Elena arrived at Sky Harbor Airport right on time! She left the Dominican Republic at 8 a.m. and flew home through Miami and Dallas. Several other missionaries left on earlier flights but Elena traveled alone. We were so happy to see her as she got to where we were waiting. What a great start to a wonderful Thanksgiving. We couldn't be more thankful! We now look forward to hearing both Elena and Alexis speak this Sunday, November 25. What a wonderful time this has been for our family!
So we are just getting on at 5p.m. so we are
cutting it close today, but it was a fun p-day.
We went to the office and then to the new Agora Mall in the west mission
right by Ikea. They bought lunch at the
food court. I had a delicious bacon
western cheeseburger from Carl’s Jr.
Mmmmmmmmmmmm! Then we wandered
around the mall and bought Krispy Kreme doughnuts for later. So craziness that this is my last email from
the DR. I am super excited. I can´t wait to see you all and party it
up. I heard about Obama winning on Wednesday
morning when the other hermanas came home from their run in the morning and
said they heard on the radio, “Obama ganó” and then honestly, I kind of forgot
about it. I was wishing I had been able to watch the election returns but then
I got over it. Too bad for Romney but I will enjoy the next election with no
incumbent. So much of this week has been
with dengue Domgaard. We’ve been doing
exchanges with her and her companion to keep their area going. One afternoon I went out but most of the
other time I stayed in with her since we just get along. I really have enjoyed the time we´ve had
together and now we are buddies. It´s been
good for us. It´s just too bad it
involved dengue but the dengue girl is doing much better and pretty much back
to normal. We both are still dealing with some stomach stuff which Hermana Hernandez
said could still be effects from the dengue.
I had to say goodbye to Hermana Ball today. That was kinda sad but I will see her when
she gets home. She and Hermana Domgaard
will get home in February. I am so
excited for Thanksgiving and I can´t wait for that airport reunion. I am glad Hermana Loftus got a hold of you and
that will be fun to see her. We have
zone conference this week which should be good and then the office on
Monday. A guy that Hermana Louis and I
taught twice is going to get baptized on Saturday, which is cool. The other hermanas are excited and I am too. Last Friday we had a meeting about going back
to the real world. They talked about
interview skills and how to use what we´ve learned on the mission in the job
world. It was good but was a long
day. There are about 10 of us going home
but I am flying by myself which actually I think make things less stressful. Elder Eickbush said today that it was good to
see the twinkle back in my eye since he saw me when I had dengue. Hermana Eickbush said she always thinks of me
when she sees strawberries since I taught her how to say it in Spanish. I don´t remember that but it´s funny what
people remember. I can´t believe that
this is really all going to be over in a week and that soon I will be taking off
the tag and back to Elena. I am sooo
grateful for these experiences and the friends I have made. I started packing last night and am trying to figure
out about my suitcases. My big duffel is
starting to rip in one spot so I think I am going to try and check my big red
bag and my brown carry on and just carry on a backpack, but we will see if I
can fit my stuff in those. I think it
will, based on my beginnings of packing yesterday. I am leaving a ton of stuff behind. It is going to be sad saying good bye to
Hermana Domgaard on Monday. Lexxy can
you look into options for making t-shirts that say, “I survived dengue in the
DR and on the back, dengue Domgaard, and cama Cottam? I want to order them when I get home. Hermana Domgaard
and I are dengue buddies for life. Hermana Mcentire is good. She has a 7a.m. flight to Miami and I have an
8a.m. She is flying with the elders from
Utah through LA. I got a letter from
the hermana in Santiago and she also is flying through LA, so I will have to
meet up with her at Costa Vida or ASU sometime. I can´t believe the next
communication we have will be in person ...good times. It is so crazy. Only 1 more semana and next Monday I will be
chilling at the office with the Eickbushes and have my exit interview and
dinner with the president. We will stay
at the CCM and then head out real early Tuesday morning I imagine. I am planning on working on my talk on the
flight since I imagine I will be pretty booked the rest of the week. I can´t believe it´s been 20 months since I
saw Lexxy and over 17 since I saw mis padres. Well peeps, my time is about up,
but it´s been a pleasure emailing you for the last year and a half. Soon I will just see your faces and hug and
kiss you and laugh and talk and party. I
have lots of mailing to keep up with, with my hermana friends here, and I can´t
wait for them to meet you sometime. I
sure love you and am so glad I did this.
