What an interesting day! We left at 7:30 this morning to go with three other couples out to a ward in a small town 11/2 hours away. I'm going to include as many pictures as I can because it was so interesting to see. Much more like I imagined the Dominican Republic to be. Cement, wood pieces, and tin homes. Roosters crowing outside the door during church, people riding motos, some on worn out, scrawny horses that looked like the rider should be carrying the horse, the town taxi that looks like an extended golf cart and plays music all around town, clothes hanging from fences, roofs, any surface that was off the ground, open meat markets where they cut pieces off chickens,pigs, goats - those were the recognizable animals. Men setting around in groups visiting while the women were hanging clothes out. Sunday is their wash day so they can't make it to church. I don't know what they wash in or if it is that all of their clothes are dried out in the sun but they have the brightest looking clothes I have ever seen. They live in these little shacks surrounded by dirt but their clothes look like they just came from the store. One of the women with us is from here and she says they keep them bright by soaking them in vinegar for 10 minutes before they wash them. I doubt many of these people have washers though so there must be something else also. They plant trees in a row, then string barbed wire along them for fences so they don't have poles, they have trees! We saw cows, horses, and goats - all sorry looking animals. So thin their ribs were the only things you could see. It was sad to see them so poorly taken care of, but the people have nothing to feed them.
They are so proud of their church which is a small cement building. They did have two young women there and five primary kids that came in off the street. Sister Eickbush says most of them are not Mormon but come to have something to do. There was only one married couple in the ward. The rest are women, older kids, and men that were the only members in their families. There were three women in Relief Society and the teacher didn't know how to read so she had me read - in Espanol no less. I'm sure the sisters got a kick out of that! They were nice anyway. It is wonderful to be among those people and know that they are our brothers and sisters. Many of the people here feel that the church lifestyle is just too demanding. They spend alot of time sitting out in front of their houses playing games or visiting - but then, what else do they have to do? They have none of the technology we have - except for a lucky few who have a cell phone. Maybe having none of those things makes them the lucky ones because they do what is important - care for each other
Los Llanaos church and area
We got home to find that we still had no water. With dishes that haven't been washed for days and toilets that haven't been flushed we decided we have had enough. If there isn't going to be water we are going to find a different place to live. Then all of a sudden at 9:30 pm the water came on. We emptied our garbage liners and filled another two cans up with water. I ran to the sink to get the dishes washed and made it through the glasses before the water went off again 10 minutes later.
They are so proud of their church which is a small cement building. They did have two young women there and five primary kids that came in off the street. Sister Eickbush says most of them are not Mormon but come to have something to do. There was only one married couple in the ward. The rest are women, older kids, and men that were the only members in their families. There were three women in Relief Society and the teacher didn't know how to read so she had me read - in Espanol no less. I'm sure the sisters got a kick out of that! They were nice anyway. It is wonderful to be among those people and know that they are our brothers and sisters. Many of the people here feel that the church lifestyle is just too demanding. They spend alot of time sitting out in front of their houses playing games or visiting - but then, what else do they have to do? They have none of the technology we have - except for a lucky few who have a cell phone. Maybe having none of those things makes them the lucky ones because they do what is important - care for each other
We got home to find that we still had no water. With dishes that haven't been washed for days and toilets that haven't been flushed we decided we have had enough. If there isn't going to be water we are going to find a different place to live. Then all of a sudden at 9:30 pm the water came on. We emptied our garbage liners and filled another two cans up with water. I ran to the sink to get the dishes washed and made it through the glasses before the water went off again 10 minutes later.
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