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| This is my companion, Elder Koerper. |
Thursday, June 25, 2015
25 June 2015 - Dominican Republic MTC
Pday again? Dang these weeks fly by. haha this week was pretty much the same as the last one! Imagine that! Last friday we got to walk over to the university and go contacting. Of course nobody spoke English so we could hardly say anything, but we passed out quite a few Restoration folletos. Er, pamphlets. I looked at that for a second and thought, "wait, that's not english." hahaha. Went to the temple again today and it was great! Saw the movie with the bald Satan and did all the talking part with no help! The Spanish is still hard. I know most of the main grammar rules and things but I'm lacking in words. Umm....lets see...what else happened. I saw a few of my friends during the apostle devotionals at the Provo MTC (we watch them taped) and one of my teachers here just got engaged. Um...I'm feeling much better, but I still have a hearty cough every once in a while. OH! Just remembered! So i weighed 135 when I left and I'm already up to 145. Yeah, I'm gaining wait. Mind Blown. I was reading in romans late last week, I think in chapter 9, and came across a few verses that really struck me. Its at the very end of the chapter and just talks about how we have God on our side and nothing can stop us when he's watching over us. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. If I think of anything else I'll send it along while I have time. And Dad...please forward my emails. I'm starting to get complaints. ;) Thanks! Love you all bye!
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Note from Richard and Lynn Keisker
Hi folks!
Just a note to say that we enjoy seeing Christian every day here at the Casa de Huespedes, Santo Domingo Dominican Republic Temple. He and his delightful companion come to our apartment each Monday evening for an hour of Spanish practice. All of the elders and sisters are assigned to a senior couple for this weekly exchange and Sister Romney assigned them to us at our request.
Christian is doing fine. I get to work with him in the temple each Thursday morning when all the missionaries from the CCM (MTC) come to the temple. He's a joy to be around! He has worked with us in initiatory, sealing and in endowment sessions. For the first few weeks we keep the ordinances in English so that they have a "Temple Experience." Later, they can experience the same ordinances in Spanish before actually getting into the mission field.
Dominican Spanish is quite different from Castellano. It is more difficult to understand - even for a seasoned Spanish-speaker. But the young missionaries pick it up rather quickly once they are exposed to it on a daily bases and with their senior companion.
I wish the Elders and Hermanas were with us longer than just 6 weeks. We get to know and love them and then off they go. Some keep in touch throughout their mission and send pictures of their activities and experiences.
I don't know how often the missionaries get to talk to their families and I certainly will not encourage them to bend or break any rules, but our phone is always available as is our computer for email, etc. for Elder Frogley should he have a need, pending permission form President and Sister Romney who, by the way are really awesome people!!!
Take care y saludos a todos,
Richard and Lynn
Just a note to say that we enjoy seeing Christian every day here at the Casa de Huespedes, Santo Domingo Dominican Republic Temple. He and his delightful companion come to our apartment each Monday evening for an hour of Spanish practice. All of the elders and sisters are assigned to a senior couple for this weekly exchange and Sister Romney assigned them to us at our request.
Christian is doing fine. I get to work with him in the temple each Thursday morning when all the missionaries from the CCM (MTC) come to the temple. He's a joy to be around! He has worked with us in initiatory, sealing and in endowment sessions. For the first few weeks we keep the ordinances in English so that they have a "Temple Experience." Later, they can experience the same ordinances in Spanish before actually getting into the mission field.
Dominican Spanish is quite different from Castellano. It is more difficult to understand - even for a seasoned Spanish-speaker. But the young missionaries pick it up rather quickly once they are exposed to it on a daily bases and with their senior companion.
I wish the Elders and Hermanas were with us longer than just 6 weeks. We get to know and love them and then off they go. Some keep in touch throughout their mission and send pictures of their activities and experiences.
I don't know how often the missionaries get to talk to their families and I certainly will not encourage them to bend or break any rules, but our phone is always available as is our computer for email, etc. for Elder Frogley should he have a need, pending permission form President and Sister Romney who, by the way are really awesome people!!!
Take care y saludos a todos,
Richard and Lynn
18 June 2015 - Dominican Republic MTC
That's awesome Dad! :D haha Yay pictures! We went to the store on Tuesday and I found a cord there that fit! :D I also bought...wait for it...a harmonica!! :D I big one! Now I can play real songs! It was really cheap too. I got all my money changed over to pesos and I like money here alot better. Its so colorful and fun. (Just so you know its 44 pesos to the dollar. In case you were curious.) This week was interesting. Friday I woke up with a really bad sore throat. Then Saturday night I started feeling really gross and all of Sunday i was just out of it. By Sunday night i was delirious and I spent most of Monday in bed with a high fever. Well my companion and another elder gave a a priesthood blessing and by Tuesday morning I was fine! That's pretty much the only different thing this week except now we have 2 "investigators" per day. One is named Ramón and the other....i can never remember. haha Ramon is super grumpy and thinks the church is a business and that we are all spies for the CIA. Fun times teaching him. We went to the temple again today and saw the old movie..again. Haha but I went through for a man from Spain. He was born in like 1504 which i didn't realize until most of the way through the session. I had been kind of nodding off (which really never happens) until I read that. The thought struck me that he'd been waiting for over 500 years for some one to do his work for him and I was lucky enough to be that person. It really touched me. AAAAAAAAAny way that's it for this week. I've got more pictures I'm trying to send and I'll take more on Sunday. I love you all so much! :D
Thursday, June 11, 2015
11 June 2015 - Dominican Republic MTC
Hurro Famiry!! :D Well the first week was very busy and quite repetitive. Spanish is going great. Its now to the point where my English is suffering because i keep trying to spell in Spanish. We wake up at 6:15 everyday and go to bed at about 10:30. These 16 hour days are wearing on me, but I'm sure I'll get used to it to some extent. We've already started teaching our first investigator. He's actually just one of our teachers dressed up as a 16 year old, but close enough. We have to teach in spanish so my companion and I spend like two hours writing out our lessons before we teach. The first lesson was terrible. It was like one giant awkward pause with a few snippets of talking in between. All the ones since have been great though. Thank goodness for the spirit. The MTC here is pretty nice, but rather small. It does have air conditioning which is super nice because it is toasty outside. Mom told me about that bird little bird that kept smacking into the house and I laughed out loud at breakfast. My companion just kind of stared at me and then started laughing too.
