Hola everyone!

 

This week has been super busy but amazing! There is no way that I could possibly fit everything into one email in just the 30 minutes they give us here at the CCM so I'm going to just share some of the highlights.

 

The transfer was on Tuesday and we lost everyone except for our district. So for the past couple of days there have only been 7 of us in the CCM. It has been so quiet! Last night we got about 10 elders from Haiti, 3 American sisters and 2 American elders though so now it's a little more full. Still only around 20 of us...but it's still exciting. The Haitians only speak French and Creole so we can't talk to them very much but we still tried to welcome them as best we could.

 

We get to go to the temple each preparation day. The Santo Domingo temple is so beautiful! It is so amazing to have such a majestic building in the middle of this country. Surrounding the temple are many just ordinary buildings and many houses that are in less than desirable shape. When we are inside the temple however, it just feels like home. The hallways are a lot smaller because the people are shorter here. They also do three different languages at this temple because it serves the entire Caribbean. So far we've gone to all English sessions but they also do them in Spanish and French. One of the couples that serves in the temple presidency has a son with down syndrome named Reid. He works in the temple and will come play frisbee with us during gym. It is always so touching to see him helping people through the veil. Heavenly Father truly is no respecter of persons and will rely on the humblest of all of us to serve in His kingdom.

 

I absolutely love the people here! There were some families here last week with little kids. Each day at gym the kids would come up to us and ask to shake our hands because we are the missionaries. It was so cute to see how excited they got. We would always invite them to come play with us. They really are good at soccer here! I think the little kids that we played with were better than me. They are just so cute...I really might take one home on accident.

 

The Dominican Republic has a lot of interesting things about it. One of the things that I've had to adjust to is the power and water. The power will just randomly go out throughout the day and everyone just carries on as usual. The power went out while we were at the super market this week and it didn't even phase the people. The other funny thing is the showers will run out of water if too many people are showering at once or if there is a power surge. So you just have to stand in the shower until the water comes back on and you can rinse off. It is really entertaining.

 

I'm so grateful that I don't have to drive here! We were able to leave the CCM twice this week to go do service and go shopping. Both times the driving was quite an adventure. We all pile in one van and just kind of sit on top of each other if there aren't enough seats. The drivers here don't stop for anyone and if there is any possible way that they can make a turn they will go for it. I feel like every time that we get in the car we're going to get hit...but our drivers are just as good as the other ones so we always stay safe. While you are in the car, people will walk between traffic selling random things like phone chargers, windsheild wipers, wall maps, etc. I think it's a miracle that they don't die while they're trying to sell all this random stuff in the middle of the road.

 

For service this week we were able to go to the Humanitarian center and help inventory some of their hygiene and care kits. It was a lot of fun and nice to change up the schedule for a day. I was really impressed with how prepared they are here with so many containers full of emergency supplies for when the tropical storms hit. The couple missionaries wer were serving with were really nice and friendly and gave us some cookies as well.

 

Our second excursion out of the CCM was to go to the store and buy anything that we might have forgotten or still need. The supermarket here is HUGE! There was an elevator in the store so that you can get from the different levels and it had everything you could ever want under one roof. I was able to get some random things and kind of understood what people were saying to me out in public.

 

I apologize once more if this email seems to jump a lot. I have saved the best for last though. Sunday was an absolutely indescribable day. We had an incredible testimony meeting. My companion and I were both able to share our testimonies. I tried my best to do it in Spanish and then substituted English words when I didn't know how to say something. The spirit was so strong as everyone bore their testimony of the truthfulness of this gospel.

 

This next tender mercy needs a little background. Saturday I had been talking with another sister about how I was struggling with eating so much meat and rice every day. My body still isn't quite adjusted to so much meats (especially the mystery ones) and it has just been a bit of a struggle this past week. I remember thinking how nice it would be to just have some pasta. The other sister said that some bread would be delicious as well. Fast forward to Sunday dinner when we were breaking our fast...we walked into the cafeteria and they were serving pasta with bread. I almost cried out of gratitude. The Lord truly knows our needs and the requests of our hearts. Even though eating pasta was such a small things, He knew it mattered to me and I felt so blessed that night.

 

Later in the evening we were able to say goodbye to the rest of the missionaries who were leaving for their areas the next day. I kept wondering why everyone was so sad and kept making a big deal about missing them because we had only been together for 10 days. Then at our "family prayer" with everyone I was hit with the spirit.

Some of the sisters sang the EFY medley and it was incredible to hear so many sister missionaries singing about being the ones to bring the world His truth. Afterward we sat and sung "God be with you til we meet again" and as I looked around at everyone I felt as though I had a vision of heaven. In that moment the spirit testified to me that we had done this once before. As I looked around it felt more like a memory than reality, like I had already done this and that experience was deja vu.

As I sat there I knew that in heaven, we stood and talked as sisters and brothers and children of God about how we would come here in this time to teach the people of the Dominican Republic. I realized that we hadn't just known each other for 10 days...we have known each other for a lifetime. We were so excited when we received our call in heaven. We knew that even though we would grow up in all parts of the world, we would reunite once more to help our spiritual brothers and sisters. We were excited to come forth at this time and be the missionaries to usher in the Savior.

As we sang together in heaven before we left for earth, we looked at one another's faces with excitement, fear, and anticipation of this new challenge. Our other brothers and sisters ran up to us and tearfully told us to find them and said they wished they could come on our mission too. But they said they'd wait and be ready when we came. We all hugged, saying we'd see one another in 20 years.

 

As I sat in my seat I was overcome with emotion and love for the people around me. I know that this life is not it. We knew one another before this life and we knew our mission and what we would do and we were excited for the opportunity. The work that we are pursuing is great and now that we've had our reunion it is time to find our brothers and sisters.

 

I absolutely love this gospel and am loving every second of my mission! I know that if we are every struggling with anything that if we hand it over to the Lord, He will take care of everything. As you let go of what you think you need an allow Him to support and mold you, you become the person that He created you to be and you will be filled with great happiness.

 

I love you all!

 

Hermana Ewell