Week 7 in the D.R,

Week 7 in the D.R.

April 22, Monday.

               At the office today, I was given the responsibility to update the Caribbean area emergency plan. I checked to see what the prior plan looked like and I found that Elder Hammon had started to update the plan. I mainly had to update the list of contacts, and add some additional information. I appreciated the work Elder and Sister Hammon had done. I also tested two more satellite telephones. In the evening, we attended Spanish class. Elder Rees was late so I taught the first 10 minutes. We then helped Sisters Erickson and Hansen with their missionary lessons. We finished the night attending family home evening where I helped Sister Hyde present her slide presentation on her experience in Africa.

Jim and Joy talking on satellite phone

 

April 23, Tuesday

               There was a major riot at the University today that closed the University for three days. A military officer was killed with a high powered rife, and several people we seriously injured. The riot was in front of the LDS Institute and the facility was closed for two days.  After work we went shopping at the La Sirena store in the old colonial part of town. We purchased towels, toothpaste, and soap to finish packing 100 hygiene kits. We took the items home and two of the volunteers from the Bishop’s Storehouse helped us pack the kits. We returned to our apartment and Skyped the Murdock’s in  Jamaica to become better acquainted with them. 

April 24, Wednesday

               We worked on the area emergency plan and then returned home early to buy a few additional towels and other items for the hygiene kits. We packed the last of the items. In the evening, we Skyped the Cook’s. They live in Suriname but were visiting a small island. We had a good conversion with them.

April 25, Thursday

               After work we went shopping at another La Sirena store to purchase additional toothbrushes and towels. We also purchased the items needed for one kitchen kit.  We returned home and the Haws and we packaged 95 hygiene kits for a group of poor Haitians that work in the cane fields. They are paid $2.00 per day for their work. We will deliver them on Monday.

April 26, Friday

               We went to work at the usual time and at 11 am we attended the Perpetual Education-Employment Center meeting with our bosses at the Institute building. President Cornish of the Area Presidency conducted the meeting and they asked that we take minutes of the meeting. We returned to the office and ate lunch. We left early to go to the temple. Joy worked in the laundry doing some mending and I was assigned to do initiatories. I had never done them so I observed a couple of times and then it was my turn to do it in Spanish. I did a few and then it was time to change duties. I went to the veil and observed. Next week they will want me to do the veil. It will be interesting. We returned home exhausted.

April 27, Saturday

               We walked to the Book Fair that was held in a large park about one and one half miles from our apartment. We met the Wegeners and then we walked around the park and toured several of the exhibits. The Church had an exhibit on the family. China, Ecuador, Korea, and the USA had exhibits. Joy had her picture taken with a cut out of President Obama. We then passed by a group of singers and sister Wegener asked them to sing GUANTANAMERA, a Julio Iglesias song. They escorted Joy and Lisa to the stage and had them a sing with them. It was fun watching them sing.   We had lunch at Wendy’s and then walked home. We picked up the Johnsons and went shopping at Price Smart. We returned home exhausted and had a quiet night at home.

Jim and Joy at Book Fair

 

 

Joy in front of Church Exhibit

 

April 28, Sunday

               We attended church at the Gascue Ward in the morning. We had lunch with the Haws and then Marlin Walker a member of the church who works for the U.S. Embassy asked Elder Haws and me to come to his apartment and give him a blessing. He had been sick and was flying to Miami on Wednesday to go to the doctor. Late afternoon we took a walk along the ocean. In the evenings there is always a refreshing breeze off the ocean. We walked past the park where many families were enjoying the ocean breeze and then we returned home for the evening.

Families enjoying a Sunday afternoon on the beach



 



 



 

 



 

 



 

 



 



 

 

 

 



 

 

Week 6 in the D.R.

Week 6 in the D.R.

April 15, Monday

               We spent the day in the office. We are preparing for the satellite telephone test later in the week. In the afternoon we attended Spanish class, and then played investigators for two sister missionaries. We attended family home evening in the apartment of the Cuernots, a senior couple from France. The Cuernots were converted to the church by Janet Sander’s sister Lynnette Brinkerhoff. We had a great family home evening with them and President and Sister Bair, and Sister Santana.  

Jim and Joy in front of military headquarters

April 16, Tuesday

               We left at 9 am and rode with the Haws to a meeting with one of the associations that works with the handicapped. The Church is going to help them put in a kitchen in their facility. We toured the area and then drove over to the military base where we met briefly with Colonel Abreu and Major Garcia. They want the church to provide 35 hand pumps along the western border of the country. They provided a list of the communities and gave us a list of their GPS coordinates. We then drove toward Constansa stopping at a roadside restaurant for lunch. We arrived in Constansa at 3 pm and checked into our two bedroom condo at the Altocerro Hotel. The facility was very nice and the area was beautiful and cooler than the coast. We picked up Dr. Rivera and her husband, Cruz Rivera and drove about 10 miles on a bumpy dirt road to the Agua Blanca falls. The falls were beautiful. We drove back to Constansa stopping to buy strawberries. We had dinner with the Riveras. We returned to our condo and spent a peaceful night in the cool mountain air.

