Church in the Dominican Republic

The fabulous adventure continues!

First, I must tell you about Friday night--Carlos and the guys performed at the newest resort here in Punta Cana (Breathless Resort). It costs $700 a night! Needless to say, I'm enjoying the chance to visit all these different beautiful resorts! Before they perform every night, we all get to eat at the resort's buffet/restaurant. The food at Breathless left me, well....breathless! It was by far and away the best meal I've had in my life! All the guys said the same thing! I had roasted chicken marinated in some sort of passion fruit sauce...I'm not even sure what it was, other than AMAZING! Carlos's steak was likewise AMAZING! We are all excited to go back next week!!

Saturday was another beautiful day here in paradise. Carlos and I went on a long morning walk along the entire beach. Here's what we saw:

We also talked with Kassim, our favorite Haitian beach vendor. He told us about taking the bus to Santo Domingo (the capitol)...I'm dying to go!!!! It would only cost us about $10 a piece to make the 2.5 hour trip there in an grey hound type bus. I think we will definitely try and get out there before we leave!

The best part of week 1: CHURCH!!!!

We looked up the church building earlier this week and set up a ride with EVOC's taxi driver. Blanco picked us up a little after 10, with his 2 adorable daughters and sweet wife. His wife sat in the front seat holding their 3-month-old daughter on her lap. I'm not sure if she was even wearing a seatbelt herself....

The church building was in a nice, tranquil neighborhood. The branch that meets there has about 30-40 members, and today there were an extra 8 people (from Virigina mostly) on vacation for the weekend. They were all jealous to hear that we are living here for the next few months :) 

We got confused about when church started, so we ended up only being able to participate in Sacrament Meeting, but it was fabulous! It took me right back to my mission! The branch president spoke first, bearing testimony about the importance of tithing. Then, the missionaries spoke about missionary work, followed by a young woman named Jennifer who gave a fabulous talk about how to bear testimony. We were sitting next to a mom named Kati and 4 other young women and kids. Kati was holding a cute little girl on her lap who seemed to be a little restless. So, with my mission scriptures in hand, I started pulling out the pictures I have depicting different scripture stories. She loved them! 

After church ended, I chatted with Kati and her daughter Suisa. Suisa is working on her mission papers and she introduced me to another girl who leaves on her mission to El Salvador at the end of the month. In chatting with Kati, I told her that I wanted to learn how to cook Dominican food, to which she said that I can come over to her house any day and she will teach me anything and everything. She was so excited! I figured out the bus route, so hopefully I can go and visit with her sometime in the near future.

(This is a picture of the tourist ladies and some members after church. 

They wanted me in the picture too.)

One of the tourist couples visiting came up to me after church and told me that she and her husband were watching me as I played with some of the kids before sacrament meeting started. She told me that she had commented to her husband that she hopes their daughter goes on a mission and becomes just like me! What a sweet compliment because I worked very hard to get to where I am now.... and my parents would atest to the long, hard journey it was! But, the compliment left me rather speechless.

As we were waiting for Blanco to come and pick us up after church, this adorable little girl kept looking at me. I stuck out my arms and she ran right up to me to be picked up. I just tickled her and laughed with her until her sweet grandfather came over to take her home. Her name is Maria and she just melted my heart! These people are so wonderful! We are already excited to go to church next week!

I touched a fish!

My life is amazing...I mean really. Besides the sunburn I got today down the left side of my body, my life is pretty much perfect!

I ate breakfast this morning on our back patio, right on the beach, looking out to the ocean and the waving palm trees. Then, I walked the short distance to the pool at our apartment complex and took in some sun while reading. After an hour of blissful reading, we all walked to the nearby grocery store.  I broke down and bought some peanut butter--who am I kidding!? I wouldn't have made it the entire three months without my staple! :) A little runnier than what you'd find in the states, but I have to attribute that to the perpetually 80+ degree weather. It still makes a delicious PB&J!

While we waited for the other guys to finish their shopping, Carlos and I order some chicken nuggets and fries from the "sports bar" next door. We recognized the french fries, but the "chicken nuggets" we ordered were far from it! Rather, they were little dollups of deep-fried cream-of-chicken soup. A little nervous to ask what these squishy/crisp things were made of, we dipped them in lots of ketchup and ate them anyway.

After our lunch "adventure," we dropped our groceries off at the apartment and went on a walk down the beach.  We saw one wedding, a few dogs, and plenty of men sportin' Speedos. Carlos also introduced me to his Haitian friend, Kasim. Kasim moved here to the DR after the big eathquake in Haiti. Now he lives here by himself while trying to make money by bringing tourists off the beach to go on a Pirate ship excursion/cruise. He speaks French, Creole, English, and now Spanish, all while wearing a Baltimore Ravens hat :) We had a fun time chatting with him while we walked on the beach. I also talked with another "vendor" who was trying to sell us a ride on a banana boat. I said no to the banana boat ride, but I took the opportunity to ask him where he goes grocery shopping (because the little store we go to by all the fancy resorts is WAY too expensive). He then told me the name of the store where the locals go and where we can jump on a bus to get there! Yay! Rather than paying $15-$20 for a taxi ride, we'll only have to pay about 75 cents! (I'll keep you posted on that adventure.)

