Janet’s trip to Dominican Republic November 2013
This
was my travel to Dominican
Republic to see Jim and Susan; I loved
spending time with them doing their missionary work. They are super
missionaries and represent our family well!
Elder
James E. and Susan E. are super Missionaries for the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints; they are hard working and have a huge responsibility
as Office Specialists, in the Santo Domingo West Mission, there in the
Capitol.. They are super busy; they go early and stay late; they handle all the
finances and banking for the mission. Jim loads all the missionary cards
with their money, and pays the taxes on their visas. They order all the flights
for the missionaries, and really take care of the business for the mission.
They do many more things that probably aren't on their job descriptions; they
are competent and will really be missed when they go home in 2014.
Susan
speaks Spanish quite well and balances the bank; she is the photographer
and also takes the Missionary Visa photos for renewal. (She saves a
lot of time for the Church by doing the photos and they can get them faster
than if they mailed them off.) She is the cookie maker, decorator,
organizer and and helps in so many other ways!
They
are happy, well loved, drive a large white truck, (bigger than those in the
states), live in a gated apartment with a 24 hour guard. (They park in a
garage that usually is for 2 vehicles, but 3 have to fit in there- even
with their truck!)
Their
apartment is large and has 2 bedrooms (with air conditioning) and they
have a nice keyboard that Susan uses every day, and they have a beautiful patio
with an orchid growing just for Mom, (Lois). They are on the 3rd floor-
no elevators. A couple of times, we had fun playing table tennis, on
their large, dining room table. The three of us are really good at
it!
It
was fun to help decorate their Christmas Tree and put up their other
decorations.
(The
country puts up their decorations in October--no Halloween or Thanksgiving,
decorations beautiful!- a lot of red and gold.)
Jim
is fluent in Spanish and it helps so much with all the
business transactions that they do; they go get all the mission
mail from the Customs area of the Post Office. They often go to the bank
and other places to pay bills and taxes on the missionary visas since
they are only good for 1 year. They collect and mail all the
mission mail as well as go to a large beautiful church building to
send pouch mail. The Church building has hot, running, clean,
water and has cubicles for many church auditors, and other business people.
Beautiful decorated tree in the lobby.
There
is a large warehouse with all the area supplies; their mission seems to be the
headquarters for the area authorities, (they know Elder Cornish, Elder Zivic
and others). The area authorities live in an apartment that is next to the MTC
and the Temple.
The Santo Domingo
Temple also has hot,
clean running water. (In all the other buildings and places in Dominican Republic,
the water can't be drunk--they buy bottled water. Have to be careful not
to brush your teeth with the regular water, I almost did twice.)
They
are assigned to a branch about 45 min. away in Nizao. About the last 10-15
minutes of the ride, they travel on a bumpy dirt road. They pick up a
brother who waits in front of his shack. Driving along this bumpy road we
saw a cemetery. The more money the family of the deceased has, the higher
up he or she is buried. If you are poor, you are buried in the ground,
little houses on top of the ground for those with money. The little
houses( for the deceased) are all different colors.
Jim
teaches Young Men, they often teach Sunday School together, and Susan is the
branch pianist/organist. She also teaches children to play the piano before the
meetings start. The beautiful chapel is enclosed by a large gated fence.
Usually they are the only ones that drive and park there, the rest of the
people walk. Maybe 60 attended Sacrament meeting; we listened to an awesome
returned missionary from their branch, give a great report. Of course, I
couldn't understand it but I could feel of his testimony.
I was
invited by Mission President Rodriguez to attend their weekly Mission Devotional,
there in his office, with about 10 in attendance; Susan said the
prayer in Spanish. Awesome! I was able to go with them to the MTC
to "converse" with missionaries; and was also invited to attend their
Family Home Evening. There was a lot of energy in the Mission
Office the day the mission President had (15-20) sisters and
elders come for interviews. They take buses there to the office; some of
the missionaries are very far away and are glad to see others.
The
seniors get together for FHE; we listened to the new Temple President
and wife, (the Flakes) and others speak. Temple President
Flake's siblings go to the temple every year on their parent's
birthdays. His family members live all over the country and go to the
temple closest to them, twice a year to honor their parents. We thought
that was a neat idea!
The
seniors sang Happy Birthday to Jim. (Elders in the office made him a neat
purple cake with trick candles.) and the mission pres brought Jim a gift from
he and his wife. They all love Jim and Susan.
