4/30/2013

   So I am starting early today  - maybe I will actually get it done.  We went to the temple early this morning and the workers were still in a meeting so we waited for ten minutes or so for them to come get clothing for us.  We thought we would be the only ones in the session but Sister Walker and the Leavitts were there along with some local people.  It has been fun to see who works in the mornings since we can't go at night now.  Never thought this mission would be a night job!  We do teach during the day also though.
   And now here it is the end of the day.  I am so grateful to have had time to study today.  We made some hamburger soup when we got home.  Have we ever been spoiled with our beef on the ranch!
    I got an email today from Tana Hopkinson who lives next door and is best friends with the Johnsons who are here from Park City.  Tana and I used to be cheerleaders together but I haven't seen her for well over 30 years.  It is amazing how small the world really is when you can be over here and meet many people who have connections to people you know from home.  It was great to hear from her.
   Sister Walker has been looking for things to do since her husband was called to be the doctor for the area and she wasn't given any assignment.  So we took her to our lesson tonight to help teach.

She was amazed that we try to teach the classes by ourselves so next week she is coming with her husband.  She is a so funny!  If you expect these lessons to be normal it really throws you for a loop.
It would be wonderful if we had a teacher for every student but we don't have that luxury.
  And now we are home - the best time of the day - bedtime!   

4/29/2013

  So I'm trying to figure out when I wrote last.   On Friday we had the Yturraldes down to play Crown with us.  Elder Yturralde is finally feeling a bit better and since he has been house bound all week we thought he might enjoy getting out.  He still looks peaked and drawn but says he is feeling better.
They are great friends.  I hope we get to see them sometime after we leave here.  They leave in September and go back to California but are planning on coming to Utah to conference.
    Saturday was our usual drive from one end of the city to the other doing lessons.  What a privilege it has been to get to know so many people here that we get to continue seeing each week. The boxes we carry the keyboards in are getting worn and tattered from such frequent use.  They are in a bag but the boxes keep them much safer with all of the traveling and hauling in and out of buildings twelve times a week.  The kids are a bit rough on them.  We have approximately 17 weeks left so hopefully they will hold up.  The sad thing is Pres. Anderson doesn't think he can convince them to let him have another couple to teach music.  Do you know of anyone who would like to come to the Dominican Republic and teach basic music??  Tell Eric and Nancy Wilde that would be a good mission for them.  Pres. Anderson said you would be surprised at how many times references are used in a mission.
      Every week in La Caleta they move this huge platform thing down off the stand to use for the students to set on do they are at a better level with the keyboards on the tables.  It is a monster!

 



The best part of the day for me was at Las Melinos.  Here is why:

I actually got to baby sit for an hour!!  This is the mom and grandmother who were both busy with the lesson.  This way I could walk around and help where needed and still hold the baby!!!
   Scott almost killed us on the way to Hainamosa - he's becoming a worse driver than the Dominicans.  Sometimes so reckless I just know we are going to be killed!  But if we die here at least it will be while we were serving the Lord.
  As we were seting up a man walked in and shook our hands and asked how we were doing.  He introduced himself as Elder Martinez, one of the area seventies here.  He wanted to know if he could help us in any way and it just so happened that we needed many tore tables to set up the twenty keyboards.  "I can help with that - you'll have them soon."  He was such a nice man.  He said he remembered us from early in our mission where we presented the area plan that Pres. Anderson had asked us to come up with and present to the seventies and mission presidents at a big meeting.  He liked the plan - thank heavens!
   Some of our graduated students agreed to come back and help us with this new class because it is so big.  They seem to be there every Sunday doing something- we just have no idea what. Scott asked the four girls who are always sitting on a small couch in the foyer if they lived there because they are there when we arrive and there when we leave and that is generally two hours.
   The Hainamosa lessons went well but Scott was trying to teach a little (not young) handicapped physically but also ADHD.  I could hear him getting louder and louder as he tried to get this kid to focus - I thought it was funny but when we left Scott was so discouraged.  He always has to work with the ones who need the most help because he can communicate much better than me.  Pretty nice for me huh..  There are a very few good things about not speaking fluently, that is one!
    On Sunday we got to take the kids to church.  There were only four of them. William's three and the 5year old boy.  Just love those kids.  We haven't taken them for two or three weeks because they were out of town and we had other things going on and they were so excited to see us. About as happy as we were to see them!  Eliana wanted us to teach  her how to play so I told her we would be leaving in four months and didn't have the time plus she wouldn't have access to a keyboard to practice.  She was appalled that we were leaving and asked when we would be back. Scott found his niche in Sunday School with two crying babies:

 First this little one was crying and had been for some time.  So he walked up and put out his arms and the mother a bit hesitantly gave him the baby.  Within a few minutes he had quit crying and actually went to sleep.  Then another little boy started to fuss and Scott took him from his mother and settled him down and within minutes he was also asleep.  Because these women really don't know us I wondered if they would be offended but they were quite amazed.  He told them he had lots of practice at home!
    As we traveled to San Cristobal we say a man with his little boy, horse and wagon picking up garbage looking for anything that could be sold or used:

 It is just amazing to see how some of these people make a living.  How they survive is a question we constantly ask ourselves.
     The class has about 10 students now and they are all at different levels of ability - which makes it tricky to help all of them.  Then there is Lucianni who has so much ability and just refuses to focus and work on the music.  Some day she will probably be mad at herself but she is a young teenager and it just isn't that important.
   Today has been Labor Day here so of course they are celebrating and the schools, etc are closed.  These kids are out of school more than they are in and when they are in they only go for half a day.
The  cross the street tienda (little store) was open and people were celebrating all day.  Playing dominoes and drinking and singing!
   We had a morning meeting with the Choir Committee then Spanish lessons.  I just have not had the time I used to have to study so this night is going to be study night!

