Mission Presidents Training at Casa de Campo.

Near La Romana, Casa De Campo is a huge resort area with three or four golf courses, hotel-size rooms, small homes and large homes.  Some are right along the ocean and look magnificent from the ocean-side.  The Mission Presidents were trained by a visiting General Authority from the missionary department (Elder Clark) and by the Area Presdency.  They had three long days, but all seemed enthusiastic.  We went over on Thursday to present to the Mission Presidents' wives, as they are the Mission Medical officers, my main contacts.  It was fun to meet everyone, and they all seem excited to have us come on mission tours.  Even Pres. Joseph, from Haiti, said we should come and thought that there would be no problem.  We will see what the other powers think, but I would like to go there and see the conditions for myself.

Besides our presentation we had lunch time and informal times to meet and talk together.  Luckily most use English well.  They are such great people, and younger than I would expect for the most part.  Pres. Alvarado, from Puerto Rico, was a missionary in the Tampa Mission in 1990, when we were in Ft. Myers.  So he knew many of our friends.  He has already been a Stake President too. 



Pres. Alvarado and I at the swim up bar in the pool.  He got a referral from one of the waitresses while we were there.

 Once we were done there we headed to our villa, a really nic house with pool on the golf course.  It is very open with sliding doors and large, open windows.  Our bedrooms were air-conditioned.  It was fun to have so much room and the kitchen was good for our meals.  There was a cart path along the ocean we could walk to and the homes are amazing. 


Cindy at the kitchen window, lots of fresh air.



Cindy and I at the entrance to the Villa.

On Friday afternoon we went to the beach, it is a short drive from the house.  The coast along the home sites has a few sandy patches but is mostly lava rock, and not really accessible.  We had a great break and had a good time with our friends.  We both were glad to get back home though, back to our work routine. 

Early Christmas and a gift from Salt Lake City

I may have mentioned that Christmas is big in the Republica Dominicana.  We have seen store decorations when shopping already.  Today we saw every empty lot along our route full of pictures like this:

Even the Grinch with me thought we should stop and buy some of these.  The deer are just like ones we had stoen by neighborhood ruffians when we lived in Florida.

So shopping at Pricesmart was the highlight of the afternoon.  Earlier we had a video conferenc with our mentors in Salt Lake City.  They had some good advice and we heard some good stories about troubles here and there.  Somewhat enlightening and cautionary too.  I was paying strict attention nearly the whole two hours. 

We could see and hear each other, other AMAs were from Central and Sought America.  It took me three tries with my camera before I remembered not to look at it while I took the picture.

So we had a good day of learning and service.  Mostly quiet around here today, lds misionaros de la CCM estan sano.  Healthy at last.

A Senior missionary

 Senior missionaries are not just old missionaries.  We are encouraged to learn about the culture of our countries and to enjoy them.  We can go to restuarants, beaches, gardens, etc.  We don't have a set preparation day either.  Tomorrow for example, we go to make a presentation at a Mission Presidents Training meeting at a resort called Casa De Campo along the south-east coast.  Since we are there anyway, we will stay an extra night and go to the beach and use the villa's swimming pool. 

That is not what I am writing about today though.  I am writing about watching sports with Spanish announcers.  We  have a TV which gets ESPN Deportes, so last night I was watching Cardinals and Rangers.  I miss understanding the announcers, I haven't watched enough to catch on to the game lingo yet.  It was still fun to watch the Rangers work out of jam after jam but it was missing something.  I never thought I would say this but it is true, I could have even listened to Howard Cosell.

Tuesday and Thursdays are our Temple work days, so we will do a shift from 4-9 pm today and go again on Thursday morning, 8 am-1 pm.  Tuesday is not our golden time, we are just learning the Spanish for the ordinances so most of the time I am off by myself memorizing.  Today we have a large group from Guadeloupe, so they speak French.  We don't know the words in French at all.  So we are humbled on Tuesdays at the Temple.  On Thursdays we shine, as the missionaries need English sometimes still, and I can help get them where they need to go.  So we learn to take the good with the bad. 

