December 10, 2014

First, I will be Skyping with you on Christmas day at about 430 in the afternoon which is 130 your time so be ready for that. Second, I´m in the city of Santiago in an area called Cristo Rey, the people are super awesome and always willing to help, we have investigators and they are all super good people. My first Sunday was good, I had to bare my testimony which turned out pretty good, and next week I have to give a talk on Heavenly Father. Yes, all the members were all excited and all are wanting to help me with my Spanish especially since I´m the only one who don´t know it very well ha ha, but it´s coming along. A lot faster than I had expected ha ha.  I taught half a lesson to an investigator yesterday and that went super well. My comp. is awesome! He is from Provo and he played football too, he is a super hard worker and thankfully very patient with me and my learning Spanish, he is really encouraging. 

Hey so for packages and stuff don´t let anyone send them yet I need to get you the information so they don´t spend more money than what they need to. I don´t have the addresses with me but I will have them next week. 

Mom I´m super glad I made the decision to come on a mission, I know it will be a great experience. I love you so much and I´ll explain more next week. 

Hey Dad, 

I´m super glad all is well and tell Luke I´m way proud of him and give him a big hug for me! All is well on my end, I´ve had some tough times and I have made lemonade haha.  We have some investigators that are doing awesome right now! I taught half a lesson to them and it was super cool because the spirit was so strong! The Spanish is coming along well and super fast according to my trainer. Sorry my letter is so short this week, I will write more next week. 

This is what is going to happen for Christmas, We are going to come to the internet place at about 1630 my time which will be 1330 your time so be ready, I can´t give an exact time because it´s a public place but that will the time and we are going to try to Skype so you can be ready for that. 

I love you so much Dad and I´m glad everything is going well, Tell Jacob I´ll be praying for him. 

I can´t wait to see you guys! 

Letter from Mission President

Dear Brother & Sister Henze:

Your son, Elder Carl Alan Henze, arrived safely in the Dominican Republic Santiago Mission.  I am pleased to have him here.  His trainer is Elder Quintin Chandler King from Provo, Utah.  He is an excellent missionary and will take good care of your son.  They are assigned to the Cristo Rey B Area in the Santiago Sur Zone.  

I appreciate so much the enthusiasm and desire your son has to serve him fellow man.  He now has the opportunity to serve donating 100% of him time to the Lord.  We ask you to help him cherish him mission, to work hard, to fight discouragement, to love him companion and the people he is serving.  He will need encouragement and support.  He will experience trials that will strengthen and profit him eternally.  Weekly letters are very important in maintaining a missionary’s enthusiasm.  We would request that your letters to him be uplifting, spiritually edifying, and mission centered. 

I will do everything I can to help your son serve a successful mission.  I thank you for your support and look forward to time serving with your son.  

Sincerely,

John L. Douglas
Mission President

December 3, 2014-In Santiago

Hey Mom and Dad,

So first off my Pday is Wednesday, second, all is well and I am stoked to be in the field! My companions name is Elder King. He has been out for a little over a year and he is super awesome, it´s going to be a great transfer. Yesterday when we arrived at the Mission Home it blew me away! The house was huge, and it was just awesome! We got pizza hut pizza during orientation and later we got to go into the field on splits and we had to place a Book of Mormon. When we left the house it started to down pour so when we got about 100 feet down the sidewalk, my companion and I were soaked! Luckly it didn´t rain for too long so we eventually dried off haha. We taught two lessons and the first guy fed us peas and rice with some chicken, it was actually really good haha, the second was super good and he could understand English so I could explain everything I needed to in English which was nice and my companion was rather surprised and excited how well I could explain and testify with the spirit, it was awesome. Everything here is pretty different than in Santo Domingo as far as house sizes and clenliness haha other than that it´s the same haha. The people are awesome! They are so humble and nice. 

That´s about it for this week, but all is well and I´ll have more stories for next week I love you Mom, give everyone my love and I´ll talk to yáll next week and actually speak to you in about two or so!

