Thursday, September 30, 2010

I can’t believe it’s the last day of the month already! Where did September go? I guess time is flying because Hna. Johnson and I are so busy. Like today, I had errands all over, fighting traffic, waiting in line and trying to do it all on time.




One of my stops was a Jumbo Super Mercado. I finally found the right deep cycle battery for the mission office phone system. When the city electricity fails (it happens all the time) the office phone systems crashes and we lose our calls. The office’s PBX Phone system is designed with a backup battery that kicks in the instant the power goes out. When the backup battery is working correctly we don’t drop calls, in fact the phone system doesn’t even know the power was out. But the old battery was dead and no longer able to hold a charge so I had to find a replacement.



My last trip this afternoon was to Price Smart. I had a large list of food to buy for several Missionaries all over the mission. My grocery cart was full. We get photos printed at Price Smart. I was carrying two flash drives with me besides my own for Elders to have their pictures printed.



My flash drive had pictures we needed printed too. One of the prints we needed is of our beloved Hna. Mecho who passed away last May 11th. She was the handicapped sister from Duvergé who was finally able to go to the Temple for her own Endowments after waiting 8 years. (See April 19, 2010) Hna. Harris, wife of the Santo Domingo Temple Pres., requested the print. She is compiling the official Temple History for 2010. She is also submitting the touching story Hna. Johnson wrote about Hna. Mecho to the church’s Temple Department in SLC. Hna. Mecho was a very special lady, the story Hna. Johnson wrote about her is very special too.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

This morning we had visitors in the Mission Office. Elder and Hna. Mehr, Area Public Relations missionaries, had an appointment with Pres. Almonte. They spoke with him about a very large service project the Area is planning for the last Saturday in October. Every Ward, Stake, Branch and District in the entire country will be involved. The Mehrs are meeting with all of the Mission Presidents in the DR to coordinate all of the full time missionaries too.



“Manos Mormones que Ayuden” (Mormon Helping Hands) is the official logo of the church’s public service efforts here in the DR and all over the world. This time they have tackled a huge project. The church will combine with other churches, volunteers and service organizations on Saturday, October 30, 2010 to clean the entire coastline of the Dominican Republic. Wow… that will be a great service project. But there is so much trash on the beaches of the DR I don’t see how they can possibly do it all in one day. It does need to be done desperately.



The Mehrs told Hna. Johnson an interesting story about the government minister they’ve work with on other projects. The minister needed volunteers to help assemble kits of some kind. The Mehrs promised him they would have all he needed. The day of the event too many members of the church responded and they had to turn people away. Next he said, I have no place to do the work. The Mehrs told him the church’s building and facilities were all at his disposal. He couldn’t believe the resources we have. Then he said he had no way to transport all of the material to be used. The Mehrs again told the minister that the church had all of the vehicles he needed for the project. When they finished this particular project the Minister was so impressed with the church’s organization he wanted to know more about the church and its organization.



This evening Hna. Johnson and I attended a “Noche Misional” (Missionary Night) also called a “Charla Fogonera” (Fireside) at the Los Arroyos Branch. It was well attended and conducted by the Branch Mission Leader, Hno. Albin Esquea. There was a short talk, a couple members bore their testimonies and Hno. Pierson Joseph sang several hymns while he played his guitar. He did a very good job. The evening was concluded with the video, “Como Hayar Fe en Cristo” (Finding Faith in Christ).





Of course the fireside was late getting started. I asked Bro. Pierson what time the fireside would start. He said it starts at 7:00pm. I said, But it is already 7:20. He replied, “It’s Dominican 7:00pm”. I guess “Mormon Standard Time” is the same all over the world!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

This morning we were off to the Santo Domingo Temple by 7:30. We needed to be there early so we could pull and sort all of the Temple clothes for the missionaries that will be attending the Temple this morning with President Almonte. We pull all of their clothes in advance because the clothing counter in the temple is always understaffed. It is particularly difficult for them when 18 missionaries all walk up to the clothing counter at the same time for everything they need. It is especially difficult if the session begins in just a few minutes.

After Hna. Johnson and I finished preparing all of the clothing we left the Temple to discover the whole Los Alcarrizos Zone waiting outside. We got to talk to Elder Mark Phillips who is serving in Pedro Brand. He said they didn’t know they were going to the Temple until they got the phone call from the AP’s at 6:30. He said that he was very excited to get to come to the Temple again. He hasn’t been to the Temple in almost a year. Since he’s been way out in the “South” for the past 10 months he hasn’t gotten to attend the Temple since he left the CCM.



