Week 3 in the D.R.

Week 3 in the DR

 

March 24, Sunday

               We got up early and went with the Haws to the San Jose to Ocoa branch. We attended sacrament meeting and then the Haws presented a lesson on home gardens and chicken raising. They must have had 50 people for their presentation. After the block meetings, we drove home and had lunch. We then went with the Haws to San Gorgorio Branch to talk to their ward council about the food projects.

March 26, Tuesday

               We had an appointment at 9:30 with Dr. Carlos Zometa from the Dominican Rehabilitation Association or ADR and the humanitarian and PEF missionaries. After an hour meeting, we took a tour of the facility. ADR has facilities for all types of handicaps. The church has given them 100’s of wheel chairs to distribute throughout the DR. Last year the church helped them purchase equipment to manufacture their own wheelchairs. They have now made around 300 chairs which the church purchased and donated back to them.

Patient being fitted with new sling

March 28, Thursday

               The office was closed because of Holy Week so we went with the Ruckers and three other couples to the Banao Church camp. The camp is located about one and one-half hours from Santo Domingo. The camp is managed by a senior couple, the Morales from Puerto Rico. The camp has many individual cabins and can accommodate around 600 youth at a time. They use the camp for EFY, institute retreats, girl’s camp and young men camps. The facility was well organized and located in a jungle like area.

Banao Church Camp

March 29, Friday

               It was good Friday and the whole city was shut down. The Johnsons called and wanted to know if we wanted to go to the Faro de Colon and tour the Colonial Zone. We met them at 9:30 and spent the morning touring the Faro de Colon and the Cathedral of Santa Maria la Menor, the oldest Catholic church in the Americas. The church was started in 1512 and completed in 1520. The Faro de Colon is a monument to Christopher Columbus. It is in the shape of a cross and has large lights on the roof that shine at night.

                        Jim and Joy in front of Faro de Colon                                    

March 30, Saturday

               We attended the temple with the Haws. We arrived 20 minutes early but the session was already full. We waited for the next session. It also filled up. It was great to see so many Dominican members attend the temple. We returned home and went shopping at the Bravo Market.

March 31, Sunday

               We were invited to attend church with the Haws at the Los Llanos Branch. We drove about one hour and arrived in time for Sacrament Meeting. The branch meets in a rented building and there were only about 30 members in attendance. After sacrament meeting, the Haws made a presentation on food  production. As we started to leave it began raining. We drove about a mile from town and a tree had blown down over the road. We were able to drive around it. We drove about five more miles and ran into a group of Haitians marching down the middle of the road. They were demonstrating against something. We did worry too much about the demonstration until we saw several of the men carrying large machetes. We drove through the group without problem. We arrived home safely. We had Easter dinner at the MTC with the other senior couples.

 

 

Week 2 in the D.R.

Week Two in the DR

March 17, Sunday - We left at 8:00 am and traveled about one hour with the Haws to visit the Nizao Ward. We attended all of the meetings and then returned home for lunch. We then drove one and one half hours into the interior to visit the Babana Grande de Voya Branch. Sister Haws made a presentation on food projects and after her presentation, Presidente Duran’s wife bore her testimony about how the church had taken her family out of poverty. We then drove to the Monte Plata Branch and meet with the new branch president. We drove home arriving about 7:00 pm.

Joy in front of Monte Plata Branch

 

March 19, Tuesday - We had dinner at Adriane’s Tropicana Restaurant and then came home and checked on the Storehouse. We met a volunteer in the storehouse from Canada by the name of, Tom Bourne, that is recent convert to the church. He saw the 60 minute program on Romney and the Mormon’s. The program caught his interest and he looked up the missionaries and after taking the missionary lessons he was baptized. He is spending the winter in the Caribbean and is interested in the church's humanitarian efforts. 

March 20, Wednesday - We spent the day talking to the Wegeners, also new senior missionaries, about the Perpetual Education Fund and the effect it has had the lives of the people in the Dominican Republic. Since the fund was started in 2001, the fund has helped over 1000 people in the DR obtain their education.

 

Jim walking to the office

 

March 21, Thursday-  We spent the morning in the Employment Center and then toured the Escuela Laboral (a technical college) that is located near us. In the afternoon, we tried to return to our office but we got lost and ended up in a getto without any streets. The people helped us back out our car and then we proceeded to drive to our office. As we approached the road that takes us the last two blocks to our office, we found the road torn up. We parked the car and walked through the construction to our office.  We returned in the evening and helped out in the Bishop’s Storehouse handing out food.

March 22, Friday - In the afternoon, we had an appointment to tour the facilities for disabled people in Santo Domingo with two other senior missionaries, the Haws and the Wegeners. The tour was very informative. They had an art display done by handicapped children. Of course, Joy had to purchase one of their pictures.  The center helps both children and adults with disabilities. One of their projects is to manufacture wheelchairs. The church has partnered with them to make 1000 wheelchairs for distribution throughout the DR.

 

 

Joy looking at the children's art work

 

March23, Saturday- We finally made it to the beach. We went with the Ruckers to Juan Donlio Beach. We had lunch at the restaurant across from the beach and returned home. We have had an exciting week.

Joy and her Inca Cola

 





 

 

 

 

 



Week one in the Caribbean

Week one in the Dominican Republic:

We arrived safely in Santo Domingo on Saturday, March 9. Our boss, Bro. Lilly and his wife picked us up at the airport and took us to lunch at a restaurant on the beach. He took us to our apartment where we unpacked and then went to dinner at the Button’s apartment. Sunday we attended church at the MTC and had lunch and dinner with Elder and Sister Haws, our next door neighbors.

Jim and Joy by the ocean at Adrian’s Restaurant

We reported to work on Tuesday after spending Monday, grocery shopping and setting up our bank account. Our office is about four miles from our apartment and it takes about 30 to 40 minutes to drive there. We got our car on Tuesday and had to drive home after a day in the office. What an experience it is to drive in the Dominican Republic.

 Joy in front of Area Office

We spent most of the week meeting other couple missionaries and learning our responsibilities as welfare specialist. We will be working with three other humanitarian missionaries in the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and in the West Indies. Our area covers all of the islands in the Caribbean. There are 29 countries in the Caribbean and they speak four different languages.

                
We met with the Area Presidency on Wednesday. We had a good visit with them. We are getting somewhat used to driving in the Dominican Republic. We are learning more Spanish each day and it is amazing how many members of the church we have met at stores, and on walks. There are over 120,000 members of the church in the Dominican Republic. The Lord’s work is really growing in this part of the world.

Elder and Sister Crismon with Area Presidency

We attended the temple on Saturday. The session was in Spanish. Joy and I were selected to be the witness couple since I was the only man in the session. All went well until we had to report to the veil. I tried to speak Spanish but the words wouldn't come out. Thank heavens there was a person that spoke English that helped me out.  Asi es la vida. "That is life"

 The Santo Domingo Temple

 

               This is our report.

               Sincerely: Elder and Sister Crismon

              

MTC District

We are off to the MTC. Here is our MTC district.