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.

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.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Thursday, November 11, 2010

It was a busy morning. To start with, Hna. Johnson put the finishing touches on the Christmas tree in the Mission Office. She’s been working on the ornaments for a week. The tree is covered with 190 individual framed pictures of every missionary we have in the Santo Domingo West Mission. It looks great. As missionaries come into the office waiting area they immediately go over to the tree and look for their picture and then their companion’s. The tree is a great conversation piece.




Next I was off to Delta with the AP’s. Delta is the Toyota dealership where we get out mission vehicles serviced. Since I’m over the mission vehicle fleet, I get to train and retrain each new set of office Elders, including AP’s, on their duties and how to maintain their vehicles.



Next I went to the Mission Home where Pres. Almonte was conducting Zone interviews all morning. This was another one of those rare moments in our mission when the spirit of missionary work is so thick you can cut it with a knife. It is always a special treat for me to meet with and be around the hard working missionaries in our mission.



I only got to be with the Elders of the Azua Zone for about 30 minutes this morning. I took some pictures, gave them their mail, collected their outgoing mail and “Reembolsos”, etc. I really enjoy their spirits and their enthusiasm for the work. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Hna. Johnson and I have the best mission call in the church.

After their interviews with President Almonte the Azua Zone will have Christmas Dinner prepared by Hna. Almonte. She has two maids that help her on occasions like this but she does all of the cooking herself. She really does need the help from the maids. Over the next few weeks she will feed every missionary in our mission a Christmas dinner. It is a huge job; there are 190 hungry missionaries in our mission right now.



This afternoon we discovered that Elder Fernando Batista has been very sick for the past week or so. He and his companion, Elder Samuel Farra, are serving in our old Branch out in Neyba. They will be staying with the Elders in the office for several days while he has some tests done to find out if he has amoebas, parasites or Dengue Fever. Any of the above maladies are really bad news.



Our Prayers are with Elder Batista to recover quickly so he can get back to work in Neyba.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Today we arrived at the office to throngs of Elders arriving for their regularly scheduled interviews with Pres. Almonte. The entire Zone of Los Alcarrizos was to arrive at the mission home at (or around) 9:00am. Almost none of the Elders know how to get to the mission home but they all know where the mission office is so they all came to our office. Once they all arrived, their Zone leader, Elder Thomas Stirland, led the group on foot over to the President’s house.



The really great part of these particular interviews is the season. For the next two or three weeks every Zone will be treated to a Christmas dinner at the Mission Home after the interviews are done.




For the hour or so while the Elders were at the mission office, Hna. Johnson and I were very busy taking orders, receiving reembolsos, distributing mail, etc. We got to see some of the Elders we haven’t seen in months. The office was very very busy.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Another full and busy day. Elder Akana (one of the AP’s) has been recovering from a very bad case of the flu. He and his companion weren’t able to drive out to Azua for a Multi-Zone Conference with the supplies and mail. As soon as I heard I dropped my usual tasks in the office, loaded the car and headed out to the conference before it was over.




I had a car load of mail for the Elders in the Zones of Azua and Barahona.






Back in the office Hna. Johnson got the help of Elder Anderson to assemble the mission office Christmas tree. It’s going to be covered with individual pictures of all of the Elders & Hermanas.

When I got back to the office Elder Akana was feeling better so he and his companion, Elder Rodriguez, decided to do the monthly vehicle report on the Toyota “Hilux” pickup they drive. Neither one has ever filled out the form before so I got to teach them how to complete the inspection and go through the checklist.





Since this was the AP’s first time and I did a lot of training it took us almost an hour. In the future they should be able to fill out the forms and go through the checklist in about 15 minutes.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Today I finally finished a project for Hna. Almonte. She asked me to make a book small enough to fit in her purse to write notes in. Each page in the book has a missionary’s name and photograph. Hna. Almonte is the “Nurse” of the mission and she needed a place to note all of the illnesses of every missionary and their treatments. The book has over 200 pages, one page for each of our missionaries. It has taken me about a month to finish, working in my spare time.



This evening’s lesson in FHE for the Seniors was given by Elder and Hna. Roberts. They are the Caribbean PEF Missionaries. Since their arrival in the DR, a year ago July, they have been assigned by Pres. Almonte to attend the Branch in Nizao. They also serve 2 days a week in the Santo Domingo Temple. The Roberts have grown very close to all of the members in the Branch and have personally contributed to the conversion of many converts. Tonight’s FHE lesson was a slide show presentation of all of the converts they’ve helped teach/baptize in Nizao, the Mission Call Center and on campus at the University. Elder Roberts told the story of each of their conversions. They also told the story of 3 of them receiving their mission calls to Guatemala, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.



Tonight’s FHE by the Roberts was made even more special because in attendance were all of their friends & converts they talked about in their lesson. It was a great FHE.

After FHE Hna. Johnson gave Hna. Hendricks the latest of several silk arrangements she has made for the “CCM” ( Santo Domingo MTC). Hna. Hendricks is the wife of the CCM Mission President.



Pres. and Hna. Hendricks’ call as CCM President is for two years. They will go home to Bakersfield, CA in January. Today we heard that their replacement has just been called. It is Stewart E. Glazier and wife Sandra Glazier of Sandy, UT. Pres. Glazier served with his wife as president of the Chile Santiago North Mission and they were Perpetual Education Fund missionaries. Pres. Glazier was born in Mesa, Arizona!