4/28/2013

    

4/25/2013

        Party Thursday!  We started this morning at the temple.  When we got there all of the sister missionaries were standing in front of the temple door.  There used to be about eight sisters in the mission.  Now there are over twenty at the MTC in the Casa.  The temple had not been notified that they were coming so weren't ready for them.  Here if they know there are going to be extra people at the temple doing initiatory or baptisms they have more helpers come in.  Anyway, it was fun to be with them.
       Got home in time to have lunch and get ready to go to the Institute. The University is still closed because they had a riot and had someone killed on Monday so we didn't know if we would have any students.  However, they had planned a party because this is the last class before the semester ends so most of them showed up. I thought we were going to have a break because school is out for two weeks before summer semester begins but no, Scott told them we would be there if any of them wanted to come and continue lessons while school is out.  If there is anyone tireless in serving, it is my husband.
         We were late getting back because of the fiesta and a new young man that came and wants to start lessons.  But we did have time to pick up some cheerio treats and leave for Santo Domingo for lessons.  They all wanted the recipe for the treats so we know they were something they liked. While we were setting up tables Scott called me over to look out the window.  A few feet from the building was a guy sitting in a tree trying to chop it down with an axe.  He had most of it cut down but the hardest part was still standing.  What he would have given for a chainsaw for ten minutes - if he even knew they existed!

One of my favorite women in this class wanted to take us to the National Museum on Monday.  We have a meeting in the morning for the "Choir Event" and Spanish classes in the afternoon.   Plus she works all day, goes to school at night and does all of her homework at night because that is the only time of day they have electricity.  She is just finishing law school so she will be a lawyer.  She is just awesome.    When  I said she should stay home on Monday and rest, she said she would have to spend the day cleaning and taking care of the kids. No time to rest! 

 

So here we are at home and it's almost eleven so I'd  better finish and get to bed.                                                                                                                                        

 

4/24/2013

     Here it is Wednesday evening - didn't blog yesterday so will try to catch up.  Won't be hard!
We went to the temple Tuesday morning.  We had planned on doing the 10:00 session but ended up waiting until 10:45 for a couple that were doing their own endowments and getting married today.
I did have the afternoon to get some things done and to study before our lesson at Santo Domingo.  You never know just who will show up but this week most of the class came and we didn't have enough tecladas.  We are going to have to gather up all of the keyboards we can find for some of these new classes that have so many students.  In our other classes people drop out when they find that it really is work to learn how to play the keyboard.  I am sure that will happen but it still leaves more people than we have keyboards for.  Guess we will have to use some paper tecladas.
   We did get an email from the US Embassy saying not to go around the college that there had been demonstrations at because a policeman had been killed there.  That is the college right across from the Institute where we teach.  The demonstrations were on the street that we take around the college to get home.  They closed the college for yesterday and today so we thought we would not have any students show up but went down anyway.  The Institute director told us that there were some students there and he thought we would be safe.  So we got there and set everything up and one student came to class.  Scott spend 1 1/2 hours just working with him so that was a great opportunity to really work with someone.
    We picked up the Leavitts and headed out to Los Llanos.  There was a good rainstorm going on that stopped when we got there and started up again once we began class.  It is uncanny how often if has rained all the way to the building and as soon as we get there and start to unload it quits raining.  Then we start the lessons and it rains off and on the whole time until we are ready to leave and it quits.  What tender mercies!
   I have never seen much of Scott's silly side - but you should see him teach music!  He could be the entertainer instead of the teacher.  He keeps everyone engaged in what he is teaching and really does a great job.  We got to our class at Las Caobas a few minutes late but the room soon filled with people.  One thing they have taught their kids here is respect for their elders.  We never go anywhere that someone doesn't offer to help us carry things in or out or do anything else you ask them to do - an it is often the kids.  We pull up to the church and the kids surround the car and want to introduce themselves to you and know all about you.  As I sat in the car waiting for Scott to leave there were a group of people sitting in plastic chairs (of course) by the church.  Just visiting and laughing.  I thought of how guilty I have felt about wasting time when I have taken time to do that - no more.
It is ridiculous that we feel we have to fill every second with something that needs to be done.  We put so much pressure on ourselves.  When you see how happy these people are you realize that their way of life isn't all that bad. 
   We got home around 9:00pm and left this morning at 9:30 am so it has been a long day.  Seems to be lots of those these days.

