January 28, 2015

Hey Mom,

I know right now is a difficult time so I´m just going to leave you with my testimony. The details of my week are with Dad.

Mom, I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was established for our progression and that the Plan of Salvation is a perfect plan, The Lord loves all of us and is always with us in our times of difficulty and trial. There is a story that says a man was walking with Christ on the beach and there was two sets of foot prints but when times got hard there were only one set of foot prints and he asked Christ why he left him in the hard times and Christ replied that when there was only one set of foot prints, that is when Christ was carrying him. 

Our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are ALWAYS with us and when the times get hard they are always there to bare us up and carry us in our trials. 

I´m so grateful for our family and for this Gospel and for the knowledge we have. 

I love you so much Mom and I know Grandpa is with you too.

I love you

Elder Henze

And to Dad

Hey Dad, 

I´m glad yáll could make it to Grandpa´s funeralt. I pray for the family everyday and I know that all is well even in this hard time, God is always with us, Christ knows our pain and He will help us in our times of need.

 I´m still pushin' and yes I have felt Grandpa´s and Nana´s help in all of my lessons. I had a cool experience yesterday because I was a little frustrated because I wasn´t understanding people yet and I´m still not and when we got home that night my comp. told me that yesterday was my best day by far and that what I´m saying is super good, so God right now just needs me to speak and listening and understanding will come later when He needs me to be able to do that, it was deffinately a cool answer to a prayer and one I really needed so I made a promise to God that I would become the best speaker I could while he needs me too and when I will understand I will be the best I can at that too so I´m tryin hard to do my best.

That´s awesome Luke´s game went well and that is freakin AWESOME that he got MVP! Be sure to give him a hug for me. 

Dad I love you and I know that Christ lives and that He loves all of us and does our Heavenly Father, I know that is always with us in all of our trials to bare us up. There is a really cool story I read once, I will need to find it and send it to you next week. 

Dad I love and miss you so much and I´m not comin' home until the work is done so until that time I´ll keep pushin'.

Love Elder Henze

January 21, 2015

Hey Mom,

So I did get the package finally, and the cookies were delicious!!!

So on Luke´s camp out, did he get anymore merrit badges? And that totally sucks that he has practice at 0600hrs hahaha. Yeah you´ll have to send me some pictures and such and let me know how he did. 

I hope sister Hunter gets better soon that doesn´t sound too good haha, and I can promise you that the weather here is way better than there, and yeah I have blue skies, and it´s still hot everyday haha. 

So for contacting, my comp doesn´t like to knock doors or contact at all really, we ask for referls or we just talk to people randomly and ask them questions or they ask us questions so that is pretty interesting sometimes, but mostly we work on the people we have now and the less actives. We finally have a date with Andres and Bielka for the 7th of Febuary, and they can´t wait! It´s super cool to see how excited they are to be a part of this church. 

My spiritual experience this week, well I had an interview with president..... Haha no just kidding I didn´t get a calling haha but it went really well, I love my mission pres. I told him my concerns with the language and my other concerns and stuff and he just calmly gave me some examples and at the end he just told me just to have more faith so I´m working on that. After my interview with pres. I had to tell a story or experience to his wife and so I told about the one when I went on splits in my area and I had to be the senior comp for the day. While I was in the middle of talking he came up behind me and put his hands on my shoulders then explained to his wife that I was an extrordinary missionary and that I was going to amazing things, and he did this really loud so everyone in the office could hear haha and after he said that I just about started to cry haha. So I know I´m supposed to be here but I´m still waiting to find out why. That helped my testimony that the Lord knows each one of us individually and he knows our needs and desires, we just need to have faith and trust that everything will work out the way they need too. 

Mom, I love you and I know that the Lord is mindful of you and He loves you very much, yes more than I do so don´t worry, all is well. 

I love you Mom

Until next week.

Elder Henze

January 14, 2015

Hey Mom, 

I´m sorry to hear about Grandpa, no it´s not surprising but it´s still sad to hear. 

It´s a relief to hear that Jacob is joining the ROTC program and Luke made the A team, keep me updated on his games and what not. 

So transfers were today and our District Leader is training until he dies (finishes). I´m in a ward and there is only one ward that I visit and it is a normal church building thankfully and the members are not really motivated, to be honest we have investigators that are more motivated about it than our members. We meet at 0900hrs so nice and early and we always have to be an hour early. We have a couple new investigators finally and one of them is looking really promissing, his name is Jerimias (ask Jacob how to pronouce it in spanish) and with Andres and Bielka, we´re setting a date with them tonight to get married and baptized, so it should be fun haha.

Thank you Mom for your prayers I definitely need them, I´ve had some good experiences and some not so good but I know through every experience there is something I have to learn so I just keep truckin' along haha.

I love you Mom, The time is flying by and I can´t wait until I see you on Mothers Day. 

