M ap kw'e, m p ap p'e (I'll Trust and Not Fear)

This week, Joseph, our 21 year old ward mission leader, wins the prize for the best 2 day wedding planner in the world. 

On Sunday, Antonio and Iris said that yes, they would accept help in order to get married and baptized as soon as possible.
On Monday and Tuesday, Joseph started gathering their papers.
On Wednesday, we dropped all our apoyo (our money support) and he spent 4 hours in a car to pick up birth certificates and get everything settled with the office (it's fairly pricey to pay for marriage licenses here, especially when you need to declare kids.) (Which unfortunately means that Thanksgiving plans were cut a little short since our money went to a better cause).
Thursday, we were just making our usual pizza Thursday pizza on the stovetop since our oven broke. Then we painted the stripes of the blue room to normal for house checks. Just as we sat down to eat, Joseph showed up, needing more money and some wedding dress searching volunteers. Of course we were more than willing. Looking for a wedding dress to rent was not easy, but last minute (seeing as the wedding was the next morning) we found something that could be altered. And miracle of miracles in this country, it was even modest! I didn't think they even made dresses with sleeves here!

 Right after that, Iris wanted us to go with her to the salon, so we did that, then taught them and their oldest son a lesson, then went to get her nails done. Iris was a stressed out mess, let me tell you. Just imagine planning a whole wedding in 2 days. I was afraid she was going to bag the whole thing, but since Joseph had already bribed the office to let them overbook the next day (you're supposed to reserve 5 days in advance) she was a good sport and went with it. 


(Just joking around. I didn't get my hair done. It's just a very classic Dominican picture.) 




We spent hours making snowflakes (they're free) to decorate for after the baptism. If I see another snowflake I might be sick.
But we did have to make snowflakes again because Iris wanted to learn how to make them.

I knew that as soon as it was all over she would be happy. Friday was flawless. The dress fit, we didn't have to wait long at the office place whatever where the wedding is. We got to go and see it. 

Good thing Adrian, Iris's baby, is such an angel! He was so good to just sit quietly with whoever throughout this whole deal!

And then President Rodriguez let us go to the temple with them to take pictures! And then he and Hermana Rodriguez even showed up to meet them! Antonio and Iris were SOOOO happy. They're still beaming. Even though they've been together six years, they are just like newlyweds. Marriage makes everything better and they're already planning on their sealing in a year. 

The baptism.....whew, I have rarely been so exhausted. It was the most attended of any I've ever had. It started super late. And we had a party afterward with cake to celebrate the combined wedding and baptism.

I don't know what else to say. They're just so so happy and we're so happy and we've just been way too blessed. This family has been like the family of Job--unemployed, sick kids, family dying, Iris almost left Antonio she was so stressed, not being able to make ends meet, etc. But somehow they stuck with it, and now they are just so happy. Blessings are being poured out. It's so exciting to see and be a part of it. 






I'm decorating my mini christmas tree and praying I don't get transferred out. I keep thinking that Grandma Swan would be so ashamed as I re-wrap the lights over and over trying to get them right. 

I know I said that last transfer was the best of my mission, but actually this transfer has been. It's had some downs, but the ups have been incredible. Hna Erickson and I have had a blast. But next week we'll hear what the new transfer holds.

Love you all,
Love, Sarah

P.S. I forgot to include this little gem from my Creole Book of Mormon reading:
M ap kw'e, m p ap p'e. (I'll trust and not fear) but it sounds so much cooler in Creole than in English. 

Placentero Nos es Trabajar

 It really happened!  Elvis was baptized.

Well, hopefully you can piece bits together from the pictures. Our week was crazy. Kinda stressful getting the baptism thing together, especially because Elvis lives at the far far corner of our area. And the chapel with the baptismal font (our little meeting building doesn't have one) is an hour walk away from his house.
It ended up being a super great, but super looooooong baptism. Lots of talks and testimonies. Because from missionary experience, if you don't plan the program, nobody will, and then no one will speak. So we planned one. But turned out, they were actually on top of this one and Joseph planned a program. So then the two programs just kind of got combined--(and being able to talk for a long time is not something the Dominican people struggle with).
The real problem came when no one had a baptism suit big enough for him. That problem finally got resolved Saturday at four in the afternoon--before the baptism at 6. It was super great. We love Elvis. He will be a miracle for this rama (branch). I could write about all the great things about him for days. But I'll move on.

Antonio, Elvis, and the Hermanos:  They already fit right in!!

Antonio also gave his testimony at the baptism-- his first time ever, (seeing as he's an investigator). It was so amazing. We were almost crying.
And speaking of Antonio, and his also amazing wife, Iris, and their 3 beautiful children, you could maybe remember them in your prayers, because I don't want to say it too loud, but we're probably going to be planning a wedding this week or next. (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Lots and lots of prayers and fasting and ward support have been put into this. They've finally made the decision to accept help to pay for a wedding. It isn't the way they wanted to do it, but they realize that it's the way the Lord wants it for them. We're going to be holding our breath until it's official.

We now also have a rat in the house to add to the party.

I miss Norskies. Just thought about those the other day. Maybe you could send the recipe?

This is most likely Sister Erickson and my last full moon together.  We've loved watching the moon change the last two transfers.  This was the 3rd.




Remember what I said about the November weather the other week? Forget it. It was a fluke. Since then it's been just as roasty as July. Maybe just a little less rain.

Christopher got called as Teachers quorum president!!!!!! And Angel as first counselor! Woohoo!

A proud, proud moment for Yolanda.  Here is the paper to take to the temple so she can do the work for her great grandma and grandpa.

Here's to another sweaty, cockroach killing, preaching the gospel week in Paradise!

