Hello Everyone,

     Well......we have had lots of new experiences this week! First off, we accidentally had alcohol.....first time ever on the mission....of course! We were in an ice cream shop called Bon and the nice man gave us ´´a new flavor´´.  Well that new flavor sure did taste good until he pointed at the sign and it's a picture of an Irish Cream bottle! Well that was quite the scene as I spit it out into the trashcan. And the poor ice cream kid was so confused as he tried to explain to us that it only has a little alcohol.....the next new experience was that I accidentally lead us into the equivalent of a party at a bar at 9 o clock at night. I DIDN'T KNOW THERE WAS A PARTY GOING ON! But yep, that happened as well...   

     Today we had a funny moment when we went to an activity to watch polar Express (interesting in Spanish by the way).   We were in normal clothes but we were early and no one was there yet so we went to a Colmado to buy a snack because I was hungry. We started walking and came to a puddle type thing,  and my dear sweet companion does not want her normal shoes to get wet. So I was in crocs and had to piggy back her across the 5 feet of water.   All is well and goes according to plan and we get to the Colmado and now we are returning and come to the same puddle and so obviously we do the same thing. All goes according to plan again until my companion turns around and says hi to who? Yep the ZONE LEADERS......but it's cool, they just thought it was hilarious that they happened to be behind us and us not know it, so they just saw the whole thing.......Well that's all for this week! Merry Christmas everyone! I love you all!  I'll TALK you to guys next week! =)

Love,

Hna Carey 

Hello everyone!

     So first week of training done! Woo hoo! It is so fun and I just love her, she is so sweet! We had some incredible lessons this week that were all just completely by the Spirit! We have just seen miracle after miracle this week and we have been so blessed! 

     So....funny things...it was weird to realize that I speak Spanish this week.....because my daughter is still learning and she is asking me questions  and so it was weird to remember like oh yeah, I used to not understand these people, but now it is easy and just normal. And she just asks me "what did they say?" and I think,  "wow, that seemed so clear," and it's funny because I realized this week that I finally speak Spanish and understand pretty much everything! It was really funny! 

     Also Hna Blanch was getting out of a ruta and shut the door after she got out, but the person behind her was also getting out! Not hard or anything but she couldn't even really apologize to the lady so I had to apologize to the lady....it was funny. But what is a daughter without her mother?

      My embarrassing moment for the week was when we were walking home at night with some recent converts and I thought it was a nice night, so I was saying goodnight to people and then we came upon a house with tons of people outside, so I thought it was some kind of party or something. So I said buenos notches to like a group of 20 people, and Jose looks at me and says Hna Carey no! Someone died and that's a funeral!   Yep..........that was pretty embarrassing....well those are the highlights of the week we have a Christmas program tomorrow with the zones and mission president and everyone so I'll let you know how that is! Love you guys!

Hna Carey

Querida Familia,

     Well, I officially have a daughter in the mission! Yay! Ha ha.....that's scary, but it´ll be good! So we had a Dominican Thanksgiving and it was way super fun! The person whose house we went to lived in the US for 25 years so he made us turkey (but still all Dominican)! It was so good! So it doesn't even feel like the holidays!=) I think that´s a blessing though! =)

      I went back to Santiago for a baptism! Yay Mellisa!!!! We were teaching her when I got transferred and now she is baptized! It was so cool to see everyone and visit a couple other people! But other than that it´s been a pretty calm week.

      I'm officially training someone and she's super cool.  Her name is Hna Blanch and she is from Missouri. I was really nervous on Sunday about training so I got a blessing from my DL and it said a lot of comforting things and so I feel a lot better. =) I am still scared, but better nonetheless. Anyways I love you all and hope all is well! You guys are all just the greatest! Love you!

Hna Carey

Hello Everyone!

     This week has been good. My companion and I were both sick! That wasn´t any fun! But we had some fun things!

       So.....I got a call from my mission president yesterday night to TRAIN! AHHHHHH!!!! Super scared for that! Yeah....it's just scary because it is so hard to train! Especially if I get an American and I won't know what I get until the day of!!! But it should be good....... so I have to go into the city tomorrow for the meeting and everything and then this Saturday I get to go back to Los Reyes for a baptism! Melissa is getting baptized! She is the daughter of a less active that we started teaching.  When we left, the other sisters finished teaching her. She´s getting baptized!=) YAY!!!!!=)

     So yeah training.....I hope she likes eating experiments for lunch and dinner because that's what I cook! It's my companions birthday today so I made her cake and we celebrated as a zone and watched Tangled! I love that movie so much!!!!! So yep, I hope everything is good with you guys! Love you!

Hna Carey

     Mom....I don't mind cooking now....I guess I can survive, I doctor a lot of things....I learned that it's no fun cooking in the kitchen by yourself though....sorry for that....And yeah cooking by yourself is no fun.....but I'll help you and teach you how to make Dominican rice and the best fried eggs you have ever had!

Love,

Leah

Hello everyone! 

     This past Sunday was the craziest day EVER!!!!!  We had the funniest lesson I've ever had! Okay, so first we meet this guy in the street and contacted him and asked if we could visit him one day. He´s got one sunken eye and he told us that we should know who he is because we always say hi to him (but we always say hi to everyone, so we didn't have a clue. He was a little upset so we pretended that we totally knew who he was). 

