A Little Something Sweeney: Family. Friends. Fiction. Food.

Ok, attention everyone: My mom wanted me to make a special announcement in a public forum, and I was only too happy to oblige. I love and respect my parents too much to do anything contrary to their will. So I would like to take this time to announce that my mother has officially seen the tail end of a half-century. The big 5-0. As of February 19, 2012, Connie Sweeney has turned 5x10 years old. Well, I hope I did that justice. Although, you have to admit, she’s still held together pretty well. You’ll have to ask her how she does it. I know, but I wouldn’t want to embarrass her by explaining it here. Anyway, another week, another destiny. I’m now well into the rhythm of my area and speaking Spanish on a more or less constant basis. Which is something I would like to speak of a bit more in depth, because before, it hasn’t been something I’ve been particularly excited to speak about. Well, speaking about my speaking, that is. In Spanish. I will occasionally get letters from people as...

Ok, so, I feel like because my name has been so used and abused by so many, and because it essentially doubles as both my first and last name, I feel like I have earned the right to put it in the title of my blog. And whether the right was given to me or not, I’m taking it, because, well, it’s my blog, and though I’m a temporary Dominican, I’m really still an American, which means I still have freedom of speech. I hope. Who knows what will have changed when I get back? But as everyone knows, some things never change, one of those things being sayings and expressions. If you’ve heard of Jesus, you may have heard of the accompanying idiom: W.W.J.D. or “What would Jesus do?” You can find this pithy turn of phrase on shirts, bumper stickers, and most popularly, bracelets. But I have to wonder if anyone ever actually answers this question after asking it. And if the answer is really even within our ability to grasp or figure out. Example? Ok, but only because you asked so n...

Good heavens, has it really been another week? I feel like I should be done with the mission right now. I can literally not remember a time before this week started. But that's the beginning of a new transfer for you. With a new companion. In a new area. You never know what to expect. So you learn to live your life by the oft repeated phrase by people like my dad who like to pretend they know Spanish, and just say, "Que Sera, Sera." And no, there are not properly placed accents on those words because I have no idea how to command the key board to do what I say. So when I write my mission president his weekly letter, he also gets to believe I have crappy grammar. But I digress. Where were we? Oh, yes, "que sera sera," or Whatever will be, will be. And I say that whether I truly believe it or not. Ok, well, I sorta have to. The mission scripture I picked, Proverbs 3:5-6, talks about "trusting in the Lord with all your heart," and "not ...

Hmmmm… sometimes the hardest part of starting is knowing what to start with.   My self-congratulatory segment, where I talk about how I’ve completed six months on the mission? The continuous ridiculousness of transfers? The equally ridiculous task of teaching old dogs new tricks? Or never learning my lesson the first time? Too much for one blog entry? Of course! Let’s get started.   Well, yes, don’t mind if I do break my arm patting myself on the back. I’ve made it through a third of my freaking mission. That’s big, people! So to celebrate, we went to the closest thing to fast food here, called Pollo Rey (Chicken King. They’re not real subtle with their rip-offs here). It was funny to see a basic American staple, fast food, but all in Spanish, with such side dishes as tres leches and platanos fritos. I think the unexpected grease really through Hma. Lund and I for a loop.   But it certainly didn’t make me as loopy as when it hit me that in another six months, I’ll only ...

I really don't know why I've become so very enamored with using the word Azua in so many of my titles, but it is just Delicious to me. And Azua, being what it is (ridiculous) needs to be mentioned as often as possible. Just because. But speaking of titles, I have the suspicion that the one I used last week is a repeat. That makes me a bit ashamed, as I pride myself so very much on creative titles and one-liners. But I'll stand by my double title, if necessary. I can hardly remember the date, much less the title of a blog I'm not even managing myself. So now you know and can have one less thing to stress about. I know I feel better. But yeah, Azua is still special as ever. Which means I am never short of weird occurrences/moments of good cheer/unfortunate events. Why don't we go down the list and give an example of each, shall we? My weird occurrence will put me straight back into sitcom mode, or maybe just a throwback to my college years. Or both, ...

Hello again to all my friends, I´m glad you came to play. Our fun and learning never ends, here's what we did today! ( 10 mental pesos to whoever knows where that magical quote is from). Anyway, back when I was just a wee little baby being trained on the mission, I developed the saying that would eventually one day become the title of today's blog. It all started when I must have had a rough day followed directly by another. It got so I would just look at Hermana Brown, pull a dramatic face and intone, "it's going to be one of THOSE days..." And when you have a day here, you have a day. And Hermana Lund and I have made it up to a week. For many of the appointments we made while contacting door to door, we saw no results because, well, the people weren't in their houses, and I think Newton had some physics law about the improbability of teaching to a personless house. People might think we are crazy than we actually are. But I think I realized t...

Well, my senior companion said it, so it must be true. It´s different here. Much like Ozzy, I feel like I´m on a crazy train, and I´m pretty sure said train bears the name Azua. Actually, I really just feel like I´m in a cartoon. We teach a lot of our lessons outside on peoples´porches, and especially on the street of Bartolome and Nicholas Mañon, there is A LOT of motorcycle activity. It’s really the transportation of choice here. So, everytime I go to open my mouth to teach some spiritual principle or idea, BRRRRRRRRMMMMMMMNHHHH!!! There go the Hell’s Angels. Seriously, the people here travel in teams. Or maybe they are just so plentiful that is just seems that way. But all I can think of when I’m teaching a lesson and this occurs is of the episodes of Looney Tunes I used to watch as a kid. Sometimes Daffy would go to open his mouth, and even when he tries just a weeeee little bit, somehow out of nowhere comes the sound of a train steamrolling past, or a thousand dish...