I was
with them for 8 days, I dressed every day as a missionary and we
went to the office except on Saturday, their Preparation Day. (On those
Saturdays, we did a lot!) They have to be selective which grocery stores
they go to. Very interesting and colorful food. A couple of
stores are quite modern and are getting more and more American food since Jim
and Susan have been there. They now have Planters Peanuts, Oreos,
Hersheys candy, etc.
(Jim
was able to ask to have
a battery put in my watch--they did it and didn't
charge us.) It helps that Jim can speak their
language and JIm and Susan are friendly and gracious to people.
Jim
and Susan love the "training" they do every 6 weeks. They make
packets of information; he instructs, the missionaries in Spanish,
Susan repeats it in English. They are quite a team. Then
they go to the temple with the missionaries and pull all the
clothing as well as assist with the other work.
There
are about 270 missionaries in the mission; the missionary work was opened Dec.
1, 1978 by M. Russell Ballard.
There
is a nice dedicated monument that overlooks part of the city and the Caribbean Sea. Susan sent that photo before, now I feel
like I know more about it, since being on that beautiful, special spot.
We
were able to attend a session in the large beautiful Dominican Republic Temple,
there in Santo Domingo. I did a family name (Ellen Facey, Louisa
Sargent's nieces' family) and then was sealed, (I was the child) to parents,
(Susan and Jim.) It was neat.
It
was a great experience being there--we were on the go constantly,.--we did see
the zoo; the (animals are surrounded by all types of beautiful vegetation), and
saw a panther follow a black bear around the edge of a pool; the botanical
gardens are spectacular, (both had train rides) through forests and jungles. We
went to the National Aquarium. that was right on the ocean.
We
ate lunch near there, right on the ocean. Gorgeous scenery! We ate
Dominican food---had an appetizer with fresh avocados and other native
things, had something similar to fried bananas, no taste, enjoyed a small
cup of a fancy soup, we had chicken, beef, pork dishes that were yummy!
We shared a small cake-like dessert that was really good. Had
their country drink, similar to lemonade.
We
went to the beautiful white beach, with lots of shells and some grass shacks.
We visited an old town square, ( Zona Colonia), the area of the first
cathedrals that were built in 1500, beautiful stone buildings. After, we ate at
the Hard Rock Cafe. It was "safe" place to eat; you have
to be careful where you eat, it was delicious!
We
went to the Monument for Christopher Columbus, that was built for the 500th
year anniversary of his arrival there, 1992. It was very large and lots
of rooms for each country and etc. Very interesting--part of the inside
is open to the air, there is a long walkway with rooms and exhibits on either
side. Really something.
Most
of the things we visited, we did on Saturdays.
The
traffic is unbelievable, the motor cycles (used as taxis with more than 1
rider) whiz in and out and around you and the traffic. There are
Vendors selling food, fruit, and other items, and they want to wash your
windows while you are stopped in traffic. (We bought a pineapple, and
bananas.)
There
seems to be few traffic signals so people are driving every which way and cross
in front, like you see in the movies. I tried a couple of times to take a
photo--impossible--the people have to have a lot of patience
We
saw horses and carts, and lots of small buses and many motorcycles; the people
don't have cars. Most people wait at designated spots for the buses. Saw
cows out in the country on the way to church and saw a few chickens walking
around.
You
must constantly be alert--lots of guards with rifles and pistols and etc. in
front of buildings and at gas stations as well as on the streets. We had one
incident that we felt we should not walk with the guards there to
"protect us" --we felt they were the robbers, so we quickly got
back in the truck. ( this is the short version)
The
people are warm and friendly, the colors bright and beautiful, the rain showers
come up quickly, are a "hard rain" and only last 10 minutes or so.
We were at the zoo and all of a sudden lots of people started running.
They were headed for shelters; they knew the rain was coming. We
stood under an overhang at a bird exhibit and stayed dry.
The
many different kinds of palm trees are so beautiful as well as the other
vegetation., It is a diverse country with the mixture of people and
cultures as well as the poverty and wealthy. The church is the same there, the
people have scriptures, they dress as nice as they can, they are friendly and
even the signs in the meeting house look like those in our buildings--damas and
others. It was a special experience!
We
can all be so proud of Susan and Jim and their service! We'll look
forward to seeing them in 2014!
I
know that Bethany and Matthew are great missionaries too! I LOVE to
read their emails. They are hard working and are filled with the spirit.
I wish
them continued blessings and look forward to seeing them when they return.
(Bethany really soon!) Too bad I couldn't visit your missions!
