Friday, September 23, 2016

One week down in the Dominican Republic!



Hola! This week has been crazy! I love the Dominican Republic, and believe it or not, I really like the
DR CCM (MTC). There are only about 50 missionaries here, which is super nice. We're all just friends and know each other well! It is beautiful (AND HOT & HUMID) here! From my bedroom window I can see the Temple and the ocean! All the tropical plants are super cool! During gym time we will be playing volleyball or basketball and the temple is our backdrop. If we want to run to work out, there is probably a quarter of a mile that we are actually allowed to stay on, so the space is limited, but very pretty! 

My head is going to explode with the amount of spanish I am having to learn, but i have learned more in the past week than in 2 years of high school spanish! There are like 300 words, 40 phrases and a couple of scriptures I need to have memorized by Saturday... I have a lot of it done already, but I have a lot more work to do! 

My companion is Hermana Jones. She is from Salt Lake City. She graduated from Olympus High, but went to Utah state this past year. We get along so well! We are already reading each others minds haha!
Hermana Lawrence and Hermana Jones

The food is really good! Its usually typical Dominian food. For breakfast they always have cereal (they don't refridgerate their milk...its weird) yogurt, bananas, and then a dish such as breakfast burittos, or eggs. One of my favorite breakfasts is when they have chocolate oatmeal. It tastes like they just put hot chocolate mix in the oatmeal. SO good. Lunch is always two different kinds of meat (we never know what kind of meat it is, its just good) two kinds of rice, and a bowl of beans to pour over the rice. My favorite part of the lunch is always the fresh fruit. They always have FRESH MANGO (i rave about the mango every time i eat it) fresh pineapple, fresh papaya, and sometimes cantaloupe. Dinner ranges from meat and yucca (like potatoes but better), to pizza. On Sundays we have homemade pizza and ICE CREAM!!!! 

Yesterday we went to the University to do service. We got on our yellow (!) vests and went around and picked up trash. The city is so dirty! I guess they don't have a good garbage system here, so everyone just throws their trash wherever. Hermana Jones and I were just going along, picking up trash, when a group of guys came up to us and tried talking to us. Of course we couldn't understand them, but then one of the native Elders came up to us and told us to just stay with their companionship because all the men would just try to flirt with us (ick). Everyone stared at us and yelled "hey gringas!" It was actually really hilarious!

Waking up is really easy because it is already light when we wake up at 6:30. The sun sets at like 6:30pm, though. 

The Carribean Area President came and spoke to us this week about how to be a good companion and other things. He taught us the the Book of Mormon is is a portal of revelation and we all need to figure out how it reveals thing to us specifically. Some days I think it is difficult ot remember the real reason that I'm here because they are pounding us with spanish 24/7, but during personal study, I make a special effort to focus on the scriptures. Sundays are the best, though. Church, devotionals, and we watched Meet the Mormons! 

My district is great! there are 3 companionships of Elders and 2 companionships of Hermanas. We spend almost every waking moment of the day together, so we are all already super close. Some people have even gotten in funny little arguments haha.

This morning we went to the temple! We got to do sealings and then an endowment session! I LOVED IT! We get to go every P-Day morning, so I look forward to that each week! A lot of the temple workers don't speak english, but we got along just fine!

Our teachers don't speak english to us, even they are able to! I think that helps though, because i am actually able to understand now if they speak slow enough for me to comprehend what they're saying. Hermana Jones and I have already taught an "investigator" two lessons and a "less active" a lesson! IN SPANISH! What?!
One scripture that has helped me this week is Alma 26:27. It is great. Go look it up. I don't have time to type it here haha. 

I LOVE YOU ALL!! I'm happy, I'm healthy, and I'm ready to take on another week in the Dominican Republic!


Love, Hermana Lawrence​

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