brujas and not beans

hey hey hey!  

So I don´t have a ton of time to email this week but it was a great one!  yeah, the amoeba (did I get it right this time??) is gone!  I actually never met with dr. walker and never got my medicine because the time for things to reach the campo is like a zillion years... BUT i am all better thanks to lots of prayers!  

On tuesday we went to a referencia (investigator, the one whose husband just died and 

she's pregnant) we had a great lesson, or so we thought, with her last week and when we went back she was hiding in her house and her sister told us she wasn´t home even though we could actually see her...  then a member told us she has verguenza (shyness) , because her dad (who we have definitely talked to at least three times at his house) is the top bruja of all the brujas in Azua.  He´s like a black magic master and his main craft is stealing little kids from hospitals and selling them to haiti to canibals.....  errrrr yeah.  He also sells peoples souls.  And black magic is like actually a real thing. LIke actually working for the devil.  It´s creepy and crazy!  So, we might not go over there anymore! 

Hermana Rush washing her hair. We have our own salon!!

We have this AWESOME new investigator who we actually contacted.  His name is Cardenio and he is a school teacher and has a wife (a real actual wife!) and two kids.  He has so much energy and is the absolute funniest guy ever.  When we were singing ¨eternas pueden ser las familias...¨ he was all ¨exacto!¨  and kept singing.  SO great! he also gave us a GINORMOUS pile of bananos and watching him try to shove them all into this tiny black colmado bag was one of the funniest things i´d ever seen.  hna. rush and i could not stop laughing.

Wednesday we finally found Evani (the 10 yr old genius) on the side of the street and had a mini lesson all sitting on the dirt.  She asked us exactly ¨how¨ christ was resurrected and we were like... uh.... some things we just don´t know?  then in her prayer she asked that her grandma who just passed away could go to the celestial kingdom and we hadn´t even taught her about the kingdoms of glory or anything about that yet!!!?!  so... she´s obviously reading all the folletos we have given her which noone does and if they do they don´t remember details like that!!  We gave her a book of mormon on friday and she FREAKED OUT.  she was so incredibly happy and we just know she´s gonna read the whole thing in like 17 days or something crazy.  (she reads the bible every day) we are so impressed. 

Riding in the back of a gua gua, recovering from the amoeba! 

That night we taught a menos activa (less active) and then she told us we couldn´t leave and she fed us dominican espaguettis (which is the bomb) and so we ended up being late to our lesson with Greydi and we read the book of mormon with him and answered questions and then we realized it was 8:50!!!!  and in our mission hna´s have to be home at 8:00!  WOW.  so we sprinted home and called quiroga who was thankfully not too mad.  (but we think it´s really funny how SO many mormon 19-20 yr olds are married and maybe even have a baby and are wives but we are 19-20 yr olds who have to call in at night to tell an 18 or 19 yr old elder we are home and report to him our numbers and everything we do... haha) 

On thursday we taught one of our investigators about Castidad (chastity) and she didn´t like it very much because she doesn´t want to marry her ¨esposo¨ (husband) which is such a hard problem here!  so pray that she wants to get married guys!

On friday I realized that I won´t have thanksgiving for three years in a row since last year I stayed in California! and I pretty much cried for 5 seconds.  

But no worries because we are gonna try and make thanksgiving with other Americans in Azua!

Then we taught this menas activa who´s 4 yr old niece was absolutely hilarious.  she cried when she couldn´t read the hymn and then she started sliding off her chair and rolling around the floor.  (hermana rush laughed and said she reminded her of me.... haha which mom and dad will like because I definitely used to always slide off the couch or my chairs and onto the floor...) 

We taught Marian, a little girl who is the daughter of a menos activo family and wants to get baptized soon... and they had adorable puppies that we couldn´t pass up!  

Then we taught a lesson to this sweet lady named Judy who put her fussy baby in the little washing machine. Don't worry, it's not quite how it sounds. 

On saturday we made red beans but when we tried to see if they were soft yet they were actually peanuts!!!  hahaha but to our defense the peanuts look a TON like red beans when they have those thin red shells and are in plastic bags next to all the other beans... 

On Sunday we taught Gabriel and Greydi.  Greydi is a really good baseball player and he is going to play for the GIANTS one day, we just know it.  (and by then I´ll be living in San Fran and I´ll just be able to hang out with him all the time! that´s the plan) 

Then we had a meeting at the church... but first I had to use the restroom.  So, I was sitting in the stall minding my own business when this little girl crawls under the stall door and just starts talking to me, yep, right there, and asking me all these questions... haha it was soooooo great.  hermana rush was dying. 

