Hola mi familia y mis amigos!
Como están?? Hahaha just kidding I am definitely going to be using English!!
My first week here in the Domincan Republic MTC (or CCM in Spanish) has been truly amazing!! From the small amount that I've seen, this country is absolutey beautiful and the people are so kind and warm. We walk around saying Hola! and trying to have small conversations in Spanish and they always just smile and say hello back! Its so warm and wonderful. I love it so so much!
It's kind of impossible to share all the amazing experiences that I've had this week! It honeslty doesn't feel like I was home just last Wednesday. To me, it feels like I've definitely been here a month already! The days are so full of learning and awesome spiritual experiences, and I've already
grown so close to all my fellow missionaries and teachers here that I feel like I've known them for much much longer. The MTC is such an inviting and loving environment. We have missionaries here that are preparing to serve in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Haiti. While most of the missionaries come from the U.S. we also have a couple of Elders from the Virgin Islands and an entire group here from Haiti. They speak Creole but are learning English, though they get to teach in their native tongue in Haiti. The rest of us are all just trying to learn Spanish and it's amazing how much we have been able to learn in such a short period of time. I can already have pretty simple conversations with people. We also pray in Spanish and try (TRYYYYYY) testifying in Spanish as well. Its all super simple stuff like "I know this church is true" (yo sé que esta iglesia es verdadera) or "I know Jesus Christ is the Savior" (Yo sé que Jesucristo es el Salvador). On our first day, our teacher just walked in and began speaking in Spanish. Within the first day of classes we had learned so much spanish! Its so amazing and I absolutely LOVE the language. I feel like a sponge just absorbing all the spanish I can all the time! Also, we get to sing in spanish all the time and its soooo muchh fun!!
Its pretty funny because my brain is already becoming Spanglish. I write in my journal at night and instinctively write the Spanish version of the word without even thinking it. This started happening like 3 days in so I can't even imagine how I'll be in a few months. These emails may become a lot harder to understand/grammatically incorrect! hahaha
I've have learned so much about the gospel already. Everyone here has such a strong testimony and amazing stories about their faith and the Spirit. I'm so happy to be devoting so much of my time to the Gospel and learning how to speak with and teach other people. All of our teachers do a really good job of keeping things in perspective. I'll have moments of doubt when I'm struggling with the language or contemplating if this was the right decision, but I'm always reminded that I'm here because the Gospel blesses lives and families and if a single person could have that hope, then I'm in the right place!
compared to Provo). We work to help one another learn the language and anything else we are struggling with. When the plane landed in Santo Domingo, I immediately looked around for the other girls in skirts. We all converged near each other and immediately knew we were all here for the same reason. It was funny because there we were, 5 girls in skirts with several large suitcases strollling through the airport with slightly confused expressions on our faces. haha Once we got out luggage, we walked outside looking for whoever was there to get us I was expecting some guys in suits that look like fellow missionaries. Instead there was just a man holding a blue laminated sign saying The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We followed him out to the curb, where there were a bunch of people and moving cars. It was such a lively environment even then. He left us there for like 10 minutes without a word! Then finally he came back and led us to the car. It was funny and we all just sat there taking in
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| Hermana Larson & Hermana Graham |
The CCM is super super nice. The shower in our room is seriously nicer than any shower in the U.S. I've been in! Its like an overhead rainforest faucet. hahah The food is soooo good and they give us sooo much. Every meal there is fresh pineapple and honeydew and cantaloupe. There's always bread and they feed us sooo muccchhhh ricee! Every lunch is 2 scoops of different kinds of rice and 2 kinds of meat. I have to watch out because I might seriously gain so much weight while I'm here. The CCM is right next
to the temple which is beautiful! We had the opportunity to go there with one of the Elders in my district when it was his first time at a temple! (he is from one of the Virgin Islands!). It was so amazing. On Sunday nights we go walk around the temple after dinner and just enjoy the nice evening air. So far, it hasn't even been that hot or humid, though we do spend a significant amount of time inside.
Yesterday was Christmas and it was amazing! We have been singing so many Christmas carols and I love how they bring the Christmas Spirit. We also got to watch several devotionals from leaders of the church! They are broadcasted from the Provo MTC and everything is specifically for us as missionaries! On Christmas Eve, we had the awesome opportunity to have a live devotional from Elder Hugo E. Martinez who is an member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy. It was so great to have him there with our small and humble MTC. We got to go speak with him after and it was a truly special moment! On Christmas we decorated some cookies and took them over to the security guards at the park across the street. Its the coolest park I've ever seen. They KNOW how to do Christmas lights RIGHT here in the DR!! All the trees are covered and there are decorations all over! The park is always full of people and its so lively and awesome. On the night we flew in, I kept looking around to see the temple. When we turned onto the street, I was so amazed by all the bright lights and people that I didn't even notice we had finally made it to the CCM! It was so great to go walk among the people and enjoy in the Christmas festivities!
Ahhhh there are probably about a million other small things and moments I could talk about. It has been such a full week and such full days that I can barely remember all the precious small things when I go to sleep at night. The best way to describe my feelings is FULL, CONTENT, and JOYFUL! I am so happy to be here and I know the Lord is helping me every step of the way. He really is watching over me and helping me to succeed here on my mission!
I love all of you sooooo mucchhhhhhh! I hope you have a great week and I'll let you know how things are here soon enough :D
HASTA LUEGO!
Con amor,
Hermana Graham
