8/21/2013 The final week of our mission

I have been so derelict in  finishing this blog.  Probably because that last week of saying goodbye was so painful and partly because we were so busy cleaning and giving things away.
On Wednesday we had our final interview with Pres. Anderson.  He is such a great and humble man.
  Ekbert and Louardis came to check on us.  He had been in the US for the past 6 or so months so we hadn't seen him but she had been by to visit.  We just loved them and would love to see them baptized. Our apartment owner was Louardis's sister, and a Mormon, but just a bit wacky.  Ekbert came to tell us where to leave the keys and came in to the bedroom to find me and gave me a big hug.  The Dominicans we knew were very warm and friendly.  I had no idea how hard it would be to leave them all.  We went to dinners with our senior missionary friends.  We took pizza out to the Sanchez family so we could spend some time with them.  Then on Sunday we took them to church for the last time.  Wilton went with us - I know he loved Scott like the father he did not have.  I wanted to just let them out and drive off like we always did because it would be much easier for us all, but no, Scott made me go to their house to say goodbye.  Eliana had given me a heart shaped rock which I will always treasure but when we got ready to leave she was sobbing and wouldn't even look at me.  I sat down by her and held her in my arms, sobbing with her. Wilton and William were crying in the doorway.  When I got up to leave Scott was saying goodbye to the kids and William put his arms around me while we both cried.  It is still so painful just remembering.  But I knew that was the most difficult thing we had to do - that the rest wouldn't hurt quite so much.

That night we went to the Dunfords for dinner.  They have been such good friends.  Then stopped to visit with Sister Mahon.  We are just praying that the rest of the mission for them will be a building one for their mission.  Sister Mahon has helped me deal with things that have always been very difficult for me with her energy healing  and in the process we became very good friends.  I love her and  am so thankful for her.

On Monday we worked to get everything done and had dinner with the Buttons.
We were supposed to be at the Casa at 8:00 pm to say goodbye to our returned missionary friends - Jose, Jose, Aldwin, and Cati but we didn't get there in time.  We had seen them earlier though but they had a musical number they were going to do for us.  I was so sad to miss that.  We had reserved a room at the Casa where the Buttons would pick us up on Tuesday morning.  By the time we said a tearful goodbye to the Yturraldes and given them all of the things we didn't know what to do with and said goodbye to the Despains and the Leavitts, it was almost midnight.  So we went to the Casa - to the same room with two single beds that we began our mission in.  We had to be up and ready to leave by 3:30 am so it was just a very short night.

I had such mixed feelings about leaving the Dominican Republic but in my heart I knew we needed to be home.  The Buttons dropped us off at the airport for our early flight home. It was wonderful
to get off the plane in SLC and see most of our children and grandchildren there.

I know that the past eighteen months have added so much to our lives.  The people we have met, taught, and loved will always be a part of us. We have been forced to grow in areas that we needed to grow in. Having to spend 18 months together serving a mission has enriched our marriage.  We will be forever grateful that we were able to serve a mission in the Dominican Republic!

8/12/2013 Another one of those goodbyes over

    Here we thought we would have a whole week to get things together to leave and after going through some of our stuff today I realized we should have started weeks ago. I worked on the history program for the last time - only need to add a few more pictures and send it to Sister Button.  I am so grateful to have the information collected and put together.  Scott kept coming in the bedroom/office asking me if I was staying on task.  I don't think he realized before how ADD I am but he certainly knows now!  Scott sorted through some of the music items and boxed them up.  I think most of the things we take home will be lesson books of Spanish and music.
 Tonight was the farewell for the Pichardos, the Cuenots, and us plus the welcome for the MacIntyres.   It was great because we all had just a few minutes to speak.  What wonderful people there are here serving.  How blessed we have been to get to know so many of them and have made such good friends.  Scott left the country uniform "the orange hat and apron" to the MacIntyres.  I have felt like a big of nerves all day and realize that's probably how it will be until we get home.  Scott thinks he is doing fine but got on the elevator today and couldn't get it to go down.  He came in to tell me it wasn't working and that he was walking down with the garbage.  When he got on it to come back up it was working.  Then he realized that when he left our apartment he had been pushing the fourth floor button instead of the first floor where he wanted to go.  So the elevator door would just keep opening  to the fourth floor where we live instead of going down.  I had to laugh - sounds like something I would do.

The MacIntryes, the Cuenots, and the Pichardos

      Instead of being sad tonight, I was filled with gratitude for the opportunity we have had to serve with so many wonderful people.  I know that we will see many of them again - if not in this lifetime, in another. It's nice to have another goodbye over; all the while realizing our lives will never be the same for having known these people.                                           

8/10/2013 Canastica Recital

 Well this recital and goodbye was as painful as I thought it would be!  This Dominican time thing will always be a mystery to us.  At 7:15 - the  program -

should have started at 7:00 - three of our students were not even there.  The Bishop called them and they said they were on their way, except for Carolina whose mother said she was still making her "pretty".  It was raining very hard and that always keeps people away.  They say they get sick from the rain.  Don't know how that happens because you would think the rain would clear away some of this polluted air. Finally at 7:50 everyone was there and we started the recital.  It is always amazing to hear them play and see how much they have learned in the short time they have had lessons.  I know they have been very blessed for their efforts.  They presented us with a beautiful bouquet of flowers.  I was doing just fine until the Bishop started crying.  To say that I was a sad, sorry cry baby is not an exaggeration.   I am going to have to do better but I'm not sure how to do that.  The kids were so sweet.  This was the hardest group to leave because we have been teaching them for so long and they have been just like family to us.  Bishop Polanco is awesome!