     So we get to his house and it's one of those super sketchy houses from a horror movie that you´d get murdered in.....so we taught him outside. Okay, so we get there and it smells like beer and cigarettes. He's got two friends over - and one of them only has one arm.   We start a lesson type thing and they kind of just start asking us questions and then he says, "so what about this Smith fellow?"  And Hna Snow says, "oh you mean Joseph smith?" Well, he was a prophet. "Do you remember the prophets in the Bible?"  And they're like "oh yeah, I've read the Bible tons of times, but I don't really remember any of it." So she says okay.  Then she asks them.   "Do you remember Adam and Eve?" Well, Adam was a prophet. And he goes "oh yeah! Adam and Eve! Who won Eve? quien gano a Eva?" That's what he said in Spanish. That's the translation and in both languages it doesn't make any sense. At this point we´ve figured out that they are all crazy, so I try to wrap it up really quick and I tell them all  I've got some presents for them and I start to get out a pamphlet. 

     While I'm explaining, el folleto, this other guy is talking to Hna Snow about how he really loves beer a lot and also the women in the streets. You know how they are just so great!!!! I didn't even notice this part, so I ask if we can say a prayer.   At this point they all jump up and Hna Snow is explaining that we cross our arms and close our eyes but they had different ideas. They all surround us and start waving their hands in the air and start saying the weirdest prayer I've ever heard. The sunken eye guy before the prayer finishes,  goes "okay, yep! I feel it.   The Spirit is coming, the spirit is coming!" The one armed guy has his one arm in the air and doesn't know whats going on and says amen twice in the middle of the prayer. And I officially couldn't handle it any more and busted out laughing in the middle of the prayer as (quietly) as possible. Then they all said amen and then began closing in on us even more and we left as fast as possible.  And yep....... that was the highlight of my week! love you all!

Hna. Carey

Hello everyone!

     WELL GUESS WHAT!!!!!!! I HIT 9 MONTHS TODAY! YEP THAT´S RIGHT! 9 MONTHS!!!!!!!! Yay me! I'm so psyched about that! I never thought I´d get there! But half way done! Wow, so fast! 

     So, I had a cool experience on the bus today with my district. We are only a district of 4, ha ha=). So we met these people that are from the DR, but lived in the US for about 9 years and they speak really good English.  My district leader is training someone, so he's still super new and doesn't understand a lot of Spanish.   It was so cool to see him get to explain so much about the Gospel in English and stretch his missionary muscles! Also we were sitting in front of them and Hna Snow and I were talking about how weird it is to hear someone talk about the Gospel in English because .....it's just weird. We talk all day long in Spanish and then we had to stop and explain it all in English.  It was SUPER hard! Our brains are now hardwired to connect the Gospel and Spanish together. So we were talking and it's like when we talk in Spanish it means more if that makes sense. It's more significant and somehow we can feel the spirit stronger in Spanish. Super weird!  I was thinking about that and I think that maybe because that is the language we are called to serve in and preach in.  So yeah, it does sound weird and feel weird, but it feels peaceful and calming when we talk about our Heavenly Father in Spanish.   It was just a cool thought. 

      Anyway we have a great potential baptism! I sure hope it works out! Love you guys!

Hna. Carey

Hello everyone! 

     Haha, so pictures are not going to happen, sorry I  didn't bring my camera. Yesterday it rained like CRAZY! Flooding in the streets and everything! whoo hoo! What an area!

      I love my companion. We are always laughing! Yesterday the power went out when she was trying different face cleansing things.  I mentioned that I had once seen on Pinterist, that if you boil water and stick your face in the steam that it opens up you pores.....and she tried it.=) Super funny, especially because we only had a flash light.... we almost peed ourselves laughing.=) We died laughing in the dark in our kitchen!  We have fun!    

     We have a really great new investigator! We had an amazing lesson with her and we all felt the spirit really strong and could testify that it was the spirit that we all felt. It was such a special experience. I´m so so grateful to have this Gospel and have this opportunity to share it with everyone I meet!

 I love you all!

Hna. Carey 

p.s. Hey, I got your card Mom.! Ollie's picture is on my wall! Thanks for the note. I got that on a pretty rough day. It's funny how it always seems to work that way.=) 

Leah emailed a day late.

Hello everyone! 

     Ha ha.... no new P Day. It´s a funny story....So I couldn't write yesterday because everything in the city was shut down! Why you may ask? WELGAS! Now what is a welga? Yep that's a fun thing where people start shooting in the air and throwing burning tires in the streets because they´re upset with political decisions! Whoo Hoo! =) Yep, so yesterday at 6:50 in the morning our DL calls us to ask if there is a riot where we are too, because they started shooting at 5 AM in front of his house! Lucky for us it was only on the other side of town where the elders live! It was over after a couple of hours, but after Welgas EVERYTHING  shuts down. SO that means no Internet centers. We weren´t allowed to leave the house to go proselyting, so we spent the majority of our day in the house! Whoo Hoo! That was an interesting experience! Yep, so that's cool....welcome to the campo! 

     My area is super different...small, but nice! I love my new companion though! She's super low key and we get along really well! YAY! So that was the highlight of my week...=)  I guess i´ll never forget that! Anyways I love you all! 

Hna. Carey

     Hi Mom! I love you! Guess what?  I'm in the country!!!!! Like THE COUNTRY!!!!!! In Esperanza! I was in Santiago in Los Reyes, but now I'm in my second area! It a campo!  Hey, my new companion is super cool!!!!!!! I'm so happy transfers came!!!!!!!!!!

     My new house is GORGEOUS!!!!! Not like America pretty, but like a huge step up for a missionary pretty! IT HAS MIRRORS!!!!!!!! I HAVEN'T SEEN WHAT I LOOK LIKE IN 8 MONTHS PRACTICALLY! I've had Dominicans tell me that my calves are fat but now that I can actually see them in the full length mirror they are sooooo not that fat!!!!!

Hey bye, I love you!

Hello Everyone!!!!

