12.15.14

Hello all!

How is everyone doing? How are the Christmas festivities going? It still boggles my mind that Christmas is in two weeks and there´s no snow on the ground! It´s just weird to me that I won´t have a white Christmas this year or next. but winter here is glorious. It´s so much cooler now and I love it! It´s nice not to be sweating all the time. 

Alright yáll, so transfer calls came last Saturday. I will be staying in San Juan but my trainer is getting transferred which means I´m receiving a new companion. I am extremely sad that I have to say goodbye to hermana flores. I love her so much and I have so enjoyed our time together. I´m really going to miss her. She´s going to the Capital and my new companion is coming from the capital. My new comp is Hermana Hildman. I guess she´s from Idaho too! I´ll meet her tomorrow. 

Actually Hermana Flores and another hermana that we live with are getting transferred so we´re getting two new hermanas in the house. It´s going to be very interesting :) 

In other news, I can officially say that I had Chikungunya! It´s a mosquito transported virus here. But I had a very mild case. Usually it can put a missionary in bed for 3 days to two weeks. But like i said, I got a very mild case. I was very achy and had headaches and a little fever for about four days (not enough to keep me from working though) and then I got a really bad rash all over my body. Red dots everywhere. It was ugly and my hands hurt a lot but now it´s finally all gone. Yay! I´m really grateful that i didn´t get it too badly. All your love, thoughts, and prayers must be working. So thank you!

Investigator News: We found out today that we completely lost one of our investigators. She was so wonderful too! She always kept all of her committments and soaked up everything we taught her. She originally started taking our lessons because her boyfriend/fiancee is a member. and they were supposed to be getting married this week. But we just found out that apparently they broke up, she´s pregnant, and she´s not getting baptized anymore. We were very surprised... and sad. we´re going to try and get in contact with her so we can hear the story from her. 

But in other news, we have 3 scheduled baptisms for January that i´m really excited about. We have some great investigators but we just need to get them to go to church! Always a problem here...

anyhoo, that´s all I´ve got. These next couple of weeks will be exciting/interesting adapting to a new companion and the changes in the district and zone. we´ll see! 

Spiritual goodness: I was able to watch The Nativity Story with some other missionaries and it was so good! I really like this movie and I would recommend it to everyone! It´s really a wonderful persceptive on the story of our Savior´s birth. And it´s very realistic! It definitely made me think about the circumstances surrounding Christ´s birth and how each piece in the story was orchestrated by God. Here´s my challenge for you:

Women- Imagine what it would have been like to be Mary. An angel tells you that you are going to bare, not only a child, but the Son of God. But it´s one thing being told something like that and for it to actually happen. But it does! And can you imagine having to go more than a hundred miles, 8 months pregnant, riding on the back of a donkey? That is one strong woman.

Men- Imagine what it would have been like to be Joseph. You´re engaged to a woman and suddenly you find out that she´s pregnant. Can you imagine how devastated you would feel to think that she was unworthy to you? And then imagine seeing an angel in a dream telling you that your fiancee is carrying the Son of God. not only that, but suddenly you become responsible for that child. You suddenly are given this huge responsiblity to care for, provide for, and protect this child and his mother. 

I would encourage you all to reread the nativity story in the Bible and ponder it carefully. Imagine yourself in the story and what it would have been like to be there. Whether you imagine yourself as Mary or Joseph, or maybe a shepherd or a wise man. And then think of the significance of Christ´s life here on the Earth and what He did for all Mankind. :)

I love my Savior and I love this Gospel! 

Merry Christmas everyone!

siempre,

Hermana Dibble

My mission mom and my mission grandma. (My comp and her trainer)

Chikungunya!

12.1.14

Hola everybody!

Sorry it´s been awhile. It is so hard to get a group email out in the amount of time that I have on the internet. But I´m alive and doing well!

How was everyone´s thanksgiving? Dominicans don´t celebrate it so there wasnt anything special going on here. Since my comp and I are the only Americans, we made a thanksgiving lunch. Ingredients are limited so we just made chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans and onions, butter rolls, and chocolate/coconut cake. It was delicious :) Then we had to go to work. But we got to share some special messages on gratitude which I loved. 

this last saturday we were supposed to have two baptisms but both fell. Two of our youth investigators were supposed to get baptized but didnt. One girl´s mom won´t let her and the other one feels like it´s too hectic of a time in his life. So he´s wants to postpone it. We´re working hard with him to help him understand that this isn´t something he should procrastinate but he´s on the verge of joining an elite beisball program that will determine if he plays professionally or not. Phew. Beisball is a big deal here. Seriously. 

