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