A week zips by

I intended to blog often, so family can share with us, so first impressions are recorded while fresh, etc.  Well what if you just get too busy!  I suppose I should be thankful I am growing through trials and stresses.  Missionary work is work after all.

More on the week later, but first a few words and pictures from our first trip to a real beach.  The coast along Santo Domingo is lava ledges buffeted by waves. No one swims, plays or boats for fun that I have seen.  Last Saturday we went to the east, about an hour's drive with the Glaziers and the Swapps,  two other couples living here on the Temple grounds.  They were scouting for a hotel or resort for family visiting around Christmas time. If you are following on a map we went to the beach in the Juan Dolio region.  The beaches are relatively narrow;  buildings, including private homes lie close to the water's edge.  Here are the pictures:



The Sca Restaurant is a home right on the beach converted to a restaurant.  It allows you access to their beach, pool and changing rooms, included with lunch or dinner.  We are anxious to try it out with some friends or family.




Cindy checking it out with Elder Swapp and Pres. Glazier.




The beach is pretty nice, with shade and access to some good smoothies.

After Sca we went to a resort caled Barcelo Capella, an all inclusive with medium amenities and a bit broader beach.  It was fun to walk around and see the grounds and flamingoes. 

Cindy and Sr. Swapp on the beach, just looking for our families, honest.



The central yard and decorative pools.

We had the best lunch yet at El Meson, near the Barcelo, all couples shared entrees and had some good bread and garlic butter.  A very nice day trip and a good break.

When we arrived back at the Casa, we found that some of the missionaries in the training center had gotten sicker.  It is typical to have several get gastro-intestinal distress  upon their arrival from Provo, but this was getting ridiculous.  We ended up taking one to the hospital that day and another on Monday or Tuesday, I forget which.  Many others were sick, you can imagine the mental state up there.  I consulted the MTC in Provo and ended up treating everyone up there for Amoeba, today all are nearly 100%  Between this and the usual questions from the 1000 or so other full-time missionaries scattered around this island and the Caribbean I was kept jumping, reading and praying.  I hope we will settle back to routine now.

This morning we took the drive to the National Botanical Garden, the drive went well, only one wrong turn that we recovered from with no problem.  The Garden had a photography display going on of life in the park.  The fountains and plants were very nice and we rode a little guided train around to see more, it is a large area. The Japanese Garden was very nice, wedding photography was going on there. On the way home, just north of the park we drove through a nice neighborhood with big homes, Sammy Sosa's home is in there somewhere.

Near Garden entrance, this may be the national clock, as it doesn't move.

Our favorite thing to eat is mangoes, the gardener headed over when we were too close to these.

The national tree of Panama, it has some Spanish name, nothing sticks too well yet. 

The pond is a bit green, too much sun and no flow.

I think I snuck this photo without causing any cultural offense, I pretended I was getting the tree.

Another Trip in the Carro

Yesterday we decided to visit the West Mission office and then go to a Botanical Garden. I had a local expert configure my Garmin with maps and waypoints.  It has been very good so far, with the waypoints and directions accurate.  It worked well to get us to the office, once there we realized we were close to a commemerative plaque at the spot where Elder Ballard dedicated the Domincan Republic for missionary work in 1978.

It is in the same park we were at the other day, Mirador.  We parked along the roadway when we were close on the Garmin directions.  We missed the site when we walked by the first time, but we found it on the way back by taking a path off the main sidewalk. 



Cindy on the Park path.



Here I am, it was a little climb down to the plaque.



After we finsihed at the plaque we decided to head home, we will save the gardens for another day. 

We had our second day as set apart temple workers today, it is lots of fun and great to see the missionaries from the CCM.  Memorizing English is going ok, Spanish not so swift.

Getting x rays ready for digitization, the hi-tech way.

