Going Home

We are home from our mission!  It still seems pretty strange - soooo many things in the grocery stores and in Target.  So many nice homes and clean streets.  But no Spanish, no palm trees, no abrazos!  Oh, this is tough...  But we are surrounded by family and the sweet joys of the Christmas season which warm our hearts!

There were a lot of sweet things done for us before we left.  Our dear friends, the Ruckers, invited us to stay with them the last three nights, so we were able to move our of our apartment and get it cleaned ahead.  In spite of all our work, we still had way to many things.  When we weighed our bags, they were all around 50 lbs., but at the airport, the girl behind the counter was  a member and chatted with us about our mission, sort of ignoring our bag weight which was so nice.  

Here are some of the events of the last two weeks before we left.

We had decided to donate most of our household goods (plates, glasses, pots, etc). to the Consuelo Branch, so we took them to the building early, so that no one besides the Branch President would know that they were from us. We hope that they all find good homes.

On the first Monday of December, Vickie Rucker, Joy Crismon, and myself made cookies, and then we, with our husbands, caroled to everyone in the office as a thank you for all of their support this past year.





Then we had another Area Seminar with folks coming in from all over the Caribbean.  It was much less stressful than last year, since we sort of knew what we were doing.






Our friends, the Crismons, had us over for a birthday/farewell dinner.  Also in attendance, were the Ruckers, Walkers, and Haws - we will miss them all so much.

Rafael Gutierrez, our director; Yadira Matias, 
the admin. asst., and us.

Then that final week, we packed up, cleaned out, and tried to leave things in order in our office for our replacements that will be coming in February.  The folks in the office gave us a sweet going away devotional including a lovely glass plaque about our service and a darling faceless doll in the red, white, and blue for the Dominican Republic.  We had so many hugs and well wishes then and during the luncheon that followed.  We will miss them all so much.

Sweet words spoken.

Sweet gifts given.

Lunch and goodbys

Everything in the car!

We thought that we were in pretty good shape with everything, but as we weighed the bags on our scale the night before leaving, everything was a little over the 50 lbs. maximum.  We had to rearrange a few things until they came out right - how did we acquire so much "stuff"?

Okay, stand on the scale with the bag!

A last goodby!

Matt, Clay's and Bryan's families all came to meet us at the airport with a giant sign!  Everyone was cheering - it was so neat, although we did shed some tears!

Of course, we had to have a group hug with almost everyone!

Here's Matt's family - Matt, Tana, Eden, Brooke, with Rowan and Preston in front (Matt looked so good after all his cancer problems while we were gone - he even has hair!)

Clay's family - Cailey, Tana, Clay, with Faith, Lia and Kendall in front (I don't know why we don't have a picture of Bryan's family, but they were there as well!) 

 

Clay's family had darling posters that they made waiting for us in our room.

We remove our name tags after meeting with the Stake
President to release us - so weird to not have them on.

So this is the end of this adventure in our lives, but not an end to all of the lessons we have learned, the friends that we have made, or the strength that we have continually received from the Savior whose birthday we celebrate at this time.   Thank you for all of your love and support - you have no idea how much we have appreciated your sweet notes, your prayers with Matt's and Emily's health issues, and all that you bring into our lives.   Love, Los Dunford

Christmas in the Park

Since about the first of November, many workers have been preparing the park for a Christmas celebration.  The newspaper reported that there were 23 million lights on 400 trees and little miniature houses.

The iguana habitat, but we think that they've
moved them for right now.

 They built a small Bethlehem with a manger, "camels," and other features.  

Two inhabitants of Bethlehem

People exercising away at the evening workout session

There are a number of lighted displays around on the grass - Santa, angels, trains, etc.

A giant tree made from strands of
 lights running up to the top, advertising
for a local gas company

Can you see all of the little lights on the roof?

There are dozens of little houses that are covered in lights - not just around the eaves but criss-crossing the roof and everywhere. 

A former tower that we think was once a monkey cage when the park was a zoo, now is a giant Presidente beer can surrounded by two fountains.  

Santa has his own little house, although he wasn't there when we visited, complete with dozens of wrapped packages.

Here's the entrance - the kids
can put their heads in the hole
for a photo with Santa.

He wasn't there when we stopped by, but we saw
his jacket and hat.

Remember that Santa believes in you!

We were afraid that the pictures wouldn't come through well because of the difficulty to photograph lights at night, but we think that they are pretty good.

One of the new fountains

We don't know if this was supposed to be Santa's boot? 

Home Sweet Home!  We're looking forward to seeing Christmas lights back home. 

Update in the Park

As you may recall from an earlier blog post (June 2012), there's a lovely little city park just down the block from us where we often walk in the mornings.  When we first arrived, it was in such bad condition, but they have steadily been working on it, making improvements.  It is also the location of a wonderful Christmas celebration which we'll blog about next.

Here's the new entrance.  They have renamed it Parque Aberomerica, so there are all the flags of the countries in this hemisphere.  They have an iguana habitat in the base of a bridge area with five different kinds of iguanas.




In one part that used to be a parking lot, they added dozens of exercise machines, and there's even a guy there in the morning and evening leading a free exercising class with about fifty attendees.

They have made a darling children's playground with bright-colored swings and slides and cute giant animals.

