Semana 3!!! Dominican Republic MTC

Okay soooo many things happened this week!!!

SO the other day we were told that the prophet of our church (President Nelson) woke up and had a prompting to come to the Caribbean islands, so of course he made arrangements and he is coming to the DOMINICAN REPUBLIC on Friday!!! so he is meeting with the missionaries on saturday morning!!! im super super excited!!!! andddd I'LL BE SHAKING HIS HANDDDDDD!!!!! AHAHAHAHAHHAH IM GONNA DIE!!!

SO I only have 3 more weeks here in the ccm and its crazy cause all the older hermana and elders left today and were getting 50 newbies tommorow! so im now considered "an old hermana" even though i look like im 12.... ahhyahahha it should be fun! 

The other day for our spanish class we were told to go outside to talk to the Dominicans so we went out of our ccm and went to chat with people (IN SPANISH AHHHH) and everyone is talking to older people and trying to have conversations... and you wanna know what I was doing?? I was hanging out with the little niños!! hahahah there were like 9 little girls all surrounding me and talking to me!!! theyre so CUTE! one of them kept tapping me on the shoulder and I was like "Que?" and she grabs my face and pulls it close to hers and says... "tu ojos es AZULLLL" and all the little kids were like "AZULLLL?!" and they just kept telling me how "muy bonita" my eyes are it was the cutest thing!!! so yeah I didnt end up talking to any grown ups... just little dominican kiddos... but i mean thats not really a surprise hahah.. Im always with the children hahah! 

But then the next day we went to the universidad to go teach.... and holy cow it was so nerveracking!!!! but the people are so understanding and patient with mine and my companions bad spanish!! but It gave us a good idea of what we learned and how much more we need to learn!!!  it was a great expirence!

Oh and!!! we basically have our own tower of terror here at the CCM (where I live), whenever you take the elevator to our floor (the 4th floor) it is the highest floor and for some reason every. single. time. It goes too fast or something and smashes the ceiling! so youll just be riding it and its all quiet then you get to your floor and theres a huge crashing sound hahahah its really scary.  Some elders got stuck on it for like 20 minutes the other day. so yeah we ummmm... we take the stairs hahahh! 

Funny storiesssss: SO hahahhah we like to scare each other here at the CCN and Im the master!! I have scared my comps so may times and my roommates its realy funny.. so my companion decided she was going to get me back... haha I cant even tell this without laughing so hard! So last night when my companion turned out the lights she decided that she was going to scare me and since Im on the bottom bunk im really easy to reach so she shuts out the lights and comes near my bed, and she can't see anything and she GRABS me out of no where!! so of course I screamed super loud (into my pillow cause I didnt want to wake anyone up in the other apartments) and she just starts laughing sooo soooo soooo hard and we all do and she runs into the bathroom and me and my other companion are like why the heck did she run in there? Is she scared Im gonna get her back or something??? So we hear her from the bathroom.... "YOU GUYS I PEED MY PANTS" HAHAHAHA WE DIED!! she was laughing so hard because she finally scared me that she Literally couldnt controll herself!! ahahhah she decided that she's Never going to scare, me again hahahah~!!!

I love love love being a missionary!!! okay I gotta go! love you all!!

Hermana Gray 

Happy in the Dominican Republic MTC

Hermana Vasquez, Hermana Feliz, Hermana Olsen and Courtney

Mission President Gulbrandsen's (they are from Mesa Arizona)

LOVE!!!

Courtney Pointing to a picture of her Friend Hermana Amber Clegg that was at the same MTC

Semana DOS!!! Dominican Republic MTC

Hola amigos!!! 

Holy cow this week flew by it seems like I was just writing you about my first week! well So much has happened this week I dont even know where to start!!! let me start by telling you that GOD LOVES YOU!!! he really does love each and every one of us and if you dont think so ask him!!! 

So this week was crazy!! every day still is full of 11 hours of spanish classes and my spanish is coming along!! (kinda) (.. i hope it is hahah) but anyway on wednesday we got to go to the stores!! we usually dont go till our third week but i guess our teachers really like us hahahah! so anyway the store is about a 15 minute walk from the CCM (where we live) and holy cow.... i am so grateful I am from the US.  They have a trash problem here so theres just bags of trash laying everywhere and the houses arent what you would expect theyre like small shacks and theyre lucky if they dont have holes in the roof cause it rains basically every day.  But anyway the store was really nice! kinda like a little dominican walmart and it was just so exciting to be out and about!!1 everyone was staring at us and anywhere I go im the center of attention cause of my blonde hair and blue eyes... so we got some creepy stares and im sure some interesting comments hahah (good thing I couldnt understand them right?!?!) theres a bright side to everything ahhahahah! well anyway getting out of the classroom was nice.