Pre-recital practice with Cesar and Katherina

This is the Bishop and his family.  I hope some time in the eternities we see them again!
    SATURDAY  Got to get busy on the recital for Sunday with Santo Domingo stake.  We put the program together and take it across the street to a printer to get copied off but you never know until the last minute - and sometimes not even then - what they are actually going to play.  They have their last practice tonight.
       We actually have some time today now that we have two fewer classes.  I need to start going through paperwork and getting the music resources together plus I haven't really studied Spanish for a long time.
    So this afternoon we went out to Hainamosa for our final lesson.  Felix, Anderson, and the twins came and spent the whole time taking photos.  I think they are going to try to continue a class there.  That would be wonderful for the stake and for them personally.  We appreciated them coming to tell us goodbye.  I know the love Scott has for these four is reciprocated.  One of the women had made me some jewelry she had made - was really pretty.  They gave us a bag of avocados. I won't miss that steaming hot room we taught in there or waiting at the gate for someone to let us in for forever but I will miss the little non-member girl with a big smile and sparkly eyes.  The woman who was baptized during our lessons is in the same ward as Felix so he will watch out for her.  We were so blessed to form so many relationships here with our students.  They have been wonderful.  I am still sad that I haven't been able to communicate better with them.
     The Ruckers had invited us to stop by after our lesson.  So on our way home around 7:00 we stopped and shopped for a few things we needed then stopped at KFC for the last time in the DR.  We would occasionally stop on our way home so decided we should do that one last time.  The Dunfords were at the Ruckers when we got there so we had a chance to visit with them too.   No one ever mentioned how difficult it is leaving the mission field! We will surely miss our senior missionary friends.  They have been such a blessing in our lives.

8/10/2013 A wonderful Sunday!

     How many kids were standing by the wall??  This was the morning the senior primary was singing in Sacrament meeting so we wondered if that would mean more or fewer kids for church.  When we got there to pick them up this is what we saw:

Is this a bunch of cute little girls or what??  There were three extras.  Scott thought the little one had gone with us before but I didn't recognize her.  She is a neighbor to the girls.   Altagracia's twins were there and we hadn't seen them for a long time so that was fun.  We were happy to make two trips to the the church.  All of the girls went in with me and when Scott came back he had William, Oglaidia(still don't know how to spell her name, Gregory and Carlos.  We were so happy to see William and have him and Oglaidia  come and support their kids. The song "I AM A CHILD OF GOD" was amazing in a totally different way.  Scott was playing for them.  They didn't stay with the music at all and the director(the ex-bishop) couldn't figure out whether to keep trying to get them to sing with the piano or just let them go.  I'm sure most of the people had no idea what was going on because it is so typical of here. We just hope and pray that someone will help get these kids to church after we leave.  After church Scott drove the kids home first and we took the neighbor lady and her kids and William and Olgaidia back home.

The kids are so used to having no space that two of them will set on a folding chair during Sacrament Meeting.  They pile in the back seat of the car and think it is just great.  Got to love them!  It was a great opportunity to take a picture of William and Oglaidia
We will always love these two and are so grateful for their letting us be a part of their family for the time we have been here.  He's not tall - she is well under five feet.  The gospel would be such a help to them.
    Then we headed home for lunch then out to Oriental for a lesson before the recital that had been changed to 5:00 instead of 7:00 because the Stake President had scheduled something else in the chapel at 7:00.
We drove through the pouring rain and wondered if anyone would show up.  We planned on leaving the keyboards there for them to practice with and go back after the recital and pick them up.  Well we waited and waited.  No one came to unlock the gate.  Finally and older woman in our class came and she got in the car with us.  She bought her own teclado but doesn't have electricity to practice so we took her some batteries.  I hope she understood what to do with them and where to put them.  Then we couldn't stay any longer and she decided she would come with us to the recital so off we went.  We tried to get a hold of Maria but could never find her number.  We did learn when we brought the sister back to the church that Maria was sick and no one showed up so that was good - since we weren't there.  Usually if it is raining hard they don't come anyway.
   Got back to Santo Domingo for the pre-recital practice.  All of the kids but Jose, the first one on the program, were there in good time.  Sister Santos and her son Liomi had made bracelets for all of our grandchildren.  It looks like there are enough for the whole town of Morgan!  She is such a sweetie.  She told me she had promised herself that she was not going to cry but that didn't happen.  I was just grateful to get through the night without making a fool of myself.

 This is Sister Santos - am I a little pasty white or what?  Maybe I should go tan before we come home. Victor wanted a picture of him and me.  When I looked at it I said, "I look so white" and he said, "I look so black" so then we had a good laugh because he is as dark as I am white.
 We received many gifts from our students that will be special reminders of our time here.  Sister Andersen, Pres. Andersen's wife, Sister Johnson and the Ruckers all came.  Sister Andersen spoke to the kids before the recital and talked during the meeting encouraging them to continue on with their music and to use the skills they had developed. Pres. Oliverio, the Santo Domingo stake president spoke and presented us with a plaque.  When he spoke it was with such a soft voice.  Many words I didn't understand but the spirit was so strong in the room it was amazing. We spent an hour after the recital taking pictures and visiting with our students.  Two who think they are coming to Utah to see us - sometime in the next ten years!  How we love them all.  What a privilege it has been to work with so many of these people and get to know them as well as we have;.working with them week after week.

 We drove back out to Oriental with the sister who came with us.  All in all, it was a wonderful experience.
    Pres. Diaz, Oriental Stake President, was at the door of the church.  He was trying to find a time that we could come out and tell them goodbye but I don't think we have time to do that.  Which is fine with me because goodbyes are not something I am good at. 

8-8-2013

What a night!  The day started calmly with a trip to the temple.  Lots of new missionaries today.  Sister Freestone came back to talk to me in the chapel and when I said the elders looked so young she said that she had looked at their papers and some had put their papers in when they were just 17.  She feels that their youth has not inhibited their performance here at all. There are not too many more times for us to attend the temple here but we will have more time this next week when all of the recitals are over.
   Tonight was a practice for Santo Domingo.  There are 16  students who are planning on playing so it may be fairly long.  Especially since Pres. Olivera will be there and speak.  It was almost impossible to keep the younger kids from running around and disrupting everyone.  One of the adult women who has taken the class has two boys in the class and a young daughter who really wanted to take it but didn't.  Well she, the young girl, has come to the last four classes and has decided she is going to play in the recital.  She is such an ADHD kid that you'd just like to tie her hands and feet together so she would be still for two minutes at a time!  We'll see how that goes on Sunday.
   I spent the afternoon making Joe's favorite cupcakes for the recital participants tomorrow night at Canastica.  For some reason the filling does not go to the bottom like it does at home but at least this time they are edible.  You can't leave them uncovered because they get all damp and mushy. It will be odd to have things dry out when you leave them out.  Even though Scott would like to stay and work longer with some of these students he agrees that it is time to go home.  Tomorrow night will be tough because San Cristobal is like family to us.  I am at the point of just wanting to get the painful goodbyes over.

