"Fighting chickens, wierd sacrament meetings, and the Zombie apocalypse!" - Week 20

     November 24th, 2014
     

     Well, I hope this note finds you all happy in whatever you're doing. For me this week has been great as usual! So, the people here are super funny. Im way out in the campo right? That means that these branches are super small, new, and not many people attend. For example, we show up to the church in Gonzalo about five minutes to nine, expecting to find the building opened, chairs set up, and things prepared for the meetings. What ended up happening instead, was the Branch President coming about fifteen minutes later with the keys. He's a super great guy, just a year off his mission, but he needs all the help he can get with his new calling as the president. I cant even tell you how much I miss church in Utah. Where the hymns sound nice, and you can hear the people speaking without busy cars, motorcycles without mufflers, and bachata music in the streets. Ha ha! It's super different. We also ended up giving talks on short notice... so there's that. Don't really know if anyone understood me, but oh well.

What else, I saw a cock fight... They're really popular here, along with dog fights. They have arenas all over the place. Its pretty disgusting actually. But I´ll have to admit, when the roosters arent fighting to the death, its a little fun to watch... Mostly just the people, betting and screaming... they get way into it!

The secretary of the branch here in Sabana has a conspiracy theory about chem trails that the US is spreading in the sky. He's had us take pictures of them stretched across in an X formation. Elder Atkinson and I are convinced that this is indeed the begining of the Zombie apocalypse. Well, hope all is well in the homeland! Love you!

Elder Brady     

 Rainy day

                                

These Kids are great!

                                                          

Reminds me of a couple of "boxer boys" a time ago!

Sabana Grande De Boya, taken from a gua gua bus on our way 
to a Zone meeting in the capital.

Guyana, Mexico, USA, and Columbia!

                                          

"Week 19"

November 17th, 2014

Hello Hello!

     I´ll start with some great news! This week I can use the letter "L"in my emails! You learn to look forward to the small and simple things when living in a third world country. I get excited when I save 5 pesos on water by going to a different colmado, or things like waking up in the morning without mosquito bites. You cheer for days like that! Every night around 4 a.m. the light goes out, and our fans with it. Its kinda like clock work now... 4 o clock, I wake up sweating, grab my handy dandy mini fan (Great idea to pack those Mom) and i put it next to my face untill i can fall asleep again. ha! "Its the best! I love it!" (said in the voice of Nacho Libre)...

     Lets see, what happened this week... We helped a guy catch a runaway chicken! That was fun, and frankly not as easy as you might think... After several grueling minutes filled with terrible rooster impersonations and alot of running around, we cornered it. The man was grateful, and happy to have his lunch that day. 

     So, we have kind of an interesting situation. We have two areas, the only elders in the mission to have two. We go to Gonzalo, a small, poor, heavily Haitian populated town, several times a week. The branch there is very small, and the branch president is just a young return missionary who needs all the help he can get. Really good people though.

     We teach one lady who is very funny. She thinks that every answer to every question is Abraham... We show her a picture of Jesus, saying, "Who's this?"and she says "Abraham!" Oh boy oh boy, but she's a great spirit. She and her husband are going to get married so that she can get baptised, so its all great news, we just have to take it slow with her. But all is well in the DR! As always, thanks for everything!

Our weight room! We're gettin pumped!

Our bathroom... Nah! This is the neighbor's unfinished place

Our bathroom! See that bucket? That's our shower!

This is what happens when you don't have water to clean dishes for several days...

Our street.

I must say, we do have a pretty sweet balcony!

Our house.

This is Elder Dog... He follows us to every lesson, and sits underneath our chairs... Crazy dog... but he's an Elder!

Thanks for everything!

Elder Brady

"My Computer is missing the etter " "... don't augh at me..." - Week 18

November 10th, 2014

     Hey everyone! As my heading says, I have missing keys on this computer, so pardon my speing errors! This week has been crazy! Transfers and everything... Im in Sabana Grande de Boya! There is nothing out here! My comp is Eder Atkinson from Guyana! He's awesome! Dont have much time, so I'm just gonna send a whoe bunch of pics!

I ca this... "A Moment of Pensivity" - Taken upon the roof top of our church in Gonzao... We have two areas right now, and one of them is a itte Haitian town caed Gonzao.

