Poisonous Centipedes?

So this week wasn't all that crazy. It's honestly flying by already.
The classes feel super long but looking back it feels like
everything's going way fast. Funny story, during one of our classes it
started to smell like something was burning. Before long there was a
bunch of smoke in the building and it was getting hard to breathe. So
they had everyone evacuate, and we all thought the building was on
fire or something, but it turns out it was just something they were
doing on the roof that got through all our vents. It was a nice break
from class though.

It's also starting to feel way different in here. All the older
missionaries left on Tuesday morning, so there was only about thirty
people here that day. The new ones then came in the next day and now
we have like 75 people here which is apparently  the most people they
have ever had in this MTC. I don't really know any of the new guys yet
because we haven't really been together much, but they ate one meal
with us and we didn't even have enough seats. It is way crowded in
here. Most people got new roommates when the new guys came also, but
my room didn't. I'm pretty happy about that because we pretty much
have the best room. Everybody gets along great in my room. We have no
problems and we probably keep our room the cleanest also.

So we didn't get to leave the MTC too much this week. However, we did
leave it on Wednesday to go pick up trash and leaves in the park. It
was pretty fun. They also have some giant centipedes under a bunch of
the leaves. Like 8 inches long. Apparently everybody's been saying
they are poisonous if they bite you. I picked one up from the back
with a plastic glove on though so it couldn't get me. It did prick me
with two random things sticking out in the back of it. I had no idea
what they were. It didn't draw any blood so I think I'm good.

Brian holding poisonous centipede

We also got to go to the roof one night and check out the temple from there.
It looked super cool and we could see the ocean behind it when was
still fairly light out.

Brian with district on roof with temple in background

I realized I haven't been leaving a spiritual experience on my past
emails, but I'll start this week. Probably the best one I had this
week was when my companion and I were teaching an "investigator"
because when we were teaching we knew exactly what to say. This is in
Spanish by the way. We were full on telling stories, and saying
whatever we needed to say in great Spanish. Oh yeah I forgot, but we
did leave one other time. We got to go teach at the University here.
The people here are way nice. We talked to about five people and they
were all interested in what we were saying. There was one person we
were talking to for about twenty minutes. We picked up on a lot of
what he was saying, but the people here speak insanely fast. After we
finished talking he was asking us where the church was because he
wanted to go on Sunday. That was super cool. It was so hot when we
were out there though. We got back to our rooms just drenched. Anyways
I'm about out of time but that's hopefully everything I wanted to say
this week.

Brian with Mission President & Wife

Food Caught Up With Him (not in a good way)

It was another awesome week out here. We finally got to leave the MTC
for a couple different things. However, I said the food was amazing
last week. Nobody's stomach seemed to agree. We all had to cut back on
all of the fruit we were eating. I was having like a plate of fruit
each meal and like three or four bananas a day. We've all learned our
lesson though. Anyways, last week we got to walk over to the store. It
was cool to check out all the country. On our way over I probably saw
at least a hundred police with huge assault rifles. It was a pretty
cool walk. When we got to the store I just got a bunch of snacks. They
have these wafers that cost like a dollar for a box of fifteen so I
bought a bunch of those. Anyways when we got back it started pouring,
and the next group of missionaries couldn't walk over to the store
because there was a riot that broke out right after we left. So they had to
take a bus to a different store.

We also got to leave the MTC grounds for two other things. We were
supposed to go do service at the park across the street, but I guess
we didn't have any tools so we just ended up checking out the caves.
They have some awesome caves out there cause I guess the park used to
be a zoo. There were spider webs all over with massive spiders in
them. Probably about as big as my hand. That was super cool to see but
I didn't get any pictures cause I didn't bring my camera. The one
other time we got to leave was today cause we went and checked out
some castle and church. That was pretty sick and I got a bunch of
photos out there. Walking around though gets so hot. Everyone is just
drenched cause it's so humid. It's also crazy watching all the drivers
out here. Nobody cares about anything. Everyone's cars are just beat
up and they just hold the horn down and cut everyone off. I didn't get
to see it but apparently while the older missionaries were doing
splits, some bus crashed into another car. In the middle of the road
the guy gets out of his car and pulls out a machete and everyone
started chanting fight fight in Spanish. They had to leave right after
that though so they didn't find out what happened after that. There
were also some used shotgun shells on the floor on our walk over to
the store. I'm safe though, so no need to worry.