I love you 

Elder Henze

The group leaving the CCM for their fields of labor - Adios!

November 27, 2014 Thanksgiving

Hey Mom,

  So as you know today is Turkey day and we are actually having a Turkey dinner tonight!!! I know because I helped unload the fat bird ha ha. Today has been awesome so far. Not too long ago we were able to watch a live Devotional with Elder Bednar in a Q & A type session and of course it was super awesome!!! Tons of good stuff in it that I will probably send to you in the not so distant future. 

That's awesome you were able to go to Utah for Thanksgiving and a major bummer Dad wasn't able to go with you. Give everyone my love and tell Grandpa that I'm not going to be a good missionary, but I will be a great missionary and that I will spend every second that I can preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and when I need, I will use words. Tell Grandpa and Grandma that I love them so much. 

 In the Devotional. with Elder Bednar, he said that our faith is only strengthened through trial and tribulation and adversity, the act of doing the little things everyday without fail. 

Luke is finally a star scout, tell him congrats for me and give him a big hug and tell him I love him. Tell him congrats on his bball game too that is so awesome! 

Ya, my mission president is super awesome! He said when we get there he will set us up with a temporary companion and we have to go place a book of Mormon and when we get back we get Pizza Hut!!! ha ha :) He also said his wife is super excited to see us and she is already memorizing names to faces ha ha. 

I'm settled in but I'm so ready to get out of here and I can't explain how fast time has flown by. When I went on splits last Friday, we taught six lessons or so and we started teaching at around 14:00 and finished around 19:00 and it was over in what felt like an hour. This is going to be a very fast two years. 

I'm super glad that you all are praying for me because I need it.  When you pray, can you please pray for me to have the gift of tongues. 

Mom, I love you so much that I can't even explain. I'm so glad that you are my mother and I'm so grateful for all the things you have taught me. 

I love you Mom

Oh so what I thing is going to happen with the emailing next week is that I won't be able to, because I get there on Tuesday and P-day is Monday so I think everyone will have to wait another week to hear from me but if that isn't the case you will know haha :) 

Love you Mom, 

Love Elder Henze     

Thanksgiving at the CCM

November 20, 2014

Hey Mom,

This week was pretty awesome, we went to the University last Friday to give out some Books of Mormon and Restoration pamphlets and as to be expected I was super nervous to talk to people because they speak super fast and even when they speak slow I still can't understand them haha anyway I talked to the first person and it went okay and the second person we talked to actually asked us to give her some money so she can catch a bus to her house and before we left, I grabbed 40 pesos and didn't know why so that was cool then she asked us something else but neither I or my companion knew what she said so we said goodbye and left haha. Believe it or not that's not the coolest part, I was pretty discouraged because of my inability to communicate so I sat down on a bench and offered up a prayer and asked that we be led to those people who he has prepared to hear the gospel. After I finished we sat for a moment then got up and started walking. We got to a crossing and my companion suggested we go down another street and we got about 100 feet down the sidewalk and a guy across the street literally called for us to come over and talk to him. So we ran over and it turned out the guy spoke English and we had an awesome discussion for like 45 minutes, and at the end he asked where we worship so he could see for himself how we do things on Sundays so that was AWESOME!!!! ha ha It was definitely testament to me that the Lord has our best interest in mind. 

So anyway that is crazy that there is that much snow in Kuna ha ha and I loved Luke's igloo, I showed it to everyone ha ha. Honestly I would rather be freezing my royal Rastafarian nay nays off rather than sweating them off haha ;) The power goes out all the time here, well, not all the time at the CCM but every once in a while. President Douglas came by and met everyone and that was super cool, anyway he said the power goes out quite a bit so these next two years should be interesting haha Oh and guess what!!!......... They have PIZZA HUT and.... TACO BELL hahahaha. 

What's going on? Not much, just the basic stuff we do everyday. Tomorrow we go on splits with the missionaries in the field and I can't wait for that!!! I told you I met Pres. Douglas and he is SUPER awesome, way chill and way in tune with the spirit. We got new missionaries, two Jamaicans and a bunch of Latinos so that is awesome! 

