Elder David y Hna. Pam Johnson

2011-01-30T22:01:00.000-08:00

Sunday, January 30, 2011

This morning we gave our mission report in Sacrament meeting in the Hillside Ward, Lehi Stake. Hna. Johnson and I were very pleasantly surprised to see so many of our friends and family that made the effort to come and hear our talks. I talked to the Ward clerk and he said that there were about a hundred more in attendance today than they have on an average day.

There was at least one former Santo Domingo West missionary there; it was Elder Justin Bates, my “Trainer”. He has been home for over 6 months and it was really good to see him.

There were others in attendance; like Clara and many of our old friends from the Alma 5th Ward like Chuck & Gwen and Dan Rogers. The Behrmann’s from the Aspen Ward came with one of my old boy scouts, Bear Behrmann and his wife. Scott & Lynette and their sons Matthew & Michael were there too.

My Uncle Ed and Aunt Rose Mary also came. Hna. Johnson and I were so very pleased to see them. Aunt Rose Mary is the last surviving sibling of her generation. She and Ed have been a tremendous support and help for Hna. Johnson as well as the flower shop way back in the 70’s. We think the world of them.

In our talks we spoke of the love, support and prayers everyone had for us. We couldn’t have accomplished our mission to the Dominican Republic without it. We were truly blessed to have their support and be called to the best mission in the world, to work with the best Elders and Sisters in the world and to serve under the great, dynamic leadership of Pres. Juan E Almonte.

We still don’t know what we did to deserve such blessings. To serve with Pres. & Hna. Almonte was a tremendous blessing. We will always consider them our close friends and treasure their friendship forever. Pres. Almonte is a spiritual giant; he teaches and motivates the missionaries under him through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost.

We will also treasure our association with the other Seniors in Santo Domingo. The FHE’s we attended each week with them was a precious part of our week. We also went on trips and tours with many of them. We grew very close to all of them and will consider all of them to be our close friends.

And finally, Hna. Johnson and I love every one of the Elders and Sisters we worked with and consider each to be one of our own children. They really are the Lord’s finest young men and women. It was a privilege to have worked with them all, to feel their spirits, enjoy their successes and sorrow over their disappointments. Our calling to be in the Mission Office put us right in the middle of all the action. It was perfect, we couldn’t have asked for a better assignment as a senior couple.

THE END

2011-01-29T21:59:00.000-08:00

Saturday, January 29, 2011
Today Nathan asked me to help with deliveries at the flower shop. With some of my spare time I wrote an e-mail to President and Hna. Almonte. Since we don’t have the internet in our home yet I haven’t had a chance to write the Almonte’s since we returned home. My letter to the Almonte’s included all of our new contact information, both of our cell phone numbers and our new home phone number.

Tonight Hna. Johnson and I were working late, 9:00pm, preparing our mission report talks for tomorrow morning. Hna. Johnson was unable to formulate the words she wanted to say in her talk. She is always prepared with talks and writes her talks out in advance but tonight she couldn’t. In frustration and despair she laid her head on the table and prayed for guidance. During her prayer my cell phone rang…. It was the answer to her prayer!

The phone call was from Hna. Almonte in the Dominican Republic. She and Pres. Almonte had just read my e-mail and decided to give us a phone call. I turned on the speaker phone so Hna. Johnson could listen to everything that was said. Hna. Johnson was so happy, excited and uplifted about the phone call. She said later it calmed her nerves, the call was just what she needed to prepare her talk.

2011-01-23T21:55:00.000-08:00

Sunday, January 23, 2011

One of the best experiences of our lives has come to an end. This morning we reported to the Stake High Counsel. We spoke for about a half hour about our mission, our experiences, the people we worked with and the members we grew to know and love. We truly did have a wonderful mission.

We have lived a life filled with blessing from our Heavenly Father. Our calling to serve the people of the Dominican Republic was another one of his blessings. We have been so richly blessed over the past year and a half. We loved our mission; we love the people of the Dominican Republic and their beautiful country. We love the Elder and Sister missionaries we worked with and especially all of the office Elders we served so closely with over these 18 months. We especially love Pres. & Hna. Almonte; their kindness, generosity and leadership.

We bear testimony that this is the work of the Lord we have been engaged in for the past eighteen months. This is His gospel. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true church today. We testify that the true gospel of Jesus Christ was restored to the earth through his divinely appointed prophet, Joseph Smith, Jr. in 1830. We testify that the “Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ” is divinely inspired scripture of the life, teachings and gospel of Jesus Christ. We exhort all that read this testimony to read “The Book of Mormon”; study it and pray for a witness of its truthfulness.

2011-01-22T21:52:00.000-08:00

Saturday, January 22, 2011

This morning Pres. Craig Ahlstrom came buy our home and gave us our official release. He asked us to report to the Lehi Stake High Counsel tomorrow morning at 7:30. He wants us to wear our missionary name tags even though we are released. It will be the last time we get to wear them in an official capacity.

He also mentioned that we will be asked to speak on High Counsel Sunday at the Wards in the Stake. We are actually looking forward to the opportunity.

2011-01-21T21:43:00.000-08:00

Friday, January 21, 2011

Wow, what a day of travel. We were on the road for over 16 hours. We were picked up at our apartment at 4:00am. Actually he was out front and gave us a wakeup call at 3:00. That was nice. The taxi driver’s name is Antonio, everyone calls him Tony. He has been a member of the church for 8 years. He and his company is the taxi of choice when there is any picking up or dropping off at the Santo Domingo West mission, East Mission, Mission Training center or the Temple. He’s prompt and safe; everyone likes to use him.

We had 2 layovers for almost 3 hours each at the Miami and Dallas/Fortworth Airports. But everything went off without a hitch. The first layover in Miami was longer than scheduled but the pilot made up the extra 30 minutes when he caught a favorable wind.

Then came the grand reunion with our family and friends at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix. There were about 20 people at the airport to greet us on our return. I told Hna. Johnson that 42 years ago when I returned from my mission to Mexico I felt like kissing the ground. Hna. Johnson said she just wanted to kiss her grandchildren.

We all left the airport and went to the flower shop for a pizza party and Texas Sheet Cake for dessert. While we were there even more friends and relatives showed up. It was wonderful, he had hugs all around.

Our mission isn’t officially over until we have our interview with our Stake President, Craig Ahlstrom. But today does mark the end of a grand adventure for Hna. Johnson and I. For a year and a half we served in the West Mission Office as well as in other special assignments from Pres. Almonte. We’ve grown to know and love the people of the Dominican Republic. We’ve laughed and cried with them and shared in the trails and successes. We have truly loved our mission and the time we have served.

2011-01-20T21:04:00.000-08:00

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Our last day in the mission, we fly home tomorrow. Today was very busy we started with breakfast at “The Pastry” for all sorts of baked delicacies! Usually I only buy bread and sweets at The Pastry but this morning we indulged in all of the empanadas, stuffed rolls and meat filled breads. They were great.

Next we were off to the “Colonial Zone” here in the capital. This is the area of Santo Domingo that was settled by Christopher Columbus at the end of the 15th Century. The streets are very narrow and many of the buildings are still standing from the colonial days. Some of the buildings are five centuries old.

We visited the oldest Cathedral in the New World. I would imagine that it was a humble building compared to the huge Cathedrals of old Europe but it had beautiful architecture none the less. We’ve been here before and I’ve always been impresses with it.

We also toured a former church that is now a mausoleum and shrine to the fallen heroes of the Dominican Republic. We got to watch the changing of the guard with all of its pomp and ceremony. It was free except for the tip I gave our tour guide. We enjoyed the building and the tour a lot.

Next we were off to do all of our souvenir shopping for our families back home. Nathan & Valerie and Jacob & Wendy all had several purchases to make for their children as well as the families that are babysitting their kids. Hna. Johnson also had a list of items to buy for the several missionaries that had placed orders. They really like the “Conde Bags” to carry their scriptures and teaching materials in.

This afternoon our “Dueña” (Landlord) came over to inspect our apartment. Her name is Nieves Henriquez and she has been a wonderful Dueña. We have enjoyed the apartment very much and especially the convenience of living only two blocks from the mission office.

Our Dueña found nothing amiss in the apartment so we will be getting all of our deposit back. That is a good thing because the cleaning deposit was equal to two months’ rent or $1700.00USD.

We ended the day with President & Hna. Almonte for dinner in the mission home. They also invited all of the office Elders to join us. Hna. Almonte is a wonderful cook and the meal was superb. There was plenty for all and we went away stuffed. The food was very good.

We had a wonderful evening with the Almonte’s. We introduced our sons and daughter-in-laws to them. We sat around and reminisced about the good times we’ve had together while serving the Lord in the Dominican Republic.

One of the highlights of the evening was a book I had prepared for the Almonte’s. Last month I ordered a “Blog2Print” book of every picture in by mission blog. It contained 1500 photographs of the mission from when we arrived in July 2009 until the second week of December 2010. The book has over 250 pages.

President Almonte was excited when he received the book. As he turned the pages and we talked about individual events on specific days he was so overcome with joy he had tears streaming down his cheeks. We were all choked up a bit to see the Mission Pres. so happy with the gift. He continually thanked Hna. Johnson and I for the book.

But all good things must come to an end. We had to leave because we must get up at 3:00am to head for the Airport at 4:00. We said our final goodbyes; Hna. Almonte and Hna. Johnson simply embraced each other and wept. It was hard to leave but we do have plans to see them again when we attend a mission reunion the Almonte’s are planning for October General Conference 2011 in SLC.

2011-01-19T21:19:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

It was another busy and full day for us. First we were off to Juan Dolio Beach which is about 30 miles east of Santo Domingo. When we got there we were sad to discover that the heavy surf had churned up a lot of silt and there was no visibility for snorkeling.

In spite of the murky water we still had fun swimming in the surf and playing in the sand. Hna. Johnson walked the beach and managed to find a lot of pretty seashells. We had a lot of fun.

After the beach, we went out for lunch at “El Mesón” restaurant. It is right across the street for Juan Dolio Beach and it is one of our favorite places to eat. We’ve never been disappointed with anything we’ve eaten there. The service is very good, the servings are big and we went away stuffed.

Back at our apartment this afternoon Hna. Johnson and I started packing. We also did laundry loads; there is simply a ton of things to get done before tomorrow.

This evening we went to the Los Arroyos Branch and attended their “Noche de Amistad” (Fellowshipping night). Los Arroyos is where Hna. Johnson and I have been assigned to attend and work for the past 10 months. I’ve been teaching the Elders Quorum and Hna. Johnson has been the Primary Nursery Leader.

Tonight’s program at Los Arroyos was a tribute to Hna. Johnson and I. All of the Branch leader from the Br. Pres, on down, lavished us with praise. I don’t know if we deserved it but for sure they have really appreciated our service in the Branch. The feeling is mutual; we really love the members in the Branch.

Our last stop was at the Mission Office on our way home. The AP’s had a going away present to give us. The Elders and Hermanas of the mission all wrote us a thank you note on some very large cards. It was very nice.

2011-01-18T21:03:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

We were up early to rendezvous with our excursion guide to go snorkeling on the reef. They took us to a reef about 25 miles south of Puerta Plata. It was a wonderful trip and another one of those memories we will never forget.

We were able to snorkel for about an hour on the reef. There were tons of fish everywhere. The guide told us to bring bananas with us. As soon as we hit the water we were completely engulfed in tropical fish! It was great, we had a great time.

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end. We had to check out of the Barcelo Hotel at 1:00pm and head back to Santo Domingo. But our two days were a lot of fun and memories for a lifetime.

Back in Santo Domingo we went to the Dominican Fiesta Hotel across the street from our hotel for dinner at their buffet restaurant. We were there coincidentally at the same time that Pres. Almonte and his wife Victoria were there with all 9 departing Elders and 3 departing Hermanas. Today is “Traslados” (Transfer Day) and Pres. Almonte always treats the departing missionaries to the buffet dinner at the Dominican Fiesta.

After the meal we all went outside on the steps of the hotel and had our pictures taken. Every one of these Elders and Hna.’s has a special place in our hearts. Hna. Johnson was crying as she hugged some of the Elders and Hna’s for the last time. We love our missionaries.

The Americans have to leave for the airport at 4:00am tomorrow morning.

2011-01-17T16:44:00.000-08:00

Monday, January 17, 2011

Today’s big activity was to a place called “27 Charcos” (27 Waterfalls). We went there last July with our other son Jared & his wife and we were anxious to bring Jacob, Nathan and their wives there too.

