Sept 26th

Well I don’t have a ton of time this week sorry!! We had an ok week this week.

Monday  I was SUPER sick and we didn’t do anything!

Tuesday  I was still sick but we left and had some great lessons with some of our investigators

Wednesday   we had a Zone Conference with our president about faith and having a good attitude in the mission! All I know is that if I’m working, I’m happy!!! If there are any of you out there that are struggling in the mission just GO TO WORK.... I know without a doubt, that this is HIS work, and sharing it with others makes it that much more powerful!  Then after the Zone Conference we went to have all of our interviews for the baptisms that we were going to have and they all passed no problem. They were already!

Thursday we had our regular district meetings

Friday I had to go do something with my visa so I got to visit with all those elders that are from my group in the mission and it was a really great time to be able to catch up with them!

Saturday we had 2 baptisms... We were going to have 3 but one didn’t show up, so after the baptism we went to see what was up and she was super bummed that she couldn’t get baptized and so we planned it for Sunday right after church!

Sunday   we had church and then had another baptism! It was a great week! 

Sorry that it was super short and not super detailed but I’m doing great! I am super excited for conference this upcoming weekend! I am hoping I’ll be able to watch it in English but we will see! Love you all so much!

 ELDER DURRANT

**Can't believe this week Colton hit's the 6th month mark!? Time is going quickly!

 

 

Sept 19th

SALUDOS

GREETINGS

So I’ve had a great week this week in Los Minas. Our ward boundaries changed last Sunday and our ward is even bigger now! This ward is truly amazing. There are so many awesome members and they love to help us out! But since the Ward boundaries changed, so did the mission area! So now there are Hermanas in our ward! Thursday we had our District meeting and then after, President Corbitt came to divide our area! It was great to have a meeting with him. He is truly an inspired man called of God to be our leader.

So we have been continuing to visit the Guy who has a girlfriend in Utah... He and his family are amazing... They always offer us food and Juice and whatever is there’s is ours... They are the prime example of a Dominican family! Well Saturday we are going to be having baptisms. At least 4 people have accepted to be baptized this Saturday, so we are going to continue to follow up with each of them to help them enter into this wonderful covenant with our heavenly father.

In our area we have some really poor parts and we have a few investigators in this part of town, so Friday we went to visit him... Well when we hit the little alley to his house, I looked up and he was sitting in front of his door, reading the book of Mormon.... WOW.... Nothing made me smile bigger this whole week, then to see him studying for himself, and then when we started to share with him, he shared his testimony about the restoration....

I know without a doubt that this church is true. I know Joseph Smith was a true prophet of god, who translated the book of Mormon. I am so grateful for my mission and for every day I have to become the person I want to be. Love you all so much

 

ELDER DURRANT

Sept 12th

Well this week I did remember my paper so here it goes!!

 This week has been great. So last week we had a miracle happen!

So one day last week we were going to visit a family of investigators that we have, and as we were waiting at the door, in broken English, I heard, hey you, come talk to my son. He is in Utah with all the Mormons, you are Mormon right and you white boy, are from Utah! So I said yeah.... and we began to follow him! It turns out his son really was in Utah, he was on skype with his family here in the DR. He was in Provo with his girlfriend, who has just graduated from BYU, and he was in Utah for about 2 weeks visiting.

 So now he is back here in the DR and we have been visiting him because he isn’t a member, But when he was in Utah, they explained EVERYTHING. He now has scriptures that NO ONE here has! He is so ready to get baptized.... But he wants to wait for November! Because his girlfriend and her family are going to visit! And when they are here, he wants the father in law to baptize him! All I can say is wow. He is amazing and that family was so amazed when we popped up on skype with his family here in the DR. I know there is no such thing as coincidences! Sorry my spelling and punctuation is awful...

 But all other things here are going great! I really have nothing to complain about! This is HIS work, we are just his tools here on earth! We have a couple of people who have baptismal dates for the 25 so we are working hard with them to reach their goal!

