Sunday, March 31, 2013

Zoe Let's Us Know: She's Alive, Safe and Sound!

(From David, Zoe's father)
Zoe wrote to us on March 28 to let us know that all is well. She mentions a picture, but it did not come through in her e-mail so I am including a picture of the Dominican Republic Temple that she mentions so we can at least get an idea of what it is like.

Here is what she had to say:



Hello family! I only have 15 minutes to email today, so I'm making it quick!
I am alive safe and sound to the Dominican Republic International Missionary Training Center.
So far everything is good! It's beautiful and warm here. The MTC building is very nice and the water is drinkable and everything! Also, the temple is right next door! I'm currently sharing a room with 3 other sisters. We have two sets of bunk beds and our own bathroom.
Last night I flew with 5 other sisters. When we arrived in Miami, we all gathered from all over the country (and Canada) and ended up with a total of 17 of us girls! No boys this time.
Now that we're at the MTC, there are also Haitians that arrived last night via a 9 hour bus ride. They have mostly boys and 3 girls. They speak French here, and they have a man here from France who's their leader and they have many translators. So when we're all together for orientation today, it was a bit crazy. We were singing hymns in French, English and Spanish all at the same time. It still sounded ok.
This picture is the group that all came in yesterday, in front of the temple.
The Haitians are awesome and super loud and passionate about the work that we're doing. They're all going back to Haiti though to serve once they're done with their 2 weeks of training. Us learning Spanish have 6 weeks of training. With us North Americans there are 9 going to the Santo Domingo East and 8 of us going to Santo Domingo West. None of us have the Northern area of the DR.
I believe that in the whole MTC that now there's only 10 Elders and 40 sisters. Next Wednesday 20 Dominican missionaries are coming in. 12 of them will be sisters. It's kinda crazy how many girls there are! But it's good. Oh and PS the Helm's son is here (Pam and Doug's friends that also know Greg Adams), but he's going to Puerto Rico. There's a few here going to Puerto Rico.
Well I should probably go. But I hope to hear back from some people (or letters!) Also, Grandma Safeer you can't see in the picture, but I'm wearing the blue skirt you gave me today!

Miss you all!

-Hermana Safeer

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Here are the ways you can contact me

Here are the ways you can contact me:


EXPRESS POUCH- About 10 Days
Elder Zoe Safeer
Dominican Republic West Mission
P.O. Box 30150
Salt Lake City UT 84130-0150

OK, I know it says "Elder", but this is THE best way to address it so it gets to me.

VERY IMPORTANT: To send via express pouch, you MUST follow these directions:

  1. Use ONE SHEET of paper
  2. Fold paper into thirds
  3. Seal with scotch tape
  4. Apply US Postage and send to the address above
_________________________________________________________________________________
INTERNATIONAL MAIL- About 10 days
Elder Zoe Safeer 
c/Hatuey #73, Urb. Los Cacicazgos
Santo Domingo, Republica Dominicana

Again, I know it says "Elder" but just trust me, it's the way to go!

For letters in an envelope with pictures, etc. Regular international postage rates apply.


MORE INFORMATION TO FOLLOW REGARDING PACKAGES!

Thanks for your support. I'll post about once a week. (Actually my Dad is doing it for me- thanks, Dad!)

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Let's start from the very beginning....

Once upon a time I was very excited to receive my mission call. I had sent in my papers and I knew that it would take approximately 2 weeks for my call to arrive. One day, I got out of class and checked my phone and saw this from two of my lovely roommates: 
(Molly and Hailey holding my mission call)

I had never seen a mission call, but I knew what this was. I screamed, causing an Auntie that was in my class to ask what was wrong. As I started running as I yelled back, "My mission call is here! I need to get home!" I literally ran home. 

I had already warned my 9 roomies that whenever and whatever date it arrived I'd give them 5 minutes to get there before I opened it.  Once I gathered all that could be get there in the 5 minute time limit, I opened it up!
My wonderful roomie, Tiffany, helped by covering the letter, so that I could only read one sentence at a time, and not just skip to where I was going. I could not even comprehend what I was reading (I for real read the words 'Dominican Republic' 3 times in my head before I actually read it out loud). I did not know where the DR was. Regardless, I sure was excited!