4/22/2013

           Our Monday morning was taken up with a meeting with Sister Anderson and Sister Johnson about the letter to the Stake Presidents for the Choir Festival the Pres. wants to have.  Sister Johnson is amazingly talented and experienced and Sister Anderson has held every music job in the stake and ward during her years in the church.  So you can just see Scott and I setting there feeling like idiots!
The great thing is they would really like to just do the whole thing - I hope Pres. Anderson is ok with that because we certainly are!!  It is amazing to see the strength and talent of women in the church.
Of course Scott's perspective from a man's viewpoint was a bit different coming from the intellectual thinking of a man vs. the emotional thinking of women.  Life is so interesting......
           When we got back after noon Elder Yturralde talked to Scott about going out to Quisquea.
Of course Scott thought his "little buddie" was too sick to drive out there by himself so he offered to drive him.  So that gave me four or five hours to wash, make some chicken noodle soup and study Spanish.  It took much longer than he thought so he missed most of the Spanish class he is supposed to teach at 5:00.  Elder Haws teaches before him though so he just agreed to go on teaching until Scott got there.  Well I was just picking the meat off the chicken bones when he called for me to come pick him up.  At the Casa waiting for me were the Walkers, who Scott had invited to have soup with us, unbeknownest to me and Scott.  Good thing the soup was done is all I can say.  We really appreciate the Walkers  - they are such good company.  As a doctor, Elder Walker is on the warpath about ObamaCare and doesn't want to go home until Obama is gone.  We hurried and ate and went back to the Casa for Family Home Evening.
       Sister Hyde, from Kaysville, gave a presentation on an African service project that her son was involved in.  The foundation had built a school there in a very poor area.  It just made you want to help in some way.  There are some amazing people in this world who give and give and give.
    My favorite time of the day - bedtime!

4/21/2013 Whole weekend in one blog!

         Here it is Sunday evening and I haven't blogged for a few days.  On Friday we went to Spanish classes, washed clothes, cooked food and went out to dinner with the Ruckers, the Marinos, and the Ewells.  They are all great company and fun to be with.  It is just amazing here because there is an instant connection with the other senior missionaries - it seems like you have been friends forever!
And maybe we have...
      On Saturday we had our normal busy day driving from on side of this huge city to the other teaching lessons.  This must be the rainy season here because it has rained every day for a week.
At least it keeps it from getting soooooo hot!  Some of our classes have been small because the kids that have to walk miles to get to the lessons do not come out in the torrential rain storms we have had.
The rain hitting the roofs of the churches is so loud you can't even here someone talking.  The amazing thing is every time we have had to carry keyboards in and out of churches, it has quit raining for a few minutes then starts up again.  More like a tender mercy than a coincidence I would say.  Especially since the tecladas are all in cardboard boxes.
     Now here it is Sunday.  We didn't go take the kids to church because we wanted to go listen to Stephanie play in  her ward.  Her Bishop actually called and asked us to come because she was playing.  I just love her.  She doesn't have much support, if any, at home.  When she first started our music class she looked so sad but as she started to pick up playing and feeling good about what she was doing, her countenance changed and she began interacting with the other girls in the class.  She is a much happier looking young woman now.  We are so glad the Bishop took the time to call and let us know.  Even better because the keyboard they had in the church would not work so Scott went out to the "traveling music van" and got a keyboard for her to play on! We got to meet her mother.
    We left there and got to come home for a good hour before leaving for San Cristobal. We had talked about having a recital there but wanted to give them a few more months.  The Bishop wanted to do it in connection with their ward conference in May.  When Scott told him that we usually ended our class with the recital his mouth just fell open.  Well he ended up telling the Bishop that we would still come out and help them.   With the Bishop's reaction all of a sudden it just hit me that we would be saying goodbye to this group of students sooner than I had expected.  It was all I could do for the entire hour and a half not to cry.  We love these people.  They have been so welcoming and friendly, and excited about learning.  I am such a wuss ( Scott and I were discussing just how to spell that word on the way home).
    So I fought back tears all the way to Oriental! Grateful that I am not so attached to this new group of students.  Sad thing is by the time we are ready to leave I will feel the same way about them.   I am just very grateful to have a wonderful family to come home to!
   There are 24 students in this Oriental class.  We wanted to split them up because they would get so little individual help plus with their ten tecladas and our twelve we need many tables to set them up on and they have one 8' table.  We will have to see what happens.  There is a 16 year old boy in the class that reminds me so much of Scott when he was young.  Handsome, confident, and a personality like Scott's.  Helps me remember that we were once young!! Sooo many years ago.
     When we pulled into the parking lot for our building Tati's car was there.  And sure enough, when we got out of the car she was waiting for us with open arms!  She went to Columbia with her daughter but said she has been back for a month but we have never been home when she has come.
It was so good to see her.  She wants to know why we can't go home and visit our kids and come back here to live.  She is such a good woman.
   Elder Yturralde has been very sick with diverticulitis. He is finally starting to look like he is going to live. 
   The trees and shrubs and flowers here are beautiful.  These are two of the trees we passed going out of town:

                                               There is so much  beauty in this country!

