Hermana Anderson: May 20th

Great news everyone, Hermana Blanch and I are staying together for another transfer! It will be a two month transfer because partway through a new mission president will arrive. This is going to be great.

I think my emails will continue to mention mangos for a while. We just can´t seem to go a day without being gifted with a bag of mangos, mango juice, or my new favorite, mango milk! (Evaporated milk with mangos in the blender.) Believe it or not, mangos never get old ;)

We are seeing lots of miracles. One of which was that the Elders are alive! Apparently their neighbor is crazy and lit his apartment on fire a few nights ago. Fortunately the Elders were still awake and got out really fast and were totally unharmed. The apartment is a bit scorched, but they are doing great! God watches over us all.

Here´s a funny story for you. So in Esperanza there are inumerable hoards of fowl. I refuse to be more specific than that because each creature is some hideous mutation of several very ugly birds. You thought turkeys were ugly? You should see the "turkeys" of Esperanza. Anyway. There are lots of them roaming around and many of them have an adorable clan of chickies that follow them around. (It truly is a miracle that with such physically repulsive parents the young offspring can achieve even a semblance of cuteness.) Hermana Blanch and I walk past the baby birds all the time and always coo and say "I want to catch one and cuddle it!" So one day we decided to try. Of course we were running around like lunatics as the baby birds scattered all over the narrow dirt lane. Suddenly there was a car and two motorcycles, each going a different direction, all coming toward us and the frantic chicks. We jumped out of the way quickly and I slapped my hands over my eyes as I heard a cacophany of tire skidding and chick squawking. The noise receded and I asked "are they all dead? they´re all dead aren´t they?" Hermana Blanch said, "Look" and so I warily opened my eyes, expecting to see the feathered remnants of the birdie massacre smeared across the dirt. Instead I saw the whole feathered familiy safely on the other side of the lane. How Dominicans manage to drive so recklessly and yet mar nothing will always remain a mystery to me.