Oh, so my comps name is Elder Koerper. He's from New Mexico. He reminds me so much of Ian its kind of creepy. They talk the same, act the same, do alot of the same stuff, except mi companero plays baseball and isn't nearly as nerdy. He makes me work out everyday too. We run stairs (so many stairs...) and do tons of squats, burpies, push ups, sit ups, more squats, squat jumps, squat and holds, more squats...did I mention squats? Speaking of Ian, we went to the temple today (which was amazing) and the movie that we watched was the one with Michael Ballum as Satan. It was weird. The portrayal of heaven was so nineties I almost started laughing in the middle of the session. Oops. I was just glad to hear we get to do sessions mostly in English. The temple here is beautiful by the way but, like the MTC, very small.
I've taken a few pictures of my own, but I cant send them cus I don't have a camera cord and the computers we use dont have SD card drives. No pictures till I'm out of the MTC i guess. Sorry. :/ Also, you might already know this but don't send packages to the MTC cus they wont get here in time. It takes forever. Glad to hear everything's going great! I really need an adjustment dad which is sad because I know I won't get one for two years. Oh and if you could Maaaaaybe send me my black tony hawk shoes (Vans? Tony hawk? I dont remember) that't be great cus i dont have any normal shoes for Pday except for my work out ones. They have brown trim in the bottom. If you cant thats totally fine, just wondering.
Dad, please remember to forward my emails to my friends. Most of their emails should be on my facebook under my last, or at least one of my last, post(s). :) Love you all! I miss you bucket loads but I'm happy being out here and serving the Lord.
P day is Thursday in case you didnt already notice. Also, i'm going to check if one of the other Missioneros has a camera cord that can fit my camera so I can send you some pictures. It turns out i did bring my gym clothes...There were just hiding in one of my sealed bag things.
Oh, so my comps name is Elder Koerper. He's from New Mexico. He reminds me so much of Ian its kind of creepy. They talk the same, act the same, do alot of the same stuff, except mi companero plays baseball and isn't nearly as nerdy. He makes me work out everyday too. We run stairs (so many stairs...) and do tons of squats, burpies, push ups, sit ups, more squats, squat jumps, squat and holds, more squats...did I mention squats? Speaking of Ian, we went to the temple today (which was amazing) and the movie that we watched was the one with Michael Ballum as Satan. It was weird. The portrayal of heaven was so nineties I almost started laughing in the middle of the session. Oops. I was just glad to hear we get to do sessions mostly in English. The temple here is beautiful by the way but, like the MTC, very small.
I've taken a few pictures of my own, but I cant send them cus I don't have a camera cord and the computers we use dont have SD card drives. No pictures till I'm out of the MTC i guess. Sorry. :/ Also, you might already know this but don't send packages to the MTC cus they wont get here in time. It takes forever. Glad to hear everything's going great! I really need an adjustment dad which is sad because I know I won't get one for two years. Oh and if you could Maaaaaybe send me my black tony hawk shoes (Vans? Tony hawk? I dont remember) that't be great cus i dont have any normal shoes for Pday except for my work out ones. They have brown trim in the bottom. If you cant thats totally fine, just wondering.
Dad, please remember to forward my emails to my friends. Most of their emails should be on my facebook under my last, or at least one of my last, post(s). :) Love you all! I miss you bucket loads but I'm happy being out here and serving the Lord.
P day is Thursday in case you didnt already notice. Also, i'm going to check if one of the other Missioneros has a camera cord that can fit my camera so I can send you some pictures. It turns out i did bring my gym clothes...There were just hiding in one of my sealed bag things.
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
3 June 2015 - Dominican Republic MTC
Hey Family! Well here I am in the Mtc! We're just getting settled in and they told us to come in here and write our families so....here we go! The flight was long...and kind of annoying, but I got here. I was in a group of seven people which was great, but none of them had ever flown before so I ended up leading them everywhere. I haven't met my companion yet but i have my nametag which is kind of tripping me out. Everyone here is really nice, but all the natives kind of look down on us cus we don't speak Spanish. Also, quick side note, I need my preach my gospel and my immunization records as soon as possible. I am definately the oldest one in our group, but I havent met everyone yet. They have a volleyball net and basketball court here so...thats fun. haha Apparently its time for Gym so I don't have alot of time, but I'll type fast. I could never drive here. Nobody uses turn signals or anything. Its pretty hectic. Oh, and apparently my mission, the east side, is the rich section. Thats what I've been told anyway. Well, I'm going to go unpack. I'll right you guys on Pday! :) Love you all! -Elder Frogley
Monday, June 1, 2015
Elder Christian Frogley
Hello friends and family. Thus begins the new chapter in the Frogley Family Missionaries blog, in which we join Elder Christian Frogley in his adventures bringing the gospel to our wonderful brothers and sisters in the magical land of The Dominican Republic - Santo Domingo East. For those who may be curious, here's a map of the mission:
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