 

One thing I learned this week is that the lord has his plan. ALWAYS. We just have to trust in him!

LOVE YOU ALL

ELDER DURRANT

Where's Colton?  It's kind of like Where's Waldo!

Sept 5th

Another great week in la Republica Dominicana! 

So usually I write down what happened each week on a paper and then bring it with me to the internet cafe to write this letter buttttt, I left it in the house so sorry this letter is going to be short and I will try to remember everything for next week!

Today we got haircuts! So we went to the barber and my comp got his hair cut and I was next, well I told him that I wanted it short on the sides and to leave the top alone, well he gets going and I tell him no, a little shorter, so he changes the clipper things and then goes again.... well it was looking great and I was happy until, he kept going with it on top of my head..... and it was too late, so I told him well just finish it! So now I have a buz cut..... but oh well, feels much cooler now without all the hair haha and it will be back within 2 weeks! 

This week we have some great investigators that are progressing and a few that didn't come to church this week and we really aren't sure why. This ward that I am in is awesome! There are quite a few returned missionaries and they actually know the doctrine and how missionary work is supposed to be done! 

My comp and I are doing great! We are both learning a ton! He loves soccer so today we went and played a little Futbol, with all the latino missionaries! It was quite the time!

I love the mission. I love these people. I love this gospel. I know this is his gospel. I am so grateful for the knowledge I have to share with these amazing people. The days are hot and most definitely long, but, with the lord by my side, his work is being done, little by little. Sometimes I wonder why it is, that this work is so slow, but at the same time, we all have our agency and one day, all will know, that this is his gospel. Thank you all for your support and love.  


YOUR FRIEND IN THE DR:

ELDER DURRANT

Elder Durrant's apartment

Elder Durrant's selfie

Companions

This is how close buildings are in Elder Durrant's area

August 29 and another transfer!

Well this week has been WILD to say the least!

Let’s just say now, I have a new comp and I am in a totally different and new area and it all happened in 30 min!

So Tuesday afternoon we had an exchange with the Zone Leaders. So I went to their area and one of them came to mine with elder Cordoba. It was tons of fun and I learned a lot! Then the next day at lunch, we switched back! Elder Cordoba and I went back to the house so we could eat and I could drop off my extra clothes and then the other elders in our house wanted to do an exchange too! So we said ok! So I went with one of them to their area! We had some amazing lessons and then that night we had one lesson with some of the little muchachos that come to our English class! They love me cuz I’m the big greengo that teaches them English haha but we had a great lesson about the Gospel and being baptized and now they are going to get baptized here in a couple weeks! So then Thursday morning hits and that is when we have our district meetings! Well we left the house and it was raining just a little then when we got about a quarter of the way there, it started to pour..... So we stopped and called the zone leaders to ask them if we should keep coming or not and they said yes, that they were already in the Chapel waiting for us! So we just kept going!! I’ve never been so wet in my life! We were all literally soaked from head to toe! But we made it!! Then we entered the chapel and they actually turned on the AC!! And for the FIRST time in my mission, I was actually cold! It was a MIRACLE!

So then after our meeting, we returned to our house to eat. As we were getting ready to leave our house to proselyte, we got a call... a call I will never forget...

All I heard at first was, ( ok ok, so where is he going? am I staying here?) and my heart sank.... My comp gets off the phone and says, pack your stuff, you are being transferred.... I didn’t believe him! I said no way and I called the Assistant to clarify and he said (yep you are being transferred, come to the mission home NOW, with all your stuff, you are TRAINING) So all 4 of us in my house starting throwing my stuff into my bags! 15 min later my bags were packed and my comp and I were in a taxi to the office!

Now I’m in an area called Los Mina! It is close to the big river here in the city and there are about a million people in this little area! There are some very poor parts near the river and a bunch of gangsters too! I have a new comp, which has only has 3 weeks in the mission... He is from Panama! His name is Elder Cruz he is a stud!

