So this week has gone pretty well I guess... Pretty basic, normal week, but good. One huge highlight ws that we went to a zone meeting on Thursday and on the bus ride back we sat by a monkey! Some guy had a little monkey in a cage so he let it out and let us play with it for a little bit and I took pictures too! I forgot my camera at home, but I will make sure that I bring it next week to get some pics sent off. (Oh, by the way, I sent my memory card off Thursday too so hopefully it will come soon.)
We have been knocking on tons of doors lately looking for families and single men of priesthood age and we have actually found quite a few married couples! At least more than you would meet in other parts of the country. Anyways, we have met and taught with some really nice, cool couples but the problem is that they are all completely satisfied with how their life is going right now. I am guessing that's how missionary work in the states is, and if I'm right, I feel bad for those guys. We meet awesome couples who are already married because they wanted to live the commandments of God and for that they have been extremely blessed! They say they have peace in their lives from the churches they visit and that they believe that they are on the path that God has for them, so they see no need and don't really have much desire to switch churches... We bring the spirit to them and explain to them really well what the difference is in this church but they just don't want it! It gets a little frustrating at times but we are trucking along.
For the past three days the sky has looked like what I assume the end of the world will look like! Even thought it was storming hard right on the Haitian border, the island is small enough that we had some pretty hard winds and some constant, solid rain. Yesterday, it rained from 8 in the morning until 1 in the afternoon straight! I don't know if I have already told you yet or not, but Dominicans and Haitians are deathly afraid of the rain! They believe that if you get a raindrop on your head, you are automatically doomed to a severe cold, so you can imagine how many people ended up coming to church. A grand total of 12 members, including children! Only 6 of them were actually Dominican, haha. The lack of investigators at church put back a lot of their progress, including Alfredo and Nerrpys, but I am getting a little worried that if we continue to push back their baptismal date, it won't happen. They are still doubting and he still isn't reading like he should but instead, is just waiting for the answer to come to him and it doesn't really work like that. To show God that you want an answer, you have to put forth an effort and show him and he hasn't really been doing it. We'll just keep praying our hardest for them and work our hardest but we can't really force them to do anything.
What I have is what the missionaries here call "The Rice Pooch." The only options for food here are either rice or pasta. Both of which are straight carbs, so yeah. I have a rice pooch from all of the carbs, not necessarily from all of the goodies, you can keep those coming haha! What the missionaries do here is the six months to sexy when the last six months of your mission, you get up extra early to work out super hard, diet, and pray so that the pooch disappears before you go home! So far I am on track to do just that. The resistance bands are actually really good mom, especially the jump rope. I won't really get buff from them or anything, but I can burn some extra calories. OH! I got your package on Thursday too! The Gold Bond and zip lock cups are lifesavers and good American chocolate candy is unbeatable. I already read all of the priesthood and conference talks and I am so sad I missed it! It was and incredible session, especially President Uchtdorf and Elder Dearon. I am way excited to read that whole conference over again.
Was the trip to San Francisco planned or spur of the moment? That is awesome that you and Dad did a Segway tour and I want a pic of that if you have it. Dad said you guys ate so much good food that it would be cruel to talk about it!
Apparently the hurricane wasn't too big of a deal in Haiti, but the bigger problem is that cholera is spreading around. Word on the street is that the Dominican's are closing off the what used to be open border now and killing people who try to cross illegally to prevent the spreading of the sickness. I have heard over 500 deaths from cholera up til now, but I don't know how reliable that is.
Thanks for the boys sports update! That is cool that Dan is picking up volleyball so well and how are Alex' knees? Fonze is really growing up. The picture you send was hilarious - thanks! Sorry that this e-mail isn't very blog friendly. For some reason the flow of my writing is just off today. If you could throw in some cortisone cream in the next package that would be my only request! I love you so much and have a good week!
Love, Elder McBride
Elder Sunderhaus
