November 4, 2013

we also had a service project this saturday(the won that the church all over the world did) we picked up trash along major streets. there were a lot of people that turned out! the first pic is of the two ther hermanas i live with and the president of our rama. the other pic is of a brother amd lots of the youth! it took four hours, but it looked nice and CLEAN after! a lot of people were very gratfeul for our service!

HALLLOWEEN!!! i wore the skirt and loved it! the other hermana dressed up as elders,,,a tie and skirts haha and button up white shirts. it was interesting becasue everyone complimented them and thought it was a legitimate style. the other pic is of a mouse made out of a coconut. the other hermanas made it with a card for my three months out! how nice of them! they made the mouse because we have a little pet mouse in our kitchen. everytime it comes out of its hole i yell for the raid and start yelling ideas of how to kill it haha what can i say? i just want it out of our kitchen!

hi mamm! i didnt get your email or dad's. i hope everything is alright with everyone escpecially grandma. 

this week definitly flew by and it is already November! WOW. we had a good week and had 5 investigators come to church. its been a little bit tough with a lot of our other investigators to follow through with committments. like reading the scriptures and praying to know if this is the church. a lot of the poeple here have another religion, but arent really active in it. i have developed a stronger testimony of faith. faith is not only a belief but an action through believe and hope. i know if i will begin to start acting more in the faith i can become a more effective and powerful tool and my investigators will be blessed through my faith. it's starting to cool off here and its starting to rain more here. FINALLYY!! the other day it began raining super hard. the elctricity went out and everyone was scrambling inside. hma j and i just stood against a wall waiting. we didnt have an unbrella so we didnt want o get soaked. the rain just kept coming and the roads had tons of water flowing down. it was something new and exciting so i liked it. we missed t2 apts because of it, so i felt like our day was wasted but what can you do about rain and thunder storms?? its funny because here, if it starts to rain and pour no one goes anywhere. the dominicans just dont like doing anything if its raining. and when its raining and youre trying to teach a lesson and youre a gringo and cant understand spanish well anyway, its hard to understwand when youre in a home with a tin roof and its raining cats and dogs! a lot of people have tin roofs or homes that just arent sound proof so if it starts raining its mad and chaos in the house haha the mission is such a learning experience; escpecially in the D.R. i never once thought that it would be hard to teach a lesson because of chaos in the streets or music, but that is so much a part of the mission life here. the cars and the music and the people selling stuff yelling out everything they have that theyre selling, is all part of the culture. it can be a little chaotic in the moment, but its all about bringing the spirit in and then doing all you can to keep it. :) lots more people are receiving hma jorgenson and i; escpecially in the calle (street) belen. we are always waving and saying hi to our normal people that sell stuff in the streets or the old women that sit in their hairs on the side of the street the WHOLE DAY. and everyone is just happy to say hello. the older woman always refer to us as their loves, or hearts. one investigator calls us mis corazones. it translates weird in english, but its just so kind! also we went to a birthday party woth an investigator/less active family. they sent us home with tacos and goblets of juice. that's just so dominican! we walked home with our books of mormon in one hand and their big goblets in the other. haha there are many things i love about the dr. also, lsat night a giant cokaroach was found in the other hermana's room. its intennas were huge and so long!!! it fell into hma peck's clothes and it was mad from there. one hermana got the raid and i got a tennis racket and a hanger. it didnt come out until i left. the hermana sprayed it with the raid and it crawled under the bed and died. apparently when they flip on their back they cant flip back over. super weird, but thats exactly what happened! its super funny because the hermanas are always finding abnormally large bugs in their room and NEVER in ours. im convinved its because of my tent! thank you mom! i love you and daddy poo tons and  i hope and pray all is well! AND DRIVE/TRAVEL SAFELY TO AND FROM JESS'S! i love you!!!!

-love your rachie poo :) 

mamma i was also wondering if in one of my packages you could throw in a few recipes. we eat the same stuff a lot, lasagna, pizza, enchladas, potatoes...basically all of the carbohydrate stuff. i was wondering if you could make some copies of recipes that are simple but healthy :) that would be wonderful!!! also if you could get the recipe for the pretzel jello salad i make for thanksgiving :) and what do you put in your red enchiladas other than sauce meat and cheese?? oh and can i get your recipe for curry and your teryaki chicken? and any other side dishes and lunches and dinners??? i need your creative mind mother!! haha 

October 28, 2013

hi mamma!

