Elder McBride's Private Blog: Running Out of Good Titles . . .

The view from my bedroom window

Hey Everyone! Life is good here in the DR. Where to start . . . so glad to hear about Travis and Joey's mission calls! I'm extremely stoked for them. Especially Joey - going to teach where his family came from. Pretty nuts. Oh! and Travis to Argentina! Which one though? There's like a million! And about Brother Christianson - that's terrible. I hope Scott's all right out there in Florida. That would be so tough to have your dad die.

So we got to go into the city again for our Christmas Zone Conference! That was really cool! Some good musical numbers - but the best part was when President pulled out the power point about mission stats. It's amazing to see how many baptisms some areas of the mission get. Last transfer the AP's had 23! So the Monte Plata area is usually the last area for baptisms, but we are doing sooo well right now. We have 2 already and a family of 5 for this Saturday! The Pres. turned to us during the conference and said "Monte Plata, estan trabajando milagros" (you're working miracles) - so that was pretty cool! Later we got to sit on Santa's lap and they fed us a Christmas dinner, so it was a good time.
So, the Espanol. It's going pretty good I'd say. If I'm concentrating hard, I can catch about 90%, but every once in a while someone will ask me a question and I have no idea what they said and feel like an idiot . . . but those are getting further apart which is nice. So the whole both MTC's thing was nice, because I started to get an ear for it early - but they taught no Spanish in the DR MTC because the teachers couldn't speak any English - so I'm having to teach myself everything which is pretty tough, but probably good for me anyways. You know how in the US, black people use a lot of really different kinds of names?? LaFonda, Shaniqua, Shaquille, Amare, Beyonce? Ya, same thing here. It's pretty hard to catch people's names because a lot of the time they are not even Spanish. Por Ejemplo Berkiz, Rymin, Suhaiti, and stuff like that. My companion of 20 months still has trouble with those though.
So, we're teaching two blind men men currently. Edgar and El Pato (everyone has nicknames here, and a lot don't even respond to their real name) and it made me think that what you do with your life is totally up to you. Edgar is happily married, has two kids, a nice house and is the President for a blind person association and everyone in the town knows and loves him. El Pato on the other hand, lives in a dirty, nasty wood shack by himself because his wife was tired of dealing with his alcoholism and wasting money on women. He's mean to everyone, so everyone is mean back - especially the little kids. And, he has no money. Both of these men were put in tough situations by God, but they handled them differently and look what happened. You always have a say in how your life turns out. Especially in hard situations.

I'm going to end a little early because I am going to try to send some pictures, but have a good week and enjoy the Christmas season!

Love, Elder McBride

P.S. Family - I'm sending a bunch of letters for Christmas right now and I hope they get there in time. The package that got broken into was candy canes, trail mix and lemonade powder . . . sorry, I ate them already :) It wasn't a surprise anymore, so what's the point in waiting right? I know you just sent a Christmas package, so don't feel like you need to send this stuff right away, but this is what I am in need of: A small day pack - face wash (it's liquid gold here) a plastic watch (not leather - it is so hot that they start to smell). There are no shoe fixer upper's here in Monte Plata, so I was only wearing my other pair, but those rip my sock in a certain place by my heel when I wear them, so I've been wearing the bad toe ones and I think I might just glue them. Brother Dickerson - ever since I got your letter talking about licorice nibs, I have been craving them even more than a greasy cheeseburger! And, thanks for asking! I love you all and have a good Christmas season and give Murphy an extra pet for me!