4/17/2013 Las Caobas

    Our normal busy Wednesday was even busier today with the addition of a night class to our two day classes.  I don't know where all of the Institute class was - there were only four girls there.  It was a blessing though because two of those girls really needed a lot individual help and today gave us the opportunity to work with them.
    The Leavitts have been called to serve in the Temple presidency so won't be going out to Los Llanos with us.  It was fun to have that time to visit with them.  We left for Los Llanos at 1:15.  The farther we got the harder it rained.  Normally in a storm like that no one will show up for lessons but most of the class was there when we got there because we forded the water filled holes in the road and the deep puddles that covered much of the road and it took us longer than usual.  We had to walk through a bit of mud and water to get to the church so our shoes and the bottoms of Scott's pants looked bad. 
    We didn't think about it though until we were in the Las Caobas building and the music director said he wondered where we found mud to get on us.  Of course he lives in the concrete jungle of Las Caobas.  We drove around trying to find the church through little narrow roads of business after business and hundreds of people milling around like ants.  Sometimes I just wonder what on earth we are doing here!  What an education this has been..  We can't imagine how they ever do a census count here.  Maybe that's why they don't seem to know if the city has three or four million people.  The transportation here is exemplified in these two pictures:

There were nine adult men in the back of this little pick up truck.  It's good they had rails along the side.  Usually there would three or four more in the middle.  These trucks know no weight limits!

When the bus is full - that's both sitting and standing room what is there to do but stand on the side boards? The dangerous things they do on the road never end.  We saw a motorcycle pulling a man in a wheelchair yesterday - too late to get a picture.  (Yes, in the middle of traffic)
   We are finally home and happy to be hear safe and sound!!

4/16/2013

      We started the day out at the temple.  The session was overflowing with missionaries from the East Mission.  Pres. and Sister Hernandez were there with them.  What an overwhelming job it must be to care for and direct all those young men and women!! Sister Ewell, who works in the East Office says the church must be true or these young men would have ruined it long ago.  She deals with many of the financial problems that come up.  There are more Americans in this group than I have seen since we got here.  It is a neat experience to go through a session with them.  For some reason it always takes all morning.
      Stopped at LaSerena on the way home and met the Ewells and the Ruckers there shopping. They all want to go out to dinner this Friday.  I'll tell you these senior missionaries are the most social people I've known!  Friday is the only night we have free and that will probably end as soon as we get this other class going.
     I'm fitting in better here this afternoon. Scott colored my hair and it looks pretty Dominican.
     When we got to our class tonight there was a young family waiting for a meeting.  This darling little girl came running to the car and was so excited to see the boxes of tecladas.  She was probably three or four. She helped us carry things upstairs and just ran from one thing to another.  Her father came up to keep track of her and said she has so much energy it is hard to care for her.  Definite ADHD I'd say!  All that energy and intelligence in such a cute little body.  There should be some way to transfer that energy to those of us who really need it....
    

4/15/2013 Visit with William's family

   Our first meeting with the big choir event committee - the small one - met today at the area office to decide what we wanted to do.  Sister Anderson has been involved with music since the day she was born (or soon after) and Sister Johnson has had all kinds of experience organizing big musical events.
Sometimes out here you wonder just what you have been doing with your life.  Our job is just getting the information out to the stakes and wards and seeing if they think it is something they would be interested in doing.  Then our main job would be teaching the leaders what their duties consist of.
It is handy to have the Area President's wife on the committee.  When we had a question she just went and got him.
    Got home later than we thought so I studied while Scott went to his Spanish class.  I wanted to get a treat made to take out to the kids.  So since We  didn't get to see the kids this week and won't next week either because we are going to Stephanie's ward to listen to her play we decided to take some treats and have FHE with them. Scott talked to Olgalidia and she said they would be home - even William. Being in their area at night is always a bit scary but there is a man that always sets on the corner of the little pathway down to their place so we asked him if he would watch our car for while we were gone.  He was very nice about doing so.  Everyone looks at you like you are an alien from outer space!  But such an improvement in the steps going down - they actually made some!!  It actually makes you feel that you can get down there without bodily harm.  Every time we go down that alley I am amazed at how people there live.  They have so little but yet seem happy.  When we made it up the stairway to William's house there were about ten extra people there just sitting around in the area that is being built next to them.  Next to them is maybe a foot from their house.  So far they just have the floor done (so to speak) with old tin, boards, cement blocks, etc scattered all over.  You never know what to expect there.  A wonderful surprise was Olgalidia's mother was there with them.  She must have come back from the country with them.  It was so much fun to meet her.  Scott thinks she may weigh 85 lbs soaking wet!  All of the adults and kids there were related to her.

 somehow.  Gregory wasn't there at first so we could explain the legos to him but he did make it back.  Carlos and his mom (the unseen woman in the back seat on the way to the mall) came up.  Olgalidia was making some kind of soup which I didn't even dare look at.  I wonder if she feeds all of those relatives.  Hopefully not since William doesn't have a job and neither does she.  She is going to beauty school though so it will be good when she gets done. This picture of Gregory with the legos didn't turn out very well - darn.

We wondered what shape our car would be in but it was still in one piece and the man on the corner said he had taken good care of it.  William came out to make sure we got safely in the car and on the road.  I always appreciate that as the people in that area are like ants at night - everywhere.             

On the way we saw this Panderia salesman in the street.  We have never stopped at one of their bakeries but their bread sure looks good. 

                 We haven't seen many things that can not be purchased on the street here....
So now we are safely home - protected one more day.  I want our grandchildren to know that their prayers do not go unanswered!

