Greetings Family Dearest!
So it´s been one very long week and yet at the same time I feel like the time is just whizzing right by...how do missions do that? Anyways, I have some very interesting stories to share this week. First of all, remember how I said my companion and I were having some problem with rashes on our arms and legs? Well we found out the problem after 3+ weeks. Hermana McEntire climbed onto the roof of our 4 story apartment building to check our tinaco (a giant water tub where the water pumps up to and sits until we use it) and found that the lid had been either stolen or blown off. To our HORROR she found a dead bird in their that had been decomposing for weeks...which means we´d been washing our clothes, our dishes, and ourselves, in contaminated water for weeks. I was downright hysterical at the thought and basically yelled at the poor president´s wife that someone needed to come fix it NOW. Haha. Well apparently when you scream alot people listen because by the afternoon two office elders and a member came and cleaned it out with disinfectant and bleach, so now we´re just waiting for the rashes to go away. Trials. Bleh. But it´s over.
On the brightside, today we had a multi-zone activity and played some baseball...the first and last time I will ever do so in a country that is known worldwide for it´s baseball craze. Hermana McEntire LOVES baseball, so we decided we should experience a little culture for my last real pday in the field since next week we´re going to the temple (which means I´ll be emailing wednesday). I even got out in the hot sun, hit a grounder, stole 2nd base, and made a run for our team. Not half bad for an hermana playing with elders! LoL.
The good news is that we had stake conference yesterday and BOTH Esperanza and Alondra went with us. We actually couldn´t get ahold of Alondra before and so we walked the 30 minute trek to her house early in the morning only to find her apartment empty. But then as we were on our way to the stake center with Esperanza one of the other missionaries called us and told us she´d arrived nice and early and was there. It made my entire week! Not to mention she was there in a brand new blouse and skirt since she didn´t have one last week. She is so amazing and I am SO excited to see her get baptized. She makes me laugh with all her crazy random questions too. I just love her.
As each day passes and my departure from the lovely D.R. gets closer, I find myself getting a little sadder. Even though there have been SO many trials...there are so many people I love and will miss. Not a day goes by that someone from the ward asks me sadly with puppy eyes ¿Cuando se va? and I just want to tell them never. The idea of taking this name plaque off and never being able to wear it as a full time missionary again just makes me want to cry. I think I´m going to have to go on a mission again in the future...so hopefully I find a willing husband! Haha.
I am so grateful for this gospel and the love the Lord has shown me through his children here in the Dominican Republic. I never thought I would grow to love a place and a people so far away from my own home. My testimony of this gospel has become so much stronger in just being able to see the hand of the Lord in the lives of the people here, and as well in my own. The Lord is SO aware of us, moment by moment. I hope I never forget all of the lessons I have learned out here and continue being a witness of the Lord, just as I and every one of my investigators promised at baptism. Jesus Christ is truly our Savior and this really IS His church. We may be imperfect, but it is by the small and simple that the Lord works great miracles. I love and miss you all!
Hermana Bradley
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