Hola Familia!!
Feliz Cumpleaños Hannah!! Ahora tiene trece años! Chevere.
I am feeling much much better. The medicine the doctor gave me killed my sickness. The only problem is that apparently the bacteria releases a toxin that makes people really exhausted and gives them head aches. At least that's how Pres Freestone explained it. They made me stay in my room and rest whenever I was feeling really exhausted and slow. And I would sleep for HOURS. Fortunately I did not miss much because the first day I had to do that was p-day, the second day I had to rest in the morning and our teachers weren't there so it was personal study, and the other day I was out of it was Sunday. By Sunday I was sick of wasting so much time so I had the elders in my district give me a blessing and I have felt great since and I am trying to make up for the lost time!!
I didn't receive any weird offers for remedies but a sister from the states did offer me some super organic vitamins and stuff with grape fruit and all the vitamins from vegetables. I will be honest, I took it. I needed the vitamins because to be perfectly honest I didn't eat at all for a couple of days!
I am now eating just fine. I will send a picture of a typical lunch.
My music and speakers work great! We are only allowed to listen to it on P-day but it is sweet. I have not received my 2nd package!! I can't wait to get it:)
We have not had a Culture Night. Pretty much being in this CCM is a culture adjustment and all of our teachers are natives of DR, and one of them served in Puerto Rico!! They were telling us how Dominicans would say our names while we're in el campo. They would call me Hermana "Eye-dee". So that's one of the ways people address me. Another way is Arrrddy. One of the teachers calls me Hermana Dificil. I am not sure if it is a joke about my personality or just because dificil is hard/difficult in spanish and so yeah.
There is also a new elder that just came in a week or so ago and Hermana Jennings made it a goal to make him feel more positive about being in the CCM and so he wouldn't be so negative about learning the language. Now he calls me Hermana Mom because I remind him of his mom. Today in the temple there was an ordinance worker who just called me hermanita linda or hermanita bonita. :) She was so sweet and she loves to hug and kiss everyone and says that she will be our grandmother while we're here.
While I was in the temple I could definitely feel Grandpa Weiler's spirit there with me. It was so wonderful. Also, make sure to tell Grandma that I have already sewn and fixed one of my sweaters, my companion's skirt, and another sister's sweater. I am sewing it up down here! I hope I can make her proud.
We watched a devotional by Elder Holland this week and his message was so powerful for all of us missionaries. Our #1 convert on our mission should be ourselves. What I really loved was when Elder Holland said that our missions are supposed to be difficult because Christ's mission and Atonement was never easy for Him.
I love the way that Elder Holland speaks about his mission when he was a young man. I want my mission to mean as much to me as Elder Holland's mission means to him because he says that there has not been a day gone by that he hasn't thought about his mission in 50+ years. He also said that, quite literally, his mission experience has affected every major and minor decision he has made in his life.
I cannot wait to get out in the field. I am nervous but I know that being out here is the best decision I have ever made and I already feel like a different person. This Friday (TOMORROW) we are going proselyting. As in, from 1:00 to 8:00 I am going to be walking around the streets of the Dominican Republic with an experienced missionary, trying to figure out what the Eskimos, um, I mean Dominicans are saying.
Also, our "investigator" Juan Victor has agreed to be baptized!! Hermana Jennings and I were so excited that when he said that he wanted to be baptized we kind of just stared at him for a bit. We were jumping up and down as soon as we were out of eyesight. I cannot wait until we have a real investigator agree to be baptized!!
Mama! I am so sorry that you hurt your ankle!!! That is a bum ride! I hope you don't push it running so soon after hurting yourself. I wish I could have gone to church and help with everything for you.
Alexis and Geoff:
The pizza stone goes on the right side, in the back. Cooling racks and other bulky stuff and the cake pans go on the right side however you can fit it next to and around the pizza stone. Then the cupcake sheets all fit inside of each other and go in the back of the left side. Then you slide all of the other sheets around and in front of those. xoxo
Apparently lots of football starts soon and I am apparently a Packers fan now. I don't know what that means. Is it okay if I'm a packers fan Geoff?? But I like the colors green and yellow anyways so I can work with that. Yay football! My district loves the things your primary kids say.
Jonny: What is Microsensors about?? That sounds pretty legit. Also, I heard all those music classes like Survey of Jazz are really hard. I had a seminary teacher who did History of Rock and it was the most difficult class he had ever taken. Good luck bro.
This is really nerdy but I am totally jealous of you guys playing Minecraft without me!!! I hope you guys don't mind playing the game you bought for Hannah again in a year and a half:) It's okay that you don't have a present to wrap, don't worry about it, she is going to love your present!
The things I miss most? Goldfish. Mom's food. The food here is packed with onions and peppers and all that yummy stuff that I try to avoid. fabric softener. Google and web searches. I really kinda need a normal dictionary. Not like it's important. But you guys know how I am and I always want to know what words mean in English. Big words:)
Hannah: Good luck at Nutcracker auditions!! I am sad that I won't be able to see you dance! Happy Birthday!! Everyone here knows that it's your birthday and I've shown them a picture of you and I think I'm starting to get on everyone's nerves because I can't stop talking about you and how it's your birthday:) I love you so much. Ms. Lindsey is an amazing teacher, make sure you keep on learning as much as you can!
You should all be proud of me because I am now kind of ish good at volleyball. The elders even tried to teach me how to jump serve. That was a struggle. I almost got it at the end. They were all very patient with me. My Spanish is going pretty well, especially while I am teaching. I still struggle with understanding everything that everyone else is saying to me, especially when they go fast. My speed is also picking up a bit. Unfortunately I still struggle just speaking Spanish all the time when we talk about other things during the day. All of the grammar concepts that they are teaching us are things that I am already familiar with and so it is easier learning them this second time around.
Look out for some pictures!! Tell Grandma Weiler to shoot me an email!
Lots of love, good luck with running and with school and with watching football and all of your endeavors.
xoxo
Hermana Hardy
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