     So I had a completely ridiculous experience this week! We were in a ruta on our way to a devotional.  And is was a sketchy ruta from the beginning...... It was like just thin metal sheets that were holding us in that car. Well, it started going really slow and we didn't know why. We were on a road where he should have been booking it. (because they usually do) We finally asked the driver what was wrong and he kindly informs us that WE HAVE RUN OUT OF GAS! So the motor is now off and we are just rolling down the road! ROLLING! So he goes as far as he can until we stop. Now it is officially dark and starting to rain. And he lets us out and gives us our money back. Now it is a Dominican rule that if we don't get to our destination, or if the ruta breaks, they return the money. So we find another ruta and get in and this ruta driver is a real nice guy and wants to help out the first ruta driver.  And so he gets behind the first broken ruta and hits it (actually car hitting car) and pushes this car to the gas station. We all just looked at each other like are you kidding me? Then getting home from the devotional we got a ride with a member in the back of his pick up truck. You know like on real roads we were driving and we're in the back..... but wait it gets better.  I'M HOLDING A FOUR YEAR OLD ON MY FREAKING LAP!!!!!!! Yep this is the country I live in. I've never held a kid so tight in my entire life:) 

     I got Aunt Diahan's package!!  Yay food!  The perfume she sent me smells really good too.   It's called Scarlet Kiss by Bodycoligy.  I like it a lot!  She also sent me orange nail polish.   So I've been rocking that!   It is the month of Halloween:) 

     Those are the highlights of my week.  I'm pretty sure I'm getting transferred next week, so i'll officially be leaving my first area. I'm sad about that, but its good to get to know more of the country.:)

Love,

Hermana Carey

Hello everyone! 

     So I ran into soooo many things this week! 1. A sack of bananas from a banana tree with my face 2.  A fire extinguisher that was attached to the wall....also with my face 3. A bright orange giant gate that was super obvious.....with my hip. Yep apparently I'm just a bulldozer and can't watch where I'm going!

      My cooking experiences were great this week! I followed with our tradition and made french toast for conference! Mom it's better with milk and evaporated milk too!!! I made it for the sisters and Elders! I only made it for the Elders so they would give me their syrup which I kept and now I have it for more french toast! I also made pasta salad! That was good! Then yesterday I made homemade garlic mashed potatoes! So... mashed potatoes with a fried egg, avocado and hot sauce.......SUPER GOOD! I'm going to learn to make rice this week.... we'll see how that goes!

      Today was fun! Well, hard but fun! We climbed to the top of a peak which sucked, but was super pretty, so it was worth it! We payed a guy to take us up in his truck to where the trail leads off and that was funny! He got a flat tire and I have never seen a tire shredded in my entire life until today! Well it was fun! We fit 14 people into the back of that little truck and climbed the mountain! Yay! 

But yup.... those are the highlight of the week! 

     Oh and conference!  LOVED THAT! It was like vacation!:) Man, the general authorities are just so great aren't they? Anyways love you!

Hna Carey

 Dad,

     Conference was so great!!!!!!!  I learned a lot! Conference is different to watch on the mission! It's just nice to be on the receiving end of the advice and counsel! I never thought in my entire life I would have to console and help people with problems like the ones I have encountered.......half the time  inside I feel like "are you kidding me Heavenly Father?"  I'm only 19, how am I supposed to help them? Then a scripture will come to my mind and and I just start talking and let the spirit guide what I say until they feel the love that Heavenly Father has for them. It is an amazing feeling! Being a missionary is so hard, but I love it so much! I love teaching people and helping them to realize who they really are and how special that is!  I love You!

Leah

Hello Everyone!

     So this week was fun! We were in a ruta and I am now understanding some of the music here and a terrible song came on and the ruta was full of missionaries and one stranger and the driver. So we were all just kind of looking at each other and so it was kind of funny because I had to ask the driver to change the song and then he and the stranger laughed because they thought it was funny. And the other missionaries were just laughing at me because because I was trying to communicate. Then he changed the song and I was all happy and when I looked at the other missionaries they laughed and told me that I didn't understand this song because it was much worse that the first song!  So I looked at the driver like "are you kidding me!" and then I told him to change it again and that this song was worse and that I was sure he had better options. Everyone thought that it was pretty funny.  Then we got out at our stop and I thanked him for changing his terrible dirty music. The driver thought that it was funny.

     Also, a highlight of the week! 80's music!!!!!!! Our neighbors are great! We get to listen to Celine Dion and Hotel California! But it sure is a bummer that it starts at 8 am on the dot. Try studying  about Jesus and having Celine Dion blaring through the window!  And you can't really close the window because you'll die from heat. It's special. 

     We also locked ourselves in the chapel and we were in there for about 30 minutes.......We also saw a moped race this week.  It  was funny!  I love fried eggs and fritos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So good! You haven't had fried eggs until you've had a Dominican fry your egg!!!!! so much better! Yay! Anyway that's what happened this week. I am reading Jesus the Christ and it is so good! I have read Our Heritage and Our Search for Happiness! They are amazing! And we set a baptismal date!

I love you guys!

Hna. Carey

Hello Everyone!

      So this week was funny! I think that our house has seizures.....the lights are having serious issues! Have you ever painted your nails in the dark with the lights flickering? No? Well I sure have! That was so funny! Every time the lights went out I had to wait for them to come back on again then hurry and do the next nail before the lights shut off again! That was an experience!
      Then we had an emergency from a member this week! He called us and told us that we had to get to his house in about five minutes and so we practically ran there! And what was the emergency? CAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love cake so much!!!!!!!! They had thrown a birthday party and had leftover cake quipes bolas de yuca y empanadas! BEST EMERGENCY EVER!!!!!!!! Ahhhahahhahah. I love my people! We even got goodie bags! 