8/7/2013 La Caleta Recital

   Well just when you think you know what to expect - the LaCaleta recital tonight was awesome!  They weren't as prepared as Los Melinos ( in the same stake) and we didn't expect much.  Were we ever in for a surprise!  Scott had loaned them three teclados to practice on last week until the recital tonight.  We left at 5:00 for the La Caleta.  It started to rain a little and before long you couldn't even see where you were going.

They have very little drainage from the freeways so some spots fill with water and it's a wonder there aren't more accidents.  We saw two or three coming home.  But back to the recital.. Usually when we tell the kids we will be there an hour early they come late so when we pulled up in front of the church and couldn't get out without getting soaked we just assumed that no one was there yet.  The gate was unlocked though.  Soon we started seeing our students walking from one part of the building to the other and realized that they were all there in the chapel with the teclados set up and practicing.  You could have blown us away  - totally unexpected.  AND there were even people there an hour early for the recital.  So just as we are getting ready to begin a big school bus pulls up and lets out a whole bus load of people that are coming to the recital.  The kids did a great job then they announced they had some special things for us.  First, Siminos played this fantastic piece of music that Weldy had actually put together for him using three different hymns.  Then they all sang "How Great Thou Art".  Then Weldy, who is amazing, tells us that after our lessons on Saturday he has been teaching a friend of his on Sundays.  So his friend played.  Just exactly what we have hoped for in this country!  Then Pres. Gonzalez talked about how we were an answer to their prayers.  That's probably the first time we have ever been an answer to someone's prayers!  Then they presented us with some cool gifts from here to remind us of the time we spent here.  What a rewarding experience the whole night was.

Anyway it was an evening full of surprises!

One recital down and two to go.  The hard part of them is saying goodbye to the students.

We went to the temple this morning.  There was a young couple visiting from Utah.  He served his mission here and she served a mission in Spain so they were excited to come back.  Took Sister Cuenot shopping.  She is an amazing little woman - so full of Christ like love for everyone.

8/5/2013

  I'm starting early today!  Didn't want to forget about the cop driving a motorcyle on the freeway with a man sitting behind him in handcuffs.  His hands were cuffed behind his back so he must have realized if he tried to get off he would be in big trouble.  That was the first cuffed man on a moto we have seen.  Just in front of them was another moto with two guys and a cop on it.  We figured both of the bikes must have been stolen and they were taking them in.  The moto bikes are the means of many robberies here so they have been checking their registrations and ownership because so many of them are stolen.  Just when I didn't have my camera!  The sights you see here are just so interesting....
  We were in charge of a FHE group for tonight  and were doing salsa and chips and cookies for refreshments.  We decided to have everyone choose their favorite hymn then come prepared to tell why it was their favorite and either sing it themselves or have us as a group sing the song.  I have never been at a meeting where this was done that it wasn't very touching.  It ends up being a testimony meeting through the hymns. And tonight was no exception.. Scott chose our song as I chose last time.  He decided to play "Be Still My Soul" and "More Holiness Give Me".on the teclado.  It was so neat to hear him play and know that he has taught himself to do that while we have been here.  Knowing it has kept him sane at times, I am very grateful he chose to learn to play. The couples in our group were:

The Johnsons from Park City, Utah

The Schmidts from Layton

The Ewells from San Bernidino, CA

The Despains from Smithfield

Couple from one of the islands

The  Haws from Mesa, Arizona
The black couple came from one of the islands to stay for three weeks during their vacation time to do temple work.  They speak French, English, and Spanish.

All in all it was a great evening.  The Wegeners were here from Santiago so it was great to see them again before we leave.  The Crismons are back after she fell and broke her hip here in May. It was so good to see everyone again.
  Elder Ytrralde, who is always running into something with his car, now has some kind of a line under his car tied up with one of his white temple socks.  He must find every bad hole in the road - which isn't hard to do.  Scott is always teasing him about his driving because he just gets his car out of the car hospital then runs into something else out there in Quisquea where they help with a branch.

8/05/2013

  First of all I am a bit depressed that I have five days to catch up on - then even more depressed that I spent one and a half hours last night catching up only to have the computer shut off and since I hadn't saved it - the whole blog was gone. Since this has happened before I am usually much better at pushing save when I first start.  Oh well.......
  So I begin again--
7/31/2013
  We were so happy to be able to go to the temple this morning.  We will surely miss that when we get home and it isn't quite as convenient to do.  Our friends are usually working at the temple so it is special to be with them in the temple so often.
   We took Sister Cuenot shopping to La Serena so didn't get home until after noon. That gave us three hours to eat and prepare to go at 4:00 to Las Caobas for two lessons there.  And of course, when we got there the gate was locked.  I can't wait to just drive into the church parking lot without waiting for someone with a key to let us in and out of the gate.  Finally a boy came with a key and let us in.  He even knew how to start the converter so we could have power for the teclados and the air-conditioning.  It takes half and hour for the room to cool off a little, an hour for it to cool off a lot but as soon as it gets below 75 degrees the kids start shivering and rubbing their hands together to get warm.  The funny thing is it begins to feel too cool to me also.  This summer, although hotter, has not been nearly as hard as last summer.  There must be something to getting used to the heat and humidity.
Everyone says when you get home it's like your skin drying up everywhere.  Personally, I am looking forward to breathing lighter air - sometimes here it feels like you can barely draw a deep breath. A little hurricane would be nice right now because they tend to cool things off a bit.
    We were able to arrange for someone local to teach the music class after we leave.  It is difficult to know if they all will actually follow through or not. Being able to follow through with things is not a strong point of the people we have met here.  As we look back on our lives we realize what an amazing influence growing up in the church is on it's members.  You learn all through Primary on up how to be reliable when you are assigned to give a talk, be a class president, etc.  What a wonderful organization the Church is in helping with the development of responsible people.
     Got home late - as we usually do.  Scott gets on the internet to listen to the news and by the time he gets off I am usually too tired to blog, or I am asleep.   No excuse,  I know....

