2nd Week Done!

(emailed to Friends)

Hey y'all!  I've made it through another week. I'm just going to hit on a few funny things that I think happened this week.

Some of the funny phrase here are "Aye mi madre" and my district came up with using "oh wow" super sarcastically. It cracks me up. Also, saying si like a gillion times really means now apparently.

Culture. They have a Chili's, Johnny Rocket, KFC, Wendy's and McDonald's here from what I've heard.  So I will get some americanish food! They also honk a ton in the streets. It's called the "music of traffic". They're all crazy drivers. It's super sketchy. Way scary. I'm super thankful I'm not going to be driving at all.  The fruit here is also amazing. I LOVE the mangoes, bananas, and pineapple. I don't think I'll be able to eat any fruit the same back at home. The Dominicans also speak insanely fast. I can't keep up with anything of it AT ALL. Our teacher jokes they don't speak Spanish here, they speak Dominican. And it's true. They hardly take a breath when talking.

From the MTC we can just barely see the ocean.  So that's super cool.  We also get brownies for breakfast which is kind of insane and sickening, but fantastic at the same time.

In one of our last role playing investigators, our investigator decided it was a good idea to fall asleep during our lesson.  We had NO idea how to handle that.  haha.  It was our teacher role playing and now we're all really frustrated with her... I also learned how to lead music!  So that's alright I suppose.

On our trip to the store, one missionary accidentally got rum ice cream.  It cracked us all up.  He's a super funny guy.  He just ordered something and I suppose it was in Spanish so he had no clue what he ordered!

We've unofficially nicknamed our tripanionship the Trinity at well.  Actually there was some probs with that so we're the trilogy instead.

Sunday nights are the bomb too.  We get pizza, ice cream, and a walk around the temple.  It's the bees knees.

Also some new missionaries came yesterday going to Santiago and Puerto Rico.  They're all Spanish speakers.  One is like 5' 4" and another is 6' 4".  It's hilarious.  Cracks me up. 

I also definitely have been blessed with the gift of tongues too.  Any words I learn stick with me so well.  It's insane.  I love it.  I feel like if I was to leave right now I'd lose it all.  It's all the Spirit helping me learn at this point.

Tomorrow we're going to a university to proselyte!  Send your prayers my way!  In two weeks we do splits with the missionaries in the field.

Love and miss you all!  E. (Easton or Elder) Potokar

(emailed to Family)

Thanks for your emails!

I'd definitely do that, but we're pretty restricted here and the way they've set it up, we can't have multiple tabs open.  It makes it super hard and there's a timer running in the top right the entire time.  Freaks me out. haha (We told him to load his pictures to Google Drive.)

Glad to hear scout camp was a blast! Sounds like Garrett killed it.  Glad to hear he really applied himself this year.  I also made a list of stuff to email this week.  That's just how I do things.  This might be pretty scatterbrained, but it should cover just about everything.

We have to shave every day.  That bothers me a ton.  I also feel SO good when teaching with the Spirit.  It's got me excited to get into the field.  I really just want to try the field.  That's my goal right now - to make it that far. 

The Tri has made it hard to really cling with someone.  I don't feel super close to anyone.  I'll go ahead and tell you some about my district though because we've gotten way close.  Elder Fusselman (my comp.) is super chill and funny.  He's opened up a ton.  I'm glad I have him. I've gotten used to Elder Bassett (my other comp).  Elder Hodges and I are way alike.  He's a runner, (5K pr is like 20 seconds faster than mine), really loves basketball, got a 32 on the ACT, and just has a similar sense of humor to mine.  I've really gotten to know him the best.  Elder KiniKini is hilarious.  Quiet, but fantastic.  He randomly gets the district to burst into song.  We're like a walking choir.  Sister Olsen went to USU.  She's kind of crazy, but fun.  Sister Allen went to BYU so I might see her there.  She's quiet, but funny as well. 

Oh and could you send me a list of hymn page numbers in English and Spanish?  I've struggled to know what songs what. haha

I also see a lot of the mission president here.  I thought that that's way cool.  I'm super happy I get to talk to him a lot.  He's an amazing guy. 

A lot of people here also have some of the same clothes as me.  Same belt, same hush puppies, a few of the same ties and tons of the same bag.  Go figure.  Also the humidity seems to have fixed the static problem with my pants.  So there's a bonus. My Weber tie has also been the one I get the most compliments on.  Go figure.  Weber Pride.  Also check your snapchat.  A girl I sat next to on the plane sent you a snapchat of me. haha  Be prepared to screenshot it. 

We also went to the store a couple days ago.  It was a major culture and the homesickness kicked in.  I've gotten over it since, but that's something I'm not looking forward to.  Their crazy driving, all the Spanish and such.  It's just a different way of life here. 

Sounds like you're all doing great. I'm so glad to hear that! I miss Lydia so much. All the kids. Just the little things like that.  I'm glad to hear Garrett has found a passion as well. (swimming)

On the 4th of July we had a thanksgiving dinner.  It was super good.  Lots of decorations.

You'll be proud to hear laundry went well.  Got it all done by myself.  Even got a pizza stain out.  Any tips for the temperature of the water I should wash things in though?

One thing that really helped me was in the celestial room I thought that I'm giving up two years with you guys so others could be with theirs forever.  That really hit me hard.  It's helped me keep going a ton. 

The temple here also has super short rooms.  Like maybe 6' 6".  I almost hit my head on them multiple times.  It made me think of you (mom) for some reason.  You would've had no problems in there haha.

Also the 3 new DL's from when we came in are the 3 guys on my flight itinerary.  I thought that was super cool.  I don't know why.

I know you guys were joking a bit about the diarrhea pills (I think), but I've needed them this week.  My stomach has been in constant knots.  No bueno.  It's getting better though.  Just like everything has been. 

Another cool thing is there is families here from all over the Caribbean.  They come and stay at the MTC (there's some empty rooms downstairs) and go to the temple.  It's cool to be part of a little bit of their lives.  I can't get enough of it.  Love seeing how much this means to them.  We also get to play with their ninos in some of our gym time. 

Also something I've noticed is I don't teach well when homesick.  It's just a fact of life.  That's a reason why I've pushed it off for the past week or so. I've also decided I need to redirect my love so to speak.  I need to temporarily move my love for you guys (which hurts so much right now sometimes!!) to the people here.  That'll make everything go so much faster.  Also walks around the temple here are hard a lot of the time.  It's hard to do cuz I usually do that with you guys.  Makes me think of home WAY too much. (We have a saying in our family that goes "If you let your children touch the temple, the temple with touch your children." Anytime our family goes on vacation and there is a temple on the way or close by, we go and spend some time there and walk around the temple grounds.)

Also my shoes, retainers and my jammed thumb feel fantastic.  So that's a VERY good thing.

Also thanks for the good emails, they make me less homesick.  It's helps a ton. From what I've heard a lot of other people's emails were really hard.  You've been really good at making me not miss home too much.  Gracias por este.

Love and miss you so much!  Think about you and home tons.  Probably too much.  Some days I wish I could just talk to ya.  Love you tons. Love, E. Potokar

Doesn't look too sure about the new haircut!

Members of his district

 Little bit of ocean

DR Temple

Beautiful temple lit up at night!