We Made It to La Vega in the Dominican Republic!

We arrived in Santiago safe and sound.  We had a wonderful flight and everything went as planned.  Santiago is beautiful and full of all different types of trees and plants.  I wish I knew the names of the plants, but I did see lots of banana trees.  We are told that the bananas are harvested four times a year, so basically there are fresh bananas all year round.  There are lots of little roadside stands where you can buy fresh mangoes, pineapples, avocados (that are about eight inches long and about 4"-6" diameter).  Oh my, are they delicious!

There is a great deal of poverty here.  There are chickens running around the streets, stray dogs everywhere and we even saw a man driving a wooden cart, pulled by a donkey.

Everything they told us about the traffic here is true.  Yes, there are traffic lights, but if you don't feel like waiting for the car in front of you, you can pass the car in front of you on the left and pass right through the intersection. Oh, by the way, no need to wait for the light if you don't see anyone coming.  All of that while you are dodging the little scooters carrying three or four people on them.  I was told that you will even see a family of six on a motor scooter.  The crazy thing is that it really just works for the people here.

As we were driving down the highway we saw trucks with people sitting in the bed of the truck.  They were sitting on top of whatever they had loaded in the truck.  I don't think there are any speed limits and even Dad thought they drove fast.  Dad has driven in lots of crazy traffic situations, but even this environment makes him a little nervous.  Really, there are so many people that are in the streets and are flying around on their motos (scooters)

Driving in the rain on his moto carrying an umbrella

you have to continually be aware of all four sides of your truck.

A word about their streets.  Many of them are dirt roads.  It also rains a lot here (that is why it is so green and beautiful).  So you can imagine that with that rain on the dirt roads and all of that traffic, there are lots of potholes!  Even on the roads that are paved, there are lots of potholes.  I don't know if they have repair crews.  I will think twice before I complain about University Avenue or construction delays:-)

Our first Sunday at church at the Conani Branch in La Vega.  The leadership in the district was muy animada (animated, happy) to see us.  They have a great vision for their people and want to build the church up in the area again.  We were able to go into the Gospel Essentials class where they taught a lesson on Eternal Marriage.  The instructor was so happy to have a couple that was married in the temple for 36 years in the class.  Dad did a great job of visiting with the people and reading scriptures in class and just being himself.  I smiled a lot, said a lot of "holas"and gave a lot of besos (kisses) y brasos (hugs) to the hermanas.

Sister Douglas, the mission President's wife came to church with me to help with my transition into the branch. During Sacrament meeting, they needed someone to play the piano/keyboard so Sister Douglas volunteered me. When I went to play the keyboard, they couldn't get a plug for it to turn it on.  So they did what they do every week. . .the conductor says 1, 2, 3 and everyone starts singing.  They sang whatever notes they wanted, but everyone sang with spirit!  It was awesome!  So I am getting a keyboard from the mission office and will be playing the piano for the Canoni Branch until I can teach some of the members to play so they can serve the members in their own branch.

We were invited to dinner at the District President's home with Sister Douglas.  However, we went to his mother's home because the District President and his family of 5 live up stairs and their home was too small for three more adults.  He is in the process of building a home over by the chapel.  

In His mother's home, all five of us could not fit into the living room.  She raised eight children in that home. . .boy am I brought to a state of humility.  She had four children of her own, her neighbor had four children and abandoned them, so la Senora Diaz (la madre del Presidente Diaz) said she would take them and raised them as her own.  Such is life here in the DR.  It is not that way for everyone, but it is not uncommon.

We ended our first Sunday at 9 pm after a mtg. with the District leadership so we could meet them and learn about future plans.  Mom bore a beautiful testimony during the meeting that gave everyone great hope of the missionary couple that has arrived.  They understood her English perfectly and felt the spirit of her testimony. It was a great day.

Well the "office" missionaries have brought us our truck, (a white 2014 ISUZU 4WD diesel, with an extended crew cab and short bed}, cell phones and they are ready to take us to our new apartment in La Vega and do some shopping.  More on our adventures next week.

Language Immersion

NO ROOM IN THE INN

These past two weeks we attended the Spanish Immersion program in Provo.  There were so many missionaries serving, that we met in a chapel in Provo for our training. There was "No Room in the Inn" (MTC).

Our daily schedules were from 8 a.m.-5 p.m.  Our typical day we had a Spanish tutor in the morning for 2 hours.  Gary and I each had separate tutors because, let's be honest, would you like to sit and listen to your wife try to say "Hola Hermana" for two hours while you are trying to learn how to conjugate the past tense of a subjunctive verb (I have no idea what I just said, but you get the idea).

Then we had a study buddy (a volunteer who came in to help us speak in some form of a conversation).  We had lots of great people come in but the most unique couple who came to help us was a couple who were from Guatemala. Brother and Sister Cabrera were 91 yrs. old and 84 yrs. old.  Brother Cabrera was one of the original eight members who first joined the church in Guatemala.  We loved them and felt their deep abiding love and gratitude for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So to get back on track, we had 1/2-2 hours with a morning tutor, 1 hour with a study buddy, 1 hour of personal study time.  This same schedule was repeated in the afternoon. Oh, they did let us break for lunch:-) So after 10 days of Spanish Immersion, I would say I was just about fluent in Spanish. . .not!  Gary, however, is doing very well although he, too, will tell you that it is challenging conjugating all those verbs!

After 10 days of Spanish Immersion, we entered the Provo MTC on Sept. 23, 2013.  We had five days of training in Preach My Gospel.  One of our teachers was Sister Zollinger who served a mission with our son, Ben, in the Arizona Phoenix Mission.  I have listened to many returned missionaries say it was the hardest time, but it was an amazing time.  I now understand what they are saying.  It is amazing because there is an incredible spirit in the MTC that you just can't describe.  The Lord truly has His hand in this work.

We met wonderful couples going to serve the Lord.  What was incredible to me was to hear all of their stories about how the Lord opened doors for them to be able to serve a mission.  Every couple had incredible challenges, but when you turn your concerns over to the Lord, He provides a way for you to serve.

Perhaps some of you may recognize our dear friends, Elder Taggart and Sister Kimm Frost who are serving as temple square proselyting missionaries.  We were able to spend some time with them and to feel their great strength as they serve the Lord.  What an inspiration they are to us. We love them and the work they are doing.

"What E'er Thou Art, Act Well Thy Part"    

 

One of the couples we were with in the MTC, Elder Richard Brammer, was one of the missionaries who was able to save this stone when he served in the Scotland Edinburg mission as a young missionary.  Today, he and his wife will be serving in the Johannesburg South Africa Mission.

Farewell to the snowy mountain tops in Provo.