Sunday, November 7, 2010

This morning we experienced an event we have not had since we arrived here in the DR. For our sacrament service in the Los Arroyos Branch we sang hymns accompanied by a piano! Elder Stott is the new Elder in our Branch and he plays the piano very well.



The Branch President pulled the electronic keyboard out of the closet in the clerk’s office dusted it off and plugged it in. Elder Stott sat down and played all of our hymns without a minute of practice. He accompanied our chorister perfectly and the congregation sang beautifully. It was wonderful to hear a piano in our sacrament service.




Most hymns in the Wards and Branches in the DR are accompanied by a CD player playing an instrumental version of our hymns on CD. Here in the Los Arroyos Branch the 2nd Counselor in the Branch Presidency, Hno. Vicioso, plugs his personal IPod player into the chapel’s PA system and plays the instrumental hymns to accompany the singing.

I am amazed at how lucky we are in the US to have such talented and dedicated members to play beautiful hymns for us in our services. I didn’t become completely aware of this until I arrived here in the DR. For 5 of the 7 months I served as Branch Pres. in Neyba and Duvergé all of our church hymns were sung acapella. Our hymns were usually off key, flat and sometimes didn’t sound at all like the real hymn we were singing. The best efforts of those of us who knew what the tune sounded like couldn’t change years of singing the wrong notes by members that didn’t know any better.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

This morning early Hna. Johnson and I went to the beach to hunt for shells. Hurricane “Tomás” is almost over. This morning it was cloudy but it only rained a little now and then so we figured it would be a good day to go shell hunting.

The drive to Juan Dolio Beach east of Santo Domingo takes us an hour. On our way we noticed that almost all of the huge billboards lining the highway had their signage taken down. The billboards were a bunch of skeletons lining the road. When bad weather threatens, like a hurricane, the signage is all removed leaving only the steel frame of the billboard.



On our way to the beach we stopped along the coast highway and took pictures of the huge waves (leftovers from “Tomás”) crashing into the limestone cliffs. It was a spectacular view.






At the beach it turned out that shell hunting was very bad because of hurricane “Tomás”. Usually high tide deposits a lot of shells high on the beach for us to find. This weekend the “Storm Surge” from the hurricane washed all of the shells back into the ocean. There was very little left for us to find. Also, the surf and waves were still so high and strong that they churned up a lot of silt and it was too murky to go snorkeling. I love to snorkel and visibility in the Caribbean Sea is usually 30 or more feet. This morning visibility under the water was only 2 feet!





Today is a national holiday in the Dominican Republic; it is “Constitution Day”. Hna. Johnson and I had several stops to make this afternoon for missionaries and the office but we discovered that most of the stores we needed to go to were closed. We still managed to get most of our errands done in spite of the closed stores.

Friday, November 5, 2010

President Almonte sent word out this afternoon to all of the missionaries in the whole mission to stay at home for the rest of the day. Hurricane Tomas is upon us and the Pres. doesn’t want to take any chances with his missionaries. He is always thinking of their safety. We haven’t had much wind with the storm but we’ve had a lot of rain.




This morning I went to Price Smart with Elder Huey and Elder Grant to fill orders for missionaries. I also signed up Elder Grant so he could have his own membership card. He and Elder Huey will be able to go on their own in the future without me tagging along.



Since none of the missionaries were allowed out of their apartments this afternoon Elder Huey, Elder Grant and I worked on projects at the office. One project was to install a “Smoke & Carbon monoxide detector” in the Elder’s quarters downstairs. This installation was for practice. The office Elders will be installing the detectors in each of our rented apartments all over the mission. It will be a huge project.

The church’s mission department sent the detectors out to all of the missions all over the world. The church spares no expense when it comes to the safety of the Lord’s servants.




We bought a new cordless drill at Price Smart this morning and used it to install the detector. The Elders had to drill into the solid concrete. In the DR almost all buildings are cinder block and the ceiling/floor of each level is 4 inches of solid steal reinforced concrete. The drilling was really hard.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Yesterday I was unable to pick up the mission’s checks at Citi Bank because the bank’s printer was broken. They thought they would have it fixed before they closed last night but never did. I spent three hours (I should say wasted three hours) at the bank today waiting for the checks that we had to have today. As I waited in the lobby, Obispo Capois, the employee I get the check from, kept reassuring me I would have the checks any minute.



