Week 25 in the D.R.

Monday, Nov. 11

            We went into the office in the morning. We had a long talk with Julio our boss. He is getting overwhelmed with his job, church assignment, and family obligations. I think he felt better after he had a chance to vent. We worked until early afternoon and then went home to prepare for our evening. We went to Spanish class, listened to Elders Peterson and Westenscow give us their final lesson before they went to their respective mission fields. At family home evening, President Flake and his wife introduced themselves, the Daltons also were introduced and the Buttons said farewell. We talked to President Flake after the meeting and found out he is a cousin to my high school friend, Flake Fairbourn. What a small world.

Elders Westenscow and Peterson

Tuesday, Nov. 12

            We spent the day in the office. We left early to return to our apartment to help clean up the Bishop’s Storehouse. The Area Public Affairs photographer wanted to take pictures of the Bishop’s Storehouse for the introduction to the Church video they were preparing. We spent almost two hours stocking shelves and cleaning up. At 5:00 pm they came and spent over one hour filming the storehouse and how they give out food. It was interesting watching them film the storehouse operations.

Wednesday, Nov. 13

            We spent the morning and early afternoon in the office. We came home early and purchased water for us and our neighbor, washed the car and then got ready and went to the 5:00 pm session at the temple. The new temple movie had just arrived the day before and it was our first chance to see the new film. After the film was completed, I was taken through the veil by President Anderson, the area president. This was the first time I had been taken through the veil by a general authority.

Thursday, Nov. 14

            We went into the office for a half of a day. While in the office, Elder and Sister Ray from Trinidad were in town to attend an auditor’s conference in the area office. I was talking to Sister Ray and she said she was born in Globe, Arizona, the same place I was born. Elder Ray was born in the neighboring town of Miami, AZ. Elder and Sister Ray knew my Brother Wayne. What a small world. We went to lunch with them and then we went shopping at IKEA. We returned home and had a quiet night in our apartment.         

Friday, Nov. 15

            We got up the usual time and decided to take a walk on the Malecon for our exercise. As the sun was coming up, a German cruise ship was entering the harbor. We watched the ship for a while and then returned to our apartment to get ready for the day.The Ruckers asked us to help them entertain two Church employees from Salt Lake and the senior couple from Trinidad, the Rays, and a brother from Jamaica. We met the group at the Casa and ventured out to the Colonial Zone. We drove to the Faro de Colon and toured the building. The group enjoyed the walking tour.

Jim and Joy in front of Cristopher Columbus tomb

After taking dozens of pictures, we drove over to the old colonial zone. We parked the van and walked four blocks to the Diego Colon house. We toured the facility with a tour guide, We walked across the plaza and ate at the Pirate’s Restaurant. The waiters were dressed in pirates clothing. We sat at a table on the plaza that had a view of the Diego house. After lunch we walked to the Columbus Plaza via the Calle de Damas, the oldest paved road in the Americas passing the homes of Cortes and Pizarro. We took pictures of the plaza and the oldest Cathedral in the Americas and then returned to the Casa at 3 pm. We had a great day with the group. In the evening the Haws invited us to a farewell party for the Buttons who were leaving and a welcome to the D.R. party for the Whitakers who will be replacing the Buttons. We had a good visit with the group.

Interior of Diego Columbus House

Saturday, Nov. 16      

            Joy and I attended the closing ceremony at the Santo Socoro Children’s Hospital. The Church had donated some medical equipment to the hospital and the local members had done a couple of service projects at the hospital. We had lunch with the Haws at a Chinese Restaurant and then spent the balance of the day in our apartment. In the evening we played a game of Mexican Train with the Haws. Of course I was the winner.

Closing Ceremony at Santa Socorro Hospital

Week 24 in the D.R.

Nov. 4, Monday

            Monday was a holiday in the Dominican Republic. The office was closed so we spent the morning and early afternoon catching up on housework, laundry and washing the car. We attended Spanish lessons in the afternoon and then listened to the missionaries. The Mortensons spoke to us about the opening of missionary work in the Dominican Republic. Elder Mortenson was one of the first ten missionaries to open up missionary work in the Dominican Republic in 1978. He related several stories about the beginnings of the church in the D.R. He has written a book on the beginnings of the missionary work in the D.R.