Well....today for Pday we are gonna go to the Juan Feliz´s and she´s going to teach us how to make all sorts of dominican classics!  so we´re pretty pumped!  

Love you all!!

hermana huish 

Amiba and Pumpkin

Pero..... sorta a weird week. Weird as in not so great.  But, I´ll get
to that in a little.

On Tuesday it was raining all day which is really difficult when half
of your investigators have tin roofs.  But we are experts at using our
loud voices now because every colmado blasts crazy loud music and we
have to scream when we teach.  We also sat on Yomaida´s floor while
she did her laundry on tuesday.  But doing laundry in the DR isn´t
like ¨oh just toss all your dirty stuff in the machine and it´ll do
everything for you.¨ you have like three buckets of water and scrub
the soap in one rinse with the other and ultra rinse with the other.
Water gets ALL OVER the floor and clothes get thrown everywhere and
it´s just a big ordeal. Also these people are really good at wringing
out their clothes and making them dry.  it´s crazy they´ll just twist
their clothes around and squeeze and WALLA! dry as ever.

Then we were late to our clase de musica so we ran to the church in
the pouring rain and taught Pollo and Snider beats and notes.  We
found out that spanish notes aren´t called ¨C-D-E-F-G-....¨ but
¨DO-RE-MI-FA-SOL-LA-SI-DO¨ !!  We totally didn´t believe them at first
because we thought that was just a sound of music thing but it´s for
reals!  cool huh??

Also, Hector left for Punticana this week and it´s kinda super sad!
Gabriel has to live with his aunt now but it´s actually good because
she lives closer to us.

Wednesday we got dressedf in like 5 seconds because we forgot the time
and we had to catch the 845 - 915 o´clock gua gua to Padre Las Casas
(dominican time is so difficult) and we sped walked to the bomba like
no other and literally caught the gua gua pulling out so we yelled for
someone to run adn stop the gua gua for us and we ran on and called
the other hermanas to hurry their fannies over to the bomba to catch
the bus!!  We really got lucky on that one.  On the way home from PLC
we took the gua gua straight to teach Almando and when we told Almando
and Juan Feliz that we live in a desert in Arizona they were worried
and Juan Feliz told us we had to find a dominican boy with a finca
(farm) and live here.  (finca = $$$$$$$)

We taught Maribele that night and we talked about eternal families
because her husband was killed three months ago and she has two kids
and is nine months pregnant.  it was SO sad and everyone was crying.

Thursday I woke up and we found worms in the water tank so we emptied
it and cleaned it and then with the little water we had I did all the
dishes because the kitchen was gross.  Then I ate breakfast and felt
SO DANG naucious (however you spell that?)  so we personal studied and
planned for the next week and then hermana rush made lunch but I had
no apetite so I just layed in my bed forever.  Then I tried eating
something but I felt super gross again so we called Quiroga and the
hermana leader to see what to do.  So then I spent all day napping,
reading the book of mormon, staring at the ceiling, and reading old
letters.... it was THE WORST.  so boring.

Friday morning we went to Azua for Zone meeting and then we went to
lunch after and I ate half of my sandwich and felt so sick again.
Because Sabana Yegua doesn´t have any farmacia we called the hermana
leader again to see what we should buy at the farmacia since we were
still in Azua.  Then Hermana Rodriguez called and said I needed a lab
test done to make sure I didn´t have an Amiba.

Saturday we went to Azua and got the test done and they said the
results wouldn´t come till 5 that night so we went back to Sabana
Yegua and read and layed around all day again.  It was seriously so
boring.  And not to mention i was STARVING because every time I ate my
stomach killed so I just basically ate nothing for three days.  Then
we went back to Azua and they handed us the result slip but it was in
written all scribbly (and in spanish-....) so we couldn´t really
understand and since no one really said anything when they handed us
the slip we figured it was nothing serious so we were gonna leave but
then we quickly had this lady read it over and she said I have an
Amiba.  GREAT.  So... we had to wait in this tiny hectic office for
the main doctor to talk to the office elders to figure out some stuff.
Side note- this office was the size of a colmado, had three beds
stuffed in it and each bed was occupied by someone graoning or
throwing up, there was a dripping sink with utensils in it, a cabinent
filled with drugs that was completely open with no one guarding it
(hermana rush and I thought that would be a great opportunity to make
some cash to fund our future trips to travel the world but then we
thought we´re missionaries... better not steal and then sell
drugs....) anyways, we finally got the doctor to talk on the phone
with the elders and we had to go home and send pictures to the doctor
in the capital to see what medicine I should get.

