6/20/2013

What a great day so far!  We went to the temple this morning and were in the session with the missionaries.  So Sister Farris and her comp were there sitting right in front of me.  It is so good to see her.  The Farris' can be very proud of the daughter they have raised.  She is going to be a great missionary.  We were laughing about how young the 18 year old elders look.  They seem so much older and more mature - of course we know that women have always matured faster than men- right??   It is wonderful to be able to be around the missionaries, both young and old.  Anyway so given the golden opportunity to take a picture I could send the Farris' - we took a picture or two:

They already know how to pose like the Dominicans!

 

After a great morning at the temple we met the Ewells and the Walkers at Johnny Rockets for lunch.  I don't know if there are any of these places in Utah but I guess there are many in other states.  The atmosphere is such fun with all of the old 60's songs playing on a jukebox.  Then they turn the music up really loud and all of the waitresses, cooks, and the waiters, etc. all  start dancing to the music.  We had a great time:

  

                                                                          Then we got to come home and rest, wash, study and read before our lesson at Santo Domingo.   During that time though two old friends called.  Wilton will check in with Scott every so often - called today.  I would love to see him again.  He is working selling in a vegetable stand.  Then Julio, who worked here for a short time before being fired because they were going to have to start paying him more, called to tell Scott that he and his wife(?) were taking lessons from the missionaries.  Elder Wynn, who we know from previous missionary contacts said Julio and his wife are really excited about the gospel.  Of course they are not married and would have to get married to be baptized.  It is very costly for these people that have nothing to marry.  He is the one that called many months ago when his baby was crying of hunger and he had no where else to turn.  Your heart aches for these people who try so hard to make something good happen and it just never does.  They so need the gospel in their lives.  It is amazing how many ways the church helps people.                                                                                     

6/19/2013

    The rain today was like the torrents of rain that came down during Hurricane Sandy!  Water was filling up the sliding widow trays and running down the walls flooding the floors.  You could even see the lightening today and the thunder was horrendous!  The problem was Scott had colored my hair - nice of him, huh- but had taken so long my hair was still wet and we had twenty minutes before class.  Just then the power went off so I couldn't do anything with my hair. And might I say I look a bit" Maria-ish" or rather, I fit in here just fine with this hair color!  We thought it would come back on quickly like it has done the last couple of days but no, not so lucky.  Scott thought he could borrow a cap from someone and I could just go to lessons with wet hair.  Ha!  So he went alone, which he is perfectly capable of doing, but it is nice to have some help with the individual students.
     So I have had time to go through my pictures and find the ones of William's family so I can make the kids a picture book with our testimonies before we leave. As I looked over the pictures I just can not believe that much time has passed.  The night we arrived here with the fear of the totally unknown to now with the gratitude of having been here with so many friends and people we have been privileged to know.  What a blessing this mission has been for us!
    Went to the temple this morning.  There were only four of us in the session so that makes for a quite and quick session.  It is a wonderful thing to spend time in the peace and calm of the temple after living on this noisy street.  We took Sister Cuenot shopping with us.  Her husband works out in the area office so she never has a ride to the grocery store when they have their fruits and vegetables on sale. It's a great time to shop for them because they are 40-50% off on Wednesdays. 
     We have seven weeks of teaching left.  Then Scott can trade his chalk and leading stick for a pitchfork and shovel~     It has been wonderful to be able to Skype with the kids but I am anxious to get home and actually hug them!!  I have half a year of history to get together with pics for the area history book.  People ask all of the time when our next class in their area is and it is too late for us to begin new classes now plus we have no time that we could teach more classes.   The sad thing is there is no one that we know of coming to replace us.  Pres. Anderson has tried to convince them at the Senior Missionary office in SLC but nothing has happened that we know of.  There are so few senior missionaries and they are so needed, especially with the increase in  the young elders and sisters.

