Being served by a General Authority...literally!

General authorities of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are serving people all over the world.  But tonight Elder Jorge Dominguez (area 70 of the Caribbean) wanted me to write in my diary that I got served food by a general authority!  So I said, OK I will write it in my blog!  

Elder Dominguez grew up with Jesus's sister and of course knew Jesus as well.  He lives here in Santiago, Dominican Republic and invited us over for family home evening.  It was such a sweet night.   As most family home evenings begin, we sang and Jesus said the opening prayer.  In that moment my eyes became full of tears because I had a strong feeling that this is where I needed to be!  I keep feeling that feeling although I can suppress it pretty quickly every time someone says they got robbed or I think of missing people in the US.  However I need to remember that I have felt good things about this decision even when I don't know why.  The other day we were in one of the shadiest neighborhoods around and I looked at Jesus and said "honey, why are we doing this again?!"  He reminded me that he wanted to help the people here and I am all aboard for that although it will will be difficult but that did help to put me at ease.

Elder Dominguez gave the family home evening lesson about gratitude.  It was sweet because as he gave the lesson Jesus translated in my ear.  It reminded me of the people who wear headphones during general conference for the translation. I have to say it is tricky to listen to the translation when the speaker is continuing to speak at the same time.  Imagine being the translator!  However when I just said that to Jesus (the translator) as he's sitting next to me, he said it wasn't hard so go figure.  Elder Dominguez asked each of us say one thing we are thankful for.  The tears that had welled in my eyes initially never completely went away so I embarrassed myself as I was so emotional explaining what I was grateful for.  I said I was grateful to be here in Santiago.  I said I was grateful to know that there is a reason I am moving here even when I don't know what it is.  I truly believe that one day I will know why we came here and I'll know we had a purpose here even when I don't know what that is at this moment!

After family home evening, we had a traditional Dominican Sandwich called rikitati for dinner.  It was yummy and seemed like something I could make for us as a novice cook.  As Elder Dominguez made my sandwich and served it to me; this is when he told me I should write in my diary that a General Authority served me dinner! I feel silly writing it because he's still a person like the rest of us but since he made the joke, I'm writing it down. 

I'm so grateful to have met this family because they said that we can call on them any time in our new transition.  I really liked his wife and she said I am welcome to come over and practice my Spanish and she can practice her English. (By the way, my speaking is coming along quite nicely if I'd say so myself but understanding others is still pretty hard.  It's funny because before I came here I thought I could understand more than I could speak but it is clearly the other way around!) The Dominguez son was also a polite teenage guy who swims for the Dominican national team and is planning to swim in the olympics in Brazil! Their other two children are out serving missions.  They taught us lots of things about the church here like there being 3 stakes in Santiago and how long it takes to get to the temple and things like that.  It was truly a beautiful evening and just as I learned in family home evening, I am grateful!

  

Transitioning from tourist to resident

I've only been in the Dominican Republic one day and there is already so much to blog about! Because I'm only here a few days to reunite with my hubby while he's been training, I'm still in tourist mode.  However at the same time, I am apartment hunting and asking the locals about things to know so I'm trying to prepare myself for residency.  Here are just a few updates on what I've experienced so far.

Culture shock:

• The driving is crazy, I mean my husband told me it would be but I have never seen so many red lights and stop signs run as well as so much cutting people off and honking!
• Poverty: again I knew this would be here but there are people selling things and asking for money everywhere!  I guess the poverty is just manifested in a way I did not prepare for. One neat part of the selling is all of the people who carry large baskets of good on their heads!
• Chicken and stray dogs...that's self explanatory, there are chickens and stray dogs roaming town.
• Language, I can get by in Spanish one on one with people especially if they talk slow for me.  I practiced with hotel concierge, Jesus' family and a lady on the plane.  However when I listen to others have conversations around me, it is way too hard to even pick up the gist of it sometimes!
• Public transportation: Similar to buses there are cars that will stop and pick you up anywhere and it's a flat rate to go anywhere on their route.  The culture shock is how many people they cram into these cars.  I watched two woman get out of the front seat and that was nothin'!  
• Car seats are not standard or typical.  It has been quite the challenge fitting the car seat or stroller wherever we go but when we get out own car we will be able to squash this dilemma.

Highlights:

• The food!  I've already had some good Dominican food in the states cooked by Jesus's family so I didn't expect anything less and I assure you I have not been let down.  Also the fresh fruit and freshly squeezed juices and shakes are delicious!

• Hospitality: Nothing like crossing the street with your little family and baby in stroller when a woman walks out to the middle of the road amidst the crazy drivers to stop traffic for ya!
• Apartment hunting: It was great to go with the locals to hear about the different neighborhoods and we already found an apartment we love in one of Santiago's safer and prime areas!  Cross your fingers we get it! (The apartment is across the street from our hotel which is across the street from church.  I know that church is where I'll find an instant community so to be walking distance would be a nice bonus.)

