Heather Comes to Visit

Heather arrives at the airport.

Our oldest daughter Heather's sister-in-law told her about how much fun she had when she went to visit her parents when they were serving a Senior Mission in Samoa and has encouraged her to come visit us.  Her great husband John happily encouraged her to come and watched their five children while she came over Mother's Day weekend (and, by the way, you know how crazy May is, so for John to handle the kids and all the end-of-school activities in Heather's absence was just amazing!)  Anyway, this blog post is mainly photos of what we saw and did.  So much fun!  And it was true that visiting your parents' on their mission all by yourself is a great idea!

We went straight from the airport to the Barcelo, an all-inclusive
resort , to pamper  her for  three days.

The main promenade of the Barcelo.

The main promenade with its best feature standing in front.

The food was great, but the best part was the conversation.

Oh, what to choose...

Passion fruit, or chinola, as it is called here, with watermelon and pineapple.

The beaches weren't crowded at all.

Although storms may have threatened in the evening, they were soon gone.

One really happy Dad with his beautiful Daughter

Two beauties to spend nearly a week with!

No missionary clothes or tags here.

Heather enjoyed some private time on the beach.

Nothing was rushed, especially not the meals.

The best mission companion is the one you have chosen for eternity,
as well as for time.

One of our major objectives:  shells! Can you tell that someone
has gotten her pants wet?  

'Though not obvious here, there were plenty of them.

In the Colonial Zone,  visited the home of
Diego Columbus, son of Christopher, built in 1511.

Horse and rider, frozen in time.

Dining room from the period.

Heather looks pretty regal in the
Countess' gown, don't you think?

A former cathedral of famous forefathers.

A ride we didn't take.

This sundial can be read from two sides,
morning and  afternoon.

Yes, Christopher Columbus really founded this town,
the first city of the New World, Santo Domingo. 

Statue to the Admiral of the Seas, Columbus.

These yellow steps lead to a fun gift shop that always gives
us and our guests great deals.

In front of a fun restaurant, El Conuco.

          El Conuco features authentic Dominican
music as well as good food...

...and dancing with performers.                                        

A great time was had by all.

A visit to the Santo Domingo Temple of
 the Church was short but  sweet. 

So lucky to be together, even for a short time.

A Sunday visit to our small branch of the Church
in Consuelo was fun.

Rob made fixin's for meals on Mother's Day,
 Heather's first with her mother in  20 years.

A French pastry shop in Santo Domingo didn't escape us.

Visiting the Area Offices of the Church in the Caribbean
where we perform much of our labor.

The arch-typical missionay shot,
 "This is where we are serving."  

The office folks were surprised to see
 us in our "civvies" for the first time.                        

The skies and the water are really this blue.

This beach to the west was rocky, but provided
a great quantity of conch shells.

Heather enjoyed some good snorkeling for the first time.

Not very many mothers can wear their
13 yr-old  daughter's swim suit.

A beautiful girl on a beautiful beach...

...with her beautiful mother...

...and sleepy father.

Some of the sea urchins found by Heather

Jill is surely one of the most beautiful women in the whole world.

This guy leaves something to be desired, but it's O.K.
(Hey, don't believe him -  no way - more than okay!)

Happy to be together a a Family Home Evening at the close of our trip.  Thank you for coming, Heather!

Book Fair 2013 Part II

These large three-dimensional signs were in different places around the  fair.

Here we are gracing the outside.

This quote welcomed the attendees.

Los Valores de Familiares or Gallery of Family Values is the theme for our book fair this year.  Rafael had hired a photographer to take pictures of different members of the Church interacting with their families and then titled the pictures.  The messages were so clever and eye-catching. 


 It was fun for us to recognize many of the folks in the pictures because of working with them this past year.

Folks walking through the gallery

Teo Veras, a station director for a major Dominican radio station.

As you can see, the booth was set up as an art gallery with a special room to be used for speakers who came and spoke on the theme of one of the posters that was hanging.  Our speakers included Padre Vargas, the head of the Catholic church here in the DR, a famous newsperson, etc.  They were great speakers, addressing different groups that had been invited to attend.  After filming the speaker and then interviewing him or her, Rob was in charge of editing the film and putting the finished product up on our website prensamormona.do.  So it has been a little crazy again, but nothing like last year.

Here are some of the posters.  These are not the actual hanging images which were hard to film because of the lights, but you get the idea.  We've put the words in English under each picture (although some don't have quite the impact when translated... ) 

Create your best self - Your life will be a perfect work if
you let each stroke do the Grand Master. (Matthew 548)

Loose lips sink ships. If you are tempted to say
something hurtful, do not say anything.

Need a little support? Do not stay in the air and lean on your
parents, because marriage is the foundation of a happy family

Put your home on a firm foundation  Building a
happy home is not a child's play.

There are many badges to recognize your
merit but none more valuable than the kiss
of a proud mother to a dutiful son.

Your family is not a product It cannot be
purchased at the corner store, but requires
paying a price of love,
patience and faith to hold it together.

Cooperation is needed everywhere. If you are always
looking out for yourself, you won't get very far.

Always connected? Turn it off a bit so you
can connect with those who matter most.