4/14/2013

Here it is - another weekend passed by and we are still alive and kicking - well maybe not kicking!
Saturday morning was a return to the scene of the "face falling" accident. That cement really looked hard!!  No blood left on the sidewalk though, darn.  I thought there should have still been (after two weeks) some sign of the pain I was in there!!  The students were happily surprised that I looked better.  We couldn't find two of the tables so had to use chairs as tables for the keyboards which was a bit uncomfortable for some of those six feet tall guys.  Oh well - you just have to make do sometimes.  But when we got to Los Molenos we found (they are in the same stake) their tables gone to.  The stake Relief Society had taken tables from all of the ward buildings for an activity  - the scoundrels!
    I must say we have such a good time with our students.  They are all so different but fun in their own ways.  Haven't found an uptight Dominican yet! How great it has been to be able to associate with so many of these people.  We have learned so many things we would have never known  if we hadn't come on this mission.  (Like to duck when you hear gun shots!)  They have started fining people for littering and it has really helped.  This is a beautiful country but was ruined by the garbage everywhere.  I am glad we won't miss the beautiful flamboyant trees blossoming this year.
   Our little kids that we take to church were gone to the country because an aunt of their mother's  had died.  We have some legos from Jared to give to Gregory so we are anxious to see them.  Maybe we will go have family home evening with them tomorrow night instead of going to the Casa.
But as a result we did get to go to the ward we are assigned to.  They probably think we are inactive since we only get there once every three or four months at the most.  It was such a nice change to be able to listen to a Sunday School lesson in English.  It was fast Sunday and the wonderful thing was I understood most of what everyone said.  Hooray!!!!  Scott tells me that it was just because these people are most educated than the ones we usually here.  Burst my little bubble of joy thinking I had learned more.
    We really thought we were going to be able to pass this huge All-Area Choir Christmas thing on to someone else who will actually be here.  But no... Sister Anderson and Sister Johnson are meeting with us in the morning to give us ideas and suggestions.  We wanted to give them ideas and let them do it as they both have experience with similar huge events.  Boy will I be glad to get home and just be a mother and grandmother..
   Probably our most fun class is at San Cristobal where the students old and young are so excited to see you and follow you out to the car talking and joking as you leave.  The Bishop's wife brought us a gift today - a Domincan plate with their flag on - so we would never forget them and our time here. 
We just love them.  As I set with Karolina trying to help her she is playing with my hair and touching my face. I have to hold her hands away from me before she will settle back to what she is supposed to be doing.  I'm trying to explain something to her and she is about an inch away from my face looking into my bloodshot  eyes.  I find it all a bit strange!!  This girl is a teenager and I love her but it is enough to drive me crazy.  Not far to go, I know...  Bishop Polanco sets the tone for the whole class with his fun personality.  They are indeed blessed to have him as their bishop. 
   Back to Oriental and our two groups there.  Somehow we ended up in the high council room with around 20 students and half of them were under 12.  It looked like Primary - and sounded like it too.
I can't believe how patient Scott is.  My head is just swimming with noise and confusion and he is going on like nothing unusual is happening.  Maybe that's his focus ability which I don't have!
  We have to get another recital set up for our first Hainamosa group for May 12 but at least now I know how to do the programs on the computer.  Which is good because before we leave we will be doing many more recitals.
   Stephanie got her mission call to Monterey Mexico.  I am so excited for her!  Her friends that were in our class were celebrating with her there in the foyer of the Church.
  Now we are home just in time to find out who is in our new bishopric.  How we have appreciated Bishop Glover, Chet and Clay.  We have so many fine and capable men in our ward.
  

4/12/2013 Dinner with the Ramishs

   Finally got my Spanish internet class working again so I spent the entire morning studying while the audio part was working.  Scott went to the temple to do another session.  He was gone for over 3 hours and the temple is only 5 minutes away so I knew he must have gotten into some kind of issue at the temple.  It was great having uninterrupted time though.
    We had a meeting at 3:15 with the Puerto Rico Stake that was here to attend the temple.  Many of them teach music there and on the surrounding islands.  It is amazing to me how many truly dedicated senior missionary couples there are here.  Sister Whitaker, who planned the meeting, was recovering from hemorrhagic dengue - which is an internal bleeding kind of disease that kills many people here every year. She was in the hospital for four months and they had little hope she would survive.  I had no idea she had been so sick.  Her hair was short and her clothes were way too big for her.  She said the medicine they gave her made her loose all of her hair and it was just growing back.  She has been such a wonderful music helper wherever they have been. We met them when they first got here and really enjoyed spending time with them.
   As soon as we finished there we went up to Marino's apartment for a Spanish lesson.  Elder Marino had decided that from now on he is going to be Scott's helper - not the teacher of the first Spanish class.  So now we will just have a combined class on Friday.  Which is good because we will probably be teaching another class on Friday night.  Marinos are so much fun - I have loved getting to know them.  They want to come to the ranch and visit us when we all get home.  They were the ones that were in  Colorado during the Columbine shooting.  She was called in to help the kids and said it was horrible for those kids to recover from. 
    We left Scott's Spanish class and headed for the Ramishs for dinner.  She wanted to cook an authentic Nepalize dinner for us - she must have spent the entire day cooking.  Many different spices but really pretty good:

This is the Ramishs.  The fried vegetables were the appetizer.  The other six or so dishes of food were all kinds of different India food.  Dessert was yogurt with blueberries, bananas, and sliced almonds.  The most interesting were the balls of curdled milk that she had strained and added lemon juice to.  It was amazingly good !                                                  

                                                                           

4/11/2013 Locked in the Church yard!

