthened my testimony of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. 

Also I received my travel plans. Did I mention that I received my travel plans for D.R.? Well i did! Here's the basic Info:

On August 26th, I leave Provo at 3:30 a.m and head to SLC airport. I leave SLC airport at 7:10am and arrive at the ATL,GA airport at 12:47pm (Flight 2218). Then I leave ATL at 1:40pm to Miami,FL at 3:45 pm (Flight 1951). Then I leave Miami at 6:40 pm to Santiago D.R at 8:40 pm."gee I wonder what I could do for my layover in ATL in Miami " ;) ;) Anyways I'm crazy excited to finally be in D.R. and eat platanos all day every day! 

Other really exciting news is that this past Tuesday I was able to attend a fireside here at the MTC were Richard G Scott addressed us. Here are some of the thoughts and notes that I took from the devotional: "Which was also the first ever live broadcast between all the MTC'S around the World" (15)

- to reach a goal never before attained, you must do things never before done.

- Do not rush your prayer's with God. Prayer is a privilege. We should take time to express our deepest gratitude and concerns with Him. Then we need to wait for his answer to our prayer. You cant rush an effective prayer.

- Ask God, in our prayers, "What he wants for us", this allows us to reach our full potentials as children of God.

- There are many languages that I will need to learn in my Life! Spanish is just one of them. As a disciple and follower of Christ, I am working on learning the language of His spirit, language of charity, language of humility and the language of continual love towards his children.  

I love being a missionary! I love being in the MTC, yet I am so excited to finally go back to the motherland! I know that our Lord has a special plan for all of us. I know that for these next two years, mine will be to sacrifice my all to build his kingdom upon the Earth. I pray for all of you daily and I know that our Savior loves each of you so much because I feel that love everyday. I pray that we may all be instruments in the Lords Orchestra. (I know that the last sentence was really profound, but I do that sometimes)  I love all you so much and hope to hear from each of you soon! 

Love,

Elder Rincon

P.S. Jose was sure to hashtag the photos for us...what a goofball!

#missionpics #spirit #model #mountains #elder #platanos

Visa Arrival!

Hey everyone! 

I have officially been in the provo MTC for 3 weeks and 1 day! I have loved all of it! The days are long and the weeks are short! This week I finally received my visa! This was shweet cause their was a group of 25 elders waiting for their visas (all in the same mission and all suppose to be going to the D.R MTC), but unfortunately they want us to finish out our MTC time in Provo. This was expected, but I was hoping to get a head start on that farmers tan and Platanos! Although this MTC is not in D.R, I know the Lord has a plan for all of us and I love this MTC as well. I feel my Saviors love here daily and it is preparing me for D.R.

 

Some of the events that have occurred in my Life since last email:

 

- We have lost about 15 missionaries in our zone of 40 missionaries and have gained about 10 other new ones. It's really cool when you say goodbye to fellow missionaries in your Zone. We all get together, right before10:30 at night and yell/sing/scream as loud as we can the church hymn " till we meet again" ( in spanish). It's always powerful when you get a large gathering of people together (for a great cause) and sing. (even if nobody actually knows what their singing, which seems to be the case most of the time, cause everyone is mispronouncing words). Ill attach a video of this, so you can experience it with me.

 

- Also, my spanish continues to improve daily. Everything I do inside the classroom ( which I'm in for about 10 hours a day is in spanish). We sing in spanish, learn spanish in spanish, study our scriptures in spanish, practice missionary scenarios in spanish, breathe in spanish and occasionally i even dance in spanish. The Lord is blessing me with many gifts including faith, diligence, and the strength to give my all to Him, who has given me all. Without the Lord I would not be where I am with the language now. I feel a lot more comfortable speaking spanish and my flow has become more fluid. I'm definitely not at the level were i want to be yet, but I know that day will come soon when i'll be able to freestyle in spanish ( of course a gospel freestyle) and not even realize that i'm not speaking english!

 

- One principle that I have learned this week is the importance of "doing"." We teach, to learn". When we practice whatever it is that we are trying to get better at, we learn how to become better at it. I know that the more that I practice speaking spanish, teaching by/with the spirit of god and doing all that i can to grow closer to God, i am becoming a greater missionary. I know that God loves us so much and is always looking for ways to bless our lives. I know that he wants us to be so happy, so he gives us trials, challenges and commandments, to make us stronger and bless our lives. His gospel has blessed my life tremendously and I am beyond excited to be able to invite others to come unto it through Jesus Christ. I know he has blessed me with family and friends to lift me up and help me grow closer to him. I love all of you and love hearing from you! Your letters have been great and have truly allowed me to feel like i'm back home with all of you. Hope to hear from everyone soon, " dearelder.com" is the best way to reach me, and i have a new mail box number unit # 164.

