10/31/2012

   What a great night - almost everything is working!  The power and the water have been off today but when we got home from the temple they were both back on.   As we pulled out to go to the temple we ran into Joel (the repairman) who had come to pay the back payments on the apartment owners bill so we could have gas - and promised to send someone up to get power back in our kitchen.  We may have everything working at the same time.  That hasn't happened for a long time.
  We certainly shouldn't complain when we see the mess the east coast is.
   "There is no parking in the gospel, either we are going forward or we are going backword."  Don't know where that quote came from but it was written on a card in my scriptures.  Probably a personal notice for me.....

10/30/2012

       Hallelujah!  The gas is back on.  Scott talked to the head lady this morning and told her they could have let us know they were shutting off the gas. so we could try to get ahold of the landlord.  So she reluctantly agreed to turn the gas on temporarily.   Now we have gas running into the stove but no electricity to start it.  Scott has been lighting it with a match - thus he no longer has hair on his hand!
We need one of those fireplace matches with the long stem.  We thought the power problem would be addressed by Joel today but no way - didn't hear from him at all.  Maybe tomorrow.....
We left for the Temple at 5:30.  I was so happy to see Sister ? was back.  She is the beautiful older woman who used to come every Tuesday but is handicapped and has been very ill.  She has the most serene countenance!  One of the male obreos is her son but I don't know if he brings her or just how she gets to the temple.
   As we drove out of the temple grounds to our apartment you could not help but feel the difference between the peace of the temple and the noise of the world.  What a blessing it is to be able to spend time in the temple.
   I hear Yturraldes in the kitchen.  They must have stopped by on their way home from the temple.  They live on the sixth floor up and by the time they get to our floor they are pooped so they stop for a break before climbing the last two floors.  It is great to have friends here!

10/29/2012

It's just 4:00 pm and we are supposed to be in Spanish class but here we are at home trying to straighten out yet another problem in our apartment.  Yesterday we couldn't get our stove to work and finally figured out that the gas wasn't getting through.  So now in the kitchen we have no power and no stove that we used to be able to light with a match if we didn't have power.  I wonder just what else could happen but don't want to find out!   Finally Danny came up and told us that the apartment owner had not paid the maintenance fee she owes the lady in charge of the apartments.  For five months - you would think they would have said something to us before they just up and turned off the gas.  We always get the threat of them shutting off the power because their electronic system somehow does not show them that the church has paid the bill.  That also happens with no notice.  One good thing happened in our apartment today - the water quit dripping from the ceiling in the bathroom.  Guess Joel was right about the water from the Hurricane causing a back up of water somehow.  Since we are on the 4th floor of an 11 story building and there are no open areas I just wonder how that happens.  The elevator is out for another six days so walking those flights of stairs has been good for us but not fun.
     All in all, I'm glad that night is here.  Maybe tomorrow we will get something or things fixed!  I don't know what has happened to Ekbert and his mother that we really enjoyed (they were in charge of this apartment) but for the last three months we haven't been able to get ahold of them at all.  Her phone is no longer in service and his is always full of messages.  I hope they are ok.
   

10/28/2012

     This early Sunday morning started with a shower in the shower!  It's not often you can stand in the shower and have water dripping down form the ceiling tiles.  It seems to be slowing down a bit though.  So we were off to pick up the kids for church.  When we got there Alta Gracie and her family were not there - they had no clean clothes.  I was just happy to hear they had no clean clothes instead if they had no clothes left.  We wanted to bring some of their clothes here to wash but alas - no water here.  So we ended up with only William's three kids.  Our students playing today were so far away we knew we couldn't get back to pick up the kids if we went.  First dent in our car in a land filled with dented cars.  Scott went to open the door to get out to go get the kids while a motorcycle was coming down the street with two men on, one setting on broom sticks.  Why they were driving so close to our car only they know but the broom sticks hit the car door which knocked the door into Scott's head.  Of course they just drove on as if nothing had happened. 
    No one had been in the church since the hurricane.  The Relief Society meets in the chapel - tile floors with no seating put up.  Eight or more of the sisters had mops and brooms and they were mopping and sweeping the water out of the room.  They don't have windows - just slats that open and close.  Plus they have a courtyard kind of like we used to have at the Rock Church.  It still had water standing on the cement entryway to the church and was going into the chapel under the door as well as through the windows.  The teacher had written on the chalkboard the lesson "Los Obreros de la Vina" - appropriate I thought.  It seemed strange to me that there were no men helping.  One of the sisters was opening the folding chairs, giving them a shove that sent them clear across the room on the wet floor!  I thought it was a great idea.   However as I was moving a couple of chairs a lizard scurried out in front of them. I was helping set up chairs and that was much better than walking across the slick floor to get them and carry them back.  But then the man who had looked in came back to help and was going to do it the right way.  It was hilarious when  chairs he had moved to set up slid and crashed noisily to the floor.  It was nice of him to come and help but was obvious these women know how to handle trying situations.  This was just those in the middle of the room!

When they realized I was taking a picture they wanted me to take another .

It was a great start to the day!

Guess what I saw at church today????  The first set of unpolished toenails I have seen.  If anyone, kids and all, are wearing shoes where their toes show, their toe nails are painted

.I can't seem to get the alignment to work!  We ended up with about 20 minutes for Relief Society. In every meeting as you are listening some vehicle goes by with sound things on top of their car and is either selling or looking for something or playing obnoxious music.  These people never bat an eye.

