You have no idea how long I've been waiting to use that as a subject line on an e-mail. Hahaha.
Dear family,
I love you so much! I hope everything is going just great for you back in "the shadows of the everlasting hills." How is school/work/play?
Thank you for letters and such; I promise I've been sending letters, but they have all been Dominican post, so that is why you might not have gotten them yet. I have decided to stop sending letters until I get to Puerto Rico, because the DR postal service is frustrating me. I have received only one letter from international post, and I know that more have been sent to me, so I'm sorry if you sent a letter and I didn't respond; I just havn't received it, is all. Don't send any more letters after today, just start sending them to Puerto Rico address, and don't write any more dearelders after today, because they come in the pouch, and we'll only get pouch one more time. So, start sending letters to Puerto Rico if you want me to read them. :) It'll be awesome if I got there and already had mail waiting!
Speaking of Puerto Rico, I met my mission President today and his wife! Random, right? We were walking out of the temple and there is a mission president seminar here, so there were a ton of mission presidents just standing around, and President Martineau and his wife, Sister Martineau just come runnign up to me and they were so excited to meet me. Haha. They were so sweet. Sister Martineau wrote us little notes and gave us (the four missionaries going to her mission) a box of Reese's Pieces. It was so nice. She said "I didn't know if I would see you, and they said we couldn't look for you, but I wanted to be prepared if we 'ran into' you." Haha. She took a picture with me, and then they were driving away and she rolls down the window and takes another picture of my with my compañera. I'm so excited about them; they seem like an awesome couple.
So, the exciting thing this week was that the Latin (native Spanish speakers) arrived last week. They are pretty nice, but also kind of crazy! Not really crazy, they just have a lot of energy! We sat with a table of them last Sunday and they just are always joking around and laughing like, way hard-core. It seems exhausting. They are all very nice and patient with our Spanish though. We have two more sisters in our room and then 3 sisters in the room next-door. One of the sisters from each room is going to my mission. I was so excited to meet other missionaries going to my mission! Hna. M is from Guatemala and is so nice! She is going to oeste and I really hope I get to be companions with her some day. She speaks English pretty well, but she is really patient and helpful with my Spanish. I know having the Latinos here has really helped us, because this week at the University lots of people commented on how good our Spanish was. That was encouraging.
The Latin culture is different then ours. You know those rolls I told you about? They put ketchup on them. haha. And they but ketchup on Potato chips. I think they think it is the American thing to do, or something. The one thing is though, that princesses cross cultures. One of the hermanas has a Disney princesses cuaderno (notebook). This makes me happy. All the hermanas had a little chat about our favorite princess. One of our teachers loves Pochahontas, and one of the hermanas loves Sleeping Beauty. It was an awesome discovery. Also, they love to sing. The problem is, they all seem to be tone deaf. I'm not trying to be mean, it is just the truth. On Sunday, our first meeting with them we were singing "The Day-dawn is breaking" song, and none of the Latinos could handle the chorus. Hna. P and I were sitting right on the dividing line between a ton of Americans and a ton of Hispanics, and I just could not keep a straight face. It was hilarious. They just couldn't figure out the rhythm. It just makes me smile. They are so, so nice though. I really have a lot of respect for them because lots of them are only members in their families or have been members for only a few years.
The church has only been in the DR for like, 30 years or so, so basically no one here was born in the church. All of our teachers are converts. One of my teachers converted at age 9 without his parents. Isn't that amazing? Hno. O, he is the one who converted at age 9, he went on a mission to San Francisco, Spanish speaking, but worked in an English area for 3 months, so he learned English and can speak pretty well. The Elders here are teaching him English "Slang" phrases. So one day he struts into the classroom, and he's all like: "Ok. I'm going to break this down like fractions." Haha. It was hilarious, because we were like, "What?!?" Other words and phrases he knows are "bomb.com", "gnarly," "You feel me?," "I'm pickin' up what you're puttin' down," "tight," "boss," and "sick." It is pretty funny.