We currently have two weeks left of the transfer. Which means I have two weeks left of my training! Gah! Time has flown. Its mostly likely that my comp will be transferred and I´ll stay in San Juan. But anything could happen. I really don´t want to be seperated from my trainer, I love her so much! but we´ll see....

Christmas celebrations are in full swing here. Downtown they decorated the whole place and created a massive Nativity scene. There´s lights, vending stands, tons of people, and music every night. Tons of people gather there which is great because well, they´re all in one place for us missionaries :) We contact a lot now because the church launched a ¨He is the Gift¨ program. We have special hand out cards to give out. There´s a nice little mormon message on christmas.mormon.org if you want to watch it. I think thats the site.. I don´t know what it is in english. Anyhoo, Christmas time is a wonderful opportunity to meet new people and share a Christmas message. It´s great here because xmas isn´t focused on Santa and gifts. In fact, most families don´t even do gifts on Christmas. It´s all focused on Jesus, as it should be :) When we ask people what they do for christmas, they always talk about how they gather with all their family and help make a huge dinner together. Usually they eat on the 24th too. But I love it because there isn´t the hustle and bustle of buying and wrapping gifts. People just want to be with their family and eat food. I knew I liked this country :)

So as it is with every Christmas, I challenage you to keep in mind the true meaning of aand focus on the greatest gift that each one of us have received and will ever receive. Jesus Christ. He is truly the greatest gift of them all. John 3:16. I´m grateful to be here in The Dominican Republic and serving this people. I really love being a missionary and I love teaching these people, no matter how broken and incorrect my Spanish is. It is the Spirit that teaches and touches each individual life. So live your life in a way that the Spirit can be with you at all times and in all things. As a missionary, I have to be extra careful of my thoughts, words, actions, so that I may always have the Spirit with me. Because if i don´t, then there is no way my investigators would learn anything. Remember that Jesus Christ is the greatest gift, God gave to mankind. And remember that the gift of the Holy Ghost is the second most important gift God gives us after baptism, through someone holding his power and authority- the Priesthood. 

I love you all and I am so grateful for all your love and support! Hope you have a good week!

Con amor,

Hermana Dibble

11.3.14

Dominicans don´t celebrate Halloween but that didn´t mean we couldn´t have a little fun ourselves ;) We had a costume contest from whatever materials we had in our closets. I was supposed to be a body builder but I just look fat. Oops. It´s all those empandas and juice! I regret nothing :)

-Hna Dibble

Mailing Address

Alrighty so many people have been asking me about mail service here. I receive mail only about once a transfer (six weeks). Its just when the zone leaders go to the mission home or for a special event where we will be seeing our mission president. So about half way through the transfer, the zone leaders will go to the mission home. So that will be in about 4 weeks. As far as Christmas goes... I really have no idea when I´ll be able to receive packages. The next transfer ends a week before Christmas but I´m sure the mission president will try to get all the packages out to missionaries so they can have them for christmas. But I would reccommend getting any package you want to send out soon because it takes a good month to get here depending on the service you use. One Elder´s mom uses missionary mail or something like that and he always seems to get his packages really fast. If you need some ideas of what to send here´s some :)

-Snacks and treats! I really, REALLY miss Reese´s and other common candies. So far Ive only seen snickers, twix, M&Ms, and hersheys here and it´s expensive. They have Peanut butter here too but it tastes weird. You can only get good peanut butter in the capitol. I would love any type of snack food like granola bars, nuts, and other typical american snacks. I need to eat more protein but its really hard here since we have to be really careful about the meat and nuts and other things are expenisive. 

Also, I have never seen any sour candy here. I love sour patch and gummy worms ;)

-Music! I brought some cds but i would adore more. Every house has a portable dvd player that also has a USB port so a USB drive with music would be a wonderful gift. My mission president is pretty chill so as far as I know, we´re allowed to listen to any music that is uplifting and encouraging. So not only church musice but good songs, instrumental, etc. 

I can´t think of anything else.... anything I recieve will be greatly appreciated. I love you all!

Address:

Hermana  Megan Dibble

Dominican Republic Santo Domingo West Mission

C/ Hatuey # 73

Urb. Los Cacicazgos

Santo Domingo

Dominican Republic

Week Siete

Hola todos!

How is everyone doing?! It´s almost November! Can you believe it? I am officially in the last week of my first transfer in the field. Time has flown! It´s a comfort to know that I will be staying in my little area for at least another transfer. You are garanteed 12 weeks or 2 transfers with your trainer. There´s only really rare cases where a new missionary is only with their trainer for 6 weeks. I don´t think that will happen to me which I am fine with because I love San Juan! These last two weeks have been super busy. We´ve had Zone Conference and a Training Conference, so twice we had to take a bus to Azua which is about an hour from San Juan. The first trip to Azua we took a normal bus and on the way back I got soooo car sick. For all of those who know me well, I´m sure you know what I am talking about. I have never been so car sick in my life. But I was proud of myself because I didn´t throw up even though it took all my will power, plus divine intervention, not to. So the second time we had to go to Azua a week later, I was really dreading it. But fortunately, we paid to take a nicer bus. These types of buses are called Caribe Tours. They´re a lot bigger with comfy seats that lean back and they even have movie screes. Reminds me a lot of an airplane... We were able to get seats up front so that was nice. 

