First Week

(emailed to friends)

Just made it through the first week.  It's been THE HARDEST thing I've ever done, but it's been worth it.  Learned lots.  Continue to learning.  The homesickness continues to fade away.

Lots of rice and beans here.  I'm going to have to learn to love it lots.

I was made a District Leader!  So that's cool.  I feel my robotics leadership has helped me a lot with that.  I'm also in a tricompianship which is super funky.

It's super hot here.  Bearable, but hot.  Still plugging a way.  Continually sticky and wet.  I'm learning to love it. Haha

We also have 3 different sizes of red Spanish books.  One teacher calls them chamander, charmeleon and charizard.  Thought that was hilarious.

How are you guys doing?  I'd love to hear more from home!  Feel free to ask any questions. Sorry it was short this week, I'm slowly have got to learn how to manage my hour of time for sending emails.  It's hard to only have that long to communicate.

Miss y'all tons, Elder Easton Potokar

(emailed to family)
The AC is way good. It's fantastic, which is one of my many blessings we have down here. We crank it down to 15 or 20 degrees Celsius which I'm not sure what it means, but it feels fantastic.

I'm doing fine. A little homesick of course, but feeling good. Life goes on. I compare it at this point to a scout camp where at the end of your week you're just ready to come home. But I'm sure that feeling will fade. The food is bueno haha. Lots of rice beans, and meat. I'm starting to get sick of it though which is a terrible sign.  I'm starting to miss leftovers if that tells you anything. (Easton would rather eat anything than leftovers!)

The weather actually isn't as bad as you'd expect. We like to describe it as "bearable" haha. It's sticky and hot, but not overwhelming so. Maybe it's the lower altitude, but it feels like I'll be fine to stay out in it all day with a few breaks here and there. We play some way competitive basketball in it for about an hour and it's enough to completely soak whatever I'm wearing. Speaking of basketball, there's some kids here who could probably take Tyler 1v1. They're huge and tall. One super skinny kid (Elder Boggess) (Yes I still consider us all kids), is probably 5 inches taller than me, but his waist is probably like a foot and a half taller than mine. The kid has legs. It's hilarious. The Haitian sisteres call him Joseph Smith because it's so high. I've never been able to figure that out.  I'm proud to say I'm competitive with them when I play too.  I'm not out of place which helps everything so much.

Also the kid I thought was huge is shorter than me and is like a teddy bear. He's hilarious. And the wrestler is super quiet. Never heard him say more than a couple sentences in a row. (Easton found these two elders on a DR Mission Facebook page before he left.)

The Spanish is coming. So far it's just been a review of JH spanish, but it's been good. We're already teaching SUPER basic lessons in it. But it's coming. Not looking forward to tons of grammar though.

I've gotten into the routine. It ain't so bad. I manage. It's been going by quicker and quicker. My Arizona companion is awesome. I love him. Quiet, but sick. (That means awesome!) Unfortunately, I'm in the only Elder threesome or "tripanionship" here. There's a lot of things about it that makes it a lot harder. The other one is from Idaho and there's not too many shared interests which makes things even harder.  We're getting through it though. (Elder Bassett and Elder Fusselman)

 I was also made a DL! That means I'm over 7 people. There's around 5 DL's here, and there's around 38 kids at the MTC total. It's cool. I was super happy about that. Learned lots so far.  There was around 13 kids here when we got here.  They've been here for two weeks and are either going to Puerto Rico or the Santiago mission.  One kid is from Fremont and is an AP.  He's way chill.  Elder McGrady is his name. There's around 23 of us who've been here a week and are either going to the DR East or West.  Then they're 3 natives from Haiti who speak French who will be serving in Haiti.

One thing that keeps me going is that serving will bless my family now and in the future. I just gotta keep pushing through it.

Today we visited the temple which was amazing. It's awesome to see it's the same here as at home. My district was made for me as well. They're all super quiet. Makes it easier for me. The number of kids in it reminds me of robotics, and I feel like I've already done this before. My email time is every Thursday. Let me know how scout camp goes! Let me know if you want any other pictures.

Sunday meetings are in a large room.  They are in Spanish.  I bore my testimony for ours on Sunday.  It was fun.  Our classroom is actually part of the chapel.   It's on the same floor as our rooms which is a blessing and is on the fourth floor.  A lot of other districts have to switch floors which would be a pain.  Count your many blessings I suppose.

Also did you check my AP scores?  I'm dying to know!  (Easton took 5 AP tests this year. He received four "5's" and one "4". 5 is the highest you can get. Great job Easton!) Also have to get a haircut today.  Go figure.  Supposedly the barber is good, but we'll see about that.  Wish me luck!

Love you lots!  Miss you every day.

Elder Easton Potokar

Notice the map is in Spanish!

Easton with his district going to the temple.

The DR Temple

Easton's room is on the 4th floor in the building on the right.

View out the classroom window.