Week One: Zoe's Schedule in the CCM Dominican Republic

We weren't sure when Zoe's preparation day was- the day she has access to the internet to write to us. So, we waited all day Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday with no e-mail. Then late Thursday, driving back from Las Vegas (where we saw Bernie and Linda)  and St. George (where we visited the Kiser's) I happened to check my e-mail and there it was! An e-mail from Zoe! Here is what she wrote:

Hola mi familia! 

Things are very great! I'm really enjoying the CCM (El Centro de Capacitacion Misional)aka MTC (Missionary Training Center). It's super fun, like a language bootcamp. I got my numbers wrong last time, there's actually another group of North Americans, so really there's about 20 Elders here and 30 sisters. However, I talked to a Senior Missionary couple from the East mission and they said they have about 210 missionaries right now and only about 12 are girls. I'm assuming the West mission is about the same. So we may outnumber the guys for now, but not for long. Also, that means there's about 600+ missionaries right now in the DR!

This building is awesome. There's 4 floors. The training center and our housing is on the top floor. The two middle floors house families who want to go to the temple. The bottom floor has like a gym and the kitchen. Because it was Easter week, we housed a lot of families. It only costs like $3 a night! What a blessing for these families!  

OK, I've had a request for knowing what my scedule's like. Here it goes:

6:30             Wake up
7                 Breakfast
7:30-8:30     Personal Study
8:30- 9:30    Companion Study
9:30- 12:30  Language Study
12:30          Lunch
1:30-3:30     Language Study
3:45- 4:40    Gym
5                 Dinner
6-9              Language/ Doctorine (but mostly Language)
9- 9:30         Plan for the next day
9:30-            Family prayer (MTC prayer)

9:30-10:30     Prep for bed and sleep. 

There is a ton of language study as you can see. We study by district. Our district has 9 girls, so it's super nice that we have such a small class and can get a lot of time with the teacher. Also, it's awesome actually being in the DR, because we still practice our Spanish all day, even outside of the classroom. We practice with ourselves, the workers and we can go outside and practice with the people that are outside the temple. I still can't understand much, but I always understand "Mucho grande!" which I hear a lot. 

I know it seems like there's a lot of language study, cause there is. I thought there would be more doctrine study, but there's really not. Mostly just on Sundays. Sundays we go to Church and watch a Devotional, or someone will come in and talk to us. 

On Mondays we do service projects. This week, we walked to the University that's about a 10 minute walk. We picked up garbage, and it was really awesome, cause the people are super friendly and kept coming up and talking to us! Luckily, my companion and a lot of the others know Spanish a lot better than I do! 

Outside is BEAUTIFUL! It's really and has a nice warm breeze. I think it's going to get really REALLY hot during the summer, but it's OK! 

Also, Thursday are our Prep days, so that's when I'll really be emailing. We go to the temple in the morning, and then the afternoon we can just get done what we need to. I like P-days.

Besides that we have a very strict routine, but I really like it! I'm getting a lot of work done! 

I'd love more email/ letter/ packages/ whatever! Also there's an awesome sight called dearelder.com that sends letters for free and is really quick! Just remember I'm in the Santo Domingo West mission.  

Also, I realized that for the next 5 weeks, I gave you the wrong address! Both mail and packages can be sent to:

Sister Zoe Danielle Safeer
Dominican Republic Santo Domingo West Mission
C/ Hatuey #73
Urb. Los Cacicazgos
Santo Domingo
Dominican Republic

I'm sorry my email's all over the place, I just don't have the time to draft it out or anything!

Well, I wish I could say more, but I've got to go! If you have any questions, let me know! I'd love to hear from you guys! FYI, dearelder.com is probably the fastest for me to recieve things, but I'll most likely email back. 

Talk to you soon! 

Love, 

Hermana Safeer