27 Waterfalls is a national treasure of the Dominican Republic. It was worth every cent of the $25.00USD fee and tips per person to go there. Even though there are 27 falls we only did 12 this time and that was plenty.

We did the falls differently this time. We hiked a jungle trail for about 45 minutes to the 12th falls and then slid or jumped our way back to the first one. Last time we were here we climbed hand over hand and struggled our way up stream against the current before turning around to slide or jumped our way back down to the start. It worked out great for us.

After “27 Waterfalls” we spent the afternoon on the beach at the Barcelo Resort. Nathan, Valerie and I went snorkeling out on the reef. The water started out very clear and we saw a lot of tropical fish swimming around the reef. Later the wind picked up and was a problem, the waves were high and the water turned murky. But it was fun while it lasted.

At the Barcelo Resort all of our meals are included in the price of our room. They have a very large buffet cafeteria were we like to eat all of our meals. But tonight we made reservations at one of the resort’s other large Restaurants. These are different because they are not buffet style, we can order off of their menu and we are served at our table.

2011-01-16T10:12:00.000-08:00

Sunday, January 16, 2011

This morning we attended a special conference for the whole Caribbean Area. It was presided over by Pres. Uchtdorf and both he and Elder Dallin H. Oaks spoke. The conference was broadcast live from SLC to all of the Stake Centers and District chapels in all of the Caribbean. Our sons, their wives and Hna. Johnson & I attended at the Piantini Stake Center here in Santo Domingo because they have facilities set up to hear the broadcast in English.

We experienced one of those “Tender Mercies” on our way to the Piantini chapel. I have only driven there twice before and wasn’t sure how to get there. But on the way we notice another Honda Odyssey Minivan exactly like ours with a family all dressed for church. Hna. Johnson said, they look like they are going to church too, let’s just follow them. She was right; it was a family of a church employee that works in “Centro de Servicio” and they led us right to the chapel.

The Area Conference was very good. Elder Oaks minced no words about what it means to live the “Gospel Culture”. He explained the duties and responsibilities of the members in the Caribbean attend their meetings, fulfill their callings, be good parents, pay their tithing, wear modest clothing and live chaste lives. It was a very good talk, something every member of the church needs to know and do, not just in the Caribbean but all over the world.

After the meeting was over we discovered a whole group of missionaries outside the building. We hadn’t seen them before because they attended the session in the chapel where the broadcast was in Spanish.

After the Area Conference we were off on our 3 hour drive to Puerta Plata on the northern coast of the island. We had reservations at the same resort we went to in July when our other son Jared and his wife came down to visit us.

We got registered, moved in, unpacked and were off to the all you can eat buffet, one of the 5 restaurants they have at the Barcelo. It was real good food. We all ate too much.

2011-01-15T09:45:00.000-08:00

Saturday, January 15, 2011

We had a busy day of travel, visits and adventure. We started off with the adventure. The Hotel Casa Bonita installed a “Zip Line” three months ago. They call it the “Canopy” and there are 10 platforms with a cable strung between each one. The start at the top of the mountain and work their way to the bottom. It was a thrill and a lot of fun. All of us feel like it will be one of the high lights of the trip.

After we checked out of Casa Bonita we were on the road to Enriquillo. We made several stops at overlooks just to take in the breathtaking views. The Caribbean Sea is beautiful; the shades of blue are striking. I don’t think the pictures will do it justice because the views in real life are so beautiful and striking.

Back in Barahona we stopped for lunch at the restaurant in the “Costa Larimar” hotel. We had a great meal of purely Dominican fare. It was all delicious and we were very glad we stopped.

Our next stop was in Duvergé to meet up with the missionaries and members. We had mail and supplies to deliver for the Elders and the Branch.

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Our next stop was in Neyba at the home of “Pachico”, Hno. Francisco Vasquez. He was the Branch Pres. before I was called to be the Br. Pres. Last year. He is currently the Br. Mission Leader. We had lots of supplies for the branch as well as mail for the Elders. We said our farewells to Hno. & Hna. Vasquez. My guess is this will be the last time we see Pachico and his wife in this life.

Our final stop was in Vicente Noble were we met up with the “South Ayudantes”, Elder Almonte and Elder Mesidor. Of course Hna. Johnson had a treat for them; we bought brownies at the Bravo grocery store before we left the capital. We will miss both of these good Elders when we leave. They both a very soft spots in our heart.

2011-01-14T09:17:00.000-08:00

Friday, January 14, 2011

Our first full day with our sons and their wives started at the mission home. We wanted to introduce our family to the Elders in the office. We were very lucky to catch them all before they had to leave for their day’s work.

Next we headed for the Santo Domingo Temple. We took the coast road called the Malecon; it is the scenic route and it is also the fastest way to get to the temple from the Mission Office. We stopped at a couple of places to take pictures of the Malecon coast line here in Santo Domingo. The surf was very high and the blow holes were working very well.

Unfortunately the temple is closed for winter cleaning but we still wanted to give our family a tour of the grounds. We also needed to stop in at the CCM to deliver mail and pick up important papers and documents in preparation for next week’s “Traslado” (Transfer). Hna. Johnson and I won’t be involved with the Traslado for the first time in a year and a half. We will miss it.

Back at the apt we ate lunch before leaving for the “South” and Barahona. We had a stop at the halfway point, Azua, to meet with the Zone Leaders there, Elder Ortiz and Elder Suero. They were looking forward to getting their new “Agendas” for the Elders in the Zone. The “Agenda” is the missionaries daily planner. They are good for one Traslado, six weeks.

Our drive to Barahona took us through some very familiar country side that Hna. Johnson and I have seen a hundred times before. The fun part of our trip is explaining to our sons all of the things we’ve seen and done for the past 18 months. There is so much we’ve seen and done that the travel conversation never gets boring.

We made it to the beautiful Casa Bonita Hotel early enough to have time for a swim in the pool. It is so relaxing, peaceful and quiet here. Our sons and their wives really enjoy the atmosphere. We all had dinner together in the hotel’s outdoor dining room. The food was classic Dominican fare and the views of the coast line from the hotel are wonderful.

2011-01-13T12:56:00.000-08:00

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Today is the big day, our sons and their wives will arrive tonight but first we had a lot of things to do. Hna. Johnson spent the whole day cleaning our apartment before the company arrived. We’ve been deep cleaning for the past two weeks so this was a continuation. She spent hours on each bathroom. (soap scum is very hard to remove) The goal is to get our entire two month cleaning deposit back.

All morning I had several errands to do. First I had to buy a special battery for the remote control to our apartment gate. I had to go to the Bank and cash a check in US Dollars for Dominican Pesos. Last of all, I had to pay all of our utility bills even though they hadn’t come in the mail yet.

This afternoon I went to see Angel Cordero, the vehicle fleet manager at Centro de Servicio. I turned in our Toyota Corolla and he gave us a Honda Odyssey Mini Van to use for the next week while our kids are with us. It’s a beautiful car and will accommodate all six of us very well.

While I was at Centro de Servicio I also picked up supplies for the Neyba and Duvergé branches. Both groups are completely out of sacrament cups and Neyba needs young women’s certificates. We’ll be meeting with the Elders and some of the members on Saturday and delivering their mail and supplies.

Earlier this week we talked to our sons on the phone and they wanted to know how they would find us at the airport. Hna. Johnson said it wouldn’t be difficult at all. “Just Look for the screaming white woman!” We were at the Santo Domingo International Airport at 8:30 but the flight our kids were on was delayed about 45 minutes. Even so it was a grand reunion. There were big hugs all around.

Our sons and daughter-in-laws are finally here. Their day of travel was very long but uneventful. We didn’t get back to our apartment until 10:00pm. We didn’t get done with dinner and conversations until after midnight. We had a lot to talk about. It is so good to have them all here with us.

2011-01-12T12:51:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Today was our last day in the mission office. And again our goodbyes were bittersweet. The office Elders are a great bunch of young men and we have enjoyed working with all of them (These as well as every other set of office Elders for the past year and a half). We will be back in the office at least a couple of times before we leave for home on the 21st but we still said goodbye and shed some tears.

Elder Huey prepared a very nice and unique going away gift for Hna. Johnson and I. It is a collage of very tiny picture tiles that form a larger image. It is great. The tiny little pictures are all images he gleaned from my laptop. They are pictures of the mission I’ve taken for the past year and a half. The larger picture they form is Hna. Johnson’s favorite picture of Shrek and Donkey from the movie “Shrek II”. It has the caption “Shrek and Donkey off on Another Whirlwind Adventure”.

“Shrek and Donkey off on Another Whirlwind Adventure” has been our theme for our whole mission. For the first 8 months we repeated the phrase every weekend as we pulled out of our driveway to drive to the “South”. Sometimes our adventures put us behind the wheel for up to 15 hours. We would leave on Saturday at noon and not get back into the capital until noon on Monday. We loved it. We attended all of the leadership and auxiliary meetings for the two Branches we were assigned to as well as their Sunday blocks of meetings. We attended activities and did visits.

In spite of the long hours and hard work we loved every minute of it. We loved the members out there and we loved the missionaries we helped by delivering their supplies and mail. We’ve loved giving service in whatever capacity we’ve been called to do. Every weekend was a “Whirlwind Adventure”.

This afternoon we ran several errands for the office. One of them was to FedEx to pay a special fee for a package with a high declared value.

One of the things we do in the office is pick up packages at the “Aduana” (Customs package pickup) but occasionally packages to the Elders don’t make it past customs in the Airport. Packages with a declared value over $200.00USD are impounded at the airport and require a special fee before they can be released from customs and delivered. The fee is huge! Sometimes this fee can be 50% to 100% of the declared value of the package. The moral of the story is for parents to only send packages to their missionary with a declared value under $199.00USD. The Aduana Fee for packages under $199.00USD is between $3.50 and $8.00USD depending on the package’s weight.

2011-01-11T12:49:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Today the Elder Huey and Elder Barquero did the office “diligencias” (Errands) on their own. They went to Price Smart to fill orders for missionaries before next week’s “Traslado” (Transfer day).

The office Elders also went out to the “La Fe” area to deliver documents to Elder Jean Rosario and his companion Elder Fluencio Alcanatara. The documents were necessary so two of their investigators can get married. Many men and women can’t afford to get married so they raise their families without ever having received a formal wedding license. They can’t be baptized until all of the documentation are in order and they are formally married.

2011-01-10T04:36:00.000-08:00

Monday, January 10, 2011

Today was busy for the office Elders. Hna. Johnson and I have turned everything over to them. We’ve been overseeing their work and they are doing a good job. With my spare time I completed a document I’ve been working on for the past 6 months. It is titled: “THE RULES for Driving in the Dominican Republic”. The actual rules are only two pages long but the descriptions, explanations and examples are another six pages. I wanted to finish it today so I could take it with me to FHE and share it with the Seniors.

Twice a year the Temple is closed for cleaning. When the temple is closed, FHE with the Seniors is also cancelled. But tonight the Seniors decided to have a BBQ together anyway. Hna. Kilgore planned it and Dr. Kilgore grilled the hamburgers and chicken. Everyone brought side dishes and it was all very good. I taught the lesson (if you can call it a lesson) on the rules for driving in the DR. Everyone seemed to enjoy what I had to say and maybe they won’t be so intimidated the next time they pull out into the street.

2011-01-09T04:23:00.000-08:00

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Another day of travel, farewells, mail and visits. We started early in Bani at the Zone Leaders apartment to drop off mail and supplies. We picked up mail and a pair of shoes for Elder De Leon in Azua. We dropped them off in Azua on our way home this afternoon. We also stopped in Vicente Noble at the apartment of the “South Ayudantes” with the mail for the rest of the mission in the South. They gave us more mail for the office as well as “Reembolsos” (Reimbursements) to process.

We made it to the Neyba Branch in time for the last half of Priesthood/R.S. meeting and the rest of the block. Neyba is the branch where I was privileged and honor of served as Branch Pres. for almost 8 months. Hna. Johnson and I love these good and faithful people.

It was a bitter sweet goodbye as we said our final “Despedida” (Farewell). Like Hymn #88 in the Spanish Hymnal “Placentero nos es trabajar” says, “¡Oh hermanos, adiós, pues, adiós! El momento de ir vi no ya. Si guardamos la fe en el gran Dios, nos veremos aún más allá.” (Farewell brethren and sisters farewell, we have come to the close of our call. True and faithful we stand ‘til the end then we’ll meet once again over there.) We will probably never see these good saints again in this life but if we remain faithful we will meet again on the other side of the Vail.

