This morning Elder Keys and Elder Williams left for home two weeks before “Traslados” (Transfer Day). They are both going home early to be in time for the spring semester at school. Their flight left at 7:00AM so they had to leave for the airport at 4:00AM. Elder Williams is going home to Sandy, Utah. Elder Keys lives in Laie, Hawaii and his trip home, including layovers for flight transfers, etc. will take him 20 hours. Wow!
We haven’t worked closely with Elder Williams. Unfortunately his and our assignments never crossed paths. But we have worked very closely with Elder Keys in the office. He was one of the AP’s from May to October and before that he was one of the “South Ayudante’s” for 3 months. We think of him as our own son.
This morning Hna. Johnson and I went over to the mission home for our Temple Recommend interviews. Our old ones expired three days ago. Hna. Johnson was a little apprehensive about understanding the questions in Spanish. Pres. Almonte was very good; he photocopied the list of questions so she could follow along as he read them. He spoke very distinctly and slowly for her. After the interview was over Hna. Johnson was very happy; she said she understood everything Pres. Almonte said and was able to answer all of his questions in Spanish. Well, there are only two answers, sí and no but they are Spanish words none the less.
While we were at the Pres.’s home we met Thomas and Esther Hatton. Bro. Hatton was an Elder in the mission and went home the month before Hna. Johnson and I arrived. He and his wife have come down to the Dominican Republic to visit Elder Hatton’s old areas and meet some of the friends he made during his mission; it’s kind of a 2nd honeymoon for them.
This afternoon Hna. Johnson and I went to the main Post Office in downtown Santo Domingo. We had 13 packages to mail home. Most of them were full of seashells and a couple had books or Christmas decorations in them. We figured that it would be cheaper to mail everything home than to pay the hundred dollar penalty for an extra piece of luggage on the airliner. We knew it was going to be expensive either way.
Tonight Hna. Johnson gave a floral design class to two of the Senior missionaries. They were Hna. Marsha Kilgore, wife of the Area Medical Specialist and Hna. Lilly Whitaker, the East Mission Financial Secretary. Hna. Johnson taught them how to make a “Topiary” arrangement with fresh flowers. They did a real nice job and the arrangements looked real good.
Before FHE tonight Hna. Johnson and I took the mail to the “CCM” (Santo Domingo MTC). A lot of the Elder’s mail is sent to our mission office even though the Elder is still in the CCM. Every time we make a trip to the Temple/Casa de Huestpedes/CCM we always bring them all of their mail.
Tonight for FHE the Seniors through a farewell party for Pres. & Hna. Hendrick and Hna. Johnson & I. We are both being released in two weeks. The Hendricks have finished their two year call as MTC Pres. of the Santo Domingo “CCM”.
As part of the program each of us were asked to say a few words to the group about our mission, our feelings, etc. Hna. Johnson told the moving and touching story of Hna. Mecho. (See March 19, 2010 and May 11, 2010) This memorable story about our beloved Hna. Mecho stands out in our minds as one of the highest highlights of a mission filled with highlights.
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