Explaining the mission...

Sister McEwan, so good to hear from you!  How wonderful that your son is coming.  It is a great mission.  We have a great mission president, President Rodriguez. We have 236 missionaries in our mission. They are absolutely amazing.  They see a lot of success.
     We just attended a cultural program tonight, the USA Cloggers from SLC.  A great event for members and soon to be members!  The senior couple that we were sitting with, the Area Legal and his wife who is doing media for the area just gave me a new web site that will continue to grow.  It is Caribe.lds.org.  She said on the left in that site is Obra Misional to click on.  I haven't tried it yet.  In fact, I didn't know I had a blog until my daughter emailed that you'd left a comment and she had the link to my blog where she had added letters or comments that we'd sent to family or friends as our mission progressed.  What a shock, and what joy!  
     Anyway, I will check our mission data tomorrow to see your son, see if we have sent you a welcome letter from our mission, and get one off to you if we haven't. 
     Good luck in your preparations.  We look forward to meeting your son.  He will be a remarkable missionary!  He has a great family sustaining him!
Thanks for the correspondence,
 Sister & Elder Schmidt, office specialists in la Mision Oeste.

Chantal --A tormentous or big storm

Hi Ellen!   Thanks for thinking of us.  Tons of rain.  It looked like continuous raindrops, just a sheet of water it was coming so fast.  There was flooding everywhere,  We're on the 3rd floor for our apartment, and mission office 2nd floor,  so we didn't have a problem, but the water was coming in the ground level.  The elders moved desks, refrigerators and mattresses that were in the water's way.  We had big deliveries a few days before and they couldn't get them all out before the storm hit.  

     The first day the elders dropped us home at night and took the truck to the area where they are assigned for Church,  discussions, etc. and then picked us up the next morning, so they didn't have to walk or do taxis, since there was tons of water everywhere.  They dropped the cleaning lady Ramona to the other side of town so she wouldn't have to ride on the back of a motorcycle/walk to find one etc.  The water was swooshing around trees and sidewalks, half way to the top of the tires, and we have a big Hilux truck..  The next day it rained continuously and then stopped by evening.   Today the front lawn of the mission office looks pretty dry, you'd never have guessed there was a foot or foot and a half there just yesterday.  When it rains you look out to the ocean and the runoff from the city makes the water all brown.  Further out it is blue.  It drained pretty good off the streets, not sure around houses.  That's probably why they have a mosquito problem here. 

     It was amazing how fast and furious it came down, all the lightening and thunder that was all around us.  They say since the temple was built here that the storms seem to go around.  So hopefully they will continue.  Thanks El!

Love,

Susan

(Note: The response above was written in regard to email from Ellen: You've said nary a word of hurricane Chantal--did it miss you completely? No wind or rain? Can't imagine what it's like to live through something like that. Hope things are going well. -EA)

Traslados--a dinner at our house

Hi!  This is dinner at our house on Sunday night .  The senior couple, the Clawsons, are on the left.  The others are the same missionaries I listed earlier.  We honored two missionaries who were leaving.  (Dos misioneros salio.)

Anyway, someone said to send lots of pictures.

Love,

Mom & Dad

CCM--A men's chorus in the Area

This is a men's chorus in the area that sang patriotic music and hymns.  In the last picture, the quartet, the two on the right, are the mission president's boys.  One just got back from a year at BYU and will turn his papers in soon.  The other one is in high school and will got to BYU soon.  They spoke to us after in English.  They learn it here in school.  Their mom speaks a quite a big, and the mission president is trying, at least with me.

Love,

Mom & Dad

Happy 4th of July---Let's Get together next Year!!

Hi, how are you all? HAPPY 4TH OF JULY TO YOU!!

     Monday night at FHE the seniors celebrated the 4th of July.  The Temple Matron, Sister Bair, had some of the men stand and give quotes from the founding fathers, some history of what happened to some of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and then she spoke of them appearing in the St. George Temple to Wilford Woodruff, who did their work.  Sister Bair is a descendant of Wilford Woodruff.  Then we ate dinner, barbecued beef, potato salad, etc.  I was assigned to bring Apple Crisp.

     Today being the Fourth of July, Dad and I got up early and made two cobblers, an apple and cherry (next year I'm adding blueberry) and took it to the Mission Office with cool whip.  Six young elders, the Clawsons and Dad and I had it still warm for breakfast?  Then we went to a Consejo --a council of zone leaders.  In another room we oriented 3 new missionaries that arrived yesterday from the Provo MTC.  Dad gave it in Spanish and I followed in English.  We ate with all the missionaries the usual Dominican chicken, rice with chopped vegetables, candied banana or guineo and coleslaw of cabbage and carrot.  Then we did picture taking.  I took the new missionaries with the President and his wife.  Then the president wanted a group picture of he and his wife with all the zone leaders--plus 3 new sister leaders to preside over the sister missionaries in the mission.  The missionaries were kind of a rowdy bunch, enjoying each other.  It was fun. 

     On the way home we took the Clawsons, a new senior couple from Kaysville to the spot where the land was dedicated.  We got a phone call there, there was a crash and the Elder needed his passport.  We went back to the office, got the passport and headed across the city to the police station. (We know just where to go.)  This elder Elder Arana is from Virginia, Woodbridge, yellow line, near DC, is bilingual and has just been driving here for 2 weeks.  He took Elder Reeder's place. 

