The Merinos have arrived to be the new AMHA couple.  The have lots of experience, good Spanish so it should be good for all of the missionaries.. We have ben to the store and market with them.

Gun safety and care are not a big
 priority with the security guards.

Cindy and Sr. Merino in the market.

The Merinos in the market.

Buying fruit, they still have many mangoes.
The traditional stores don't have anymore.

Skype and other tripe

We love to keep up with the new and old babies with Skype or Face time. Skype works the best but the Apple heads stick with frequent failed connections and freeze frames. Keep drinking that kool-aid.  Google mail has a dial function that works well for calling phones, so we don't have trouble keeping in touch.

Skype with Anna and Iva

A Haitian couple hams it up, they were using our internet
to write home. The wifi in the building hasn't been
working very well lately.

The apartment tour yielded this food pyramid on one kitchen
wall. The new progam is to use a colored plate,
better not let Ms. Obama see this old-school plan.

A bridge on the way to Santiago developed a major sag, so
it is being replaced, the work is actually going quite quickly.

Apartment Inspection

Cindy did some apartment inspections in the East mission today.  Generally they look good, the attitude of the missionaries is tremendous. They do a good job seeing the big picture.                                    

Elder and his study desk

Bedroom with mosquitoe netting, and fans. No AC
for these tough guys.

The sink doesn't work, so the toilet cover is in a good place.
Toilet cover not on the toilet? Who knows?

Beautiful porch and hammock.

Elder Rakuita gives it a try.

Hopefully he'll recover, probably broke his backsides.

TIn foil to aid in cleaning the stove. Looks tasty.

Dominoes is nearly the national sport, so this isn't goofing off
it is learning the culture of the people.

Elder McGlothin is "dying" this transfer, so he has
packaged all of his things for redistribution to others.



Probably shouldn't post this example of wiring, but the Elder
insisted we get a picture of it.

Our Walk to the Colonial Zone

Elder Jimenez, from Moa in the north of the DR.

A child waiting on the volleyball court while
 her mother was running.

The beach at the Park on the Malecon near Gomez.

Fisherman against the rising sun, along the Malecon.

This memorial is for a priest who tried to defend the native
Taino Indians. Columbus memorial is the low building to the
right, it is in the far distance.

This is a small remnant of the coastal defenses, found along the Malecon.

A Strange Week

This week we had some new things happen.  It would have been busy enough without the new things.  I am still having a run on Dengue Fever, so far all cases remain uncomplicated and only one had to go to the hospital in the last few weeks. Dengue causes high fever, headache, body and joint aches, known as break bone fever.  So uncomplicated doesn't mean a walk in the park, it simply means you don't get hemorrhagic fever along with the breakbone part. Now what about the new stuff?

How do you treat tear gas exposure to the eyes?  Ponder that at 10:00 pm after a busy day. Never thought about that before.  Google it and you find out a lot of people on the web worry about preventing exposure at their "actions". Not really supposed to need to do much for exposure, should wear off quickly.  My Elder still has red eyes, seems they were teaching in a home when the police threw tear gas grenades in, who knew?  The Elders dashed out and weren't even stopped, but did get gas on their skin and eyes.  They don't know why the tear gas so I don/t either.

Centipedes have legs adapted to give a good puncture and deliver venom.  The centipede in this case was five or six inches long and attacked while Elder was sleeping.  Very painful but again not too much to do for it except wound care.  Almost makes you think that Someone thinks pain is good for the progress of these young Elders. I work to educate to avoid pain and to treat it when it occurs, whose side am I on?

The last new thing was sadder,  the Elder involved keeps telling me "Estoy triste", I am sad.  This native Dominican was serving in Vera Cruz, Mexico when he fell down some stairs.  He suffered a significant head injury complicated by seizures.  He flew to Santo Domingo with an AMA from Mexico on Thursday night.  He was supposed to be picked up here on Friday for the trip north to his home but he had a seizure Thursday evening and one Friday about noon.  We took him to the hospital here and he got some different medication, but he wouldn't stay to be obseerved, Saturday afternoon we were called, his mother, aunt and the elder needed to get a ride home.  We were able to arrange a meeting half way, it worked out very well for him and us.  We drove to Santiago and back.  Such a sadness I can't explain, an Elder with so great a potential, I only hope he will recover completely with time.

I have some good pictures from our Saturday morning walk to post later.

To la Frontiera, Republica Dominicana Haiti Border Trip

The CCM jsut finished training seven Haitian missionaries, fo I went along to drive them to the border with Haiti. There we delivered them into the hands of the Mission President, Pres. Bien Aime.  The trip over was interesting, and we had plenty of snacks and bag lunches.

The road takes us by Lake Enriqillo and Lake Saumatre right near the border. These Lakes are both flooding, hurting the poor farmers nearby. Enriquillo is a salt water lake, Lake Saumatre is fresh water. The iguanas are used to being fed, they are scary up close, biggest are probably 4-5 feet with their tail. 

In the parking lot ready to head home. The Haitian Elders were very excited to get back home and
to go to work.

Road side banana store.

Tree arch makes a tunnel.

Elder Domique feeding the iguanas.

More iguanas and Pres. Glazier

Elder Durogene and Elder John Louis meet us at the frontier.



Sr. Glazier, President and beggars along the
road at the border.

More pictures of the Beach and Sookhoos

Here are some more memory pictures for me:

Far away from my MGs, Drew and I
still have hope.



Drew in the bushes on our night walk.



Leah ended up there first.

Evening singers and dancing couples.  There was a group of danicing girls there, I hoped they would come and get Steve to drag him down to dance, but most likely they would have gotten me instead.

Barcelo Capela, Juan Dolio

After our seeing a bit of Santo Domingo, we drove an hour to a resort east of town.  The resort was a great getaway, the rooms were good, the pools and beach were great and the food was good. The entertainment was fun, though I was too tired for most of the evening activities. Again I'll let the pictures tell the story.

Kate and Cindy by the pool at night.

The Sookhoo room and playground.

Eating in the buffet dining room.

Initially I thought this was a breadfruit tree, but
it is not. Just a big nothing fruit.

Trucking the resort grounds.

Cindy bargaining for larimar, the local, blue, semi-precious trinket.

Coconut climber.

Leah and Drew loved the sand, and were pretty
happy with the kiddie pool too.

Family pose on our after dinner walk one evening.
Leah wasn't in the mood.

In the Caribbean, good shelling after Isaac passed through.

The pails were popular.

The kiddie pool was adjacent to a bar, in case we needed
 a stiff drink.

The kiddie pool and bar.

Drew and Leah love both of these characters.

Leah really wanted to go back
and see them again.

Drew loves all sports involving
 throwing a ball.

Drew and Steve on the beach, having a snack.

Drew playing pool catch with a Dominican girl.

We were lucky to have a low volume time on the beach, lots of sun, sand and space.