     We had zone conference as well and the area 70 was there so that was super great! My companion chased me down in the the rain yesterday, so that was pretty funny! Man, walking all day in rain sure does take it out of you! But it's a nice change from the NEVERENDING HEAT! IT IS SO HOT IN THIS COUNTRY!!!!!!!!!!!! But its okay! Who needs the cold!?!?!?!?!?! 

      I went on an intercambio this week with my sister leaders and we were in a lesson and their recent convert was asking about really deep doctrine and the sister leader told me that is was my turn to take the next question.  I didn't know the answer so I had him look up a scripture in 1 Nephi that says something along the lines of "I don't know the answers to all things, saveth that God loveth his children." Haha the convert sure got a hoot out of that and just laughed and laughed and laughed! Anyways those are the highlights of the week.

I love you all! 

Hna Carey:)

                                          eggs, tortillas and ketchup for lunch

     Well, today sure sucked! I flooded my house and my money went missing! I DID NOT LOSE IT! IT WENT MISSING I SWEAR! So I had to take out the $50 you just put in and I am so sorry that I had to take it out! I'm looking for the money and I honestly have no idea if I'll find it. It might just be gone.  I flooded the house filling up tub things because the whole city of Santiago is having water problems. We have not had consistent water for days. Well water usually isn't there at night which is normal, but it's been going out in the daytime too, so I flooded the house.  Not a a big deal because that is how they clean here, but it was a pain to clean up.  I am so sorry I didn't lose the money, it is legit GONE.

      And I sure am having the hardest time learning how to budget because we went like 3 days last week without food. It's just the pricing is so screwed up here. You can live on the missionary budget if you only buy rice, eggs and yucca but if you want anything normal like peanut butter the prices are jacked up because it's from the US. I'm so sorry! 

      Ummmmm............not much else has happened this week.  We have a pretty frisky investigator who was a freca(flirt) with the elders in front of us.  It was actually really funny!!!!! She left the Elders pretty scared!

      Mom I hit 7 months!!!!!!!! 11 to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And yep I've learned a lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:) My companion and I are just trying to figure each other out..........Oh!  We ate fried tortillas with scrambled eggs and ketchup! It was gross!........But it was lunch.......:) um..............yup...............I have some awesome Christian music!!!! Daniel would be SOOO  jealous!!!!!!! We had 29 lessons this week and 9 less actives and 7 investigators at Church this Sunday for the primary program!

     BYE MOM I LOVE YOU! SOOOOOOO MUCH!

Hello,

     So this week.....I decided that cats are gross. We went to a service project where cats were in a lady´s house and they just pooped everywhere. It was special....=) Only my cat is not gross, I love her! Also, we had a zone dinner and that was super fun! We had to cook for 18 people and the president and his wife in our house! That was crazy!

      I got to be with the mini missionary a lot this week which was way fun! Funny experience! So she saw a Rubiks cube and just got so excited that she wanted one and so I listened to her talk about her ¨cubito¨for 3 days and finally we went back to the store and she bought the cube and we went back to the house and she was playing with it and all the sudden I hear "öh no! mi cubito! Se rompio, mi cubit!¨She´d only had it for 10 minutes and it had completely fallen apart! I laughed SO hard! And for about 20 minutes she just sat there trying to put it back together! Aw poor thing!  She eventually  fixed it.

     Then, we had to go into the city for a meeting and we went to McDonald's for lunch which is pretty high class for a missionary here, I kid you not.  We had to cross the street to get there and we were crossing like Dominicans, which is pretty much just jay- walking and there was a barrier in the road and we didn't realize it because we were talking. So we´re standing next to the barrier in the middle of the road when the traffic starts and we have to climb up on this ledge so that the traffic is 4 ft away from us instead of 3 ft. And then we´re just trying to figure out what to do and the mini missionary starts to climb the little fence in her skirt! And then Hna Navas follows her! And I'm there in a pencil skirt that doesn't allow for climbing over freaking fences! So one of the strangers selling something comes and grabs my hand and helps me over the fence! It was a tad bit crazy, but fun!

      I HAVE A NEW COMPANION FROM COSTA RICA AND SHE WAS IN MY GROUP FROM THE CCM!

Anyways I love you guys!

Hna. Carey

Leah and just the mini missionary

Matching yellow

      Mom,

      So.........I'm gonna tell you something but you have to promise not to freak out.=)   I got to go to the hospital! But not for anything major.  They just send everyone to the hospital for anything!  It was for my eye! It got a million times worse!  But I'm getting better now!  They gave me a FREAKING IV! Yea, I was a little stressed about that and it made me cry and then the nurse asked me in her broken English "you is baby?...... Then be quiet!" But it is okay now.  I told her she was mean and then we were friends afterwards.=)

     I don't know what's wrong with it.  It has just been infected for a long time and they gave me and anti inflammatory in the IV.   They use IVs for everything here but I guess they do work faster. Yup that was mean of her, I'd just gotten stabbed by a needle and then she told me to be quiet!

     I  didn't do a letter, but i just told you the most exciting thing that happened this week! I was in a 3rd world hospital! Whoo Hoo! Also I bought a giant ball bigger than my face this week and bubbles! 

Love,

Leah

Last weeks email and this week.  

 Hey Mom!

