¡La República Dominicana!

Que lo que bacanos!? Espero que todo está bien con ustedes. Aquí estoy finalmente en la República Dominicana. Es muy loco.

My brain actually kinda hurts a lot right now. I thought I was ready for a culture shock but I wasn’t. I appreciate the US a lot more right now. 

Leaving St. Louis

So last week (on Monday) me and Elder Pugsley started packing. It’s pretty cool that we ended up leaving St. Louis at the exact same time. We drove to St. Louis (me, Elder Hess, and Elder Pugsley) and got to have dinner with President and Sister Bell and some other missionaries. It was a good time. 

Elder Pugsley left before I did, so I got to see him off. We had a great time together as companions. Gonna miss him a lot. Also Elder Pugsley if you’re reading this I hope your new comp is a deep sleeper because you snore really loudly. 

I left for the DR at like 4 in the morning so I’ve been pretty wiped the past couple days. At the airport while I was talking to people I ended up talking to a lady at the Miami airport from the DR. It took me a while to figure out if she was even speaking spanish though because of how crazy her accent was. But she was really sweet and showed me where the wendys was at the airport. 

At Miami I found another american elder headed to the DR so we had a good bonding moment and then headed out. Only three of us Americans were able to come this past week. The next few come in on the 22nd.

The Language

I’ve been practicing spanish a lot so communicating with people hasn’t really been a problem. My comp (Elder Florentino) is a DR native and doesn’t speak english so it’s been interesting but good practice. Occasionally we both get really confused at each other but overall it’s going good. The Dominican accent is super insane though. They talk really fast and don’t pronounce most of their words haha. Elder Florentino said that I should have it down within the next couple of months though. 

When I first got here to the apt, I saw that there wasn’t any soap. I just assumed that soap in spanish would be “sopa” so I kept asking Elder Florentino for “sopa”. When we were out in the streets we stopped by a little shop and I was like “tiene sopa? Necesito sopa para lavar mis manos.”. Long story short, apparently sopa is soup, not soap, so I’m not surprised that nobody knew what I was saying when I was asking for soup for my hands. 

The Culture

The culture is super cool here. The driving is absolutely insane though. I can’t even describe it. I’m surprised I haven’t seen anybody die yet. We’ll be walking and then a family of five all on one scooter will zoom past us and it’s a little concerning. There’ll be two lanes in the road but to the Dominicans that means that there’s 3½ lanes. And then the motorcyclists just kinda go wherever they want. Even if it’s going against traffic. And my seatbelt didn’t even fit when we were driving the other day so I was just praying the whole time that we didn’t hit or get hit by anything. But it’s all really neat and I love it.

The People

The people here are incredible. They are all super friendly and bacano. They do kinda look like they want to eat me though. My first night I went out visiting some people with two elders from the office and they told me to walk in between them so nobody came and robbed me. They also made me give them all the valuables I had in my pocket just in case I got kidnapped or something I guess…? Maybe they were just joking idk. But everyone is really friendly. I got to play some songs on my ukulele for this one guy who is blind and he loved it. 

The Food

From what I’ve been able to try, the dominican food is really good. Hermana Bretòn cooked breakfast for us at the mission home and it was superrrrr bacano. But since then I haven’t really had the chance to eat much. My companion was confused when I tried to put time in for dinner in our schedule. It was really frustrating. He said that they don’t really eat dinner here. So that’s been a struggle and i’m trying to figure out how I’m going to survive haha. I called another american elder in my zone who’s been here a little longer and asked him about eating dinner. He was just like “welcome to the DR elder”. So yea haha. There’s not much food in our apartment either. I found a bag of milk powder though so I mixed that with some water and it was alright.

Luckily, after a few days we went to a little supermarket and I was able to get some cereal to go with my milk powder. But hopefully I can figure this out soon because I’m pretty sure I’ve already lost a couple pounds. 

Covid

There’s a mandate in the country that everyone has to wear masks outside. So we wear our masks whenever we go. But nobody else really cares. I still don’t really know what the covid rules are exactly, but from what I do know, we aren’t allowed to approach people and share the gospel, but if they start talking to us, we can talk to them. So that’s been interesting to work with. And from what I know we’re allowed to visit people in person. So most of our day is just spent walking to peoples houses. Honestly I don’t really know what’s going on. I’m just following Elder Florentino and trying to figure it out as I go. 

The Area

My area is called Navarrete. It is kinda close to Santiago. Like about 20 minutes west. When the office Elders found out I was going to Navarrete they told me that I was going to die por medio del calor. They said it’s hot for dominicans and they are built for heat. And our first night en Santiago I was like “hace mucho calor” and they were like “elderrr tu vas a morir en Navarrete”. And yea it’s super hot here. I’m sweating constantly. Even in the shower. And it’s cold water. But it’s really fun. I really love it. 

El barrio is bastante grande. I was really shocked to see how many miembros estaban a la capilla ayer. We cover one ward and one branch. The branch is outside of Navarette. Then there’s two other elders who cover the other ward in Navarette. It’s been pretty cool meeting miembros on the other side of the globe who carry the same light of the gospel y saben que es verdadera with the same certainty. We were out visiting people and ran into this couple. I knew right away that they had to be members. You could just see the light in their eyes. And they were. The members here have a lot of faith. I’m really loving it. 

Another big change has been walking everywhere. I really took advantage of the US. but it’s honestly pretty fun. I just get really tired. 

Our apartment is pretty cool. It’s really big and bulky. It’s all concrete walls and stuff. Pretty cool. There’s also no air conditioning. Which isn’t great when it’s as hot as it is. Our key to survival is a fan that we have but last night we accidentally broke it. Hahaaaa

This mission is very very different from what I’m used to. I love it, but it’s just very different. I’m very used to a daily schedule and rules to go by and stuff, but here (as of right now) it’s all kind of up in the air. I’m not really sure about any mission policies so I’m just trying to be obedient to the ones from Missouri. It’s just not very organized. So I really don’t know who we’re all teaching and where they live and what they’ve been taught because the records aren’t really kept.

The past couple days I was able to get some stuff organized with a few of our friends we’re teaching but overall it’s still really difficult. It’s all in Elder Florentino’s head haha so I’m gradually figuring it out and then putting stuff in our area book. There is a lot of work that needs to happen but I know that as I keep doing my best it will all work out. 

como solucionar cualquier problema

Spiritual thought for you - 

There are two things that I’ve found thus far in my life that have solved every problem I’ve had without fail. Time and faithfulness. 

Being stretched to become more patient is what God does to us. It’s not very fun, but it’s good. We always want answers right then but God always seems to have a different plan in mind. It takes time to understand, and if we give any problem enough time, it works out. But only if we give it time combined with faithfulness. 

Throughout the scriptures, God tells us “keep my commandments, and ye shall prosper”. If we don’t keep God’s commandments, we aren’t on the path that leads to the most happiness. We need to always be faithful to the gospel and things will work out. 

With every problem I’ve faced, as I’ve given it time and good decision making, it has always worked out. So I guess my spiritual thought for you guys would be to wait patiently on the Lord with whatever you’re dealing with, and to keep the commandments. Then everything will work out. 

Los amo muchísimo. Por favor continúen orando por mi. Siento muy feliz para ser aqui pero tambien estoy muy cansando. Me encantaría tener más ayuda del señor. 

No vemo bacanos <3

-Elder Wride