Amo y te extrano

The book of cards from our friends

My heart is so so full and I only wish I could treat people half as good as they treat me.  Last night I showed up at at the church to lead my youth activities only to find the whole ward there for a surprise goodbye party in my families' behalf.  As well as for Elder Nelson, a missionary soon returning to his home in Barbados.  They got us good!  When I walked in the building and heard everyone yell surprise, I started crying on the spot!  Not only was I so surprised and so happy but I cried because my husband and baby weren't there.  The surprise party was the same time Jesus was on a phone interview for a job in the states.  And Joaquin went to bed an hour early and was down for the night.  I called Jesus on FaceTime and took lots of photos and videos and he was so happy to see everything.  What a bummer that the interview was the same night but you really can't get a better excuse than that as we're moving again out of the country and need a job and all these things all over again.

So for the party...they made me say a few words which you can only imagine was filled with balling.  We ate mangu, friend cheese and salami, as Dominican as you can get!  We danced all night and they even planned a special dance for Jesus and I where they kept changing the song and we had to change our steps from merengue to bachata to salsa on the spot!  Jesus hates dancing but he wouldn't have been able to refuse in front of all those people as it was set up just for us.  Since he wasn't there, one of the young men Jairo, who is the best dancer and one of the greatest kids, danced with me!  It was so fun and I thank him.  The youth even did special acrostic poems for each of our names and held up all the letters one by one; so cute!  And then we all went photo and selfie crazy and I can't wait to see everyone's pictures in addition to the few I got.  Church parties in this ward and this country are more fun than any I've been to in my life.  They really are giant parties of food and dancing! I'm so so so thankful!

Acrostics!

Dancing with Jairo

Signing our goodbye sign

Me and Isabelle

Familia duval and their new baby

Youth, Bishopric, Missionaries and Me!

Ruth and Rossy (so many great young families to be our friends)

mangu

Moises and Norfelina

Hermana Diaz

Rosanny who put so much work into this party!

Gian Carlos signing for his friend, Joaquin

Our goodbye sign!

Mi corbata with Jairo, Abriamy, Leidy, Erica and Carlos

The people in my ward here seem to embody what The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is about.  They all want to serve, are humble, non-judgmental and have so much love to give.  I'm honestly tearing up as I write this because my testimony in the gospel has been strengthened and I've met so many people here that I aspire to be.  So now here's a note for them:

Mis amigos en la República Dominicana:

Has cambiado mi vida. Vine a este país sabiendo nadie, apenas habla el idioma y el sentimiento era tan triste. Antes de salir de los Estados Unidos, todo parecía encajar tan fácilmente para que vayamos a la República Dominicana pero no sabiamos por qué. No sabíamos el plan del Señor y por qué necesitábamos venir. Todos lo que sabíamos era que estaba pasando una buena oportunidad y no podíamos pasar la oportunidad. Entonces encontramos nuestro barrio de Los Jardines. Dos llamamientos buenos y comenzamos sirviendo. No sólo a sirvir, si no invitando a personas para cenas, para las noches de hogar familiares, se ofrecieron para cuidar a nuestro bebé y se convirtieron en algunos de nuestros mejores amigos. Eres el mejor ejemplo en mi vida. Ustedes representa de qué se trata la iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos del último día como están llenos de amor y humildad, eres sin prejuicios y quieren servir. Y por cierto, las mejores fiestas! Te voy a extrañar y tambien el pasear por la ciudad a enseñar y visitar a las mujeres jóvenes. Voy a extrañarte más de lo que podria pensar

Rosanny, su deseo de servir es genial y serás bendecido por eso. También eres la clase de madre que quiero ser. Isabelle, tú me has convertido en un mejor maestra visitante y te convirtiste en una gran amiga. Maribel y Modesto, nuestros mejores amigos, no puedo escribir mucho sobre ti sin llorar porque necesitaba tanto y serán muestra amigos para siempre. Obispo y Rossy, muchísima gracias por la fiesta y tus trabajo con planificar nuestra despedida...y gracias a todos los que ayudaron! Me gustaría poder enumerar todos lo que aprendi, pero sé que estoy agradecido a todos ustedes. Ahora sé la razón por la que vinimos a la República Dominicana, fue porque  lo necesitaba.

