Sunday, June 13, 2010 (Our 11th month Anniversary)

It has been 11 months since we left home for Provo and our mission. We can’t believe how fast the time is passing. July 13, 2009 seems like decades ago but the days, weeks and months pass so very quickly. It’s hard to believe that we only have 7 months left of our mission. Before we know it our mission will be over and it will be time to return home. But until then we continue to work hard and serve in the mission in any way we can. We love our mission, we love the Dominican people and we love serving the Lord. We are so very glad we made the discussion to put in our papers and serve a “Senior Couple” mission. The Lord has blessed us in so many ways and I’m sure in ways that we are not aware of. In fact some of our blessing may be beyond our ability to comprehend.

Today I taught the lesson in the priesthood meeting in the Los Arroyos Branch. There were about 15 brethren in the class. The Lesson was No. 10 “The Scriptures” in the new manual entitled “Gospel Principles”. All of the lessons, in fact the whole manual is very basic, designed for teaching new converts basic gospel principles and strengthening the testimonies of long time members.

It went very well. The spirit was there in abundance. Everyone in the class participated, answered questions and helped me out a lot. It’s a good thing too; my hearing is so bad combined with a less than perfect knowledge of “Caribbean Spanish” that I would have had real problems if it weren’t for everyone’s help. Almost all of the Elders in the Branch have been members of the church for several years and they are very well versed in the principles of the gospel.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

This morning we were off early for our p-day outing. We spent the morning collecting sea shells at the beach. First we drove to Elder & Hna. Whitaker’s apartment to borrow their “Sea shell mining” equipment. Then we were off to the same beach the Whitaker’s took us to on April 24, 2010, Capella Beach in the town of Juan Dolio. It is East of Santo Domingo and from our apartment it took us an hour to get there.

On the way there the Express Way we drive, “Ave. Las Americas”, hugs the coast line most of the time. We were really impressed by all of the blow holes we saw blowing sea water high into the sky. We saw a dozen or more and they were all working very well this morning. One of them had a convenient spot to pull the car off the road so I took a bunch of pictures.




We arrived at the beach and set up our “Mining” operation. In about 3 feet of water I scoop sand into a wire mesh sieve. The water rinses the sand away leaving the shells behind. Repeating the process about a dozen times yields about a gallon bucket full of shells. Unfortunately the haul is mostly broken pieces and coral. When my basket is full I take it up to Hna. Johnson where she sorts through all of the broken pieces and saves only the whole pretty ones. We did this from 9:30 until noon. We brought home about three gallons of very beautiful premium sea shells. We had a lot of fun “Mining” for sea shells today.



Now for the BAD NEWS! My first trip into the ocean this morning to “Mine” sea sells I forgot that my camera was in the pocket of my swimming suit. It was completely submerged before I realized what had happened. I dried it, shook out the excess salt water, opened all of the compartment doors and set it in the sun to dry. I’m afraid my wonderful Panasonic X10 Zoom, 9.1 megapixel camera is dead and beyond salvaging. By the end of the day, after drying for hours in the sun and under the hair dryer it is still dead. Next I plan to carefully take it completely apart, clean and dry it, then reassemble it. Hopefully it will work again.



But in the mean time we have a back up camera. Hna. Johnson’s Kodak, X5 Zoom, 12megapixal camera works great so I still have a good camera to use. I will miss the extra zoom though. I am so sorry I ruined my mission camera. It has served me very well for the past year. It has taken some great pictures for me.

After we finished our sea shell mining we got cleaned up and went to eat lunch at “El Meson” restaurant right across the street from the Capella Beach. This is the second time we’ve eaten there and we like it a lot (See May 8, 2010). The food is great, inexpensive and the same mother cat came over to beg food off of Hna. Johnson.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Elder Colby has a new companion to work with him in the office. His name is Elder Rafael Vasquez. They will still be entering baptism records into the mission office computers 3 days a week.

Elder Vasquez happened to see some of my pictures pop up on my laptop and he asked me about my family. He was very interested to hear about my grandparents and great grandparents and how many generations my family has been members of the church. He was very proud to say that he personally was the first generation member of the church in his family. Neither his parents nor any of his siblings are members. He was introduced to the church by his cousin who is the only member of the church in his family too.