Then on wednesday we went to the nearby park and did a service project which was super fun! we raked up leaves and trash and filled up literally 40 huge black trash bags... the portion of the park we cleaned looked alot better after we left!!! it was super fun working together with everyone! and occasionally when you would grab a huge pile of leaves a huge poisonesss centepede would crawl out and start coming at you!!1 scary! but I killed about 4.. I was the only Hermama who would kill them so everyone was either screaming for the elders or me when one popped up... hahahah speaking of bugs! there was a lizard in our room the other day and Hermana Olsen was screaming bloody murder so we ran in to see what was wrong and it was the cutest little lizard! hahah I picked it up and brought it outside... Hermana Olsens a whimp;) but I love her!!! 

hmm a quote I really liked this week was "pray like everything depends on god, work like everything depends on you!!!!" and that HIT ME!!! we cant just pray and expect god to do everything!!! another one was "God doesnt answer unaksed prayers"  YOU NEED TO ASK HIM!!! yes god knows all our thoughts but hes not just going to read your mind and every thought you have.  He wants you to talk to him!!!

Someone told me this week  "YOURE GOING TO PUERTO RICO?!?!? puerto ricos too small to hold all of your energy!!!" hahah that made me laugh!!! its so true!

LOVE YOU ALL HAVE A GREAT WEEK

PICS!!! 

Service Project

Hermana Trio

Companions!!!

My day schedule

Hermana Olsen and Elder trio

FOOD

Semana 1!!! Dominican Republic MTC

Okay okay I dont have alot of time.... BUT let me first off tell you all that THE CHURCH IS SO TRUE!!

Well anyway, I made it to the DR MTC safely and I am in a trio with THE BEST companeras ever!! Hermana olsen and hermana vasquez!!! and we got room 401 which IS THE BEST cause I get to wake up and look out the window right at the temple!!! its AMAZING!!!

So life in the DR MTC consists of 1 hours of spanish being shoved down your throat with a little bit of meal time and physical activity time and NO time for sleep. as if the 11 hours of spanish werent enough, we have so much studying and memorizing to do its insane. Well a lot of studying especially for me.... because as all of you know I know |ZERO SPANISH!! and well, here they dont exactly take your background of espanol into consideration and instead pray about where you should be!!! which is amazing!! I love that they go off of the lords inspiration! BUT!!! I got put in the HIGHER level spanish class with all the people who have had 3+ years of spanish anddddddd...... well lets just say im working REALLY REALLY hard!! Im actually keeping up surprisingly well. But I'm not keeping up because "in smart" or "I just pick up really fast..." NOPE!!! the only reason I am learning as fast as I am is becuase of THE GIFT OF TOUNGES!!! and i believe that with ALL of my heart!!! ALSO side note... my class loves me because i make a fool of myself basically anytime I try to say something.... BUT mistakes are progress right?!? and I have gottten to the point where I dont mess up every thing I say!! And let me tell you that is progress!!!

So anyway, our MTC president is from MESA ARIZONA the gulbrandsens!! theyre amazing! (especially his wife)!!!! She is the best!! she actually reminds me so much of my mom so its like a little piece of home is here with me in the DR!! She gave a talk in our sunday school class on sunday!! which was a day that I was feeling particularry overwhelmed and something she said really stuck with me!!! "You guys, all you need to do is DO YOUR BEST!!! and the Lord will do the rest!!" I am pretty sure she was quoting hinkley!! but anyway! its so true, we cant do it all, but we dont have to! we just need to do our BEST with everything!! including Repenting, going to church, going to mutual even if we dont have "time" etc.

But anyway I am a living testimony that the lord lives and loves us and gives us what we need!!1 (aka THE GIFT OF TOUNGES) cause I would be nowhere without it!!!

I love you all and I love the gospel!! and im sorry if this makes no sense.... I only have an hour and i cant think straight! my mind is a big jumbled mess of english and spanish right now!!!

But I love you all and I hope youre all having a good week!!! ALSO!! yesterday we went running around the temple... and ended up taking a shower in the POURING RAIN lol!! the rain drops are so big here!!

 PICTURES!!!
1. My companeras and I matching!! (companions!)
2. Me and Hermana olsen, pointing to our missions!
3. Me and Hermana FELIZ!!
4. The view from my window
5. Our room!!! (were so proud lol)
6. FOOD!
7. We like mirror selfies apparently :)

My Companeras and I matching!! (Companions!)

Hermana Olsen and I pointing to our Missions

Me and Hermana FELIZ!!!

The view from my window

Our room!!! ( we are so proud lol)

FOOD!!!

We like mirror selfies apparently :)

Day 1

Hey guys,

I made it to the Dominican Republic safely!! I met up with a hermana in the phoenix airport actually so I wasnt alone!!!! So we were the only ones to go to miami then the DR. I dont have time, BUT IM ALIVE AND WELL and I am so so so excited and happy about serving the lord I cant wait!! my PDAY is on tuesday so Ill email then, I have to go unpack and do interviews!! I LOVE YOU and the gospel is TRUE!!!

XOXOX, hermana Gray:)

Her last kiss :)

Courtney's flight left at 12:04 AM - yes Midnight :)

And she is OFF!!!