Weird and Awesome Things

Wow this week was easily the craziest week that I have had in my mission. So many weird and awesome things happened. We had two full days of meetings last weekend for Christmas. It was like my first time actually eating good safe food. We had a Christmas program with the Mission President and his wife. They are the coolest couple in the world. I want to be like them as well as my parents when I grow up. They are just so wise but I guess that's what happens after you have lived awhile with the same person. 

Yesterday was crazy... We were running around the streets in the morning. We heard some yelling and went to go see what was going on. Some guy had a machete and wanted to fight this other dude. I literally thought that the dude with the machete was going to chop the other dude up. It was crazy. 

Today was the sickest  Pday that I have had by far. We got permission from the Mission Pres to go to a beach that is a few hours away. The town was called Samana and it was amazing. It felt that I was on vacation. There were the most that I have seen in awhile. We went and walked around for a little bit then we got to walk on this temple run looking bridge. There I saw a kid fishing. I asked if I could have a go. Unfortunately it wasn't my day, I got nothing. But he let me kiss one of his fish. The island was so cool. It was super small and we were the only ones on it. It was our personal paradise. We had a district picnic on on a little dock. Then out of nowhere it started to rain. I love the weather here. It is bipolar but it is always warm so I'm fine with it. Gosh I am realizing how much I love this place. I don't think that I will want to come home  when the time comes.

I am so excited to talk to my fam next week! I hope that you are all doing well in freezing Utah! ha ha suckas! Well i hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas season. I miss you all like crazy! I love this church and I love my mission. Most of all I love my family!

Love Elder Morgan 

Crazy Things Now Seem Normal...

Well this week felt like it was a day long. We have been doing lots of work with people that live far away in our area. There are so many crazy evangelists here that don't really know much about the bible. Its funny when they try to bible bash with us because we usually shut them down with their bible. Its weird because I don't know what to write about. All of the things that I thought were crazy are just the norm here so I see it every day. 
This past week there was a death here in Nagua. The funerals here are so crazy. There  are a million people at the house of the person that passed. They just have the coffin in an open area so everyone can go see the body. It is a very sad thing here. Everyone is crying and there are a few crazy Lady's that get a little out of control and people have to hold them down. This makes me so glad that we have the plan of salvation. When someone dies it shouldn't be sad, it is a part of the plan of salvation. We will get to see everyone again. I feel bad for those crazy Lady's here because they think that life ends after death. I am not saying that death is awesome and that everyone should go try and kill themselves. I'm just saying that everyone will die at some point in time but It is all part of the wonderful plan of happiness. 
I had a cool experience this last weekend. We had the chance to visit a small city about an hour away from here because we had a member who had 42 references for us. He is a teacher who teaches about the gospel after his classes. We went and shared our purpose and a little about the gospel and gave out BOMs. I really hope that our visit will spark something in someone there. 
The Spanish is still coming but slow. It is difficult because the way that the sentences are structured is different and all of the stinkin conjugations. It is a great test of patience and focus. Sometimes I get down and sad but then I realize why I am out here and who I am here for. God really does answer prayers. It might not be exactly how we think they will be answered but we all know that God works in mysterious ways. I am so glad for this opportunity to be here to help others. I am learning so much everyday. I love and miss you all so much. I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas season with snow... 

Love Elder Morgan

The English Teacher

The weeks are starting to feel like days. I cant believe how fast the time is going bye. Well for all of you who got to stuff yourselves last week be grateful! I had the wonderful opportunity to eat chicken rice and beans... again. It kind of stinks that the DR doesn't celebrate holidays like we do. Thanksgiving was nothing here, but I still had time to think about what I am grateful for. There are countless things that I could think of. Being here where people don't have a lot I have realized all of the things that I took for granted. The number one thing that I am thankful for and miss so much are my family and friends. I love and miss you guys so much. 