I love you 

Love Elder Henze

And one for Dad :)

Hey Dad, 

Thanks for letting me know about grandpa and what´s going on, I´ll be sure to keep him in my prayers, I´m grateful Dad that we have this Gospel and the knowledge we have of the life here after, all is well and I know that everything will be okay. I´m glad yáll went to go visit him though, Mom needed that.

So did Jacob join the ROTC program? What was Luke´s score on his hunters safety test? 

The workouts are good and I´ll make sure to improve every week. 

Mary has my address and phone number? Did she ever go to the office? I´ll just expect a call from her soon then haha. 

The Spanish is getting better little bits at a time but it´s getting better. 

I was raised to give my all so that is what I´m going to do. I love you Dad and I´m so glad I have the chance to serve the Lord here in the DR I have seen the blessings that this Gospel brings to the lives of others through us as missionaries.

I love you so much Dad and I can´t wait to see you again on Mothers day.

I love you Dad, 

Love Elder Henze

January 7, 2015

Hey Mom, 

So it´s been good and the New Year (año nuevo) was good too, we had a sleepover at our ZL´s house and that was pretty cool . So for New Years in the DR, they have parties all over the place and when the clock strikes 000hrs fireworks go off everywhere and people start shooting in the air for no reason at all and people get robbed and all that good stuff ha ha it´s pretty crazy to say the least, and yeah we came in early New Years Eve we called it a day at about 1800hrs (I can´t find the colon button so that´s why I´m using military time) when it just starts to get dark. Yeah these past few weeks have been really hard, with the language and with being away from the family, and I don´t feel like I have anyone here I can really open up to so that´s not helping either. 

That´s awesome Luke is doing all that stuff, lucky turd gets to go snowboarding, I can´t even see snow, but I saw the beach today from like 100 miles away. We climbed to the top of Pico Diego and saw the ocean. Squirrel... haha Anyway, How were the tryouts? 

So our investigators are doing good, Andres and Bielka are moving right along but they are still wondering if marriage is right for them and really that is the only thing holding them back from baptism. We had a lesson with them yesterday about following the prophet and that went well. Andres´s parents were there and his mom started crying and saying what a blessing and a help we have been to him in his life to help him change for the better and then she said when she goes back to the states she is going to go to church and bare her testimony and say how awesome the Mormons are hahahaaha that was  hilarious! ha ha!! They´re really only our best investigators, no one else is progressing which sucks. 

The weather is always hot except for at night it actually gets cold.  The average temperature is about 80 or so  

I´m just guesstimating so don´t quote me on that haha. 

Tell Colton I said congrats and give him a hug for me please. 

I love you so much Mom and I can´t wait to see you on Mothers day! 

I love you

Love Elder Henze

December 23, 2014

Hey Mom,

So I´m not sure what the address is of the account I will be using but when
 I send a friend request,I will send two messages so you know it´s me and
 yes I got your other message with Dad´s address so we´re good there. 

Honestly it doesn´t feel like Christmas, because it really is like 85 and I
think  yesterday we hit 90 or something like that but yeah it doesn´t feel
 like Christmas here ha ha. I´m super stoked to talk to ya'll  tomorrow.... 
So quick change of plans, I will be on at 1200 hrs my time which is
 0900 hrs your  time so it will be an early morning  ha ha, and I will 
be at an internet place so I will be calling from my account.

 I told Tiff she could come say hi and I told Ronnie too so if you could
 let them know, I have two hours  to talk to ya'll tomorrow so that´s
 their window of opportunity ha ha. 

  

I can´t wait to see ya'll tomorrow!!!! 

I love you tons Mom

Love Elder Henze

 Show message history

December 17, 2014

Oh my goodness I can´t even begin to explain how fast time is going by ha ha I mean, I´m already two weeks into the field!!! ha ha. And I completely understand the entire ¨no one understands prophets¨ thing, one of our investigators is progressing really well, we´re going to teach him and his wife the word of wisdom today so we´ll see how that goes and his dad is in town and we explained the Book of Mormon to him a little bit because he was confused as to why we have it and why we have prophets and stuff and it was super cool because you could literally see the spirit testifying to him. Now he wants to join in on the lessons while he is here visiting.

 

That is awesome Luke did so good in his game! Tell him congrats and give him a hug for me. As for packages, it´s okay I´m not super worried but when you send them you can send them directly to the mission office through UPS but it will cost more for you, or you can send them to the Miami address and it will cost more for me so just you know that. 

 

Mom I love you tons and I can´t wait to talk you next week!!! 

Hey Dad,

I´m glad everything is going well at home, everything is moving along on my end too. One of our investigators is progressing really well, we´re going to teach him and his wife the word of wisdom today so we´ll see how that goes and his dad is in town and we explained the Book of Mormon to him a little bit because he was confused as to why we have it and it was super cool because you could literally see the spirit testifying to him. Now he wants to join in on the lessons while he is here visiting. 