Elder Vasquez has only been a member for a little over two years. He entered the mission field after being a member of the church for a little over a year and a half. His story is very typical of many Dominican missionaries. Many of them are young and very new members of the church but they are full of enthusiasm and they grow in the knowledge of the gospel by leaps and bounds while they serve the Lord in the mission field. When Elder Vasquez and other Elders like him, return home after their missions they will be a tremendous asset to their local Ward or Branch. Elder Vasquez is a very good missionary.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Every Wednesday morning I go to CITI Bank to pick up our mission’s petty cash check. As luck would have it, the Elders from the Santo Domingo East Mission were there too. However the checks weren’t ready yet so we had to wait over 30 minutes while they were being printed. I had a nice long visit with the East Mission Elders. They are Elder Clayton & Elder Vargas. Elder Vargas is from Santiago, DR, that’s in the north-central part of the island. He speaks very good English so I asked him where he learned it. He said his whole life he has watched the “Cartoon Channel” and the “SciFi Channel”! Who says there’s nothing good on TV.



Elder Clayton is from the states and does all of the driving. We had a nice long discussion about the “Dominican driving rules”. Elder Clayton wasn’t aware of any real rules of the road. He and most Americans think it’s a free for all and it’s every driver for himself. I got to tell him about some real Dominican driving rules he wasn’t aware of; things like the “Position, Speed and Size” rule and the “Drift” rule. There are about a dozen more. Dominican drivers don’t obey any “Laws of the road” but they are very faithful about obeying these “Rules of the road”. I think I should write them all down so any American that drive down here will have a sporting chance at surviving when he he’s behind the wheel.



* * * * THIS IS THE LETTER HNA. JOHNSON WROTE HOME TO HER FAMILY ON WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2010 * * * *
Saludos mi familia,
We have had a busy transfer period so far. It started with our special transfer of Hermana Mecho on transfer day. Driving quickly up to Duvergé for the funeral then President Almonte asking us to be a part of the 3 day, 3 zone conferences the following week. We then had a large group of members from Neyba and Duvergé come down to do temple work. Many of these members were seeing the Temple for the first time (inside and out). To have the privilege of helping many go in for the first time was a treasured experience. One of the members going in was Hermana Mecho’s mother. The first time she came to the temple with her daughter she fell in love with the spirit that surrounded the Temple, Mecho could only observe baptisms at that time because I had not received her ordinance clothing from Salt Lake then. The second time, Mecho went into the Temple to receive her endowments; her mother had been baptized the week before. Her mother waited inside the waiting area the whole time for she loved the beauty and the spirit inside the Temple. This time, without her daughter, she went in and did baptisms. In my best Spanish, I expressed to her how happy her daughter is that she was in the Temple doing work. She just wept, she misses her daughter so very much. I’m so thankful for Temples that are placed all over this earth and the sacred ordinances that we have the privilege to take part of inside them. We are truly blessed to be living in the days of the fullness of the gospel.
Now for an ‘ALL POINTS BULLETIN’: does anyone know of a couple who is thinking of or is ready to serve a mission? We are approaching our year mark and it takes about 6 months to get a replacement couple. We have already requested a replacement couple with Salt Lake but senior couples can be recruited, soooooo does anyone know of a couple? If so, have them email us and we will be happy to answer any questions.
Have a great start to the summer season of camping, swimming, BBQs, etc. We love you all so very much.
Elder y Hermana Johnson
* * * *PLEASE GO TO DAVIDYPAM.BLOGSPOT.COM TO SEE ALL OF THE PICTURES AND READ MORE ABOUT ELDER & HNA. JOHNSON’S MISSION * * * *

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

One of my duties in the mission office is to oversee all of the mission vehicles. Today I worked on the monthly vehicle reports. The mission has 7 vehicles. A report has to be written up on each one at the end of the month and turned in to the Area Fleet Coordinator, Hno. Angel Cordero by the 10th of the following month. I have to get on the ball, they are due this Thursday.

Among other things the vehicle report contains a log of every fuel purchase made for the car for the month, the miles driven between fill ups, the price of the fuel, and the miles per gallon calculated. The report also contains every cent spent on maintenance and repair. Once I’ve gathered a record of every cent spent of the vehicle in the fleet, I have to calculate the average cost per vehicle, as well as the average cost per mile. The report asks me if the car is clean, vacuumed, and if the glove box is neat and clean. I even have to make sure each glove box contains all of the required item, the list is very specific. The report also contains a report of the oil level and even what the air pressure is in each tire. I have to do a visual examination of the exterior and mark on a diagram every scratch and ding in the exterior of the car. I really look forward to doing the monthly vehicle report!