We had lots of cool experiences this week. Each week we are having a bigger and bigger turn out to my English class. It is really fun to teach them. We have been working really hard with new people who live far away. We take one day a week to visit people who live at least 45 minutes away in the country side. Two times this week we had people stop us in the street and tell us that they used to be members a long time ago but not any more (as they were sipping their beers) and both of them said that they miss the church and want to try to be reactivated. I don't know how dedicates they are but if they really want to, it is possible. We also have an investigator couple right now who smoke and drink a lot and asked us about the word of wisdom. I could tell that they both want to quit so bad but they just sat that it will be too hard. I know anything is possible with the lords help. They just need to have faith that they can overcome their addiction. 

My Spanish is alright. I have good days and bad days with it. The hard thing for me is conjugating my words. I can practically understand everyone but when I try to speak back sometimes I get mixed up. I know that it just takes time and hard work to receive the gift of tongues. I apologize if none of this is making sense because I think that I am forgetting English... I heard that it snowed a ton back in Utah. It just seems so weird because to me it feels like it is the middle of June and not December...  Haha one last weird thing that happened last night was we were buying empanadas with the ward mission leader, and out of no where there was a frog on my head... Yeah. I don't know how either... haha Well that's my update for this week. I love you all and am so grateful for the opportunity to know every single one of you.

Love Elder Morgan

Frog on my head

Mission comps

I'm driving

Thanksgiving Day

November 28, 2013

Well another wonderful fun filled week has past. My comp and I have been super busy lately. The attendance of members going to church is rising every week which is cool to see. We have this one investigator who is just awesome. His name is Leonardo. He is honestly a gold investigator but there is a problem with him and being baptized. We have taught him all of the lessons, he does all of the commitments and goes to church every week. Last week after we taught him about tithing he has been paying ever since. He lives way far out in the country side and sells pigs for a living. Every time he sells one he pays tithing. We told him that he doesn't have to because he is not a member but he just says that its the lords money not his. The thing is he cant be baptized because his wife who he is not married to is married to another man who has been in the US for about 20 years. The two want to get married but it will cost a ton of money to pay for the divorce of his girlfriend and the other dude. They have been together for 17 years now. We are looking for a way to help them pay for the divorce so they can get married and he can get baptized. 

I finally got my first haircut out here in the field. It isn't too bad... The guy who cut it was this super crazy Evangelist dud. While he was cutting our hair he had this preaching radio station playing. He asked if I knew English. I said yes. With much excitement he had a recording of both Spanish and English. He was loco and now I look like G.I. Joe. haha all well... 

Every Saturday I teach an English class at the church to whoever wants to attend. Its fun for me to get involved with things like this and to get to know the people better. Last night we had a big party for the ward mission leaders birthday. They had the biggest pot of their notorious DR soup. It is made up of pretty much every kind of meat and vegetable. Dang I left my SD card at my house so I will send some next week. I love my mission and everything that is teaching me about myself and life. I love this church and the things it teaches. Everything about the gospel is to help people have a better and happier life. Happy thanksgiving from paradise! 

Love Elder Morgan

I HATE Needles...

Well... It makes me so sad to hear about the death of chandler. On Sunday I wrote some stuff in my journal about him. I made a list of all of the memories I had with him. It doesn't seem real to me. It just seem that he is like everyone else, and I will see him again in two. It is great to think that I will get to see him again, but just not that soon. I have been praying for his family every day. He truly is in a better place.  

It has been another crazy week here in Nagua. We finally had the baptism of H... and M.... Those two are amazing! They are so dedicated to the church, it is awesome to see. I have had to give the confirmation blessing these past two Sundays in Spanish. haha I don't know what I said both times so I hope that the people understood me. 