 

Love, 

Elder Rincon

 

Birthday in the MTC

Hi family!

How is everyone? I miss all of you a lot! I am so thankful for your dear elders and letters! Iv'e realized how truly special each letter/email is and how impossible it is for me to not be overjoyed with love when I read them! This week has been amazing! I have started every single journal entry, so far, with " another great day"! I truly love being a full time representative of Jesus Christ. It makes me so happy and has allowed me to constantly be under the guidance of the Lords Spirit. Some of my experiences from this week: Sunday, it was my first sabbath day with my new zone. Each Sunday you have to write a talk about a new topic, and then after sacrament, our branch president calls on two people randomly to give their talks. whether they have written one or not. I have not been called upon yet, but i know that it will happen eventually. Some of the thoughts and impressions that I was able to feel this Sunday were:
- Revelation is communication with God though the Holy Spirit. God knows us each individually and we are all different. Because of this, we all feel the spirit testifying to us differently. I just always happen to have a piece of dust in my eye when the spirit is testifying to me of truth.
- Salvation is not a cheap experience! If we are to be true disciples of Christ, we must each be going through our own Gethsemane's (figuratively). Salvation was never easy! Missionary work will never be either. It has to be difficult!
IT WAS MY 19TH B-DAY! Thanks for all of the thoughts, letters, package and emails! it was basically like any other day in the MTC except I was wished a bunch of Happy Birthdays. Also my zone surprised me by calling me into a room where they ambushed me, while screaming to me Happy Birthday! Unfortunately there was no icing to shmear on my face, BUT the song was sung out of tune and pitch, so it reminded me a lot of home and kept that tradition going strong. It was a little different having my 19th B-DAY in the MTC , but i enjoyed every second of it and it was special to me! Although i cant wait to have my 21st B-day with all of my family and friends gett'n crazy off that malta and platanos!

Also the rest of this week has been great! I'm working hard to study language, become a greater servant of the lord, and become more like my savior Jesus Christ! the days are long and then nights are too short! One of the blessings that have helped me to become a greater missionary is the spirit. The Holy spirit has allowed me to learn the language at a fast pace, understand/ know what the lord needs me to express to his children, and stay happy through the love I receive daily.  My Spanish improves daily and i am able teach full 40 minute lessons with all of my investigators. ( Investigators are basically teachers who pose as investigators they have taught on their own mission in Spanish speaking countries) all of the lessons are in Spanish. It truly helps you learn the language when you give full lessons to investigators in that language! I am becoming more comfortable with the language of my people everyday! I cant wait to re learn everything I have been taught once i get into the mission field!

Here one of the great experience I had with my companion this week: we were preparing for one of investigators Pedro, but we were struggling to know what the Lord needed him to know and what we could share with him that could bring him closer to Christ. We went into a quiet room, prayed together out loud, and then pondered for a couple of minutes after the prayer. After 5 minutes of pondering in our minds, we each received the same exact revelation of what we needed to teach Pedro.  Our prayer was answered immediately and we were able to better understand what we needed to share with our investigator Pedro. This was just one of the many spiritually strengthening experiences I have had this week.

I know that the lord answers our prayers when we have faith and humble ourselves before him. I know that we can learn the truth of all things through prayer to our Heavenly Father and then listening for his answer, that will come to us in our mind and hearts. I know that I am truly participating in the work of the Lord. I know that the Book of Mormon, as well as the bible our testaments of Jesus Christ, his prophets/apostles and contain the fullness of His Gospel. I know these scriptures to be true. I know that Gospel of Jesus Christ, makes me so happy and makes me want to share my happiness and truth with all i encounter. I testify of these things and know that they are true, because God has testified to me, through the Holy Spirit that they are true! I cannot deny the overwhelming feeling that i have felt when i feel the Holy spirit in my heart and mind. I love my family sooooooo much and i pray for them all hourly. I know that this work (missionary work) is very important and I know it will bring blessings to my family and all of the families that accept it's message.

Love Always,

Elder Rincon

Elder Rincon's First Week in the MTC

Wassup familia! 

