Primera Semana

Okay so hey everyone!! It's been about 8 or so days in the DR and its been the hardest but most rewarding 8 of my life hahahaha.  I write at 4:00 every thursday, (DR time) so if you ever wanna talk I'll be here!

So.  This place is wild.  The plane ride sucked cuz I couldn't do anything and like it was way long.  I had my last american meal at shake shack in NYC for breakfast at the JFK airport during a layover.  BACON EGG AND CHEESE IT WAS GOOD.  I already miss american food if you  cant tell by that haha.  So yeah I got here and I was so overwhelmed with everything.  The bus ride was crazy over here haha I would look over and see the ocean to my left and then to my right there were 7 seater minivans full of 15 or so dominicans hanging out of the car with the doors all ripped off of the vans.  Thats the DR for ya i guess haha.  I got to the CCM (MTC) and I was really sad from missing people, and heavenly father sent me an angel. Literally.  A little girl about 8 years old came up to me and asked me if she could help me with my luggage.  She helped carry it up some stairs with me.  She was the cutest little girl and it touched my heart that she would try to help a complete stranger.  Heavenly father is in all of our lives and I challenge everyone to look for the hand of god more in their lives.  So.  I have an awesome companion, elder Paolo.  He's from oregon and hes a nice guy with a really sincere and sweet testimony.  It touches me and it motivates me.  My other 2 roomates (elder graff and elder holmes) are from spanish fork and slc, and these guys are the sickest.  Real talk they're so nice, and so fun.  They're also the zone leaders haha.  Theres 76 missionaries in this mtc so we're all pretty close. I like that a lot.  The food here is pretty good actually, except for breakfast, thats usually disgusting.  And theres only 1 kind of cereal, which is honey bunches of oats, however, the milk is boxed and disgusting and always warm so I never eat breakfast lol which is probably why I've lost 5 pounds hahahah.  Lunch and dinner every day: CHICKEN RICE AND BEANS.  I've learned to love it but I'm getting a little tired of it now lol.  the juice we have is goo, it's usually papaya and mango juice which is awesome.  We play basketball here, but it's street ball.  I came in to the MTC expecting to take it to some guys, but street ball is much different.  Theres no 3 point line so it's a big boys game, because the zone defense colapes since theres no outside threat.  So basically you have to foul your way to winning haha.  We play with the locals and thats crazy, they usually don't back court the ball or anything and they play by their own rules lol.  But it's fun I guess.  I play a lot of ping pong, I'm pretty much the legend here since I beat the "best player in the mtc" 7-0 haha I skunked him it was sweet.  I haven't dropped a game yet besides hermano cuevas, hes the MTC director and he's way good.  It was super close but don't worry I'm gonna get him back.  Spanish is going so good guys!  I've memorized over 250 words, joseph smiths first vision, the missionary purpose, 20 phrases, and I can actually hold a conversation with someone in spanish now!  everyone talks in spanish all the time so you're pretty much forced to haha.  The teachers teach their whole lessons in spanish and I can understand them about 90% of the time.  It's all goin well here.  OH ALSO WE WENT TO THE PARK YESTERDAY and it was like a jungle haha.  We went to do service (cleaning up leaves) and there were HUGE centipedes under like every pile of leaves we picked up.  Those guys crawl fast too, wowza.  The biggest one was probably about 7-8 inches long and 1 inch to 1 inch and a half thick.  Crazy stuff haha.  We teach an "investigator" every night and that's fun but hard.  The first time It was really hard cuz we couldn't talk or really understand, but now I can get by like i said, so that's so cool.  My internal dialect has changed to spanish haha like it's weird but cool.  Also I pray in spanish.  It's everywhere we go!! It's so hard but It's so cool and I know I'm gonna get this language if I keep working as hard as I am, the gift of tounges is so real.  Oh it's always a million degrees here and like 92% humidity sos haha and it rains every day.  I've seen more here in a week than i do in a year in utah.  SOrry for all the typo's I have been writing super quick and don't know what else to put.  Just a little thought, I really hope you guys are praying and reading your scriptures a lot, I have changed so much here in a week its ridiculous.  I know it's because I'm getting so much closer to heavenly father.  So I challenge you all to pray and read your scriptures cuz it will change your life I promise, It's changed mine so much already and I'm so excited for the next 2 years.  Love you all sorry it was so long!!

Elder Murphy