Week 2 - MTC

Week 2 MTC Dominican Republic:

Hola mi familia!!!!

       Hey guys. So this week in the MTC was amazing. General conference last weekend was so spiritually filled with gold. I loved every single second of it. I hope you guys loved it too. You really don't appreciate General Conference until you're a missionary. I especially liked President Monson's talk about the huge warship that was undefeatable until one lucky torpedo hit its rudder and completely immobilized it. I really related that to life and how we may think that we're unstoppable and that we have life and our temptations all under control until one thing gets us and then we're immobile stuck in the grasp of sin. It's almost like that story in the scriptures where the people were so confident that their enemies wouldn't attack the heart of the city they didn't protect it and they got over ran. But anyways, General Conference was the best.

        On another note, my Spanish is going so well. Way better than I thought it would be going. I pray daily for the gift of tongues. I just noticed this but I don't know if my first email went through to you guys. I hope it did but I tried to send a bunch of pictures and I hope that didn't stall the email and not let it send. If it didn't let me know and I'll try and catch you guys up. 

       The teachers here are so awesome and they're helping me progress way fast. I can already teach lessons pretty well and hold conversations here but when we went to the store, the people there talked so fast I couldn't hardly pick up a word. I just had to keep saying "Mas despacio" which means SLOW DOWN  - haha. That's definitely a phrase I always have in my back pocket. Teaching is getting way easier though. We now have two fake investigators which is just teachers that dress up in like "hood" clothes or clothes Dominicans would wear and then they act like their investigators. But now instead of having 40 min, we only have about 30. And it's hard to fit everything we want to teach about and say into that short of time. I never would've thought I would say that but it's true.

 

       Some things that have happened to me this week are:

1. We went to the store on Tuesday. The store was absolutely nuts. It was like a Wal Mart during the apocalypse! There was no organization to anything. The liquor was by the licorice and baby products that's how disorganized it was hahahah. And getting used to this whole peso thing is difficult cause I'm not used to spending 500 dollars at the store which is only about 11 bucks back home. But walking there was crazy. The whole atmosphere of the Dominican is way different. I had a way humbling experience too when I got there. Some kid approached me that was about 7 years old. He was skin and bones with a shaved head and he was begging for 30 pesos which isn't even a dollar so he could have something to eat. The look in his eyes pierced my soul. He looked so sad and desperate. But I couldn't give him money. You can't as a missionary. So instead, I just talked with him for a bit before we went in. His name was Mishal or something like that I don't know he talked fast. But he was homeless with no parents or anything to his name. But I basically told him God loves him and that everything is going to work out. That's all I really could do.

2. I cut my companion Elder Hansen's hair with an electric shaving razor! So we all got a Dominican haircut last Pday and his was kind of bad. So he had me fix the back with his electric razor. Our whole district was there and I marked out where I was going to cut with a pen and everyone joked that it was my "first surgery" cause they know I'm thinking about being a doctor hahaha.

3. The Haiitians from the CCM left. This was probably the hardest experience for me to deal with. I got so close to the elders from Haiti when they were here. They were all my closest friends. Even though I didn't speak French, one of them spoke a little bit of Spanish. So he translated everything I had to say. But basically, the night they were leaving we all sang "God be with you till we meet again" in Spanish. Let me tell you something. That was probably the most powerful hymn I've ever sang in my whole life. The Spirit was so strong. Ridiculously strong and the emotions in the room were powerful. The Haitians were some of the most humble individuals I've ever met and they each had such a strong testimony of the Savior. I cried when we were saying goodbye to them cause I got especially close with Elder Floresteal. It's just crazy that I'm probably never gonna see any of them the rest of my life.

Taylor and the other Elders doing their best "Tim Tebow" outside the Santo Domingo Temple

I've had a lot more experiences but I just don't have enough time to write them all. I love you all so much. Joseph, I miss and love you man. Ethan, I hope school is going well and that junior high is treating you well. Aaron, love you man. Make good decisions and be an example to everyone at all times. Be a light on a hill. Mom and dad, I miss you more than anything. Thank you for raising me in a household where I was able to learn and progress and learn how to work. Cause a mission is not easy at all. But it's worth it. I'll write more next week. But one last thing. I found a scripture thanks to my companion Elder Hansen this week in Ether 12:27. It's a great one. By the way, thank you for that sweet letter dad. It got hand delivered by that one lady that knows mom I forgot her name but yeah. And Garry Flake told me to tell Grandma Graff he said hi. I went to the temple today cause I was feeling better and I met him. He apparently knew Grandpa Graff and served with him somewhere on his mission. The TEMPLE HERE IS SOO COOL though. Better than in America hahahaha even though the Gilbert temple is hard to beat. But it's awesome that wherever you go, whatever language it's in, the same ordinances are still done in that sacred house of the Lord. I love the mission. And I miss you all. But this is where I need to be.

Hasta luego, te amo mucho,

Elder Graff