Nov. 5, Tuesday

            We spent the day in the office. We had to catch up with the bills and review ongoing projects after being out of the office for three days.  I spent some time analyzing the inventory system in the Bishop’s Storehouse. We returned home in the afternoon and spent a quiet evening in our apartment. 

Nov. 8, Friday

            We worked in the office until 2 pm. We left the office and drove to Santiago to spend the weekend with the Wegeners. It was their wedding anniversary and we went to dinner at an Italian restaurant with the Carrols and the Partridges. The eight of us had a great evening visiting with each other. We returned to the Wegener’s apartment and spent the night.

Carrols, Patridges, Crismons and Wegeners

Nov. 9, Saturday

            We got up early, had breakfast and then headed out to La Isabella historical site. La Isabella was the first permanent settlement for Cristopher Columbus. He settled the site on his second trip. He brought 17 ships with him and they started the La Isabella colony on the northern shore of the Dominican Republic. They built several small homes, a larger home for Columbus and a church. The village was abandoned after three years and the majority of the settlers moved to the current site of Santo Domingo.

                Foundation of Fort La Isabella    

               

 Bill and Jim at visitor’s center

            We left La Isabella and drove over to a local beach and had lunch. We walked along the beach and then drove into Puerta Plata. We walked along the beach and then toured the central plaza and local Catholic Church. We walked across the street and had ice cream at a small shop and then drove back to Santiago. We had dinner at the Wegeners and then spent the night.

The Beach at Puerta Plata

Nov. 10, Sunday

            We got up early, showered, and got ready for church. After breakfast, we drove over to the Vinaje Ward and attended our meetings. The primary children presented a special program and the 20 children participated and did well. They gave talks and sang several songs. We attended the rest of our meetings and returned to the Wegerner’s for lunch. After eating delicious salmon, we drove home to our apartment. We unpacked the car and then went over to the Rucker’s with the Haws to attend Charlie’s birthday party. The Dunfords and Buttons were also there. We had  a delicious dinner and birthday cake. We returned home after a fun filled weekend.

Primary Program at Church

 

Week 23 in the D.R.

Oct. 27, Sunday

            We drove out to Monte Plata with the Haws to attend church. We attended the three meetings and then drove over to see the large chicken coop. The coop is almost done and they are getting ready for their chickens. We returned home and attended a Bishop’s Storehouse meeting at the Santo Domingo Dominican Republic Stake with President Olivero and all the storehouse volunteers. We walked home after the meeting

Oct. 28, Monday

            We went into the office in the morning. Julio asked us to help purchase three hundred buckets and towels for a project in San Cristobal. We worked in the office until early afternoon and then went to Spanish class, helped two missionaries with their Spanish presentations and then we attended family home evening. The Bairs and Casanovas were leaving and I had been asked to put together a short video honoring their service. The video went over well. We had a good program honoring the outgoing Temple Presidency.

Oct. 29, Tuesday

            We went into the office early to check our emails and to do a few things. We ate lunch and then went shopping for buckets. We shopped at two La Sirena stores and were able to purchase one half of the buckets and towels we needed. The church visa had been rejected at the two stores, so I had to put the items on my visa. The items totaled over $800. We drove the items over to the office and unloaded them. We returned home tired after shopping.

Oct. 30, Wednesday

            It was a repeat of Tuesday. We went into the office and called visa to reactive our account. After talking to three people, our card was reactivated. In the afternoon we shopped at two more La Sirena stores to finish our purchases. We had bought 300 buckets and 300 towels. The items were for a project in San Cristobal Stake. They wanted to help teach the poorer people in their town the importance of proper hygiene. The buckets contained, Clorox, soap, a towel and instructions on hygiene prepared by the Health Ministry. The stake was going to distribute the hygiene kits and then invite the recipients to a fireside to teach them the importance of practicing proper hygiene. This project was to help with the cholera outbreak in the area.

Oct. 31, Thursday

            We went into the office and made final arrangements for our project to San Cristobal. In the evening we met the Ruckers and Dunfords at the Agora Mall and had dinner and then went to the movie, Captain Phillips with Tom Hanks. We had an enjoyable evening with the group. By the way, they do not celebrate Halloween in the D.R. It was a quiet night in the streets. There were no goblins, ghosts, or witches roaming the streets.