  8/1/2013
     Can it really be August 1?  I have thought " boy when August comes we will know we are on our way home" and here it is..  What a learning experience this has been for us in so many different ways.
  We went to the temple again this morning to be with the missionaries.  There weren't too many this morning but tomorrow they are expecting 35 new North American missionaries.  When they come to the temple the session is in English.  I am going to have to readjust to that after eighteen months of Spanish.
   We had arranged with the Despains to pick up a pizza at PriceMart when we went to develop film to do the kids scrapbook and bring it back to their apartment to have lunch.  Elder Marino and Sister Hyde were also invited so it was fun to spend some time with them.  Elder Marino and his wife went last week back to Utah to a funeral for their nephew.  She had heart surgery not too long before they came here and had since missed her 6 month checkup so she went back to her doctor.  Her heart was so out of rhythm (she has a pacemaker) that he wouldn't let her come back here until they were able to stabilize it.  So they don't know if she will be able to come back here or not.  It has been difficult for her not to be able to say goodbye to everyone but we all just pray that she will be ok. She has added so much to our mission experience here.  It has been fun to get to know Sister Hyde from Kaysville.  These senior missionaries are amazing people.  From left to right:  Sister Hyde, Sister Despain, Elder Despain, and Elder Marino.

On Thursday night we got to Santo Domingo lessons without our music bag.  It's a good thing we are going home because we are losing our minds!  Many of the students from both Tuesday and Thursday lessons are coming both nights now to work on their recital pieces.  Their's is the last recital we have.
We have made some good friends in this group.  One of the women was telling me how much she would miss us but she was ok because she knew she would see us somewhere in the spirit world.  That is a bit comforting!  She is the one that is coming to the States without her children because she wants to bring them there eventually where they can have a better life.  She just graduated with a law degree but they are paid so little here and jobs are difficult to find.  I hope she is successful.
  Michelle, our non-member friend, is our best student.  She has a keyboard at home and practices daily and can play just about anything she wants to.  Scott told her that she needed  to use all of her fingers not just two or three.  She was unhappy with that and said he just didn't understand that with that song you only played with three fingers.  The whole thing was pretty funny!  Just love her. We stayed late because now they are concerned about playing for the recital.  Heaven only knows how it will all go.

8/2/2013
  I had so many things to do today that Scott went to the temple by himself.  I cooked and washed and worked on music stuff.  Some of the food we have to make things needed to be used up. I haven't made cookies for a long time so started the oven heating with Sister Yturalde's oven thermometer.   An hour and a half later it still hadn't reached 375 degrees. We had lessons at the Institute but the cookies were still baking so Scott went by himself to teach the two classes.  the summer classes consist of around six to eight students that cone off and on because they are not in school and don't have the money to travel into the Institute for the lessons.  It worked out well because only five of them came during the four hours and the Mahons were also there to help.  We are so happy they will be taking over the class and continuing it during the school  year.
  The Mahons had invited us to dinner so we went to LaDulceria.  We had been there once before with the Despains and knew it was a good place to eat with a fun atmosphere.  The more afluent Dominicans come there so you see a whole different set of people.

The  ones that aren't us are the Mahons!  We have really appreciated their friendship and help in so many ways.  They live in Eden so we will get to see them again.  We had a fun time.  Scott and Elder Mahon have fairly similar backgrounds so they get along very well.  Sister Mahon is the chief barber and hair cutter here - she always has someone in the laundry room of the Casa cutting their hair.  She also does energy work in what spare time she has and has been an invaluable help to me in so many ways.
   The Yturraldes had invited us to dinner at their apartment with the MacIntyres and the Ruckers so when Elder Mahon had a meeting at 7:00 we got home early enough to go visit with them.   What a great bunch of people!  The MacIntyres came back down with us to fax something from our machine but of course I didn't know how to do that with the new program so Sister Ygturralde came to  help us so basically the party moved to our apartment.  I am glad we got to know the MacIntyres before we left.  They are from Wichita, Kansas.

8/3/2013
 Ok - it's another Saturday.  But - we didn't have to leave for lessons until noon!  What a nice feeling that was.  Since we have one less class on Saturday we moved the Caleta lesson ahead.  Of course the gate was locked when we got there but after twenty minutes the counselor in the stake presidency came and let us in.  He stayed and talked to the kids and was just generally a great support.  We left 45 minutes late for our class in Hainamosa because these kids with a recital on Wednesday were so not prepared.  This week of recitals is probably going to be an interesting experience in frustration and a bit of sadness leaving these people.  Scott had me read an article in the Liahonna that had to do with leaving a mission.  It was great.  Talked about how life is just chuck full of experiences that help you grow to be the person you were created to be.  Rather than to be sad about leaving, be grateful for the opportunity to know and love other people and move on to other good and fulfilling experiences. For some reason that has really helped me this week understand that it is time to move on.  We are so excited to get home to our awesome family and friends.
 When we finally got on the road to Hainamosa we were late so thought maybe the gate there would be unlocked but no such luck.  Most of our students were sitting on the curb across from the church waiting to get in.  Finally Felix, our older student in the previous class who still comes to practice, arrived and called around to see if he could get a key.  Half an hour later we finally got into the church.
The twins from the first class also came so it was great to see them.  It was soooo hot in that big room.  Even the Dominicans were fanning themselves!  So our 3:30 lesson didn't even start until 5:30.  Is there ever anything here that just goes off without a hitch???