Anyways Sunday I didn´t really eat anything again so I wouldn´t feel
too sick so we could finally go out and teach.  We went to Greydi and
he started reading the Book of Mormon!!!!  and he seemed like he
really liked it a lot and even explained everything about their family
and leaving jersusalem and stuff. It was AWESOME.

So now it´s monday... we made Gabriel cookies early this morning and
brought him them for his birthday!!!  he was SO HAPPY.  it was the
cutest thing.

We are still waiting for a call from the doctor to see what medicine I
should get.  So this morning I didn´t eat anything but I´m thinking
I´d rather not be starving, So it´s eaither hunger pains or food pains and the problem is
figuring out which pain is worse...

Also, hermana rush and I are trying really hard to find canned pumpkin
in Azua but we can´t find it anywhere!  but what will thanksgiving and
the holidays be without pumpkin bread and pumpkin cookies and pumpkin
pie!?!?!  so pray for pumpkin everyone.

Well that´s about it for this week.  It´s been a slow one with the
amiba and all... but an amiba is not as bad as some other things out
there so that´s a blessing!


Oh my gosh also I received Kortni and Nico´s  wedding announcement in
the mail.  Cutest thing I have ever seen!!!!!  wow I stared at it for
like 5 hours on friday when I had nothing else to do!  I´m so excited
and a little sad that mom and izze are going without me but send lots
of pictures!!!!
love you
hermana huish

Halloween and Transportation

Guys.  Casi day 100 in the DR.  CRAZY, no!? 

Last monday at the internet center this guy sitting next to me handed me this scribbled note that I really couldn´t understand and so I had Hermana Hernandez translate it and it said I´m a white angel from heaven and every time he sees me at the internet center he is the happiest man in the world.  weird.  So just now when we walked into the internet center he was sitting in the computer next to the one I was supposed to sit at.. so I made Elder Quiroga switch me.  But now I have a computer with one of those annoying jammed space bars again so...

On tuesday we were walking to meet up with Marcela to go out and teach and I noticed a giant blue blotch under hermana Rush´s nose.  So I told her she should wipe off whatever was on her nose and when she wiped even more blue stuff was on her face.  then we realized hermana Rush´s pen had exploded all over her hand and now it was all over her face too.  So hermana rush screamed and this random guy heard and came runnng out of his house with a hose for her.  it was really funny actually.  And his timing was impeccable. 

Tuesday night we made brownies for our district meeting the next morning.  Then we got this great idea to celebrate halloween at our district meeting so we called all the elders to come in costume and we put candy corns on the brownies and planned our halloween outfits.  (also we had brownie mix and candy corns and other candy all thanks to Annika James Christensen, so a big thanks to her for making our halloween!) 

 

Wednesday morning we all showed up at the church.  Hna. Hernandez was a fairy. Hna. Moronta was a witch, Elder Quiroga and Elder De La Cruz were both hawaiin tourists, Hna. Rush was a unicorn, and I was an Indian.  It was super fun and all the latins thought our brownie with a jack-o-lantern out of candy corns was the greatest thing and they all wanted to take pictures with it and eat the candy corns because they never had before.  So thanks again to Annika for making the Latinos super stoked! 

After lunch we went to the Juan Feliz house to teach Almando and at the beginning we were just chatting and hermana rush and I mentioned that we love concon.  Well then hna. Feliz went into the house while we started to teach Almando and 20 minutes later she came out with a giant plate of concon for hermana rush and I!!  And it was the best concon EVER.  She´s the cutest. Hna.Feliz was also talking with her daughter about different places in the USA and they called New York the Gran Manzana and we thought that was quite hilarious.  

We hadn´t gotten any water all week and our blue tank was completely empty.  All of our buckets were completely empty too. No water.  ZERO.  and to make matters worse, Quiroga called and said the Clawsons were coming in a couple hours for house checks.  uhhhhh.  So we prayed for water big time and lo and behold we FINALLY got water.  (which was literally a miracle because we later found out that noone else got water and usually everyone in Saban Yegua gets water and luz at the same time as everyone else....)  So we spent two hours deep cleaning the whole house.  We don´t usually clean or wash our clothes on P-days here, we just do that stuff whenever we have water and luz which is random times throughout the week.  