Joy, Vickie Rucker and Jim working on Hygiene kits

Nov. 1, Friday

            We left the apartment at 7 am and drove three hours to the Vicente Noble Branch and picked up the Branch President and two other individuals to attend the closing ceremony of a water project. TheCchurch and Worldwide Water Relief partnered to provide clean water to a school at Batey 5. We attended the ceremony and were delighted to see all the children dressed in the school uniforms and excited to have clean drinking water at their school. The children sang a song, the Haws sang two songs and then they had a ribbon cutting ceremony. It was overwhelming to see the gratitude these children had for something as simple as clean water.

Ribbon cutting for water project at Batey 5

After the ceremony, we drove to Barahona and checked into the Playa Azul motel. We swam in their pool, ate dinner and enjoyed playing a game of Mexican Train while watching the beautiful ocean. What a beautiful day we had.

Nov. 2, Saturday

            We had breakfast at the resort and then loaded our swimming gear into the truck and drove to Bahia de las Aguilas National Park. We changed into our swimming suits and hired a small boat to take us to the beach 20 minutes away. We arrived at the beach and spent the next hour and one half snorking, swimming and enjoying the beach. We got back in the boat and went back to the park entrance and had lunch at a small eatery. We drove back to the motel and had dinner at the resort. The evening was cool and very pleasant to eat out-of-doors. We walked over to the ocean and sat down and watched the ocean waves for a while. We then returned to our rooms for the night.

Boat ride to Bahia de las Aquilas N.P.

Playa Azul 

 

Nov. 3, Sunday

            We got up early and checked out of our motel. We drove one hour to Vicente Noble where we attended church. It is only Nov. 3^rd but they were already singing Christmas songs. Christmas is a big deal in the Dominican Republic. They celebrated for several weeks. After the meeting, I was talking to the prior branch president and I told him I liked his Christmas tie. He took it off and asked me to trade ties. I took mine off and we traded. I now have a tie for Christmas. After our meetings were over, we drove home in two and one half hours. We settled into our apartments to rest from our three day adventure.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

           

 

 

 

                                                              

Week 22 in the D.R.

Week 22 in the D.R.

Oct. 20, Sunday

            We attended the Piantiti Ward in the morning. Mary Antivilo gave a lesson on self- sufficiency that was very thought provoking. In the afternoon we took our usual walk down the Malecon by the ocean. The breeze was delightful and the walk was very refreshing. We Skyped our children in the evening.

Oct. 21, Monday

            Joy and I went into the office in the morning. When we arrived we were told we would be attending a three day seminar on self-sufficiency.  We walked down to the conference room and they had name tags for us. We talked to a few of the people from other islands and then we were told we didn’t need to attend. We worked on a few projects during the day and then went home early to prepare for family home evening. We attended Spanish class at 4:30 and listened to the missionaries teach us a lesson in Spanish and then Joy and I presented her presentation, “The Book of Mormon Through Pictures”. The group enjoyed the presentation and then Sister Dunford had prepared pumpkin pie cake for dessert.

Oct. 22, Tuesday

            Bill and Lisa Wegener were in town to attend the three day workshop. They had a three hour break in the afternoon so we took a quick trip to a little shop by the office where they hand paint various items. Joy had some items she needed to pick up and Lisa and Bill wanted to see what the shop had to offer. They enjoyed their little side trip. In the evening we went to Adrian Tropical for dinner to celebrate Lisa’s 60^th birthday. We had a table next to the ocean and enjoyed the ocean breeze. The sky was overcast but it did not rain. We had a wonderful night celebrating Lisa’s birthday.

Bill, Lisa, and Joy at Adrian Tropical

Oct. 23, Wednesday

            We welcomed the Ruckers back to the office after they had been gone for two and one half weeks. It was good to have them back in the office. We worked in the office during the day. Joy made arrangement for some bills to get paid and I worked on several small projects. Bill and Lisa finished their three day training and they headed home to Santiago. We returned home and had a quiet night at home.

