Laugh Attack and Free Stuff

I can't believe it's already been three weeks in the field.  It's crazy. (ok maybe three weeks sounds like nothing.... but whatever it's a big deal!) 

On tuesday we started doing a music class because no one here knows how to read music or lead music or anything like that.  So a lot of the boys in the ward came and hermana Rush and I switched off playing the piano while the other helped show how to lead music.  The class was about 35 minutes and we only got through 3/4 time (yeah, they REALLY don't know how music works.) But they were so excited to learn it was adorable.

Wednesday was interesting.  Our first two citas fell through so we decided to hurry and make copies for Oly's baptism invitations.  So we copied and cut all of them and started walking to neighbors and members and handed a lot out.  We were also crazy tired because the annoying dogs barked all night and the chickens also screamed all night and it just made it kind of a rough day.
So we were dragging our feet to walk accross the area to go see if Eduar was home and we saw this man with a cart full of giant sticks of sugar cane.  So we just asked for 5 pesos worth and he cut us each a GIANT stick.  We were stoked.  And to eat sugar cane you take a giant bite and them naw and suck on it and then spit it out (super classy, I know.) It's super interesting stuff but it was a good treat for a crazy off day.  Then the girl who lives by Eduar who combed our hair walked by with her sister and kept staring at our enormous sticks of sugar and Hermana Rush slammed hers against her knee and it split in half.  It was super impressive.  So I karate chopped mine in half too and we gave some to the girls.
We were SO tired that we were just giddy and walked down the street like in circles and just kept laughing and laughing.  Then we walked down one street to see if Luisa was there (she's been out of town a lot) and we heard someone yelling "rubia, rubia!" so obviously whoever it was, was yelling for us because we happen to be the only two white girls in Sabana Yegua.  We looked all around and then realized it was a guy sitting on top of a coconut tree!  He dropped two fat coconuts down to his friends who came and gave them to us!  They offered us 6 more but we were already struggling to hold one each... so we declined.  (but now we have two coconuts that we have no idea what to do with because we dont exactly own a machete...any suggestions??) 

We then went to talk to Oly and she told us that she's excited for her baptism AND she wants to be a missionary!!  We were stoked to say the least.  

We told the elders our great news and we were all excited.... but then the elders called at 10:50 at night to tell us we had to change Oly's baptism to 3:00 instead of 6:00 because they had a baptism too and we were really mad because we had already asked if they did and they said no.  

So, the next morning we had to call Oly like 8 times and the elders back and forth and then go tell the whole ward that the invitations we passed out yesterday weren't happening.  Oly couldn't do it at 3 so we had to change it to next week which is General Conference which is dificult because we're going into Azua... yada yada yada it was frusting...

Anyways, we finally got home, started to make lunch and Hermana Hernandez just started bawling to hermana rush and me about hermana Moronta and we just tried our best to comfort her and tell her we loved her and it was so SO sad and then hermana Moronta walked in and asked her what was wrong and we all got in this big talk about treating each other with respect and it was almost two hours long!  crazy.  

Well then we went to go teach Eduar but he was busy so Pollo (a member... yeah his name is for reals pollo so we call him chicken) said we should teach Eduars dad who just laughed at us and blabbed the whole time.
Friday we had district meeting so we had to go find church keys.  Hermana Rush and I walked to Juana's house and she said she lost her keys. We went to Diwalys house but his mom said he was lifting weights.  We walked towards Presidents house and on the way heard a weird honking noise and turned around and saw a GIANT pig.  I mean really giant.  Then we fuond Hansel who took us to Paula's house because she has the last key. On the way we walked through a neighborhood fight over whose agua was whose.  Then we finally found Paula and had district meeting and ate the banana bread we made from a few of our giant banana stash!  

Saturday we finally had a free morning to study and it was amazing.  We went to the church super fast so I could practice the hymns for sacrament meeting (yeah dad, I'm playing the piano!) and Diwaly and Rony were there cleaning so H. Rush started mopping all the floors while I practiced piano.  

We started this fast that the mission is having and we both want to work on following the promptings of the spirit better.

We had a free 40 minutes from lessons that fell through so we tried to follow the spirit and gave a total impromptu lesson to this lady on the side of the street and since we were both trying to work on following the spirit we bth just talked about like 30 different things and I was kinda all over the place.... hahaha so we need to work on that. 

We had English class and taugh about discriptions (I am tall... blonde...intelligent....bored....happy) it was fun but stressfull because there are a couple people who speak pretty good english and it's nervewracking trying to teach them!  But one of them is named black (thats also his for reals name) and he's adorable and he's working on his mission papers and hermana rush and I keep telling him he's gonna go to Arizona so get ready to have Elder Slade come your way (we hope!) 

Saturday night we bought eggs and tried to make pizookies and they were so good but eating semi raw eggs from the DR kinda freaks me out... but that didn't really stop us from eating it!

On sunday Oly didn't show up to church so now she can't get baptized the next week. OLY!!!  and then Eduar didn't show up either even though when we passed by his house to walk to church with him his brother said he already left for church... we later found out he went to the Catholic church! (some people....) BUT Maria and her son Gabriel came and 6 other investigators and menos activos! 

Gabriel really wants to get baptized but he is mute and deaf so we don't know how to teach him...but third hour of churhc we sat with him and he tried to help us learn sign language!!  We are going to try our hardest to learn so we can teach him!  He's so sweet and 16 years old and we're really stoked about him.  

Last night is rained SUPER hard and it never rains in Sabana Yegua so it was really fun.  I just sat in bed watching the sky flash light and listened to the thunder crackle so loud.  It was ultra nice because none of the dogs were out barking and none of the chickens were out screaming either.  

This morning we woke up super early to come into Azua and play sports with our zone.  We played volleyball and soccer and then slept on the bleachers for a little bit too.  Then we got giant frozen yogurts for 100 pesos which made me super happy because froyo totally reminds me of home.  Now we have to go buy our fruit and veggies for the week and go home and try to clean our house without water.... it's always an adventure here!

Love you and miss you all!

hermana huish