Joy and Dr. Vilma Rivera at Aqua Blanca Falls 

April 17, Wednesday

               We started the day off touring the local public hospital were Dr. Vilma Rivera works. The Church had donated equipment to them. We then drove over to the Church to hold a meeting with the local church members and local civic leaders. The Branch President, Americo Garcia conducted the meeting. Representatives from three city councils and other local dignitaries were present. The ADR representative presented his list of equipment needed by the association and then Elder Haws presented information on the Church’s humanitarian efforts. The branch president introduced the local missionaries and they bore their testimonies and gave out Books of Mormon. We left the meeting at the church and toured the ADR facility. We returned to the Rivera’s house and had lunch. We then loaded up two new young men that were going to the temple to prepare for their missions. The missionaries road in the back of the pickup for two hours to get to the temple. Upon our arrival at the temple, Elder Haws and I gave each missionary 1000 pesos to help them prepare for their missions. We returned home after two great days in the country.

            Two Dominican Missionaries at their home  

Our condo in Constansa

 

 April 8, Thursday

               We had a quiet day in the office. We tried to test two satellite phones but I was only able to get through to Salt Lake with one telephone. We went out into the containers and loaded about 50 water damaged hygiene kits into our car and took them home to salvage what we could. Joy washed the towels and we unpacked the toothpaste and other items and salvaged about one half of the items.

April 19, Friday

               We went into the office and tested another telephone. We worked on a couple of projects and then returned home about 2:30 pm.  We brought home another 50 kits to clean up. We then got ready for our temple shift and arrived at the temple in time for prayer meeting. Joy and I spent the first hour doing sealings. We then went into a session for the prayer circle since there were only two people on the session. Joy went to the laundry to hem a couple of dresses and I spent one hour studying the temple ordinances. I am trying to memorize the ordinances in order to perform them in Spanish. We returned home at 9:30 pm.

April 20, Saturday

               We worked on the hygiene kits for a couple of hours in the morning. We left the apartment about 11 am and drove to the Dominican Republic West Mission Home to see if we could find it. One of the sister missionaries wanted us to drop her off at the office once a week so she could help them. We drove around the large city park and then went shopping at the Plaza Lama, a large retail store. I bought a pair of shorts and a shirt and Joy bought some household items. We had lunch at the Taco Bell inside the store and then we went shopping at the Nacional Supermercado. On our way home we stopped at McDonald’s and had a sundae. 

April 21, Sunday

               We attended church today at the Gascue Ward. We met a couple from Germany, the Stemmers, who were here picking up their son. They sent him to the Dominican Republic six months ago to do some service. He is now ready to return to Germany and prepare for a mission. The Young Women’s leader asked me to come to the Young Women’s class and talk about my priesthood line of authority. Thank heavens, I had memorized it. I think my presentation went well. In the evening we walked about two miles along the ocean.    

 

 

 

Week 5 in the D.R.

 

 

Week 5 in the D.R.

April 8, Monday

               We went into the office in the morning and started working on the containers located at the area offices. We opened up the containers and started to take an inventory of the supplies in the container. The containers were full of office supplies and building materials. We decided to wait until our boss returned to get his help in cleaning out the containers. In the evening we attended Spanish classes and acted as investigators for the sister missionaries. At family home evening we presented a slide presentation and Joy read a poem she made up to introduce us to the other couples. We went home exhausted.

April 10, Wednesday

               We went into the office until early afternoon. On our way home to our apartment, we stopped at the farmer’s market to buy fresh fruits and vegetable. We decided to go to the temple and take in a session. There were only six people in our session, so Joy and I were the witness couple. I decided to go through the veil in Spanish. I made it but it took a while. As we were leaving the temple, President Bair asked to speak to us. He wanted us to be temple workers. We accepted and will start our shift on Friday night. They asked Joy to spend her first hour mending clothing. She was excited to be able use a sewing machine. I am not sure what they want me to do. I will find out soon.

Jim at the local market

April 11, Thursday

               Our boss, Bennie was back from his vacation so we spent some time with him in the morning. We drove over to the Distribution Center after work to buy a coat for me and a pair of shoes and a dress and shoes for Joy so that we would be ready to start our temple shift on Friday. While in the distribution Center, we met the Pattersons, a senior couple from Tortola. We had a good visit. We returned home and helped open up the storehouse. About 10 minutes after we opened the door, the volunteers showed up. We were grateful.   A group of six young men showed up to bag food. We had ten volunteers for the night.