This hymn, “Placentero nos es trabajar” has no equivalent in the English Hymnal. Even so, it is a favorite hymn of all Spanish speaking saints all over the world. It is now one of my favorite hymns too. The tune is a familiar Protestant hymn but the lyrics are uniquely LDS. The words were written in 1910 by the first lamanite missionary called in this dispensation, Elder Andres C. Gonzalez. He was jailed for preaching the gospel in Mexico City during the Mexican revolution. He faced the possibility of a firing squad the next morning. He wrote the lyrics not knowing if he would ever see his wife and child again in this life.

Tonight was probably the last time we will webcam our sons and grandchildren. We’ve loved the webcam these past 18 months.

2011-01-08T19:32:00.000-08:00

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Hna. Johnson and I went to the Santo Domingo Zoo today. We took office Elders Huey and Barquero. On p-day they have to study until 10:00am so we picked them up at 10:00 and arrived at the Zoo about 11:00am.

When Pres. Almonte told the office Elders to adapt to our schedule while we trained them, he said it also included changing their p-day to Saturday as well. One of the first thing Elder Huey and Elder Barquero asked was to go to the Santo Domingo Zoo. Missionaries never get to go to the Zoo because it is always closed on Monday, the p-day for all missionaries. Elder Huey and Elder Barquero consider themselves very fortunate for the opportunity to go to the Zoo.

Only an hour into our Zoo visit we got a phone call and had to jump on the Zoo tour train and head back to the main entrance. The other office Elders had locked themselves out of the mission office and were driving all the way to the Zoo to pick up an extra set of office keys. Well, when we got back to the front gate they called us back to say they didn’t need the keys after all and they weren’t coming. We took advantage of the opportunity and went to the car, took out our ice chest and fixed ourselves lunch.

Our trip to the Zoo was wonderful. Hna. Johnson commented afterward that the Zoo was one of the best attractions in the Dominican Republic we’ve been too. I agree.

On our way home we stopped by the home of the Branch Pres. of the Los Arroyos Branch. We had a check to drop off to Hna. Rosa Lugo, the Br. Pres.’s wife. She is a dentist and has been helping several of the missionaries with their teeth problems. The Zoo is within the boundaries of the Los Arroyos Branch and the Lugo’s home is only a half mile from the entrance to the Zoo.

2011-01-07T19:26:00.000-08:00

Friday, January 7, 2011

Elder Huey and I did the usual Friday “Diligencias” (Errands) today. We went to Centro de Servicio first to deliver and pickup mail. We also picked up supplies from Benjamin Lopez at the “Almoncen” (Warehouse). At the financial offices for the Area Elder Huey talked to the Hno. Fidel Filpo about several problems we have with the mission credit cards. He and Elder Huey resolved all of our problems in one visit.

Next we were off to pick up checks at Citi Bank and pay bills. This was the first time all of the documents were in Elder Huey’s name and he did all of the transactions himself. From now on Elder Huey can do everything that needs to be done for the mission. On January 14th, the day after my release, Pres. Almonte will go on line into the mission organization, remove my name in the list of mission officers and put Elder Huey in as the “Mission Executive Secretary”. This is quite an honor and huge responsibility for a young missionary but Elder Huey is ready & capable in every respect. He’s a great missionary and will do an excellent job.

The last time an Elder in the mission was given the title of “Mission Executive Secretary” was in the summer of 2009 when Elder Justin Bates was responsible for the transition until Hna. Johnson and I arrived in the Dominican Republic. Elder Bates was the Mission Executive Secretary for two months. This time Elder Huey will hold the title for about a month.

This afternoon in the Mission Office we continued to work on all of the loose ends for our departure. Elder Barquero burned 8 DVD’s of my pictures for Elders in the office and out in the field that have requested copies. I completed one more hurdle toward finishing the Mission History for 2010. I’ve been working on it for the past month and a half in my spare time. However I don’t have much time left, I have to have it completed by next week before Hna. Johnson and I are released.

This afternoon Hna. Johnson and I had an appointment to talk to the “Dueña” (Landlord) of our apartment. She is completely amenable to hold the apartment for Elder & Hna. Ford even though it will be vacant for a month. This is really good news. I Webcam’d Elder Ford and we had a nice long talk about the apartment, the utilities, furnishings, etc. Hna. Ford wasn’t home at the time but Elder Ford really likes the idea. He and Hna. Ford are really looking forward to coming to the DR.

2011-01-06T19:20:00.000-08:00

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Well, Christmas must be over. Elder Huey and I went to the Aduana this morning and there were only 6 packages for us to pick up. The bad news is that the package for Elder Huey still hasn’t arrived. He said it was mailed back in November. This is very unusual, most packages get here within 3 weeks, sometimes a little longer.

This afternoon Hna. Johnson and I got our hair cut (Another “for the last time”) by Hna. Carman Frucal at the “Casa de Huespedes” (Temple Accommodation Center). We’ve enjoyed our association with Carman, she has done a great job of cutting our hair for the past year and a half. She is employed by the church and works at the “CCM” (Santo Domingo MTC) and the “Casa”. She is also a temple worker, she’s a very nice lady.

While we were there we delivered mail to the CCM again. Those Elders are always happy to get mail. We had one package and several letters for about half a dozen Elders. It’s interesting that when we get up to the fourth floor where the missionaries are the very first Elders we bump into have mail coming to them. They are always eager to pose for pictures.

After our hair cut we went next door to the Temple and did an endowment session. The Santo Domingo Temple and grounds are simply beautiful. The Celestial room is one of the most beautiful in the whole church.

Since we’ve been in the DR this is the lightest attendance in an endowment session we’ve seen. Hna. Johnson and I were the only couple in the 5:45 session. Naturally we were asked to be the witness couple. There were two brethren in the session and no sisters. This is quite a contrast to the Mesa, AZ temple where patrons are in line to attend a session and get bumped to the next session or later. The new Temples announced for Gilbert and Phoenix will go a long way to lighten the load in the Mesa Temple. We are really looking forward to their completion.

2011-01-05T19:17:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Today Hna. Johnson talked to Elder and Hna. Ford, our replacements, on the phone. They are scheduled to arrive in the DR on April first, three months from now. They mentioned to Hna. Johnson that they have all of their affairs in order and are ready to leave on their mission as soon as possible. They volunteered to call the mission department in SLC to request their arrival date be moved up.

Wow! In less than an hour we received an e-mail from SLC with the change and the new arrival date for Elder and Hna. Ford. Their new arrival date is February 21st. This is seven weeks earlier than their original call stated. This is very good news. We and the office Elders are ecstatic over the development. The Lord has truly prepared and called the right couple for the Santo Domingo West Mission office.

Today Elder Huey, Elder Barquero and I went to Price Smart to fill orders for our missionaries. This was another one of those “Last Time” events for me. But it was also a first for Elder Huey. We went to the Customer service counter and signed him onto the mission account. Now he has his own Price Smart card and will be doing all of the purchasing in the future. It was the same at Citi Bank this morning. All of the mission’s transactions and “Petty Cash” check were in Elder Huey’s name.

2011-01-04T19:13:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Today we received the e-mail from SLC with the names of the new couple that have been called to take our place. They are Elder Rodney and Marcia Ford. They are from Bountiful, UT. Hna. Johnson spent about an hour of the phone with them and learned some really neat things about them. This will be their fourth Senior Couple mission. Previously they served missions in New Jersey and two missions to Spain. We are delighted and excited to have them come to the Dominican Republic and take our place in the Santo Domingo West Mission office.

Today I did another “last” before we go home. I went to “Codetel” which is one of the Dominican phone companies, to pay our personal phone bill for the last time. Elder Huey and I went to the Mission Home to collect the data from the mission home vehicles to write up the monthly vehicle report for the last time. It is hard to believe that we will be home in less than 3 weeks.

2011-01-03T19:06:00.000-08:00

Monday, January 3, 2011

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.

2011-01-02T17:27:00.000-08:00

Sunday, January 2, 2011

We were off early this morning to drive to the “South” to attend Fast and Testimony meeting with the members in Duvergé. On our way we stopped in Sabana Yegua to drop off Mail and supplies to Elder Urry and his companion Elder Le Chaeminant. Elder Urry is training Elder Le Chaeminant and they’ve been companions for two transfers now.

Hna. Johnson and I used to drive to the “South” every weekend to attend meetings with the members in Neyba and Duvergé. Our trip this morning brought back fond memories of our first 8 months in the mission when I was the branch president of both branches. We grew very close to all of the members out there. We saw them progress and grow in the gospel.

The Duvergé members are technically not a Branch. They are a “Dependent Group” attached to the Branch in Neyba, about 15 miles away. Ever since I was released as Branch President, the Group there have had Hno. Tomas Moquete as their Group Leader. He is actually a counselor in the Neyba Branch Presidency.

After the block of meetings we went over to the home of Josefina Perez, the mother of Mecho, who passed away last May. (See Tuesday, May 11, 2010) We had a nice visit with her and we talked about her daughter and how much she loved the gospel and loved doing missionary work. Hna. Perez and Hna. Johnson were weeping as they talked about Mecho. She was a wonder sister and a great example to us all. We will always find memories of our beloved Mecho.

Hna. Johnson experienced a FIRST on our trip back to the capital. I got drowsy while driving and asked Hna. Johnson to take the wheel. She drove for an hour and a half while I napped. This was the very first time Hna. Johnson has driven the car on the open road in the DR. She has driven a couple of times in the capital but only between our apt. and the office.

Dominican drivers are CRAZY and Hna. Johnson has always insisted that she didn’t want to ever drive in the DR. On occasion, after some of the bazaar antics pulled by “Guagua” (Bus) or “Motor” (Motorcycle) drivers, Hna. Johnson has declared, “If I were driving I’d just run him over!” Well, Hna. Johnson did a great job of driving this afternoon. She took on the crazy Dominican drivers on their own turf, she didn’t take any of their nonsense, she didn’t back down and she did it all without killing a single one. Way to go Hna. Johnson!

2011-01-01T17:24:00.000-08:00

Saturday, January 1, 2011 (New Year’s Day)
The first day of a new year and a new beginning. A day to celebrate and be with family & friends, a day to relax and enjoy a game of football! But what did we do today? (Well, we have never had TV so there has never been a way to watch football) Hna. Johnson and I spent the whole day cleaning our apartment in preparation for departure. We packed up just about everything for storage in the office until the new office couple comes in April. We also packed our own personal things and we even have two suitcases completely packed.

Hna. Johnson also spent the late afternoon packing a dozen boxes for mailing home. They must be less than four pounds each to be shipped by regular airmail. If they are one ounce over 4 pounds they must be sent “Express Mail” and the postage is triple the price.

2010-12-31T17:19:00.000-08:00

Friday, December 31, 2010

Today Hna. Johnson took down the Christmas decorations in the office, boxed it and put it all in storage. She is on a roll when it comes to packing up and putting things away. This afternoon she stayed home after lunch and continued to pack up everything in our apartment. There are a lot of items that we inherited from the Larson’s, the Senior couple before us. Hna. Johnson is boxing everything for the new couple coming to take our place. All of the boxes of supplies we are saving for them will be stored in the mission office until the new couple gets here on the first of April.

Elder Barquero and Elder Huey, the office Elders we’re training to take our place, have been preparing all of the materials and documents for “Traslado” (Transfer Day) coming up in two weeks. One of the jobs that takes a lot of time is preparing the mission picture roster. The departing missionaries have to be removed and the arriving missionaries have to be added in. All of the pictures have to be prepped, shuffled, alphabetized and reassembled on the picture roster. I showed Elder Barquero what to do and he spent the better part of the afternoon working on it. He still isn’t finished.

Elder Barquero called me over to show me the old mission picture roster he was working on. He had prepped the page by drawing a big red X across the face of each departing missionaries. He wanted to show me the pictures of Hna. Johnson and I with the red X’s across our faces. I was shocked at seeing it. The sight of those X’s crushed me like a steamroller. Hna. Johnson and I are being taken off of the mission picture roster.

I’ve been prepping the mission picture roster for the past year and a half and it didn’t bother me a bit to draw an X across the face of the departing missionaries. This time it was my own pictures being X’ed out, wow what a difference. It is still hard to believe that our mission to the Dominican Republic Santo Domingo West mission will be over in just 3 weeks.

New Years at midnight is celebrated in the DR exactly like the US. Tonight I worked late on picture captions for the Blog well past midnight. As early as 11:00pm fireworks were going off in our neighborhood. By midnight the fireworks and gun shots were non-stopped and deafening. The whole capital sounded like a war zone.