But leaving San Juan for only part of the day and being in Azua made me realize how much I love San Juan. It is very familiar now and I know my way around. I will be really sad to leave buuuut i dont have to worry about that for 7 more weeks :).

Alrighty, so a few people have been asking about our investigators. I know I havent talked that much about them..or at all... so here it goes.

First up, yesterday so great because we had 6 (SIX) investigators and 1 less active come to church. People. This is huge. I was soooo happy! Every Sunday we work so hard to bring our investigators to church and finally they came! Not all that we are teaching but that´s okay. Next week :)

Okay first, we are teaching a wonderful lady named Tihara. She is 23? Her ¨husband¨ (not married but living together) is inactive. The missionaries have been teaching her for a few months now. She was good about coming to church but once we taught the Law of Chastity and told her she needs to get married (which was received well. her and her fiance want to get married), she stopped being consistent because she wants to go with her fiance. But he finds excuses not to come each week. Finally yesterday, she was fed up with him i think, and came by herself. I´m so proud of her! She has a wonderful testimony already and has a lot of faith! They did set a wedding date for Nov 27 so we´re going to do everything we can to get them to that goal so she can be baptized. 

Next, is Pascual. Oh Pascual... Pascual has been taught all the lessons and was going to be baptized but because of family things that came up, he wasn´t able to be baptized on the previous date. We´ve had a tough time with him because although he knows the Church is true, he´s finding it hard to pioritize his life and put important things (like God) first. Also, he has been stuggling financially so our last few visits were mostly just trying to build his faith and hope because he is very depressed. He´s been doing better though. But he´s started this new pact thing- he won´t come to church till his financial situation improves. Isn´t that when we need church and God that most? When we´re struggling through trials and problems, God should be the first person we turn to. Faith and trust, my friends. Faith and trust. 

That last few I want to talk about are our little group of youth investigators. I love teaching teeenagers! They are sometimes a lot easier to teach than adults because their knowledge (in this case, religion) is still new so they are a lot more accepting. Plus they come to church! We have a pretty solid youth group in our branch so it´s pretty easy for a new youth investigator to be fellowshipped. The missionaries before me have been teaching most of the youth investigators we are teaching now except 1. His name is Haner. He´s a contact. Turns out he is learning English in school so we invited him to our English Class on Saturdays (my comp and I teach english class by the way). He has been coming to class ever since we invited him. So not only are we teaching him in class but we also teach him in personal appointments. He is actually already very religious and has a wonderful desire to learn. He came to a church activity we had on Saturday and he came to church! He´s great :) I enjoy teaching him because he knows quite a bit of English so he understands me when I talk in Span-glish. I feel more of a connection to him because he is one of the first investigators my comp and I met and began teaching ourselves. I really excited to see how he continues to progress. 

Hmkay, i´ll stop there. We have a few more investigators than that but it would be a really long letter if I wrote about them all and you would probably fall asleep in the process, so I´ll stop :) But i´m really looking foward to this week! We have everyday practically booked up so it´s going to be a busy one! Plus me and my comp have set our goals high this week. We are going to try and achieve the weekly goals that the mission president has set for the whole mission. It´s going to happen. "Indoor plumping, it´s going to be good". Name that movie! :)

Entonces.... that´s all I have for today. The work is progressing, i´m doing great, life is good. Thank you for all your support and love! The Church is true! And if you don´t know it is then you should talk to the missionaries and pray about it because the Gospel of Jesus Chirst is for everyone and can bless your life in so many ways. I know this because it has already blessed my life in countless ways and continues to bless my life every day. I wouldn´t be here in this crazy country (said very lovingly), if I didn´t know the Church and this Gospel was true. So go find out for yourself if it is true and those who already know this, keep living and sharing it! 