We haven't been able to do that much work this week. On Monday my comp got two teeth taken out because he needed space in his mouth for braces. Now its time for a little story. On Tuesday I got sick. It started off with a bad stomach ache the night before and just kept on getting worse. Then more symptoms started popping up. I had a fever, head ache, stomach pain and some good ole diarrhea. We were in the middle of a lesson when it really hit me... The sucky thing is,, is that the investigators house is a 30 minute guagua ride back to our house. We finally got back and all I wanted to do was rest. I had no energy. My comp called Sister Douglas and told her all that was going on. She said that I had to go to a hospital in San Fran. There was no way in heck that I was going to take a 1.5 hour guagua ride to San Fran. So we decided to go to a hospital closer to us. When I got there they didn't ask me any questions or anything. My comp told them my symptoms and two seconds after that they were sticking needles in me and injecting crap that I had no idea what it was. I don't know if everyone knows this but I absolutely HATE needles. My comp got the funniest pic of me getting injected that shows how much I hate them haha. They also wanted me to crap in a cup the size of a sacrament cup. I didn't do it. After they did their stuff I went home and didn't get any sleep that night. I still don't fell 100% but its okay. They never told me what I had. Some people think that it was dengue but I don't think so. Well that's about it.. I love my mission and the people here. I miss you all so much! 

Love Elder Morgan

Nagua, a little part of Heaven...

Well I had another wonderful week here in Paradise. Saturday was pretty sweet because other missionary's in out district had a baptism at the beach. Seriously one of the sickest things that I have ever seen. It was one of those times in life where you think about how beautiful the earth is and all of Gods creations. I hope that we will get to do that soon. We are supposed to have a baptism this Saturday of that couple we have been teaching. They were married yesterday so now they can finally get baptised. Tonight we are having a little party for them because they don't have enough money to have any kind of celebration by themselves. 

The work here in Nagua is coming pretty slow. It is really frustrating sometimes when things don't go as planned. The ward right now is really weak. Lots of the members don't pay tithing anymore because their old bishop was stealing that money and using it for himself. Lots of members do not sustain the bishop that they have right now which is sad. I don't know why because he is a great guy. It stinks! I also wish that we had more investigators. We don't have that many people to teach right now so I want to go out and find some new ones. My comp doesn't really like to go contacting but that is what we need to do. 

Everyone here already has their Christmas stuff up. Every house has little lights hanging out of their window. Its weird for me because it still feels like summer. It doesn't seem that Christmas is in a month. Every single day is the temperature is perfect which is super nice. 

So I started to read this book called ´´ The Miracle of Forgiveness´´ Wow! That book is life changing! It makes you think about the gospel and the atonement in depth. It makes me want to be the best person I can be. I think it is a book that everyone should read. 

Remember how I said that there were strikes going on in other towns? Well it is now here in Nagua. The streets are filled with rocks and glass bottles for people to throw at the cops. All of the stores are closed so that sucks for us. 

We went to Santiago again for another meeting. My comp and I went and took pics at the Monument. The DR is a wonderful place but it does have its cons. I would say that one of the worst things here is the peoples breath... haha I know it sounds weird but every single person has the same bad breath smell. I think that it is because most of them have rotten teeth. The soda here is super cheep, its even cheaper than water. Its really unhealthy because it is loaded with sugar. Therefore when people only drink sugar and don't brush their teeth they get cavities that smell bad. Haha. But that still doesn't change how great they are. I wish that everyone in America were as humble as the people here. Well my time is up.I love my mission and how it is changing me into a better person. I miss everyone so much! Thanks for everything!!

Love Elder Morgan

Machetes

! Everything is still going great here in the DR! Halloween was nothing like it is in the States. The people here see Halloween as a day for the dead. They go visit the cemeteries and cry all day. It's actually a pretty sucky day here. Its not really happy and you don't get any candy. So I just went and bought my own. 

On Saturday it was some big service day for the church. We went to an orphanage for girls and cleaned up the place. There were only four guys so we had to do all of the landscaping. We had to cut the grass by hand with machetes. It was a back breaker... All of the women cleaned and braided the hair of the little girls. It makes me sad seeing so many cute little girls without a family. The family is the main source of happiness and joy in life. I think about how hard its been for me being away from my family for 2 months.  It has been the hardest two months of my life... I cant imagine of what its like not having a family. I am 99% sure that I am going to adopt a Dominican baby when I am older.