Oct. 24, Thursday

            Julio our boss asked us to put together a meeting of the humanitarian missionaries for the next week. So we spent the day contacting the humanitarian missionaries and making arrangements for the meeting. In the evening we had been invited by the Dunford to go to dinner at the Mercure Restaurant in the Colonial Zone. Seven couples were there and it was a fun evening. The food was a self- serve banquet and they had Dominican dancers entertain us. The dancers asked our group if they wanted to dance and Joy was ready but I said that would not be a good idea until her hip is totally healed. She decided I was right, so we watched others in the group dance. In all it was a very delightful evening.

Dinner at Mercure Restaurant in the Colonial Zone

Oct. 25, Friday

            We emailed James a happy birthday wish and then went into the office for the day. We worked most of the day getting things ready for our Humanitarian Missionaries meeting next week. We came home and then attended a temple session with the Haws. We returned home and watched the movie Jack and Jill. 

Oct. 26, Saturday

            In the morning, Joy and I took a walk in the Iberoamerica Park. I took several pictures of the park and when we arrived back at our apartment I made a short video of our morning in the park. We went shopping at Price Smart where we had lunch. In the evening we had the Ruckers, Dunfords, and Haws over for dinner. Joy had prepared Mexican food for the group. After we ate, I showed them the video I had made for the outgoing temple presidency and I also showed our day in the park video. We had a good night with our missionary friends.

 

Joy in front of Grandma's House

 

Jim exercising in the Park

 

 

 

 

Weeks 20 and 21 in the D.R.

Weeks 20 and 21 in the DR

Oct. 6, Sunday

            I had the stomach flu during the night and was up most of the night. Joy and I did manage to watch general conference in our apartment. We had scheduled to have lunch with the Haws but had to cancel due to the stomach flu. We did enjoy listening to the general conference talks. We Skyped our children in the evening. We had a good Sabbath insight of the stomach flu.

Oct. 7, Monday

            We went into the office at our usual time. We went home early and prepared for our Spanish lesson at 4:30 in the MTC. After our lesson, we listened to two sets of missionaries practice their Spanish. We attended family home evening at the apartment of Elder and Sister Casanova from Puerto Rico. We shared our favorite conference talks.

Oct 8, Tuesday

            We went into the office and attended the morning devotional. We spent the day organizing a proposed seminar for the humanitarian missionaries in the Caribbean. The seminar won’t be held until March, but we needed to put together a proposed seminar so that Julio our boss could get approval for the meeting in next year’s budget.

Oct. 11, Friday

            We stayed home to receive the food for the storehouse. When it hadn’t arrived by 9 am, I emailed Darwin, our buyer, to see when the food was to arrive. He said it wouldn’t be coming until Monday. About one hour later, a truck pulled up and delivered 680 bag of rice. It took until noon for them to unload the truck. We stayed home and then went to the temple with the Haws. We did some family names of Sister Haws and then went to dinner at a very great Chinese Restaurant. We had a good visit with the Haws. We returned home and watched the movie, The Eagle.

Oct. 12, Saturday

            We walked over to the park by us that they are refurbishing. They were installing exercise equipment and a children’s playground. They were also replanting the flower gardens and fixing up a wading pond. The guard told us they were to finish the project in November. We were excited to have a park close by were we can walk and exercise.  We went shopping at La Sirena, a Walmart type store. They had their artificial Christmas trees on sale so we bought one. In the Dominican Republic they start selling Christmas items the 1^st of Oct. Christmas is a big holiday here. Both the 24^th and 25^th of December are holidays.

 

Oct 13, Sunday

            We attended church at the Piantini Ward. It was fast Sunday and many of the saints bore their testimonies. The most touching was a young deacon that told of the recent death of his father. Most of the people in the congregation had wet eyes after he concluded his testimony. Sister Antivilo gave our Sunday School lesson. We ate lunch and then took a stroll down the Malecon.  We took a few pictures of the ocean and then returned to our apartment where we spent the rest of the day.