Another one of our teachers, Hna. P. is also learning English, but she doesn't speak it very much, but she can understand it really well unless we are talking to each other, then she says we are talking way too fast. I think it's funny, because I feel like English is so slow compared to Spanish. She always thinks we're talking about her when we say something "fast" in English and then laugh. It is sad. But she is so sweet. I like her - she is my favorite teacher.
I forgot to mention last week that I was sick. For two days. Ugh. And then I was sick again this week! Woohoo! It was actually kind of funny. I guess a good story to tell. Let's just say, I'm not eating the meat here anymore. I hardly ever eat the meat, but everytime I do, I seem to get sick. They serve two kinds of meat everyday at lunch and frequently meat at dinner. It is crazy. When you are the kind of sick that I was (I'm not getting in to it here. Hannah and Dan - you know what I'm talkin' 'bout.), you get to take this medicine that has to be chewed. When chewed, it feels like you have chalk in your mouth. So good! It is actually kind of deceptive. I thought it would be good, because it is pink and looks like candy. Like Necco wafers, but it was just a trick to get me to eat it. Sigh.
In other awesome news, we (our district) had a foosball tournament during gym one day this week (That's right - they have foosball tables here, and it counts as exercise. Haha!) We randomly picked names, and I got teamed with Elder R. from Park City. He is pretty awesome at Foosball, and I'm pretty not awesome; I've never played before. Apparently he played everyday after lunch in Jr. High though, so he was passing to himself and crazy tricks like that; scoring goals from the goalie. Anyway. We won. It was intense and we only won the tourney by like, 2 points, but we won. I am proud to say I scored about 5 goals. Wow! As prize, we all brought dulces we had and put them in a pile, and the winners choose what they want, and left 2 for second place team. I was awesome. I love our district.
That's about all I have time for. I have one more Preperation day here and then I'm off to Puerto Rico! Less than 2 weeks before I'll be a "real" missionary. :) Yay!
Love,
Hermana Miller
Dear family,
I love you so much! I hope everything is going just great for you back in "the shadows of the everlasting hills." How is school/work/play?
Thank you for letters and such; I promise I've been sending letters, but they have all been Dominican post, so that is why you might not have gotten them yet. I have decided to stop sending letters until I get to Puerto Rico, because the DR postal service is frustrating me. I have received only one letter from international post, and I know that more have been sent to me, so I'm sorry if you sent a letter and I didn't respond; I just havn't received it, is all. Don't send any more letters after today, just start sending them to Puerto Rico address, and don't write any more dearelders after today, because they come in the pouch, and we'll only get pouch one more time. So, start sending letters to Puerto Rico if you want me to read them. :) It'll be awesome if I got there and already had mail waiting!
Speaking of Puerto Rico, I met my mission President today and his wife! Random, right? We were walking out of the temple and there is a mission president seminar here, so there were a ton of mission presidents just standing around, and President Martineau and his wife, Sister Martineau just come runnign up to me and they were so excited to meet me. Haha. They were so sweet. Sister Martineau wrote us little notes and gave us (the four missionaries going to her mission) a box of Reese's Pieces. It was so nice. She said "I didn't know if I would see you, and they said we couldn't look for you, but I wanted to be prepared if we 'ran into' you." Haha. She took a picture with me, and then they were driving away and she rolls down the window and takes another picture of my with my compañera. I'm so excited about them; they seem like an awesome couple.
So, the exciting thing this week was that the Latin (native Spanish speakers) arrived last week. They are pretty nice, but also kind of crazy! Not really crazy, they just have a lot of energy! We sat with a table of them last Sunday and they just are always joking around and laughing like, way hard-core. It seems exhausting. They are all very nice and patient with our Spanish though. We have two more sisters in our room and then 3 sisters in the room next-door. One of the sisters from each room is going to my mission. I was so excited to meet other missionaries going to my mission! Hna. M is from Guatemala and is so nice! She is going to oeste and I really hope I get to be companions with her some day. She speaks English pretty well, but she is really patient and helpful with my Spanish. I know having the Latinos here has really helped us, because this week at the University lots of people commented on how good our Spanish was. That was encouraging.