2010-12-30T17:10:00.000-08:00

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Today the Ayudantes (AP’s Assistants) in the south came into the capital to pick up their “camioneta” (Toyota Hilux Pick-up). It was in the shop being repaired and painted. (See Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010) It looks great now. When they left to return to the south they took all of the mail and supplies for all of the Elders and Hna.’s in the South. They had a lot to load and haul.

Great news today! Hna. Yessica Reyes (San Miguel, El Salvador) has returned to finish her mission after having brain surgery five weeks ago. (See Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2010)

Hna. Reyes had the surgery in Guatemala. (See Monday, Nov. 22, 2010) The doctors here thought she had a brain tumor but during her surgery they discovered she had a parasite (Trichinosis) in the 4th ventricle of her brain. This revelation was very good news according to Dr. Kilgore, the Area Medical Specialist. They treated the parasite with antibiotics and her recovery was much faster than had it been a tumor. We are so delighted to have her back in the mission. She is a great missionary and the Lord has truly blessed her over the past month and a half.

Today our “Blog2Print” book No. 2 arrived in the mail. This one looks great, just like the first one. It is 251 full color pages of my personal journal that I’ve uploaded to our mission blog. Book No. 2 covers six months, from Jan. 2010 to July 2010. Our first book covered the first 6 months of our mission, from July 2009 to Dec. 2009. (See Friday, Oct. 22, 2010) We plan to print the final 6 months of our mission in book No. 3 after we get home.

The Elders in the office, as well as anyone else that comes by, really like to read our blog2print book. This newest one never had a free moment; it spent every free minute this afternoon with one Elder then another. I am really happy they enjoy reading it and looking at all of the pictures. The Elders are really happy when they find a picture of themselves in it.

2010-12-29T17:00:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

This morning Elder Huey and I went to the Aduana and there were a lot of packages there again. Even though it is 4 days after Christmas the Aduana is still very busy. That is because the Dominican Christmas season doesn’t end on the 25th. The major gift giving day in the DR is “The Day of the Kings” celebrated on January 6th. This is the day, tradition says, when the three wise men found the baby Jesus and gave him their gifts.

Today a service technician came to the mission office to work on the gas range in the Elders apartment downstairs. The burners were all rusted, to gas valves were clogged and it was very hard for Hna. Ramona to cook. When the repairman lifted the range lid to go work on the valves he discovered a rat’s nest, literally!

The rat had pulled all of the insulation out from around the oven and stuffed it under the stove top cover. The rat also stole a dish towel and drug it all the way up the back of the stove to his nest. The all cotton towel was wedged right below two of the burners. It is amazing that the towel never caught fire.

The range repairman and I spent the afternoon chasing all over Santo Domingo for gas range burners, valves and other parts. One store we stopped at had two and three burner camp stoves for sale out front on their sidewalk. Interestingly, the camp stoves were all homemade and welded from old tire rims. They looked like they could really work. After seeing them it made me want to go camping!

2010-12-28T16:55:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

This evening Hna. Johnson and I went to the movie “Harry Potter – The Deathly Hollows”. This is one of Hna. Johnson’s favorite series of books she has read and she loves the movies too. This latest movie didn’t disappoint her. She enjoyed it a lot. She came out of the theater talking all about it and the book. We had a good time.

Earlier in the day I was with Elder Huey on a “Diligencia” to buy office supplies I accidently mentioned that Hna. Johnson and I were going to see “Harry Potter”. Elder Huey said, “Don’t tell me, don’t tell me anything, I don’t want to hear anything about it. I’ll see it when I get home.” It’s a great thing these young men and young women do when they leave home to serve a mission. They put their lives on hold for one and a half to two years and dedicate their energy and all their time to the work of the Lord. Elder Huey as well as all the rest of the missionaries are true disciple of the savior.

2010-12-27T14:11:00.000-08:00

Monday, December 27, 2010

Just after sunup this morning all of the Elders and Hermanas in the capital met at Mirador Park for a huge service project. President Almonte was there to give directions, handed out large black trash bags and helped in the morning’s activity. The Elders spread out across the park spaced at arm’s length apart. They headed west and covered over three kilometers of the park picking up a mountain of trash.

The Hna.’s did the same thing but on the other side of the boulevard that runs the length of the park. Hna. Almonte and Hna. Johnson was with them as they walked and picked up tons of trash. There was so much that they ran out of trash bags a couple of times.

Elder and Hna. Mehr, the Area Public Relations missionaries came too. They were there to take pictures and provide a story for lds.org, public relations, news room. They never know if their news articles will make it into print or even be displayed on the church’s website but they provide the pictures and story in the hope that it will be selected.

This evening we had another very good FHE with the Seniors at the “Casa”. Elder and Hna. Atkinson were in charge of the lesson. They presented a reading of the story of “The Other Wise Man”. (http://stpaulsparis.ca/Other_Wise_Man.htm) About a dozen of the Seniors were asked to read parts. It was a very good FHE lesson on the birth of the Savior and the meaning of “…inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Matt. 25:40.

2010-12-26T14:05:00.000-08:00

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Our time is short in the DR and we are experiencing a lot of “The Last…” of things. For example yesterday was our “Last” Christmas in the DR, etc. Today was our last Sunday for us to attend with the Los Arroyos Branch. It was also my last time to teach the Elders Quorum. For the opening exercises of priesthood meeting I was asked if I would choose an opening song. I was glad they asked because I really wanted to sing the song I spoke about during my talk in Sacrament meeting last week, “Placenteros nos es Trabajar”. Unfortunately there is no English version in our hymnal today, but it is a wonderful song. The third verse is about saying goodbye to friends and companions and maybe not seeing them again in this life. It was very appropriate for the occasion since I may not ever see some of these good brethren until the life after this one. It is a very powerful and moving song.

Hna. Johnson was ill this morning and had to stay home. She really wanted to be with her Primary Nursery for our last Sunday but unfortunately she was really not feeling well and felt it would not be wise to go. Hna. Johnson loves those children and will miss teaching them each Sunday. The children have all grown to love her too. One little girl named Nadia refused to go to the nursery when she heard that Hna. Johnson wasn’t there today. Her mother did manage to get her to go inside after a little protest.

The Primary President asked Sister Lissehe, Nadia’s Aunt, to take Hna. Johnson’s place and be the new Nursery leader. I was able to turn over all of Hna. Johnson’s teaching materials, games and toys to her.

This morning in Sacrament meeting Hna. Prenda Trinidad Medina was confirmed a member of the church. She was baptized yesterday afternoon, Christmas Day. She is a very enthusiastic and happy new member of the church. Elder Stott described her as a “Golden” investigator.

After the block I gave Elder Stott his mail. He received 2 more packages this week and several letters from home. He was a happy Elder.

2010-12-25T18:32:00.001-08:00

Saturday, December 25, 2010 – Christmas Day

We had a wonderful Christmas Day in the Dominican Republic. It will be our last one so we made the best of it. At 10:00am we had all 9 office Elders over to our apartment to enjoy “Christmas Morning Brunch”, at tradition in the Johnson home. Hna. Johnson prepared food yesterday and all morning to have a very large spread ready for the Elders.

Hna. Johnson prepared her “Cowboy Breakfast”. It included Bacon, two different kinds of pork sausages (in the DR we were lucky to find any!), scrambled eggs with plenty of salsa available, German pancakes and biscuits & gravy. There was lots of fresh fruit and we also had three different kinds of juice and milk or chocolate milk. Wow, it was good.

Normally you don’t think of having dessert for breakfast but this was brunch and since we didn’t finish eating until after noon, dessert was appropriate! And… it was good, listen to this, we had strawberry shortcake with lots of fresh strawberries & whip cream and we had Hna. Johnson’s homemade pumpkin pie with ice cream on top. Mmmm Goood!

The AP’s had an emergency come up so they were an hour late for the brunch. Fortunately there was a ton of food so there was plenty for them when they finally came.

What would Christmas be without presents? Hna. Johnson also prepared a Christmas gift for each Elder. It wasn’t much but the gift had a box of cordial cherries, Dominican fudge and homemade chocolate chip cookies. They also received “Zebra” pens, a blue and black. These pens are a favorite of all the Elders but they can only be purchased as Price Smart. The item in their Christmas gift that was the biggest hit was a small model truck. The Elders played with them and rolled them all over the tables and floor.

Believe it or not today is a “regular work day” for the missionaries in the mission. The Elders still had appointments to keep and contacts to make so they couldn’t stay very long at our apt. Elder Grant and Elder Falor even have a baptism service for one of their converts scheduled for this afternoon.

At the end of our meal we invited the Elders to read scriptures with us before they left. Hna. Johnson and I have finished reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish and are now reading the New Testament. With a little forethought and planning we were able to plan Luke 2 as today’s chapter to be read.

The reason the AP’s were late for our brunch was to prevent mission rules from being broken today. A tip was received that the parents of a Dominican Elder were planning to come with the whole family to visit him in his apartment for Christmas. Early this morning the AP’s had to transport the Elder and his companion to a different area so his parents couldn’t find him. They can still phone their son like every other parent but they cannot visit their Elder while his is serving. Dominican parents visiting their missionary is a particular problem here because many of our Elders parents live right here in the capital.

This afternoon and evening we concluded a great Christmas day by talking to our family on the phone and Webcam for about four hours. A perfect ending to a perfect day.

2010-12-24T18:26:00.000-08:00

Friday, December 24, 2010 - Christmas Eve

Because today was a very slow day in the mission office, Hna. Johnson stayed home and worked on projects there. The office Elders know all of Hna. Johnson duties now and they need the practice of doing things on their own. They did a good job today.

I spent the day in the office working with the Elders. We worked on the mission history for 2010, a special mission photo roster for Pres. & Hna. Almonte and I continued to train the Elders on more of the office duties that I do. It was a very good and productive day of training in the office.

**E-MAIL CHRISTMAS GREETING TO ALL OF OUR FRIENDS**

Dear Family and Friends,
Hna. Johnson and I are coming to the end of our 18 month mission. Our time here in the Dominican Republic has flown by; we will be release in less than 3 weeks. We have loved every minute of our service in this beautiful island nation. Working in the mission office has truly been a blessing. We’ve been in the center of a growing dynamic mission full of enthusiastic young Elders and Hermanas whose sole desire is to work hard and serve the Lord.

We have mixed feelings about leaving the mission. We love our mission so much that it will be hard to say goodbye. We really do wish it would never end. On the other hand we look forward to returning to our home and seeing our family, friends and especially our grandchildren. We can’t wait to fill our arms with them.

Two of our sons and their wives (Jacob & Wendy, Nathan & Valerie) will by flying down the pick us up and we plan to spend a week visiting some of the new friends we’ve made all over the mission. We will also be touring and seeing the sights of this beautiful country. We will arrive back in Mesa, Arizona on Friday, January 21, 2010.

We know that the labor that we have been engaged in for the past year and a half is the work of the Lord and that He leads and guides His church here on the earth. We have witnessed his hand work in the lives of His saints and others who are investigating to find the truth. We have been witness to His love, mercy and many miracles in their lives.

As the year draws to an end and we commemorate the birth of His son, our Lord & Savior, we wish each of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We bear witness that this is His only true and living church upon the face of the earth.

We love each of you and we can not express enough how grateful we are for your love and support this past year and a half. We have felt your prayer in our behalf and we know that they have been answered. Our prayer for you this Christmas Season is that you may receive the blessing of heaven for you and yours, that peace fill your lives and the love of the Savior fills your hearts.

With all our love,
Elder David & Hna. Pam Johnson

2010-12-23T18:21:00.000-08:00

Thursday, December 23, 2010

This morning Elder Grant and Elder Falor left the office early for Bani in the “South” to deliver mail and other supplies to the South Ayudantes. (In Spanish “Ayudante” means helper. The South Ayudantes have the other mission pickup truck and are almost like AP’s.) The back of their pickup truck was loaded with Christmas packages for all of the missionaries outside of the capital. With any luck the South Ayudantes will have all those Christmas packages delivered before Christmas. There should be a lot of happy Elders and Hermanas out there for Christmas.

More training in the office today. Hna. Johnson spent the whole afternoon teaching Elder Huey and Elder Barquero how to do “Apoyo” (Missionary Support) on IMOS. Finally after hours of work at the end of the day and nearly completed the internet went down… Yikes! All of the afternoon’s work, the support money for nearly 200 missionaries, may have been lost in cyberspace. There was a moment of panic, followed by reassuring words from Elder Huey, our computer genius, and some slow breathing to regain composure. After about a half hour the internet came back on line and the world was right again. Nothing lost, life is good!