Anyway Dad I´m super happy and all is going well, the words you told me couldn´t be anymore inspiring than that of what the Lord wanted me to hear. 

I love you Dad, stay safe and all that good stuff.

Shipping Packages to Carl

This information is for anyone who wants to send Carl a package.

He told me that UPS is the easiest way to ship..more money on our end, less on his. Also, looking at this, it is also the fastest.

Parents and friends of Missionaries:

We have updated the Package section of the welcome letter sent to new missionaries to include a paragraph about declaring the contents.  That section is included below.

Packages: 

Because the cost of shipping to the Dominican Republic is very expensive, below are three ways to ship packages here.  However, it is often cheaper for people at home to add money to the missionary’s personal ATM card and have them purchase the item here rather than ship it.  All shipments valued at more than US$200 are subject to custom taxes from 16% to 25%.  For packages valued close to US$200 leaving the price tag and/or including the sales receipt might help custom officials determine the value.  Always pack well and accurately describe the contents and their value. 

Declaration of content and its value:Always include in each package a list of the contents and the value of each item.  Customs prefers the original receipt of purchase.  Every item needs a declaration of its value, even home-made items.  The clearer the list the faster the package gets through Dominican customs. 

Always obtain the tracking number.  Remember that the second and third methods have collect on delivery charges. 

The three shipping methods are:
               1.  Private Carriers:  UPS, DHL and FedEx National Postal Services: 

                2.  US and Dominican Mail
               3.  A Combination of Carriers:  Mail Boxes Etc. and Arex

1. Private Carrier:  This is generally the fastest and most expensive and the most reliable option.  Delivery is 3 to 7 days.  UPS, DHL, and FedExdeliver directly to the mission office in the Dominican Republic.  There are two companies who sell DHL’s service at a discount.  They are:
               Global Mission Shipping, 702-720-1515, http://globalmissionshipping.com/
               My Missionary Shipping, 801-901-0467, http://www.mymissionaryshipping.com/,
There are usually no additional international shipping costs using these companies, unless its contents have a value over US $200, in which case the missionary’s mission account will be charged.  Include the mission office phone number (809-241-1145).

               Elder Taiamoni Liveili 'Alatini
               Misión Santiago, Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días
               Av. Estrella Sadhalá #10 2do piso
               Frente a UTESA
               Santiago 51000
               Dominican Republic
                (809) 241-1145

2. United States and Dominican Republic Postal Services:  This will generally be the cheapest option and service is usually reliable if you ask for a tracking number.  Deliveries to Santiago generally take 18 to 25 days.  Office missionaries regularly pick up packages at the Santiago Post Office.  The “collect on delivery” fee is charged to the missionary’s mission provided account or you (the missionary) can pay the mission secretary with your personal funds.   Include the mission office phone number 809-241-1145.  The collect on delivery charges are:

Collect on delivery charges
Weight	Cost
0-3 kg (0-6.61 lbs.)	No Charge
3-5 kg (6.61-11.0 lbs.)	RD$ 100 (~US$ 2.35)
5-10 kg (11.0-22.1 lbs.)	RD$ 250 (~US$ 5.87)
>10 kg (22.1 lbs.)	RD$ 500 (~US$ 11.79)

           Elder Taiamoni Liveili 'Alatini
           Misión Santiago, Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días
           Av. Estrella Sadhalá #10 2do piso
           Frente a UTESA
           Santiago 51000
           Dominican Republic
           809 241-1145

3. Combination of Carriers:  There are two companies, Mail Boxes Etc. and Arex, that will receive packages in Miami and ship them to Santiago.  Both companies ship to Santiago about once a week and require a “collect on delivery” fee, charged to the missionary’s mission provided account or you (the missionary) can pay the mission secretary with your personal funds.  The details for each service are as follows:

	Mail Boxes Etc.	Arex
Delivery Time	14-18 Days	16-21 Days
Price per Pound	US$ 4.25	US$ 3.60
Additional fees:
0-500 grams (1.10 lb.)	RD$ 30 (~ US$ 0.71)
500-1500 grams (1.10–3.31 lb.)	RD$ 50 (~ US$ 1.17)
1500-2000 grams (3.31-4.41 lb.)	RD$ 100 (~US$ 2.36)
2000+ grams (3.31-4.41 lb.)	RD$ 200 (~US$ 7.13)
Custom fee if value greater than US$ 200	16-25% of value
A typical 10 lbs. package	US$ 47.00	US$ 36.00
Package addressing:
	Elder Taiamoni Liveili 'Alatini SDQ 8013 2250 NW 114th Ave., Unit 1A Miami, FL 33172-3652	Elder Taiamoni Liveili 'Alatini AREX00216 8368 NW 66th St Miami, FL 33166-2675

               Be sure to include the SDQ 8013 OR the AREX00216 in the appropriate mailing address