The coast two blocks from our apartment

Oct. 14, Monday

            We were awakened by the morning rain. We got dressed and then waited until 10 am for the food to arrive. I called and was told they couldn’t deliver the food due to the rain so once again the food didn’t come. We went into the office and spent the day preparing the payroll for some part time employees in Haiti. In the evening we had the missionaries practice their lessons on us. This was the last week that the four elders would be in the MTC. We took pictures of Elders Jessop, Wassum, Van Katwyk, and Elmer and wished them well on their missions. In the evening we were to have a movie for FHE. They forgot to tell me I was to show the movie so I hadn’t brought my computer with me.  So we tried using two other different computers and we couldn’t get them to work. So after one hour, the Bairs invited anyone that wanted to see the movie to go to their apartment. Joy and I decided to head home instead of watching the movie.

Oct. 16, Wednesday

            We went into the office and after one hour in the office we were told the food would arrive in an hour at the storehouse. We went home and three hours later all the food was finally delivered and stacked into the storehouse. In the afternoon we met with Elder and Sister Cullimore from Salt Lake, the Reyes, service missionaries in the DR, and the Haws. We had a meeting about humanitarian services in the DR. We then had dinner prepared by Joy and Sister Haws. We had a good evening together.

Men carrying 125 lbs of sugar on their heads

Meeting with the Cullimores, Reyes, and Haws

Oct. 17, Thursday

            We went into the office to check the satellite phones. I spent most of the morning trying to test three telephones. After a couple of hours, I finally got through on one of the telephones. I had to be outside to test the telephones so it was hot and humid. You could only be outside for one half hour before you were so hot and sweaty. In the evening we had dinner with the Cullimores and the Haws at the Chinese Restaurant.  We had a good visit with both couples.  

 

Oct. 18, Friday              

            We picked the Cullimores up at the hotel and took them into the office to meet with Julio. Julio had been in Cuba most of the week and returned the night before. We met for an hour and one half and then Joy and I took the Cullimores to the airport. We returned to the office after having lunch at Taco Bell. I was able to get one more call through to Salt Lake on the satellite phone. We returned home early and then attended the temple. On our session at 5 pm were four general authorities and their spouses, (ie) Elders and Sisters, Anderson, Civic, Cornish, and Martinez. The temple president, Larry Bair was the session coordinator. We returned home tired after a full day. 

Oct. 19, Saturday

            We got up at our usual time and drove over to the Iberoamerica Park by the temple to go walking. We met up with the McIntoshs, a senior missionary couple from Kansas. We walked around the park with them and had a good visit. We returned home and went shopping in the Colonial Zone. In the evening we attended the farewell party for the temple president, President and Sister Bair. The temple workers had a special farewell meeting for them. Our neighbors the Haw sang a duet of “Vaya con Dios” for them. They had light refreshments after the meeting, so Joy and I went out into parking lot and sat in the back of the Haw’s pickup and ate our food with Alicia from our office.  We returned home after a full day.

Tail gate party after the Bair’s Farewell, Joy, Jim and Alicia

 

Week 19 in the D.R.

Week 19 in the D.R.

Sep. 30, Monday

            We started a new week in the office. We caught up on the various projects that needed our assistance. We spent most of the morning communicating with the Birds in St. Vincent and the Beechers in Guyana. At 2 pm we picked up the Dispains at the Casa and drove them to San Cristobal to the doll factory. The Despains are temple missionaries and do not have a car. They are going home on Wednesday and had asked us to take them to the doll factory to pick up some items they had ordered. While in San Cristobal, Joy bought some small doll pins for our granddaughters and I purchased a Taino wooden statue. We returned in time to meet with our missionaries and to attend family home evening. Our FHE was a sing along with the Despains. We had a great evening singing along with senior missionaries.

Joy and Sister Dispain at the Doll Factory in San Cristobal

Oct. 3, Thursday

            We spent the morning in the office. Our boss, Julio was out of the office and we had cleaned up the projects on our desks so we went over to the Mirador Park that is located just north of the office. The park is some two miles long and one half mile wide and has 10 caves on the property and several running paths and a small lake with paddle boats. We walked around the park and took several pictures. We visited the monument of the dedication of the Dominican Republic for the preaching of the gospel by elder Ballard. We returned home and had a quiet evening.

Small lake and restaurant in Mirador Park

Oct. 4, Friday

            We spent the morning in the office and in the afternoon a company was asked to fumigate the Bishop’s Storehouse for bugs. I decided I did not want to take a chance of having an asthma attack because of the spray, so we packed our suitcase and drove out to Juan Dolio Beach where we spent the afternoon and evening. We walked along the beach and then went to dinner at a restaurant a block from the beach. We returned our room and had a quiet night playing cards.