8/4/2013
  Picked up the kids for church this morning.  It was nice to have Gregori back with us.  The girls were to practice "I Am A Child of God" for their part on the program next Sunday.  We are hoping to get both William and Oglvidia and Pamela and Leni's parents to come see them.  The primary woman in charge told them they needed to wear skirts not pants.  I don't know if Pamela and Leni even have skirts but Scott says not to worry, it will be okay no matter what they wear.  I know that is true but I don't think the Primary presidency thinks so.  It is interesting to see how many of these people look down on poorer people and how they choose to not interact with them.  Sad actually when the people you love are the ones they refuse to associate with. The ex-bishop was put in as the music president in the ward and he is doing a great job.  However, I think he was a bit frustrated trying to work with these Primary kids.

We had decided that Scott would play for them but he hasn't played to accompany anyone and was so frustrated he vowed not to play while people sang again.  I got out my camera to take some pictures and immediately Pamela and Cati were posing over against the wall so I could take their pictures.

Snapped a picture of the kids waiting for Sacrament Meeting to begin - just missing Eliana and Scott.

Starting from the front:  Cati, Pamela, Gregori, and Leni                    
So Scott decided each week we should remind the kids that we will be leaving - I think that is just torture but he thinks it will help them adjust.  Maybe he is right.  I know their mom is trying to prepare them.  At least today Eliana was in a better mood - they just want to hug and kiss you all the time.  Which is very sweet.. I know a piece of  my heart will stay here with them.  Wish they had access to Skype somewhere but no one they are acquainted with has anything like a computer or other electronic devise that could be used.
    We had half an hour at home before leaving for San Cristobal.  Sunday is definitely the best traveling day!  These students should be the best prepared but when we left I felt like we did in the Primary when the kids practiced the last time for the program and did such a lousy job.  Somehow the program always came off just perfectly - hope it is the same for the recital but I doubt it.  Just love these people!  They are sad we are leaving but I think happy to be ending weekly lessons.
     Left in a hurry because we ran over with recital practice with the Bishop who knew his piece perfectly ten minutes before and couldn't even play through it during practice.  I think he was a bit distracted because he had been called back into his office between times.  Anyway we got to Oriental and the gate was open!  Hurray..  The students were waiting and helped us carry everything in and set it up.  I was helping an older sister in the class who has bought herself a keyboard.  The problem is she has no electricity so we want to get her some batteries before we leave.  Scott announced that we would only have one more lesson and she was startled that we were leaving and wanted to know why.  I don't know if they don't realize we are missionaries that come and go like the young ones or not.  So in my broken and humble Spanish I was trying to tell her that we serve for a certain amount of time then go back home. She wants to come to Utah so we can continue to teach her.  Now that is funny!  She is a sweetheart though and really appreciates what we have tried to do.  Maria, who is taking over the class, will be terrific.  That is exactly what we wanted to happen so they won't be dependent on missionaries to come in and do their music for them. One funny thing happened in class though.  I was sitting between two young girls helping one while the other went to the stage to pick up a lesson book.  When she came back I turned to help her and the exercise she was to do had C D E for the notes to be practiced.  I could not figure out what that even was because there is no C D E in the books we always teach with.  Here it is do, re , mi and it took me some minutes of serious thinking to realize it was an English lesson book.   It's going to take some readjustment in many ways to come back to English - and most of them wonderful!!  Music is the only place that I ever use Spanish because most everyone I talk to speaks English but there after eighteen months I am so ingrained with the Spanish terms for music that it will be different.
     We have so appreciated the fact that we get to drive around and see so many interesting things.  One is this man that lives on the side of the road to Los Llanos.  We have tried to get his picture so many times but this time he was sitting there like a statue.

He lives here with his little fire pit and we see him many time sleeping and cooking things.  There was someone up the hill from him that was not happy that we stopped to take his picture and was yelling at us.  We have seen him walking for miles to find something to eat.  When we got past him we were telling the Grays that there was a man like him on the way to Oriental who walked the street naked, looking like a wild man when all of a sudden there he was walking town the middle of the freeway, Thank heavens they just had a fleeting glimpse of him.  Don't know what he was doing on the freeway but he wasn't too far from where we usually see him.
   This is the end of this five day saga!
 

7/30/2013

    Every time we pass this roadside assistance place, that actually is on the side of the road, I am determined to get a picture but usually there is a car parked in front of it so this time I got it!  The funny thing is there is usually a car pulled over that needs some help.  Guess it was a good idea but looks pretty funny.

Today was another busy Tuesday.  The temple is opening today after two weeks of cleaning.  Scott went and did a session this morning while I stayed home and washed and worked on recital programs.

We picked up Grays for our trip out to Los Llanos and were blesssed one more time with a safe trip out there.  There were only three students today.  We got there early and Lizandra, one of our students, was very ill.  Pres. Gray asked us if we would take him to the hospital which we were happy to do.  When he got into the car there was this horrific smell of throw-up but he didn't have a thing on his clothes.  I felt so bad for him.  He told us just to leave him there so we did but as we left he was leaning against a post and looked like he was going to collapse.  Elder Gray went back while we were teaching to see what had happened to him but couildn't find him in the hospital.  He said there was only one patient there and it wasn't Lizandra.  We checked the roadside to see if he had tried to walk to his house, which no one knows where is.  Anyway we just pray that he is ok.

Dropped of the Grays and went on to Santo Domingo Stake to teach and get ready for the recital.  What a bunch of kids were there tonight.  One refused to play his recital piece until everyone else was through and his mother threatened to hit him with her shoe.  We were there for about three hours so got home about 9:30 but the kids wanted to continue to  practice and who would ever put a stop to such a novel thing!                                  

