Back in the USA

It's my first two weeks back in the states and I wonder how many people will actually read this post now that it's no longer my adventures from Republica Dominicana!

Two weeks ago my family was sitting in an empty apartment waiting to fly to the USA, after a weekend full of people in and out of our home as we sold and gifted everything from our kitchen dishes to towels to couches to our two giant televisions!  We were very blessed to have been able to sell so much.  Along with saying goodbye to our things, we said goodbye to our friends.  Everything finally sank in that we were leaving and may never see many of our friends again.  Visas, even tourist visas, from there are few and far between.  As it was sad, we moved forward with faith and made it to Minnesota.  We flew two overnight flights with several suitcases, a puppy and a baby and luckily the two little ones slept through both flights!  We stayed in Minnesota for two days to witness one of the biggest snowstorms of the season.

After that we were Utah bound so Joaquin could finally meet his grandparents on Jesus' side in person.  They were so happy to see him, play with him and feed him all day!  I know Jesus' mom wishes we were closer so she could love little Joaquin more often but for now we will continue to facetime...wonders of technology!  We spent the week attending our church's General Conference to hear the Prophet speak, eating at our missed American restaurants (mmm Tocanos...Utah's Fogo De Chao), visiting the park and children's museum for Joaquin and just hanging out.  Here are some photos from the trip. 

Mother in law's Birthday Dinner

Waiting for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' General Conference to start with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in the background

This one just 'cause it's cute

Yes he did climb up there and try to jump in...

Grandparents with Joaquin walking around the Salt Lake LDS Temple

Family photo with the beautiful Christ statue in the Temple square visitors center

I do think Utah's mountains are beautiful!

Fun at the Gateway Children's museum in Salt Lake

One thing people have mentioned to me or asked me about is the culture shock returning to the States after living abroad for a year.  Both Jesus and I have agreed that there hasn't been any yet!  Except for Utah however...I've visited there before but during this trip the culture shock really stood out.  Utah is full of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints of which I'm also a part but being around so many is almost...well...weird.  Let me apologize for offending before I continue as that's not my intention.  It's almost like there's a clear difference between LDS people and those that could be no farther from it...I often wonder: why can't you just be "normal", not one extreme or the other?  In addition to noticing that, here are some other examples: As Jesus and I were walking to General Conference, people lined the streets with signs trying to get tickets because tickets go very fast.  There was a group of young people holding their sign and singing hymns, thinking that would help them get tickets more easily.  As Jesus and I walked by and heard the beautiful singing, he voiced what I was thinking: "weirdos."  Who just sings hymns in the middle of the street?!  On Saturday night of conference is a meeting for Priesthood holders and I remember plenty a time that me and my girlfriends would all hang out while the men attended their session.  Well in Utah as we were eating out for a family birthday dinner, the restaurant was full of groups of women and I knew this was because all the men were at Priesthood session.  That's not something you see in Minnesota because there aren't enough Mormons to make that kind of impact.  I also recall sitting in a different restaurant for lunch and overheard the girls behind me talking about dating and whether or not men should go on LDS missions.  To hear gospel related topics in a public place is strange because normally I am the only Mormon in a restaurant!  Oh an another thing was that I saw sleeved wedding and prom dresses in the wedding store window...wouldn't that have made my life easier than going the extra mile to make everything modest.  Not gonna lie, I was very lucky to have found a wedding dress with sleeves that fit my style online!  LDS people have a special importance placed on modesty.  Anyway, see what I mean with the culture shock?

So where are we now and what are we doing here in the United States? Espeically after so many of our friends have moved away or have new things going on in life without us!  I don't know!  Just kidding...kind of...we know we are here to renew Jesus' residency.  We also know Jesus loved his old Company and they would love to take him back and they have an in person interview this week.  We are staying at my moms for a while as we get re-established here in the states and with that comes my brother, his wife and new baby living close by!  That might be the most exciting part of being here!  Living with mom is going as expected.  We're a big group with a baby and a puppy so it's a little stressful but those two little ones are making up for all the stress by loving their grandma.  She also has a three bedroom home all to herself so we've taken over the two rooms downstairs and are living comfortably.  Maybe my next blog post can be about a new job...fingers crossed!

Family reunion sheet with my parents, brother and sister in law and their new baby!

Vive Republica Dominicana!

Over a year ago my husband applied for the  opportunity of a lifetime to work in the Dominican Republic.  Throughout the application process his interview was rescheduled about three times.  During that time, he decided the opportunity with all the unknown, wasn’t worth it and he was ready to forget it about it.  But the day he told me he was giving up was the day I verbalized my support.  I told him it’s just an interview and to not give up before you’ve even tried.  With my support, he continued, got the job and we began a life in the Caribbean. 

I remember that first month living in the hotel with a four month old baby.  It got lonely during the day as I cautiosuly explored the city while my husband went to work.  At night I proceeded to gain a few pounds trying all the restaurants and foods available in this new part of the world.  Finally we moved into our apartment where I spent the first month shopping every day trying to furnish the place and make it feel like home.  Note to self: never do that again, decorating is not that important and you can take your time.  Overall it was a rough beginning.  I didn’t know where I was, the Spanish I knew wasn’t enough and I didn’t have any friends.  I was sad.  Everyone from home made comments about how lucky I was and thought I lived at the beach which made things that much harder.  I didn’t live at the beach but was in the inner city with lots of people and a feeling of un-safety and even helplessness. Others I knew were from here or lived here for a time and told me the great things about the country and I was still upset because their experience wasn’t my experience.  I was just a mommy feeling alone and I couldn’t get past all the differences. Not to mention when people tried to help or compare themselves to me....I was prideful and I'm sorry.