Juan Dolio Beach

Juan Dolio from the top of our hotel

Oct. 5, Saturday

            We got up early, ate breakfast and then went down to the beach to go swimming. The water was perfect for swimming. We returned to the hotel and sat in the hot tub on the tenth floor that had a beautiful view of the ocean. We returned to our room and drove back to our apartment to catch the first session of conference at 12 noon. We watched the first session and second session in our apartment and then the Haws, Dunfords, and we had dinner. The men then went to the Priesthood session of the conference at the MTC. There were over 40 young Elders in attendance.  It was inspiring to be with such a fine group of young priesthood holders.  I returned home after a long good day at 10:30 pm.   

 

Birthday Week in the D.R.

Birthday Week in the DR

Sep. 23, Monday

            We went into work at the usual time. After work we went to the MTC for Spanish Class. Elder Haws has started over with basic Spanish. Joy was doing well with the new concepts. We had two training sessions with the young missionaries and then attended Family Home Evening where Elder Johnson present a book review on The Apostasy written by Elder Todd Callister.  I was wished happy birthday by the senior missionaries and got to wear the funny little hat while they sang happy birthday.

Jim, Elder Malan, and Sister Despain

Sep. 24, Tuesday

            It was a holiday in the Dominican Republic so we had the day off. We spent the day shopping at Price Smart and Plaza Lama. We returned home and got ready to attend the temple. On holidays, the temple is open more hours. Joy and I attended the 3 pm session with many of the young missionaries.  After the session, we returned home and had a quiet evening watching our miniseries, The Pillars of Earth.

Sep. 26, Thursday

            The Ruckers and we went to lunch at Chef Pepper for my birthday lunch. We had to about 15 minutes to be seated and then we finally were served our food. The Philly cheese and chicken sandwich was great. We returned to the office and then in the evening, the Ruckers had dinner for us. The Dunfords, and the Haws also came and we had a delightful evening.  It was still two days until my birthday and I had already had celebrated my birthday three times.

Sep. 27, Friday

            We worked half day and left after lunch to go to Las Terrenas for the weekend. We had reserved a room at the Casa de Mar Neptunia for two nights. We left at 2 pm and drove along the Las Americas highway. We missed our turnoff and had to drive back to Santo Domingo to turn around. We finally got turned around and found the right road to Las Terrenas. We went through three toll booths that cost a total of 855 pesos or $20 in tolls. We arrived in Las Terranas and after one hour we found our motel. The room was clean and pleasant but did not have air conditioning. The evening was warm so we took a walk on the beautiful beach about a block from our room. We watched the last episode of the Pillar of Earth on our tablet.

Joy at our motel in Las Terrenas

Sep. 28, Saturday

            Happy birthday. After celebrating my birthday for a week, I finally get to put my 67^th year behind me and start my 68^th year. We got up and went swimming in the ocean. We returned to our room and had breakfast at the motel. We decided to drive over to Samana on the southern portion of the peninsula to check out the area. We drove through some of the most beautiful country. We stopped and had a softdrink in Samana and then drove back to Las Terrenas and went swimming again. We went back to our room and changed clothes and went to dinner at the food court located on the beach. The evening was beautiful and the food was good. We were the only ones in the restaurant due to the early hour we were eating. We returned to the motel in the evening and finished watching the final episode of The Pillars of the Earth.

Beautiful Las Terrenas Beach

Jim’s birthday dinner on the beach in Las Terrenas

Sep. 29, Sunday

            We got up early and walked along the beach. We returned to our room and changed into our Sunday clothes. We had breakfast at the motel and then packed up our things. We left at 8:03 am with the intent of going to church in Nagua. We took a wrong road and ended up by Samana again. By the time we found the road to Nagua it was too late to go to church. We drove home through some of the most beautiful scenery on earth. We arrived home early afternoon. In the evening we had been invited to a get-to-know-you party at the Antivilo’s apartment. There were ten couples that had a chance to get better acquainted. We had refreshments and then returned home. Our children Skyped us for an hour and then wished me a happy birthday.

Our motel room