Everyone loved going through our booth. We ended up with 45,000 people going through it in just ten days.  It was incredible.  Values aren't taught in the schools, so these messages were very important

Book Fair 2013 Part I

Last year, just as we arrived here, the 18th of February, our department began working on the Book Fair which began the middle of April.  It was such a difficult experience because Jill didn't know the language, and there was so much pressure because everything was starting so late.  We said to ourselves that we just couldn't do that another time.  We thought that because we had been given the assignment to train public affairs directors in the districts (small areas of Church members), we would not be involved.  In addition, the assignment responsibility focus had moved from our Area department to the national public affairs directors of the Dominican Republic.  Or so we thought...

Our first clue to involvement was when we were asked if we would open again every morning like we did last year.  Opening involved going over to the park around 7:15, getting the keys from the night guard, making sure that the booth was cleaned up, waiting for the volunteers assigned for the day, and then training them.  Sometimes, the booth was not clean or things needed to be fixed, or not all the volunteers came, and we had to scramble to find others, including local missionaries.   It was a hectic time.  So we were hesitant to say "yes" when Rafael, our boss, had told us that we shouldn't be involved and should let the local councils run it.  We agreed to open on Sunday mornings.

Here's the President and his wife in gold and others.

Next, the afternoon of the official launching of the whole Book Fair, Rafael gave us the invitation to that event and asked us to attend that night.  It turned out to be a very fun evening.  It was held in a large auditorium on the grounds where the fair is held.  We sat behind and met the Ambassador from Mexico, the Catholic Apostolic Nuncio to this country- Mons. Józef Wesolowski , and the UN Ambassador.

Here's the official ribbon cutting.  The President of Equador
is to the right of President Medina.

We didn't realize that the President of the Dominican Republic, his wife The First Lady, and the President of Equador would be attending.  (Equador was an honored country this year - but I don't know why).  The short program talked about the fair's history - this was 16th year.  Several writers and poets were honored (after all, it is a book fair!).  And then the dignitaries cut a ribbon that was stretched across the stage.  As they left, they went down our aisle, shaking hands with those nearby.  Since we were right on the aisle, we shook all three of their hands - cool, huh?

Here's the group gathered for the introductory program. 

Jill and Rafael's secretary

Here are the youth who presented the theme
at the launching ceremonty

All the important folks lined up before the ribbon cutting.

The next evening was our launching, and everything went like clockwork.  The weather was perfect and their were many opinion leaders who attended.

Here's the link to Jill's u-tube videos, so you can see the invitation that was sent out and the little gift  that folks received that night as a favor.  The same woman, a member of the Church here, makes these amazing creations for around $5 each- she did 70 of these!  It makes you want to give a party or something just to send one to your friends!

http://youtu.be/R-lyk2ZHLH8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhonJIEsPN4&feature=youtu.be

We're saving the details for the next post, so hang in there...

Visiting Aruba and Curaçao

As part of our assignment to train public affairs directors in the Districts, we visited Aruba and Curaçao the same day that Clay and his family left.  These two islands, which are part of the ABC islands (including Bonaire) as they are often called, are off the coast of Venezuela, but still part of our area.  They are famous vacation spots.  The folks there are largely of Dutch descent, but many have moved there from the Dominican Republic, so they speak Spanish. In addition, the folks largely speak Papiamentu, which is a mixture, sort of like Creole is to French in Haiti.  Rob could understand much of what they were saying, but I couldn’t. 

We first had to travel through Curaçao to get to Aruba.  In spite of the lovely airport, there was still the issue of just walking across the tarmac to get to the plane.  

 I love the sign on the girder that indicates to stand clear because it could move at any time.  They directed us right by it and then on out to the plane.  We all look like such a bedraggled group...

This is the building in Oranjestad, Aruba    

The members of the Church on these islands were so sweet.  We attended over our Church’s General Conference weekend, so there were meetings broadcast from Salt Lake City both days starting at noon their time, so we met with their leaders in the morning.  Both days, we were invited to join them for lunch around 2 between meetings.  Just as rice is the basis for lunches here, our plates were piled high with rice (in spite of our asking for less) and then “garnished” with a little meat and salad.  It was fun just being with them.  Many people also speak English, more than in the DR because tourism is the main industry on those islands.  

We really just flew in and out of Aruba, but we had some time on Sunday afternoon and evening and Monday morning to take some pictures in Curaçao.  

This is Punda seen from across the inlet

Here is is at night - just beautiful

 They paint the buildings in very bright colors, and with the European architecture they are so pretty. The capital Willemstad is separated into two parts, Punda and Otrobanda, by an inlet from the ocean. 

This is looking at Otrobanda.

One of these brightly colored buildings ...

Here's the ferry that travels betrween the two sides

Here the bridge is up against the dock.

Here ii is stretched across to the other side.   

Although farther inland there is a bridge, in the city, you can travel between them via a ferry boat or by Queen Anne Bridge, an amazing moving bridge - a long pontoon bridge - built in the late 1880’s.  It moves to the side to allow boats to move up into the city, but then quickly slips back to serve as a large foot bridge for people, especially tourists, to visit both parts of town.  There are propellers along the sides of the bridge which allows it to move parallel to the dock in just minutes, and then move back across the water again just as quickly.  Apparently, it was originally a toll bridge – you didn’t have to pay  the toll if you had no shoes…

This was a tall ship that left while we were looking another direction - it must have an engine, too.

This was the entrance to an older, restored part of town. 

Here we are with a couple of new friends!

Even though our visit was short, we loved Curaçao and would love to return there again as just tourists.