7/27/2013

    These two weeks with the temple closed has given me much time to work on the history report.  On Thursday I finished getting it together and Sister Yturralde helped me put the pictures in.  What a relief!!
Still have some recital information and pictures to add but the bulk of it is done.  Probably end up to be about 20 pages of info.  I have learned quite a few things about Windows 8 but it hasn't been a good time to spend learning when I needed to be able to get things done.  Complain, complain!  Now on to recital programs and a scrapbook for the kids. And just a little over three weeks to cram everything into before we leave.
     On Thursday night we had our lesson at the Santo Domingo church.  Their recital is on the 11th of August and they are doing pretty well.  We will combine the two classes we teach there for the recital so there will be over twenty students.  One of the women students that I am close to told me she felt we would see each other again somewhere in the eternities.  I hope so!  She has a daughter, our student, who is going to Puerto Rico to play in a volleyball competition.  I treasure those experiences with my daughters who played.  We actually got the key and got into the classroom on time.  Michelle went into the chapel and practiced on the piano there.  She does so well.  Wish the other kids could/would practice as much as she does.They actually practiced for two hours now they know the recital is getting closer.  Other than her though, the boys are the most talented of the group.
     We had invited the Johnson's over for dinner to try to repay them for all of the work Sister Johnson had done with our old and new computer.  She retrieved the information from our dead computer and loaded it on the new one and taught me how to use it but the whole process took her many days.  Now I know why I haven't cooked much here - it takes so much time!  It was fun to have them over though and get to know them better.  They are amazing.  Scott had invited the Yturraldes and the McIntyres for dessert.  The McIntyres are from Kansas and are here to work in the record extraction program with the Yturraldes.
       The tienda across the street had loud music playing and people dancing until 11:00 pm so sleeping was not much of an option.  About 11:00 pm the night before these motorcycles went by and made so  much noise it startled us awake and we wondered if we had been bombed  or there was an earthquake or just what the intense noise was.  I have never experienced anything like that before.It really was frightening!  Nancy said she actually got up and watched because they went past three times. She said there were six sets of three motorbikes.  I think they knew just what they were doing and thought it was quite fun to wake everyone.
      Today we left at 9:00 am for our 10:00 am class at La Caleta.  We didn't have a class at Los Molinos because they had their recital last week so that gave us time to come home for an hour before heading out to Hainamosa.  It was very nice.
k.La Caleta is practicing for a recital too so they managed to stay fairly focused.  The two younger boys were at Deacon's Camp.  The contentious part was just who wanted to be first and last at the recital!  These are mostly teenage kids but they are soooo funny. Not much self confidence.  Now that's something I can relate too!  They stayed and practiced for two hours so that was helpful.  We got home shortly after 7:00 pm  so the day wasn't nearly as long as it used to be.  The gate was open when we got there but the man in the churchyard said he could not let us in without permission from the stake president and we couldn't get a hold of him so we waited and waited.  Then when we got in the building the lights were on but the air conditioning didn't work so it was 87 degrees in there.  Way too hot with no fans to circulate the air!  There are three middle aged women in this class that I have really enjoyed.

.We see such interesting things in our travels.  This truck is one of thousands that travel the freeways here and many of them look just like this.  And no - it isn't broken down!

When we got home Elder Yturralde came down to have something copied so he and Scott visited and ate chips and salsa then decided they needed root beer floats so when he left we went up to their place so the men could have floats.  They have really enjoyed their time together.  Actually the Yturraldes have made living here much more fun than it would have been without them. Kind of a shared misery of sorts! They are great and we will miss them very much.

7/26/2013 Los Molinos Recital

    We didn't know if we were ready for another recital or not but we had one anyway!  We got there and hour before it was to start when all of the kids and grandma were supposed to be there.  Well of course no one was there but Grandma did come a few minutes later.  We set up the chairs and got the table and keyboard ready for them to play.  Plus we sat some keyboards up in the back for them to practice before people started arriving.  We were surprised to see the stake music chairman and the high counselor that
we had worked with in the beginning.

This is such a talented group of kids.  I know they were very impressed.  Brother Gonzalez, stake presidency member, told about how they had discussed in their stake meeting how much they needed help with their music program.  We were just randomly calling the few music directors there were in the area to see if we could help them and got hold of Brother Venutura that very week.  They just knew it was an answer to their prayers.  It would have been a shame for these kids not to have had the opportunity to learn to play because they have done so well and will be able to help their wards for many years to come.  We had a prayer meeting and told them that we wouldn't be back and how much we loved and appreciated them.  We were all close to tears.  Scott and I had discussed this earlier and when I told him I was working on some ways to help me keep my composer because I am such a baby he said he didn't even plan on controlling his emotions.  Now does that sound like Scott???   He did well though.  The boys here have much closer relationships with their mothers and are much more vocal about how they feel emotionally than most boys at home are.  What a privilege it has been

to work with this group.

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7/21-23/2013

  I am blaming my lack of blogging for the past two days on the computer.  Better than nothing don't you think!  Can't get the pictures to download that I wanted to include so finally decided that I would do the blog and add the pictures later.
  Don't know what happened to this blog because I did write one so guess I'll have to start over again but with even more days to do now..
 Beginning with July 21 - which was a Sunday.  We picked up the kids, only to find two more that we had  never seen before.  Except I think one of them was standing by the wall watching the kids get in the car with us last week. The real surprise was when Oglidia came out to the car as she usually does to tell me hello but this time she got in the car with the kids.  She hasn't gone to church with us for a long time.  These girls are going to sing in sacrament meeting in two weeks along with a few other girls their age.  We are hoping their parents will come and support them.  The two little girls that went with us last week didn't come this week. It is amazing where all these different kids keep coming from. We took the neighbor lady and her two kids home so there were seven in the back seat and two on my lap in the front.