so, i got your package this last friday! i LOVVED it! super loved it! the skirt is sooooo cute!  i wore it to church on sunday! and the pb, just perfect, and i hung up the sticky jack/o/lantern and put the spiders up! i tried to scare one of the hermana with the spider, it almost worked! :) so when you emailed me about sending a package for halloween and you mentioned people knowing where adel lives, i thought you were sending a halloween poster of her. we were laughing just trying to comprehend what a halloween poster of adell would even look like! maybe her dressed up as a pumpkin...haha so when i got your picture and no poster of adell in a pumpkin i was a little confused! the package size was good! the other hermana got packaes in boxes one was bigger than the one you sent and took the same amount of time and some were a little heavier and were sent about the same time as yours as well. that's just so you know a little more about sending stuff. :) but, who knows, if you sent something bigger it could change that week when they mail stuff and it could take months. who knows here!

i got more letters from you too! thank you mamma! and dad too haha by the way, we should be getting conference issues here in english so you dont need to worry about the magazine if you havent already sent it. im so happy to hear granny is doing so much better. prayers work! and im glad your back is doing better! i hope you get more and more and more better too!

this week we FINALLY moved into our new house. it cuts off about 25 mins of walking time one way. it took us 25 mins to walk to the areas we spend our time in so that was a big blessing. we live a lot closer to the members and the church so its great. the house is bigger and it has 2 bathroom! the plumbing is a bumme. our toilet leaks and the water pressure is basically non existant in our bathroom so this week i got to experience a cup shower....it took me 25 mins! bwahahah and it was colddddd. but we always have cold showers so it wasnt too bad. kind of funny though. oh! and we have a little mouse in our kitchen. its a baby one, and it runns on our counters. nasty little thing. we got mouse killer stuff, sooo HOPEFULLY it;ll die. i feel bad to do it, but oh well i guess haha. 

the spider was the size of my palm. grooosssssssssss! but i havent seen too many spiders in this house so hopefully we wont get o experience that in my new house. i m not sure if i will be here with hermana j for christmas because this next transfer ends at the beginning of december. who knows! my homesickness is going away and i am focusing a lot better on the work here so that is good. yestserday we had a lesson and every time i talked, or jsut a few times really, she just kept saying i dont understand you. i dont understand you. it was a little frustrating and humbling. i just need to continue practicing and doing in order for me to progress. this last week i tried yucca. it looks kind of like a huge babmboo stick and then you cook it like a potato. it is just a little bit chewier than a potato, but i love it! i also bought 6 mangoes this week. i am obsessed!!! sometimes one mango is seriously 3lbs! they are huge! so during the day when i see good mangoes i buy two and then i have 6 lbs of mango i carry around. oh the life of a missionary! the members here help with the work and it is going well. our missionary leader for the rama is planning on going out with hma j and i for 4 whole days. itll be nice because we will have lots of lessions with a member present. they just want to see how our investigators are progressing and how well we are working with them. i love you soo much mamma! i hope that ou are doing well and that you arent tooo busy with your callings and dads and with work and all that! but i love you mucho and have a spectacular week!

love your rachie poo!

October 21, 2013

hi mamma!!!

for transfers i get to stay here as so the rest of the hermana serving here :) i am

glad because there are some really great people here and the ward is amazing.

we had stake conference this week too. it was really cool to see that i was

able to understand a whole lot more of it than when i first came in. :) this was a

good week. our grocery store here alrady has christmas trees and decorations

up and they are playing christmas music! people already have their christmas

trees decorated and stocking hung. not everyone, but more and more each

day. christmas is like a 3 month long celebration!!! haha thank you for sending

me the hymn book! tell her thank you and that i love her sooooo much! she is

such a good lady. oh! and do you think that sometime you could send some

handkercheifs? i have one that an elder gave to me and i use it every day, but

it gets so dirty so quickly. i was thinking you could just cut some squares out

of  some of your patterened fabric and wouldnt even have to sew it. i could do

that. and theyre light in weight. only if you have time :)

my interview went well. we didnt go much into depth because it was in spanish

haha but yes, he is from the DR and veryyy loving. he and his wife. very

caring people. we only had 3 people in church today. we've been getting more

references from christina, boy is she great! we went to hacia's house for our

first visit yesterday. she lives in a smmmallll house. it's just about as big as the

reading room. concrete floors. she has one mattress, a small dresser and a

sink, and small oven. her door is just a piece of wood that is crammed between

to buildings. she basically lives in a crack/ opening between to buildings. thats

basically what a cajone is.

how are dustin and haley liking byui???? have you heard?? i love you sooo much

mamma! are you on because i have about 30 mins to chat?

