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.=)