   After we located the kids for Sacrament meeting Scott told me he had volunteered me to play for them for Sacrament meeting since the one guy that plays was not there.  Keep in mind that playing for them is not like playing for someone in our home wards!  Plus you never know what they are singing.  Since it is October and they begin celebrating Christmas the last of September they chose a couple of Christmas songs. Just have to say it is kind of weird singing a Christmas song in October.

The good thing was we had a trunk full of keyboards so I got to play on something I play every day.

The kids and Scott sat up at the front with me and they were good.  Katty is fascinated by the music that comes from the keyboard. 

   We dropped them off and headed home to pick up a table, more books and teclados that we usually keep in the back seat.  We had 20 minutes to grab something to eat and get back on the road for Oriental.  Thank goodness the traffic was light and we got there fairly close to on time.

   When we get home at 7:00pm and climbed up the stairs with the equipment we were just grateful to be home. 

   I really appreciated being able to talk to most of my family - they are wonderful!  We are so blessed!





10/27/2012 End of the Storm!

  We were still mopping up water from the rain storm on Friday.  It would seem to settle down for a few minutes then would start blowing and then came the rain.  I doubt we will ever see rain like this again - certainly not at home.  There was some awesome thunder that shook the windows and blew out the power.  We still had the water problem in the bathroom then something went wrong outside and we lost our water in the kitchen.  So all in all we had power off and on most of the day but little water.  Joel, the repairman, (who we now know on a first name basis and is about part of the family because he spends so much time at our apartment) came by to check out the water leaking into the apartment below only to discover that water was leaking through our bathroom ceiling also.  He thought it had something to do with the hurricane winds and rain.  Doesn't make sense to me! When he comes he gives us both these great big hugs -
  I did get some pictures of the storm which I will put in this blog.
   The Shavers, the Ruckers, and Scott and I went out to dinner at a Chinese restaurant that they had been to before.  It was delicious!  When it storms here the people stay home so the roads were not too congested.  All in all, it was a fun night.  AND we even had power when we got home.

   In this picture you can kind of see the sheets of rain.  They would come from the south and blow towards the north with unbelievable intensity.  You could barely see just across the street because the rain was so dense.
   The streets, even with their built in storm drains on both sides of the street, were flooded and running up on the sidewalks.

    There were trees blown down in some places.  Two trees were blown over and landed on the fence that surrounds the temple.  The ocean is a dirty grayish tan color about as far out as you can see from the stuff that runs into the river then into the ocean. 
    We were worried about our families down by the river and found the Alta Gracies house had flooded with over 4 feet of water.  She said two of her mattresses from  her house floated off and into the river.  She and her kids were with Williams family.  How they were ever going to take care of another family with how little they have was such a worry for us.  We got some food and things together and went down to William's  house.  I am amazed at how these people just take everything in stride.  They had no idea where their next meal was coming from.  Everything in their house was wet or destroyed or floating.

   The kids are always so happy to see you.  I am so grateful there are some kids for us to love here!
   We got home in time to go to Hainamosa for keyboard lessons.  The twins had played in church last Sunday and their family was so excited.  They all showed up at our lessons today.  This is the mom and her three daughters:

How blessed we are to be able to be here and work with the people here.
The day is ending much quieter than it started.  We seem to be back to the normal except now we don't have electricity in our kitchen for some reason.  I would ask what else could go wrong in this apartment but then something else would happen so we will just be grateful we have a roof over our heads and dry beds!

 

 

10/25/2012 Hurricane Sandy

Wind howling though our apartment, water in puddles under all of the windows - that has been the last couple of days and nights!  You can't sleep at night because the rain is pounding on the windows.  You know if you get up in the night you have to be careful because there is probably water on the tile floor and it is very slippery!  This storm has been worse than the last one that was so well prepared for and publicized for weeks before it came.  We didn't even know this one was coming and we get a newspaper every day.  It makes you sick for all those people who live in little makeshift houses that fill with water every time it storms like this.  Our friends, the Shavers, traveled to La Romana for a conference today.  Of course the weather was terrible but as they drove along the road by the ocean the waves were hitting the rock and going straight in the air then over onto the road.  They were grateful to get back in one piece.  Don't know how long this is supposed to last but it has calmed down tonight for awhile.
    Our neighbor came up this morning to tell us our water pipe was leaking into her bathroom and it was running down the drain into the apartment below her.  Great huh?  We couldn't get anyone to come look at it until tomorrow so had to shut off the water.  The elevator isn't working and William told us tonight that it would be out for 8 days.  For us on the 4th floor that isn't so bad but I really feel bad for those people on the 10th and 11th floors.  There is an 8 months pregnant woman on the 10th floor that the workers are worried about.  Just hope she doesn't have to leave until she is ready to deliver.
    Alysha sent us some pictures of the snow on the ranch.  Wow!  On was of Miya and Jared by a snowman.  We printed it off and stopped to show William on our way in tonight.  He had no idea what snow looked like and couldn't grasp that "snowman" concept at all.  It was pretty funny watching him scratch his head trying to figure out just what that was.  Even after Scott explained how you pack snow together to form body parts he had that puzzled look on his face. I'm sure the more educated people would know what snow is but these guys with no education are a different story.  William had on a jacket zipped up to his chin and was rubbing his arms saying he was "frio" freezing cold.  It's probably around 75 degrees out there; not exactly freezing weather!
   We braved the storm and went to Spanish classes.  We cancelled our music lesson at the Casa because only one of the students was even there.  Most of the temple people that have Mondays off come to the early class because they live right there in the building.

