Green Combs and Bananas

BUENAS!  It has been one crazy week!  

To start off, last Monday the Zone Leaders gave us real dishes and silverware and pots and pans!  The real deal!  So that was nice because now we don´t have to eat off of our folletos (pamphlets) anymore or use giant knives as forks. 

Also, when we have Zone meetings or P'days we usually take a 25 minute gua gua into Azua. But we don´t mind at all because Azua has actual food markets and real fruits and vegetables.  So last P-day we found MANGOS! We died and then bought the four biggest ones we could find.  

So Sebana Yegua is super hot.  It´s actually Arizona hot, just take away your fancy AC and swimming pools and freezers and cold QT drinks and electricity and you have Sebana Yegua!  I love it though!  Anyways, it is so hot here that our hair is constantly in high buns.  I think everyone in this town thinks our hair is permanently in little balls on our heads because that´s all we know to do with our sweaty, bucket showered, tangly hair.  I actually tried wearing my hair down one day and it lasted 7 seconds...

Tuesday morning we woke up and realized we literally had NO water.  No water in the tinaco, no water in our grey bucket, not even clear drinking water.  Also hermana hernandez and hermana Moronta left in the morning because Moronta was sick and needed to go to the capital. entonces.... hermana rush and I just sat there all gross and sweaty and waterless not knowing what to do with ourselves.  The colmados in Sebana Yegua are never open (even though everywhere else colmados are ALWAYS open) so we waited an hour for the colmados to open and then we went to get our purified water buckets filled, and then we ended up just using the clean water to shower in because we were super gross.  

Later that day we found a red truck completely filled with green bananas!  IN SEBANA YEGUA!  We freaked out and ran toward it and bought like 30 bananas even though they aren´t even near being ripe yet.  But we were just so stoked to see fruit and bought all that we could to save for later.  In like two weeks all the bananas are going to be ripe and we are just going to have to eat only bananas before they all go bad but I´m fine with that!  It´s either bananas or bread so....

Earlier that morning we had prayed for water so we could fill our buckets and tinaco and then when we went back to the house with our bananas we had water!!!  We actually had too much water that it kept coming out of the spout in the ground and we couldn´t get it to stop.  So, when you pray for something as a missionary, excpect to get it ten fold. 

On wednesday we taught this awesome new investigator named Eduar.  He´s super adorable and really shy.  While we were teaching him his 7 yr old neighbor kept trying to talk to us and pull our arms away. She took my gross hair out of its bun and started playing with mine and hermana rush´s hair...so finally after like ten minutes she ran into her house and we were SO relieved.THEN she ran back with this little green comb in her hand.... and I was just thinking ¨ please no, please no.... who knows where this tiny little comb has been...¨  She walked right over to me and started combing (ripping) my dirty, knotty hair out with her tiny green comb. It was the most painful 10 minutes of my life.  But i mean, it was a really sweet gesture. 

We also have this amazing new investigator named Luisa.  She has three little boys and is a single mom.  We went to teach her and had a REALLY great lesson and at the end she said she knows this is where she needed to be because she left her house that morning and she had a very strong feeling to go back and when she did we had just arrived at her house.  We told her that was the Holy Ghost!!  It was great!!!

On thursday we had a giant Conference with Elder and Hermana Civic and President Rodriguez.  It was really awesome but I couldn´t really understand a lot (but everyone told me it was awesome...)  It was SO hot in the chapel though.  Like SO HOT.  I literally have never been so hot in my entire life. BUT, for lunch they served us real food.  Chicken with pasta and rice and a roll and lasagna (carbs carbs carbs carbs) but the best part was this pina juice they gave us!  It was INCREDIBLE and we asked where they got it and they said you can only buy it in the capitol (story of our sebana yegua campo lives!!!) 

On Saturday we had zone conference in Azua (SO many conferences this week).  I really like our zone.  It has a lot of latinos and they're all super little and funny and sassy.  