The Clawsons came while we were teaching Gabriel but the other hermana´s told us they were proud of our clean house.  thanks you, thank you. 

We had tons of lessons with new investigators this week.  One of which is called Ma-Flow.  Super name!

We went by the church on our way home to see who was at institute and Oly was there!  We didn´t have to ask her to go or anything.  We talked to Pollo about it later and he said Oly LOVES institute and is the biggest jokester in the class and always tries to make class last longer than the 2 hours it´s supposed to.  HAHAHA our timid, super shy Oly is the most talkative one in class!  way to go OLY!

Also in our meeting with Pollo we bought the other hermanas and Pollo these awesome colmado cookies we discovered but everyone just stared at us awkwardly and told us the name of these cookies is a bad word or something.  huh.. But we were just like well whatever we´re obviously still gonna eat these and still buy them because they rock.  (and we just point at things in colmados when we want stuff anyways) 

Saturday morning we took a gua gua into Azua for a servicio project.  We hiked to this mountain and looked over the edge and there was trash EVERYWHERE.  And I really mean everywhere.  It was crazy.  So we put on our gloves and started picking up everything.

There were giant cucurachas (cockroaches) everywhere and a million other bugs and broken beer bottles, old diapers, rotten fruit, bags, just about everything that would make one want to puke.  It was pretty disgusting.  After 3 ish hours we walked back to a church in Azua, put soap and clorox all over our hands, ate lunch and then then took a gua gua home.  It was about 4 when we got home so we just had to quickly change out of our gross clothes and into church clothes to go out for the day.  Which was unfortunate because we smelled like a mountain of trash....

We taught this referencia (referral) named Brian. He stared at us with his giant eyes and I don´t think he ever blinked.  

For our clase de ingles on Saturday night we taught how to have a phone conversation.  We taught them great lines like ¨what´s up¨ ¨hey you¨ ¨I´m stoked¨ and ¨see you later¨.  and we also taught them how to say ¨sorry I can´t go to class because I have to put my hair in rollers¨.  

On Sunday we had Conferencia de la Rama.  And guess who passed the sacrament?!?!?! .....GABRIEL!  he was so stoked and afterward he came up to us and signed passing the sacrament and we gave him thumbs up and he got the biggest smile.  

We had a great lesson with this girl named Comaillni and her parents after church who asked so many great questions and seemed really excited about having a prophet who leads and guides our church.  So... we´ll see how things go with them! 

Also a giant spider crawled down hna. Rush´s shirt last night... no thank you.  

I can´t believe it´s almost thanksgiving!  and then Christmas!  we´re trying to figure out what to make for thanksgiving since turkey isn´t really an option... we´ll probably eat I don't know, maybe rice and beans.  But we are actually gonna try to make a pie!  But I´m going to let hermana rush handle the pie once it´s made because my family knows what happened to the last pie I tried to carry down the stairs.... 

Anyways... that´s about it for this week!  thanks again for all of the support and prayers.  we can really feel them!

p.s. to clarify a couple of things..... a gua gua means two things.  One is a giant rickety bus with fancy curtains over the windows.  They´re actually super sketch and the drivers drive like it´s nobody´s business.  we usually only take those when it´s a long trip, like up to Padre Las Casas. The other gua gua that we ALWAYS take to Azua or the Juan Feliz house is just a truck.  But like 30 people pile into one truck which usually means 4 people in the front row, five in the second, and the rest on the back. So almost always hermana rush and I are sitting in the back of the truck.  And you don´t sit in the back of the truck, there´s obviously no room for that, you sit on the edge or sometimes stand and hold onto other people.  And then you fly down the rickety roads and hope you don´t fly off.  they´re really the best though because they get you places relatively fast without alot of money.  Also, gua guas are really the only cars.  Everyone else drives motors.  And like the gua guas, people pile on motors too.  Usually you see three people on the back of a motor, but we have seen seven people on a motor a coupld of times.  We also see a million people on motors holding their babies off the edge because there are also two other people behind them.  I´m guessing the reason we aren´t allowed on motors is a safety issue....

ok well anyways... love you all!

hermana huish