   I don't know if they are celebrating surviving the storm or what but the music across the street is loud and obnoxious.  It's cool enough we could leave the windows open and it would be nice, but you can't sleep when there is so much noise outside.
  This man wanders the streets most of the time.  If he stops in the little store across the way they kick him out but today they must have let him stay inside for a little while because he was soaked to the skin.  I looking out the window when he came out behind a guy that had lit up a cigarette.  The guy stopped and gave it to the vagrant.  I wondered if he had even ever smoked before because he certainly could never buy cigarettes.  But he was a happy camper for some time:

 

10/24/2012

There must have been another tropical storm going by because we had crazy weather today.  Wind and rain - here they call it a tormento and I think that transfers fairly well into English what kind of a storm it has been.  Scott was mopping up water again as it dripped from the windows.  The wind was howling through our big windows, shaking them like they were going to break out.  We left and went to the temple - by the time we got into the temple I looked like I had been at sea for months!  Oh well....
    The women that were at the temple last night were there again tonight.  I had an opportunity to talk to the young one.  She is going to Utah to UVSU this December to school and is so nervous about it being cold.  She is contemplating going in April instead because it will be warmer.  Since she gets sick when it is cold here (70 degrees) I don't think she would fair too well in a Utah winter.  She is such a cute girl.  She has her long, long hair braided in about 30 braids from the top of her head down her back.  I wanted to ask her how long it took to do that hair style but thought she might think it was none of my business!
     Our morning started with a great surprise.  Joe called on skype at 6:00am his time but he was up with a wide awake little Samson.  What a beautiful, sweet, and content baby!  It was such a treat for us.  How blessed Joe and Hannah are to have him.  We have seen many of our youngest grandchildren on skype this week and I have to say  - seeing how much they have grown and changed since we left 8 months ago just makes me want to cry...  I know - I am a sad, sorry excuse for missionary.

10/23/2012

  I  blogged early yesterday do didn't get in a couple of pictures.  Elder Despain knows Bishop McClellan so I hope they see this.  He was asleep on his wife's shoulder for half of the class but as soon as I went to click the picture he woke up.

This happens often!  Then we have Reid Cornish who is Pres. Cornish's son.  He is as pure and Christlike as anyone I have ever known. Each week in Elder Hammon's Spanish class he puts a quote in Spanish on the board for us all to learn.  Then at the end of the lesson he has figured out  games in Spanish that we all participate in. 

Knowing him has been such a privilege. He considers all of we senior missionaries his family.
   Family Home Evening was Sister Alcontara giving the lesson.  She is in the ward we are supposed to be in and works in the temple so we have seen her around.  She and her husband were some of the very first converts in this country in 1978.  Days after her baptism she was called to be the Relief Society President then went on to be the stake RS pres in two different stakes for a total of 18 years.  She teaches at a University here.  Her husband died about a year ago after he was given some kind of experimental drug for something.  She handed a picture of him around - he looks like Sean Connery.
All in all it was amazing listening to her - even if I didn't get all of her Spanish.  We did have an interpreter so that was nice.  I don't think of there being pioneers in the church that are still living!
    Tonight was temple night.  There was a group of French speaking people at the temple.  It is a great service the church does of supplying a place for people to stay who come from other islands in the area.  They pay $6 a night for a room that they put their whole family in.  They hire a guagua (a small bus) to come if they live in the Dominican Republic otherwise they have to fly here.  But they are so excited to be able to come to the temple together.  It is a joy to be with them and see the love and concern they have for each other.  We take so many things for granted at home.

10/22/2012

An early Sunday morning - left after 8:00 am to pick up the kids down by the river.  There were only four this time but little Maria still was determined to set on my lap in the front.  I don't know what kind of laws they have here about that sort of thing.  They came up to meet us so I didn't have to set there in the car by myself while Scott went to find them - yeah! This is the neighborhood:

On the way to the church we passed another horse drawn cart vendor:

I don't know why these horses don't get spooked from all of the noise going on around them.  Much of the time they have cardboard taped to the sides of their heads to keep them from getting spooked. This horse looks very healthy compared to most!
  We dropped the kids off and tried to find our way to Mi Hogar to listen to Stephanie play.  I don't know what is so difficult about finding that place but it certainly seems hard.  One thing is you can't see between buildings or over top of buildings because they are all just jammed together.  We finally found it - still in time for Sacrament meeting. The fun thing was Stephanie was also speaking so we got to hear her speak and play!  Knowing we were late to get back and take care of the kids during Sacrament meeting in their ward we rushed out and I didn't get a picture.  We did get back for most of the Sacrament meeting in the Tres Brasos Ward and couldn't see where the kids were.  A wonderful sister was sitting back in the corner with them.  They are such sweet kids!  We took them home and hurried back to the apartment to get lunch and pack the car in the half hour we had before leaving for the San Cristobal Ward.  It was easier to get there this time so we were even a little early.  This is a fun group of adults who are just so excited to learn.