Tonight Hna. Johnson and I made our second run to the supermarket in as many days but what a mistake. Jumbo was a zoo with last minute Christmas shoppers. Last minute Christmas shopping here is no different than in the states. Well, there is one very big difference. In the crowded confines of the supermarket aisles in the states shoppers take their turn, show a little patience and common courtesy. In the DR, shoppers push their grocery carts exactly the way they drive their cars. Simply put, it is Baaazzzzaaaar!

As a people, Dominicans are the nicest, kindest and gentlest people. They are loving and friendly to everyone. They are really very courteous people. But behind their grocery cart, (or the wheel of their car) Dominican shoppers are inpatient, thoughtless and rude. Something happens to them when they are driving their vehicle, they seem to forget the meaning of courtesy. I was hit twice tonight from behind by carts being pushed by people that certainly saw me but didn’t care that they ran me over. They crowded in line like there is no line of people waiting at the checkout. They cut other shoppers off or run them over. Without thinking they stop and block the whole aisle without considering that dozens of other shoppers can’t get by. Yup, it’s just like driving a car on the street.

2010-12-22T18:15:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Wow, another big load of packages were at the Aduana for our mission. We picked up 19 more packages. There will be a lot of happy missionaries when they get their packages from family and friends. This is the last time we will be going to the Aduana before Christmas and unfortunately not all of the missionaries that are expecting packages will get them. We are aware of several Elders and Hermanas that are expecting packages but they weren’t there today.

Office Elder Trevor Huey is one of those Elders that is expecting a package from home. He was with me at the package pickup counter as the Aduana staff was making a pile of boxes on the floor behind the counter. Each package has to be logged, counted, inspected, etc. The process continued slowly as we were handed another package that wasn’t for him. Elder Huey kept hoping but each package was for another missionary. Finally the pile was down to the last three on the floor and as he and I leaned over the counter we could read 2 of the last 3 labels from a distance and they weren’t for Elder Huey. The last package was hidden under the others and we couldn’t see the label yet. Elder Huey was hoping beyond hope that the last one would be for him. Finally after being at the Aduana for almost 2 hours the final package came into our view, it was for…. Elder Harris, not Elder Huey! With a sigh he said, “It will probably be here next week”.

Assistant to the President, Elder Casey Akana, was in the office this afternoon and the other office Elders were teasing him about a letter they had just prepared for him. Elder Akana will be released next transfer (January 18, 2011) in 4 weeks. The letter contained his flight plans home and other information about his release. He said, “Don’t show it to me, I don’t want to see it, I don’t even want to think about it.”

Elder Akana is a very good and dedicated missionary. He doesn’t want any distractions; he wants to work hard for the Lord right up to the last minute of his mission. Elder Akana is a great example of a hard working missionary for all of the younger missionaries. He teaches as much by example as he does by lecturing in training meetings. He is a tremendous asset to the mission and Hna. Johnson and I love him like our own sons.

Today I got an e-mail from Hna. Rebecca Mehr (She and her husband are the Caribbean Area Public Relations Missionaries). She asked me to sign a release and send it to SLC to allow LDS.Org to use the pictures that Hna. Johnson and I took of the huge service project we did on Saturday, October 30, 2010. Church members all over the DR cleaned up the coast line. The Santo Domingo West Mission had about 100 missionaries at the Haina Harbor cleaning up mountains of litter and trash. It is really exciting to think that LDS.Org might use one of our pictures. We’ll see.

2010-12-21T18:11:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

2010-12-20T18:07:00.000-08:00

Monday, December 20, 2010

Today we spent all of our time trainer our office Elders how to do our jobs in the office. They are catching on very quickly but it’s hard to let go sometimes. I have to keep telling myself not to do my tasks; I have to remember to wait until the Elders are with me so I can teach them what needs to be done.

Today we received a surprise visit from an old Friend. Elder Vinicio Morillo left the mission on March 30, 2010. We’ve run into him a couple of times since then and this is the second time he’s come by the mission office just to say hello. Hna. Johnson really has a soft spot in her heart for Elder Morillo when she gave him a hug she burst into tears. Yes, he is just like one of our own sons.

Tonight at FHE with the Senior missionaries the Berkley’s were in charge. Hna. Berkley gave a wonderful Christmas program. She told the story of Luke 2, we sang Christmas carols and she narrated a number of wonderful stories that illustrated the spirit of the season. It was a beautiful evening. FHE with the other Seniors will be one of the many things we will really miss when we return home in 4 weeks.

2010-12-19T18:04:00.000-08:00

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Hna. Johnson and I were asked to speak in Sacrament meeting today in Los Arroyos Branch. Our topics were left open and so Hna. spoke on the birth of the Savior. She used the First Presidency’s Christmas message from a few years ago. Since it was already translated into Spanish she was able to give her talk without much difficulty. Hna. Johnson still can’t speak Spanish fluently but she does read it very well.

My talk was on missionary work. I told the story of the first native Mexican who was called to serve a mission in 1910. His name was Elder Andres Gonzalez. He had several faith promoting experiences and at one point he and his companion were even placed in front a firing squad to be executed for preaching the gospel. For the intermediate hymn the congregation sang a song, “Placenteros nos es Trabajar” that Elder Gonzalez wrote while in jail waiting to be executed. He was a great missionary and an example to us all.

In the Primary Nursery today Hna. Johnson’s lesson was on the birth of the Savior and she presented each of the children with a picture of the Savior framed in seashells.

2010-12-17T17:56:00.000-08:00

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Today is our p-day but the office Elders have p-day on Monday. However the two Elders taking our place, Elder Huey and Elder Barquero, have been instructed by Pres. Almonte to work side by side with us. They are to keep our schedule and do everything we do including take their p-day on Saturday with us. Sooo….

In the words of Elder Huey, “This was the best p-day ever!” We received special permission from Pres. Almonte to take the office Elders with us to the Colonial Zone in Old Town Santo Domingo. Every other Saturday or so Hna. Johnson and I go to the Colonial Zone to buy “Conde Bags” and other gift items for the Missionaries. The two stores we most often visit are INKA and Freddy’s.

We also had to stop by the fabric and craft store called “Rosarios” to buy silk flowers for the Bairs. Hna. Joanne Bair (wife of the Temple Pres.) needed a silk wreath rebuilt that hangs on her apartment door. Hna. Johnson was delighted to be asked and tickled she can help out.

On our way back to the office to drop off the Elders we stopped at the “Bon Ice Cream” shop next to Bravo and we treated the Elders to an ice cream. Mmmm, Goood! Just having Bon ice cream for lunch made the whole day a great success.

This evening we went with five other Senior couples to dinner and a movie. (No, the office Elders are not allowed to go with us everywhere we go!) We went to the food court of the brand new “Blue Mall” on north “Blvd. Winston Churchill” in downtown Santo Domingo. The first 4 floors of the huge building are all for the very modern mall. It includes an 8 theatre complex where we planned to see “Narnia - Voyage of Dawn Treader”. However when we got there we discovered that the theater had damaged the film of the movie and they had to cancel the showing we planned to attend.

Oh well, we did eat with all of the other Seniors at the food court and had a very nice evening visiting. It turned out to be as good as going to a movie.

Late this evening, 9:30pm, I received a phone call from the AP’s. They said, “We have some bad news”. They were at the Piantini Chapel for a Ward activity and they left the lights on to their pickup truck. They tried jump starting the truck with a member’s car but the engine wouldn’t turn over, it didn’t even make a click. It only took me 45 minutes to get there and teach them the correct way to jump start a car. I love teaching the Elders new things about the mission vehicles.

All of the office Elders (including the AP’s) is always teaching me new things on the office computers like new short cuts and other tricks. They are so smart and computer savvy, I’m just glad I know something about cars that I can teach them.

2010-12-17T11:36:00.000-08:00

Friday, December 17, 2010

This morning Elder Huey, Elder Barquero and I were at the CITI Bank picking up checks for our vendors and we happened to be in line next to the office Elders from the East mission. It is always a pleasure to see them at Citi Bank, we get to talk about mission office work and swap stories.

Next we were off to “Centro de Servicio”. We had the monthly vehicle report to give to Angel Cordero and Grace Montero received a large stack of Visa renewal forms and applications to work on for our missionaries. We stopped by Dayanara’s desk with our weekly report and we worked with Esteban De la Cruz on direct ordering mission supplies on line from SLC. If we can make the new system work it will be a lot easier on everyone when we need supplies.

Friday afternoon in the office is typically a slow time for Hna. Johnson. All week she is under the gun to make specific deadlines. Her final deadlines of the week are the forms and reports that have to be taken to Centro de Servicio. So when the office Elders and I got back from Centro de Servicio, she was pretty much done for the day.

When Hna. Johnson and I went to lunch she didn’t return with me because her work at the office was all done and she wanted to spend the afternoon working in our apartment getting things sorted and organized for our return home in January. Four weeks seems like a long way off but it is really right around the corner and there is a lot to prepare before we can close down our apartment and turn it back over to the Dueña (Landlord).

This afternoon we received an e-mail from the mission department in SLC that sent us all in the office cheering! A Senior couple has been called to take our place. They won’t arrive for three and a half months, the first of April and we won’t know their name or anything about them for a couple of weeks but that is OK. We are just delighted that the Brethren have found the right Senior couple the Lord has prepared to come to the Dominican Republic and work his children here.

2010-12-16T11:31:00.000-08:00

Thursday, December 16, 2010

An interesting thing has been happening with the weather here in the DR for the last two weeks. It has been so cool that Hna. Johnson and I haven’t had to use our air conditioning unit in our apartment since the beginning of December. Either it is really cooler this year or we are finally getting acclimated to Dominican heat and humidity. We remember last December very well. It seemed to us to be one of the hottest months of the year! This year we haven’t even turned on our AC in our bedroom at night. Even more surprising, last night it was so cool we didn’t even turn on the fan in our bedroom. I don’t know what to make of it, go figure!

It seems every day is very busy in and out of the office. This morning Elder Huey, Elder Barquero and I took the mission president’s Toyota Camry to Delta for its regularly scheduled servicing. The office Elders are learning all of my jobs and that includes the maintenance of all of the mission vehicles.

We left Delta and headed straight for the “Aduana” (Customs package pickup) for our regular weekly visit. Interestingly, it wasn’t crowded this time. It only took us an hour and a half to finish our business there and head back to the office. More interestingly was the number of packages we picked up, 32. We must have set some sort of speed record. I’ve never been in and out of the Aduana so quickly, especially picking up so many packages.

I must say that the parents and friends of our missionaries are really doing a good job this year. I’ve been picking up a lot more packages for this year’s holiday season than last year. Last year I thought I was really busy at the Aduana when I picked up 12 to 15 packages. The most I picked up in a single week was 20. The number of packages I have picked up the past three weeks has blown last years record of 20 out of the water! Two weeks ago there were 32 packages, last week there were 27 and today there were another 32.

Without a doubt we’ve received two or three times as many packages this year as last. And this year there have been even more packages. They are smaller packages that don’t get stopped by the Aduana and are delivered directly to the mission office by the regular Dominican mail system. We’ve been getting a dozen or so of them each week lately. It is awesome… way to go parents, family and friends of our missionaries! The Elders and Hermanas really love getting packages all year long but especially at Christmas. Keep up the good work.

2010-12-15T11:25:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

This morning Elder Barquero wasn’t feeling very well so Elder Huey and I did the regular Wednesday morning “”Diligencias” (Errands) for the office. We went to Citi Bank and made several other stops paying mission bills, water, sewer, electric, etc.

2010-12-14T11:22:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

The office was busy today; we were teaching Elder Huey and Elder Barquero a lot of the things Hna. Johnson and I do in the office. Hna. Johnson taught them how to prepare “Reembolsos” and New Arrival packets.

I spent the afternoon with Elder Huey and Barquero reviewing the pages of the office procedures manual I’ve been writing for the past year and a half. The manual gives detailed steps by step instructions on everything I do in office, where to find it, when to do it and where to file it.

This evening I went to Bravo to do our weekly shopping we didn’t have time to do on Saturday, our regular shopping day. The store was very, very busy. Every Tuesday they run store specials and it is their busiest day of the week. I was in line at the check out for 30 minutes waiting for my turn to pay.