(Also a Friday's next to the hotel)

• The weather and climate; sunny skies and mid 70's can't be beat, not to mention there are mountains!

 

• Swimming!  We are hoping to get an apartment with a pool so we can take Joaquin swimming like we did today at the hotel, he loved it!

How I'm feeling:

• Scared:
• Honestly it feels like a whole different world and I'm afraid I won't make friends because of my language barrier. 
• I'm afraid to drive and wonder what Joaquin and I will do all day while Jesus is at work. 
• I'm afraid I will look like a tourist forever and get ripped off when I go shopping and am still getting used to the money conversion. 
• I'm afraid to learn my way around a whole new place and afraid I'll wander to the unsafe areas.  
• I'm afraid I'll get too homesick!
• I'm afraid I won't find good medical care as I'm having issues I wrote about in a previous post and also intend to have another child while we are possibly here two or three years.

• Excited: 
• I'm excited to go out of my comfort zone and conquer this adventure...kind of! 
• I'm excited to find a nice apartment where we can all swim.  
• I'm excited to go to the beach on the weekends which I may do tomorrow!  
• I'm excited to get better at my Spanish.  I already survived talking to two people at the hotel without even speaking English or telling them I didn't know enough Spanish at first.  I just pretended like I knew and apparently I knew enough! 
• I'm excited for Joaquin to learn some Spanish as he learns to talk.  
• I'm excited to grow closer as a family because I don't know what can pull us together more than moving to a third world country together.  
• I'm excited for Jesus to love his job. 
• I'm excited to get some new tropical fashion.
• I'm excited to make friends as scared as I am! I talked with a girl from here at the airport who was my age and she's exactly the kind of person I plan to meet! She had a two year old son, was traveling alone like myself, helped me carry my car seat and told me all the things I'd love about Santiago; she gave me extra hope!

                                  

                  Joaquin and his aunt Lala!  Having family here helps with the meeting people part.

I'm going to London, I'm not going to London, I'm going to London?!

Someone call a Producer!  I'm ready to film my romantic movie!  You know all those movies where a couple is separated across the world and then one day one of them surprises the other and they see each other at the baggage claim and run towards each other only to be spun around in the air with a passionate kiss?  Well that is going to be me!  Jesus is training all over the world this month (literally in three different countries) and me and Joaquin have got to see him!  Those of you that know Jesus and I will know that our romance film will turn out to be more of a romantic comedy.  The minute Jesus sees me at the baggage claim with even the slightest cheesy grin, he will know what's coming and I'm sure turn the other way pretending not to know me as I begin heading towards him.  The other part of my "romantic movie" is this won't be a surprise to meet Jesus while he's training in London since we're planning this extravaganza together.

Now is it really going to happen?  Will Joaquin and I get to meet our husband and father in London who will at that point likely have been gone over three weeks?  Let me fill you in on the last few week's events.  After our whirlwind of accepting a job in the Dominican Republic, Jesus was going to train in London for two weeks and then return home to Minnesota for two weeks to help me pack and then our family would depart to the DR together.  Well Jesus made it to his layover in Washington DC when they sent him back to MN to apply for a visa to enter London.  This is because he has a Dominican passport and not a US passport.  While Jesus had to wait for a visa, his work could not wait to start his training.  So instead they sent him to Texas for all of last week, the DR this week and London the following two weeks.  This means Joaquin and I are fending for ourselves missing him and packing/selling everything on our own.  I sure do appreciate those that have helped me out so far!  

With all of this commotion, we all decided Joaquin and I should take a vacation to meet Jesus in London! Then of course we found out that I too need a residence visa for the DR and will need to send in my passport for that meaning I can't get to London. (Initially we thought I could do this once I got there).  I have spent the last four days gathering health records, police records, getting things notarized and apostilled.  Have you heard of apostilled?  I sure haven't and I had to go all the way to the stinking secretary of state's office to do it.  Just as I was ready to send everything in and let the consulate translate it into Spanish, I found out it was $70 per document to translate and that is a huge rip off!  So luckily today a friend came by and began translating for me because she can do it as long as I notarize and apostille it all over again!  Then this afternoon I got a call from Jesus.  He begins by saying "You are going to hate me..."

Turns out a lawyer in the DR said I can enter the country on a tourist visa and take care of residency when I get there even though both the Chicago and DC consulates told me I had to begin the process here.  So at this point we have decided to trust the lawyer in the DR and put a halt on the paperwork so I can keep my passport and go to London!  Now this has been an ever changing scenario so I guess you'll find out if I made it to London in a future post...

Here's a photo showing that Joaquin was ready for London's Paparazzi before he was born, just like Pippa Middleton!