Our Trip Back to the States

Yes, we have just spent ten days back in the States.  With Matt's stem cell transplant therapy, he needed someone to be with him 24/7, so that he could stay in an apartment near the hospital in Indianapolis instead of staying in the hospital which would be so much more expensive.  Each of our other four sons  took a few days stint with him after Tana's spending the first 8 days.  But, with school starting again, etc. there was the need for Rob to come and spend 10 days.  And, with Brittany having a baby boy on July 11th, there was a need for me to help her as well.  So Bryan took over for the beginning of the next round, replaced by Rob, then Clay, and finally sweet Heather who missed the first day of school for her kids in order to be with Matt. This has been such a touching experience for all of us.

As I think we've mentioned before, there is much more "wiggle room" for Senior Missionaries to return home when there is a family need.  So with the approval of the Area Presidency, we headed back to the States.  It's been a little surreal to be back - we were able to do work via the computer, but it was still strange.

Rob, Bryan, and Matt when Rob arrived to take over his turn.

Clay coming to replace Rob

Heather and Matt just before he was able to leave to come home

Rob was so glad to have been able to spend this time with Matt.  Matt has been really sick this time (well, he's sick all of the time, but it's been harder these past week).  Fortunately, Matt's tumors have shrunk somewhat, so that is a sign that the cancer is being wiped out.  I have so much admiration for Matt - he remains upbeat and positive during this extremely difficult time - we are so grateful to the Lord for blessing and sustaining him.

He headed back home today where he will recover over the next month or so before returning to have surgery to remove the tumors that are not affected by chemo and will need to be removed.

And I had a delightful time with Brittany and baby Robbie. Brittany is such a good mom and has everything so well organized.  She is just amazing!   Clara is really helpful, and they are so happy.  I was so grateful to be able to lend some help - a very little I'm afraid.

 Isn't he a cutie?  He looks just like a Weiler!

Wish you could have seen him better in these photos!

But now, it's back to the sunny island of the Dominican Republic!  By the way, when we landed and took the drive home from the airport, it really felt like we were coming home (not permanently, of course!)

Our New Apartemente

I don't know if I mentioned right after we moved here, but the folks making the arrangements for our apartment misunderstood the Church's guidelines for senior missionaries: the couple is responsible for up to $1400 for rent and utitlities, and anything over that will be covered by the Church.  This is a great policy to help those serving in NYC or London for instance, where it can be very expensive to live.  Well, the people in our office thought that the Church would cover up to $1400, and the missionary couple would cover the rest.  Needless to say, even though we have had a nice apartment (although lacking screens :-), it was $1200 a month plus utilities which was ridiculous and more than we wanted to pay.

So after five months, they were able to cancel the original lease, and we went apartment hunting.  After looking at 8 or so, we settled on a nice one for $800 a month about five minutes closer to our work.  We are now on the 7th floor and have a lovely view of the ocean.  It is smaller than our previous one and about fifteen years older, but plenty big for us.  We have had to work out a few leaking faucet issues, but, overall, this is going to be great.  Here are some photos:

 View outside one of our windows

Another view

 Some of the other apartments around us.

Our living room - I love the old fashioned furniture.

This is a fun painting that we bought -
it's called a Haitian Primitive and shows villagers harvesting their crops.. 

 Our little office area - there are French doors that can be closed.

 

 Our kitchen.  The great fridge is behind me - large and cold

(unlike our old apartment)

 Our bedroom

 The Maid's quarters - all apartments here have them, consisting of a room big enough for a bed and a little bathroom with a shower.  (We are storing stuff here, but just know that there's a place for you if you want to come wait on us :-)...

 Our dining room

 One of the paintings that came with the apartment -

it's a pretty fishing scene from Samana where we saw the whales (see March)

 A washer and dryer (which actually has knobs that work and doesn't just cook everything.  There are clotheslines in here as well.  There is only a metal gate to the outside from here,

so eveyrthing dries very quickly.

We can still see the Temple spire from here - we're just farther west than we were before

on the other side of the park which I showed you earlier.

Frustrations

I think that I may have been doing all of you a disservice to only have been sharing the interesting things that we have been doing and not the nitty-gritty of our daily lives.  So this post will, hopefully, change that. 

Our Schedule

First, here is pretty much our daily schedule:

· 6:00 AM: Arise/ exercise in apartment or walking in the park across the street

· 6:45 AM: Shower

· 7:15 AM: Eat

· 7:30 AM: Study the scriptures and Spanish

· 8:15 AM: Cleanup

· 8:30 AM: Leave for the office

· 9:00 AM: Begin workday

· 4:30 PM: Leave for home (actually seldom this early) Two afternoons a week, when I

can, I attend a Spanish class with other senior missionaries from 4 until 5:30 pm.