Jóvenes, son tan amables y se convirtieron en mis amigos y me ayudó a que me gustara vivir en este nuevo lugar. Usted me enseñó nuevos movimientos de baile y vino a mi clase de inglés y me ayudó a enseñar los domingos cuando apenas podría hablar español. Ruego que siga al Salvador y serás bendecido. El mundo es difícil y los mormones tienen estándares más altos que sus amigos en la escuela, pero vale la pena. Vale la pena cada segundo de seguir a Cristo  y no dejarlo. Mi experiencia de la mudanza y ahora tener que mudarnos de nuevo, sería mucho más difícil si no tuviera al Señor en mi vida. Su mano está guiando a mi familia y le doy las gracias en oración con frecuencia. Lo mismo hará por ti lo que sea que enfrentas cada día,  no te aparte. Sigue a Cristo.

No sólo esta barrio, pero familia de Jesús y toda la gente dulce y nanas   en nuestro                    complejo de apartamentos. Manny y Lala nos ayudó a organisarnos en nuestro hogar y se aseguró que tuvieramos todo lo que necesitábamos. Nos has amado desde el primer día. Amarilis se encargo de ayudarnos a limpiar nuestra casa y se convirtió en uno de nuestros mejores amigos y dio mucho amor a nosotros y Joaquín. Boris y toda la familia, gracias por invitarnos a sus fiestas y ayudarnos así.

Y un mensaje de Jesus: 

Quiero empezar por decir gracias al barrio los Jardines para hacer que mi familia se sientan a gusto desde el primer día que llegamos. Somos muy afortunados de haber estado en un barrio fueron su tan unida y amorosa. Queremos darle las gracias por el maravilloso partido que hiciste por nosotros y lo siento que no podría hacer que hacer a mi entrevista de trabajo :-(como becky explicarme todo lo que suceda podría ver cuán feliz era y agradecido de haber formado parte de este Barrio. chicos tendremos siempre en nuestros corazones estábamos siempre nos vamos! chicos han hecho un gran impacto en nuestras vidas y para que estamos muy agradecidos. por favor, seguir luchando por lo que cree y seguirá creciendo nuestra sala. Quiero darle un agradecimiento especial a la juventud por todo su amor que mostraron a nosotros y ayudando con joaquin cada vez que tuvimos que enseñar los domingos :-) gracias al obispado por siempre estar listos para servir. Gracias a ustedes que nos invitaron a sus casas para compartir juntos. quiero que sepan que igual como sus puertas estaban abiertas para nosotros, así la estarán donde quiera que nosotros estemos.

Sus corazones son buenos. ¡ Amo y te extraño!

Samana, you have my heart.

With the clock on our departure ticking, Jesus and I had to pick one last part of the country to explore.  We chose Samama, the peninsula on the far right of the island.  We loved it!  It's kind of an undiscovered tourist spot that is so beautiful.  It's becoming more and more touristy but nothing like the hots spots of Puerto Plata and Punta Cana.  We toyed with making it to the city of Punta Cana (said to have most beautiful beaches by many) before we left but the six hour drive to an unknown place with Joaquin didn't sell us and we also knew it's very touristy there with huge resorts and we felt like been there, done that with our honeymoon in Puerto Rico.  Our trip to Samana was a secluded beach house apartment on the coast, with an ocean view, swimming pools, private beaches and basically just serenity.  We were there on off season with just 50 people in the whole apartment complex we rented!  With the beauty my photos can't even convey, I do think we found one of the most beautiful spots in the country!  

