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

 

 

 

Week 17 in the D.R.

Week 17 in the D.R.

Sep 15, Sunday

            Today Joy and I went to the Consuelo Branch with the Ruckers. The branch is located about one hour from Santo Domingo. We had ordered some handmade items that were made by Bro. Diaz. He had called during the week to tell us they were ready. So we made arrangements to meet him after church to pick up the items. The church was a rented building and the power was off and there was no air conditioning or fans to cool the building. It was a long hot three hours. We ate lunch in our car as we drove home to Santo Domingo. The wooden items made by Bro. Diaz were beautiful.

 

The Diaz family in Consuelo

 Sep 16, Monday

            We spent the morning in the office getting ready for our trip to Trinidad. We finalized our training materials and then returned home in the early afternoon. We attended family home evening at the Casa where we heard Ray Johnson review a book about the apostasy written by Elder Tad MeCallister. 

Sep 17, Tuesday

            We spent the day getting caught up on several projects. Julio Acosta our boss had been in Salt Lake City attending training the prior week. We spent the day talking about projects and going over our presentation. At 2:00 pm Julio asked us to take him to the airport to catch a plane to Haiti. We drove him to his house to pick up his suitcase and then drove him to the airport. We returned home and finished  packing our suitcase for our trip to Trinidad.

Sep 18, Wednesday

            We got up at 5 am and got ready for our trip. The Dunfords picked us up at 6 am and we drove to the airport. We checked in and then caught our 8:45 am flight to Panama City. There are no direct flights from the Dominican Republic to Trinidad. The flight took 2 and one half hours. We arrived in Panama City and waited two hours for our next flight. While we were waiting, we met a couple from Cuba on their way to Trinidad. They had two children, a two year old girl and a 13 year old boy. By the time we boarded our plane, the two children treated Joy as their grandma. We flew to Port of Spain, Trinidad and then spent over two hours driving to our hotel. There had been a multi-car accident on the highway that clogged the road up. We finally made it to the Marriott Hotel were we spent the night. It was an exciting day to have breakfast in the Dominican Republic, lunch in Panama City, and dinner in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

 

Joy entertaining her adopted Cuban grand-daughter

Sep 19, Thursday

            We had breakfast at the Marriott Hotel and then drove over to the West Indies Mission Home to meet with all the senior missionaries from the various islands in the West Indies Mission. There were 20 couples. We listened to President Mehr challenge the senior missionaries to help bring the church out of obscurity by doing two humanitarian projects in each island and by using the materials provided by public affairs to teach the people of the islands about the church. Joy and I then made our presentation on how to do humanitarian projects. The Dunfords made a presentation on public affairs. We had lunch at 1 pm and then we returned to the hotel and the Dunfords flew home to Santo Domingo. In the evening, Joy and I went to dinner with 12  senior couples at the Chaurd French Restaurant. We had the cheapest thing on the menu, chicken, and our bill was $80. In spite of the costly meal, we had a great time associating with the other senior missionaries in the West Indies Mission.

 

Senior missionaries at Chauds Restaurant

Sep 20, Friday

                We had breakfast at Subway in the Mall next to the Marriott. We then went on a four hour tour of the Port of Spain and the Maracas Beach. Joy and I had made arrangements for a local tour guide to show us the sites. We drove by all the government and older historic buildings and the very elegant National Theater of the Arts. We drove up in to the mountains by the city and then toured a cocoa plantation. Our guide had made arrangements for us to have a personal tour on a small cocoa plant.

Our guide showing the cocoa pod with the cocoa beans inside

We then drove over to the Maracas Beach and walked around the beach for a while. We walked over to where our guide was and we ran into the Walkers from our mission. We had a good visit with them and then returned to the hotel to get our things. We caught a taxi and went out to catch our plane. We left at 5:45 and flew to Panama City, and then to Santo Domingo. We arrived at 1:00 am and we had made prior arrangements for a taxi to meet us. We waited 20 minutes and it did not show up so we took another taxi. The taxi was an older car and when we got almost in town, the car ran out of gas. We were able to coast into a station. The driver didn’t have any money so I gave him money to buy his gas. We then drove on home. We finally got home a 2am.