       So... Hna Calderon went home today! Last night the other two sisters that live in our house came with us to the mission home and we had an amazing last dinner before she left.  Then she had her interview and President let us watch movies almost all night! Frozen and Monsters University! SO FUN! We had one big giant sleep over the last night! But this morning was hard and today has been hard. Five months! wow! And now she goes and sees her family tonight! I can't even believe it! I cried SO much today! Especially with it in the middle of the transfer things are super difficult now and I'm kind of working the area by myself somewhat... Well I guess God let me keep her long enough for a reason!=) But she called from New York just a minute ago! She hates all the English! Ha ha!  Ask dad about my companion situation going on. It will be interesting! Hna Calderon and I have had so much fun and now this truly is heartbreaking! I have never had to say goodbye to so many people in my life! So many HARD goodbyes! But I will see that girl in one year! She goes to BYUI so, I will see her in a year=) This will be pretty hard but this is what Heavenly Father wants me to go through right now so I will be fine.  I love her so much! Anyways that was the big thing that happened, the rest has just been teaching, saying goodbye and whatnot.  But I will make Hna Calderon proud! Love you mom!

Leah

Companion situation....I have sister leaders in my house. They are temporarily splitting them up and giving me one and giving the other a mini missionary (kid who lives in the area who hasn't gone to the ccm and is pretty much just your shadow while they look for a real companion)

Hello everyone!

     Well this has been the slowest week of my entire life but good too! Our investigator finally came to church which was a miracle! I got to sing in the ward conference choir, and I was in the sketchiest guagua ride of my entire life! Man... those guaguas to Los cocos! Then a man got in with a giant bag full of chicken feet leaking blood and other liquids! Yay!

      I had a fun time leading my area.   It was really cool to be able to be 100% happy.  Trying to do everything that Hna Calderon had taught me and see my people progress a little bit! I have spoken so much Spanish this week!  I'm in a house full of only Latinos now so that's funny! Man, speaking Spanish at six thirty in the morning is rough! But its better now!

       Hna Reveron and I had a special lesson with one of our menos activos because just the week before she had given birth and her baby had died. It was amazing to be there and tell her that her baby is safe and happy and that he was waiting for her. We also had another amazing lesson where Hna Guzman and I shared the purification of the silver story and it really hit our menos activo really hard. Look up that story because it is amazing! We felt the spirit really strongly and felt like we gave him what he needed at the right moment!

      I made pancakes today covered in nutella and sweetened condensed milk! That was amazing! YUM!=) Anyways it was super hard to say goodbye but good to see that I have progressed since I first got here and that I didn't freak out! YAY, go me! I love you! 

     I did a funny service this week I forgot to tell you! We found a spider the size of my face and then a rat and then a lot of cockroaches and the elders tried to play baseball with the rat as the ball! GROSS!!!!! Then we painted a school for little kids with lead paint! YAY! go DR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yep that was funny!  Anyways those are the highlights of the week!

Love you! 
Hna Carey

Hi everyone!

     Okay, so this week was good!  It is transfer week! I´m still with Hna Calderon until she goes home in threes weeks in the middle of the transfer! She's going home just a little early to start school right away! I´m nervous for the change but I guess the time has come! Funny story! I had to eat the insides of a goat this week! GROSS! Well she only made me try it.....we had to tell her we were just too darn full from all of her other wonderful food that we didn't have any room for more! DON´T EVER EAT MONDONGO! ITS BAD! dumb goats..... ugh=) Just another journal entry!=) 

     Also we had an incredible lesson this week. It was all completely guided by the spirit! We started off with prayer, shared a scripture about faith and ended with me giving a baptismal invitation completely unplanned and it all just worked out! She even said yes that she would be willing to get baptized if she received and answer! It really was super special! We felt the spirit so strong and she did too.  She told us that we are different  and that we transmit this peace into her home. She says that she can tell that we are happy and she is just wonderful!

      Transfer came and a lot of people changed and I had to say goodbye to a really good friend that has helped me since day one. That is hard. The mission is all about change, and learning to change and learning not to resist it but to do the will of the father so that He can shape you into the person that He wants you to be. That is something that I really am learning. I hope that I can embrace all the changes that are coming and face them head on! I'm so grateful to be learning here! I´m learning everyday how much I need my Heavenly Father and how many weaknesses I have. I know without a doubt that we have weaknesses for a reason and that we cannot do this by ourselves! I know that this is God´s church on the Earth and that it is true. I know that my Savior loves me and that he has giving an amazing gift of the atonement that we have to take advantage of.  I know I´m doing God´s work and that I have people waiting for me that I told I would find. I'm grateful that I can have this opportunity to grow and be shaped and be put through the refining fire. I love you all!

Hna. Carey

Dear everyone!

     This week was good! We were invited to our mission house with our sister leaders to a family home evening! We took familia Guzman and they loved it! We talked all about eternal marriage and the plan of salvation! Afterwards they were hugging and it was the cutest thing ever! I got my package! YAY! Thank you for that! Everything there was fabulous! Everyone made fun of me though because they called me a pharmacy. But I sure proved them wrong when Hna Calderon got a giant stress knot in her neck and started walking crooked and I gave her some Ben-gay and she felt better! HA! Anyways that's all that happened this week pretty much! Love you guys!

Hna Carey

Dear mom,

     So this week sure was interesting.....Hna. Calderon had parasites so we had to go to a Dominican Clinic (which is better that a hospital) and eesh....never want to go there ever again! That was not a fun experience. And two and a half days just in one room! NOT FUN. 

     Yes I did get my hair trimmed! But they sure are not used to cutting blond hair! I´m going to let it grow my whole mission and then see how it looks with trims of course though! You know how you can see every cut? Well you can just see that in the front part so I have to pin up my ¨bangs¨ My scalp is doing better! Tea tree shampoo is amazing! I love it so much and it smells like home! Mom I really just want to tell you that I love you so much and appreciate everything that you do and have done for me! You have been an amazing example to me of who I want to become! I love you!