Anyways the update on the couple that was going to get baptized on my birthday but couldn't because they weren't married is that they are having their wedding this next week. Hopefully they are getting baptized the week after that. I love the people here so much! I know that I always say that but it is true! I feel like I'm the ward babysitter on Sundays because during church the kids are always swarming me because I give them candy. I connect with the kids so much more because they don't care that I can't speak the language. They are friends with everyone.

The bummer of my week was, one night we were at a members house having a little party. There was lots of food, dancing and karaoke we were taking tons of pictures. Some kids got a hold of my camera and ended up deleting 150+ pictures off of my camera. It stinks because I had some sweet pics. I had pics of a double rainbow, a lizard the size of my thumb nail and other sweet things. Its alright though, I have a little time here on the DR to take some sick pics.  

Today for P-Day we went on a sweet beach bike ride. We rode for about 10 miles I'm guessing. I cant get over how beautiful Nagua is. The days are always so colorful and bright. The nights make it feel like I am in Lake Powell with the warm temps and the zillions of stars.

I am still not 100% used to being a missionary so I still have rough days but I know that this is what I am supposed to be doing at this point in my life. I am so grateful for all of the support of my family and friends. I feel the help from their prayers every day. I miss everyone so much!

Love,

    Elder Morgan

Elder Bieber?

Well it has been another great week here in paradise. Twas my birthday on Saturday and it was a pretty awesome day. We just taught normal lessons during the day but one of the investigators house is way far away. We usually take a Guagua (piece o crap taxi) to his house but we didn't have any money to get there so we just rode the bishops motorcycle there instead. It was probably about a 45 minute ride.   By the time we got there my butt was dead. During the ride I realizes how pretty Nagua really is. Everything is so green and big. The mountains here aren't the same but are just as sick in a different way. 

After we got back we had a baptism of two 8 year old kids. One of the dads was running way late and they were going to have me baptise one of the kids but he made it just in time. That's a good thing for me because I don't know the baptism prayer in Spanish yet. 

Then later that night I had two surprise birthday parties. One by the Bishop's family, because it was also the bishop's wife and son's birthday.They had three cakes made for us. It was a sweet party. Then later I thought that we had one more lesson but it was a surprise party at one of our investigator's houses. It was an awesome day!

 The rest of this week has been normal for the DR. Everyday I see things that would be crazy in the States but is totally normal here. A funny thing that has been happening lately is that everyone thinks that I look like Justin Beiber. He is way big here, so just because I'm white and sexy people think that I am JB. What the crap! The bishops wife just calls me Justin... 

It has been raining like crazy the past couple of days. Every time we go out I forget my umbrella so I get soaked. I have a hard time sleeping at night because the thunder, barking dogs, and freaking roosters. The roosters here suck because they think that the sun is rising at 2am. 

I have been teaching a lot of lessons lately so I guess that I am progressing in the language. As I have always said, the people here are awesome! They are so loving and caring even though they don't really know me. I have learned a lot about life out here. Lots of these people out here have pretty crappy lives and its not because of anything that they have done.  Bad things happen to good people but everything happens for a reason. We might not know why it is happening at the time, but Heavenly Father knows us better than we do. He is all knowing so everything that happens for a purpose. Life isn't always fair and that is why we need the gospel in our lives. No matter who you are, you can be saved and live with your family for eternity if you follow his commandments and the words of the prophets. I have been so blessed in my life and I am so grateful for it. I miss you all!!

Love Elder Morgan

Who Needs a Seatbelt

Well I would like to start out by saying that I am sorry to all of the people that wrote me emails... It has been crazy here because they are having a crazy strike or something... I freakin love you all so very much though!! 