This week has been amazing! I have so much to tell you! Sooooo since I said bye to everyone, I chilled with a bunch of other missionaries who were returning home from Argentina and on my same flight, which was shweet. I arrived at the the SLC airport fine and when I landed it felt like I was already in the MTC. There were hundreds of missionaries leaving and coming home. I was able to talk with a bunch and see where everyone was going. I then got onto my shuttle(ferrari limo), and was driven to the MTC by my chauffer (chives). That was cool because I met a Sister who is also going to my mission. When you arrive at the MTC you have to wait in a long line of other cars (filled with families) who are dropping of their kids. It's funny because all of the parents are kind of in shock. When you get dropped off there is a long line of other missionaries, all going to different places in the world who are welcoming you in their own missions language. You really feel the love in the MTC and you get even more excited about being a missionary. You and your missionary tour guide person then get all off your information including name tags,room keys, books, manuals, mail stuff and then head off to your new room. You drop your stuff off at the room( which was really fun because I was able to carry my 90 pound suitcase up 3 floors with a sketchy handle) and then your helper guy drops you off at class. This is when you start living that real real. In class I received my first ever companion (Elder Murphy, he's from Southern Cal., a volleyball player and is going to my same mission), I met two other missionaries going to my same mission, and eight other missionaries all going to Argentina. ( All of the missionaries I have met so far in my mission, have had the exact same visa problems and were suppose to go the DR MTC). I met my new teacher sister Christensen and then we got to work. So in the MTC you have schedule, which is planned out every hour of the day.( Ex: it could say like personal study, then language study, then GYM, then lunch, then classroom instruction.) The schedule is nice because it gives you a lot of freedom of what you want to study and how hard you wanna go in everything, most of the time it's just you, your companion, and your district. So for most of the week I have been learning a lot about missionary work and a lot of spanish. The spirit has been amazing and my district is really close to each other. Were all like brothers and have been motivating each other while having tons of fun. It's nice to be in a whole district of guys because you don't have to worry about holding in farts for sister missionaries. Anyways, this Wednesday my companion and I were asked to take a spanish oral test at the resource center. They then sent me, my companion (Elder Murphy), and another elder in our district who is going to the same mission, to the intermediate spanish class. We were all originally in the beginner class and were promoted to the intermediate spanish class. This was like a sad/ happy moment, sad because we were so close to our old district and were like brothers ( We even had nicknames, one missionary "Elder Merkely" we call him conejito because he only eats salad and fruit. conejito means little rabbit.), and happy because our spanish has gotten a lot better and are going to be challenged more in a harder class. We had to pack up, move out of our old building, switch classes, districts, zones and get a whole new schedule. It's been nice because I stayed with my companion and we are pretty close now. My new district has been great also. I have only been in it two days but we are all building a relationship and the teacher is great. My new district has been really spiritual and my teacher is great. My testimony is strengthening everyday! I'm attaching some pictures of both districts! My new district is the one with the three sister (who are all going to Argentina) and my old district is the one with all the guys. So heres a little bit more of what i have been doing. I have been studying my scriptures, studying spanish, teaching investigators in spanish and praying for a lot of help. I have been playing sports, eating a lot, working out, going to devotional, singing in choir at devotional, laughing and praying for even more help. My spanish has gotten a lot better and i'm learning a lot of gospel words. I can remember giving my first ever spanglish prayer on my second day at lunch. I couldn't stop smiling because I was so happy. My prayers have become a lot more sentimental since and are now all in spanish. My companion and i have been working hard. We memorized the first vision, our missionary purpose and have taught multiple 40 min. lessons completely in spanish. The Lord is helping us out a lot. Sorry about not writing back soon enough, this is because we were moved to a more advanced class and we missed our P- day and had to wait 9 days for our first P-day. to end this long e mail I wanna share with my family one more experience. On my third day I can vividly remember one night after my companionship prayer asking my heavenly father (in spanish) for his spirit and for my family to feel my love and be protected. He testified to me through his powerful, overwhelming spirit, that brought me to tears, that he loves me and that my family will be blessed because I am serving him and his children. I love being a missionary! I love representing Jesus Christ in all that I do. I know that this is his work and i am just an instrument of his to bring this gospel of happiness to the world. I know the Lord has a plan for all of us and that he loves us all so much. I also love all of guys so much! I think and pray about each one of you daily! I love reading about what is going on in your lives! My time in the MTC has been really special and i'm learning that everything I do is for my investigators and the people in DR. As for writing me in the future. If you can, please write me back through dearelder.com! This way I don't have to wait to read you letters on P-day and I can write you a hand written letter back! Mom and dad know how to do this. Receiving any kind of letter makes me so happy! I hope to hear from everyone soon! 

LOVE,
Elder Rincon.

PS: It was so weird introducing myself as elder to everyone I met, but now it has become my first name. kind of.