Vlademir, a member of our branch, went out to teach with us later on Saturday.  He´s so funny and awesome because he gave us like a bajillion references!  When we went to his house to go get him he was blasting the Motab which was super funny because earlier we had told him that we only like the Motab ... hahaha we died.  It was a really great.

Saturday night we taught English class!  It was so much fun and we had about 13 people show up.  We taught they to introduce themselves and say things they like to do and to say ¨see you later!¨ but they all say ¨see you-ay-er¨  

On Sunday Oly came to church!!!  She´s adorable and 18 and has a baptismal date this next Saturday!!!  She is an investigator we took from the previous elders.  Sunday night we had a meeting with all the ward missionaries which are basically a bunch of 18-20 year old boys in the ward who aren´t on missions yet (we always bug them about putting their papers in).  They are all crazy and funny and they love talking to us all the time, but it´s a good thing because they´re always wanting to help come teach with ¨the white girls¨. It's awesome and  we can write to president and tell him we have a lot of lessons with members present.  

Last night though, we got prank called like 8 times at five in the morning and Hermana Rush and I were SO tired and were so confused and then this morning we found out it was Rona, one of the boys in the branch and we were like ¨k, it´s not funny to prank call the tired missionaries!¨  But he´s our favorite so we´re gonna let this one pass. 

Well.... I have 34 mosquito bites and counting.... my Spanish is slowly but surely progressing.... and we get whistled at and shouted at ¨Rubia Rubia be my girl¨ at least 7 times a day here.  But I love this work and my companion is seriosuly the best trainer and such an incredible companion.  We laugh all the time.  My spanish is slowly getting better. And there is nowhere else I´d rather be! 

Love and Miss you all so much!!!!

THE CAMPO!!!!

HOLA FAMILIA!!  So.... I´m in the field!

But first.... My last couple of days at the CCM were amazing.  I´m going to miss that place and those people A LOT.  But I´m also loving the field.  It´s so exhausting but so amazing at the same time.  Our last gym time at the CCM Reed (an Autistic boy whose dad is in the 70 and live in the DR, and he always plays with us during gym time) wanted to play missionary tag.  So we´re al running around and I am being chased and of course I slip and fly on the ground in front of the whole CCM crew and I just hear everyone gasp and like 50 elders rush over to help me up.  So, don´t worry, I´m still living up to my nickname ´hurt-a-lot´in the DR.  On Monday nigth we all said our last goodbyes with the teachers and the other missionaries and I cried like a baby.  Tuesday morning we got up SUPER early, I grabbed two chunks of banana bread and literally had to shove them down my throat in two seconds because we had to get on a giant bus really fast to go to the transfer building.  We got there, had tiny interviews with president Rodrigues (who is really really sweet) and then went into the chapel to get our areas and our trainers.