Hna. Johnson pointed out that Pres. Almonte sometimes makes snap decisions that require us to really hustle and get things prepared. This Temple trip by the Los Alcarrizos Zone reminded her of the parable of the 10 virgins. We, like the Elders in the Los Alcarrizos Zone, had no advanced notice of the Temple trip. If Hna. Johnson didn’t have all of the Temple clothing slips ready and the Elders hadn’t had their Temple recommends current, etc. there might have been some disappointed missionaries. Eeveryone was prepared and even though it was on short notice, all of the missionaries had a wonderful endowment session with Pres. & Hna. Almonte.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Since last Friday was a national holiday in the DR, I had to do my “Diligencias” (Errands) this morning that I should have done on Friday. On my way to Centro de Servicio I came across an interesting site. Somehow a car found itself in a tough predicaments.



Hna. Johnson’s day was hectic and frustrating as usual. She has a never ending list of responsibilities that all have deadlines. She is a trooper though; in spite of IMOS going down multiple times today she kept plugging away at it and got all of her work done.

We thought we were done with a hectic day. We planned to go to FHE with the other Senior missionaries tonight but then we got a phone call from the AP’s at our home at about 5:30pm. We weren’t done after all. We ran back to the office to prepare Temple clothing cards for the Los Alcarrizos Zone. They will be attending the Temple tomorrow morning at 9:30.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Our routine on Sunday is as much a routine as it is an adventure. Hna. Johnson the Primary Nursery leader in the Los Arroyos branch we attend in Santo Domingo. Hna. Johnson says it is a pleasure and a lot of fun working with the children but it is also a challenge. Some Sundays are great others don’t go so smooth. Today during the second hour was one of those challenging days because she spent most of her time breaking up fights between little boys that don’t know how to share toys. But the rest of the time in the nursery was good.





Even the language barrier isn’t bad in the nursery. One of the little 4 year old girls can say a few words in English and she can also count to five. Hna. Johnson enjoys practicing her Spanish on the little children. They seem to understand everything she says.

This afternoon we invited the office Elders over for dinner. The AP’s, Elder Keys and Elder Rodriquez, office Elders, Elder Huey and Elder Ortiz and Office Elders, Elder Thorup and Elder Anderson. We didn’t eat until 4:00pm so it was an early dinner or a late lunch, which by Dominican custom is lunch. Dominicans eat lunch between 2:00 and 3:00, they don’t eat dinner until about 8:00pm.



We really enjoy having the Office Elders over once and a while for Sunday dinner and give them a taste of American food. The Dominican Elders really liked the “Funeral Potatoes”, baked ham with corn on the cob that Hna. Johnson prepared. We also had a tossed green salad, fresh pineapple and strawberries with orange crystal light. Our drink was over crushed ice but even that is unique for Dominicans. They often have a drink with meals but almost never with ice. Drinks are usually served at room temperature.

The real reason we invited the Elders over for dinner is today is Elder Key’s 21st birthday. After dinner, after seconds and after thirds we sang happy birthday to him and had cake and ice cream. It was really good. I was stuffed!

Saturday, September 25, 2010

For our P-day we left early to do all of our shopping. First we left for the Colonial Zone to go shopping for earrings and a necklace for Hna. Johnson. Freddie at the “Yellow Steps” store gives us a very good deal on everything he has for sale including the Larimar jewelry.



While we were there at the Yellow Steps Stores we also checked out the price on “Conde Bags” for sale there. We found a couple of stores that carry them but their selection was very small and their price wasn’t as good as we’ve been getting at the INKA store at the Mega Centro.




Next we were off to Price Smart but on the way we stopped at a park to enjoy the large figures there. We’ve driven by them many times but never had the time to stop and visit the park. Today we actually planned it into our schedule. We had fun posing for pictures in front of the huge sculptures. There was a gorilla, turtle, spider, eagle, alligator, giraffe, spider, and two elephants.






This evening we watched the broadcast of the General Relief Society Broadcast on our laptop in our apartment. It was very good. Ever since we got a DSL modem we’ve been able to watch conference live on the internet. It did lock up on us a few times but overall the broadcast was very good.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Elder Keys opened the package that came in the mail yesterday. It was his birthday package full of presents and an Elders favorite gift… food!