Anyways this week has been sick. Tons of awesome and spiritual experiences. The days are starting to fly by because I am getting in the missionary routine. I don't know where to start... I just want to say that Nagua is one of the best places on earth! It is incredibly beautiful. Almost every morning my comp and I run to the beach and watch the sunrise. It is unbelievable! We usually don't have time for studies in the morning because we usually are doing some type of service for someone. Service has got to be one of the greatest things ever invented. You help someone in need and feel very good inside, everyone benefits from it. I kind of regret complaining when we had to do service for mutual or something. But its alright because I will have two years to serve the wonderful people of the DR. 

I am already used to the living conditions. The food is really good but unhealthy. I think that I am gaining some poundage. I did the math and the church gives us about $2 a day for food... Its all good because the food here is super cheep. 

I see crazy crap everyday so i think that it will be a shock when i go home in 2 and everything is normal. I swear that I have seen more naked babies than there are churches in Utah... I am growing super close to the people here. They are all so wonderful. There is this little girl in our ward whose name is D. She is the cutest little girl that I have ever seen!! At first the only thing that she would say to me was ¨Feo Blanco¨, which means ugly white... Its alright because we are like best friends now even though I have no idea what she says to me. 

The Spanish is coming. Instead of just bearing my testimony at the end of our lessons I am now starting to teach the lessons. Yesterday was crazy because we had a meeting with the President in Santiago. Transportation is really hard because of the strike. So last night we had to ride in the bed of a little truck for an hour and a half! It was a party! We just sang songs, pretended that we were on the top of the titanic and other dumb things to make the time go by faster. 

I am learning so much about myself everyday. I also have learned about how wonderful life is and how important it is for us to have the gospel in our lives. It has been a super busy week. I am supposed to go to Santiago tomorrow but it might not happen because there are strikes going on there. Our area is super big so we walk somewhere around 6 or 7 miles a day. My feet hurt so dang bad but I cant complain because there are people here that don't have shoes. There are lots or crazy people here, one that we see everyday is this old Gypsy lady that is like 120.. idk how she is still alive but every time we walk past her house she says ¨give me one peso¨. We just smile and wave but it is pretty funny because a peso is pretty much worthless. Wellzz I g2g so I want you all to know that I miss you! The Church is an amazing blessing in my life and I am so grateful for it!

Love Elder Morgan

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Small Spaces and Beautiful Places..

Well, this week was hard but wonderful. Change is a very hard thing. A mission helps you learn how to move on from things that you don't need to dwell on. Haha... One of the biggest changes that I made in the past week was getting used to where I live. At first I thought that the MTC was a piece of crap. I soon realized that I was living in the Garden of Eden... Where I live, in reality is pretty awesome. I have a great view of palm trees and rusty roof tops. I wake up every day and get to see a picture perfect sunrise.
My companion is a great guy. I have learned so much from him in only one week. Yes it is hard with him not knowing any English but, it is forcing me to learn Spanish so its a good thing. 
I would say that my biggest struggle right now is the Spanish. It is hard because I can't tell people what I want to when we are teaching lessons. I usually just sit and listen because I can understand most of what they say. I just don't know what to say back to them. 
The people here are amazing! They are all so humble and caring. They are all starting to get used to a skinny white boy from America that barely knows Spanish. I am getting close with lots of them. The bishop and his family do so much for us.
Want to hear something crazy-- There are 35,000 members in the DR only 5000 of them are active... So the work that we usually do is try to reactivate those members. We still have tons of investigators though. I had someone accept my baptism question this past week. I was stoked! We also have a couple that is getting baptized on the 26th of this month. The day of my birthday! Pretty cool birthday present huh! I think that we will get to do it in the ocean. 
Everyday here is an adventure. Everyday I eat at least 20 tropical fruits. We have coconut milk at least once a day and make fruit smoothies. I am starting to see how much missions bless lives. I know that I have only started but I know that my life is going to change for the better. I love and miss you all!! 

