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

Week 1 of the CCM (DR MTC)

I cant believe that it has already been over a week since I left home! In some ways it feels way fast and in others it feels pretty slow. It was a big change in lifestyle from living "the life" and then coming here. It took a little time for me to get used to getting up early for the day. This MTC is really small and really different than the Provo MTC. It is pretty much a hallway.  It is just a plain four story building. It also kind of feels like a prison in a way because we can't leave at all. I just want to go outside of the walls and see the city and how crazy it is. As you know, I am used to staying out until 3 and sleeping in until 12... but I kind of like getting up early. The food here is alright but im not a picky eater so I eat all of it. We usually have rice and beans for lunch and then lots of other random stuff. My comp is a six foot six kid. He is pretty cool but he complains about a lot of stuff and only talks about how he misses home.. so it is kind of annoying but its alright. The spanish is coming really good. I feel that I have learned more in the last week than I did in the two years that I took it in school. I know that I am not learning it alone. The spirit really has an influence on how much I learn each day. The days that it is strong I learn a lot and can speak a lot. The days that it isn't with us I can't learn anything. There are lots of amazing missionarys here with me in the MTC. I love all of the latinos here because thay are way nice and want to help you learn Spanish. There have been so many stories about the DR that are getting me pumped to go into the feild. Everyday I have amazing spiritual experiances here and everyday my testimony gets stronger. I Really do love you guys so much and miss you all more than anything! I really wish that I could just talk to one of you right now but I guess that we will just have to wait until Christmas.  I know that this is where I am supposed to be in life and I am loving it!! I love you all so much!!

Love

             your son

                                 Parker