Thanks for all the love and support,
Love, Sarah

P.S. I'm trying not to be completely jealous of the snow. I think I'll go home and stick my head in the freezer or something.

Krispy Kremes and Coke!

Pictures from last weeks Service Project!

Wow! What a week everyone had!

Our week went really fast, which is always good. 

We're SO pero so pero so excited for Elvis. These flimsy little keyboards just can't convey how great he is. 

Our problem right now is that this Saturday we will have baptized all of our Goldens. We've known this was coming, and have tried to work on finding new investigators to avoid the rut we're going to hit this Sunday after Elvis is a member, but we haven't found any Goldens yet. We have algunas cuantas investigators, but not a ton for the moment.

Josef, the ward mission leader is going to talk to Antonio, and give him a fuerte (hard) talking to about how he's depriving his family of blessings, so just take the money and get married dang it!! I hope that goes well. :) As soon as they're married they're ready to get baptized. Iris gave up her coffee, and they were almost offended we had to ask if they were willing to pay tithing. "OF COURSE!" they said. 

Last night Liu, a recent convert who is angelic, decided we needed Krispy Kreme donuts and Coke. She bought 2 dozen!! (the day before, so she wasn't breaking the Sabbath) After we each ate one and a half, she looked forlornly into the box and said, "oh, I thought you were going to eat more..." Oh Liu. 

Which brings me to my confession about Coke. I of course, had never ever touched it before the mission. And the first time it was unavoidable here (I'm sure many RMs understand, people drink it like water here) I thought it was the grossest thing ever. After the 5th ish time, it started to be bearable. I am now ashamed to admit that I really like it. Hna Erickson was exactly the same way. Now we have the rule that we can like it, but we will never buy it. So that's that. This pic is the one Liu had last night. She somehow thought we could down 2 and a half liters along with the two dozen donuts. 

But no, Loren, we're not allowed to actually eat meals in people's homes. So this is the extent of getting fed. 

I'm still working my way through Liv Momon An. The Book of Mormon in Creole. Believe it or not, the most I've gotten out of the Isaiah chapters in my life has been in Creole. It makes me focus on individual words, and then make sense of the overall message. I don't know how to explain it, but it's cool.

I finished the New Testament this week (in English, don't worry). That was a good book. I'd probably recommend it. Excepting of course parts about how long hair on the feminine being is much more spiritual than short. Thanks Paul. Just jump on the Dominican bandwagon for criticizing my hair. That's really the reason I'm growing it out, the people here give me such a hard time for it!

Well, everybody be excited to see pictures of Elvis's baptism this week. He's going to do great things for this church. 

Oh no! the picture won't send! Maybe next time. 

Love, Sarah

Tuteo Demasiado

....It might stem from the fact that all my converts have been under 16. 

I have decided I love November in the DR. This whole last week has been cloudy and cool. It's so heavenly. 

Gloria......oh Gloria. She did not make it to church. She got a boyfriend. Those things ruin everything. But we still have lots of hope. 

Random event: Hna Erickson and I spent a day talking about our showing days (she used to show pigs) and we found a couple mutual aquaintances that show steers. Small world. 

We couldn't let Halloween pass without acknowledging it, so we made a jack-o-lantern pizza, and dressed up. As Elders. I thought it was pretty funny, especially because this was an Elder area and everybody knows who the elders were. The only problem is, we ended up just getting compliments all day. Everybody just told us we were especially cute and that we should dress like that more often. From everyone to the frescos on the street (vagabonds as Kim would call them) to the investigators and members. Kind of ruined the purpose because only Elvis thought it was funny. I thought I was quite clever though. 

Elvis is super great. He´ll get baptized the 16th. I just love him. I was thinking the other day that I could just sit there with him eating slightly burnt popcorn that he always makes and talking about the Book of Mormon with him forever.

Oh! We had the service day on Saturday! We cleaned the streets from 8 until noon. All the trash I{ve been complaining about for 8 months I finally got to do something about! We got to wear the yellow helping hands vests, I was excited.  We had a lot of people, at least 50, and a very large part of them weren't members. Antonio was there shoveling out the gutters with a smile on his face. The rama has been so good. Antonio and Iris don't have the money to feed their kids all the time (because he's so nice he shares everything he has with everyone) let alone get married. He got laid off a bit ago. But the rama found him some work doing the electrical for a recent convert that has never had light before, and doing some odd jobs so that they can make ends meet. He's so happy to be working. 

We left beautiful spotless swept streets behind us, but in the afternoon as we went out to proselyte, they were litter-covered again. Sigh. 

This week, Yolanda taught us a lesson about Albedrio, which was super great, with scriptures and personal experiences. It was a proud moment. 

Even prouder was Christopher and Angel passing the sacrament, and turning bright red when they messed up. They were all looking sharp in their borrowed white shirts and ties. We gave them ties last night so they can have their own.

 (Teaching Christopher and Joel how to tie ties. We found some ties at a little paca, 5 for 150 pesos. We bought them for the boys, and are saving one for Elvis. )

Christopher also taught us a lesson about arrepentimiento (repentance), and it was super funny to see my teaching quirks copied. He asked the same questions the same way as I do. 

I love these kids a lot. If Lindsay could marry one of them so that they can be my little brothers, that would be cool. 

Love you all!

Love, Sarah

Oh also, we were late for choir practice, and Yabelis, the chorister, was going to kill us. So we ran to the church from where Elvis lives, which is a little over a 30 minute walk. We ran in our skirts and flats, in the dark, and made it in ten. I was just a bit sweaty. 

I HATE cockroaches! I scream and jump on chairs and am overall useless.  We had to pray in bed last night because it was in it's dying writhing under my bed as we went to bed and I wasn't going to kneel down by it. :)  This was after it had romped around in my clothes and 

then under my bed for a while before we caught it.