K, I´m a campo child.... which means I´m in the campo (obviously).  My Area is called Azua and i´m in Sabana Yesua which is this tiny little ghost town on the side of Azua.  It´s super chill and super hot and kinda like a desert.  Oh yeah, my trainer is SO cute, I mean I´ve known her for like my whole life so we get along really well which is awesome. Yeah, MY TRAINER IS HERMANA RUSH, GUYS.   God must love me a lot!  She´s an incredible trainer and I love her and my life is awesome. 
Our house is pretty nice actually!  It has an upstairs, where Hermana Rush and I sleep, and then a downstairs where the kitchen and the desks and the two other hermanas (hermana Hernandez from Chile, and Hermana Moronta from the DR) sleep.  The upstairs is awesome except we don´t have a motor to get the water upstairs so we take bucket showers from the water outside.  I´m pretty sure I never really get clean and I already have started to smell weird.... but it´s great!  Also, because we dont really have water our dishes never get clean so we have to use the blender to dump the bucket water over our heads!  We also only have light (electricity) from one in the morning until eight in the morning, so we don´t have light or working fans when we get home and its pitch black. like really pitch plack because there are no street lights or anything either.  We plan in the candle light and sometimes try to make food for dinner but usually not because we actually don´t really have food.  Sabana Yesua is kind of empty.  People are never around and there are NO grocery stores or anything.  NONE.  The colmados are pretty much the only place we can go to get food and they only sell pan and eggs.  So I pretty much eat five rolls a day with peanut butter and sometimes some eggs.  When we get home at night we are so tired and hot and usually too tired to make food (or just tired of pan) so we eat Sonic mints from Hermana Rush´s mom and chocolate wafer cookies we bought when we were in the capital before we drove down to Azua.  Hermana Hernandez´s birthday was on Saturday so we had bought her a cake when we were in the capital and made it in the oven after a guy came and brought us our giant gas tank on his tiny motor.  We also had blue frosting which turned our tounges and teeth blue, which is pretty attractive, and I´d say a door opener for us missionaries (not).  We are also white washing the area, which means the elders were here before but now the sisters are taking over, so all of us are new to the area and don´t know anyone so we have done a lot of meeting new people and trying to find addresses and members and stuff.  We have met a lot of wonderful people and the branch here
 is super adorable.  After church on sunday hermana Rush and I were opening the gate to our house when this man came up and tried to get into the house and kept shaking our hands and mumbling and we shut the gate really fast.  Also a lot of guys stand around at the corner by our house.  So we had just told our DL´s a little bit about that and really quickly it got to the AP´s and the president and then the branch president and soon we had like 5 priesthood holders at our door making sure we were ok, it was super sweet.  turns out, we live kitty corner from a prostitution home.  hahaha... yeah.  But we´re safe and not too worried about it because the men in the ward have offered to walk us home when it´s late and dark at night.  k, I have no time because the computers are so dang slow... but I love you all and want to hear more about home!  I miss you and love and and am loving the work!  I´m sure there is a lot I´m missing but there´s no time.  love you all!

hermana huish

oh!  p.s. elder (josh) peterson went to highschool with me and graduated with me and he is serving in Oeste too!  Small world!  

My new companion Hermana Rush (not the one in the middle:) 

Goodbye CCM!!

Five days and I'm out of the CCM! I can't believe it.  I also can't think about it too much or I start crying.  (emotions flow like ten fold in the missionfield I swear... like when I laugh I LAUGH and when I cry I CRY) I just love it here a lot.  President Freestone is amazing and Hermana Freestone is the cutest.  I love all the missionaries and the teachers so much.  And lets be honest, I love warm showers, freshly made meals, and soft beds.  BUT, I'm way stoked to get into the field on tuesday.  I can't wait to see who my companion will be and where I am and all that fun stuff!  p.s. Since the P-day in the field will be on Mondays now, you guys won't get an email till the 16th I think, or whatever that next monday falls on. 

 

Last thursday night we celebrated Hermano Nuñez's birthday! It was super fun!  Our district got him a big card, oreos (his favorite, naturally), a mango with our names on it in sharpie (because we begged him to get us a big mango one day and he did, so we got him one too), and a tie from Elder Cunico.  Then we told him we REALLY wanted to have class outside and he seemed kindof peeved but he caved and so we all walked outside by the benches to have "class" and when we turned to corner three other districts were there saying "SURPRISE!"  then we all sang to him and talked a little.  He LOVED it and later told me and hermana Fletcher that that was the best birthday he has ever had.  (AWWW)  He never really gets presents from his family because they can't afford it, and so he said just the meaningul little things we got him, and the singing and surprise really made it super special.  It was so sweet.  I love him.