6/18/2013 Chicken Fight

Yesterday, Monday, went too fast for us.  At the end of the day Scott was saying "I hate Mondays to end" because that is the only day he doesn't have to teach.  Music that is - he still teaches Spanish on Mondays then we have FHE at the Casa.  It was at the Grays last night again.  Elder Young, from the Los Llanos branch was there waiting to leave for the airport to fly home.  He has been such a great help to that area!  Since the Wegeners, the Ewells, the Grays and us were all gathered there and all knew him, he agreed to share some experiences that had touched him. Then the Wegeners talked about going out to the Haitian camps where the people have absolutely nothing and no chance of changing their station in life because they have no papers.  So they can't even go back to Haiti.
They work as slaves basically for the sugar cane field owners. You just have to wonder why we were so blessed to be born where we had the things we needed to survive and grow.  They have 10 and 11 year old pregnant girls out there - much prostitution because that is the only way they have to make money to buy food or water...
   Today Scott went to the temple while I washed then we picked up the Grays and headed out to Los Llanos.  The ride is beautiful with lush greenery and beautiful flowering trees and shrubs.  Scott and Elder Gray went to see if they could get Flor ( the little girl they have turned into Cinderella) for two hours for piano lessons.  That situation has just haunted Scott and I since last week.  Scott was even willing to give her money.  The woman wouldn't let her go but did agree to call her mother and her mother said that she would bring her next week.  Maybe that will give Elder Gray a chance to talk to her mother about what is happening to her.
   We always read in the paper about the organized chicken fighting they have here.  Today we actually saw one as we were leaving town.  Personally, I think it is disgusting.

 

6/16/2013 Father's Day

A busy Sunday began with picking up the kids for Church.  Had three extra today- but the same three that came last week so that was nice.  When we got home the mother of the two extra girls came down to meet me, Scott had already met her. She had such a soft, pretty look. I just find it so interesting that these people will send their kids off with people they don't know at all. We just hope and pray that sometime in their lifetimes they will remember going to church and want in their lives what they saw in ours.  William has a new job far away.  He also has an ulcer on his foot which has been very painful. I know how that is!  He did say that this job will take him away from his family more. That certainly isn't what they need.  Family life here is so different.  Many couples are separated for years as one of them goes to a different place or a different country to work. Of course fidelity is not an issue here as they don't believe that is a necessary sacrifice.  The church members here really have to change their lives and their values to be members.
   Got back with fifteen minutes to spare for lunch before leaving for San Cristobal.  It is always fun to go out there because this group is actually more like family than students.   We really love them and appreciate the warmth and love they have shared with us. They are all beginning to play with both hands at the same time.  How easy that sounds but how difficult it is when you are just learning!
    When we got to Oriental all of the students were standing outside the gate.  Once again we realized how many of them there are.  We took Marie took get a key and by the time we got back someone had opened the gate for them.  For such a big class they are doing well.  Scott has been working with  their recognizing the line and space notes.  They seem to know them until you give them a written test.  The high council man over the music came today.  We thought he had given up because it is not easy for him.  Part of the problem is that his fingers are twice as wide as the keys! So even with his finger tips he ends up playing more than one note. 
We were home shortly after 7:00 pm.  It was great to hear from the kids on Father's Day.  Scott really appreciated it.  I wonder if they will ever know just how much he loves them.

6/15/2013

    Wasn't much to blog about last night.  We had two lessons at the Institute then had the night free. Thought it would be nice just to spend the night at home and go to bed early so we would wake up all fresh and excited about another fabulous Saturday.  We didn't quite wake up "fresh from a good night's sleep because about 3:00 am we heard this reverberating tire squealing sound followed by a very loud crash and flying debris.  Jumped out of bed to look out the window and all we could see was the neighbors also trying to figure out what had just happened.  Finally from the men yelling for help and the noise that the crash had occurred on our corner that is obscured from our view by big trees.  There wasn't an ambulance so either there was no need for one or they were dead already.  Scott came home from his early morning run and said there was glass and plastic car parts all over but he didn't see any blood so thought maybe they weren't hurt badly.  I don't know how that could have been but anything is possible.  Wish we could have seen the cars.  That time of the morning people drive like maniacs (more so than usual).
    Out lessons in the Las Americas stake went well.  When we arrived at Los Melinos no one was there to let us in (normal) but just then a bus stopped beside us and all of these kids got out.  They were all dressed up in white shirts and ties and dresses and had been to the temple to do baptisms.  It was great to see the spirit they brought back with them.  This is a young groups but they are so quick to learn - just lacking a bit of focus for long periods of time or even short periods of time!  Love them.
     At Hainamosa they were having a stake Primary party so we met in the Relief Society room.  Thank heavens for air conditioners is all I can say.  Today has been so hot and miserable.  You are sticky all of the time even if sweat is not running down your back and off your head.  May have to start carrying one of those sweat towels so many people carry on their shoulder here. 
     We were actually back by 7:30 pm - before dark.  We don't have the second class at Hainamos anymore because they all graduated.  Felix comes back and practices while we teach though.  What a determine man he is!  It was great not to travel that road in the dark because there are so many people in the street that you can't see until you almost run into them.  They have bikes, cart, motos, cars on the road traveling with no lights.  We are ever grateful for the Lord's protection.  Time for bed for me..