 We practiced the songs they are going to sing during the second hour of primary.  I don't think the Primary president appreciated the whole thing but I know it will be a blessing in the lives of these girls. Oglidia is a much stricter disciplinarian than we are so didn't dare give her kids the treats we usually have for them!  There are some great things about playing the grandparent roll!  How we love these kids.  I did realize that we can continue to talk to them on gmail like we have with our family at home. That makes it easier to leave them.
   After dropping off the families we left for San Cristobal.  They were just rehearsing for their recital which they moved back to the 11th of August.  I was helping Carlos, 16 year old boy, when he stopped and looked me in the eyes and said " I love you very much, you are like my family."  That was a little surprising.  I said "well you know I feel the same way"  and what was best of all was he touched his chest and said "I know, I can feel it here." If there is one desire both Scott and I have it is for these people to feel the love we have for them.
  While we were teaching, Marie from Oriental called and asked where we were.  She thought we were supposed to be there teaching early because they had a fireside.  She said Scott had told the class that is what they were going to do - if so he wasn't aware that is what he said because we have another lesson at that time.  Scott has been so frustrated with this language the last couple of weeks. I haven't even had time to be frustrated - or ;to study.  So we finished our lesson in San Cristobal, jumped in the car and started for Oriental which is about an hour away.  When we got there all of the students had left or were going to the fireside so we didn't have a class.  That meant we got home at a decent hour Sunday evening!
   On Monday I started on the area music history I have to finish before we go home.  I couldn't seem to figure out how to upload the pictures and I tried everything.  After three hours I was so frustrated Scott took me to the store to get away from the computer before I threw it out the window!  Did get a bit of the history part written though.  No FHE but

the Hammons were back in the country so we went to be investigators for the missionaries at the CCM then to Dunfords for a little party.
    On Tuesday we made our normal trip out to Los Llanos - with no rain this time.  By the time we got back to the city and dropped the Grays off it was time for our Santo Domingo class.  These students are getting ready for a recital also.  Some doing very well and others not so much but they are all trying.
  Spent the morning again on the history report.  Have figured out a few things but there is soooooo much I don't know.
Sister Yturralde came down and helped me with the pictures for a little while.
    

7/20/2013

      At the end of the day, and it has been a long one, I am ready for bed!  We left this morning around 9:00am for our 10:00 lesson at La Caleta.  We got stuck in bad traffic and so were a little late getting there and all but two of the students were there waiting.  You just never expect anyone to be early or on time here.
It was a practice lesson for the recital and boy, do they ever have a long way to go!  When they have no way to practice, and don't practice if they do, it makes for slow learning. We were late getting away so by the time we got to Los Molinos the students were waiting for us there.  This group is one that makes teaching worthwhile. There are six of them and they are all ready for the recital.  One of the little girls can play almost anything.  It's a good thing they are ready because they moved their recital up to this coming Wednesday.  That doesn't give me much time to type up everything and have the rest of the things ready but it will be good to have one of the recitals over.
    When we arrived at Hainamosa at 4:30 pm the gate was open but there was no power.  It was 87 degrees in the room - felt like a sauna.  Nothing zaps your energy like that kind of heat in a closed room. We waited for half and hour then the RS president came and told us that someone would be there in another half an hour to turn on the power.  While we were waiting in the car, to tired to get out and go in, one of the young girls that had started the class came over to the car with a big smile on her face.  She had brought me a beautiful flower and four pages of drawings she had done for me.  What a sweetie!  Anyway we finally got started and it was miserable until someone came and turned on the air conditioner.  Finished the lesson and stopped at Bravo to shop on the way home.  When we got to our door there was this weird looking mask hanging on the doorknob.  Later found out that Yturrales picked it up in the parking lot and put it on our door.  Sure was glad to find out it was them.
   The day ended on a great note though when Joe and Hannah called to say they are going to be sealed in the Brigham Temple soon after we get home.

7/19/2013

My fondness for computers grows dimmer day by day as I try to figure things out on this new Windows 8.
Couldn't use the printer until I loaded it on and then it wouldn't work but kept pulling up this onenote thing that I have never used.  Sister Yturralde was here and with her experience, which is extensive, she finally got it to work an hour and a half later.  So my big plans of getting alot of work done on the history just vanished into thin air. Oh well!  I wish some of this Dominican laid-back stuff would run off on me...
  Thursday was a good day as I was able to get much of the writing for the history. Somehow I just managed to loose half of the blog.  We had a lesson at night that went from 6:30 to almost 9:00 because some of the kids stayed after class to practice more.  This time we were locked out of the church and had to wait half an hour in the rain for the missionaries to return with the keys to the building.  Five of the students were there waiting for us which is very unusual.  Jose, formerly referred as "cool kid" was even there early - he usually comes half an hour before the class ends.  I have actually come to be quite fond of him. His little buddy, Ralph, is out in the country for the summer so we may not see him before we leave.  They were to play one of their recital pieces at the end of class.  There were only two who could do it!  They have four weeks left so here is hoping they will actually work on getting them learned.  One of the funniest things happened with Jose.  He called me over to listen to his piece which he knew well.  So he had the hymn book open to these two hymns and as he played I realized, even with my lack of Spanish skill, that he wasn't reading the music on either one of them.  He had the pieces memorized.  They so often do that but then if they get mixed up they can't find their place on the music page so we encourage them to read the music to play.  He didn't realize the book wasn't open on the right page so it was pretty funny when I asked him if he was reading the music or playing from memory.Caught in the act!!  I would say at least half of our students memorize the music or they play by ear.  We have three older women in our class there that are so sweet but they all struggle with the piano.  One of them asked why it was that her children seemed to learn so fast but she didn't.  It helps me to realize that older minds just don't learn as quickly as young minds do.  Somehow I thought more mature students would do better - but they don't.  When I compare it with how much I have worked on Spanish and still know so little I completely understand where they are coming from.

7/17/2013

  A free morning to work on the history report!  We usually spend many mornings a week at the temple so with it being closed I have more time to work on the report.  The problem is on this new computer we have Windows 8 which I know nothing about.  Trying to relearn how to do everything is driving me crazy. I have so little computer skill anyway..
   We spent the afternoon and night teaching at Las Caobas.  Last week their lessons were the same day we had a tropical storm pass by so the rain kept us and everyone else away.  So this week many of the students were missing from the two classes. Almost every week we have little kids in class who are being tended by one of our students.  Sometimes are really good and others not so good.  Tonight we had a little girl that thought she should be able to play the teclado.  We kept unplugging the ones she sat at because it was so distracting to everyone else but she just kept plugging them back in.  She was probably two or three and cute as can be but was she ever determined to play the keyboard like everyone else in class.
   