Love, Elder Morgan

I am learning new things about myself every day..

 Nagua, DR

 Elder Morgan's new companion.

Holla Holla! well it has been one of the craziest weeks of my life. It was a fun last week at the mtc. It is sad to think that I won't be able to go to a temple for the next two years. It sucked leaving because I had to say goodbye to all of the people that I was friends with there. First they make me say goodbye to my real family, then they make me say goodbye to my MTC family. I will miss all of the wonderful people that I met there. 

I am finally out in the field and it is loco! I am in a small town on the beach called Nagua. It is super hot and humid here but its alright because I'm not a baby.. It literally took us the whole day to drive from Santiago to Nagua. We crammed 10 missionaries in a minivan and drove for about 2 hours. Then we were dropped off at a bus station and waited all day for a ride out. My new companion's name is Elder H..... He is from here and speaks about 0% English... Its good for me though because I will learn the Spanish a lot faster. 

Santiago was great! I met my mission parents and they are the most wonderful people ever. The mission home was super nice. Today is my first full day as a real missionary. It is kind of funny because all of the people stare at me like I have boogers on my face but I think its just because I am white... haha. 

So much has happened this past week that there is no way I can write it all but last night after I arrived here we went out and taught a few lessons and had a ward FHE meeting thing. My apartment is pretty dang small but it could be worse. At least I have power and running water unlike some of the other missionaries here. 

I am pretty nervous here because this is the start of my real life. This is the first time that I have to make my own food, clean my room, unclog the toilet and lots of other things that mom used to do for me. To be honest I kind of like this simple life style. You learn to live poor here and its kind of fun. I am learning new things about myself every day. Missions are hard but they are well worth all of the sacrifices. I know that my journey has just begun but I know that the lord will help me when I need it. My new day for P'Day is Wednesday. If you want to send me letters, send it to this address.

I miss you all like crazy!! The church is TRUE!!

Love Elder Morgan

Elder Parker Morgan
 Y PARA CARTAS 
SDQ 8013    
P.O.    BOX 025725      
MIAMI, FL      33102-5725.

He is off to Santiago, DR...

I was notified by the CCM President that Parker left the CCM yesterday morning.  He was very excited to get out and serve.  He told me Parker is going to make a fabulous missionary and that we raised a great kid.

We probably won't hear from him for a little bit.  I am not sure what day is his Pday is now.

The package we sent to him through USPS didn't make it too the CCM in time.  He also assured me that is would be transferred to him without problems.  I am worried it will be further pilfered by more mail people and he will end up with only spaghetti noodles out of all the stuff we sent him!.

COCONUTS..of sorts

Wow! I Love hearing about how everyone is doing. Don't worry about the Dear Elders anymore. I cant receive them when I am in the field. I can't believe that I go out on Tuesday! 

The main thing that I do for exercise is play ultimate Frisbee. It is super fun and aggressive. Thanks for sending the package!  I also ripped a pair of my pants... Oh well.

Anyways Wow.. this last week was wonderful tons happened so I will just tell you about a few things.  Last Friday we had the chance to go tracting with the Santo Domingo East missionary's. It took us awhile to get to the place where we were meeting the other elders. We all got split up and received new companions for the day. I was lucky because my companionship had three guys in it. Me, Elder Farnsworth, and Elder Matin. Elder Matin was a 24 year old missionary from Mexico who has been out for 14 months. I think that it is safe to say that he is probably one of the goofiest guys that I have ever met. Anyways we walked over to our area from where they dropped us off. I honestly could not believe some of the things that i saw. Everything was so dirty. There were people selling raw chicken with swarms of flies on them. i was told that the area that i was sent to was the poorest part of the DR. We taught a lady who lived in a tin shed half the size of our 2 car garage, with her 4 kids. The ground was pure garbage. There are tons of stray dogs and chickens walking around eating all of the garbage. Someone told me that most of the dogs were rabid so that sucks if you get bit. 

