8 is as Great as a Plate of Chocolate Cake!

*Trips into frame, dripping with sweat, panting* Sorry I'm late! Things kind of got crazy this week, and in the crossfire, my email time got snipped. However, thanks to a generous Mission President, I've been granted time to speak now! Huzzah!

I will be totally honest when I say that this has been perhaps the strangest week of my mission thus far (as well as the most difficult). But all things have their purpose, and I am filled with the faith that these things shall indeed "be for my good".

Well! We've done a bucketload of walking, insomuch that my legs are indeed quite sore (I plan to be a calf model when I return home). In one of these daily jaunts, we passed by a stand heavy laden with fruit. Next to such were seated two girls, both of which I'd estimate to be about 13 or so (it's impossible to tell how old Dominicans are; I'm convinced that the Fountain of Youth really is on this island after all). Curse my gorgeous face, for as we passed, one of the girls grabbed onto my wrist, with a firmness of grasp that surpassed that of most mortals. Now, keep in mind that I'm still a bit of a Greenbean, and more often than not have no idea what people are saying to me. She said something, and honestly, in my noviceness to the missionary work, I honestly thought she wanted to know more about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ (I'M SUCH A GREENIE!). In all of this gringo confusion, Elder Thibault continued walking, as the event had yet to catch his notice. I'll admit, panic rose like bile to the surface, and with a bit of a shaky voice, I shouted, "ELDER! ELDER! ELDER THIBAULT!!"

He turned, and with a bit of a knowing smile, came to my rescue. They had a bit of a conversation (which I didn't understand any of in the moment [I later asked Elder Thibault what went down]) which went more or less as follows:

(Him) "Alright, let him go."
(Her) "No! I'm in love with him!"
"Great, but just because you're in love with him doesn't mean you have to keep ahold of him!"
"No! I'm going to steal him from you!"
"No, you CANNOT steal my companion!"
"I'm in love with him!"
"Let him go!"
And she eventually did.

Also, that same day, when we were contacting, a random guy ran by, screaming "BLEEEEEAAAAAAAUUUUUUGGHHHHHHH!!!"

Speaking of crazy drunk people, while we were out walking another day, we walked past a bar, which was pumping rather loud (Dominican loud, mind you, which is about five times louder than American loud) music. Immediately, this guy with totally bloodshot eyes stands up, walks over, and says something. He repeated his words several times, but due to the volume of the music (and the fact that he was basically whispering), it was impossible to discern what he was trying to say. He then went to shake our hands, but instead of a normal "palm-to-palm up-and-down release-hands" type of deal, as soon as our hands make contact, he rolls his hand away, does a bunch of weird finger wiggles, then waves three fingers in our faces (and for me, he added a delightful stomach poke). As we went to leave, he tried to pull us into a big hug. ...It twas at this point that Elder Thibault put the hammer down and forced the guy off of us. So, he goes to shake our hands farewell...and...more finger-wiggle three-finger-shake-shake-in-our-faces. Wack.

Then another day, we were walking to one of our appointments, when we saw a guy sitting on the ground, leaning up against a fence with his eyes closed, twitching. Before we even have time to process what we're seeing, this old lady with an umbrella just as plain as day walks calmly across the road, raises a hand over him, and starts trying to "cast the devil out of him". ...After about five minutes, we suddenly realized: WHO DOES THAT?! (We saw him about 45 minutes later by the way, and he was just then getting up from where he sat. He later proceeded to hobble away with a bit of oddity in his step. ...Something tells me there was less of a devil and more of a disability flowing here. Just a thought. :D )

And RAIN! So much rain...the streets became rivers, and the staircases became waterfalls. SO BEAUTIFUL!!! As we were helping some people move pipe that had fallen into the road and was messing up traffic, I stepped on a patch of what I thought was normal ground and collapsed in the street. Yeah, the gutters were so full to overflowing, that they were indistinguishable from the rest of the road! :D

And finally, I was hit with a bit of a sickness. It's nothing bad, but makes work a tad more challenging! Haha! Brilliant! I was tired of it being easy! ;D

The Spirit has helped me grow so much this week. And, I've got great stories to tell! Woo!

Joke of The Week: Why couldn't the bicycle stand up on its own? It was too tired. ...WOO! Lame jokes!

Paz, Amor, Unidad, y Tranquilidad!
-Elder Jones