Further down the beach, as we were heading back to the apartment, we passed a couple of guys who were cleaning fish. I had seen them earlier when we passed by, but there were swarms of tourists around them. As we walked past this time, all the spectators were gone. So I asked if we could take some pictures. I then started chatting with them about how they catch the fish. The older of the two men told me that they catch them with spears. He asked if Carlos could swim and when he said yes, he offered to take us on an "excursion" to teach us how to spear fish! Haha! Wouldn't that be neat!? He told me to touch one of the fish...yeah...with all their guts hanging out and everything. Apparently I made a weird face at this offer because he told me kindly that the fish were already dead. So I knelt down and picked one up, to which Carlos nearly threw up. Needless to say, he made me wash my hands multiple times when we got back to the apartment! As I placed the slimey fish back in the stack, our new fishermen friends asked how old I was. When they refused to guess and I told them that I'm 26, they laughed and told me that I was lying. Apparently Carlos and I only look 19 :)

Those are today's highlights! Oh yeah, and I learned how to dance merengue (some of the resort workers were teaching the vacationers).

Until next time!

The Arrival

I'm pretty sure that I was supposed to be Latina :)

I have only been here for 2 days or so, but I'm LOVING it!!! Yes, Dominicans speak VERY fast and slur their words together, but I've been asked multiple times if I'm from Spain. Most people seems shocked that I'm from the states. It does give me a great opportunity to talk about the Church and my experiences as a missionary :)

It is a blast talking with different people and practicing my Spanish. Just today, we made a couple of friends!!! Carlos wanted to get his hair cut at a barber shop that he had seen near our apartment, so after we went to the grocery store, we stopped in at the shop. I had a BLAST chatting with Juan Miguel (Carlos's barber)! I noticed that he had a little Christmas tree sitting on his station, and thinking that it was kinda random, I told him that I liked it. He smiled and said that he'll give it to me when we leave as a momento of the Dominican Republic and his shop. What a nice guy! Very few people are willing to just give their things away, let alone to a complete stranger! Everyone here is so friendly! He went on to say that we should come back and hang out with him in his shop, just sit and talk, or go and get something to eat. He also showed us pictures of his brand new baby boy and of some of the hair designs he's done. It was cool to make a friend! He even said that he'd find out where the church building is and that he'd be willing to go with us sometime :)

When we got back to the apartment, I made us a delicious smoothie with the fresh bananas and mangoes that we'd bought from a vendor selling all sorts of fruits from the bed of a small pick up truck. They were very yummy and made a tasty smoothie!

At 4:30 or so, we were picked up and drove about 45 minutes to the Dreams Resort in La Romana. While the guys set up their equipment and did their sound check, I enjoyed watching a dance act as their practiced.  I tried to eavesdrop in on their conversations (only for the purpose of practicing my Spanish!!!), but they were talking SO SO SO fast that I had to give up :) By the end of the night, the guys were getting dance advice from one of the hotel workers nicknamed "Chocolate". As credibility, he showed us his Michael Jackson school of dance ID card. He was a good dancer, but it was hilarious to watch him trying to teach the guys dance moves--in Spanish! Keep in mind that the guys don't really speak Spanish, which just added to the humor of the moment. Everyone at that resort was so friendly! Especially everyone involved with the entertainment! I took advantage of that kindness and got a lot of my Spanish vocab questions answered, like how to say "speaker" and "mic stand."

One year!

One year ago, this week, Carlos and I met. I can't believe how fast time has flown and all that has happened since our first date. It's been the most amazing year of my life! I've had some memorable experiences in my life--both good and bad--but by far, this past year with Carlos tops them all. I'm continually amazed by how much my love for Carlos grows with each passing day. He is my best friend and I am grateful each day to have him in my life. I mean really, isn't he so handsome!?!

Alright, alright...you all really got on here to read about Carlos and his adventures, so here it goes:

Yesterday's show was great! They were the headlining show for the evening and had a full audience to perform for (a few hundred people). Yay! 

As for today, the show was well-received by the audience at Breathless (the newest resort to the Punta Cana area--it just opened last November). 

The day started out with a bang--quite literally! Apparently their taxi overheated and caught on fire. Not the best thing to tell your wife who is thousands of miles away....my heart stopped for a second when he told me, but then I realized that he was talking to me, so he must be okay. Needless to say, their taxi carrying 9 adults simply overheated. Carlos was sitting on the floor of the van nearest to the door. When the driver got out of the van, opened the hood, and then promptly reached down to throw dirt/sand on the engine, Carlos knew something was wrong. Not to mention when the driver came over and opened the door to the van yelling, "Fuego! Fuego!" ("Fire! Fire!") 

They all got out of the van and waited on the side of the road for another taxi to come and pick them up. Carlos commented at how impressed he was by the Dominican people because about 6 cars stopped and offered to help them as they stood on the side of the road. I'm happy to know that there are nice people there taking care of my husband since I can't be there! Thank you kind people of the Dominican Republic! 