Generally speaking the medical imaging  and general medical technology in the DR is good, in this case I received printed images that are digital files, they look like old film x rays. I took some camera pictures of these, I am going to try loading them for review with an MRI in Salt Lake.  I have had software problems with loading images, it should be simple but I have had trouble getting it to work so far. 

We are settling in here.  We start training in the Temple today, I wish I had my old memory back.

Sunday drivers

We go to church in the CCM with the missionaroies and some of the senior couples.  Right now the services are in English as the Elders are new to the language.  When the latino Elders arrive in two weeks then it will switch to all Spanish.  I went during Sunday School time, in district meeting, and listened en francais with the Haitians.  I didn't understand much. 

We watched a devotional in the afternoon recorded June 25 from the MTC in Provo, Elder Bednar spoke.  Our temple Presdent, Pres. Bair and his wife spoke at our fireside in the evening.

High rises across from Mirador Park

In the late afternoon we took a drive to a nearby park, there were very few cars about so it was a good time to go.  Mirador Park is long and skinny, the road is closed in the morning and late afternoon so bikes, roller bladers and runners can use the very smooth roadway.  There were some families, some bikers on ramps and what looked like a Quincera celebration as we walked along. It rained a little bit and was very humid, not very hot but heavy air.

Water plants in a pond with many koi and small minnows.

We stopped on the drive back to the Casa and watched waves coming in, there were some nice water spouts along the rocks.

Our first teaching session in the CCM and our first drive in our car.

We went to the Temple yesterday, a three minute walk. I liked being with the Elders and Sisters and knowing most of the Temple workers.  This is a beautiful temple here.  Cindy described our day like this:

"We had our first Santo Domingo Temple experience today as patrons.   Every Thursday they let the missionaries go through so our session was in English.   It is a beautiful temple.   When I got into the chapel it was empty, when I sat down I had this incredible overpowering feeling telling me you are in a very holy place.   Can't say I have had the same feeling in our temples.   Maybe I just never had my ears open before. It was wonderful knowing so many of the temple workers.   Our friends, the McDermids were the officiators for our session.   We had many of the Haitian missionaries in our session.   They have not been endowed before they come to the MTC so had their first session with the temple president last week. I wonder what is going through their minds and hearts as they sit in that incredibly beautiful place.

We also had our car delivered today.   It was late afternoon so we won't go driving today, maybe tomorrow. Tomorrow is our first medical presentation to the missionaries in the MTC. It is hard to know what is of the most importance and how one might say it so they would actually listen and do it. Until they get really sick they probably think they are invincible.
  Thank you, Allison, for the first letter to arrive in the Dominican Republic.   We loved it, it was very sweet and I think your handwriting is great. It takes a lot of time to write a letter and we appreciated all your thoughts.   If I were your teacher, I would give you an A+. "




Next week we will start working in the Temple, two sessions each week.  We will need to memorize in Spanish over time, so keep those prayers flowing our way.

We took the car out today, the McDermids needed to go to the area office so I decided to drive them and they could help navigate.  Our car is a light gray Corolla, good air conditioning.   The drive is really very easy and went fine, the rules for driving are a bit different at stop signs, lane changes, etc.  I think once I learn the rules and keep vigilant for motorcycles, it will be ok.

Our first road trip to Santiago

In addition to the two missions in Santo Domingo I will go and see missionaries in Santiago and the mission home there, every other Wednesday.  We drove yesterday with the McDermids.  The traffic to get out of Santo Domingo was heavy, the highway we take is probably amongst the best, too many cars clogged it up yesterday.  There are new buildings going up nearly everywhere and road workers too.

The campo, or countryside is very green, we drove along a low mountain range that is tree covered. We saw several smaller rivers.  Homes are very small and have outdoor facilities and usually no electricity.  There are many roadside vendors, cashews, bananas, cooked meats and colorful rugs.  We saw large orange groves for Rica, my favorite brand here. 