7/16/2013

Eight hours of traveling and teaching and we are finally home.  It gets pretty tiring at times but it is good to be able to serve.  The Grays didn't go to Los Llanos with us today because they had to take Pres. and Sister Bair to the airport so they met us out there.  We only had three of the normal ten students show up.  You never know why they come sometimes and not others!  But it was great because there were three of us there to help and with only three students we had good one on one time with them.  Richard, who thinks he is playing a song perfectly when he never counts was a hard sell on the importance of counting but he finally caught on.
  Since we didn't have the Grays with us we didn't have to come back into the center of the city so we were actually early for our lessons at Santo Domingo.  I was visiting in the mission office with the Ewells when one of our students came down and said they couldn't start without me.  Ha!  I think he is afraid of Scott.  Wouldn't be the first person to be afraid of him! They don't know what a softy he really is..These students have known for a month that we will be having a recital this next month but worse is that we are leaving them.  Michelle has not been to a week of lessons so we have been worried about her - not really knowing what her life is like but guessing it might not be too good.  She wants to Skype with me when we leave.  That will be great so maybe we can keep track of her for a little while.  She is very talented and so self motivated that she learns very quickly and all of the other students think it is unfair.  If they practiced as much as she does they would be playing well too.  It was a good two hour practice for most of them and at the end they were to play one of their recital pieces.  Were they ever nervous!  Hope it helped get some nervousness out of them but probably not.
 One of our older sisters who dropped out of the class because she had to work came in to say hello.  It was so good to see her!
The temple is closed for two weeks so that frees up our mornings to work on other things but I will miss the peace I feel there.

7/15/2013

You know when I said we had seen everything on the back of a moto - well this was a first.  A toilet!
We have been off line for a week or so with no internet because our computer died and when we realized it would take months to get it serviced (assuming that it could be) we decided to just get a new one.  They are cheaper in the States but I have so many things I need to get done before we leave on the computer.  And to think I would have to go six weeks without talking to the kids was the last straw.. Our phone calls are made through gmail.  So after a frustrating week of looking for a computer and getting the information off our old computer we are finally back in business.  Sister Johnson from Park City was kind enough to see if she could get our old one working, then got all of the information she could from it before programing our new computer.  What a woman.  We are in debt to her forever!  It took many days of her time to do that for us.
All I can remember about last week is fretting about how I was going to do the area history report with no information from my computer - and no computer.  On Friday night we did go out with the Merinos to a fun little Chinese place:

  She is really a beautiful woman - auburn hair and bright blue eyes.  The two of them are so much fun to be around.  They served three years in Hondorus as mission president and wife and say the Dominican is crime free in comparison.  Would hate to be there!
  The president here has decided to use the military police to help with the crime.  Well it kind of backfired as the criminals went after the heads of the police and the president's daughter's body guard.  They killed three or four. Now we see this:

We followed one on the way to Oriental lessons.  Scott kept telling me to take a picture and we were much closer than that first picture looks.  The men setting in the back of the truck had on masks and were pretty formidable looking.  I was afraid they would shoot us!  But they finally turned their heads so I took a quick shot.  We decided they were wearing masks so no one would recognize them and try to hunt them down.
On the way home we were stopped by backed up traffic where no less than ten of these military police had a car stopped and surrounded at rifle point.  It was scary!  They are all over on the streets wearing their bullet proof vests and carrying their rifles. Until then I hadn't seen as many as as there were in the beginning.
If we are supposed to feel safer, I don't think it is working!
   We picked up the kids for church - only to find two new ones also.  These were two little girls, five and four.  They were all dressed up for church and climbed in the back seat with the others so we took them and no one came looking for them so I guess it was okay.. Hope they come again so I can take a picture because they were such cute kids.  We walked in the church as the primary president was coming out.  She just looked at all of the kids and started laughing.  We probably bring half of the primary each week.  How we love them!
   MONDAY
We first of all called to have them reset our password so we could hook up to the internet and now we are in business!!  Then we picked up Sister Dunford to go to San Cristobal to the doll factory.  I wanted to look at their little nativity scenes which are so unique to this area.  It was fascinating to see their little "factory" at work.  Each worker was putting on hair, a shirt, a head, flowers, etc.  The shop was about the size of a small bedroom.  Then we went to her little store which was about the size of a big bathroom and just crammed with things that she and her husband had manufactured.  Sister Dunford and I are standing in front of the store - which looks much bigger than it is inside!

  

7/3/2013 A day with the kids

Kids visit!  We picked up the usual "take to church" gang on Wednesday morning and brought them into the city and to our apartment.  That is back row:  Leni, Gregory and Carlos.  Front row: Pamela, Cati, and Eliana.

I didn't realize how small William's girls are until these normal size girls started going to church with us.  Pamela is five and taller than Eliana who is ten.  We will always love these kids and hope that some day we get to see them again.  They wanted to come to our apartment before we went to the park.  Leni was fascinated with the keyboard and spent most of her time here with song settings that played by themselves and she would pretend she was playing - pretty funny.  She had never seen anything like a keyboard.  Eliana wanted to exercise with my Richard Simmons video - she never missed a step.  The boys spent lots of their time looking out the window with the binoculars.

Then we went to the park across from the temple that they have spent a fortune redoing.  None of the kid's stuff is finished yet but they do have a big area filled with exercise machines of different kinds.

Scott has decided he needs to go every day to work out so he can regain some arm strength!
The pictures of the kids working out won't load for some reason.
Then we went across the street to the temple grounds where there is all kinds of beautiful lawn.  The kids were in heaven just having somewhere to run and play.

Then of course the girls wanted their pictures taken (this is the typical Dominican pose)

Then it was time for lunch so we headed for McDonalds.  These kids love french fries! 
Making sugar cookies was fairly disastrous, but they did have fun.  The dough was too soft and by the time we added enough flour so they could cut them out - and with the girls that was a lot - they tasted awful.  But all in all they had a great time.

Then it was time to take them back home because we had two lessons in Las Caobas.

In the elevator with their "delicious" cookies - ready to head back home.
We didn't even have time to paint nails.  All in all it was precious time that we got to spend with them!  We are so grateful for their being a part of our lives here.