Perfect scene for a James Bond foot race!

Our chape... wierdest sacrament meeting I've ever attended!

Arboes!

A house in Gonzao

This is the od meeting house in the town, we've since upgraded! 

Eder Atkinson on top of the Word!?

This kid posed for me as I took out my camera, and that's the face he made! 

I ove it!

eaving a Victoria, one of our comado (store) guys

Nioa's Fam!

Mendez Fam!

The Rincon Fam!

Us with Ibeice!

Choco and I wreste!

I miss that crazy kid!

In the DR!

 Thanks for a the prayers and support! Ove you guys!

Eder Brady       

* did you figure out what "  "etter is missing? :)

"Evel Knievel with a tie and plaque... Righteous Knievel, Elder Knievel, Evel Kneveragain... Take your pick!" - Week 17

November 3rd, 2014

     Another great week in the Mish life! Well, I´ve got some developments as this week was transfers. I´m leaving La Victoria and going to Sabana Grande. My new companion will be Elder Atkinson from Guyana, and Ive been told he´s a real cool guy. I also know another Elder from my district that will be in the same house as me, so no problems! It´s just really uncomfortable to get up and move everything. I just started to get settled into to this area. It will be very sad as I say goodbye to all the people Ive come to love so much. Same goes for Elder Bodily. Good guy, and a good friend. Ill miss him. But we´re still in the same mission. Anyway, Ill be leaving tomorrow for my new area which is supposed to be super ¨Campo¨ (just means ¨field¨ but dominicans use to describe the country, so it will be very poor) but Im super excited. Just gotta take REO Speedwagon´s advice and ¨Roll With the Changes¨

     In other news, we had a service project at our stake Saturday. Super fun, we painted the side curbs to a median in the street on which the Stake Center in located. Got paint all over ourselves, and Elder Smith (A greenie, one of the whitest kids youll ever see) got incredibly sunburnt! Poor guy looked like he belonged in a tank at the Red Lobster! Over all, it was a really fun project, after which we were all happily plumb tuckered. But now I´ll recount the story of how we got to the Stake Center that morning.

We were at the side of the road, and with bad luck, waiting for a taxi for about 20 minutes. Then a Motoconcho pulled up. (Motorcyle who does routes as well, and very popular mode of transportation in this country) Elder Bodily and I looked at eachother, sorely tired of waiting, and unsure of when the next taxi would show up, yet both knowing full well that riding motorcycles is prohibitted. My friends... We learned why this rule exists that very day. Three dudes on a dirtbike... I dont know how or why, but I ended up on the back of the blasted machine! To say that is even an overstatement. As I hopped on, I could tell this wasnt going to be good, but the driver began to zoom off before I could say ¨Wait... Not a good idea¨ From that moment to the end of a 25 minute ride, I played a game called ¨Dont Fall Off!¨... Not a fun game! With the tightest butt-cheek sqeeze I could muster, I clenched what little I had of that seat with my thighs, and bear hugged Elder Bodily like a Koala with all my might. Cruising over bumps and swerving pottholes, this made for a very uncomfortable 25 minutes, all the while my companion laughing at the situation in the middle, thinking it very humorous as I hold on for dear life... At one point of the ride, going up a hill, we had to ¨Flintstone¨it, and scoot ourselves with our legs, then we continued on weaving through traffic. It may be a fun adventure story, but in the moment it was a very unpleasant experience. Lots of fun though.

Anywho, next week I´ll update you all on my new Area, Zone, House, Companion... new everything! Thanks for all the love!

Elder Brady

Los Resauradores! Adios mi Primera Zona!

"The Whiskered Menace" - Week 16

October 27th, 2014

It´s been a good week! Very busy though. A lot of preparation for the baptism, buying refreshments, getting interviews for Dislaila and signatures from the Zone Leaders, alot of lessons and traveling. But the Baptism was great! We did it Sunday instead of Saturday, and the result was awesome. So much more support from the ward having it right after church. It was a very nice day that I dont think Dislaila will ever forget. She was so happy! The other two that were baptized were Willy and Elvis. Couple a punks! But we love em!