The Latin culture is different then ours. You know those rolls I told you about? They put ketchup on them. haha. And they but ketchup on Potato chips. I think they think it is the American thing to do, or something. The one thing is though, that princesses cross cultures. One of the hermanas has a Disney princesses cuaderno (notebook). This makes me happy. All the hermanas had a little chat about our favorite princess. One of our teachers loves Pochahontas, and one of the hermanas loves Sleeping Beauty. It was an awesome discovery. Also, they love to sing. The problem is, they all seem to be tone deaf. I'm not trying to be mean, it is just the truth. On Sunday, our first meeting with them we were singing "The Day-dawn is breaking" song, and none of the Latinos could handle the chorus. Hna. P and I were sitting right on the dividing line between a ton of Americans and a ton of Hispanics, and I just could not keep a straight face. It was hilarious. They just couldn't figure out the rhythm. It just makes me smile. They are so, so nice though. I really have a lot of respect for them because lots of them are only members in their families or have been members for only a few years.
The church has only been in the DR for like, 30 years or so, so basically no one here was born in the church. All of our teachers are converts. One of my teachers converted at age 9 without his parents. Isn't that amazing? Hno. O, he is the one who converted at age 9, he went on a mission to San Francisco, Spanish speaking, but worked in an English area for 3 months, so he learned English and can speak pretty well. The Elders here are teaching him English "Slang" phrases. So one day he struts into the classroom, and he's all like: "Ok. I'm going to break this down like fractions." Haha. It was hilarious, because we were like, "What?!?" Other words and phrases he knows are "bomb.com", "gnarly," "You feel me?," "I'm pickin' up what you're puttin' down," "tight," "boss," and "sick." It is pretty funny.
Another one of our teachers, Hna. P. is also learning English, but she doesn't speak it very much, but she can understand it really well unless we are talking to each other, then she says we are talking way too fast. I think it's funny, because I feel like English is so slow compared to Spanish. She always thinks we're talking about her when we say something "fast" in English and then laugh. It is sad. But she is so sweet. I like her - she is my favorite teacher.
I forgot to mention last week that I was sick. For two days. Ugh. And then I was sick again this week! Woohoo! It was actually kind of funny. I guess a good story to tell. Let's just say, I'm not eating the meat here anymore. I hardly ever eat the meat, but everytime I do, I seem to get sick. They serve two kinds of meat everyday at lunch and frequently meat at dinner. It is crazy. When you are the kind of sick that I was (I'm not getting in to it here. Hannah and Dan - you know what I'm talkin' 'bout.), you get to take this medicine that has to be chewed. When chewed, it feels like you have chalk in your mouth. So good! It is actually kind of deceptive. I thought it would be good, because it is pink and looks like candy. Like Necco wafers, but it was just a trick to get me to eat it. Sigh.
In other awesome news, we (our district) had a foosball tournament during gym one day this week (That's right - they have foosball tables here, and it counts as exercise. Haha!) We randomly picked names, and I got teamed with Elder R. from Park City. He is pretty awesome at Foosball, and I'm pretty not awesome; I've never played before. Apparently he played everyday after lunch in Jr. High though, so he was passing to himself and crazy tricks like that; scoring goals from the goalie. Anyway. We won. It was intense and we only won the tourney by like, 2 points, but we won. I am proud to say I scored about 5 goals. Wow! As prize, we all brought dulces we had and put them in a pile, and the winners choose what they want, and left 2 for second place team. I was awesome. I love our district.
That's about all I have time for. I have one more Preperation day here and then I'm off to Puerto Rico! Less than 2 weeks before I'll be a "real" missionary. :) Yay!
Love,
Hermana Miller
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