One woman comes and brings her little two year old and a place for her to rest:

   She carries in this twin size mattress for this little girl to rest on every week.  She's good there for a few minutes - maybe some day it will pay off!
  This is a group of adults who really want to learn and are moving along rapidly with the directing course.  What we will do when we get to the keyboard lessons with 30 people is beyond us.  Normally some of the people would drop out for various reasons - so we will see.
  We had 45 minutes to get from there to Oriental Stake for a 4:00 lesson.  The traffic was good so we actually were only 5 minutes late.  Still beat the kids there and the gate was actually unlocked.  When we were getting things set up I noticed this little thing on the floor that looked like a piece of paper.  It wasn't!  As I reached down to pick it up it rapidly moved away from me over to some chairs.  This picture doesn't show how really little it was:

 It was all of two inches long!  I kept trying to get a picture of it and it would quickly move to the other side of the chair leg.  All in all, it was a cute little critter that my grandkids would have loved!
  The kids had a fireside an hour after we got there so that cut our lesson short.  A few stayed to practice.  By the time we got home we had been gone for over 11 hours and I was pooped.  Scott went to a meeting at the Casa and I just enjoyed being home. Yturraldes stopped by on their way home - they have their internet working now so we don't see them two or three times a day. 
  All is good.  Homesickness just sort of comes and goes in waves.  It is difficult to see the little ones growing and changing and not be there but I didn't think that was going to be easy for me.  It is still hot here and hard to get in your mind that winter is never going to come...

10/20/2012 Saturday lesson

     Scott started the day early at the temple helping with baptisms for the dead with Elder Yturraldie
and Elder Eickbush.  I used that time to wash, rinse, and hang clothes all over the apartment!  We studied when he got home and planned our lesson for tonight.  On the way to Hainamosa we go through this area that is always plugged up and anytime you have stopped traffic, you have mucho vendors:

More of our" normally there" students showed up tonight.  It is a good thing they don't all show up at the same time since we only have 10 keyboards.  Brother Soreano had found my hymn book with all of the English titles written above the Spanish so I could tell what the song was - I am so grateful.  It's much better than playing a few measures of the hymn before you know what it is, and sometimes you don't know even then.  I play the opening song for them to sing.  Few times have I heard more people sing off key!  You have to keep checking the music to see if you are playing it right.  They are such sincere singers - just have not been taught to sing with the music.  While we were carrying all of our equipment out to the car these boys surrounded me and begged me to take a picture of them.  When I got the camera out they grabbed everyone in sight to be in the picture.  And here it is....

You just have to love these people!  Of course then they all have to see themselves in the picture.
   We were pooped on our way home saw a Kentucky Fried Chicken place; drove across traffic (like
the Dominicans do) and stopped to get supper.  It was great!
  Got to get ready for a busy day tomorrow.

10/19/2012

    Missed last night but it was a pretty uneventful day for us.  We went to the temple again.  It has been fun to go on Wednesdays because different senior missionaries work on different days so we see friends that we don't see on Tuesday and Thursday. 
     I am finally understanding most of the Spanish scriptures -that is really exciting for me!
  We decided to go with the couples to dinner tonight because we usually don't go and we hate them to think we are never social.  There were only four couples and they had decided to go to TGIF Fridays.  Of course we haven't been there so that sounded like American fun.  Don't know what is going on in Santo Domingo tonight but it took us more than 11/2 hours to get the 10 miles we had to go.  We have never seen so many cars and such blocked in traffic.  The only good part was the company!  When we finally got there and found parking we found that the restaurant was in a huge mall..  Pres. Glazier had been there before so he knew where to go.  Thank Heavens!  The music in the mall was so loud - they were having drawings in different places and had sales many places plus the Dominican's top model was there signing autographs and wandering through the mall.  Beautiful woman in a little black dress with 6 inch heels.  We never did find out why the travel was so bad.
It was much better coming home - only took us 20 minutes. The food was good though.
   It's raining hard.  Sister Shaver says this is what winter feels like here.  It's down to 80 degrees tonight. 
  Sister Glazier was telling us about a gun fight one of the teachers at the CCM was caught in the middle of this morning.  The police caught a guy trying to break into a car.  They don't ask questions here, they just start shooting!  This girl was about 20 feet away from them and bullets (?) were whizzing by her.  She started running to get out of the way and called for someone to come help her.  When the help got there they couldn't find her because the street was blocked off.  They got to walk through to see if they could find her - she saw them and came running.  Guess she was absolutely terrified, as we all would be.  So the Morinos, a new couple here, as the mission psychiatrist spent the night with her instead of coming to dinner with us.  The one thing we have learned here is that the police are as dangerous as the robbers because they shoot first and ask questions later.

10/17/2012

I managed one line on last nights blog - maybe I can do better today.  Went to the temple in a session that had more English speaking people than Spanish so we had another English session.  That is great for me to put the Spanish and English together and make sense out of it all. We are going again tonight since we have three classes tomorrow.
  Went to PriceMart this morning to shop so got a pizza for lunch.  Then stopped at the area office on the way home to give the secretaries some for lunch.  Then fed Wilton so we don't need to worry about left over pizza!  On the way to Price Mart there were many Christmas scenes and Christmas things for sale along the road - just seems a little early. 
   Tri Com is supposed to come and work on Yturraldes internet today.  I would have changed services by now if it had been me but they are fine with coming down here for service.  Just so grateful ours has been working because we have the same service Yturraldees have.
    We had a fun visit over skype with Dwight and Jan.  Their country is much less developed than the Dominican Republic.  I am sure they they are doing great work there just as they did at home.  We are so blessed to have many, many senior missionary friends - their closest missionary friends out there are four hours away.
 