However getting to Samana was a whole other story.  After briefly getting lost and turning onto unknown narrow roads with no room to turn around, Joaquin projectile vomited in his car seat what looked to be his last five bottles of milk in the form of rank smelling white chunks.  I frantically searched for baby wipes, beach towels and plastic bags to do whatever I could to clean up so that he could still ride comfortably the remaining two to three hours of our trip.  He then vomited about two more times during the process of turning around the car and me cleaning up.  We had to pull over in a neighborhood where we didn't know where we were as Jesus took Joaquin and I dumped the vomit from the car seat outside.  Jesus grew impatient with me cleaning up as he knew it wasn't safe for an American woman to be chilling outside of the car alone.  At this point I thought we were giving up and were going to turn around and go home.  But somehow Jesus and his GPS figured out where we made the wrong turn and we continued on our way and got Joaquin somewhat comfortable.  As we arrived to Samana, there were many turns up the mountain causing Joaquin to have a fourth or fifth final vomit and since at this point was all water, I was able to just wipe him off with the towel I laid over his lap and under his legs to catch anything else.   It was a frantic check in at the hotel to get everything cleaned up asap and I was so grateful to see that the hotel we chose had an in room washer and dryer.  Sadly the car seat cover doesn't completely detach and I'm still working on getting the smell out.  While I rubbed it down with soap and water, I  think I have a baking soda and vinegar day in my future! I just can't do it yet... Apparently Joaquin is carsick because smaller versions of this story have happened before.  Oh and by the way, I'm car sick too which made this whole process of cleaning up even more fun while going up that mountain!  Luckily on the way home we did our research, made sure to not feed Joaquin a big meal right before leaving, left during nap time and only fed him crackers and Gatorade in the car, hallelujah it all worked!

I bet that sounds like enough of an adventure to get to Samana eh?  Well it wasn't enough.  On one of the long country roads, the police and their guns were patrolling the streets and stopping people.  We got stopped by a less than lovely corrupt police man.  It's common here if you are asked to show your license and don't have it, you can just pay off the officer but this officer didn't even ask to see a license.  He flat out said he and his buddies were going to need something to drink later.  Jesus asked him what specifically he needed for us to pass, and the officer replied: "you know what i need."  With that, Jesus took out his wallet and paid him off.  Jesus didn't want to risk being cheap and getting in more trouble so he gave him 500 pesos which is plenty here but only 12 American dollars.  I was shocked at this whole thing!  However I am so so grateful Jesus is my husband.  He showed no fear and knew exactly what to do because he has heard of this happening.  He was so calm and we were able to continue on our way.  Later in our journey, more police were stopping people and were about to stop us again but made eye contact with me and Joaquin in the back and told us to go ahead, thank goodness.  Again luckily on the way home we took a new route that not only had less turns, but was a bigger highway with no police and we got home faster.  Much nicer.

This is why looks aren't always what they seem.  While I flaunt my photos of the beach on Facebook, I bet you didn't know we went through all this!  However getting to our beach house apartment with the ocean view and private beaches seemed to make everything worth it.  For one afternoon, we were the only people on the private beach and it was perfect!  It was lined with trees and rocks and looked out onto Cayo levantao (a separate smaller island owned by a big resort) and the mountains and pure ocean.  The water was clear reflecting both green and blue and the sand was soft.  The infinity pool and hot tub were also perks with pool side tropical drinks.  The only complaint I would make was Jesus and I were not impressed with the restaurant's food but I assume since these were apartments that many people rent for longer amounts of time, guests often cook for themselves.  Now I'll let my photos tell the story!

1. Room photos of Vista Marre, Samana

our view and huge deck

Joaquin playing in the fully stocked kitchen 

Living area and more of the view

2. Pool time

3. The Views

The island in the ocean is Cayo Levantao

4. Beach time

no fear!

5. Family time

PS this was our Anniversary trip and this photo captures our last three anniversaries together!