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.