10/15/2012

First thing this morning we met the Munozs, the Leavitts, and Elder S. to go to the market.  They go every Monday morning so we thought we would tag along and see this place.  It was huge!  Can't decide which pictures are the best to put in here so:

 This area was bigger than a football field - according to my husband.  The fruits were all around the outside. the veggies on the inside along with an alleyway of places to eat (guess they think you are going to be there for a long time) and the meat market was also inside. The cow stomach and feet
must be cheap!  The man there said the only thing they do not eat on a cow is the horns.  Horns and feet sound about like sixes to me!  Then came the fish:

 This is a shell fish called lambi - appetizing, huh? 
My personal favorite is the "scared to death chickens"---

All in all it was a great trip to the market to get a feel for how life is for these people.
  When we got home the Yturraldes were here and the air conditioner men came.  It is so nice not to have water dripping down the wall all day.  We had a Spanish class at 4:00 and one at 5:00.  Came home for 1/2 an hour and went back to the Casa for Family Home Evening.  We were with the St. Helaires.  Scott and I had to sing "I Am A Child of God" in English - the good thing is none of the rest of the people really knew English but did recognize really poor singing!  They had a couple sing a song in French and then another couple sang one in Spanish and they were very good singers.  It is such a joy being with these people! 

10/14/2012 Spanish headache!

 It is amazing how tiring listening and trying to understand Spanish can be after a day long effort.
We left early this morning and picked up William's kids and AltaGracie's kids and a niece of Williams.  That was seven kids and one 20 something year old.  Oglivia was sick and William works on Sunday.  Since that made two more than we had last time we decided we had better stay at church with them so we would be there when Primary was over.  The niece of Williams and I went into Relief Society.  I hope she got more out of it than I did!  I hate feeling like I can't really help anyone that I take to Relief Society because I don't know what's going on myself.  It was better in Gospel Doctrine because Scott was there.  Except I sat by this woman who had a beautiful smile and was very friendly but had on a blouse that covered almost nothing.  Generally the women are more modestly dressed but once in a while even at church you realize they don't have much of an understanding of modesty.  One surprising thing happened during the sacrament - the pianist played sacrament songs as the sacrament was passed.  At first Scott and I both thought that was strange but then peole around us started huming and were much more reverent.  During Sacrament meeting the 14 year old daughter of Alta Gracie was sitting by Scott.  While he was trying to entertain some of the younger kids she reached up and felt his hair.  She must have thought it was fun because she kept running her fingers through it and messing it up.  It was obviously disconcerting to Scott but when he told her his hair was too long and that he was going to get it cut she told him not to cut it.  I was trying not to laugh because Scott kept looking at me with this "what should I do" look.  Last time she kept feeling my hair which wasn't nearly as fun for her! As a whole the kids were better this week but we need to take more paper and pencils for them to write.  Both families have been sick with the flu.  I was holding one of the 6year old twins and so couldn't see her face but she kept making this choking sound.  Finally realized she was so congested it was hard for her to breathe.  How blessed are we that when we are sick we can buy medicine or go to the doctor.  One of the hardest things here is knowing you can't change the way they live.
   We dropped them off and headed home to get the keyboards and books we had to take out of the car so we could fill it full of kids and head out to San Cristobol for our first lesson there.  We got lost last time but this time we made it there.  There were about 20 people there - mostly adults.  About half women and half men. We are grateful to get to work with so many of these people.  One 20 or so young man came up to the keyboard where I was playing.  He said he knew how to play a little bit so he sat down to play.  He said he couldn't play out of the hymn book so I put the simplified hymn book on the stand.  He started playing but obviously wasn't reading the music.  There are many people here who play by ear but want to know how to read music.  It is difficult to keep the pages of the book from turning as the 15 ceiling fans were whirling around as fast as they could go.  Finally found some markers to hold the pages back.  I have not been in a church room here that does not have ceiling fans - that seems to be their most common means of air conditioning.  Even the rooms that have air conditioning  have many fans that are always on.  We were at the Canastica Ward building.

    We left there shortly after 3:00 to get to our lesson in Oriental at 4:00.  We had to come back through Santo Domingo and go out the other direction.  After we took a couple of wrong roads we made it with two minutes to spare. Most of these kids are doing very well.  Two of the older boys haven't been there for a couple of weeks - which really puts them behind.  Maybe they decided it wasn't worth the effort! Scott wanted me to take this picture of the twins helping each other. 
   By the time we got loaded up and home I was so tired - and I am not the one doing the teaching.  Just trying to make sense about what is being said gets old!  We got off the elevator by our door and sitting on the stairs with their computers were the Yturraldes.  They can get internet from our connection as far out as the stairs.  Wish I had gotten a picture of them.  Anyway they came in and stayed for a couple of hours.  We just go to bed and they lock up on their way out..

10/13/2012

     It's been an interesting day here in the hot DR.  Anyone who knows Scott would know that he always has the door open.  We have two doors here and he just happened to leave them both open.  I sat down for lunch and hear someone yelling "Rees,Rees,Rees"  - and in the door, on a run, comes our Nepalize neighbor with his phone in hand.  He and his wife are leaving for Nepal in the morning and he did not know how to tell the cab driver what time and where to pick them up and the driver was on the phone.  They have been here for quite a while but have no desire to learn Spanish so anytime they need help they come to Scott.  It's actually pretty funny but I do know how desperate you can be to have someone understand you.  They have a son they are taking back to Nepal to find a wife.  Of course they haven't told him that yet!  His Dad has told him it is time to think about finding a wife and it has to be someone from their country.  We'll see how that works for him....Their two sons are in the states attending colleges and this one has finished his masters.
   We spent part of the morning arranging our Sunday and we still don't know exactly what is going on.  We are supposed to pick up William's  family, Alta Gracie's family, Wilton and Josie for church.  We need a school bus on Sunday!  Drop them off then find the church we couldn't find last week to listen to two of our students play. Then back to pick up the families and take them home.  The missionaries are trying to find someone in their area that can pick them up.  I see clearly now how vitally important it is for members to fellowship investigators. These are such friendly people but most of them do not go out of their way to be friendly to strangers - at least that I have seen.  I do know that I personally am going to do better.
   Our power went out after lunch so there wasn't too much we could do.  It was still off when we left for Hainamosa and still off when we got home at 8:00. Since everything in the fridge was warm by then and we had no lights we decided to go to McDonald's for supper and coolness all the while dreading a long hot night.  However, as we pulled in the parking lot to our apartment we saw lights coming back on.  Yeah!
  We haven't been to Hainamosa for two weeks  .Four of our normal students were not there - three new ones came.  We need more teclados but don't think we are going to get them. It is difficult to convince them that they need to come every week!  One of the new students called out to me as I was moving a table to wait and she would help me.  Well I thought this was a good time to speak some Spanish.  So I said "Estoy muy fuerte." She came over to me and said "I don't understand English."
What a disappointment!  When I told her I was actually speaking Spanish she got what I was saying.  Do you think that says anything about my Spanish???

