I am Alive and Love the D.R.!

Hello Family,

I am officially in the Dominican Republic.  We finally got to the CCM at about 1:30 AM.  Our flight got delayed and delayed, and delayed , and then again delayed.  But we finally got here.  I stepped into the airport in the middle of the night and it felt like it was 1,000 degrees.  And I was dripping wet.  It was pretty crazy.  Next, we had to go through customs and all that, but it was not a big deal at all.  We then packed 10 of us in a tiny little van and drove here.  It was an adventure.  The airport was about 45 minutes from the CCM.  As we drove we couldn't see much because it was dark, but I definitely am not in America.  It was kind of a crazy experience.  Then we saw the temple.  Wow.  It is so pretty.  All the pictures we had made it look pretty white, but it is not white, more of like a beige color.  When we got there the CCM President, President Glaciers was there.  He is awesome.  I can already tell that we are going to learn so much here.   We then went to our rooms.  The CCM is WAY better than the MTC.  There are only 2 of us in a room, me and my new companion Elder Jensen. He is from Utah, we get along good, I'll have more to say about him after I figure out more about him.  We have a full bathroom in our room with our own sinks, etc.  And I woke up freezing because our air conditioning worked so good.  It's just way way nicer than our rooms in Provo.  This morning we woke up and went to the temple.  It was an amazing experience.  We had to have little headsets for English, so that was kind of weird, but the spirit is always the same.  This temple is the most beautiful temple I have been in.  I wish I could send you pictures of the inside, it is absolutely amazing.  It is very big as well, they were saying the largest in Latin America.  It is kinda funny because it is smack dab in the middle of these apartments and all this stuff, if we look out our window we are looking right in someones apartment.  What else....uh the CCM is just awesome.  It is the 4th floor of the building and that's all it is.  There are only 4 districts in the whole thing.  So like maximum 20 people, 10 Americans, 10 Haitians.  I like it a lot though because everyone knows everyone.  We have basketball hoops, ping pong, Foosball, the works!! I already love the people.  Everyone is extremely friendly.  On my flight here, while I was in 1st class, yeah first class is still the best, I had an awesome experience.  I was sitting next to this man who looked Dominican and he was just talking away on his phone before his flight.  Anyway, he didn't look too scary so I said Hola and lo and behold he spoke English so all was well.  Needless to say, I ended up talking to him for the rest of the 2 hour flight.  It was an amazing experience.  We just small talked at first, and he told me about his company, and lots of stuff. Then they brought us dinner and asked if I wanted wine.  When I said no he asked if it was against my religion.  I said yes and he was blown away.  Then he said I could get coffee, again I declined and explained that we also do not drink coffee. He was astonished.  He then told me about how he quit drinking because he wanted to be in control of his body.  It ended up being an opportunity to share the gospel.  That's all I have time for.  Sorry, but I am alive and well!!!

I love you guys a lot!

Elder Reeder