Once they finally got to the resort, they got everything set up on the stage when they were informed that they would be performing on the resort's outdoor stage rather than the auditorium. So, they took all their eqipment down and moved it outside. A bit of a hassle, but it all worked out in the end. There were a few issues with the sound (as seems to be a common theme at these outdoor venues), but Carlos said that the show went well!

The best part was Carlos' surprise at the show! While waiting for the show to start, all the guys were off doing their own things, but Carlos was sitting in the empty audience seats in front of their stage. One of the resort workers came up and started talking with him. They started talking about shoes!!! and barbering!!! Carlos whipped out his phone and started showing this guys pictures of his shoe collection and pictures of his hair cuts/designs. As they were looking through the pictures, the guy came across one of EVOC's logos, which Carlos has saved on his phone. I'm not exactly sure how the conversation evolved, but Carlos commented to this resort worker that he thought it would be cool to have this logo projected on the LCD screen up on the stage while they performed. The worker just said "sure" and took Carlos to the DJ, who made it happen! The guys were completed surprised when the show started and their logo appeared on the screen. Carlos got big kudos from the group as well as the producers! Yay! So proud of him!

The highs and the lows

So, yesterday's performance, apparently, was AMAZING! Carlos said that the sound system was awesome and they had a full auditorium by the end of their show (about 500-600 people)! He was so excited when I talked with him! He can't wait to perform again at that resort next week!

Unfortunately, today was not as amazing. They performed on an outdoor stage, but they only had 20 minutes for their sound check because there were other shows going before their show was scheduled to begin. As a result, Carlos said that the show was not very good. At the same time, he said that they received more compliments after this show than any of their other performances. Go figure! Thankfully, the problem with the sound should be taken care of before they perform at this same resort again next week. Just a little hiccup in the process!

Besides performing, Carlos has been walking on the beach and tanning by the pool. Rough life, right? I can't wait to join him! When I get there, I will help with the lights during their performances. Not quite sure what that means, but I will get to go wherever they go and eat at the resort buffets with them each night. Yay! I'm also anxious to find a school (or schools) where I can volunteer in my downtime. :)

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment. Don't drool too much on your keyboard...

The pool at our apartment (where Carlos goes every morning to swim and tan)

Um, flamingos. Not sure where he saw these, but aren't they cute!?

The venue where they performed tonight.

Ahh.....the beach!

First Performance!

Today was an exciting day for Carlos -- ate Nutella-filled crepes on the beach for breakfast, swam in the ocean, did some yoga, went grocery shopping, had dinner at a fancy/delicious resort buffet, and then performed for the first time in front of an audience! Yay! Busy day, but sounds like he's having the time of his life! He also told me that he had a couple of "full on" conversations in Spanish today! Wish I could have been a fly on the wall during those conversations :) Apparently he is putting his Spanish for Dummies book to good use!

He said that there were about 100 people at their show tonight and that they were all loving it! They were dancing and singing along and just having a great time! When they spoke to people in the lounge after the show, the audience was full of compliments. Needless to say, he's excited for tomorrow's show and all the shows to come!

Here are a few pictures that he sent today:

This is the picture they posted on their facebook page.  This is the venue they performed at tonight.

Happy time! Skyping!

This was his breakfast...looks good to me!

The Adventure Begins

I only cried from the airport to home.  Well, and when I read the sweet note he left for me sitting next to our bed.  At least I didn't fall apart as we said goodbye in the airport!  I know that we will only be apart for a little over two weeks, but it was still plenty painful to watch Carlos disappear into the crowds of Sea-Tac.  Thank goodness for Costco and retail therapy!

But, enough about me, you all want to hear about how Carlos is doing in the Dominican Republic!

He left Seattle early yesterday morning after a nearly sleepless night (he was far too anxious to sleep!). He flew to Philly where he met up with one of the other guys from group; they flew the rest of the way to the DR.

I talked to Carlos last night (thank goodness for smart phones and Skype!) and he filled me in on his first experiences in the Dominican Republic. He had a rocky start (I think he was experiencing a little bit of culture shock).  Once they got off the airplane, he quickly began to feel a bit uncomfortable, not speaking the language and not knowing who they were waiting for or where they were going. They waited at the apparently CROWDED airport for over an hour before they were picked up and transported about 20 minutes away to the hotel where they would spend the night.  His comments, "It's hot and humid like Florida, there are dirt roads, I'm hungry, and it smells weird."

He's doing much better today, after getting some sleep and some food. He sent me a couple of messages this afternoon, including some much anticipated pictures.

 

(This is the group! From left to right: Phil (beat boxer), Cole (lead), Carlos (bass), and Joe (back up/lead)

This will be our home for the next few months.  Carlos says that it's large and comfortable.

The view out of our apartment.

After moving into the apartment, they finally ate lunch....on the beach!! Beyond that, their plan for the day was to rehearse! Their first show will be tomorrow evening!!!!