     Things I've learned......I´ve learned to be more confident with myself and how I walk(not trying to hide anymore as much) and that yep sometimes things suck, but we can always learn to adapt to that. I've learned to make food for myself with out a microwave and even a fridge for a while.  I have learned SO much patience and love! Also learning to open up about problems and fixing them instead of letting them eat at me.  Oh yeah and to have fun and laugh every chance you can or else time will go slower!  All good things to learn

Dear Dad,

      I got to meet someone super amazing today. Just one of those people who has an incredible spirit to them and makes you want to be a better person. He was one of Hna Calderon´s first baptisms and his name is Robinson and he is Haitian and is amazing! His story is amazing and he is just a testament to how the gospel blesses people. He told us how he prays for food because he´s hungry and how Heavenly Father provides for him. You know we are so blessed. I  have never in my life had to pray for food because there was literally nothing and he has to do that regularly. He sometimes goes days without eating. And yet he still has an incredible testimony that is stronger than people who have been members for years. He is one strong person! He was amazing and I barely know him and I already love him.  I feel like my life has been blessed by meeting him today.=) Anyways I love you a lot dad!



They bought fabric and had a lady make them matching skirts for $10.00 each.

The Bishops son posed with them because his yellow tie matched their skirts

      Hey Mom! 

     You look good! Love that dress! So for this week.....I accidentally got blessed by a priestess in the middle of the street! So I didn´t feel good one day so we were just standing on the sidewalk and I was leaning against Hna. Calderon and this woman comes up to us and asks if I feel okay. So I explained how I didn't feel good and she goes oh!  I can say a prayer for you! And I thought she meant that she´d go home and include me in her prayers and so I said yes. She then grabbed my elbow and tells me to close my eyes and proceeds to give me a ¨blessing¨. It was strange but I guess it's the thought that counts....=) I got to visit a different area this week because  Hna Calderon ends her mission soon.  So she´s allowed to visit her old area and I got to go to La Vega with her! That was way fun! I love seeing new places and being out and being in rutas and guaguas! So fun! Other than that it was a quiet week. Love you all!

love,

Leah

Hi dad, 

      I love you! I had a good week this week! Are you counting down the days to graduation? I´m getting a new companion in threes weeks! Scary! its weird to think about being in Los Reyes without her though but she is going home.  It's weird though becasue she goes home in the middle of the transfer because she is going early for school. So I get another companion in the middle of a transfer! But I'm excited as well! I hit 6 months on the 12th! Almost one third done! It's going really fast though! Well I love you!

          Love,

          Leah!

Hello everyone!

     Allright I had some interesting experiences this week! Well mainly today..... I was stopped at a corner getting rocks out of my shoes and Hna Calderon walked a couple feet in front of me and looked around the corner and then ran back yelling.... AHHHH.... HNA CAREY, THERE'S A MAN PEEING!!!!!!!! That was SO FUNNY! Also to get back from our baseball activity, which was in the middle of no where, we got to hitchhike on two bolas which are these big funny looking trucks! On the first truck  we could just sit in the back, but there were no sides so we had to be careful.   In the second truck there were sides, but nothing to hold on to, so we both had to stand and hold onto the top of the  truck cab! Super fun? When else in my life will we get to hitchhike standing up in a truck, driving through a tropical country in the middle of nowhere? It was great! I also saw a proposal today! Two MISSIONARIES GOT ENGAGED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They were boyfriend and girlfriend before the mission and both were called here.  They are never in the same district or zone but they  got permission from the president and he was allowed to propose to her in the middle of the mall in front of everyone! BUT THEY COULDN'T EVEN HUG OR KISS! Hahaha... this mission is crazy! Then we got to go and translate for US doctors for a service with the street children and it was way fun! But it is interesting to see the difference between the Haitian kids and the Latino kids qualities of life. It's sad because the Haitian kids are always a little more beat up. But anyways having life changing experiences over here, so that's always cool!

     Aww.... thanks Mom! I got the package! Everything is fabulous!!!!!!! Thank you so much! I really do appreciate all that you do for me. And I wear mosquito repellant every day and sleep with a mosquito net so you should be proud! Love you!

Love Leah

Mom,

      I still have ear issues that I'm working on and an infected eye, but I saw the doctor AGAIN and hopefully I'll get everything taken care of!  The doctor said I have to get meds for a month to help my ear drain and then it should get better.
     We were inside for 5 days because Hna C had chikungunya and I thought I'd die of boredom. We watched a lot of movies....did you know we are allowed to watch the Best Two years, The Other Side of Heaven, The RM,  Charly and  all LDS movies like that?????  Super cool so please send some of those for the next package!
     When she felt better it felt so good to go back out and work and bear our testimonies again. It was like an old muscle that we needed to exercise, and the last two days were amazing.  We just used our time so well.  We found people that we really needed to find and we gave the first lesson in 30 min flat and the lady understood everything! And Hna Calderon said she was so proud of me for how far my teaching and my Spanish have come! good stuff!!!!!
     Also, please send me fungal cream in general and saline eye drops.  The doctor said that it's been so dirty here lately that they have seen tons of eye infections.  So I have to wash my eyes out every night with eye drops. I have one bottle now, but that will only last so long..... Oh yeah I learned today that most all of the bug spray that they import into the DR is expired from the US....so I still have some and  just to let you know I still have two full bottles and I use it everyday by the way=) Oh yeah and my head is legit freaking out.....it's not getting better. I have looked EVERYWHERE for anything tea tree related and it does not exist in this country! Please send tea tree shampoo and conditioner.  Thank you so much and I really am sorry for asking for this stuff......I do feel really bad.....

 Love You!