One of the weirder things that I say and apparently happens a lot is when we were in the middle of our lesson with this lady and randomly out of no where she whipped out her "thang" and started breast feeding her baby. This continued the whole lesson. It actually wasn't too awkward but still a little weird. I just couldn't believe that people could actually survive in these living conditions! We taught a few more lessons that night. The people here are soo awesome and humble. It was such an awesome experience. I am stoked because we get to go out again tomorrow.

 Another awesome thing that happened is, this whole time that i have been here I have wanted to get a coconut from one of the temple's trees. One night when we were on a temple walk I found one that had fallen off. HAHA it literally took 9 guys and about an hour to get it open. We had to shred it apart with our hands. I don't know why I am telling you this but it was one of the most epic things ever. 

The elders here really are so great. Some of us have had lots of fun pranking each other. Everyone says that a mission is what you make of it. Some of the missionary's take the exact obedience thing way to far and make their time here miserable. They just need to chill. I have had tons of spiritual experiences here and am so great full for this opportunity to be here. 

I can't wait to watch conference and actually listen to all of the talks for once in my life. I just wanted to share my testimony that i know that this church is true. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. There is no way that a 14 year old kid would lie about having a vision and would take so much persecution. Joseph Smith gave his life for the true gospel of Christ. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of god and contains answers to any questions that we may have. I know that if we are faithful to the church and endure to the end, we can all live with our families in God's presence for eternity. I love my family more than anything in this world and would do anything for them. Life is wonderful if you follow Christ. I might not get to email for awhile because i will going into the field on Tuesday. I love you all so much!

Peace and Love

<3 Elder Morgan

CCM WEEK QUATRO

Well its been a great week here in the CCM. Time seriously goes by so fast here. It seems like last P-Day was yesterday. Not much happened here this last week. I had a chance to go contacting at the college again last Friday. We found the same people from two weeks ago and talked to them again. I didn't really like it because the girl that I talked to wanted to bible bash the whole time... I even answered her question about our church in her bible but she wouldn't accept the fact that I was right. I think that the reason that I didn't like it was because the spirit wasn't there. There was no way that I was going to change her mind so I felt like I just wasted my time.

Anyways I don't know if I already said this but Sundays are my favorite days here. The whole day is a spiritual recharge from a busy week of studying. We always have a doctrine class then watch a Quorum of the Twelve devotional. Those are awesome! After all of that we get to go on a temple walk and eat ice cream. The temple dang is so pretty at night. We all just got back from doing temple work. I think that I am going to miss the temple a ton when I am out in the field.

We got to go to the store again on Tuesday. I spent $1860 Pesos on all of my crap. Everything is super cheap here except the American brand candies. Its like ten bucks for a bag of Twixs!!! Its alright because I love the Dominican candy anyways.

On Tuesday the group of missionary's going to Haiti left. They were the funniest guys. I swear that they were laughing the whole time that they were here. We got another group of North American kids last Thursday. They are all pretty cool guys. It is sad because one of the kids already went home because he was too homesick. I'm glad that that wasn't me!!

The Spanish is still coming alright. I'm not stressing because I know that I am not going to learn it all in the CCM. I know that it will come in the field. Speaking of the field, it is crazy to think that I will be out there in less than two weeks! Tomorrow we get to go on splits with real missionary's and go trackting. I am super excited to see what real mission work will be like.

 I still am having some down moments but that happens with every missionary. I think the reason why I get down is because when you spend all of your time in the MTC it doesn't really feel like you are a missionary. When I pictured myself as a missionary before I came I never thought of what the MTC would be like. Its alright though because without the MTC I wouldn't even be able to be a missionary.

I love talking about my mission to people that live here. They always say that the East and West missions are way hot and sketchy, then I ask them about Santiago and they say that it is the best place on the island. They say that it is cooler and nicer than other places. It also has mountains so I'm happy for those!

