17 Months Down!

Hola mi familia!

Things are still going great here in the Heights.  I still can't get over how happy I am to be here.  The work is booming here--we are always busy and always finding new people who are so ready to hear the gospel. Sister Hall and I have missed Sister Smart this week, but we are still having tons of fun.  

Funny story from the week:

Every single time we go visit Guarina, she feeds us.  I have decided to name one of the fat roles on my stomach "Guarina", in honor of the amount of food I have eaten at her house.  It is all tasty, but when you go over every single day of the week, your insides start to feel like they are made of platanos.  Haha. 

Many of the people we visit offer us soda.  Sister Hall and I have been trying to drink less soda (especially the sugary stuff), but we don't have the heart to tell these kind people that we don't want any of their soda, so in addition to giant-sized portions of delicious Dominican food, we often also have to gulp down a huge glass of Dominican soda, which is really more like syrup with bubbles.  Last week, one person gave us large glasses of red soda, and Sister Hall and I felt like we were going to puke.  In the middle of our lesson, someone rang the doorbell and they got up to answer the door.  When they left, I grabbed Sister Hall's full glass of soda sprinted to the only plant in the room and dumped it in.  Much to my surprise, the soil started fizzing almost to the point where it overflowed. I grabbed a napkin and tried to soak up some before they retuned then shoved the napkin in my pocket... Gross. Anyway, problem solved. So this week when we went back, I noticed the plant... The leaves turned RED. And it may be wilting a little bit... We were on a split with another sister and she called me Plant Killer for the rest of the night. Hahaha. This is why we are quitting soda...

Some great news:

So a new Elder in my district just came from serving in the Bronx Ward where I started my mission. He showed me a picture of one of my investigators that Sister Ramirez and I started teaching a year ago. He asked me if I know him, I say YES, and then the Elder says that Salvador is getting baptized on Saturday!!!!!! AHHHHHHH!!! I almost peed myself. And then he shows me a picture of a family that Sister Ramirez and I worked our butts off to re-activate. My last Sunday they came, but that was it. The Elder told me that they reactivated with him!!  AHHHHH!! I love being a missionary!! It is so cool to see how these people progress and how the right missionaries can change the situation completely.  Every missionary has such a strong impact and can make such a different difference. I am so grateful for the people who I have helped, and for those whom Heavenly Father has sent me to. The mission is so personal, and I love it. 

Guarina is progressing great! She is so ready to be baptized. On Saturday she passed her interview with flying colors. We are also super excited for her husband to come tomorrow! We are definitely going to jump right on teaching him the gospel. Guarina is already a missionary, so this is going to be SO AWESOME with her husband. On Sunday Guarina brought her neighbor to church with her!! We actually have been teaching her neighbor Milagros for a while now. We found Guarina cause we arrived early to our appointment with Milagros and decided to knock a couple doors first. BOOM, there was somebody so prepared to accept the gospel. Milagros has been progressing at a slower rate (she had never been to church before), so it was incredible to see how Guarina is pushing her to accept the gospel as well. 

I love seeing people change their lives through our doctrine. It is such a blessing to be here in New York. I'm trying to live every single moment until they shove me on a plane. Haha. 

I love you all!

Hermana Dodson