Young men bagging beans for the Storehouse

April 12, Friday

               Spent the morning in the office and then left early to get ready for our first night at the temple. We arrived at 4 pm and attended the prayer meeting. After the meeting, President Bair set us apart and then he and Sister Bair gave us a quick introduction to the temple. They left for the 5 pm session to welcome the 8 mission presidents, members of the Area Presidency and their wives that had come to attend the temple. After waiting an hour, President Bair returned and told us to study the ordinances which we did for about one hour and then we left for the evening and returned home.

April 13, Saturday

               We spent a very pleasant day with Bill and Lisa Wegeners. We drove out to Boca Chica Beach and went swimming in the beautiful Caribbean Ocean. The weather and water were perfect for a swim in the ocean. We drove home for lunch and then at 3 pm we went to the Colonial Zone to see the home of Diego Columbus, the son of Christopher Columbus. The home was well preserved and very interesting. We walked back through the shopping area and stopped and had a pizza for dinner. We returned home and spent a quiet night in our apartment.

Diego Columbus home in Santo Domingo

April 14,  Sunday

               We attended church at the Gascue Ward. The building is located five blocks from our apartment. We stayed for all three meetings and after three hours of straight Spanish we returned to our apartment. In the afternoon we went over to the Casa, (the building next to the temple that houses the temple missionaries and the MTC). Sister Hyde asked me to help her with a presentation for family home evening. We returned home and took an hour walk along the beach. The breeze was refreshing and we enjoyed watching the children flying kites. We also watched a Protestant group conduct a street revival in one of the parks. Returned home for a quiet night in our apartment.

Joy in front of Gascue Ward Chapel

 

 

Week 4 in the DR

Week Four in the DR

April 1, Monday

               We started the day off meeting with Dr. Jensen, his wife, and his son Parker. The Haws, Jensens, and we meet for an hour at their hotel and then we drove over to the Ministry of Health to meet with Dr. Arroya and Dr. Herrera. Dr. Jensen spent about two hours explaining the need to train doctors and nurses in neonatal recessatation.  At 2:00 pm, 20 missionaries came to the Bishop’s Storehouse to help clean and to do an inventory. Joy took the American Elders to help her clean and she gave me the Haitian Elders to do the inventory. Of course the Haitian spoke French, so it was fun doing an inventory.

April 2, Tuesday

               We attended a planning meeting with Dr. Jensen and the Haws at the Pan American Health office. At the meeting, were representatives from the Dominican Republic Health Ministry, UNICEF, USAID, and the Pan-American Health Organization. We had a two hour meeting and then returned to the office. It was interesting to see how the various organization came together to help reduce the infant mortality rate in the Dominican Republic. Dr. Jensen was superb in his presentation and ability to get an agreement with four governmental agencies on a plan of action.

Sisters Crismon and Haws at Pan-American Health office

April 3, Wednesday

               We went into the office and spent the day. Dr. Jensen, his wife and son come over to the office to meet a few of the people.  We were going to leave a little early to go to the store on our way home. Before we could go, Julio, our new boss,  asked us to attend a meeting at 4 pm at the Institute. We meet with the Employment Office and PEF personnel. Three of the participants used Skype to be part of the meeting. We rushed home after the meeting to help prepare dinner for the Jensens. The Jensens came at 6 pm and stayed until 9 pm.  Joy and the Haws had prepared dinner for the seven of us.

April 4, Thursday

               We went into the office at the usual time 9 am. Our old boss Bennie decided it was time we learned more of our job. He gave us a list of about 20 duties that were assigned to us. We got through about 8 of them and then we had to take a break. We went to lunch with the Ruckers and then drove over to the monument built by the church to commemorate the dedication of the preaching of the gospel in the Dominican Republic. Elder Ballard dedicated the land in 1978. Since that time, over 120,000 people have joined the church. We went home at the usual time to meet a delivery truck full of food items for the storehouse. I counted the items and signed off on the delivery. At 6 pm Joy went downstairs to do the laundry and saw that the Bishop’s Storehouse had not been opened up. So we went down and opened the storehouse and spent the next three hours filling orders and overseeing the volunteer help. The person in charge never showed up. We went to bed exhausted.

Jim and Joy at Dedication Marker

April 5, Friday

               Joy and I have been asked to coordinate the testing of the 15 satellite telephones in the Caribbean Area. The church wants all the phones tested before the hurricane season. We were also asked to prepare the emergency cargo containers for the upcoming hurricane season. We have three containers of emergency supplies.  We need to make sure they are up to date and that they have the items needed for a disaster.

Cargo Containers at the Area Office

 April 6, Saturday

               We left the house at 8:30 am and traveled to the beach at Juan Dolio with the Wegeners. We spent about two hours on the beach enjoying the beautiful water and the white sand. We went across the street and had lunch at a nice restaurant. We returned to our apartment in time for the second session of conference. We listened to the second session and then we washed our car and spent the night in our apartment.

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