Week 1: Inspiration and Indigestion (and Illegal Immigrants)


Hola mis amigos!

This first week in the Dominican Republic MTC (CCM) has been absolutely crazy, and it feels like its been a couple of months since I've talked to all of you! It's crazy how long it feels I've been here; the first couple of days felt especially long, but I think I'm fully adjusted and if the rest of my mission flies by as fast as yesterday did, I'll be home in absolutely no time at all!

Flying to the MTC was quite the experience! We had approximately 20 elders and hermanas fly in from the SLC airport and we met 10 more at Atlanta before we flew into Santo Domingo. It was particularly frustrating attempting to learn everyone's names though especially because none of us had any nametags... I sat next to strangers on the airplanes but they were a little bit too preoccupied with sleeping so I was unable to talk to anyone on the flight and with no movies and little entertainment there was little to take my mind off of the nerves and the massive cold I developed on the way to the airport... Let's just say the rest of this week has been waaaay better.

Most of the missionaries I was travelling with are staying in the DR so they all had visas and somehow those of us without visas ended up in the same line and got straight through customs without paying for a tourist visa... So I'm an illegal immigrant now! The people at the MTC said not to worry about it. Esta bien :)

My district is fantastic! All of the elders I'm rooming with - my companion Elder Taylor, and Elders Chamberlain and Taukus - love to play (and watch) futbol so while they've been talking and arguing about soccer during our free time in the evenings and between classes, I've had plenty of time to play my uke! Currently the highlight of the week was the 45 minutes of "personal time" where I accompanied my roommates naptime with my ukulele (they got mad at me when I stopped so I know they weren't saying that to be nice :) The other Elders, Elders Holton and Suwyn are just in the room next to us so we can always hear them laughing and joking with the Latinos. They are accompanied by Hermanas Simpson, Wallin, Vasquez, Gray and Olsen. Pretty much everyone in my district is from Utah and all of them are from the US. And all of them are at a very, very beginner level except for me (I have the accent down and a lot of the grammar but I'm still at a low beginner level) and Elder Taylor (whose mother is Mexican so he is already pretty functional although he thinks of himself as a beginner). I was called as district leader (which has been quite the adventure) but I'm really loving my district, even though we sometimes have a little bit too much fun during classtime when we should be learning.

A couple things I wasn't expecting about the MTC:
  1. The Temple: the MTC is located in the upper levels of the temple housing, so we walk around the temple a lot (and we're fenced inside the temple grounds) plus we get to visit the temple every Tuesday morning.
  2. Lessons: We get to (read as "have to") roleplay teach an "investigator" (our teacher) every night in full Spanish (no English at all)
  3. We get to sleep as early as 9:30 but we have to go to bed by 10:30. Also I'm always the first one up at 6:30 when our alarms go off
  4. The food TASTES really good, but unfortunately it is not sitting right in ANYONE's stomachs. The bathroom in our apartment does not smell good. (And at any given time at least one companionship will be out of the classroom taking a quick stop at the bathroom).
Sorry for the long email! I'd like to write more anyways but unfortunately I have very limited time. If any of you have any specific questions about the MTC or missionary life or anything at all please email me! I miss you all so much!

Adios!
Elder Thornton

(Pictures: 1) All my study materials [it's a lot!] 2) ALL of the missionaries at the MTC - there are 76 total and only 7 of us are heading to Puerto Rico. It's tiny! 3) My nametag and $30 worth of Dominican Pesos. 4) Me and my companion Elder Taylor in front of the Temple 5) District picture (the hermano taking our picture had about ten cameras hanging from his wrists so Hermana Simpson thought it would make a good picture) 6) Picture of the MTC in the rain)

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