I learned today that Pres. Almonte is closing the Azua office this week. This afternoon I was at the Mission Home gathering the data for the reports on the three mission home vehicles. The Capital AP’s were there too. They had just returned from the South where Pres. Almonte has been holding interviews with all of the missionaries in Azua. In their pickup truck they had a lot of the furniture and furnishings from the Azua office. The day after tomorrow all of the keys to the rented office will be turned in to the Landlord.




Hna. Johnson and I have fond memories of the Azua Office. For about 8 months we spent Saturday and Sunday night there every weekend. We could set our watches by the power going off twice a day and coming back on 4 hours later. Almost every evening the power went off at 5:00pm and again in the early morning at 2:00am. For 8 months we never had a hot shower there. We always had to get up and shower every Sunday morning at 6:00am. Even though the Caribbean climate is hot and humid, at 6:00am the water out of the show was very cold. We never did get used to those cold showers.

It’s no longer economical for the mission to continue to rent the Azua office. There was a time that the AP’s in the South lived there. Then we used it on weekends and President Almonte spent his nights there when he traveled to the south for conferences and interviews. But now it isn’t being used at all so Pres. Almonte is closing the office.

Monday, June 7, 2010

This morning Elder Thorup had to go to the clinic to be tested for parasites. When he got back he had bad news. He has two parasites; Blastocytos Hominis and Giardia Lamblia, they are nasty buggers! He has been given medication by the clinic and Dr. Kilgore in the Area office. Hopefully they will do the trick and he will be better soon. I was surprised to learn from Elder Thorup that this is the third time he’s been treated for parasites.



Elder Thorup says he has been sick for weeks and none of the usual diarrhea medicines Hna. Almonte has given him have helped. (Now for the really icky part.) He said that when he was in Bani they always bought purified drinking water from the local Colmado (neighborhood store). However a couple of weeks ago he and his companion were half way through one of the 5 gallon bottles when they noticed the water was full of live mosquito larvae! The eggs must have hatched overnight, Yikes. The Colmado owner said they would refund his money. It would have been better if he had sold them safe drinking water in the first place so… Well, thanks for nothing!

Elder Thorup started asking around and found out that not all “Purified” water in sealed bottles is really purified. They found out from reputable sources that this particular bottled water company uses regular tap water and does not purify it before sealing the bottle and putting their label on it. This is really bad news. It makes all of us wonder just what bottled water we can trust here. At least we know for sure not to buy bottled water from this company.

Elder Thorup isn’t one to let something like this get him down. After he finished telling me all of these stories, he put a bright smile on his face and with a glow in his voice exclaimed, “I love my mission!” It’s going to take more than a couple of parasites to keep this Elder down.

And speaking of hard working great Elders, Hna. Johnson and I received an e-mail letter from Elder Conway today. He has been home for a week now. It was great to read what he has been up to since he got home. He has some tough choices coming up, he has to choose which University to play football for and very little time to make up his mind. I’m hoping for ASU, but he has been highly recruited by others including the UofA. Good luck Elder Conway.




Before FHE tonight we had dinner with the Joneses. Elder Jones is the Area Executive Secretary and Hna. Jones is the assistant Secretary. Elder and Hna. Mehr, Area Public Relations missionaries, were invited too. For dinner they served my favorite, baked salmon! Mmmm Goood! We had a wonderful evening together. We are truly blessed to have so many good friends here in the DR.




For FHE tonight we had a special craft night. Elder and Hna. Whitaker, the office couple in the East Mission, were in charge and they brought tons of sea shells they’ve gathered from their many trips to the beach (See April 24, 2010). They glue them on to the frames of church pictures. They give the finished pictures to the missionaries in their mission so they can give them as gifts to their Ward & Branch members as well as to their investigators. The missionaries love the pictures adorned with the sea shells.





Hna. Johnson and I have really taken a liking to this idea as well. We don’t have the time to make hundreds of adorned picture frames like the Whitakers do but Hna. Johnson has plans to make gifts from sea shells. She has seen some remarkable sea shell Christmas trees and nativity scenes she plans to make herself. They are easy to make, it’s a lot of fun collecting the sea shells and the hardest part is waiting for the glue to dry.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Our Priesthood lesson in Los Arroyos Branch this morning was given by the 2nd Counselor in the Branch Presidency, Hno. Junior Vicioso. He is a very good teacher. I particularly enjoy the way he involves everyone, how he keeps their interest and how animated he is when he teaches. All lessons I can learn, apply and emulate because I get to teach next Sunday’s lesson in the Elder’s Quorum.