October 14, 2013

hi mamma!!! 

first off, what in the world is shut'down mode__ what is is being shutdown! i really have NO IDEA what is going on in the US. i have not heard anything here. i sure hope everything with you guys, and the business is well. is iT. sorry, i cant do question marks on this.

the other day hermana peck, one of the hermana that lives with us, made pizza. she forgot to hald the amount of flour. pizza cake for lunch!! mmm haha we were laughing so hard. it was definitely growing outisde of the pan by the time we took it out. 

thank you for sending me lieke and janices emails! i love reading them. and i actually can email them. i just asked president rodgriguez during my interview that i had with him this week. so i was sure excited. i still barely have time to read and reply to you all! 

this week was good. today it rained and rained! they dont really have draining systems here and so its like rivers runnning down the streets. its kind of fun, but knowing that the water is...well disgusting makes me think other wise haha. this week hma jorgenson and i had 7 investigators come to church! 7!!!!! we just challanged jenny, our investigatora to be baptized the 26th of octuber. she has been taking the lessons for 2 years, so we are going to be working hard with her. we also got a family reference. they seem really interested and we{ve only met with them once. during that one visit they had 2 kids'one was screaming and crying the whole time and the other had a piece of fruit that he kept throwing. he threw it across the table and smacked me. oh you know, just while im bearing testimony!haha! honestly, lessons can be pretty crazy here. 

during another lesson we were in a cajone. this is where there are LOTS of people that live on a one way streets. homes are built on top of each other and there is always music playing and kids playing baseball in the street. we were teaching belkis. yes, belkis. it reminds me of the movie it takes two with mary'kate and ashley olsen. anyway, we{re teaching out on her porch. and her porch is enclosed by bars. every 10 mins someone would come by and sell something to her and theyd exchange the money and purchase. then there was a backstreet boys song BLARING right across the sreet. it was sooooo weird because it was in spanish and it really sounded like them. honestly i have no idea how in the world they get their speakers to play so loud, but it basically rocks the homes back and forth.

 

so a little more about christina, she grew up in the south and she has a crazy accent. she cuts off letters when they should be there and puts in random s{s in words that dont have s{s. i NEVER understand her! but she has 10 kids 32 grandkids. she gave us 2 of her daughters as references and so we are working with them. her son listens in on our discussions sometimes but then he goes off about other churches and singing praises. sounds confusing right_ because it is! ha every time i go into that house its a guess on what will be said. cristina has already told hma j and i that after our mission we have a home and bed. she refers to us as her girls and her loves. mi amor! she says. she is precious.

it sounds like you and dad are plenty busy! yes, you are doing missionary work! how are the missionaries there doing_ finding success_ what are they like_ each time there is a line, that is actually a question mark haha 

October 6, 2013

HI MAMMA AND DADDY POO!!!!

wow its great to hear from you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the weeks are really just flying by! i just received 2 of dads letters last week and i was so stinkin happy! i sent some letters home so hopefully they get there soon.  can you give me jess and blakes mail address_ i have letters for their bdays.  also can you get me granny carols mailing and emai laddress_ i havent heard anything from her and i wouñd love to talk!

the language is coming. i still dont do a lot of the talking but i definitely teach and testify in each lesson. and understanding their spanish is coming. i just have to keep reminding myslef that i wont be fluent in speaking or understanding in 4 weeks, let alone 4 months! haha

we got to listen to general conference live! i was soooooo unbelievably excited. we watched it in the capilla )chapel= it was in spanish, so i understood some of it haha but i could feel the power of the spirit and the love of god so it was good. it flew by! cristina, our convert brought about 10 people with her to conference. while we were at her house teaching she was on the phone and everyone that she talked to she would mention conference and invite them. she told them she wanted to invite them because this gospel is what has brought her some of the most joy she has had. what an example! BY THE WAY, dont forget about your reference by chrstmas! each! references are soooooo key in missionary work. dad also wanted advice on how you and mom could help, mom, if you could at least go to like 2 lessons a week with the missionaries that would be amazing. whem we have the members go with us there is such a strong spirit and it can help our investigators relate to something familiar if that makes any sense. 

thanks for sending the packages!!! mom, youre so stinking awesome! i cant believe you bought me danskos! what kind are they  we walk lots and up hills and sometimes theres no sidewalk and so if they have the high plastic heel like the ones i have im not sure how well they will work. flats are really the best that i have experienced anyway. BUT if you want to send them feel free! they might work very well! i just dont want you to spend the money sending them and then me not be able to wear them. i am very grateful that you are so kind and always being aware of my needs mamma.  i wear my jambu shoes EVERY day haha. theyre pretty amazing! and for my shoes, its just that the velcrow, the soft part came off of a side and so the other side doesnt stick to it. i think i would just have to somehow find some more velcrow or maybe you could send me some. im not sure because i dont know if i could get a needle past that thick leather! those things are made well!

im not sure if they celebrate halloween here. i dont think that they do. you sent me a halloween package_!!! oh how i love you! and from what i understand, something with adele__ haha my companion will laugh so hard. mom,. can i just say i love you! i have been thinking a lot about you and how much love you have. you are amazingly so selfless. i have been greatly blessed for you!

