I Am Not Dead, I Promise (07/18/2022)

I am in a new area now! I am in Los Jardines! It's about a 30-minute Uber ride from my old area. I have Hermana Hutchings as my new companion! She's super nice and from Cali like Hermana Bingham! I miss Arroyo Hondo and Hermana Bingham, but it's so fun here as well!!

These past few weeks have been crazy! Our friend Lucy got baptized, and it was so fun! I liked it because lots of the people here call me Hermana Lucy, so it was funny because we were like yeah our friend Lucy! And they were all like ??? Lucy?? You?? Not me, but I love it. 

But I hope you are all happy and making good choices! We were able to find dragon fruit this week which was so fun! I have been trying to find it for weeks!! Everyday I was like, yes we will find it!! And we wouldn't lol, but it passed by on a truck when we were in a lesson, and I prayed that it would still be there when we were done haha. And it was!! So I want you all to know that God hears your prayers and He loves you and I love you allllll!

Hermana Locey

Oops Sorry, Fam (06/20/2022)

For all of you who are wondering, no I'm not dead! I have just been a little busy on pday shopping... BUT that's okay! I am here now. 

Our streets flooded this week, and one time we were in the middle of the road staring at the water not really sure what to do. The water is also like half sewer water, and it is stanky. Yum.

We are having fun! We went to the monument again! We got this thing called yogen früz. It was so yummy. But it's not in our area. Hopefully we can get it next week haha.

I don't really remember what happened, so I'll just put pictures in!

Love y'all!

Hermana Locey 

Feel the Rain on Your Skin (05/30/2022)

No one else can feel it for you!! This is what we have been singing all week because of the crazy rain storms we have been getting. We just walk through the streets and laugh because there is SO much water. We are really living our best, soggy lives. 

I keep getting bug bites on my feet and I am fed up with it, so I started to wear socks with my sandals. It is a horrible look, but I'll put a picture in anyway. It has been nice because my feet don't get as gross. I think I really should just buy a pair of Vans or something because that's what all the other hermanas here wear. 

We also had a lesson with some of the new converts of the elders. They are these 3 little Haitian kids that I love with my whole soul. We were outside their house, we said the prayer, and then there was a huge thunder clap. When we opened our eyes, one of the little kids was gone. We were like ??? where did Wenderson go?? Turns out he was hiding from the thunder. But the thunder here is so fun to hear. Everyone here doesn't like it, but I LOVE it.

Then a different day we were walking down the sidewalk (still in the rain), and I was like oh yeah this part is super slick when it is not raining. So I say, "Be careful; you might slip!" to Hermana Bingham, and she falls! Then I tried to catch her, and I fell! We were on the ground laughing our heads off, then a dude was yelling at us from across the street to be safe and started to cross over. We then yelled no esta bien! We don't want or need help! It was so funny hahah.

We also had a lesson over the phone yesterday, and we asked the guy if he had dogs because we heard barking. He said yes, eight! Then he asked us if we wanted one. We do, but as missionaries we can't. Bummer.

Our miracle for the week is that we found out where one of the members lives. When we went to find her house, she was outside! It was so fun to see her, and then she invited us over for lunch on Sunday! It was crazy because we had been by her house so many times, and we didn't know that's where she lived. So the fact that she was outside was a miracle. 

Also yesterday was the Dominican Mother's Day, so feliz dia de la madre todos!!

New Comp Hermana Bingham (Spiders, too) (05/23/2022)

Started the week out with the power going out again on Monday. That's two Mondays in a row! Maybe it might be a new pattern lol. I hope not because the power goes out when it's really hot...

This week I got a new companion!! She is super nice, and we are already starting to get along! She also loves ice cream, so we have gotten ice cream a lot lol. I am very happy about it!

We got to do service this week, and it was judging a singing competition in English. It was so bizarre, but it was great. They had a bottle of water and a bowl of peanuts for us to eat with a spoon.

We also keep finding spiders when we are in the streets. I am not a big fan of them because they are big boys. I should probably put a spider warning in the email title!

Our day on Saturday was a hot mess, literally and figuratively. All our plans fell through, but we were able to find a girl's house we had been looking for! It was honestly a miracle because she only told us the street number and the apartment number. She said, "It's the only one on the road." Yes, a very long road wao. BUT we found it and had a lesson with her sister, and it was great!

I love you all! Go get some ice cream!!