They have put in beautiful three-dimensional butterfly mosaics along the base of one wall.

Instead of walking on rutted walkways, they are all paved and curbed.

While we know that this probably doesn't mean anything to you, our readers, it has been a wonderful change for us as we have walked frequently in this park in the morning.  But be sure to read the next blog which shows what they've done to make it ready by Christmas....

Senior Missionaries

This blog post is going to be mainly for us because we want to keep these folks, meaning our fellow senior missionaries, in our memory and in our blog.  This mission wouldn't have been so great without them to help us, answer questions, go on adventures with, or just generally hang out.  We've pretty much put them in as we met them through these past weeks and months...

Our first friends in the DR - Lynn and Janet Snow and Marcia and Rodney Ford.  They were such mentors and examples besides the funnest people to hang out with! Snows live in Randolph, Utah, and Fords in Bountiful.  

Darrel and Joann Hammon - former Area Welfare missionaries -
Pleasant Grove, Utah - just an amazing couple, always doing good.

Jim and Janet Schmidt - West Mission Office couple - always smiling.

Tim and Marsha Walker - Missionary doctor - Arizona

Chuck and Vickie Rucker - Area auditing - Arizona - our bestest buds.

Edith and Wallace Haws - DR Humanitarian missionaries - Arizona
We worked together on a lot of closing ceremonies, and he plays a mean ukulele.

Jill and Ray Johnson - Area Publishing Manager/ Area Legal Asst. - Park City.
They live just below us and have been so grateful to have other members/missionaries close by.

Leon and Marilyn Button - Exec. Sec. to Area Pres./ Historian - Arizona.
They have taken us to the beach for some great relaxing times.

Richard and Wendy Low - Former Area legal asst. - Calgary, Canada
They lived below us for about six months.  Great folks!

Sister Chantrill - Temple missionary - Wyoming

Pres. and Lenore Hernandez - East Mission president - Puerto Rico
They were the ones who gave us the Consuelo Branch assignment last year - great folks.

Glaziers - previous MTC president - Sandy, Utah
Such fun people - we miss them here!

Sister Munoz - PR, Sister Marie Cuenot - Paris, Temple missionaries
Sister Cuenot served a mission with my brother Bert - 

Cozanne and Curtis Mahon - Seminary and Institute - Utah
Such great people - she has been a wonderful help during some
ill times that I've had here.

Dick and MaryLou Roberts - PEF - Arizona
Their apartment was above us for 7 months before they left.
Great photographer, and she is so creative.

Kathy and Scott Rees - Area Music - Morgan, Utah
They have been such amazing missionaries, teaching piano
to dozens of folks here.

Pat and Tom Ferguson - Family Records Preservation - California
We have such interesting conversations with them - they have sailed
around the world on their boat.

Roger and Cindy Shaver - former Missionary doctor - Idaho
We did 27 Waterfalls with them (and Fords and McDermids)

Francis and Phyllis Eichbush - East Mission Office - Lindon, Utah.
He's the best banana bread baker.  Such dear folks!

Former temple presidency - Larry and Joann Bair - temple president - Vancouver, Washington
The Casanovas on their right and the Munoz' on their left - both from Puerto Rico,

Jim and Joy Crismon - Area Humanitarian missionaries;
Pleasant Grove, Utah,  great office buddies;
she's an amazing water colorist.

Garry and Janet Flake - the new temple president here, Utah

Phil and Liz Freestone, MTC president and wife -
so friendly and outgoing

Gordon and Barbara Barker - Oregon - temple missionaries
that we have enjoyed serving with.

The McIntyres - Family Records Preservation - Wichita, Kansas,
Such fun folks

Luciano and Germania Javier - Temple Missionaries - DR
Such knowledgeable folks about the Church here.

Lamar and Sarah Gray - Temple missionaries;

Always so happy and helpful

Carole Hyde and Sharon Hathaway - great temple missionaries;
Carole has been such a help to me in the Temple

Brad and Sherrie Dalton - new Records Preservation missionaries;
So helpful and just great people.

Kevin and Elaine Mortensen - East Mission Office - Utah;
Brand new; but he was one of the first missionaries here and
wrote a great history of the Church in the DR

Joe and Julie Merino - Mental Health missionaries - Denver, Colorado;
He's a marine biologist and has made shell hunting here very interesting;
Julie does a great job counseling the young missionaries.

Dennis and Diana Despain - Temple missionaries - Logan,Utah;
Great musicians and Consuelo buddies

In addition to all of these great missionaries who live/d here in the Dominican Republic, we have made some good friends with other missionaries throughout the Caribbean.

The Towers from San Diego in Antigua

Kathy and Brent Bird- St. Vincent - missionaries serving in the West Indies
 who are Public Affairs specialists for their mission -
Idaho Falls - just so enthusiastic and fun to serve with

We realize in doing this that we are missing a lot of photos from others - the Ytruraldes who were Family Records Preservations missionaries, the Kanyangas (from the Congo, but most recently Korea, with a very amazing story) who are Temple Missionaries, and the dear Larsens, who were the first guides for us, taking us to Church that first Sunday and to the fruit market and the grocery store as we tried to get stocked up.  We're sure that there are others, too, who we are forgetting right now.