I want everyone to know that I miss them and that I love getting their Dear Elders and emails. I hope that you are all enjoying freezing your buts off in Utah while I am living in paradise.... haha suckas.

Love Elder P-Dawg Morgan

Week 3 of the MTC

Hola mi familia! 

It has been a great week for me. On Friday we all got to go contacting at the local college. It was the second time that we have been able to leave the MTC and see the real DR. It seriously is madness out there! The driving is crazy and there are no cross walks so we just say a little prayer in our heads and just start walking across and hope we don't get hit... You see some pretty crazy things just by walking down the street. 

Anyways I had an amazing experience at the college. We all split up when we got there and were supposed to find people to talk to. Me and my companion were walking for awhile and didn't know what to do or who to talk to. I just had a feeling that we needed to stop and sit on some near by steps to figure out what we were going to do. About 10 seconds after we sat down, some random guy started to talk to us. We introduced ourselves and started to tell him a little bit about our church and the Book of Mormon. While we were talking to this guy a girl randomly walked up to me and asks for a B.O.M.  I quickly said yes and gave her one out of my bag. I asked her how she knew about our church and she said that she has read a lot about our church and had some questions so she wanted to read the B.O.M. I was so happy! After talking to her for awhile she had to go to class so she left. After that we talked to the guy some more about the Book of Mormon. We showed him the last two paragraphs of the introduction of the B.O.M. we gave him the book and challenged him to read it. The spirit was so strong the whole time and we could just tell that he was interested. We get to go back again tomorrow so i hope that we will see him again and possibly teach him more. 

I just cant wait to get out in the field and teach people like that every day. The Spanish is coming slowly but surely. I love you all and miss you too! I love the emails so keep them coming! 

Love Elder Morgan 

Week Dose of the MTC

       What up Family! It has been one crazy week here in the MTC. It has been a rollercoaster.  On Tuesday we finally got to leave the MTC grounds and walk to the store. It was really eye opening for me and showed me just how good I had it back at home. I bought lots snacks, office supplies, speakers and lots of other random stuff. The money exchange here is $1 u.s. dollar for $42 pesos. The walk over to the store was sooooooooooooooo dang hot! It was a ten minute walk and by the time we got there everyone was drenched with sweat...

        Last week after I wrote everyone I started to get homesick. P-Day was pretty depressing. After I got done e-mailing everyone i had all day to think about my wonderful life in Utah. Friday and Saturay were probably two of the hardest and saddest days of my life. I was so depressed both of those days. I couldn't even function. Everytime I thought of a family member or of a friend I would just remember all of the great memories that I had with them and would just get more depressed. I felt so alone. I even had the terrible thought of coming home but that went away quickly. I read tons of uplifting scriptures and prayed super hard that the lord would help me get through this hard time. Sure enough God answered my prayers and helped me get over it. I woke up Sunday morning feeling happy and refreshed. I was so grateful to be on my mission here in the DR.  I just thought to myself that my family and friends are just fine at home. The people here in the DR need me more than they do. I am just trying to forget myself and all of the things that I want and focus on serving and helping others. I have learned to love the MTC. Instead of being so negative I am trying to be positive with everything.

      This is the e-mail that you have probably been waiting to recieve from me for 18 years. I just want to start by saying how thankful I am for you and Dad. I took you and everything that you guys did for me for granted.. You know what they say "you dont know what you've got until its gone" that is very true. I truly am grateful for both of you and love and miss you both so much. Second I just want the girls to know that I love and miss them more than they will ever know. I hope that we can get close with letters and emails.

        I know that missions are two of the hardest years of your life but also two of the best. I am loving every minute of this journey and I am meeting some amazing people on the way. My new favorite scripture is Mosiah 23:10. Let everyone know that I am doing awesome and that I love them. Please send lots of dear elders as well because I get them quicker. The church is true and i love you all so very much. Peace out.

Elder Morgan