I love you all! Scripture of the week: 2 Nephi 31:13

Hasta luego! 

con amor,

Hermana Dibble 

Me and my companion:

The San Juan Zone:

Week Seis

Okay first, baking. I miss baking a lot! Ingredients are much different and Im still learning how to substitute so for now I cant bake anything like cookies, brownies, etc. I havent seen any chocolate chips or cocoa in the store we have here which is a big bummer. I know in the capital they have that stuff but not here. I did buy a cake mix in a box to make for tomorrow but i am nervous to use our oven. It´s pretty ghetto. Everything here is ghetto. But i have had some little treats that people here and there have made for us which have been really good. I want to learn how to make them so I can make them for you guys when I get home. We have a bakery close by that we went to last week. I was dying for a doughnut. It was a cute bakery with decorated cakes, doughnuts, and other dominican desserts. Everything looked so good. So I bought a doughnut and some other things to try. It was not good. The doughnut was terribly dry and the pudding inside was bland. Sugary sweets are very different here. In the way that they aren´t sugary at all. dominicans dont like super sweet things. (which is ironic necause they eat sugar cane as a snack). But any dessert Ive bought here is not very sweet and just different. But they have traditional plates like Tres Leches, Flan, and Arroz con leche, which are muy rico. (delicious). These are the things I want to learn how to make. Im sure when I come home my taste buds will be very different. Also, as far as treats and candy goes- the only candy Ive seen here are Snickers, milky ways, and normal hersheys. So anything besides those would be greatly appreciated :) I miss Reese´s a lot! 

Second- your other question about tourism. Ive only ever had one guy come up to me and try to force me to buy tooth brushes. But because San Juan isnt anywhere close to the coast or to tourist spots, there isnt much of what you were talking about. But when someone is trying to sell something, they are very aggressive. 

Next, my companion and the other hermanas we live with- we usually eat out once a week or once every other week.Usually Pday. Food is cheap. To get a pretty big meal, its only about 4 dollars in America. Fried chicken is big here. What´s hilarious is that they are actually quite a few Chinese here. And they own little restaurants and they sell fried chicken and rice, not traditional chinese food. 

Theres many things about the DR that are so funny and interesting. I am trying to be diligent about writing little tid bits down so I can someday share them all with you. I love San Juan. It´ll be fun to experience a new area but that wont be for awhile. 

anyways, that´s all I have today. Feel free to share this email with everyone since I wrote this one instead of a general email for everyone. Hope you are all doing well and life is good because it´s good for me! Have a wonderful birthday week!

Love always,

Hermana Dibble

My District:

 My companion, Hermana Flores:

The other sisters I live with:

Week Cinco

Hello! Sorry, this will be a short email this week. 

Our weeks are so busy! Everyday is so long and I am completely pooped at the end of the day. But I like it. Its a full schedule but life is good. There is so much work to do in our area! And I didnt realize how big our area is until my comp and I walked the whole thing. We have seriously probably only contacted an eigth of our area.Its so big! Our schedules fill up with appointments up to the next week. Everyone we meet always agrees to a next visit but thats just how the culture is. So its great but at the same time, the Dominicans are terrible at keeping commitments. And asking them to go to church is a really big deal. So that is where we struggle the most. Getting the people to do what we ask them and to come to church. We invite so many people to church everyday but maybe only 3-5 actually come. It is really sad and frustrating but thats just how it is here. 

General Conference was this last weekend! I hope all you watched/ listened and took advantage of it! The sessions were all in spanish here soooo I didn´t understand any of it which was really sad. I was really looking forward to conference, I always do. So I pretty much studied the scriptures and last conference issue in the Liahona the whole time. But the music was wonderful! (the only part in english). So If anyone wants to send me their favorite talk from one of the sessions, I would love it! 

Other than that, life is good. I really have a terrible time thinking of what to email about. If you have any specific questions, email them to me and I´ll include the answer in next week´s letter. Then I can talk about specific things that you find interesting that seems normal to me :) 

The weather is still sooooo hot. The hottest part of the day is between 1-3pm. But it cools off fast at about 5pm. Everyday at that time, clouds roll in. I love all the fresh produce and fruit available here. There´s a big flea market we sometimes go to. There´s all sorts of produce. And you have to buy everything green because the next day itll be ripe. My favorite are the avocados and pineapples. The avocados here are HUGE ande delicious. And theres lots of red to orange to green tomatoes. Green tomatoes are actually very good. A common meal we have here are avocado and tomato sandwiches. Two other things I love here are empandas and juice. Empanadas are sold on like every street corner. They are delicious. We have to be careful about buying street food but we have a couple of stands we now are safe. I want to become an expert empanda maker. And the juice is to die for. We go to a particular place that sells fresh juice, everything from cherry to coconut to oatmeal to grapefruit, etc. A common loved juice here is called Chinola. I was told it is Passionfruit but I dont think it tastes like passionfruit. I dont know. Its good though. I will get fat from empanadas and juice and I am just fine with that. Because its all super cheap! An empanada is about 50 cents in the US. and they are big. Two fill me up. Anyways... thats the random story of the day.

Sorry, no pics again this time. I forgot my camera cord. Next week, I promise! 

Love you all! 

Con amor,

Hermana Dibble