So this week has been great and crazy! I’m totally ready to take on the challenge of training! My Spanish amazes me every day and all the credit is to the Lord, I am just his tool here in the DR. I love you all and I know this church is true!!

 

ELDER DURRANT

Week 21

Well first off, I want to give a big shout out to the boys back home, continuing on with the winning tradition! 31-6 is a butt whooping! Keep taking care of business on and off the field. Now you guys have fans all over the world rooting for ya! So don’t disappoint haha. I hear that several brothers are wearing their brothers’ old numbers this year that is so cool to hear that those guys are wearing those numbers. I can’t tell you how much I miss football.... I would do anything to go back and play with those guys again and nothing will ever be better.... Tell Daws to cherish it and ALWAYS work hard. He out of anyone should know that the season could be done in one play.... Please continue to send pics of everything. I love seeing them and the scores and how they are all doing! Riley is a stud and I know he is going to kill it the rest of the year with all the other boys right there by him.

Second, Shout out to HERMANA FALSLEV in Osorno, Chile! Thursday the 25 is her birthday!! And she is finally the big 21! WOAH

As for me here in the Republica, things are HOT and HUMID. Like always haha. The other day we were walking in the street and I thought wow, I need to try to explain hot hot it really is here, so here what I came up with. This heat is like as if I was in the middle of a turf field, all my football gear on, 95 degrees with no breeze. PLUS 90 percent HUMIDITY.... Well now you know! I guess I’m kind of getting used to it..  It doesn’t change hardly ever haha so now if I’m air conditioning I get cold and I don’t want to be in it because I know how bad I’m going to sweat when I get back outside haha. But you know, its 2 years and I’ll be back in normal ville haha.  The animals here are the trash chickens and the dogs that roam the streets haha. The dogs don’t bug us here. They are just super lazy and lay on the side of the road!

So this week we had some great lessons with our investigator named Noelia. She was supposed to get baptized Saturday but she isn’t quite ready yet. Like i have explained before, she is super smart and wants to be 100 percent sure of her decisions. So we have been super patient with her and trying to explain everything the best we can but now the plan is just to explain that really, she needs to just take the step with FAITH, because really she is already a member, she attends activities and all the meetings, she just hasn’t been baptized! So this Saturday is the DAY!

My Spanish is getting better. Today some couple missionaries came to check our house and they are from Pleasant Grove and it was super hard to think of words to use in English! I love it and I really don’t want to speak English anymore, but I did get out that I was born in Utah County and lived in American Fork prior to moving to Richmond.

This week we have been doing service for a lady in the ward. We spent a couple hours 2 days this week cleaning up her yard and making it all pretty again! Her nephew with us and he was using the machete and he was pretty much trying to spit rocks with it and so after, it was super dinged up and ugly and she was MAD. So I told her that I could fix it and she didn’t believe me. But agreed that I could take it and try.... So on our way home we stopped by a little machine shop near our house and I explained to the guy that I needed the machete sharpened.... Well he said ok and so the next day I went to pass by to pick it up and asked him how much it was... He told me nothing and that it was on him and it was his pleasure.... Wow. People are amazing and this country may be freaking hot and dirty but the people here are amazing. Also for some reason I am the go to guy when people here need their cars fixed. THIS WHITE BOY DOES IT ALL!!

Time in the mission field for me has flown! I will be out 5 months next week!  I can’t believe that Bri will be home in less than a year and Diddy comes home next week. TIME FLIES!

I am truly blessed to be able to serve the people here in the Republica! And this word is all for the Lord! I have been reading in John this week and chapter 7 talks all about how Christ gave all the glory to god and so should we. I love you all so much! PEACE OUT FROM THE DR

ELDER DURRANT

P.S.   I love hearing from all the missionaries in the field, so please send me your letters home!

August 20th pictures