   You know by now nothing is unusual here!  We went to the temple this morning - huge session with lots of sister missionaries and some elders.  There are so many more sisters than there have ever been and they look so young.  Couldn't be because we are getting older by the minute!  We stopped at the grocery store on the way home - at Scott's suggestion - believe it or not..So that left us less than an hour before we had to leave for our Institute music class.  That class was chuck full today.
   By the time the students and I packed the things down to the car - Scott was talking to a young girl who so badly wanted to get into the class for 45 minutes  - we only had half an hour to get things together to get to the Santo Domingo stake for a lesson.  There is a wonderful woman in this class that brings five kids to lessons every week.  She takes lessons too.  There was no one to lock up or to let us out of the gate when we finished packing up the car again.  The sister called everyone she knew and we didn't have any numbers with us so after forty five minutes we finally got out of the church yard.  It's amazing how much fun kids can have in any  situation! 
   While we were trying to get someone to come let us out the phone rang and it was Julio that worked here earlier and got fired like everybody else.  He hasn't found a job and his girlfriend and his baby have nothing to eat.  The baby was crying and he was desperate.  Then the phone cut off.  We have tried ever since to get him back but he must be out of minutes on his phone because it goes right to a messaging service.  So now we are both just sick because we don't know how to find him.  Some of the workers would regularly ask for money or help but he never did so we know he must be desperate.  We just hope he calls back.  It has been an unsettling day.
    I am so grateful for the stability of the gospel!

4/10/2013

      I just do not know how Scott does it.  We had a morning class at the Institute - leave here at 9:30 and get home at 12:30 just in time to eat and get things ready for another class at Los LLanos.  We leave at 1:00 to pickup the Leavitts and head on out to the country.  It is an hour and a half ride out there - the lesson lasts for two hours - we pack up and start home.  Normally we hit bad traffic and by the time we let the Leavitts off at the Casa and get home it is 6:30 or 7:00.  Today we set up another lesson after the Los Llanos lesson which we probably won't be able to get to until 8:00 pm.  So that would be another 10:30 pm night for us.  Scott does all of the teaching.  I just go around and help the individual students and help him get class set up and taken back to the car.  He wants to fill every minute we have with service - I think that's not going to be a problem!     It is only 8:00 now and I am pooped so can't imagine how we will feel next week with the extra night lesson.
     It absolutely poured while we were at Los Llanos.  You know what was great?  You could actually smell the rain like you can at home!  (They have alot of dirt out there)  Here in our apartment surrounded by cement everywhere, you never smell anything when it rains.
     It is strange to think that soon the sights, sounds, and smells of a big city will only be a memory.

4/9/2013

    Tuesday temple morning - always a peaceful way to start the day.  I enjoy the local temple workers on this shift because they are constantly smiling!  There were only two other couples in the session and they were both temple workers.
     Spent the entire afternoon studying Spanish.  A funny thing happened:  At times there are up to seven cops on this corner waiting for people to make a left hand turn off Gomez (illegal) Well they stepped out in the road to stop this yellow car and the car quickly turned into McDonald's parking lot and out onto the street.  They didn't even try to go after him.  Many times they try to wave people down and they just drive right on by.

 

 

We had our lesson at Santo Domingo tonight.  Were missing three of our students but "cool kid and Ralph (the little boy that comes with him) came.  I thought they would be behind because they have missed two weeks but obviously they have been practicing because they did well.  During the lesson someone from Los Caobas called and wants us to come teach out in their stake.  Scott told  him we would come on Wednesday night since that is about our only free night.  After a morning Institute class and a five hour trip to Los Llanos on Wednesday to teach  that is going to make a very long day for two old duffers.   We want to get every bit of service we can in these last months though so we are grateful.                                                                                                                                        .

4/8/2013 Conference Weekend

  What an amazing blessing it is to have a prophet and apostles who receive direction from our Father in Heaven to guide us here on earth.  We know what they have to tell us is pertinent to our eternal welfare.  It was so relaxing for us to be able to spend Saturday and Sunday listening to conference instead of chasing all over the area to teach keyboard lessons.   And to think we could just set on the bed in our grubbies and watch it on our computer without having to get dressed up and go out to another meeting!  I loved Pres. Monson's story about the fire - reminded me of Jake and the fires we had on the ranch.  Each conference I am aware of so many ways I need to improve. The church is really a hospital for sinners, because we all are in one way or another.  But to have the help of the gospel to remind us of who we really are and who we have the potential to become and how we can be better is a wonderful thing.
  On Saturday and Sunday here they were having air shows on the Malacon.  That's about a mile from us down next to the ocean. So we saw much of the show on Saturday and Sunday out of our bedroom window. They had two shows a day but on Sunday we noticed they didn't have the second show and a helicopter was the only thing flying around.  The Yturraldes came down and ate with us and the whole time people were walking up the street around the corner from us coming up from the air show.  There must have been two to three hundred people.  They weren't their usual noisy selves.
Today we read in the paper that one of the stunt planes that would go up and spin around and around half the way back down then swoop across the top of the ocean and go back up did not make it back up.  It just went down into the water.  Both the pilot and the copilot were killed.  That's what the helicopter was doing.  From here it looked like they just skimmed the surface of the ocean when they came back down but would pull back up.  The people must have all stayed to see the rescue effort because the accident happened at 4:14 and it was 6:00 to 7:30 that they were all walking back up the street.  How sad! I had tried to get some good pictures but none turned out but this one.