I couldn´t have done it without all of your support and love and mail
and encouragement. I love my forever
family. See you in 8 days and let the
party begin. I love you guys sooooooooooooooooooo
much. Love, ejc
Greetings peeps.
We have had a good p-day. We went
to the conde to buy souveniers and such.
We ate at Pizza Hut and got frozen yogurt. Basically it was a repeat of last week but
minus the not feeling good cuz of the dengue.
So I have pretty much made a full recovery from the dengue, but we have
another case of dengue in the house. I
have been taking care of “dengue Domgaard” the last couple of days. She is eating and doesn’t have the high fever
but needs to do some more blood work to verify the dengue. She went out with us for a little while
today. Anywho, life is good here. The hermana from Fiji wants some info on BYUH so if you can look
into deadlines and application requirements and different programs for her Lexxy
and send that in a separate email next week that would be grand. I told her my sister isn’t doing anything so she
can look that up for you. J Also, my
“West Wing” companion, Hermana Loftus is going to be in Phoenix over
Thanksgiving so I am going to give her our home phone number to call and
arrange for a time to get together. I emailed and told her to call. She met Chelsea in
Utah. She is coming to visit her
boyfriend’s family in Phoenix so if
Cambrai Loftus calls you’ll know why. J So it’s crazy that I will be on my way home
in 2 weeks and 1 day ...craziness. I can’t
wait to see you. We went to the temple
on Tuesday and it was grand. We also ate
at McDonalds and I had a Big Mac ...mmmm. Good thing I got my appetite back. We made a stop at the doctor's at the CCM
since Hermana Mcentire’s back flared up at the temple. We didn’t go out on Tuesday since I was still
recuperating and her back was bothering her but on Wednesday we went out for
most of the time. I did take a little
nap in the afternoon. On Thursday we had
our district zone meeting and I got some lovely mail. I will try and write some letters this week. On Friday we worked like normal. I had a
splitting headache on Friday night but whatever. On Friday night, Hermana Domgaard had a lot
of body pain and has had some stomach pain for a couple of weeks, so on Saturday
morning we went to our favorite lab across the street. Awesome ...she wanted all four of us to go
for moral support so we could hold her hand and stuff. It was pretty funny. At least it was the good lady that drew the
blood since people have a hard time seeing her veins. Anyways, they had a baptismal interview and
some appointments in the morning and I still had a headache, so I stayed with “dengue
Domgaard”. It turns out she has
parasites and dengue. That’s what I call
a double whammy. I ended up staying with
her Saturday and Sunday in the house. She
is a stubborn one and insisted on going to church and going out today. I talked to Hermana Hernandez in the mission
office yesterday and she said it was good that she had a nurse that knows what
to do. I am pretty sure I am going to go
out with Hermana Mcentire today, but our area is not going so well since we
didn’t work in it for like 2 weeks and we want to keep the other area of the
hermanas going while she has dengue. So Hermana Mcentire has been going out
with the hermana from Fiji and I have been cuidando (taking care of) the dengue
girl. Actually we have a real good time
together so it’s been fun and I get to give her some pay back for all the times
she told me to drink things and stuff when I was sick. She likes that I understand
her sense of humor. The other hermanas
said we were crazy and I said we are crazier when we’re together. It’s kind of like Dad and Uncle Howard. We made some real funny videos of dengue Domgaard
and her dengue diaries. I will show you
some when I get home. We have renamed
the house, la casa de enfermedad (the house of sickness) and the house of
dengue. This would have been a lot more
convenient if we had had dengue at the same time. J I am going to make t-shirts when
I get home and send one to her that says “I survived dengue in the DR” ...funny.
Anywho, life is good here in the DR. Well peeps, my time is up. I am excited to hear about the elections this
week and I am so excited for that airport reunion in two weeks. Awesome! J I love you guys sooooooooooooo much. Tell Lexxy I liked the pictures she
sent. Have a great week. I am off to check up on dengue Domgaard. Love you, ejc