I think my Spanish is getting way better. I can hold a pretty good
conversation with someone in Spanish now if they speak slowly. The
classes are long though. We have an awesome district though so that
helps a lot. My roommates are also super chill. That's one of my
favorite parts of the day, when we go back to the rooms before bed and
we just hang out. My companion lived on a ranch. One of my other
roommates was the QB for Bingham football, and the other one used to
play basketball. Speaking of basketball, It's actually super fun to
play that out here. We get an hour each day on the outdoor courts so
we get way sweaty. It's super fun though. It's also fun to play with
the Dominicans. They play basketball a little differently. They never
check the ball back up so no matter what they go back up with the shot
without clearing it.

Anyways if anyone wants to email me, you guys need to send the first
email cause I don't have anybody's email address.

Castle Touring

First Week in the Dominican Republic (DR) MTC

Hey everyone, 

So ya a lot's happened out here in the DR. It's pretty sick. I have kind of a lot to say so I might not get all of it in until next week, but I'll probably just separate this into sections to make it easier. 

Food

The food out here is soo good. At least I think it is. A lot of people don't like it but I think it's amazing. They have some mush stuff in the morning that tastes really good with the bananas. For lunch they have the biggest meal of the day. During lunch they always serve rice and beans with some sort of meat. It's my favorite meal of the day. For dinner they have a bunch of stuff that I have no idea what it is, but it tastes real good. The fruit here is absolutely amazing. Their pineapple and mangoes are the best I have ever had in my life. Papaya isn't all that great though. I have a whole plate of fruit with every one of my meals. Their bananas are also the best ever. I probably have like three or four a day. They have this juice also that is super good, but I have no idea what it is. A lot of the people make PB and J's cause they don't like the food but I love it.

People

The people here are great. My companion is from Wyoming and lived on a ranch. He's super chill to hang out with. The two others in my room are from Utah. One of them was QB for Bingham (I have no idea how to spell it) and the other one played basketball. There's probably about seventy people here. This is the most they have like ever had apparently. Most people are from the US. There's one from Canada, one from Ecuador, a couple from Mexico, one from Trinidad, and like seven from Haiti. We try to talk to the Haitians all the time but they only speak French or Haitian. Funny story actually. The first day me and my companion were talking to some other Haitians just staying at the MTC for like a night. We thought they were speaking Spanish, so we were trying to talk to them in Spanish and thought we were learning a bunch of new words. We got down to the cafeteria though and tried to use our new words but then we learned that we just learned a bunch of french words. My district is also pretty cool. We have ten people. We have one redneck dude who is totally hilarious, and he is companions with like the most serious dude here; the one from Canada. Anyways, ya we have a bunch of fun in class.

Language

I'm practically fluent in Spanish.... Just messing I know like nothing. I thought they were planning on teaching us Spanish here. Nope, they just teach us the gospel in Spanish and I guess we just kind of pick up on it. We are supposed to memorize some words on our own. We like jump right in though. I already had to write a talk in Spanish, and I've taught three lessons in Spanish. And when I say memorize words on our own, I'm not really sure when we're supposed to be doing it because we have like no time. Anyways, ya I guess I'll just pick up on it. I feel bad for the people who never took Spanish in high school because they have literally taught us like nothing. At least I know some of the conjugations and stuff.

Brian with companion Elder Barker from Wyoming

Brian's DR District

Brian & his Companion at DR Temple

Arrival in Dominican Republic

Brian's first message on his mission:

Hey everyone,

I just made it out to the MTC in the Dominican Republic. It's very humid and warm here. We almost crashed like twenty times just driving the bus over. The drivers here are terrible. I'm still figuring out what is actually going on right now, so I'm going to keep this pretty brief. I made it safely though, and you won't hear from me until next Thursday. 

- Elder Busco 

Departure

Excited for his new adventure with some trepidation

This is it!

Living out of 2 suitcases for 2 years

Setting Apart

Brian has been ordained officially as Elder Busco

Set apart at Sinaloa Stake Center

Farewell

Brian gives mission farewell talk before departing to Dominican Republic MTC

Brian's cousins & grandparents