for my favorite food, im not sure. we dont ever eat at members homes. sometimes we eat little things here and there but its usually something they buy. it makes me sad because i love venturing out! they eat lots of avacado and rice and been which is my favorite! the avacados here are as big as two of my hands, easy! mmmmmmmm i cant wait for you and dad to come so i can show you around!the lady that is like aunt blanche is named jacqeline. shes just great. shes not in my area so i just see here at church normally. the work is progressing here. we are doing a 12 week program and so we are visiting a lot of inactives. we have about 5 investigators but not all are progressing. when we go contacting and knock doors i still get nervous and dont have a lot of confidence but i can work on that! 

i lvoe you mom and hope you have a greeattttttt weeeeekkkkk!!!!

make sure to tell bishop and sister nicoll that i love them and that they are in my prayers! man oh man. that sounds painful. also, laura asked me to give here some insight but i cant email here. could you give this to her.

hi laura! i hope all is well! one of my mision rules is that i can only email family so this is why i am writing you through my mom. its hard not to email the people you love, but i am trying to be obedient.MISSIONARY work is something that members of the church can and need to do! as i have learned on my mission, every member is a missionary and your influence in inviting and sharing the gospel with friends, neighbors, and families are all so critical in helping the work of the lord move forward. the lord has prepared in this time in all places in the world to receive the gospel. we are the lords tools!  dont fear rejection, because sharing the gospel is one of the most precious things we have. even if you befriend a new person and are a good christian example to them and take time out of your day to show your interest and love for them, this is missioary work and will help prepare them to receive the gospel. sorry it is a little random. i just dont have much time! i love you laura and thank you so much for your emails and thoughts and prayers! 

September 30, 2013

first, let me just explain the pics. that thing is a spider, not just any spider, the one that caused me to bruise my finger! that thing was as big a my palm, furry and all. we came home to fing a frog hopping around in the house and then as the hermanas walked into their room, found this pleasant little surprise. the first thing i thought was, this thing needs to be killed. because./.....after all. i am not going to leave that thing alone in the house to wander and crawl in places that i dont want to find it later! the other 3 hermanas just couldnt seem to get the courage to do it, so finally i volunteered myself. i got one of the old elder's shoes(i dont know why they left it there but that's not the point) i walked over and before i went to whack it i thuoght good and hard on what tactic i was going to use. FORCE. lots of force, because i knew that spider wasnt going to die with just a whack. i confessed that i came from a home where we didnt kill spiders. that they were all "good" and that this was a little weird to me. they were all laughing and then; mom, just for you. i apologized out loud to my mom! haha then i whacked it. i hit the wall as hard as i could! and then i looked down at my finger. it was black and blue, not only did i take out my finger on the ledge of the molding(OUCH) BUT....i missed the spider. how on earth does this happen. we then spent the next 30 mins with a polewhacking the wall. it was a dodgin game, me and that spider. i squished off a few of its legs but boy was it quick! the sad part was, i didnt even kill it! i felt bad that i wounded it, but finally it ran out through the window. it better not come back, because i woke up and boy was my thumb sore!

it's s soo good to hear from everyone! jess, i just cant believe you are getting big! i just want to see you and him and everyone! im glad you all had a fun week canning. i talk about your cooking every day mom. hermana jorgenson wants to come over and cook with us after the mission. :) AND she volunteered herself for the fourth of july talk when we get back. just make sure to tell uncle steve! haha i think she is pretty serious. 

this week was good. so many things do happen! we found another investigator through knocking doors. her name is dridem and she has a little boy. she has so many queswtions about the gospel and has a lot of confidence in god. im sure she can feel the spirit when we are in lessons. she told us that she would for sure come to church, but when we called yesterday she was sick. bummer. we didnt have any of the people keep their commitments in coming to church, which is a bummer because church is so great! we have a sister in our ward that i abisolutely love. she kind of reminds me of aunt blanche. she is known as the best cook. she makes some mean food. mmmmmmm! BUT she wan converted about 6 months ago and she has some strong faith. whenever she teaches i can feel the baptist side of her comin out. she raises her arms and just starts shouting. this week we had it in a "room" they use big curtains for doors. and the primary was in the room next to us. the lights started going in an out and they all started screaming! endlessly. one man went to shush them but wasnt having much luck. hermana jacqlyn didnt even miss a beat. her voice just got stronger and louder and louder. 

during sacrament and relief society i am almost in a trance. i cant help but fall asleep. not comepletely, but i think that after so much spanish i cant focus and then i lose every intention in focusing, but during her class i always, ALWAYS, stay awake. there is no possible way that me, or anyone else for that matter, could fall asleep. shes hilarious with all that baptist energy but i love it. when we walk home at nights we walk through one street that has 2 or 3 churches on it. they are just in small rooms, but the doors are always open and people sit in their plastic chairs in the street and take part of the service. they have a microphone and just sing praises to the lord and sing and dance. its fun to see but a little crazy. they all do this at the same time so the streets are filled with halelujahs and music.