Hermana Locey 

Lights Are Out But People Are Home (05/16/2022)

Monday started out great and hot as ever. Then (we think because of the heat) the power went out at night. So we slept in the boiling heat, sweating (and I mean SWEATING) until the power came on and we were able to turn our fan on. Then we had another hot day on Tuesday haha. And the power went out again. At night. Yikes. So when Wednesday came around, I was a little excited for my shower in the dark, but the power then went on haha. 

But the excitement on Wednesday was the rain! Some of our plans fell though, so we cleaned out our carpeta. Which means Hermana Hampton tells me about her book while I text all these old, random numbers to see if they are interested in the gospel. Most aren't. But then we heard THUNDER! A lot of it. Little me from Utah is like, hey we shouldn't go out right now; we should wait. Hermana Hampton, like the true Spokane girl she is, says we will be fine. So we went out, made it to the park (which is about a five-minute walk normally) in about 10 minutes and decided that it was unsafe/stupid for us to continue on our journey. We were soaking wet, but now I feel like a true South American missionary haha. 

We also found a fountain a few days ago! There was a hole in the sidewalk, and water came out of it! It was very cute and little. 

We also couldn't get in contact with our guy who was going to be baptized on Saturday. We went to his house, and he wasn't there. On our way out, we met one of his neighbors who said she would call him for us! She was our first miracle. Then she told us he was at the gym. I had seen the gym--sort of--and I thought I knew where it was. Which is 100 times better than Hermana Hampton who didn't even know that there was a gym by our house. My knowing about the gym was our second miracle. When we got there, we looked around outside, not really sure what to do because we aren't allowed in gyms. Then our third miracle happened! One of the ward members was there and yelled, "Hola, Hermanas!" We asked her to try and find our guy, and she was able to find him!! That was the forth miracle. We got everything filled out and ready to go, then he decided that he didn't want to get baptized. bobo. (I am now realizing I use this a ton, and y'all have no idea what it is haha. It's about the equivalent of rip.)

I hope y'all are enjoying church! Go to church, so help me!!! Love you all!! I hope you watched the devotional with our prophet!!

Love, Hermana Locey

RAIN (05/09/2022)

Hermana Hampton and I both like to write. She has been telling me about the books she is writing haha. We use it as a reward to try and get to bed on time. I renamed one of her book characters too hahah.

We have been running around all the time, but it's all good fun. My mom told me I should explain the public transportation here. We use these little K Cars. They are these dumpy Toyota Corollas that you get in and you think, "Wow, how is this car running?" We (meaning everyone here) also fit four people in the back and then two people in the front seat. The mission rule about not having hermanas and elders sit next to each other is broken during these rides hahah. I will try and get a photo of when we went to Santo Domingo, and the elders picked us up and we rode home K Car style.

We went to district council, and a lady who we haven't ever seen there gave us mangos! We also went to our lesson the next day, and they gave us around 10 mangos haha. I even made a smoothie bowl with them!

It has also rained almost every day this week. I woke up in the middle of the night, looked out the window, and was like wow that's a lot of water in the street. I then fell back asleep haha. 

I also read a Conference talk by Russell M Nelson this week called Joy and Spiritual Survival. I think it was nice because he says that we have to choose to be happy and that no matter our situations, we can find joy in our lives through Christ. I think it's nice! A little motivational Monday thought for all y'all.

Lots of love! 

I also found my new favorite Spanish phrase this week: apartó mi alma. It means it takes my soul away. I love it haha

Hermana Locey

Bug's email address is Sarah.Locey@missionary.org. She would love to hear from you!

Sorry This Is Short (05/02/2022)

I got to go to Santo Domingo for light laughs this week because Hermana Hampton needed to get her residency card. I didn't need to go, but we couldn't have an equal number of hermanas and elders go together. So I had to go to uneven things out. BUT WE GOT TO GO TO KRISY KREME. SO ALL FIVE HOURS OF TRAVEL TIME WAS NOTHING. I love donuts. 

It was also a bit chilly this week. Last night we slept with our whole top sheet. Wow. Nice and chill. It was so nice though. I miss blankets lol.

I also finished El Libro de Mormon this week! I think it might be placebo, but I can speak a little more Spanish. We also got ice cream to celebrate. 

I hope you all enjoy summer that is coming soon! I think in my mind we are about in the end of January? You know, time. That's not really a thing for me, I guess. 

We also went to the monument! What's the monument for? I don't know. Hermana Hampton says it's for the heroes of the restoration. Our church also has a restoration. I think ours is more true lol. :)

Monumento a los Héroes de la Restauración, known as El Monumento, is named after the heroes of the Restoration War (1863-1865) who died in the fight to regain the DR’s independence from Spain.