2010-12-13T11:16:00.000-08:00

Monday, December 13, 2010

This evenings FHE with the Seniors of Santo Domingo was very special and memorable. It was a dinner to welcome the new couple, Ed & Jayne Swapp. It was also a farewell to Jerry & Judy Gorsegner also Ivan & Ramona Jones, the Area Executive Secretary and Asst. Sec.

Hna. Johnson and I have come to know and love Elder and Hermana Jones. We have worked with them on several occasions and we’ve dined with them and even been on short vacations with them. They are great servants of the Lord, hard working and dedicated. It will be a shame to see them leave the DR on Thursday.

Of course Elder and Hna. Jones have families waiting for them like all of us do and they are excited about rejoining them. Interestingly enough they have no home to return to. They sold their home before they left for their mission and so they will be spending all of their time with their children in their homes. Hna. Jones says that when they are tired of that they will simply put in their papers to serve another Senior Couple mission.

Hna. Johnson and I participated in tonight’s FHE and Dinner with a little bit of bittersweet feelings. We are happy for the Jones as they will get to see their families again but sad because we may never see our good friends again. Of course we hope not, hopefully our paths will cross again but that is the rub. We have made so many very good friends here in the DR it is hard to see each couple finish their time of service and go home.

Then…. President Bair invited all to form a line and begin to serve ourselves dinner. He said we will start with the couples that have the shortest time remaining in their missions first followed by next couple to leave. Of course the Jones were first in line and it was pointed out that Hna. Johnson and I were the next in line.

It is hard for us to believe but after the Jones leave Hna. Johnson and I will be the next couple to leave the DR. I already know it will be another bittersweet night for Hna. Johnson when a dinner is held in our honor. Saying goodbye to some many good friends here in the DR will be very difficult. But they will all remain our good friends for the rest of our lives even if we don’t get to see each other very often.

2010-12-12T11:12:00.000-08:00

Sunday, December 12, 2010

This morning in Los Arroyos Branch Hna. Johnson had a fun activity with the children. They made snowmen out of marshmallows. The kids ate as much as they built but they had a lot of fun anyway. The cleanup was a bit much but who cares when you’re having fun.

2010-12-11T18:57:00.000-08:00

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Another very busy day, filled with lot of seashells, new adventure and good friends. Elder Whitaker said he got up at 1:30am and couldn’t go back to sleep because he was so excited about all of the seashells on the beach just waiting to be picked up. He said he went to the beach at 6:00am but it was too dark to see anything, the sun didn’t come up until 7:00.

As soon as we finished our breakfast we were all on the beach picking up shell to our heart’s delight. The storm damage from Hurricane Tomás on November 4th this year left mounds of sea grass piled up on the beach. From the pictures it looks like we wouldn’t be able to even see the beach much less any seashells but that wasn’t the case at all. There were tons of shells mixed in with the sea grass and sitting on top. Further west on the beach there was no sea grass at all and shell hunting was simply glorious.

The Whitakers use the shells to frame pictures. They hold “Picture Activities” in all of the branches and wards in the East mission and they use tons of seashells (Literally tons). Therefore they came to this beach with the expectation of collecting enough shells to fill the back of their pickup! To do that Elder Whitaker hired two local young men to help us. For $300.00DRPesos ($8.10USD) they worked most of the morning and helped a lot.

Elder Whitaker ended up bringing home 8 very large sack of shells. He estimated each bag to weigh 80 to 85 pounds. Hna. Johnson and I brought home two bags of 40 pounds each. The weight of about 800 pounds of seashells in the back of the pickup truck really made the tires look like they needed air but they were inflated to the proper pressure. We took it easy on the way back to the capital and we made it home without any difficulty.

2010-12-10T18:33:00.000-08:00

Friday, December 10, 2010

What a day! The office Elders, Elder Huey and Elder Barquero, and I started early. We were at the “Centro de Servicio” by 9:30 to drop off the office’s weekly reports, pick up our “Pouch” mail and pick up supplies for the mission. We got an early start this morning on our “Diligencias” (Errands) so Hna. Johnson and I could leave the office by 11:00am to rendezvous with the Whitakers, the office couple in the Santo Domingo East Mission. We are taking a day and a half for our p-day and had to get a jump on it.

For months the Whitakers have been planning a trip to the extreme northwest corner of the DR to a town named Monte Cristi on the Atlantic coast. They invited us to go with them and we were delighted to accept. They’ve been to this beach three times in the past and it is a gold mine for finding colorful seashells.

The drive took us 5 hours. I was very surprised to see rain on our trip. November to April is the dry season in the DR but you wouldn’t know it from the clouds and rain on the north half of the island. It was great.

When we got to our hotel (Hotel Los Jardines) we didn’t even change cloths. We went straight to the beach and started picking up tons of beautiful seashells. I’ve never seen so many shells on a beach before. The beach was literally covered with a myriad of different beautiful shells.

We had less than 2 hours of daylight when we reached the beach but in that short time we picked up buckets full of shells. And it wasn’t as if we were picking up everyone we found, there were far too many to do that, we only picked up the prettiest, most colorful or unusual ones. It was a seashell hunter’s paradise. Hna. Johnson was so elated she was squealing like a little school girl.

The owner of the hotel, Herve Lejeaille, also owns a restaurant in town named “El Bistrot” (elbistrot.com) and we ate dinner there. It was a lovely little place to eat and the “Dominican” style food was all wonderful. I asked him what he had that was a typically Dominican dish and he said, “Chivo al Creolle”. It means “Goat prepared Dominican style”! I’ve never eaten goat before and it was very good. Everything he served us was very good.

2010-12-09T18:23:00.000-08:00

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Today was another big day at the Aduana. We picked up 27 packages for missionaries, last week it was 32. Christmas is a great time of year for missionaries, they love to receive packages. And… Surprise, Surprise…. One of the packages was for Hna. Johnson and I. Hna. Johnson’s parents sent us a large Christmas package with several smaller individually wrapped gifts inside. Now I can’t wait until Christmas!

Elder Huey and Elder Barquero helped me at the Aduana. They had to leave for an hour to go to their Zone meeting at the La Paz chapel. The AP’s, also in the same Zone, gave them a ride back to the Aduana in time to help process all of the packages and haul them to my car. Since the missionaries at the Zone meeting were still in their meetings, we stopped by on our way back to the office and left the three packages for the Elders that were there.

The Thorups were back in the office this afternoon for their final visit before returning home with their son. Elder Thorup asked me for to copy of all of my pictures with him in it. I was glad to oblige. I did a file search and I was a little surprised that the pictures added up to 1.5 gigs. Then he asked for a lot of my other pictures of the mission, interesting things, etc. Those pictures added another 1.1 gigs.

I’ve made copies of pictures for a lot of Elders. It’s really easy to do and I burn a DVD for them. Two departing Elders actually asked me for every mission picture I have. At the time “My Mission Pictures” file was a little under 50 gigs. One Elder gave me a package of 10 blank DVD’s to burn for him and the other Elder had an external hard drive I backed them up to.

This afternoon I called SLC again and there is still no Senior couple called to take our place. This afternoon President Almonte called a special meeting of the office staff. He laid out his vision for all of us and the way we are to make the transition from having Hna. Johnson and I doing the office work and the day when all of the office jobs will be done by office Elders.

2010-12-08T18:15:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

The office is really hopping, so much to do and so little time to do it all. Today was our first full day with our new office Elders, Elder Huey and Elder Barquero. We spent much of the morning running “Diligencias” (Errands) for the mission. We had to go to 3 different banks and pay bills at two different businesses. I get to teach Elder Huey and Elder Barquero everything I know about my duties and driving in the capital. Elder Huey has been driving in the capital for some time now and he does a great job. He is already quite “Dominicanized”!

In the afternoon Elder Huey and Elder Barquero worked with Hna. Johnson on mission finances. Both Elders are going to have to learn Hna. Johnson’s job. I think it will take two Elders to replace her!

We also have a new Elder in the office to input “Registros Bautismales” (Baptism Records) into the mission office computers 3 or 4 times a week. Elder Tyler Anderson’s old companion was Elder Thorup. Elder Thorup has finished his 2 years of dedicated service. Hna. Johnson and I have worked very closely with him for the past 5 months and we will miss him. Elder Anderson’s new companion is Elder David Kirschman, an excellent missionary. He will do a great job in the office. He goes home in only 3 months.

We had special guests in the office today. Elder Bradley Thorup’s parents have come to the DR to pick up their son. They will spend a few days with him visiting some of his old areas and visiting some of the people he has grown to know and love. They will also visit a lot of the sights Elder Thorup wasn’t able to see while he was on his mission.

I think that picking up your missionary after his or her mission is one of the best things a parent can do with their son or daughter. Hna. Johnson and I did it six times with our six sons. It was a blessing and a joy to meet their converts, their friends, and visit the countries/states they served in.

2010-12-07T04:35:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

This morning was another great “Traslado” (Transfer Day) for us in the Santo Domingo West Mission. Hna. Johnson and I did our orientation meeting with the newly arrived Elders at 7:15. Our 2 replacement Elders, Elder Huey & Elder Barquero, were with us and learning what to do.

Pres. Juan E. Almonte & Hna. Almonte started their part of the orientation meeting following our picture taking of all the new missionaries.

There were 10 new Elders in this group of missionaries. They are all sharp young men eager to get started. Pres. Almonte has called our best Elders to be their “Trainers”. The trainers and new Elders usually stay together as a companionship for at least 2 traslados. The work the trainers do, the things they teach the new Elders and the work ethic instilled in them is very, very important. That is why only the best Elders are assigned to be trainers.

Back in the office we went right into training our new office Elders. They have a lot to learn before we leave in only 5 weeks. Elder Huey has already been in the office for 2 transfers working with the mission housing, talking to “Dueños (Landlords) and negotiating contracts. He is very good at it, but now he will get to learn a whole new side of the office.

The same is true for Elder Barquero. He will be learning all new things about the office. Like Elder Huey, Elder Barquero worked in the office as the Housing specialist from February to May of this year. He speaks very little English so I will be teaching him everything that I do in the office. Elder Huey will be learning from Hna. Johnson because he is from the US.

We are losing 10 Elders and 1 Hna. Today they have their final interviews with Pres. Almonte, they will eat lunch at the mission Home and this evening attend the temple together with the Almonte’s. Most of them will be leaving the mission tomorrow.

2010-12-06T04:24:00.000-08:00

Monday, December 6, 2010

SLC still hasn’t called a replacement couple for Hna. Johnson and I. President Almonte is bringing in two new Elders into the office to be trained to take our places until a new Senior couple arrives. Today (the day before “Traslados”) we were anticipating the arrival of our 2 new office Elders so we could teach them a little bit of our jobs before Traslados. The President has asked Elder Huey to be the mission Financial Secretary and learn Hna. Johnson’s job. Unfortunately he couldn’t spend much time with Hna. Johnson because he is still doing house rental contract and didn’t have much time spend with her today however he is pretty well versed on our Traslado procedures. The other two new office Elders won’t be here until tomorrow.

This evening the FHE for the Seniors at the “Casa” was hosted by Dr. & Hna. Kilgore, they are the Caribbean Area Medical Specialists Missionaries. Dr. Kilgore gave a wonderful lesson on “Our purpose here on earth”. He used humor and interesting stories to educate and enlighten us. On occasion he had us bouncing off the walls in laughter. He managed to incorporate a myriad of odd topics and weave them all together with a great gospel message. He talked about anthropology, astronomy, Einstein's theory of relativity, microbiology, chemistry and Germanic tribes of the eighth century AD to mention just a few.

Elder Kilgore concluded his FHE lesson by teaching us about the terrible Cholera epidemic that has spread over Haiti and has found its way into the Dominican Republic. There are only 6 cases in the DR but one of them is LDS. He taught us the origins of the disease, its “MO”, its symptoms, treatment and cure. He said in some cases the patient dies in eight hours. His lesson was particularly forceful, I think everyone of us left the room when FHE was over and immediately spent 60 seconds (the recommended time) washing our hands with soap and water. Elder Kilgore did a great job.

2010-12-05T04:18:00.000-08:00

Sunday, December 5, 2010

In the Primary Nursery this morning Hna. Johnson had the children make Christmas tree garlands out of red and green construction paper. The children loved the activity and were excited to take the garlands home with them.

Late this evening I received a phone call from Elder David Almonte, the Ayudante in the South. He has come in from the South with a truck load of luggage belonging to Elders in the South that are being transferred on Tuesday or that are going home on Wednesday.