I know you have a bunch of questions and ask away, next Thursday is my last P-day in the CCM so I'll spend all day answering questions if I need to :)

I'm doing my best to stay positive and keep my head up and keep moving. 

Tell Luke I love him.

I love you so much Mom, 

Love Elder Henze

                                   This is their beds at the CCM, but I couldn't tell you whats up with them

Week Three at the CCM

The University was super fun, and we actually go back tomorrow, but we gave out two Books of Mormon and a couple pamphlets and I actually talked to someone who was majoring in language so he spoke English which was super nice. I'm becoming more comfortable with talking to people but I still panic when they try asking me something because I'm trying to listen but they speak so fast it's hard to catch everything and then when I try to reply I sound like a retard haha but it's slowly getting better. So we have mock investigators who are the teachers and I got some tips but it was really cool because he told me that he like the fact that I'm trying to teach with my own words instead of reading them off of a page or something. 

So there is an Elder who is being a major Dbag and he keep being rude to one of my favorite teachers and I want to talk to him about it but I haven't felt it to be the right time yet so I'm still waiting. 

Anyway I took a couple more pictures today and I will try to get those sent to you as soon as I can. 

Mom, I love you so much and I can't wait to tell you all about next week and I can't wait for next month when I get to talk to y'all!!!!

Be sure to give everyone a big hug for me.

I love you Mom,

Love Elder Henze 

 At the Santo Domingo Dominican Republic Temple

 This is fruit, he says it's pretty good.  Interesting.

Week Two in the MTC (CCM)

So the older missionaries that were here when I got here left this past Tuesday and we just got some fresh Elders last night and I can really see how much I have been blessed with; with this language ha ha. I'm so glad I can be out here and I hope you know that I pray for all of you every time I pray and believe me I pray a lot ha ha. 

So on Tuesday, we got to go to the tienda (store) and oh my goodness talk about crazy ha ha, just walking

down I think about ten accidents almost happened ha ha, people on motorcycles fly between everyone and 

here there is no such thing as a line, if a guy on a bike can fit through a space, he'll take it and go all the way 

to the front ha ha. And the bus thing is true, I really don't want to ride on one. That weirdest thing I saw was 

the taxi like cars, they would pack everyone they could in, I saw six or seven people in the back of a Honda

Civic ha ha. Needless to say, when I got back to the CCM, I had a greater appreciation for A/C, hot showers

and clean air ha ha. The food is good but I never ask what the meat is because it honestly could be dog, cat, 

duck, chicken or some other stray animal, and we have beans and rice for lunch everyday but it's okay 

because they give us variety for the other two meals and every Sunday we get pizza and ice cream. 

The people are super nice and friendly and I have some of the best teachers ever! 

Last week I was having a tough time with the language and what not and so I talked with the CCM 

President, President Freestone and he counseled with me and gave me some good tips for studying.

He also made a promise that my Spanish would be better than my companion. I said in disbelief 

"when that day comes." he cut me off and said "When that day comes, I'll take you to get a ice cream

shake in Brigham City." I just sat there for a second then we smiled and I said okay ha ha. 

Sundays are awesome! We have a typical meetings and then we watch videos and stuff but that's not 

why it's awesome, it's awesome because the spirit is so strong the entire day! And the Temple is SOOO

AWESOME!!! It is so beautiful and WAY bigger than the Boise temple ha ha.  

Mom, I'm so glad I have the opportunity to be here and serve. It hasn't been easy and expected that

but I know that through faith and perseverance, I will prevail. I love all the people in my district and 

district Benjamin even though some of them are super annoying ha ha. 

I love you so much Mom, I know the Lord will provide the way through all our trials. My new favorite 

missionary song is "God Speed the Right" I want you to read it to the family and let me know what they

all say. 

All is well in the Kingdom of God! 

Love Elder Henze