   Also this morning in the paper there was an article about Canada telling their citizens not  to travel in the Dominican Republic because of the crime here.  Their main concern was the public transportation where many people have been robbed at gunpoint at night and in the early morning hours.  Glad we have our own transportation! 
   Tonight for Family Home Evening we had a welcome to the Grays, the Wegeners, the Crismons, and the Walkers and a farewell for the Munos'.  The Grays are working in the Temple, the Wegeners who are working with the PEF, the Crimsons who took the Hammons place in the humanitarian area.
The Munos were in the temple presidency and will be going back to Puerto Rico where they live.
The Walkers were so refreshing - we laughed and laughed as Sister Walker told a little about them but then she encouraged him to tell about the miracle that had just happened in their lives. They had flown home to go to court about a law suit filed against him but knew their malpractice insurance would not cover what the exorbitant amount the other party wanted.  They arrived home to get a call saying that a law had just been passed that would make it so the other party would have to accept what the malpractice insurance would pay.   What a blessing for them!

It is such a small world.  the Walkers worked with my brother  in the Mesa Temple. 
Sister Hyde came to our mission from Kaysville and knows my brother there

so I am including this picture of us celebrating her birthday!
  Get to start back on our busy schedule tomorrow so better get to bed.....

4/5/2013

 Was a morning free from lessons so we went to the temple.  It looks like Tuesday and Thursday mornings are the only free times we will have to go.  As usual at starting time Scott and I and two sisters were in the chapel.  Fifteen minutes later in comes more people.  And they finally start about 20 minutes or more later.  This is certainly a mission where the challenge of developing patience is
so important in staying sane!  It seems like the morning sessions have many more Dominican workers that the evening sessions.  We were probably two of the six white people in the whole building.  It is such a privilege to live so close to the temple and to have time to go. On our way home we saw a man struggling to peddle his bike with a big basket on front - in the basket all curled up was another man!  What you see when you don't have a camera. 
    It's getting hot and humid again.  We had two wonderful months of 70/80s but now we're back up in the high 80's and low 90's and 95% humidity - at least it feels that humid as the sweat runs down your back.  It is so strange to think that we don't have to get up early the next two mornings and get out of the house only to come back eleven hours later.  I am so anxious for conference and very grateful that we can get it on the Internet here in our apartment.
     Yturraldes invited us up for super again because she had tried a new pizza recipe.  They are such fun friends!  We played Five Crowns again and it ended up the exact same way it did the last time we played.  Chances are pretty good we will be teaching on Friday nights in this new area.  Hate to give up the one night we have off but we are determined to fit as much service into this last part of our mission as we can. 

4/4/2013

        This was my morning off wash and clean and cook!  Haven't had time to do much Spanish but did get an hour of exercise in this morning. I have enjoyed reading and translating the Spanish Book of Mormon into English with Scott.
       Joe told me that Margo wanted me to call her so I looked up her number and dialed it  - or so I thought.  Camille answered the phone.  She said she had been in a lot of pain all night but her mind was clear as a bell.  It was so much fun to talk to her.  We compared missions and experiences.
She was excited to hear that after all these years Scott has learned to play the hymns.  She was one of his teachers.  He had four different piano teachers in a short time and finally his mom quit fighting with him and let him quit.  I have always loved Camille.  She brings so much life into any situation with her fun personality.  What a talented woman she is..
   Finally did get ahold of Margo.  She is excited that she finally can go on her mission. It would be so interesting to be back in that area. It will be great to have Travis and Trudy in our ward.  I loved working with Trudy in the Relief Society!   Margo did tell us that Joe is teaching the Gospel Principles class and is doing a great job
  We had an Institute lesson at 3:00 and a lesson in Santo Domingo stake at 6:30.  So we had half an hour between lessons and with travel time we left for Santo Domingo at 6:00 and got home at 9:00pm. The older woman in our class is so nice.  She wants to take us to see the Botanical Gardens and the Zoo if we can work out the time.  We really appreciate her coming and bringing two of her kids and three others every week.
   The Ramishes called today and want to go out to dinner on Friday.  It was great to hear from them since they moved a couple of months ago - maybe more- and we have only talked to them once since then.  He has tried to call but our phones aren't working or we don't have them with us.  I will be sooo
happy to get home and get a decent cell phone.
    Tonight Jake called and Kim and Nikki were there so we got to talk to them - what a treat!
Gavin and Brinley are such cute kids.  It has been so nice to see them often on Skype. 
 