Lets see... This week I tried Jagua! Its a juice thats made from a fruit that only grows here in the Dominican Republic. I´ll try to describe it best I can... Imagine drinking something that smells like gasoline and tastes like finger-nail polish remover with a slight tang. It is disgusting! But apparently its very healthy for you. I can hardly believe its edible. And to think it comes from a fruit that tastes the same! Im thinkin maybe people should look into this as a serious canidate as a replacement for fossil fuel, cause this thing packs a punch!

The other night, we were sitting on our beds, just talking, and hoping the power would come back on so we could make a shake, I saw a mouse scamper into the kitchen. Thus, the usual protocal was iniciated, and rodent purge had commenced. I turned on the iconic song from the opera ¨Rigoletto¨ as loud as i could, we grabbed our broomsticks of wrath, took our positions so as to counter any hope of escape the creature had, and as though it were in slow motion, in a furious fit of rage, we bagan the expulsion of this demon who had slunk its way into our abode. With the incredible thrashing of weaponized mops and brooms we ravaged the kitchen in search our enemy. After all was said and done, the horrific screams, splintered broomsticks, bloodshed, and a sore loss of dignity, Rigoletto ceased. The mouse had won that battle, successfully hiding in some space up inside the oven. But victory was ours the next morning when our furry little foe was found dead on his side, harboring what i thought to be a slight smile, mocking us from the grave. And thats all I have to say about that.

This week a saw a Dominican bludgen a giant tarantula with a soccer ball! That was a sight. The spider was interfering with our sport night! We have one every wednesday that we invite investigators to. Its a grand old time, even though i cant play at all! Im seriously terrible at soccer.... Oh well.

Today I played a purly Dominican game called Vitilla... Its basically baseball without running for poor kids. The bat is a broomstick, and the ball is the cap from a water jug- super hard to hit! But its pretty fun. They can throw those things really really well too! 

Thanks to a package ive recieved, (Shout out to Mom!) I have a tiny little spice kitchen in my house. We´ve been using it to add some variety in our regular diet of rice and beans. Elder Bodily and I love it! The Latins in our house arent as fond of flavourful food as we are! But its all good.

Anyway, as always, thank you all so much for the love and support!

Elder Brady

Elder Bodily tanning on our roof for p-day. Funny... His first name is actually Tanner.

View from the roof.

Bien Venido a La Victoria! (The city part)

Wash day!

Playin some vitilla in the street!

Halloween is in the house!

Those cobwebs were actually inside the cupboards before...

The Bat hanging from the pull-up bar has been affecionately named by Elder Zarate as "Saint Batthew"!

Baptism!

Happy day! Its a reversed Oreo... "Salvation Eddition"!

The Crew!Ha! What punks!

The other guys made us a bunch of pasta while we were out...Yum?

Celebrating Elder Bodily´s one year mark!

Unlimited Empenada night with some of our favorite members, MiguelAngel, Genesis, y DanAngel...awesome!

"Life is like a package of pens in the D.R. ...you never know what you're gonna get" - Week 15

October 20th, 2014

Explanation to my subject line-  We have this Super Market in our Zone called Olé, that Ive come to hold a hateful grudge against. Firstly, they didnt have tomatillos for me to make my salsa, and secondly this... I bought a big pack of pens that explicitly says on the cover "pens of all colors" with a rainbow assortment inside. Blues, greens, reds, and purples of the most brilliant shades. I thought to myself, "Hey, these would make great scripture marking pens". To my shigrin I found as I opened the package at home, all of the pens to be the exact same color. Every single blasted pen that appeared to be part of a beautiful array, were all of the same dissapointing dulled blue. They didnt even write very well... (insert pittiful sigh here) I spent like 80 pesos on that thing! Even though thats not even two dollars, my plight was real. I could impart some kind of object lesson here... something deep about how sometimes in life we dont get what we were expecting.... but really it was just a dissapointing purchase at a crappy store!

We have this one family we teach, that absolutely love it when we come by to share the ¨word¨, the only problem is getting them to church. We teach them in back of their house, and everytime we come they invite all their neighbors to listen. Sometimes the crowd is actually pretty big, and i feel like we´re preaching a sermon. Its awesome! One time, they offered us coco, coconuts, which he grabbed off their tree, got a machete, chopped part of it up, and we drank the milk from it. So good! Then they gave us the meat inside. Twas quite good. Another time they gave us a dominican treat called arepa. Its like a mushy cornmeal cake, that is usually served frozen or cold. She had just cooked it, so it was hot, and i actually like it served warm allot better. 

