Hola todos! Hope everyone is doing well. It is finally starting to warm up which is good but makes me nervous about summer haha. 

This week has been great! Crazy to think that I hit my 6 month mark this week, I have been gone for half a year already! Ahh that means I only have a year left.... Time is going bye too fast. I don't like it. 

Shout out to Isaac Foutz who is now Coronado's newest Mr. Coronado! 

We had a miracle this week! So we have been trying to contact someone that we had in our records to see if they would be interested in taking the discussions with us. We had passed by the house a few times and no one ever answered. But this time someone did. It wasn't the person that we were expecting but it was even better. This cute couple invited us into their home and we started talking to them. They ended us letting us share a message with them. We shared a small video about Jesus Christ and after the video we were talking to their kids and asked them if they knew who Jesus was, and to be honest I thought they were going to say yes. But they didn't know who Christ was, so we taught that to them. And the kids were wondering about heaven but we didn't have time so we made a return appointment with them and plan on teaching them the plan of salvation next! But we got two new investigators!

This weekend we had Stake Conference and then we also had a Spanish devotional with a member of the 70 on Sunday evening. So we were able to hear some amazing talks from some powerful people. AND I WAS ABLE TO SEE HERMANA HUXFORD #bestdayever 

We have a funny investigator who speaks super mumbled Spanish and likes to correct our Spanish all of the time... But after one lesson he was walking us to the gate of his house and he then told us that the moon was his girlfriend. He then talked to the moon and told it that she was beautiful and that he loved her. Then he blew the moon a kiss. It was pretty funny. 

My companion and I love Elder Jimenez as our district leader he's the best. Saturday was the Independence Day of the Dominican Republic. This is his first time being away from his country for Independence Day so we wanted to do something for him. There is a sweet member in our Ward who is also Dominican and she agreed to make lunch for him and us. We also got our Zone Leader to make him a cake with the Dominican Flag on it! And all of it was a surprise! Oh and funny story. So we called Elder Jimenez last Tuesday because we had to talk to him about our goals for the week and about four seconds of ringing it went to voicemail, or at least we thought, so we hung up. But actually elder Jimenez answered the phone but he answered it like his voicemail! In super fast Spanish and everything. Haha all of the elders that live with him got a kick out of that. So when they called us back he asks us, "Sister are you mad at me?" And we weren't because we didn't know that he played the prank on us yet haha! And it's cute because Elder Jimenez doesn't know a lot of English because he has only been in the US since August or July because he had to change missions from La Republica to Salt Lake City. So his English is really good but sometimes broken and it's funny. Kind of like our Spanish. 

Oh this week I ate lengua, aka TONGUE (so that's kind of the pun of my title-the gift of tongues is when people can understand a different language than their own with the help of Heavenly Father). We were at mutual and we went to a taco stand with the young women and we tried lengua. Neither my companion nor I had been to a taco stand before, and there are so many here, so the young women took us. It wasn't too bad either. With onions and lime nothing is really bad. The rest of the tacos were really good though! So, so far I have eaten tongue, hearts, and cow stomach! And I'm only a third of the way through! I just hope I don't have to try cow intestine... But we shall see. 

I also saw a chicken cross the road and I really wanted to take a picture but he ran away from me...

I am so grateful for the experiences I am having right now. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else at this moment. I love being a missionary, it's the best! I love these people and their culture! I love being able to be a representative of my Savior and His church. These past 6 months have been some of the hardest times of my life, but at the same time some of the absolute best months EVER! I don't want to come home, sorry family, but I know I have too so I am going to make this next year the best year ever! I love this church and the happiness it can bring to anyone's life. Christ lives, and He loves you. Don't ever forget that. 

P.s. Please keep the Wells family in your prayers because earlier this month they lost their daughter in a car accident in Pennsylvania while she was serving as a sister missionary there. 

con amor,

Hermana Olivas