We topped off a perfect day talking to our family on the Webcam and then Hna. Johnson and I were able to watch the First Presidency’s Christmas Devotional on the laptop. The warmth of the season, loving conversation with family and the inspiring messages of our leaders were all wonderful. Hna. Johnson and I love the Christmas season.

2010-12-04T04:16:00.000-08:00

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Today is our P-day and we fallen into a routine, of sorts. First we were off to the beach at 6:10am, we wanted to get a jump on all of the errands we wanted to do. The sunrise over the Caribbean Sea was breathtaking to say the least.

We had fun hunting for seashells although we didn’t find very many today. Sometime we find a lot and sometimes there aren’t so many. One problem was high tide this morning; it makes finding shells more difficult. The ocean was quite calm and the surf wasn’t bad so I was able to snorkel.

On our way home from the beach we made three stops. We filled orders for the Elders at a couple of stores. We stopped the INKA store on the Conde to buy “Conde Bags”. Next we went to Freddy’s for more souvenirs. Our last stop on the way home was our weekly shopping at Jumbo. The rest of the day we spent at home doing our cleaning and other chores, etc.

2010-12-03T04:11:00.000-08:00

Friday, December 3, 2010

This evening we ran into the worst traffic jam I’ve experienced since I’ve been in the DR. Tonight our Branch, Los Arroyos, had an adult Christmas social and dinner. Hna. Johnson and I left in plenty of time to be on time but we didn’t get very far. A trip that we usually make in 20 minutes turned into an hour and a half and we had only made it a quarter of the way to the chapel. Several times on the main boulevard called the “Luperon” we didn’t move for over twenty minutes at a time.

One of the big problems Dominicans have with heavy traffic is the lack of law enforcement and common sense. Cars go any place they want and drive anyplace on the road or sidewalk that isn’t already occupied. A very bad habit they have is driving on the wrong side of the road. Cars will be backed up for several blocks and that’s when the cars in the back of the line will move to the left and pull forward using the lanes of the oncoming traffic, effectively blocking any cars from moving forward and clearing the intersection. That is what happened tonight, no one could move forward or backward, left or right. It was a mess, gridlock in the truest sense of the word.

After an hour and a half we had only made it down the road one mile so I called the EQ Pres. in the Los Arroyos Branch to let him know our predicament and apologize for not making to the party. We turned around and started back to our apartment but the “gridlock” was just as bad going the other direction. It took us over an hour to return to our apartment.

2010-12-02T05:04:00.000-08:00

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Wow… what a day at the “Aduana” (Customs package pick-up). I was the first in line when they opened at 9:00am. And it was a good thing I was, the mission had 32 packages to be picked up. It took the Aduana staff an hour and a half just to find all of my packages. The have no real filing system and there are boxes just lying around everywhere. But they did find them all. In fact, to my knowledge there hasn’t ever been a package coming to our mission by way of the Aduana that has ever been lost.

I wasn’t expecting so many packages, so I didn’t have enough money with me to pay for them all. Each package under 5 kilograms has a customs fee of $100.00 ($2.70USD). Packages over 5 Kilos costs $250.00 (6.75USD). My total fee this morning for all of the packages was almost $5000.00DRPesos ($135.00USP).

I had to place an emergency call to Elder Grant and Elder Moore in the office to run down to the Aduana to bring me more money from the “Caja Chica” (Petty Cash). I was really glad they came because I really needed the help with all those packages.

Today the Independencia Zone was at the Mission Home, they are the last Zone to have their group interviews with Pres. Almonte. Afterward they had their Christmas dinner with Pres. and Hna. Almonte.

Hna. Johnson and I were at the office before noon to deliver & pick up mail, drop off orders, take pictures, etc. As we were about to leave Pres. Almonte invited us to eat with the Zone. We were delighted to accept.

The dinner was great. It was all Dominican food prepared by Dominicans.

2010-12-01T04:58:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Today President Almonte had the Elders from Bani Zone at the Mission Home. They, like each Zone before, had their regularly scheduled personal interviews. Then at noon they were treated to their Christmas dinner with Pres. & Hna. Almonte.

The Christmas dinner had an extra special meaning for the Elders in the Bani Zone today. It might be their only meal all day. Today is the first day of the month and the “Apoyo” (missionary’s support money) didn’t make it into their accounts today as it should have. Almost all of the Elders and Hna.’s in the mission are out of money. Some don’t budget their expenses well and don’t even have money for food. This big dinner might be the only meal some of the Elders have all day.

Normally the missionary “Apoyo” is in their accounts by the last day of the month or for sure by the first day of the month. The reason the mission “Apoyo” didn’t make it into the missionary’s credit cards was the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend. All day today I received dozens of phone calls from missionaries asking if the “Apoyo” would be here today. I had to tell them that they would have to wait until tomorrow.

2010-11-30T04:56:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

After lunch today Hna. Johnson and I went to the “Mega Centro Mall” across town (30 minute drive each way) to buy more “Conde Bags” for missionaries. Since last week Hna. Johnson has taken an additional 9 orders. We also wanted to have a few extra on hand when the last two Zones have their interviews and Christmas dinner this week.

2010-11-29T04:47:00.000-08:00

Monday, November 29, 2010

Hna. Johnson was especially busy in the office today. She had all of the mission rent to pay, a job that took her hours plus all of the missionary support money to pay, also taking her hours. Add to all of that work, the constant interruptions of a busy office and you can imagine she was very busy. But she got it all done and in time to race home to our apartment to make a large “Apple Crisp” and beautiful floral arrangement for FHE and dinner at the Almonte’s.

Tonight there was no FHE at the Casa with the other Seniors, everyone is on their own on the 5th Monday of the month. Instead we were all invited over to Pres. & Hna. Almonte’s home for dinner and a special Christmas FHE. The Almonte’s have had this dinner planned since last summer because it is the going away dinner for Elder & Hna. Jones, the Area Exec. Sec. & Asst. Sec. they are ending their mission in only 3 weeks.

Also invited were the Pres. Guillermo Antivilo and his wife Mary. He is the mission president of the Santo Domingo East Mission. Next were Elder Daniel and Hna. Rebecca Mehr, Area Public relationa missionaries and the parents of Hna. Mehr. Next invited was CCM Pres. Thomas and Hna. Susan Hendricks. Next were two Senior couples that work in the Area but they are assigned under Pres. Almonte in the West Mission; Elder Reed & Hna. Sherrie Finlayson, Area CES missionaries and Elder DeLoy and Lorna Roberts, Area Perpetual Education Fund Missionaries. And finally Santo Domingo Temple Pres. and Matron, Larry & Joanne Bair.

The food was wonderful. We all brought side dishes to share and the Almonte’s provided the main course of Ribs and Lobster. It is times like this that makes me wish I didn’t have to watch how much I eat.

It was a wonderful evening of good food, good music and great company. The FHE program of a narration of Luke 2 accompanied Christmas hymns sung by the whole group. There were also solos by Hna. Mehr interspersed among the songs. She sang with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for 8 years. She is wonderful to listen to as she brings her songs to life and fills our souls with the spirit of the season... Wow!

2010-11-28T04:45:00.000-08:00

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Primary nursery was one of the best Hna. Johnson has had since she has been in the nursery. She had no fights, not crying and no arguments over toys. Of course, Manuel our trouble maker, wasn’t in the class so that is what made the difference. The only problem we had was a little two year old girl came to us soaking wet. Evidently her mother didn’t put her in a diaper. But that worked out ok because Hna. Johnson nor I ever let her sit on our lap.

This evening we had a dinner appointment at the apartment of Elder & Hna. Berkley. They are the “Records Preservation Missionaries” in the DR. Elder and Hna. Jones (Area Exec. Sec. & Asst. Sec.) were also invited. The Berkley’s treated us to a wonderful roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy dinner.

After the dinner we chatted for about an hour as we ate the dessert Hna. Johnson brought, she brought a large deep dish of chocolate “Blondies”. We had a nice time talking about or mission experiences. One of the main topics of our discussion was what “Short Timers” we all are. The Joneses go home December 17, 2010. Hna. Johnson and I will get home on January 21, 2010 and the Berkley’s go home two months later. We had a great dinner and great conversations with our new friends we’ve made here in the DR.

2010-11-27T04:40:00.000-08:00

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Our P-day started at Juan Dolio Beach. We didn’t find very many seashells because it was high tide and the surf was really rough. I tried snorkeling but visibility was poor and the rough surf made me seasick, thank goodness for Advil.

We did have a lot of fun at the beach in spite of the conditions. It was a sunny day and the Whitakers were there too. We had a nice visit with them.

We got home, ate, showered and left for the “Conde” by 2:30 to fill orders for the Elders. We bought 16 “Conde Bags” as well as other things.

2010-11-26T04:25:00.000-08:00

Friday, November 26, 2010

I had another busy day of “Diligencias” (Errands) for the Mission Office. Not much to write about but I took some interesting pictures.

Hna. Johnson was also very busy in the office. Since this is the end of the month she had a lot of financial documents to prepare for missionary reimbursements, house rents, “Apollo” (Missionary support money), etc.

Hna. Johnson and I should have been even busier but church headquarters was closed for the Thanksgiving weekend so that lightened our loads a lot. Church HQ was actually closed Tuesday and Wednesday too due to a blizzard that shut down most offices in Utah. The term “Blizzard” had no meaning here. Year round the daytime highs are about 87 degrees with 80% humidity. Although we have had a “Cool spell” here. It was very unusual; we didn’t run our window AC unit last evening nor overnight. It was really quite pleasant with the windows open and the fan on.

2010-11-25T11:26:00.000-08:00

Thursday, November 25, 2010 (Not Thanksgiving Day in the DR)

I was on the run, run, run all day. First stop was at the “Aduana” (Customs package pickup) where I picked up 13 packages for our Elders and Hermanas; same as last week. It was another very, very busy day at the Aduana. The place was packed. The Christmas package season is definitely in full swing at the Aduana.

The San Juan Zone was in the Capital today for their interviews with the President and Christmas dinner. Once again I was at the mission home for over an hour delivering the mail, picking up mail, taking “Reembolos” and filling orders for mission supplies, etc. I was really on the go, go, go!

Last week Hna. Johnson and I were at the INKA store and bought twice as many “Conde Bags” as we thought we needed. But today the last 2 bags sold to Elders and I took orders for more. It looks like we will be going back to the INKA store this Saturday.

This afternoon we were at the “Temple Tienda” (Distribution Center) filling orders for our missionaries. While we were there we ran into Elder Leon & Hna. Marilyn Button again. They are the Senior missionaries from San Juan that are here with a large group from Puerto Rico.

While at the “Casa” / “CCM we delivered a package to one of our Elders that will join us the next “Traslado; Elder Trevor Schaffer. He was out in the parking lot playing basketball with all of the other Elders and Hna.’s during the missionary’s exercise hour.

We also got our hair cut while we were at the “Casa”. We ended our busy day doing an endowment session in the Santo Domingo Temple. It was a fitting end to a great Thanksgiving Day of missionary work in the Santo Domingo West Mission.

2010-11-24T11:19:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Another busy day in the Santo Domingo West Mission. This time the Barahona Zone was at the Mission Home for interviews and Christmas dinner. Their trip in the “The South” was too far and would take too much time for them to get to attend a Temple session like some of the Zones did.

As usual all of the Elders were delighted to get their mail when we were there. We did our usual collecting of “Reembolos” as well as collecting their outgoing mail.

We had a wonderful lunch at noon with Pres. and Hna. Hendricks of the “CCM” (Santo Domingo MTC). They invited Hna. Johnson and I out to lunch to thank Hna. Johnson for all of the beautiful silk flower arrangements she has done for them over the past several months. The Hendricks will be returning home about the same time we get released; in the middle of January.

We went to Chef Pepper’s and ate some really big and delicious hamburgers. When we left the restaurant we were both stuffed. The food was really good and we enjoyed the company and conversation with the Hendricks.

This afternoon Elder Thorup and his companion, Elder Anderson, were imputing baptism “Registros” into the mission office computer. He commented that last week was a great week for baptism by a couple of companionships. First, Zone Leaders Elder Thomas Stirland and Elder Ramon Martinez had 7 baptism in the Los Alcarrizos First Ward. But the biggest winners were Elder Jaime Rodriguez and Elder Kendall Clyde. They had 14 baptisms in the Pedro Brand 2nd Ward. Wow, that’s a lot of baptism in one week.

Sometimes in the hectic pace of the Mission Office I tend to focus too much on the problems, illnesses or the mundane routine things. I tend to forget why we are here. These two companionships of Elders bring back into focus our purpose and why we are here in the Dominican Republic. The work of the Lord is pressing forward at a fast pace. The Elders and Sister Missionaries in this mission are doing a great job as messengers of the restored gospel. It is a privilege for Hna. Johnson and I to get to work with these fine young men and women.