The traveling music trunk that actually holds nine of these keyboards!

Anyway we have a set of twins that are about 13 years old.  When we finish lessons it is dark so we asked if we could take them home.  They said it wasn't far but they would like a ride.  Well, the lights were off everywhere as we wove through these scary dark neighborhoods for about 2 miles and finally came to their house.  Not far huh? I would have a heart attack if I thought my girls(at any age) were walking on those streets at night.  I do know that we will be taking them home from now on if they don't have a ride!  We usually take two others home but now they will have to wait so we can do it in shifts - wish we had a bigger car.

10/11/2012

Another hot day here in the DR!  Scott cut my hair again - this time he really did just shorten it a little.  That's because I had my hand up ready to knock the scissors out of his hands if it looked like he was cutting off more than 1/2 inch.  It's still just growing even after the last time but some areas were still longer than others.  What a husband! He is such a good sport.  Notice however that he never asks me to cut his hair....
   We were to meet with the Mahons and the Institute Director today about establishing an Institute Choir but when we got there the Mahons were at the doctor.  He had sent us a text but our phone only works half of the time.  It was fun to be at the Institute with some of the kids there for classes and just having fun together. 
   Got back just in time to teach our music class.  Katty was the only one there because a new group of missionaries came in today so I had Scott teach her.  I think it worked out much better because his Spanish is so much more helpful than mine.  We did talk in Spanish for quite a while though because my husband has coerced everyone in to just talking Spanish with me so I can learn to communicate better.  It's a good idea but sometimes very frustrating!
   Our Spanish classes were good.  The Cornishs are back from Conference so Reed was back.  What a refreshing young man he is.  He made Scott a birthday card early because he was leaving and told me today that he has mine all done too.  I told him it would be a much better world if everyone was like him.  He said "Yes, I know, but they just aren't".  Not meaning it in any way to be condescending but just a pure heart that knows how to be happy and kind at all times. (Like many Downs Syndrome kids, I hear)  I am so grateful we have had the privilege to get to know him.
  Scott and the Yturraldes are in the kitchen listening to the Ryan/Biden debate.  If I listen to that stuff at night I can never get to sleep!  Can you imagine having Biden as a president.  I did appreciate Romney saying his first stipulation in choosing a running mate was if he would be a good president if anything happened - not who would bring in voters. 

  

10/10/2012

   Another interesting day that began with AltaGracie, one of the workers here,  knocking on our door.  She was downstairs cleaning and could smell gas, which she tracked down as coming from our apartment.  She thought we must have a leaky hose.  About the same time the manager of the workers called and said he was coming up to check on the gas smell.  We had turned the gas off during the night but this morning I turned it on so I could use the stove.  Guess they were concerned about the building blowing up because they had that hose off before you knew what was going on and Danny was on his way to get a new hose.  I wonder if there is any connection between there being a gas leak and how tired we have been the last few days.  It's all fixed now though!  Now if the air conditioner man would come we would have everything working - probably not though because something else would just quit working! 
   Speaking of cooking the chicken - - I always boil a whole chicken to make soup and have done so many times here.  They always keep the gizzards, livers, etc and make separate packages.  Well this time there was a bag stuffed down inside the chicken.  Pulled it out and this is what was in there:

Yes, all neatly bagged were two chicken feet and I have no idea what that other thing was.  I have never seen chicken feet up close.  Did you know they have toenails?

Weird how much this looks like a persons hands.  The thought of someone eating that just makes me sick!  I have seen the workers food when they warm it up here and have seen a chicken foot in barbecue sauce - which is bad, but seeing it raw adds a whole new dimension to icky.  Scott says the foot is nothing, wait until you see a chicken head floating in soup with the eye open and looking at you.  Think I'll pass on that one, if possible.  However, Scott asked Alta Gracie if she wanted them and she said "Sure."  So we have a new home for the chicken feet.  ..
  Last night Elder Mahon told us he had volunteered us to do a choir class at the Institute.  We hoped he was joking but today he called and had set up a meeting with the Institute director.   Sometimes you just have to laugh - not around Scott though because he doesn't think it is very funny.  I am convinced he could teach anything with the Lord's help.  Of course neither of us sing so we would have to find some capable help.  We'll see what happens tomorrow.
  Sometimes it seems that we have just left our family and gained a new one here.  Many times a day William, Wilton, and Alta Gracie are up here for one reason or the other.  It is great to be able to help them when we can.  While one of them is here talking the phone rings to let one of the others into our building to come up.  They have all been sick over the past week with some kind of flu. At least I can ask them some questions now.  Don't understand half of what they say though.  We have really grown to love them.  Timilia's husband is in Haiti for a week so he came to ask us to watch out for her.
    It has been another downpour rain day!  For an hour it was just like the hurricane weather that hit last month with strong winds and pouring rain that gushes down the streets or floods areas it can't run out of.  This last two or three weeks has been the stormiest weather we have had here.  It ends in November they say. 
   At the temple tonight was a young woman from Guyana who is leaving next month to go to a mission in California.  The sister missionaries were with her.  It was a sweet experience to be there with them.
  We also have two new family members  - the Yturraldes. Their internet has been down so they come every day for three or four hours and use our internet.  We just go to bed and tell them to turn out the lights and lock up.  They have been great friends and neighbors.  When we got home from the temple they were here.  Elder Yturralde asked "And where have you kids been?"  "It's about time you got home!"  He and Scott harass each other constantly.
  