4/3/2013

Thank heavens it is the end of this day!  I think Scott and I both staggered from the car to the apartment complex.  We left this morning for a lesson at the Institute.  When we got there one of the students was practicing and three others left the room.  I went downstairs to get the roll and checked in the entertainment center to see if they were coming to class.
  "Oh have you started class?  We'll be up in a few minutes."
Their sense of time is astounding.  When they walk in half an hour late they think they are on time!
By now we have just the students who are serious about learning to play so they want to stay late and practice more instead of coming on time and practicing during class.  It's the way the Dominican mind works...
    So we had little time to come home, eat, get things ready for the Los Llanos class and get back to pick up the Leavitts at 1:15. I look forward to traveling out to Los Llanos even though it is about a one and one half hour drive.  The Leavitts are fun to take with us and I really like Los Llanos.  The last time we went on the way home we saw a man in a wheelchair hanging on to the back of a truck and being pulled  - at normal speed - through the intersection.  Don't know if the truck driver
knew he was there or not but we thought he would probably be going from the wheel chair to the casket before he got to his destination!
    The class today was chaotic!  The Leavitts had brought bags of clothes that the Eickbushes had left.
One was a bag of ties that the guy were so excited to sort through.

All of the male students chose a tie and Scott thought this one leading the singing was hilarious in his
basketball shorts and tie!
   There were so many extra people in that little room that were waiting to be interviewed by Elder Leavitt who is the branch president for the time being.  You know these people are not quiet.  So between them and the twelve keyboards being played it was noisy to say the least.  I think we all left with headaches.  We had to wait for Elder Leavitt so we just let them practice until he was done so we ended up leaving there around 6:00 and we got there at 2:30.  They all seemed to have forgotten what they had learned last week plus there were two new students and one that wants to start.  At least the two new ones were in the conducting course so know something about counting.  That is always a big hangup - but then I remember how I hated to count when I was young.  And Scott still rarely counts - he thinks knowing the hymns is enough to know how it is played.  If he only plays hymns it works.  We all barely made it to the car to come home.  Then we are coming down the street and Scott slams on the brakes and throws his hands up - scared poor Elder Leavitt to death.  He thought we were dead for sure!  And Scott just laughed....because he was just trying to get Elder Leavitt.  He has done that often with me but both of the Leavitts were sure something terrible had happened.  Sometimes  I'm surprised they ride with us.  Of course they don't have much of a choice since they don't have a car.
   It's 8:30 and I am ready for bed.....

4/2/2013

  I think I have a mental problem - my head itches most of the time.  We have checked for everything, including fleas, that could be wrong.  After trying many different medicated shampoos I decided to try the suggestion in one study.  It said to rub olive oil into your scalp and let it sit so I got up early and oiled my scalp/hair.  I think Scott thought this was by far the worse "woman's hair treatment" he had ever been a part of.  Did I ever look cute!  This whole thing started after one Sunday when we had taken the kids to church and the two girls were sitting on my lap picking "things" out of each others hair then putting their arms around me and running their fingers through my hair.  Ok so maybe I am paranoid....but I just knew they had fleas and were passing them on to me.  My head has itched ever since. Finally got the oil washed out just in time to get ready and go do a session at the temple this morning.  And no, it doesn't work.  My head still itches!
   We were in a French session this morning.  We had headphones so we could listen in English or Spanish.  What was interesting was I liked the Spanish better - more of a challenge I guess.  But what I realized was that a year ago the Spanish session sounded just like the French session did today.  So I have learned something! We waited from 10:00 am to 11:00 am for the session to start because there were three new french speaking missionaries going through for their own endowments and they weren't ready.  So we didn't get out until 1:30.
   Our Spanish class at Santo Domingo gave me an opportunity to work with this older woman who isn't keeping up with the kids.  She is the Young Women's president, probably works outside the home and has a family, etc.  I think these women just do not have time to even think about the keyboard!  She has two teenage boys in the class who are doing very well.  She had gone out and picked us a bag full of those fruit things that cashews come from - you know - the ones that stink to high heaven.  This time we told her to take them home and feed them to her family.  I hope she wasn't offended.  I hated to take them when she needed them to feed her family because we would have given them away to someone else who would use them.

4/1/2013

     A usually fairly free Monday morning this morning was spent at the temple folding laundry.  I'm sure they laugh at we "gringos" both while we are there and when we leave.  They find the simplest things for us to fold (thank heavens)  Sister Rucker went with Scott and I and Sister Walker came so we had a good time visiting when we were close enough to talk.  They never seem to be in a hurry in there but they are so fast at doing what they do.  I had never been downstairs where they do baptisms, have a big cafeteria, and many other big areas so we took a tour while we were there.  Was very odd to be in the temple with all of the lights on, outside doors locked and no one anywhere. When we finished at noon we were all pooped!  Just goes to show how old we are getting.
    Scott left for the early Spanish class but I haven't been going to that one.  Sister Yturralde was here working on something on my computer then Alysha skyped to show us the storm they were getting at home.  What a blessing!  I drove to the Casa for Scott's class.  The Crimsons, the Ewells, the Levetts. Sister Walker, Sister Bair, Sister Mahon, Brother Wegener- it was fun but challenging for Scott because there are two sisters who have recently been on Spanish speaking missions and speak well, some that have learned quite a bit and some that are brand new.  It is fun though because Scott keeps it pretty relaxed. We stayed for FHE so visited after class.  There are always interesting experiences shared among the group.
     FHE was a puppet show that the humanitarian missionaries have developed about nutrition, cleanliness, germs, brushing teeth, etc.  They have the backdrop and the puppet kit that people borrow when their families are here.  You take the show to hospitals, schools, orphanages, etc.  It was really cute.  Would have been some great pictures but as I got my camera out, which I had remembered to put the media stick in this time, the battery was dead.