Maracus Bay

Joy on the beach at Maracus Bay

The Center for the Performing Arts in Port of Spain

 

 

Week 16 in the D.R.

Week 16 in the D.R.

Sep. 8, Sunday

            We attended church at the Piantini Ward with the NRT specialists, Dr. and Sister Jensen, Dr. Brown and Jenn Smoot. They had arrived early Sunday morning. After church, we took them back to the hotel to rest and then Joy and Edith prepared dinner for them. We picked them up at 4 pm and had dinner. After dinner we packed up all the NRT supplies and took them over to the Church. We returned home about 8 pm after a long day.

Sep. 9, Monday

            We picked up the four trainers at the Marriott Hotel and took them to the Piantini Ward. We helped them set up their Neonatal Recessitation Training equipment. We helped register the Dominican doctors that will be training the other doctors on Tuesday. We left after the registration and went to the office to work. After the training was completed, we returned to the church and took the Jensens, Dr. Brown and Jenn to dinner at the Outback Steak House. We had a great meal and then returned home at 8:30 pm.

Sep. 10, Tuesday

            We picked up the four trainers and took them to the church. We helped with registration until 8:30 and then drove over to the park by the temple and met Mary Antivilo. She had requested that we purchase some medical supplies for the park first aid station. We had previously purchased an inhalator, a blood pressure monitor, three neck braces and several packages of gauze, tape, and ace bandages. We also secured a wheel chair for the station. Dr. Wilma was very appreciative of the donation. We took several pictures and then went to the office. We returned home and in the evening we helped out in the storehouse.

 

Dr. Wilma receiving medical supplies

Sep. 11, Wednesday

            In the morning we went into the office and then we went to the closing ceremony for the training at the church. During the two days, 53 doctors were trained in neonatal recessitation methods. Each of the doctors were given a certificate for completing the course and then each hospital associated with the doctors were given a NRT kit  to take back to the hospital and to be used to train other doctors.

Dr. Brown instructing medical doctors in NRT

Sep. 12, Thursday

            We picked up the trainers at the hotel and took them to the church. We helped register the next group of trainees, the nurses. They receive two days of less technical training they can use to recessitate newborns. We left the training at 10 am and returned to the office. We had lunch with the Ruckers and Dunfords. We returned home early to help out in the Bishop’s Storehouse. The couple in charge on Thursdays was unable to come and they asked us to help out. We worked in the storehouse a couple of hours and filled 10 orders. A group of young women came and helped fill the food bags.

Sep. 13, Friday

            We went to the office in the morning and checked on the food for the storehouse. We answered a few emails, ate lunch and then went over to the church to help with the final closing ceremony. 37 nurses completed the course and were given their certificates. We stayed and cleaned up the church and then took the unused supplies and food back to our apartment. We met the Ruckers and Ewell for dinner at Anthony Restaurant by the temple. It was the Rucker’s 45^th anniversary and they asked us to celebrate it with them. I got talking to Elder Ewell and found out he is my 4^th cousin. We have the same 3^rd great-grandfather, Pleasant Ewell. It is a small world. We returned home after dinner and enjoyed a quiet night at home after a busy week.

Nurses trained in NRT

Sep. 14, Saturday

            Joy and I took a mile and one half morning walk to McDonalds for breakfast. We ate breakfast and then returned to the Storehouse in time to supervise the delivery of the food to the warehouse. It took three men two hours to unload all the food. I had to count all the items to make sure we received all the food that was ordered. Joy went to the beauty shop to get her hair cut and I walked over to the barbershop to get my hair cut. We had lunch and then went shopping at the Bella Vista mall. I bought an alarm clock and then we did our grocery shopping. We returned home in the early afternoon and spent the rest of the day in our apartment.