 as we were tracting this last week we went into an older ladies home and asked if we could sing a hyms. her eyes got big and she just said no! she was almost terrified and then asked, evangelists?? haha we had to explain who we were again and then she decided to let us sing. when we ended, she was glad we had sung. 

life is good and the people are great here. the work is never easier but so worth it when you find yourself testifying of the very thing that has brought you  the most joy, success, and love into your life. its so neat to be sharing it to a people youve never seen or met and in a language you thought youd never speak fluently in. i am grateful to be here. i hope you are doing well and that you are using the lord to help you through anything because he wants to ! and he's more capable of helping yourself than you are! i have definitely learned that here in my 2-3 weeks of being here. i just love you all soooooooooooooooooooooooooo much!

 love hermana rachie poo hamblin :) hugs and kisses

September 23, 2013

the clothes are working great! we dont ever have time to shop so i dont think i'll be getting anything new. my danskos dont work because the velcro had come off of a spot and it is just a nuisance to try to

walk in them, maybe i can sew on some ther velcro? im not sure, but i have only worn them once sadly. i would LOVE for you to send me pics. there is a place here i think, but we dont have much time for it. i absolutely love my photo album we made. i look at it all the time. :)

ahh im so glad you had fun at the festival. it sounds like so much fun!

as for me-its week two! i am not quite as homesick and it is easier to transition for me. i am sweaty allllll the time! but everyone is. haha every time we go teach a lesson we greet the women with a kiss on the cheek and they tell us that we look really hot and sweaty...haha some people even offer us napkins to wipe all the sweat that continually runs haha the  other day as we were tracting this older man come over to hma gorgenson and i and felt soo bad for us and took out his hanky and just kept wiping our faces. stroke after stroke. shoot, it got a little uncomfortable! ha the people are so nice here. as we walk the street people yell god bless you or blessings with you or god be with you. i love it! 

i had my first baptism on this last saturday! her name is cristina and she is 75 years old. she is always smiling with her one tooth grin and has a cackle raspy laugh. like an old southern woman would have, she has lots of spunk and energy. i just love her! we have 2 other people challanged for a baptism on october 12 and that is fatima and her son franklin. they are progressing very well, but her mother died a few days ago so it has been really hard for her. 2 days ago we were contacting in a cajone. this is a place that is pretty poor, and we found a young lady, about 23. her name is dradem and she has a 5 yr old boy. we have only had 2 visits with her and she has lots of questions for us. its fun because she is our age. when i try to talk she cant stop herslef from smiling. her little boy ALWAYS makes fun of the way i talk. i have a funny accent he says haha. we all just sit on the bed and laugh and laugh...because after all, that is all i can do. 

today for p day we went to a new members house and had a bbq with our district leaders and it was fun. we helped make the food so it was okay! 

i took some photos, funnny enough, of how we do our laundry. s oit will answer your q's perfectly :) we have the washer and then a hose that we fill it with. we turn it on with a butter knife and we have to turn on the spout for the water with a wrench. then we hang all our clothes on lines on the porch. i kind of like it. 

we have about 70 people in our ward. and they are all so great! all the missiionaries that have served here say that this is the best area in the entire mission for help from the branch. they are so organized and have every member working as a missionry. they are all so dedicated and love helping the sisters! they take us home each night, take us home from church. wow they are great. our house is about a mile from where we tract so it can get a bit hot. the ward has found a house that is a lot nicer and that is a lot cloer so we might get to move in a few weeks. im keeping my fingers crossed! a few nights ago we came home to no light. it was off for almost 2 days! everyone else in the neighbor had light the entire time we didnt so im not quite sure what happened. its a good thing i had my jar of peanut butter with me because we didnt have a refrigerator!!!

 as for mail, the mission pres told us that packages sometimes take 8 months or so to get here...bummer! but they said they can get here in a month if you send small packages like the pb package you sent. so a chritsmas package might not make it by christmas even if you sent it now. who knows! haha BUT if you do send a christmas package i would love some roll on dry idea deoderant and a christmas cd of amy grant spiritual christmas music like emmanueal or come all ye faithful. the good stuff :) 

i love you so much mamma. i think of you each and every day and how extrememly grateful to have a mother like you. you are so loving and so supportive and have been my entire life. i have never given you the appreciation that i should have, but i hope you know how much i love you!!!!! i do i do!!! i hope that you are healthy and that you and dad are happy. :) i hope you have a wonderful week! loves and kisses!