 

Ok, guys on friday we went on SPLITS!!  I went into the real world and did real missionary stuff!  It was AWESOME.  I was with hermana jorgensen and hermana Frye, who had both been out in the field for more than 5 months.  Both of their real companions took their teaching appointments so we just went contacting all day which was actually a blast!  We walked everywhere, and I got to see a lot of the city!  I saw a GINORMOUS centepied squished on the road... and although it was dead it gave me the chills just looking at it.  No lie, it was about 10 inches long and 2 inches wide.  YUCK. We talked to this super awesome old lady who just sang songs the whole time we talked to her.  He met a lot of people who were devoted catholics yet they never really go to church.  We sat down with a member to have a little lesson but she just rambled on and on for an hour and twenty minutes about her testimony and who knows what else.   I got to pray like 7 times because everyone wanted to have the nueva missionary pray, and I got to bare my testimony too.  It was way way cool and it made me super excited.  That night we got home at 8, ate a quick dinner and talked to the other missionaries stories and passed out.  yes, I showered first.  the best shower I've ever had i think.

 

Hey, have I told you guys about the cars they have EVERYWHERE here?  Suzuki's.  Yes, the car from my driving days that I thought was super ghetto is like the car to have over here.  Seriously, having a Suzuki in the DR is like having a Land Rover in California.  Big shot, i tell you. 

 

As I told you, we got a lot of new missionaries last thursday too.  Well, one of them is named Elder Willett from Gilbert Arizona and he is related to the Willetts in our neighborhood!  Super cool, right??  We know a lot of the same people which is really fun to talk about.  So, you'll have to tell the Willetts!  He's serving in Santiago. 

 

Our ceiling started dripping on Sunday, so we had an empty cashew can from Hermana Rasmussen catching all the water.  And since it happened on Sunday we couldn't get anyone to fix it till the next day!  Also, the water got turned off for a couple of hours and apparently when it was turned off some people tried to use their sinks and when they didn't work they forgot to turn the knob back and when the water came back on their rooms flooded!  so sad!

 

K, i forgot to tell you about the gum magnent!  thanks for sending it, mom!  We put it up on the whiteboard to hold up our calendar and Elder Cunico walked in and thought it was real and was SO grossed out.  The rest of us were just like "yeah, that's super gross... whose gum is that?!" and he went right up to it to inspect and he still thought it was real gum!  that stuff is convincing!!  It was super funny, so thanks for that! 

 

I'm reading Jesus the Christ right now (did I already say that?)  well, it's amazing.  I highly reccommend it.  HIGHLY.

 

K, COOL STORY.  On Tuesday we had Elder and Sister Anderson of the 70 come and give us a devotional.  It was really incredible and both of their talks were really inspiring.  I loved them a lot.  Afterwords President said we could each go up and shake their hands and introduce ourselves.  this is what happened>>>

Me:  Hi I'm Hermana Huish

Elder Anderson: Hermana Huish?  Where are you from?

Me: Mesa, Arizona

Elder Anderson:  Who is your father?

Me: Karl

Elder Anderson: Karl Huish is your father??  Kathy (he nudged his wife) did you hear that?  This Hermana is the daughter of KARL HUISH.

Me: (blushing)

Elder Anderson: Your father was one of my priests, and is one of my favorite people.  He is such an incredible man.  Can I give you a hig?

Me: (still blushing, hugged Elder Anderson)

Elder and Sister Anderson:  Tell your father hello from Willard and Kathy Anderson!

Sister Anderson:  And your mother is Darcey right?  tell her hello from us too!

 

K, so cool, right?!?!   I felt really awesome and so grateful that my dad is such an awesome guy!!  They were super excited that I was a descendant of the great Karl Huish.  They also told me a great GREAT story.  So, apparently when Dad went to give his farewell talk we stood up and said "now I have left my talk on my seat because I would like to give this talk from the spirit."  There was a LONG pause for about a minute and then dad said, "Well, the spirit is telling me to use my talk...."  hahahahahahahahahahaha I love you dad! 

 

Well I have zero time, but I love you lots and can't wait to hear from you soon!!!!!  Adios!

 

Love, Liv (hermana Huish)

below is Elder and Sister Anderson!