Santiago is smaller, about 300,000 people. Pres and Sr. Lee live in a nice home there and we use a bedroom for the examination room.  When we arrived it loked like a party crossed with a mission conference.  There were 20 or 30 Elders eating candy and chatting.  It turne out that all were there to see us.  I saw 14 or 15 and the Mental Health advisers saw 6-8.  I did two toe jobs and had some rashes, colds, shortness of breath and back and hip pains.  The missionaries spirit is good, they live fairly roughly and work hard.  In their areas they walk, 10 or more miles a day.  Buses are for longer trips, like to see me.  Apartments have intermittent electricity and cold water.



Just a typical highway view, getting ready for an election here too.



Overpass with motos underneath, they are "taxis", we've seen as many as five people on one.

Blankets or rugs for sale, in one section they are known for these.

More rugs and greenery.

Cindy's Email

We had a good conference weekend and a busy Monday.  I haven't any new pictures so I thought Cindy's email home to friends would make a good note to remember our time here.  This is it:


Hola, We have been here over a week and many things are becoming familiar. How crazy is this? Saturday between sessions we decided to walk to a Pizza Hut for lunch. As we were walking down the street a car stopped beside us, we actually knew the driver, a sister who lives in our building. She is Dominican and speaks a little English. We told her we were going for pizza and she said she would give us a ride. She zipped right to the door of the Pizza Hut. We then ordered in Spanish(even though the menu was in English and there were lots of pictures). We got just what we ordered and then went next door to Baskin Robbins for ice cream cones. It was all in English, too, even though I knew Quiero helado!


We watched conference with the missionaries in theMTC(in English), they just got here. We also have 12 missionaries from Haiti. They will be here for three weeks then go back to Haiti. I love those missionaries. They are so happy and thankful to be able to serve a mission. I can't even begin to imagine their lives before and after their missions.

I did my first surgical assistance today. Oh, yes, an ingrown toenail. Rodger says I need to learn how to open gauze and bandaids better. My main job is to keep the missionary distracted! I really enjoy visiting with the missionaries and today got a good understanding what it is like in the field. We are very spoiled here in the casa with air conditioning, hot water, electricity and even TV. The missionaries never have hot water, electricity is intermittent, no air, and even water out of the faucet(which they cannot drink)is sporadic. They have a garbage can of water in the shower so they can bucket shower when there is no water. Drinking water is bought at the store or delivered by truck, the big jugs like we get at home. If they have electricity and water at the same time they can wash clothes in a double tub washer. One tub agitates the clothes and the other tub spins the water out. They then hang the clothes to dry but since it is so humid - 90's% it can take a long time to dry. All fruits and vegetables have to be rinsed in a bleach solution before storing and eating. You would never let your children eat anything at the grocery store before it was washed.

We are really enjoying all the senior missionaries assigned here. We had a girls night out during priesthood where we gathered in one of the sitting rooms of the casa and watched a movie and ate snacks. There were probably 15 sisters there, felt like a high school sleepover!

At night, our walks are around the Santo Domingo Temple which is three minutes from the door of the casa. The grounds are beautiful with tropical landscaping. Next week I will start working a shift on Tuesday evening - in Spanish and a shift Thursday morning. That is when the msisionaries from the MTC attend so it may be in English. i will also work in the laundry on Mondays to help them catch up from the weekend when they are the busiest. During the week not so busy, the first session is at nine, they close from noon to four and then are open from 4-9 at night. The people sacrifice so much to able to come to the Temple. They come long distances in open air buses that are all beat up and look like they would not make it around the block. Rodger's parts car would fit right in down here if he could get it running part time.

I thought of you in conference when the story was told of the bus driver asking the woman with seven children if they were all hers or if it was a picnic and she responded they ar e all mine and it is no picnic. I wonder how many times I have thought that and how many times Heavenly Father has shook His head in sadness at how little I understood and how ungrateful I was. I know our lives are a picnic compared to most of the world, now I just need to figure out how to keep that knowledge in the forefront of my brain and heart.

Sure miss everyone but as the days get busier I will soon lose myself and find all the joy

I can hold.

con amor, Cindy