-rachie

September 16, 2013

Hey mamma! 

wow it seems like i havent talked to you in a LOOOOOOONNNNGG time. my companion is hermana jorgenson. she is from vegas! she is very sweet. she is 21 and has 5 months here.yes, i use my repellent AND my tent net. we were all laughing so hard when i pulled that thing out and POP. it saggs big time over my bed and almost engulfs the rooom. but im safe right-!!!!!! my living conditions are qute different. hmm yeah. i cant flush the toilet paper ha we had a cocaroach in our shower and i was the brave one who tried to sqush it in the shower curtain. of course i onl wondeed it and now it waunders wherever it want without us knowing where to find it. blast! 

the people here are great. the sister missionaries keep commenting how this is the best area that they have ever been in/meaning that the members are so involved in helping us missionaries. our branch president has been praying for sister missionaries and is so pleased that we are here. but this is the first time that sisters have ever been in this area and so we dont have a lot of investigators and we are trying to establish boundaries. we live in a house with another set of sisters too. there are so may misionaries in rv!!! sisters!!!! take care of those sisters! (and elders) 

i have felt so much more peace here mainily because of the members here opening up to us and being so kind. it makes me less homesick. i have been reallllly homesick lately and it has been the hardest thing in the world to be here. i knew it was going to be hard, but i have come to realize i just didnt understand what hard meant. it's getting better though. i am learning to put myself in the saviors hands and have more faith. say hello to everyone! also, could you forward this email to maybe lieke and janice. i cannot email anyone other than my family.  its a bummer but i want to be as obedient as i can.

apparently i am the new adele here. so many people; escpecially one of my investigators(mario) and the tennage girls here basically refer to me by that name. it's so funny because no one in the states has ever told me that! 

about some of my investigators; we have mario. he is amazing. he has been taking the lessons for 2 years and is completely active and comes to missionary meetings and everything else. his faith is outstanding. he cant get baptized because his esposa are not married. she doesnt want to get married and doesnt take the lessons. it must be oh so hard for him but he doesnt show it.

im sure i can print things off i just have to find a place and then find the time haha. i am in la venta caobas..i think that is how u spell it. its outside of the city but is still part of santo domingo. my companion and i try to always speak spanish in the streets, but once we go inside of a home, i cannot understand anything! i keep telling myself that it hasnt even been a week, but i just yearn to say something and to help teach! this is humbling having to lean on my companion and the Lord of course. i love you all so very much and i hope you are all well. i think of you and the family very often and i just love you all so very much. mom, thank you for spending so my time helping me prepare for my mission. it really means a lot. i know jesucristo and dios live and that they are there for me and for you and for dad! in anything that you need. whatever joy or harship you face, face it through faith! have a blessed and wonderful week!! i love you bunches!!!!

/hermana hamblin

September 6, 2013

 I am so sad to hear about Sister Wilkins and Jared. I hope Kerri is sure okay. I wish I had her email to send her something. Do you think that you could ask for it sometime? 

We had another great devotional this week and we actually had someone come! It was Elder Andersen and his wife (the people President Nicoll knows). It was cool to see them. I also saw brother and sister Gray (the couple from St. Johns that Travis talked about. They had been looking for me and finally found me! So tell Travis I saw them! 

This has been a good week and I can't believe it is my last one here! I leave on Tuesday morning for the field with about 50 other missionaries. I don't know where I am going though. So last Friday i got to go on my first cambio (exchange) for about 7 hours. It was so cool! I got to be with 2 sisters. They were from Utah and one of them knows an elder in Hong Kong! And I think it is an elder that Blake had a class with. He's really tall and has red hair and his name is Spencer? So we got to make a connection in Hong Kong haha 

Anyway, as we walked the streets it amazed me to see how different it is here. They are very very poor here. so many buzz around on their little mopeds. Little old men drive their banana stand bicycles. It's exactly how it sounds. They connect a huge basket that has bananas hanging from it as they drive around selling them. They also do that with ice cream! It was so incredibly humid and I was sweating up a storm. We got to do 4 lecciones, lessons, with people. I bore testimony and prayed, but not much else! I'm still progressing with the language...but I have quite a ways to go. The Lord is definitely helping me learn it though! 

Funny story-we had been wakling around for a little while and finally made it to our first house. It's hard to describe the place, but there were so many houses crowded in such a small area. The homes were about 2 feet apart on every side. No sidewalks so streets. nada. Ee got to the house and the front was just metal bars. Anyway we sat down and started with an opening hymn. We were talking about the book of mormon and she was asking questions. We were having a good time. She was holding here baby-probably almost 2- all of a sudden I look down and her shirt is half off and she's feeding the babe. I saw everything. I mean, I am a woman but I just couldn't focus because it was just so random! ummmm I'm just wondering why no one didn't tell me this was normal. haha Anyway the Hermanas took us to get some frozen yogurt which was really sweet of them. As we walked around it started getting darker and you could hear all of the little resturants and stores cranking up the latino/american music. I loved it! 

