We were in for some surprises today. We’ve had several emergency transfers. A few of Elders have been sick lately and they are coming into the mission office to rest and recuperate. It meant that three of the mission office Elders that have been in the office are leaving us. In fact the only office Elder we will have left is Elder Small. Elder Huey, Elder Gonzalez and Elder Falor are all leaving us.
During my errands today I picked up 8 packages at the “Aduana” (Customs Office). All but one package was postmarked the first week in February. Usually packages take about 2 or 3 weeks to get to us from the states. But today I picked up a package that had a post mark of Sept. 24th! That has got to hold the record for the slowest package I’ve ever picked up at the “Aduana”. The address label was all correct so I have no idea why it took so long. Almost five months for a package has got to be a record of some sort.
Elder Almonte, who worked in the office for over 4 months left last transfer and is now a ZL in San Juan. Hna. Johnson and I visited San Juan once; it is a beautiful farming community. It is in the middle of a fertile river valley nestled in some pretty tall mountains. Elder Almonte called me today and we got to talk about his new area. He said the evenings in San Juan are really cold, not cool, they are cold. He said, “In the evening it is like being inside of a refrigerator. It is so cold at night, I have to wear a sweeter to bed to fall asleep and I have to put a sweeter on my head it is so cold”. He makes me laugh. Dominicans have no idea what being really cold is like. But to a Dominican, a night time low of 62 degrees is really cold.
I got a phone call from Elder Small this evening as Hna. Johnson and I were sitting down to eat our dinner. I had to run over to the mission office. Elder Small was in a traffic accident on his way back to the office. It was a very minor accident and no one was hurt but the lady that was driving the other car and her husband were very, very angry. She and her husband were at the mission office until 8:00pm demanding $10,000. (DR Pesos) on the spot to repair the damage. It would have been funny to hear them rant and rave but they were serious! The accident was Elder Small’s fault and the church’s insurance will pay for the damage but not tonight and not in cash. Having a traffic accident will really spoil your day and Elder Small’s day was really spoiled.
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