     We made a bank deposit on the way home, entered temple clothes sizes back at the office, recorded the deposit, sent out mail, did bank work with receipts and charging to the missionaries accounts.

     That was the 4th of July.  We were "independent" of tradition.  Oh well, it was fun, everyday is and we'll see you later.  Hope you had an awesome day!! 

Love,

Mom & Dad  Oh, I wore red, white and blue, and some of the missionaries at the meeting asked me if it was La Dia de Independencia.  Si!

Thank you from the Brother Missionaries

A big THANK YOU for the fun entertainment and refreshments for Father's Day!

You might enjoy this little highlight of the event:  http://youtu.be/IwhJADpWaF0

-- from the Brother senior missionaries to the Sister senior missionaries in Santo Domingo

A great remembrance!

This was the elders surprise on my birthday! From left to right, Elder Klein from Arizona, Elder Chinchilla from Guatemala, Elder Aguiniga from Mexico City, Elder Pitti from Panama, Elder Reeder from Logan or Hyde Park, Elder Scharman from Taylorsville.  (The iron gate is outside our door.  It has to be locked coming and going.)

Thanks all of you for the nice birthday.  The elders came calling and the 6 of them represent each one of you!  Also thanks for all the other wonderful things!  Sure love you!

     Sunday they asked me to give the opening prayer in Relief Society.  (There were 3 of us)  They called on me to read during the lesson.  In Sunday School the teacher wanted to sing a hymn to go with the lesson, she looked at me and asked me if I could lead (as she motioned with her hand.)  Soon she went down the row and I had to read.  In Sacrament Meeting as I played the opening song, as we finished the chorister was staring at me and looked like "what happened, how come you stopped."  So I assumed that must have been verse 3 and there was one more.  I looked like okay, one more, so I started and she led.  When we finished.  She was staring at me again.  I thought, no, I couldn't have miscounted that bad it had to be four.   

So I looked away, then back at her and she sat down.  I was nervous because I had to give a talk, but when we finished the meeting, Jim said we did 5 verses, we did the 4th verse twice! Yuk

     Then I spoke on Asister a la Iglesia--Attending Church.  I will send it along, in English and Spanish tomorrow.  One of the elders said his mom keeps getting nursery leader.  I said I've never done that one, but I should--Playing blocks on the floor is probably the one thing I am good at!!  (If you disagree with me, don't respond.

     That night the 6 elders came to transfers dinner along with a senior couple who have been here just a week.  They are from Kaysville.  They live near those ponds right by the freeway.  I said a little further on the freeway and you can see our home.  He has worked as a recruiter in Latin Countries to help kids get educated.  She is from Mississippi, his 2nd wife, speaks no Spanish, and is black.  In the temple today, she looks like the people here and she was not offered a headset to listen in English.  They served another mission in Texas in a Spanish branch, he the president and she a teacher.

     Anyway, we had two elders leave, Elder Pitti from Panama, I made a heart shaped chocolate cake with his initials on CP for caring and people, his greatest traits, for Elder Reeder from Logan or Hyde Park, I baked chocolate chip cookie dough in the heart pan and wrote #1 since he was our first missionary, our trainer, etc.  What fun we had for an hour then they left to call the missionaries their new assignments of companions or area.

     Monday, we had meetings and more chocolate chip cookies.  Oh, and today Dad and I stood at the pulpit at the transfer chapel, he gave a financial point in Spanish, they I said it in English since we have so many English speakers who have come from the MTC.  They've studied Spanish, yet when Dad said to open your packet in Spanish, a lot of them sat there.  They he said to open it in English and they laughed and opened them.  Then there was a luncheon of Dominican food, same one each them, then we went to the temple to pull their temple clothes and hand them out to the 15 missionaries going home, and went to the session with them.  Wow, wonderful.

     Oh, on Monday night at Family Home Evening they asked us to each relate an experience that changed our life.  Dad told of the auto accident he had with his parents. They were injured badly and the church came in to help.  This got him active in the church.  I'll let him expound on it sometime.

     I said going to college changed my life.  I had 19 roommates, and made many friends--one of them was dad.  I was active in my singles ward, had great religion classes, and had some amazing spiritual experiences with the scriptures.  I studied elementary education, child development and family relations with a kindergarten certificate which, opened my eyes to people and family.  I was in a campus service club where we had service opportunities all over Provo as well as being in a 6 girl, 6 guy singing group that performed on campus.  Oh, and I was crowned  (I never told them this, I just remembered) Miss Heritage Halls, a contest where 24 dorms each sent in a girl to represent them.  We had a competition each day for a week and the winner and her attendants were announced in the grand ballroom, the girls at the top of a winding staircase and they came down to meet their date.  We sat on 3 big throne chairs on the stage, then with our date danced in the middle of the floor to begin the second half.  Bruce & Jo, and Aunt Janet were in the balcony cheering (since our families were notified that we were finalists).  Anyway, the three of us road on a big float in the homecoming parade.  Cool huh--you didn't know, right! No, the coolest was to ride to Salt Lake, go to the Church Administration building and meet the prophet.  David O. McKay was sick that day, so Nathan Eldon Tanner and Marion G. Romney were the substitutes.  I  sat in President Tanner's chair and had my picture taken with he and Pres. Romney on either side.  Now that was cool!!  (Anybody see the picture floating around somewhere?

     Anyway, how is the house coming?  how's it going with school out?  How's the eating solid foods coming?  How was the concert with those celebrities?  How is your company/house guests doing? , and how was Disney World?

Love,

Mom & Dad