I only got bitten by mosquitos 4/5 times so that's not too bad. The Hermanas said that with every transfer you will get bitten a lot because it is a new area and you are fresh meat. Oh joy! Maybe I should purchase one of those electric fly swatters. It electrocutes any bug you touch. Lieke had a really nice one. That sounds nice right?? haha I think I'll just have to painfully learn how to have fast reflexes. Well I should go, but I love you and the fam! By the way, when we leave on Tuesday I might not get to email you for over a week and my p days will be on Mondays from now on I believe. They might let me email you once I get to the mission home on Tuesday night, but just in case they don't I wanted to warn yoU! 

-hermana hamblin

September 6, 2013 To write a letter to me please use this address: Elder Rachel Hamblin (yes put Elder) haha, C/Hatuey #73, Urb. Los Cacicazgos, Santo Domingo, Republica Dominicana

August 29, 2013

 I have bunches to tell you! I sure hope I have enough time to email. I am not acutally going to Florida. They sent us that flight so the DR knows we will be leaving. I get out into the field on Sept. 10th. How exciting! I can't wait! I got the package so thank you VERY MUCH. I just love everything in there!! I received the letter from you but none from Dad. 

To answer some of your q's- we have church here, so I never talk to any locals other than my teachers. And I did give my talk in sacrament the first week in Spanish. Gringo Spanish may I add! Last week was the first time that we went "tracting" we went to the university. I was so scared. They let us go for about 2 hours with just our companions. Hermana Scholes and I walked up to our first people. It was a group of young college students. The moment we headed their way I could tell that they were not happy to see us, my companion insisted so we continued. As we walked up I asked them how they were doing. One of the girls muttered something with an annoyed tone and walked off. At that point I panicked inside. I could feel that all confidence was lost and my face was definintely showing it. I stumbled with my words as I continued to pathetically testify of Christ. I'm not going to lie, becasue that's exactly what happened. The young woman I was talking to had head phones in and would look at me for a few seconds and then look back at her friends, like who are these people and why on earth are they talking. It was a pretty sad experience and honestly I didn't enjoy it too much. We got to talk to some pleasant people, but that experience scared me. As we walked back, all the other missionaries talked about how they had such a neat experience and how they could have done that all day long. 

As I was studying the scriptures the other day I came across a scripture that was an answer to this problem that I was worrying about. I can't remember the reference but it said that if you have faith in Christ he will build your confidence and you will be able to testify boldy. It comforted me a lot. I should never be lacking confidence when I am bearing testimony becasue it is truth! We get to go tracting tomorrow so I am excited about that! 

As for my schedule, We start at 6:30 and then we do personal study for about 2 hrs and then language study and more study and more! It's a lot of studying, but it's definitely needed! Every Sunday they feed us ice cream at night and then we get to walk around the temple and take pics. It's very nice to finish off the week that way! 

By the way what are the names of the temple president that Travis knows and the area seventy- I haven't met any of them and I haven't seen any Flakes. This week has flown by and I can't believe I have less than 2 weeks left. I am ready to be out in the field though! I just can hardly wait. The electricity goes out here a lot. It'll only go out for like 5 secs or less, but it's just a norm. I love you very much and hope you have a wonderful week! Love you all bunches!!

August 22, 2013 

 Mom, I stinkin LOVE YOU!! It's so great to hear from you every week! I am glad that your back is doing better and that you are walking. over a mile a day?!!! sheeesh that's great! 

This week has been good. I sent some pics so I hope that you get some. I sent one with me and a palm tree. 

I hope that sent! I can see an improvement with the language. We do about 2 practice investigators each day. Sometimes our lessons go for about 35 mins and we speak Spanish the whole time. It's great! I know I make lots of mistakes, but they always understand what we are saying. It's a really cool feeling. At lunch I try to talk to the latinos..we have one elder we talk to all the time and whenever he responds, we can't respond back. We have no idea what he is saying. 

 I have not yet received the PB package,....but as I read it, a huge smile took over my face. HA! I told Hermana Scholes and she just laughed. oh man! Last week somehow the elders got my fork story out of me......I should have NEVER EVER told them. They all poke jokes about it EVERY day at least a few times. They all think that it is hilarious. My district wants to take a photo with us and our forks. That will probably come next week! So I hope you enjoy it :)

 I heard that we are leaving the MTC on sept. 10th. that is a rumor, but I'm pretty sure that is correct. Well I should probably go because I have only 45 mins to email and I have to read everyone else's but I will reply more if I have time. I love you and thank you for all of the support! I really appreciate and need it :)
 -Hermana Hamblin

