Hi everyone! I sent a letter home last week since I didn’t get a p-day, so hopefully my family gets that and uploads it soon! It has been a crazy, crazy week for me, but I’m doing well here in Puerto Rico. I am in Aibonito, which is high up in the mountains and one of the least hot areas of the mission. It is MUY BONITO and I love our cute little branch. They are very excited that I can play piano for them on their tiny keyboard. My companion is Hermana Rollins and that is really cool, because we actually emailed a bit before the mission, and President Smart received super last-minute revelation to put us together! She is awesome and has been out one transfer less than me, but came to PR two months ago.
Anyway, I’ll tell you a little bit more about what it’s like here. We live in a member’s basement. It’s hot and humid here but like I said, I could be somewhere much hotter. I love the short rain storms! There are lots of dogs, cats, and chickens wandering around without owners, they have fleas and sometimes missionaries here get attacked by them. It’s also really sad when you see them dead on the side of the street. But, some of them are really cute! It’s kind of really sketch in some parts of our area, but we try to stay safe and follow the Spirit. We had to walk through el pueblo last night at dark which is like where all the bars and stuff are, but we kept our metal water bottles at the ready in case we needed to fend anyone off haha. I do think it’s more dangerous than Portland, but I actually feel calmer because we are out in the countryside and not right in the middle of the city like I was before.
Some of the great food I’ve has here so far is limber (yummy shaved ice stuff), tostones (fried plantains), pina coladas, and pastalillos (fried dough filled with different meats/seafood and cheese, served with fry sauce). The Utahans are happy because they eat lots of fry sauce here, they just call it mayo-ketchup haha.
Anyway, a cool miracle from this week was when a man we are teaching named Jose brought his girlfriend and his buddy to our lesson! It went super great, and they all want to come to church and keep learning more. We have a goal of helping this branch become a ward, and it was great to see 2 of our investigators and 2 less-actives come to church and stay for all 3 hours this week! We also have 2 youth that should be on-date for baptism after we meet with them this week!!!
Today we had a great hermanas activity in Guayama close to the beach. We painted rocks, tried but failed to hang hammocks, took cool pictures, and went out to lunch for pastalillos!
This is a very big adjustment for me, but also a wonderful adventure. I know that I can do anything with the Lord’s help, and that He has sent me here at this time for a reason. I can’t wait to see what comes next!
Love,
Hermana O’Barr
I have lots of pics but I will figure out how to send them all next week!