One day, by the grace of God I’m sure, I got my head on straight.  I started to really like it int the DR!  We found our church and met so many wonderful people.  People that were willing to serve, people that invited us over for dinner, people with young babies and people that became our best friends.  Not to mention, Jesus’s family that helped us every step of the way and became our constant companions.  I even started speaking Spanish, more than enough to get by, I learned how to joke around and was able to hang out with my friends and have normal conversation which I thought would never happen!  I’m still not fluent but who cares.  Not only did people help me but I learned how to live without a car.  It’s not so easy to get in a taxi and have to carry your convertible car seat in one arm with your baby and the diaper bag in the other for every little thing from paying the cable bill to getting groceries.  If I wasn’t taxi-ing, I was pushing Joaquin in his stroller a mile away for errands in 90 degrees.  Well I finablly learned.  I simply stopped running errands during the day.  I only went when Jesus was off work or on Saturday and life became so much simpler!  As for Joaquin, I’ve managed to find a few more things to do with him.  Sometimes we played at the McDonalds play place for lack of a closer playground and we made baby friends to have playdates with.  My friend Maribel, and I started working out three times a week and I became plenty busy with the youth at church and teaching English.  The youth are another thing that really changed my life in the DR.  While I served them, they served me.  They even walked me home every night in the dark after youth activities or after our English class.  I really have so much to be grateful for!

With that said, let me recap some of my favorite things about Republica Dominicana!

       It’s tropical.  Mango, avocado and coconut trees all in abundance including fresh fruit stands around the neighborhood.

fresh fruit, cut, peeled and ready to eat

Platano trees

The colmados.  Colmados are the corner stores that always blast live music and make life feel like a party.  They deliver to your home and even sell bottles of water, for under 3 cents American, that have helped on my hot walks outside. “Hola, yo puedo tener un aquacate y un coca cola?”

        Walking outside. This one I don’t miss for running errands but I have spent a lot of time visiting friends and doing service for church and these walks are my favorite.  I often went with at least one other woman and we always feel like little missionaries as we walked miles around the city and see all different people and all different neighborhoods from those with fruit trees or chickens to those whom live in shacks or nice apartments.  I feel I’ve gotten a good grasp of life in the DR and the different classes, if you will, by experienceing this.

    Restaurant delivery for everything!

McDonalds Chicken Mac...they don't have that in the US.

   Seven dollar pedicures

          Riding in the conchos, the public car, crammed with 8 pople in a five seater just trying to not fall out. Actually I won’t miss this but I’m glad I tried it a couple times for the experience.

I didn't hava a good photo of this so I stole it from http://cosasdelcibao.net/2011/12/22/choferes-aumentan-el-precio-del-pasaje-en-santiago/

The beach.  I didn’t get to go often because it was like taking a vaction to rent a car and book a hotel to make the trip worth it but getting there was always worth it.  Who doesn’t love an ocean view?

8     The people selling things on the street.  This is a double edged sword because at any intersection in a car or during any walk outiside, you are bombarded with people heckling you to buy anything from fruit to cell phone chargers to ice cream to making donations.  While that was frustrating and at times scary, it was fun to be able to buy sugar cane for the first time or a freezie in this heat.  Just don’t buy the Yun Yun, A Dominican shaved ice, because even the locals will tell you you’ll get diarrhea from the water.

Freshly baked Dominican torta (resembles corn bread) from a woman and her cart on the side of the road in the country.

        El Monumental.  A beautiful tourist spot in the middle of Santiago with well kept grounds, people jogging every evening, and delicious restaurants surrounding, including our favorite, El Tablon.

        Long drives to new cities.  While most of the drive is going through mountains and trees, you always pass communities called “campos.”  The homes are farther apart and people are always gathered outside, often because of no electricity inside, but it’s fun to see all of the fruit stands, colmados, and homemade products all being sold to one another in the neighborhood.  These areas basically remind me of camping because they are surrounded by so much nature and clothes hanging on the line. Although they do have homes and not tents like camping, they're often small homes put together with nails and wood.  Of course there’s big homes too but the majority of the country lives in poverty.

1      Humility. When Americans think of poverty, I don’t think the Dominicans agree.  I have visited so many people in the tiniest of homes with outdoor bathrooms and rain rolling off the shingles of the roof just missing the inside and the people don’t care.  They are just happy to have a home.

      Dominican music and dance.  Parties at our house, parties at our family's homes and even church    parties.  The ward Christmas party here was unlike any in the states with a big dinner, loud music and dancing until late. Loved it!

party at the church

party in our apartment

What I know is that our lives are in the Lord’s hands and it’s an interesting feeling.  As I’ve talked with people about this, many have said to me that the Lord needs us in the US.  My guess is that’s very true but the difficult part is I may never know why.  I felt that way when we came here and we did do a lot of service, helped people get things they need, taught English, provided jobs cleaning our home or watching our baby and made lifelong friendships.  But it felt so fast like we weren’t done.  Was that it?  Is that really what we were needed for?  On the other hand maybe moving to the DR was for us. I think we’ve both grown a lot through this change and it’s honestly something I never would have done had I not married Jesus to give me the extra push.  Hopefully I’ve expressed some of my growth through other blog posts. So maybe coming to the DR was for ME.  Funny thing is while I know what I’ve learned personally, I still don’t know what the Lord’s plan was in it all.  However I’m grateful.

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!