Letter From Rhys - Week #4 - So Much Randomness, One Subject Line Won't Do

Que lo que from the tropical land of Republica Dominica!

Upon request, here's a little more info based on what happened to us from the hurricane. WE DIDN'T GET HIT! YAY! However, all the elders that were supposed to go to Puerto Rico got pushed back a week.  There wasn’t much change in our own schedule or what we did except we went to the temple right next door on Wednesday instead of Thursday.

I've heard that my last email seemed a little "canned" like a pack of sardines and for that I do apologize but there isn’t really much that’s gone on the last 2 to 3 weeks that’s made them stand out!  It’s much like school.  You come home and Mom's like "How was school today?" and the only thing you can say because it’s just the same day basically over and over is " It was good." ... I suppose that could be my fault for having an outlook on that but there's not much I can do to keep things interesting without sacrificing some line of obedience to my CCM president.

This week is a little different however, and by a little I mean A LOT!!!!!!!  We were privileged to go to the store this past week!  It was awesome once again! My district (our name is Moroni, BTW) and I were in desperate need of some good American junk food!  It was mostly DR generic knock offs but they’re still sooooooo gooooooood!

I bought two brand new ties this time around and they came in boxes with the tie design on them!  I’m glad I got them because they make some pretty good change boxes!  They’re also really cool ties!  One’s a really skinny green stripped tie and the other was what we call an overcompensation tie!  It is purple and verrrry FAT!

My companion and I both got address books, too, so that way we have a place to put the contact info. of those we want to look up when we get home.  I’ll send a picture home of some of the loot we got, too.

Speaking of pictures, the one with Elder Chu in the tree is supposed to be him in his natural habitat!  

Also, one day during week three, Elder Bollwinkle (one of the elders in my district) got really really bored but also extremely hyper.  For a while we were convinced that he was on drugs!  He just went on a tangent and started drawing caricatures of members of our district on the white board.

The one playing on the piano is Elder Lee. directly underneath is a very accurate face of Elder Gledhill.  On the left is of my companion Elder Welch and on the right is Elder Lee's companion Elder Jensen.

The one with the big head is of me drawn by the awesome black Elder from Jamaica, Elder Hutchinson.  I personally like that one the best.  If I could, I would take the time to talk about more of my pictures but I do not.

This week we also got a group of greenie greenies in the MTC. It's only been two days, but so far, they are very anti-social and are always only giving one word answers to all of our questions.  I do hope that things will change with them and they may open up more.  I haven’t been able to talk with many of them yet but I’m going to keep trying.

This past week has gone by so fast.  It feels like p-day was 3 days ago.  We did absolutely nothing except study for 6-8 hours a day for the last week.  It's honestly been more detrimental than beneficial.  You tend to realize that it doesn’t matter what you’re studying, Spanish, scriptures, lessons, there’s only so much you can do and there’s no flexibility!  We try to keep it interesting though.  We got a new classroom when the old guys left which is nice because it’s on the 4th floor but the A/C is broken and it gets horrible circulation. Entonces! (So) It gets really hot and always smells like something died in that room.  

On Monday, as we all know was 9/11, and District Moroni made the decision to be patriotic!  At the beginning of each block we sang a song: America the Beautiful, My Country ‘tis of Thee, Battle Hymn of the Republic, and The Star-Spangled Banner!  I'm pretty sure our teachers got annoyed with our patriotism.

Our apartment has also become the standard break congregating area.  I don’t think it has anything to do with our number, 420, but who can say?  It’s a highly spiritual room!

I have one more week in the CCM and then I’m out in the field!  This Saturday we will get a taste of it when we go on splits with missionaries in the area.  It’s safe to say I’m pretty Stoked!

Oh, something else interesting happened this week.  There was a riot down at the university on Saturday.  The funny part is that they were rioting about the cafeteria being CLOSED!  There were many rocks and cans of tear gas thrown from what I’ve been told.  It just makes me laugh so hard to think, that they are rioting because they can’t get food from a cafeteria when there are plenty of other places where grub is available!

On another note we were able to commit two mock investigators to baptism yesterday!  It was awesome!  The trick is then being able to do that while I’m talking to real people!

Well, that’s all for today folks!  I hope you enjoyed the ride through unplanned email land with me today!

Oh, they changed my email time to 1 to 2 instead of 4 to 5, so if anyone with a google account wants to chat HMU (hook me up) and maybe I’ll be able to talk with some folks.  Since It’s right after lunch I’ll probably be on about 20 min earlier.

Once again that's all and life couldn’t be better!

Going forth with the vision of Christ!

Elder Rhys Wheeler

P.S. Mommmmmmmmmmy! TYPOS!!!!!! PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE!!!!!!!!!

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[I asked Rhys if he got to choose the top bunk.  I could tell it was his because of the bright green sheets that looked different from everyone else’s.  Here is his answer as well as a couple of other nuggets.]

To answer some of your questions, yes, I did get to pick my bunk, I also do enjoy it a lot. The A/C unit blows on it constantly making it a prime spot to sit after a long hot hour of physical time.  

I’m also using my sheets because the sheets I was given do not fit on the bed I’m sleeping on.  It’s also a lot more comfortable, too.  

I am glad to hear that Elder Chu is adored by all who read my letters or see my pictures.  He's really one with the ladies here, too.  The Hermanas that know that he exists were saying how awesome he was and some took pictures with him.