 

Week 15 in the D.R.

Week 15 in the D.R.

Sep. 1, Sunday

            We went to church with the Haws to the Piantini Ward. It was fast Sunday and the members bore their testimonies. Our Sunday School class was taught by an employee of the U.S. Embassy. He talked about the succession in the church after Joseph Smith was killed. Joy and I took a walk on the Malecon after dinner.

Sep. 2, Monday

            In the morning, Julio told us about the outbreak of cholera in San Cristobal. The stake president called and wanted us to provide some sanitation supplies for the poor people in the area. Joy and I went to the store and purchased a bucket, Clorox, hand sanitizer, and soap. We took the items to the Director’s meeting and they decided to buy 3,000 sanitation kits to help with the outbreak of cholera. In the evening we had dinner with the Wegeners and Partridges and then went to the MTC to help the young missionaries. It was the last night to help them. The two sisters, Sisters Manalo and Caguimbal are from the Phillipines and Elders Schauerhamer and McCary are from the USA. We took their pictures and wished them the best on their missions. We were in charge of family home evening. Joy showed her Book of Mormon slide show and then the group talked about their testimonies of the Book of Mormon. Joy and I provided the refreshments for the group and then we returned home to our apartment after a full day.

Sisters Caguimbal and Manalo from the Phillipines

Sep. 3, Tuesday

            We went into the office and emailed Jody and Sequoia to wish them happy birthday. We visited with the Dunfords about our upcoming trip to Trinidad. Joy and I were asked to go to Trinidad to teach the senior missionaries how to write up humanitarian projects. We left early to do a little shopping. It takes a couple of two to drive to the various stores and back. It seems to be a half day project.  In the evening, I helped Sister Arias file the Bishop’s orders and boxed up some of the older orders.

Sep. 4, Wednesday

            We went into the office and stayed until early afternoon. There was a hurricane warning in effect for the next day, so we made sure we had the supplies we needed. We were not sure what to expect but we would know the next day.

Sep. 5, Thursday

            We got up and the sky was clear and there was no sign of rain. The storm was scheduled to arrive about 2 pm. We worked in the office in the morning, eat lunch and then left the office early. We wanted to get home before the storm arrived. On our way home, we went shopping for some medical supplies for the Park located across the street from the temple. We bought a blood pressure monitor, an inhaler, some neck braces, some ace bandages and other medical supplies. The storm had been downgraded to a tropical storm by the afternoon so in the evening we went to dinner at the Jade Restaurant for Edith Haw’s birthday. There were ten of us celebrating  her birthday. We had a fun evening out with the senior missionary couples. We returned home and then the storm hit. It rained hard for a while and then the storm passed over. Hurricane Gabrielle missed us.    

Sep. 6, Friday

            We took our medical supplies into the office and ended up taking all the senior missionaries’ blood pressure. Our boss Julio was not in the office so we went shopping at Freddy’s Gift shop in the Colonial Zone. Joy bought some earrings and I bought some cards. We returned back to the office, had lunch and then left early to go to the temple with the Haws. We returned home after the session and Jody Skyped us.

 

Joy getting her blood pressure checked

 Sep, 7, Saurday

            We decided to go walking in the new park in the morning. We then went to the Plaza de Cultura to the Museum of modern art. Joy and I walked through the museum and then toured the Museum of Man in the same park. The art museum was all right and the museum of man told the history of the Dominican Republic. There were many displays of the Tainine Indians, the Spanish Conquistadores and the arrival of the slaves from Africa. We took a few pictures and then went to McDonald’s for lunch. We drove out the Malecon to see the monument to President Trujillo’s death. We stopped at the local farmer’s market and bought mangos, watermelon, and a pineapple. We stopped to see the new fishing piers and while we were there we met Javier Gomez from Cuba. We talked to him about our mission and he told us he was a government employee. We found out that he lives only a block from us on Pasteur Street. We talked about getting together some time to talk about our humanitarian work.

 

Joy at the Museum of Modern Art