“The Consuelo Branch”

“The Consuelo Branch”

Elder Darrel L. Hammon

One of the grand opportunities senior missionaries have is to attend small branches in the Church. After talking to President Hernandez, the Santo Domingo East Mission President, and his counselor President Mauricio Munive, we will be going to the Consuelo Branch, a small branch out in the San Pedro District, which is located beyond Boca Chica and Juan Dolio, both resorts on the beach. Instead of heading toward the beach, you head away from the beach. It is about 1.5 hours from our home in Santo Domingo.

Opening to the Consuelo Branch meeting house

Last Sunday was our first visit. We rose early in order to get ready to go to our little Consuelo Branch. We met President Munive who also works at the Area Office in front of our apartment. He was a bit late; so I knew we were going to be late to the meetings. But we began our journey. We followed him down Bolivar to Gomez and then onto to the Autopista. And away we went. He was driving pretty fast, even though there was a bit of rain falling. He got up to 109m kph. I thought that was pretty fast, but we were already 20 minutes late.

We arrived at the branch meeting house around 9:15 p.m., and they hadn’t started priesthood meeting yet. We had probably around ten brethren there, including the missionaries, President Munive, and me. The Branch President is a young man named Gary Montero, who has been home from his mission for about eight years. There were several children there. One little girl by the name of Ana came up to me. She is nine and very cute. All the little girls have long hair, and it has been divided up into little twisted pony tails, bound extremely tight, with bobbles at the ends. To me, it would hurt my head if I had little pony tails wrapped everywhere on my head. They seemed happy though.

Front of the Consuelo Branch building

The Consuelo Branch building is right on one of the streets. During the meetings, motorcycles and other cars race by. Sometimes, I thought the motorcycles revved their motors just a bit more as they passed our doors. We had to leave the doors open just to have some sort of circulation throughout the building. Ceiling fans are the only things that circulate the warm air.

Priesthood and Relief Society came first, then Sunday School, and then Sacrament meeting. The branch president taught the priesthood lesson, and a single mother of four taught the Sunday School lesson. It was pretty good. She had a quick smile. I tried to respond a couple of times. Sacrament was very good. Two of the brethren spoke who had gone to the temple the day before. They both had excellent experiences. Then, President Munive, the concluding speaker, called on Joanne and me to bear our testimonies. I went first. Then, Joanne gave her sweet testimony. Tears welled up in both of our eyes. Someday, she will be able to stand on her own and give her testimony without notes. I know it is difficult for her now, but wait, she will be excellent before the mission is over.

After church, we visited some of the members and the missionaries. We did talk to a young woman by the name of Ana Maria who is about 14-years-old and who really wants to learn to play the piano. We told her about a program the church has for people just like her. We also told her that we would find out about it and let her know next week. It would be wonderful for her to learn how to play. It would enhance her life and her way of thinking and doing business.

Today was our second Sunday at the Consuelo Branch. We left early and drove along the beach until we merged on to the Autopista. The trip was extremely pleasant, not too much traffic this early in the morning and on Sunday. We arrived early and parked in front.

Ana Maria y Samuel

During Sunday School, President Montero approached me and asked that I take him to his house, which I did. Apparently, he left the Duty God and YW medallion at home for two young people named Samuel, age 17, and Ana Maria, age 14. It was heartwarming to see these two young people stand and go to the front. They were both wore incredibly huge smiles. Their parents accompanied them. When President Montero handed these two awards to these two young people, you would have thought he had given them each $10 million. Both bore their testimonies today and told how grateful they were to have earned these awards. To them, completing the assignments was easier because they wanted to do what the Lord wanted them to do. Their testimonies were impressive.

I talked to Samuel and Ana Maria’s mother after the meeting and told her what wonderful young people they are. She just beamed but shared some important counsel. She said parents need to be diligent and vigilant in helping the young people perform their tasks. “It is the parents,” she said, “who can help these young people grow and progress.” What a wonderful mother she is! She just glowed when we spoke to her about her children. You can see she loves them and wants to do what is right. We truly enjoyed visiting with her. On the way home, we noticed that their family stopped by a neighbor’s and was visiting. Ana Maria and her father waved at us as we drove by, Ana Maria still grinning and still holding her medallion close to her. What a pleasant sight!

We are enjoying our time at the Consuelo Branch. These humble people treat us like royalty each Sunday. They make sure they shake our hands and ask how we are doing. We already love them and know there are many who are not active whom we should visit. The Consuelo Branch is working diligently on working toward building a chapel. The Church has already purchased a wonderful piece of property for them. Our hope is they can reach their goal before we leave.