6/13/2013

    After getting to bed at midnight last night and waking up dog tired, I pledged to myself to get to bed earlier tonight.  It's only ten so there's hope.  We did a morning session at the temple today and as we were coming out of the celestial room one of the workers stopped us and asked if we would go with the missionaries and do sealings .  I had seen Sister Farris and many other sister missionaries in the dressing room.  Some of them went to the session while others did sealings then traded for the next session.  It was a great experience to be with a room full of missionaries.  Just knowing vaguely what they have all sacrificed to be on a mission and how hard it is to have every moment of your day scheduled makes you really appreciate them.  Our job is so easy in comparison!  Some look about the age of Cade, 14 now, while others look 30 years old.  It is the Americans that look so young while many of the Latinos tend to look older. They say it's the hormones in the chicken that make them age faster here.  Don't know if that is a joke or not.....
     Went to the store before our lesson in Santo Domingo Stake to find medicine I'm out of and a couple of other things.  While we were getting a frozen yogurt we met two girls who were speaking English and are from the States.  They are attending medical school here.  The one said she had been a missionary here four years ago but obviously not an LDS missionary.  She had worked in an orphanage four hours south of here.  She loved it so much here she came back to go to school.
    Just got home from the class.  There were only six students there tonight.  Which actually is so nice because you have more time to help those who are there.  Our goth student looks less goth all of the time.  She is so determined to learn to play that she comes to three different classes we teach.  Tonight she said she wanted to buy keyboard.  Not sure where she would get the money but you just don't ask those kinds of questions from nonmembers because their lifestyles are very different than ours.  I don't know if she realizes that all she will know how to play when she is done will be LDS hymns.  Hopefully she will be touched by the messages in the music we work on. 

6/12/2013

A morning at the temple - a session with only four people and two of them were Scott and I.  That makes for pretty quick sessions!   Sister Cuenot was on her way to La Serena as we left the temple grounds so we picked her up and went shopping with her.  She is such a frail little woman and walks a mile to the grocery store then puts the groceries in a back pack and walks home.  I'm so glad we are now going to the temple on Wednesday mornings so we can take her shopping.  She and her husband will leave to go back to France the week after we leave.
  We had four hours before leaving for two lessons in Las Caobas.  Got some white chilie put in the crockpot.  We waited for 1/2 and hour at the church for someone to come with a key to let us in the building.  Shortly after getting the keyboards set up and the air conditioner turned on - the power went off.  We were in a room with ten plus students.  I don't know who was hotter - us or them.  They carry little towel like clothes to wipe sweat off their faces and heads.  No wonder they don't wear any kind of makeup!  It was only 85 degrees in the room but we couldn't open the windows and it felt like 100 degrees.  Since the keyboards need electricity Scott taught a lesson on the note placement in the pentagram on the chalkboard..  You think they really caught on until you give them a paper test....Half way through the power came back on so we survived the rest of the lesson.  We have adults in the second class and one of the guys wanted to play a solo of one of the songs he had learned.  The problem was he didn't count a single note and you couldn't even tell what he was playing - and he didn't even realize it.  I know I had worked with him on that song a few times and it was tough to get him to count then - As soon as everyone else started playing with him he picked up on the timing factor but it sure was funny because he and the guy next to him are always in competition.