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