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