10/9/2012

   There is gas leaking somewhere in the area of our stove but we can't find out where.  We have shut off the gas but turn it on to cook then back off.  The apartment just smells like gas so that's a little scary.  Today was a mostly study day - which I badly needed!  Scott spent a good part of the day doing missionary work with some of his friends here.  I had promised Wilton that I would make some Cheerio treats for Josey.  They use the word concubine very matter of factly here; it's no big deal to be living with someone you are not married to.  He supposedly moved out of the place they had together but he still takes good care of her because she makes even less money than he does.  So who knows what really is going on! She needs to know that someone cares about her though.  This is such a different society.  Everyone is looking for love and security but few seem to know where to find it so they just keep looking in all the wrong places.  (Maybe that is not different after all)
   We went to the temple tonight.  There weren't many people there but the Leavitts and the Yturraldes were working so it was fun to see them.  They have been paving the streets here in the city so when we came out there was traffic backed up forever.  The four blocks to our house ended up to be 45 minutes!  It started to rain while we were waiting in traffic and by the time we got to our apartment it was pouring  I can't believe how hard it rains here.  I can only remember a few times at home that it rained like this.  They say by November it should quit raining. You might think the rain cools it down here, but no... The rain is so warm it feels like a shower.
   
   

10/8/2012

Mi espouso's birthday!  He must have been  such a cute baby. His hair is a little grayer but he just keeps getting better with age.
 It has rained most of the day - again.We were awakened by loud thunder again early this morning, you know the kind that makes the windows rattle and shake and sets every car alarm in the area off.
  We have two garbage cans to catch the constantly dripping water from the air conditioner.  It is so hot and humid that if it still works we run it.
  We had two Spanish classes today.  Then we were hosts for family home evening.  We had given each of the couples the assignment to come with a scripture that had helped them in some way and that had special meaning to them.  One of the couples from Littleton, Colorado told about being in the middle of the Columbine shooting.  She is a psychiatrist and was asked just weeks before the shooting by the Red Cross to set up an emergency mental help facility.  She told about the Relief Societies there making blankets by the hundreds for the kids that were so traumatized by the event.  It was fascinating to hear about that from someone who was so involved with the healing process for the school kids and the community.  She is the new mental health person for the area here. Her name is Sister Merino.
   We had a welcome party for the two new couples - the Merinos and the Schmidts.  They have this silly birthday hat they make everyone wear on their birthday - Brother Cuenot's birthday was celebrated with Scott's.

The missionaries came in and sang an opening song for us.  Notice how many of them are white.

You can't really tell by the picture  but there are about 30 latin missionaries and 5 Americans.
We got home and talked to some of our kids and grandkids so that was a great end to the day.

10/7/2012 Conference Weekend

    It is amazing how quite it is here to listen to conference!  The Sister Yturralde came down to listen at noon ( the first session here) and brought speakers for her computer.  So it was like conference in stereo.  Spelling is a challenge these days because nothing looks right anymore! As I thought of Sister Burton's talk "First observe, then serve" I thought of our children who are so great at that! We don't have to look very far to find someone in need around us.  Every time I listen to conference I realize how important what we are continually taught is - maybe some day we will be perfect in being more like Christ.  I have a long way to go but really want to get there!  We are so blessed to have living prophets and apostles. Brother Yturralde went out to the branch they help this morning and came back for the late session.  It must have been a hard morning:

The rest of us remained awake and alert - most of the time!  It was strange not having lessons yesterday and today. We will be adding two more groups next week.  The more the merrier!

10/6/2012

Scott will be home from priesthood meeting soon and I haven't even started to blog -
The Uturaldies don't have internet so they came down and had lunch with us and watched conference.  It didn't start here until noon.  What a great idea to lower the age of missionaries.We all know that the girls are much more mature at 19 than the boys so that is great for them. It seemed to me that much of the theme of conference was on how important it is to have a strong home because the world no longer supports a value system of any kind.  It is so evident here where the gospel is fairly new how important teaching kids in your home is.  I am so grateful for having been a member of the church all of my life. Even though I did not make good choices at times, I still knew what I had been taught was true.  These kids don't even know there is a good choice because they are surrounded by immorality at every turn and think it is just the way people live, which it is.  L.Tom Perry said strong family culture provides a layer of protection for our children, I know also that should be our first priority.  I am so grateful for the time I have been blessed to spend with my family.  Today's meetings were filled with advice on how to live our lives, to help our families, and serve others.  I loved it!  I am so grateful my grandchildren are being raised in the gospel - it will be a great help to them as they meet the trials and temptations that face them as they grow.  While some think the gospel deprives them of freedom, I know that the gospel actually frees you so you are not bound by habits that bring only unhappiness.
 We have had so many electrical storms here this past two weeks. It seems to be so close because it is very  noisy- then someone mentioned that it is so loud in our apartments because we have nothing to absorb some of the noise.  No carpet, few curtains, etc. In fact I don't remember when I saw carpet last.  Anyway, it is raining again.  They should not have to worry about drought this year!! 
   We are so grateful to our kids who have been working on our yard this weekend.  It's a little scary to see pictures of your daughters driving the big backhoe though.  How we love them!
   Doesn't it seem like conference is the peace in the middle of a big storm!  It certainly is for me.