Leah

Dad,

FREAK YOU BROKE YOUR ARM?????????? ARE YOU KIDDING ME????? Dad! You have to watch where you are going! Are you ok?????

     Aye aye aye Dad....well at least Ollie is okay=) But I hope you feel better! I'm praying for you guys. Are you guys doing OK? I hope so and I really love you a lot and I miss you a lot! Hey tell Mom I can cook like a Dominican now.   I'm still working on the big dishes, but some of the small items I can manage! I'm making you guys mangu when I get home! I hit 5 months on the 12th!!!! Whoo hoo! I had some cool teaching experiences this week just because I'm finally becoming more comfortable with the lessons and more confident in Spanish. I didn't flounder for words so much. But I know that only happens with obedience! 

      Chickungunya is mosquito disease! You should look it up and tell me about it more! It's from Africa and makes your whole body hurt! OH FORWARD THIS TO MOM TELL HER TO SEND AN ICE PACK!  AND A MUSCLE RELAXANT!

 Love you!

Leah

painting toes while stuck inside sick!

Mom,

    This week was a little hard.   Some days are still hard and I'm learning to choose to be happy.  It has been really hard this week because I'm white, blond and American.  I got told a lot that I don´t know what hard work is, how to work, and that I have never had any real problems.  That's hard because people here just judge me for what I look like and so they automatically think we have nothing in common that they can't really trust me and so it's hard to build relationships with the people especially because even though I can somewhat communicate I can't really show them who I really am still. And it's not just the investigators, but the ward members too.....so that's hurt a lot this week.   If I could really show them who I am I know they'd like me more.   Or at least trust me more but the ward members  have already judged us as American and aren´t willing to change their minds. Also if you don´t clean like a Dominican it is wrong- bottom line. So that's irritating...especially because they are SUPER inefficient....but I'm learning how to clean like a Dominican....

Love you.

Leah

Dad,

     I've never experienced being judged purely based on what you look like. And I can now say that after living here for almost 5 months I have been judged more in that way then in my entire life.... but other that that we had an incredible opportunity to serve people this week.   I have been praying this week to be in the right place and in the right time so that we can be where He wants us to be and help someone, and He provided! It was really cool! We helped a contact I had made about a month ago with a member clean her house.   And she said she had been wondering how on earth she would do all that work in her house when we showed up.  And then we shared with her after! She said that she knows God sent us to her to help and the scripture Hna C. shared was the exact same scripture that she had been given 30 yrs before by some other christian missionaries right after her daughter had died. It was the "can a mother forget her child" scripture that is also in Isaiah and it was so special. She said that she had been thinking of me and wondering if she´d see me again and here we were.  Amazing that one contact can make a difference in someones life! Love you. Send this to mom!

Leah

Hello everyone!

     We had our baptism and it was an incredible experience! Ican´t believe that I get to be a part of this work and preach the gospel. I feel so blessed for everything I have and I'm grateful to be learning so much here. I´m SO HAPPY they are baptized! They are now on the path to Christ and their eternal salvation. That is generations of people who will now be affected! I´m just so excited! 

       Oh funny story! We were at a family home evening and it was the waiting time after the lesson when you can talk as you wait for your food and I fell asleep on Hermana Calderon´s shoulder...  and then drooled on her.....in front of everyone....   The funny part is I'm not even as embarrassed as I should be!=) It was more like - oh well- that's  embarrassing....=) 

Anyways love you!

Hna Carey


Baptism pictures!

Leah's mosquito netting over her bed

Someone's house

Dear Daddy!

HAPPY FATHER´S DAY!!!! Sorry the holidays are different here so I didn´t know to tell you last week! Yeah, I have never been so hot in my entire life.  It's ridiculously hot!!!!! You just sweat ALL THE TIME! When we get down on our knees to pray before going out we can feel our knees sliding on the tile floor. GROSS! But once the sun goes down it sometimes occasionally cools off. Oh, people say my Spanish is good.  The Elders told me that when I'm mad my Spanish is PERFECT! AHAHAH that's funny.......anyways I'm still here with Hna. Calderon so I´m happy about that! WE HAVE TWO BAPTISMS THIS SATURDAY AND ITS A FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cant even explain how happy I am and how much I love them! They were prepared by the lord to hear the gospel and they have three adorable kids that love us!!! I can see them in a year getting sealed as a family and then having three missionaries! It's so exciting! We also have another person that we think will start to progress really well!  Hna. C and I are both really happy to stay together because we both felt like our work here isn´t done. Yesterday we celebrated Rafael´s 40th birthday and we got him a tie that he can wear for his baptism and to church. Then I gave Mielit one of my black skirts because she doesn't have any for her baptism and she got so happy and excited and said that it's her first skirt and that she will wear it every Sunday! It was the sweetest thing ever! Their kids know us and their 3 yr old had their camera and pointed to me in a picture and said that´s Carey! I just about died it was so cute! Anyways I hope Father´s day was good.  This is my main email so tell Mom sorry but she can cut and paste because it would take too long to write it all again! Love You!

Leah

Mom,
  We taught this family! They are on the road to their eternal salvation!  This is such a big deal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I'm just super excited and Hna. C and I are singing "Be Still My Soul" for the baptism and making cookies! Did you know that that song doesn't exist in the Spanish hymnbook? They only have 209 songs!

      Go read Dad's email and oh my goodness - I love this family so much and I am so grateful to have this experience! The people you meet on your mission really do affect you and change you for the better.  Mom I've never been so happy to give something of mine away.  She lit up so much and I am so happy! When I gave my skirt away I got this feeling of "this is exactly where you are supposed to be!!!!!!!!!!!! "  

   I'm already a different person.  I have been ripped out of every single comfort zone I have and forced to do things I never dreamed of.  And I feel like I'm stronger than I was 4 months ago when I got on that plane.  