Since early this morning tropical storm “Tomas” has been raining on us in the capital. The rain continued all day with a few brief pauses. There was not much wind all day, it was all rain. As we headed into the evening it picked up and really rained hard all night.




Because of the bad conditions today, Pres. Almonte postponed the Zone Conference that was planned for two of the Zones in the South today. It has been rescheduled for next Tuesday. Hopefully “Tomas” will be gone by then.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010 (Elder Johnson’s Birthday!)

I had a very nice birthday today. To start with Hna. Johnson asked me what I wanted for my birthday so she backed me a huge apple cobbler, my favorite. We took it and a tub of vanilla ice cream with us to the office and shared it with the office Elders. Mmmm Goood!




I was rather surprised to receive birthday wishes on the internet. I got a couple dozen “Happy Birthday” messages on “Facebook”. They are all dear friends of mine and since my profile gives my birthday they were all thoughtful enough and took the time to write me a message. One of the messages I was very surprised to get, it was from Derek Andrews. He was one of my Boy Scouts from the old Alma 5th Ward over fifteen years ago. I’m delighted that he’s found me on Facebook.




I surprised to get two long distance phone calls from my family. The first one was from my oldest son Jared and his three sons; Kyle, Ethan and Tyler. They were all out at the bus stop in the morning waiting to be picked up for school when Jared decided to call and wish me happy birthday. As I answered the phone I could hear singing. It took a moment for me to figure out that it was my grandsons singing “Happy Birthday to You” into the phone. It was fun talking to Jared and all of the boys.

The next long distance call was from my sister, Janiece. She and her family, Wylene and Wanette, Jay & his wife Kristin, were having lunch at the Geoko Grill in Gilbert when their discussion turned to Hna. Johnson and I. That’s when Janiece said, “I’ve got their number, let’s call and wish David happy birthday”. We talked for almost a half hour as the cell phone was passed from person to person. It was a really nice birthday call.



I guess birthdays are all about food and good friends. I had apple cobbler and ice cream for breakfast with the Elders for breakfast. I had apple pie and ice cream with my sweetheart for lunch. And then for dinner Pres. and Hna. Almonte invited us out to eat at the Dominican Fiesta buffet. The whole day was Good food, good friends and a great birthday.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

This evening Hna. Johnson and I finished reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish. We’ve been reading a chapter a day since last year. We’ve been taking turns reading verses out loud to each other. Shortly after arriving in the DR last year we started reading “El Libro de Mormon” to help us with our Spanish. I needed the practice as a refresher course and Hna. Johnson needed to help with reading in Spanish and pronunciation.

It has been a great experience for us to read the “Libro de Mormon” cover to cover. Now we are going to start on the “Nuevo Testamento” (New Testament) and get as far as we can before we go home in two months.

Monday, November 1, 2010

We were in for a treat tonight at FHE with the other Seniors. The new Santo Domingo Temple President was introduced to us. Pres. Larry and Hna. JoAnn Bair start their service as Temple Pres. and Matron tomorrow.

After the FHE Hna. Johnson and I got to talk to them at length. Pres. Bair was the Mission President of the Santo Domingo West mission before Pres. Almonte. The Bair’s are known and loved by many Dominicans that remember him and his time here. The Bair’s are delighted to be able to return here to the DR where they have so many friends from two and a half years ago.



We also go to meet the new 2nd Counselor in the Temple Presidency. It is Pres. William and Hna. Patricia Burk. Hna. Johnson’s eyes lit up when she saw their name on their name tags. Burk (no “e” on the end) is Hna. Johnson’s maiden name. The first thing she asked Pres. Burk was, “Where are you from?” It’s a small world, Pres. Burk is Hna. Johnson’s second cousin!



The Burk’s are from Eagar & Alpine in Arizona, he is the son of Morris Burk. Which means Hna. Johnson’s Father James Burk and Pres. Burk’s Father are first cousins. We had a good time reminiscing about Grandpa Wesley Burk and Earl & Pearl Burk, etc. We had a very good time at FHE tonight.