10/5/2012

  Late last night (here at least) little Samson was born.  What a beautiful little boy!  7lbs and 4 oz.  One of the great joys in our life is the happiness Joe and Hannah have found. And now to have a little boy to add to their family is an amazing blessing.

  We have studied and shopped and have walked in the rain to the Bon ice cream and yogurt shop today.  It is dark here by 7:00 pm so we aren't supposed to be out walking in the streets. Of course that doesn't bother Scott though. The sidewalk to the Bon shop is covered with vendors selling all kinds of things to eat and jewelry galore.   Hot dogs on a stick were interesting. They must sell well because he had about forty on his grill cooking and already cooked.  There is a college that's walkway into and out of the school is part of that sidewalk so they must have alot of hungry college students.  The Bon shop was filled with college kids.
  We are anxious for conference tomorrow.  On lds.org it lists about five different Internet sites that you can get the broadcast live at.  We cancelled our lessons for Saturday and Sunday so that is kind of nice.  I have always thought that if we were to keep the Sabbath day holy we should have the meetings on television - thus eliminating the frustration of being ready to murder the kids by the time you get them ready, in the car for church, and drive to the church.  I can look back now with fondness at many of those memories but at the time they weren't so great. I still don't know how shoes and socks can magically disappear on Sunday mornings.
  

10/4/2012 Samson's birth day!

   Joe and Hannah are going to have their baby today!  We are so excited. What a precious gift a new baby is.  They bring so much love into a home.  So every lesson we have had today has been accompanied by our laptop so we could keep up on what is going on at home.
   We had music lessons with the returned missionaries from the CCM.  They are such fun kids.  Of the three guys one really wants to find someone and get married - he says the other two know the commandment to move on with their lives includes marriage but they just don't care.  They tease each other unmercifully.  They know one of my favorite hymns is" Peace, Be Still" so they prepared and sang it for us today.  It was beautiful!  It is hard to think these people will pass through our lives and we will never see them again. 
  Much of our Spanish lesson was talking to the new couple from Layton, the Schmidts, who are the mission office couple for the West Mission.  I give thanks every day that we are not just arriving here.  Elder Schmidt could absolutely not believe how people drive here.  And here we thought it was getting so much better!  He must not like dodge'm cars at Lagoon then. 
   We left the temple and pulled up to the stop sign right by a guy on a motorcycle.  As we sat at the red light we noticed a gun sticking out of his pocket.  He quickly covered it with his shirt but made us wonder just what he was up to.  No one carries guns here but the police that we have noticed. Guess that isn't true because a guy was shot right on the street ourside our apartment.  And yet there are often people killed by guys riding by on motorcycles.  At the present time it seems to be the lawyers they have grudges against and drug related stuff.

     Thought I'd put on this picture of a grapefruit here.  They are about three times as big as they are at home and have a rind that is at least 1/2" thick.  You peel off the rind then have to peel off the thick skin covering each piece.  Each piece has 10+ seed in the center.
    

    

10/3/2012

   For the third time this month the power company has come to shut off our power because the bill has not been paid.  The church automatically pays it over the internet on the second week of the month.  They don't seem to be able to keep records of who has paid electronically.  So our friends downstairs called again to say they were here to shut off our power - again because the bill had not been paid.  We called the mission office where they take care of that and they had an electronic confirmation that it had been paid long ago but that doesn't seem to matter to them.  When Scott went back down they told him if he would pay the $40 they would leave the power on for one more day..  He got the money to pay them because we need power to do our work here.  However, one of the bosses and a friend of Scott's said "Don't even think of paying them - they are just trying to get money from you".  So Scott gave them the number they could call to see if the bill was paid.  They couldn't seem to get through to anyone who could give them the information - who knows if they really tried.  Scott came back upstairs thinking they would turn the power back on but instead they  drove back in and flipped the switch off again.  So we had no power!  This has happened so many times we want the church to let us take the money in and get a written receipt but I don't know if they can do that. 
    So we spent a hot, sleepless night.  Finally around noon all of freezer food was beginning to thaw so we took our music extension cords upstairs and asked the neighbor if we could borrow some power to cool things back down in the fridge.  So they dangled a cord from the window above us and we brought it in the window and with several other extension cords got the fridge plugged in.  They let us keep it plugged in until Elder Pershon had gone to the power office and told them what had happened and turned our power back on around 2:00.  It is amazing how many things we take for granted at home!
    We went to the temple last night then were invited to the Eickbushes for supper.  It was after 8:00 when we got there but she had a really nice meal all ready.  We discussed how the "outside" world of Mormons feel about "Utah Mormons".  I have heard uncomplimentary things about Utah Mormons for years.  They said they were determined never to move to Utah because they didn't want to put up with the Utah Mormons.  I don't know about you  but that is insulting to me.  The very best people I know are Utah Mormons who do not exclude others, or think they are better than everyone else, and actually try to live their religion.  They did end up in Utah and had great experiences so now have different feelings.  We told them about our ward and stake and how wonderful the people are.  We think we have a unique and special ward and are so grateful for the people there!