2010-11-23T11:04:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Today the San Geronimo Zone, from here in the capital, was scheduled for a Temple session with Pres. and Hna. Almonte. They also have interviews at the mission home followed by their Christmas dinner.
So Hna. Johnson and I were at the Santo Domingo Temple early to prepare all of the missionary’s clothes. That way the 24 Elders wouldn’t overwhelm the clothing rental counter when they all got there at once. But it turned out our efforts were in vain. Their trip to the Temple was cancelled.

It turned out that Pres. Almonte didn’t know that the AM sessions at the Temple were all going to be full with members that came in from Puerto Rico. Their Temple trip was a multi-Stake venture with almost a hundred members coming to do endowments, baptisms for the dead, etc.

While at the temple I bumped into a Senior missionary that had come with the group from Puerto Rico. He is from my home town and stake (Lehi Stake, Mesa AZ). His name is Elder Leon Button, the former Bishop of the Monument Ward. He is a Proselyting/MLS missionary (Member, Leader Support). He said to say “Hi” to President Ahlstrom when we get home in 8 weeks. We had a nice visit; it was good to see a familiar face.

This afternoon the AP’s were at the Emergency room of the hospital with Elder Moore again. He is still having chest pains. He was doing much better yesterday and Saturday but now the same pains have started again. Hopefully the doctors can determine the problem and help him recover. We remember him and Hna. Reyes in our prayers every day.

2010-11-22T10:50:00.000-08:00

Monday, November 22, 2010

It was a very busy Monday as usual. I started off with a special run to the bank and to “Centro de Servicio” to process an emergency “Dueño” vendor approval for IMOS. Sometimes these approvals require weeks, some have taken months. This time I hand carried the documents from desk to desk and saw the process through to the end. I was done and had the final approval in less than 30 minutes, a new speed record, it was great!

Next I was at the Mission Home for almost 2 hours with the Elder and Hna’s of the San Cristobal Zone. Again I delivered the mail, collected mail, collected “reembolso” slips, took orders for the Temple Tienda, sold “Conde Bags” and sold “Aceteros” (oil vials).

The highlight of the morning was the big group picture I took in front of the mission home. The San Cristobal Zone has 26 Elders and Hna.’s, it’s the largest Zone in the mission. There were too many missionaries to take the picture inside the house so we took it on the front sidewalk.

Tonight for the Seniors FHE we had our Thanksgiving dinner in the home of the new Temple President, Pres. & Hna. Bair. We also used the occasion to give a special welcome to the two newest couple that have arrived, Pres. & Hna. Bair and Elder and Hna. Burk the new 2nd Counselor in the Temple Presidency.

While at FHE I received a report from Dr. Kilgore on the progress of Hna. Reyes. She flew to Guatemala with Dr. & Hna. Kilgore last Tuesday, Nov. 16th to have a brain tumor removed. Dr. Kilgore said the surgery was successful and she is improving fast. The good news is that she did not have a brain tumor; they discovered that she had a parasite (Trichinosis) in the 4th ventricle of her brain. They can treat her for the parasite and after recovering she should be able to return to the mission field. She has truly been blessed in all that has happened over the past 2 weeks.

2010-11-21T05:32:00.000-08:00

Sunday, November 21, 2010

What a great Sunday! This afternoon Hna. and I invited the office Elders over for Thanksgiving dinner. Yes, I know it’s not Thursday yet but there is no Thanksgiving Day in the DR so all of the missionaries are required to work their normal schedule on that day. So Sunday afternoon is the best day for all of them to come over for some real American Thanksgiving food.

In addition to the regular 4 office Elders, we also invited the two Elders that are in the office for a few days from the South, Elder Moore and Elder Pratt. Elder Moore is having tests done to determine why he is so sick. He will probably be in the office for a few more days.

The Elders loved their Thanksgiving dinner. For 2 of the missionaries it was their first turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberries, pumpkin pie dinner they’ve ever eaten and they seemed to really like it. The Americans loved it a lot, Elder Grant said it’s the best meal he’s had since he’s been on his mission. He may have exaggerated a little but it probably has been a long time since he’s had an American meal.

Hna. Johnson was disappointed she couldn’t find any Yams for her traditional TG dinner. She has always had it on our table for TG at home. Yesterday we hunted in 3 different supermarkets but couldn’t find any. I guess it is just too American for it to be stocked on the grocery store shelves in the DR.

2010-11-20T05:47:00.000-08:00

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Since today is our P-day we were on the go, go, go all day. We started at the “Conde” in the Colonial Zone. The “Conde” is the oldest street in Santo Domingo, it’s were all of the tourist go shopping for souvenirs. We found a lot of gifts to give to our relatives when we return home in January. We also found “Conde” bags for the Elders that have placed orders.

This afternoon we were at the “Casa” (Temple Accommodation Center) with some of the Senior couples. Hna. Johnson offered to teach them how to make a Thanksgiving centerpiece.

In addition to the dozen or so stores we went shopping at, we also had to go shopping for everything Hna. Johnson needs for Thanksgiving dinner. We are going to have the office Elders over for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow after church. We can’t have them over on Thursday because it is a regular work day for all missionaries in the Dominican Republic.

2010-11-19T05:22:00.000-08:00

Friday, November 19, 2010

President Almonte was in the office early this morning interviewing about a half dozen Elders. Mission Presidents are required to interview every missionary in the mission at least once every “Traslado” (Transfer, 6 weeks). However these interviews were not the regularly scheduled interviews. All of these interviews and another half dozen on Wednesday afternoon were all for violations of mission rules.

As a result of Wednesday’s special interviews the AP’s were busy all day yesterday moving Elders to different areas. I’m afraid that after today’s interviews there are going to be more “Emergency Transfers”.

There was more bad news this evening. Elder Kerron Moore was in the hospital having more tests done. He still isn’t feeling well. One of the tests was an endoscopic view of his stomach. Hopefully the doctors will find what’s wrong and Elder Moore will be better soon.

2010-11-18T05:16:00.000-08:00

Thursday, November 18, 2010

This morning I was at the “Aduana” (Customs package pickup) as I am every Thursday. I picked up 13 packages for our missionaries today. The package pickup window was very busy because Christmas is coming. They had tons of packages to hunt through to find all 13 for our mission. I was their first customer when they opened at 9:00am and it took me over an hour and a half before I finally left.

When most Aduana customers only have one package to pick up, they are in and out in about 30 minutes. Sometimes the Aduana has been so busy that I’ve had to wait more than 3 hours for my packages.

2010-11-17T05:09:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

This morning at 6:00am we received an emergency phone call. The AP’s needed Hna. Reyes passport from the office safe. They were at Dr. Kilgore’s office at the “Casa” with Hna. Reyes. They were on their way to the airport to take Hna. Reyes to Guatemala to have her brain surgery. We are remembering her in our prayers.

All of the passports for all of the non-Dominican missionaries are kept in the mission office safe. They are too valuable to be allowed out with the Elders and Hermanas. All of the non-Dominican missionaries carry a laminated photo copy of their passport with them all the time.

After leaving Hna. Reyes with Dr. Kilgore, the AP’s spent the rest of the morning at the medical clinic with Elder Kerron Moore & his companion Elder Michael Pratt. The doctor thought he had a heart condition but they’ve determined that it is something to do with the stomach or digestive tract.

Today was another Zone Christmas dinner & interviews at the mission home. This time it was the “Las Caobas” Zone.

While I was at the Mission Home I was able to finish collecting the data for the monthly vehicle report that was due last week. While I was in the back with the mission vehicles, Elder Akana showed me the damage to the AP’s pickup when he was in a little accident. He said there was no other vehicle involved, just a wall. He said the wall didn’t turn on its blinker and jumped right out in front of him so that he couldn’t avoid hitting it. Ha Ha… yes it was funny.

2010-11-16T05:06:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

This morning the Bani Zone was scheduled to go to the Temple and then have interviews followed by Christmas Dinner with the Almonte’s. But those plans were postponed because one of our Hna’s was taken to the hospital overnight and the Almonte’s have been with her ever since. At noon we got word that Hna. Yessica Reyes (San Miguel, El Salvador) has a brain tumor. She will go into surgery tomorrow. The Area Presidency has been informed and she has been given a priesthood blessing. Hna. Johnson and I will be praying for her too.

2010-11-15T04:54:00.000-08:00

Monday, November 15, 2010

It was a busy Monday as usual. We received a surprise visit from Elder Joshua Flake and his parents, Jim & Hope Flake. He went home in the September “Traslado” but came back down to the DR to visit old friends and converts. They’ve been in the country for a week already. They’ve spent some time in Azua as well as seeing parts of the country Elder Flake didn’t get to visit while a missionary like Puerta Plata. They fly home to Gilbert, AZ day after tomorrow.

The “Las Palmas Zone” had their interviews at Pres. Almonte’s home followed by their Christmas dinner today. A little before noon Hna. Johnson and I were at the Mission Home to deliver their mail & supplies as well as take their pictures.

Once again we had the opportunity be with the Elders and Hermanas, to feel their spirits and their zeal for the missionary work of the Lord here in the Dominican Republic. As a Senior Couple, Hna. Johnson and I have been truly blessed to be here, doing what we are doing and having the experiences we are having. It is days like this that make it all worthwhile. Sometimes we experience frustration and disappointment. Sometimes things go wrong in the office or we get discouraging news from time to time but today was all good!

This evening’s FHE was all good too. The opening song was another CCM (MTC) Choir performance by the Haitian missionaries. All of the Haitian missionaries will leave the CCM tomorrow and report to their assigned missions. Tonight was a final “Hurrah” for them and we really enjoyed their hymn.

They sang “If You Could Hie to Kolob” in Creole, the national language of Haiti. Wow, it was a powerful and moving song. At least two of the Elders had tears streaming down their cheeks as they sang. The Seniors were also moved to tears by the beauty and message of this most remarkable hymn. Their rendition was simply GREAT!

Tonight’s FHE lesson was presented by Hno. Mark Tanner & his wife Hna. Annette Tanner. Hno. Tanner’s lesson was on the history of missionary work in the DR. He was one of the very first 10 missionaries assigned to work in the Dominican Republic in 1978. He was serving here a month before Apostle M. Russell Ballard came to dedicate this island nation for the work in December of that year.

Hna. Tanner (mother of 10) told the amazing story of their family’s discussion to move to the DR twice. Each time they uprooted their family to spend 18 months living, working and going to school here in the DR. The first time was in 2003 and now again in 2010. This time they have their 6 youngest children with them. They are a remarkable family. Hno. Tanner is an attorney and runs his law firm completely over the internet! He said occasionally he has to hop on a plane for the US. Last week he had to be at his law practice stateside for a 4 day trial. They made the discussion to come here so their children could experience the mission field first hand and gain a love of the people and the country.

2010-11-14T04:52:00.000-08:00

Sunday, November 14, 2010

This morning in Los Arroyos Sacrament meeting was the annual Primary program. The children all had parts and they sang several primary songs. It was very well done. I really enjoyed it.

There was a noticeable difference between today’s Primary program here in the DR and one I would have seen in my home ward back in Mesa, AZ. The Primary Presidency made small capes for each of the kids to wear. The children really did look sharp in them.

2010-11-13T04:45:00.000-08:00

Saturday, November 13, 2010 (Mini-Hump Day)

Today is our “Mini-Hump Day”. It is hard to believe but Hna. Johnson and I only have two months of our mission left!

This morning for our P-day activity we went to the “Casa” and picked up Hna. Cioban at 7:30 and headed to Juan Dolio Beach again. Hna. Cioban is one of the single sisters missionaries assigned to work at the Temple. At the beach we met up with the Jones and the Whitakers a little later.

The water was calm and low tide made hunting sea shells easy as I snorkeled. Today there were lots of seashells to be found only a few feet off shore in waist deep water. We found lots of shells. We had a lot of fun at the beach today.

This afternoon we went back to town to fill orders for Elders for Larimar jewelry, Conde Bags, etc. One stop was at “Plaza Central Mall” on the corner of Blvd. Vente Siete and Ave. Winston Churchhill. There is a jeweler there that repairs jewelry and Elder Huey’s “RWH” (Return with Honor) ring needed to be fixed. The band was broken. To have the ring soldered back together with pure Sterling Silver only cost $200.00DRPesos ($5.40USD) a real bargain.