Hola Mi Familia!

 

So you get an extra email this week since they allow us to contact you about our safe arrival. I decided not to call you from the airport because I figured it would just make me homesick. Besides, every pay phone in the entire Miami airport was occupied by the poor desperate elders. Just know I love ya'll! Anyways, the trip down was pretty long and tiring, but I think my trip to Jerusalem still takes the cake for most exhausting. Our flights were booked from Salt Lake to Dallas, Dallas to Miami, and Miami to Santo Domingo. I had a really neat experience talking with a man named Ferdinand from the Philippines. I was only able to give a pass along card though because in my desperation to stay underweight for travel I failed to have an extra Book of Mormon with me. Never again! I would have gladly sacrificed anything in my bag to have had one to share...oh well. Next time then.

 

Santo Domingo is beautiful...and hot. We flew in around 7pm at night and when we walked outside it felt like walking into a sauna. I felt so bad for all the elders that kept their suit jackets on. The travel experience as a whole was kind of crazy. Nobody knew where we were supposed to go once we got off the plane and there were so many lines! Tourist cards...money changers....immigration...baggage claim...customs. Although, I suppose it wasn't really that bad compared to security and customs into Israel. I didn't get body searched this time though, what a disapointment. :-) Some of the elders were totally shell-shocked though, wandering around with lost looks on their faces. Poor little boys getting sent into a third world country when they've hardly traveled farther than state boundaries...hahaha. I do feel bad for them though.

 

The MTC here is right on temple grounds and my new companion Hermana Peterson and I have an entire 8 person bedroom to ourselves because we're the only sisters here. If I felt like the minority in Provo, here it's even worse. I'm just glad I have a companion at all. I wasn't really a big fan of being stuck in a threesome with 2 elders for the trip over here. We also have a beautiful view of the temple from our bedroom window...pictures coming forth soon! Today we're jumping into orientation and we've been sufficiently chastised for not "speaking out language" enough. The Spanish here is crazy though! Coming out of the airport I swore they were speaking some form of Chinese and not Spanish. And they mumble alot. I hate mumbling....especially trying to understand Spanish mumbling. I will keep trying though! Anyways, they're telling us to finish up so I better go.

 

Thank you for all your love and prayers! I am safe and sound and loving every minute of being here! My P-Day is thursdays now, so I'll write again then. Oh and here's my new address for the next 6 weeks before I head out into the field...

 

MTC Address:

Hermana Elyse Marie Bradley

Avenida Bolivar 825

Los Robles, Santo Domingo

Domincan Republic

 

Love,

Hermana Bradley