We have a baptism this next Saturday. Dislaila, 11 years old. Super excited. We would have had two more, but they fell through. Rachel and Sandra. They are so ready.... but they just wont come to church! One of the frustrations of the mission. 

Well, The Dominican Republic is a cool place. Sometimes i feel like im in the movie Nacho Libre, cause i can say probably every minute walking on the street... "and that, is a crazy lady!"...because its true! Also every night there is a party. And Dominicans party hard! We steer clear of those.

My last Intercambio was much better.... Elder Estrada de Guatemala, although everytime he introduced himself, he was from another country. Peru, Panama, Venezuela... everywhere but Guatemala. I think i might start telling people im from England, Canada, Australia.... They certainly dont know the difference in my accent. Might as well have some fun with it right?

Well, sorry I dont have any photos this week. I really havent taken any. Ill be better next week. But thank you all so much for everything!

!Para Siempre Dios este con vos!

Elder Brady

"Dazed and Confused! Como Siempre!" - Week 14

October 13th, 2014

So... Another week!

One of the ¨perks¨of being the District Leader´s companion, is the opportunity to go on intercambios with our other missionaries in the district. These splits are usually inconvenient, uncomfortable, and just not fun. 

This last week Elder Bodily went with Elder Coc in his area, and Elder Valdez came with me in our area. He´s 100% Dominican! Thus, it was a fun-filled time of 24 hours trying to understand the guy. Hes a good person, and of course we got along just fine, but some of his excentricities made me glad we were only companions for the day. He has 6 months in the mission, and is still in training! The president kept him there because he simply wont do anything. Unfortunatly there are a lot of ¨dead¨missionaries like that. And plenty of them in our Zone. At night Elder Valdez set up some speakers he brought, and plugged in his Hymns, which of course were in Spanish. And like every other Dominican, the music was incredibly loud! That was super fun to study to in the morning! All that really istnt anything to complain about, but there were some hygienical differences that raised some red flags! The guy was allways spitting, in the streets, everywhere, which isnt too uncommon here. But he was also always farmer blowing, and snott-rocketting... IN THE HOUSE! I dont have the social tact to confront a person about a situation like this in English let alone in Spanish... Im just glad he was sleeping in Bodily´s bed, and not mine! So I thought I´d judt share with you that interesting experience. Looking forward to many more intercambios.

Our Zone, Los Restauradores, is kind of full of ¨Tigs¨and disobedient missionaries. We dont have any Sister missionaries to keep us in line! I wish we did. As an example of the ¨tigaraje¨in our Zone, our last meeting, we talked alot about some of the fairly recent rules regarding what we can and cant do on P-days. Things are much more restrictive now than they once were, and many missionaries are having a hard time adjusting. At the close of the meeting, Elder Ponce, from our district, got up to the pulpit, and admonished every one to fast and pray for the President to change his mind about the rule, saying something like, Ï believe in God, but I dont believe President is making the right choices¨... HA! Talk about apostisy! Our Zone leader had to get up and say that we´re not dong that. So yeah, thats our Zone right now. The ZLs even have a sign in their house that says ¨Los Restauradores, El Mejor Zona¨ to which one of them added to the word ¨mejor¨the suffix ändo¨which then reads, ¨Los Resauradores, The Bettering Zone¨ acknowledging our need for improvement. The President will actually be coming up to give us all interviews this week. Which will be awesome, cause this Zone needs a good kick in the rear end. And trust me, Im not a crazy ¨flecha¨missionary, who is super, annoyingly obedient. Im just a normal missionary, who loves the work. But trust me, this Zone needs improvment.

So, Elder Bodily makes these really cool agenda covers, and has taught me how to make them using contact paper, thread and photos of our choice. I just made mine today using Caravaggio´s Ïnspiration of Saint Matthew¨for the front, and for the back, the Chi-Rho, symbolizing Christ, from the Book of Kells. That was for all you Art History geeks (Shalise)

Anywho, Thanks a bunch for everything! I love you all!

Elder Brady

Elder Zarate bought a Christmas tree. Latins get prematurly excited for this holiday!

Lunch time!

Nuestro Habitacion... Bodily has a hamock

I'm a bit afraid!

This is our palace!