     Did you get the photos?  Will you send me chocolate? I really want chocolate and please would you like to send me a recipe for lasagna? And sweet tarts and possibly gummy life savers and the hard ones too...that's it, I promise.  I'm sorry I miss food....  Love you!

Leah

Hello Everyone!

      This week was good! We have our miracle family with a baptismal date that we are teaching right now which is way cool! The ward had an activity and it was Karaoke! SO MUCH FUN!!!!! U.S. wards are so stiff! These people were up and talking and having a good time while the karaoke was going on and there was this one guy who got up with his acoustic guitar and his deep Latino voice and it was amazing! I even got up and sang Let it Go from Frozen! SCARY! But so much fun! Best ward activity I've been to in my entire life! I also got put on the spot in front of people to sing a song just in the middle of the street. Because theses ladies wanted to hear a song and all the missionaries just pointed to me and said "well she can sing..." yeah, so I got to sing a Child's Prayer on the side of the road in front of 5 Latino women and 5 missionaries. So that was pretty much my week. I discovered that club crackers with peanut butter tastes amazing and Frito's goes with everything! 

     I got dehydrated this week so that was cool.... transfers are coming because I'm ending my training so now.  I just want to know what will happen!!!!! I want to know if I'm going or staying!!! But either way I feel like I'm ready for what ever comes. I'm pretty sure I won't freak out again. So that's good because going from the ccm I thought I might and I did. But now I feel like I won't, so I'm excited about that!  

Love you!

Leah

Dear everyone,

     This week was good! We set a baptismal date with our amazing miracle family and it is three days after transfers, so either me or Hna C will miss it unless we get special permission to come back for it! But I got to go on intercambios with members and teach a lesson by myself which was cool....scary really...but I really saw the power of prayer this week. We had an amazing experience that I wrote to Daniel so ask him to forward it to you. I also have been shown again that Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers. We matter to Him and If we are doing what we are supposed to we will be blessed. I also learned that He loves and protects His missionaries. It has been a week of a lot of prayers! Transfers are coming up and I scared!:) I'm almost done with my training and yet I still feel like I don't know so much! I guess now is the time to pretend I know what I'm doing and just keep learning!  Anyways that's pretty much all that happened! Love you!

Hna. Carey

Daniel,

     Okay....cool prayer experience now! We were giving the first lesson and all the sudden right before Hna Calderon is about to give the first vision a car comes and parks outside with music blaring! So I look over and I'm praying for it to stop and I see her pause for a moment and then as soon as she starts the first vision the music shuts off all of a sudden and doesn't come back on until it's over.  Then she asks our investigator, do you know who he saw? And boom, the electricity goes out and it is silent...the streets, the fans, the house all silent...it was for him to feel the spirit and go through that part of the lesson. And after we finished that part of the lesson it came back on. So cool to see the power that prayer has and how powerful the first vision really is! Love you!

Leah Pot

Hi Dad!

      It was a good week! Not much happened though, just praying that our family will get baptized and live the word of wisdom! They are our miracle family and their kids just love us! They invited us over to eat and it was so good! We had chicken, potatoes, yuka and pumpkin in this soup on white rice, super good! Anyways we bought an entire rotisserie chicken on Saturday so that was cool and then a bottle of ranch and double stuffed chocolate oreos that are American brand! We're not allowed to go to the store hungry anymore...so there's that.

       Tell Ollie happy birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All the star wars stuff is way cool!  I've made some really good friends here and that's super cool. I have friends that don't really speak English from all over the world now!  Anyways love you!

Leah

Sorry to be so late on this blog this week.  We moved to Fort Collins this past week and we have been extremely overwhelmed and tired.  Andrea

Hello everyone!

     This week was great! I went on my first exchange with a sister leader in my own area and every single one of our lessons fell through except for one! We contacted like crazy and by the end of the day we had 8 lessons! It was cool to be able to take the lead on the lessons and talk to these people about our purpose as missionaries a little bit! My sister leader said that it was a great intercambio and that that I was confident and very expressive! YAY! Points for Leah! Also on Mother's day we ate SO MUCH FOOD! First we went to a members house and had turkey salad and rice, then we went to drop off Mother´s day cards to our investigators house and it's the family we´re teaching and they were celebrating and insisted that we come in and eat AGAIN. Man it was so worth it!  They fed us BBQ pork ribs! I haven't had food like that in almost 4 months! Okay so ribs, empanadas,quites, rice with gandules, coconut from their tree, coconut water, lots of soda, salad, and two pieces of cake! WE WERE SICK FOR TWO HOURS AFTER THAT! But it was amazing! It felt like being home at a real family gathering and they just welcomed us into their home and we really felt their love and caring for us! There were pictures and everything so we´re a permanent part of that Mother´s day memory! We shared the scripture about the stripling warriors and mothers and the husband´s mother (who we had never even met before) told us that us being there with them was the best Mother's day gift that they could have received! It really was awesome and amazing! Anyways love you!

Love Leah

P.S. there´s an earthquake going on here right now! Cool Right?

Hi Dad!

     Today was good - we had a fun day! Played sports which I'm still trying to put that into my fun category but I'm working on that! This week we had something crazy happen remember the hicks I told you about? Well this lady saw us again and said that they don't have any food and the sister of her husband wants them out of the house and a whole ton of stuff! She told us that we were her only source of help because her family wouldn't help and the US consulate wouldn't help either so she was without means until the 2 of June! Who Hoo? What on earth can a 19 and 21 year old do about that? We thought the exact same thing!!! Well we had to deal with that so that was cool! Love you!

Leah