Thursday, August 16, 2013 * Hey Sweet Mamma! It's so great to hear from you! I am trying to upload pics but I dont know if I will have enough time to figure it out. Sorry if I can't! I got my first letter from Dad yesterday! Tell him thanks! I wrote both you and Dad a letter and so they should be sending it out any day now. Today we got to actually leave the gates of the temple and MTC. HOLY COW! It is a very differnt world out there! The traffic is ridiculous! haha We walked about 15 mins to go to the store and I was pretty much drenched in sweat. I bet Blake knows all about that! We had about 50 missionaries all go to the store so you can imagine the looks and stares we got! People kept pointing and say "Americans! Americans! I couldn't stop myself from buying an almond Snickers and a dominican chocolate bar. I am just missing chocolate!! The only time we have sweet things are at night after "family prayer". Sister Freestone has a little basket of choclate and so we line up and say goodnight and receive a chocoalte. It's a very special part of the day! After walking to the store I am so excited to start proselyting! But I am a little nervous about how to teach people on a busy, noisy street! I can't believe Blake has a companion that does not speak any English! That is good in a way because she will learn the language the best in that scenario. I kind of hope that happens to me! Each week we are given a topic that we are supposed to prepare a talk for. Then on Sunday President Freestone announces who will talk and bear their testimonies. Of course, I was the first and only sister asked to speak on the first Sunday. It went well, but it was kind of ironic because the night before I was talking to my companion and telling her I hoped I would be called on to speak,,,,,sure enough I was!!! As for the language, yes, we still speak English. I still have to take in written notes to teach my lessons, but it is coming. We had a new bunch of new sisters come in from JAMAICA!, and a few from other Central Amreican places. It's so much fun to be surrounded by people from different cultures. I think I will have the same companion the entire stay at the MTC. I think they are counting this as our third week and that we only have two weeks left, but no one has clearly communicated anything yet. I honestly have no idea how many missionaries are in the West mission, but there is an island that is part of my mission too! I am so glad that your back is getting better and that you are feeling well! It makes me happy. How is your deal of no chocolate working out?? I shouldnt be craving any because you haven't had any for a LONG TIME. Jess is having twins. I just know it! Then I can come home to find 2 lil bundles of joy! Maybe I should start praying for that!! haha Today was the second session that we went to the temple. I had a really neat experience. I might not have time to email Granny so tell her for me :) At the end of the session before I went up to the veil I was just praying. I was kind of falling asleep but I was praying for the lady that I was going through for. I prayed that she would receive the ordinances that I was doing for her. At that very moment a thought popped into my head...Papa Hamblin knows this lady. I dont know how or anything but I immediatley woke up becasue it was so strong! I felt that she accepted it. Then I looked down at the place and it said from Massachusetts. Didn't Papa serve there? I don't know but the date was 1776. It was a cool experience! for the deoderant, we have only gone to the store once and we weren't given much time and I'm not sure if they will have a good brand here. I should go but I love you bunches!!!!! Tell everyone hi!!! -Hermana Hamblin!!

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Hi Mom! And Dad! Thursday at 12 your time is when my p-day is! Thank you for writing me. It is always good to hear from someone you love. Well, I really love it here! I met sister Huish in the airport. She is darling. I room with her and 3 others. My companion's name is sister Scholes. She is from Boise Idaho. pretty cool huh?! It is beautiful here! We can barely see the water from the MTC but that is enough for me! It is definitely humid, but I can't tell too much until gym time. For the last few days I've been playing volleyball with like 30 other people. By the end everything is COMPLETELY soaked. My district is awesome! we have 8 people in my district. 6 elders and me and my companion. 
We have a Haitian in my group that speaks Creole/French and knows Spanish pretty well. He is older and is such a nice guy! His name is elder Joseph. My Spanish has been getting better by talking to him. We still speak English here..lots actually, but when we are in class they pretty much just teach in Spanish. I have taught a practice investigator 2 or 3 times and it has gone okay. It is all in Spanish, but I write all of it down on a piece of paper. I read it, but I can say things off of the top of my head as well. There are only about 60 missionaries in this MTC, and I love that it is so small. We know pretty much everyone, including the janitors. The people here are so kind. We also stay with all of the temple missionaries and those who come to be temple workers from all over. The other day we met some people that were from a tiny island located in the lesser Antilles :) We also met some older ladies from the West Indies that come here to go to the temple to work. They take their vacation time to fly 10+ hours to work at the temple. What an example they are to me! The teachers here are amazing. I really love all of them. One sounds like he is from India and is soooooo sarcastic. Everyone loves him though. He reminds me of people at home interestingly enough haha. It is hard to switch straight to Spanish and sometimes I ask myself if I can do this....YES I CAN!! because it is the greatest thing I can be doing right now! There are lots of people here that have been such an example to me and have lifted me up! Well, it is great hearing from you and I love you a ton!!! please share this with Dad. :) Love, Hermana Hamblin

First we went to Germany and visited Janice and her family!