Today Hna. Johnson spent about 6 hours on just one task. She prepared and entered all 188 missionaries support money into IMOS. It’s a huge job and it would have been a little quicker but she has to deal with all of the usual office interruptions. The “Apollo” (Missionary support money) will be reviewed and approved by Pres. Almonte next Monday. Next the funds will hit the Elders & Hna’s JP Morgan Visa cards on Thursday.

On Friday I usually have a long list of diligencias (errands) to do but today is a national holiday in the DR. All businesses and government offices are closed. I was able to spend the whole day in the office catching up on my list of things to do. It was a very productive day for me.

The office Elders, Elder Huey and Elder Ortiz headed out to San Cristobal today. They have finally closed the deal on a new apartment for the Hna’s out there. This apartment has really been a struggle for the Elders. They’ve been working for weeks to negotiate and finally get all of the approvals submitted and approved. Today they headed to San Cristobal to pay the $30,000.00DRPesos deposit (about $815.00USD).

By Dominican standards a $30,000.00 deposit is very large. But Pres. Almonte demands the very best apartments for the Hna. missionaries. His standards are very high, especially when it comes to security.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

This morning I was off to my usual “Diligencias” (Errands). My first stop was at the “Aduana” (Customs Office) where I picked up 8 packages for our missionaries. Next went to the “Tienda del Templo” (Temple Distribution Center) to fill orders for missionaries.




As I drove down the “Malecon” (coast road) the ocean was particularly rough today. It was very windy and I’ve never seen waves so big crashing into the coastline before. It was quite a spectacle.




Elder and Hna. Whitaker are the Office couple in the Santo Domingo East Mission. Their hobby is collecting seashells and mounting them around the frames of church pictures. The missionaries in their mission give the pictures to their investigators as gifts on their baptism day. The pictures are very inexpensive to create and the investigators love to receive them.



The Whitakers only have 7 months left of their 3 years left. (They’ve extended their 18 month mission twice and turned it into a 36 month mission!) They want to carry on their tradition of making church pictures framed with seashells when they get home to Utah. They estimate they have close to a ton of seashells they will be sending home. (Yes, I said a ton, that’s 2000 pounds!)




This afternoon I spent several hours with Elder Whitaker. We have been trying to find cheaper ways to ship large quantities of freight to the US by cargo ship, not plane. This afternoon we followed up on a lead of a shipping company that advertizes a cheap rate by way of a “Slow boat to China”. We found their office this afternoon and hopefully things will work out so the Whitakers can ship large quantities of seashells home.

Hna. Johnson and I are interested in the shipping company too but we have far less to ship. We have some seashells but we have a lot of gifts and other personal items that will be too heavy for our luggage when we go home in the middle of January.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Hna. Johnson had one of those days when everything unravels and you don’t know why. Interestingly enough her problems weren’t with IMOS for a change. It seemed that the Mission Department in SLC couldn’t decide who was coming to our mission in December and who was having their mission assignment changed to the Santiago Mission. Today one poor Elder was switched back and forth between our mission, Santo Domingo West and the Santiago Mission three times. Of course it’s only the paper work that is getting shuffled; thank goodness it’s not the actual missionary.

The switching back and forth of a missionary is a real hassle for the office staff of both missions. Every time a “Change of assignment” form comes in the e-mail Hna. Johnson springs into action and spends the next hour preparing all of the documents, forms and data bases for the new missionary. Then, when he is moved out of our mission Hna. Johnson has to completely remove the missionary from all of the mission office files, hard drives and data bases. It’s a lot of work. The final e-mail of the day came in from the Mission Dept. in SLC and they apologized for the foul up. They said they think they have everything straightened out finally.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Today we had the rare occasion to go to the Temple with Pres. & Hna. Almonte. Usually when the Almonte’s take a Zone of missionaries to the Temple we aren’t invited. I guess someone has to stay behind and “Mind the store” as it were. But today was different. There was no Zone going to the Temple. Pres. Almonte only invited the missionaries in the office, which included Hna. Johnson and I. It was a rare privilege to go to the Temple and attend an “Investidura” (Endowment) session with the Almonte’s.



I find it interesting what the word Endowment means. In the D&C Sec. 38 the phrase “endowed with power” is used. In the dictionary one of the definitions for Endowment is a gift; as in giving an endowment to the university, etc. Translated into Spanish the word is “Investidura” and it means exactly the same in Spanish as it does in English. What I find interesting is the root of the Spanish word which is “Vestir” which means “to dress”. In one Spanish dictionary I found the definition of Investidura (it was the last of 4 definitions) it said to “Dress in Holy Robes”. It made me think, yes … that’s exactly what we do in the Temple.