On Saturdays, I wash clothes, Rob sweeps the apartment, and then I wash the tile (which is the flooring throughout the apartment) with a string mop (which isn’t very effective).  We do our grocery shopping, and sometimes I do a little cooking to get ahead of things.  I dust and do the bathrooms, etc.  Many Saturdays, like today, we have meetings to attend in the afternoon, and so that doesn’t give us a lot of free time. Sundays, we have church all morning in the little congregation outside the city which is an hour drive each way.  Some Sunday afternoons, we also have Public Affairs council meetings. This makes for a pretty full week.  On Monday nights, we get together with other Senior Missionaries.  The other nights depend on things we need to finish up for work or other things.

The Mosquitoes

There are not screens on the windows of apartments here, and we only have a little wall air conditioner in our bedroom.  We have to open the apartment when we get home from work – the breezes help a little, and we run a floor fan in a room where we are eating or working.  So this makes an open invitation for mosquitoes (who like me more that Rob).  These things have helped, but not eliminated the problem, but we are living with it.

Yes, this is a mosquito net which works quite well, unless one gets underneath 

which happens occasionally in spite of our best efforts. 

 On the right is a bottle of special ingredients which help reduce the itching.  It really works, but I recently dropped it on the tile floor and it broke into smithereens:-)

On the left is a bottle of repellent with all natural ingredients - it doesn't last a long time, but it works well. 

Food Preparation

We generally have to do food shopping at least twice a week because the fruit and vegetables (especially lettuce) don’t keep more than a few days.  And the actual prep takes time to cut everything up or peel it (no little ready-to-go baby carrots here). Also, all fruits and vegetables need to be washed in Clorox sprinkled into water, and that’s just one more thing. It’s not a big deal, but it takes time.

Here's a water bottle that we have refilled with drinkable water, and my trusty Clorox bottle which I put in the smaller container on my counter to pour into the sink when needed..

Language

Even though I now can sort of carry on a short conversation with someone, I just get totally lost in Church or office meetings.  Rob would translate the whole time for me, but then that’s disturbing to those around us.  I’m working on it, but it has left me in tears sometimes. Someone told me that you can have more problems learning another language when you’re older, and I believe it. However, things are getting better!

Culture

I love the folks here – they are some of the sweetest folks I have ever met.  But they do things just a bit differently.  Meetings often begin ten or fifteen minutes late because no one gets there on time.  On Thursday, I stayed home from the office because a repairman was coming to repair our air conditioner which wasn’t cooling.  He was supposed to be here between 10 and 10:30.  He arrived about 11:45.  After checking everything out, he told me that he would need to get a breaker and replacement electronic board and would be back right after lunch.  He and his helper returned about 3 to complete the job.  Granted, our bedroom has been nice and cool now, but it was a long frustrating day.  

We are moving into a new apartment and the contract was supposed to be closed on July 1st.  When I checked with the girl in the office on Monday, she said, "Oh maybe next week - Monday or Tuesday."  When Rob talked to her yesterday to confirm one of those days, so we could start packing, she said, "Oh you really are serious?  Okay, well, I'll start working on it." (which means it will be three or four more days) So we'll see when it's finally closed...  

Public Toilets

This is something that would only frustrate a woman (or a man with diarrhea).  The public bathrooms typically do not have toilet seats.  So it makes it a little interesting going to the bathroom:-)  In addition, when they do have toilet paper, you don’t put it down the toilet but into a wastebasket next to the toilet.  I guess it’s because of plumbing problems, but sometimes that little basket full of used toilet paper is just a little gross… (No photo here, for lots of reasons!)

The GPS

This little gadget has been such a lifesaver for us.  We had many sites already loaded on it by another senior missionary, so we can generally get to Church buildings, well known sight-seeing attractions, and shopping places.  But sometimes it just doesn’t get it right.  Especially because so many streets are one-way, and we can’t turn around.  Earlier this week, we went back to visit the home that was being improved by the Book Fair pavilion materials (see earlier blog).  It is in a little scary part of town, and last time we had followed the owner to know how to get there.  Then we put the site into the GPS.  Well, as we went to return to the house, the GPS sent us into a cemetery (more on this one next time) where we wandered down streets of mausoleums until turning around, back tracking, and then going down a dirt street that just looked slightly familiar and finally led us to where we needed to be.  But I was a little nervous as folks just stood there on the street corners staring as our nice car traversed down their poor little village streets.

The Internet

We use a little contraption called a “flybox” here which is a plug-in internet box.  We can plug it in anywhere here, so we can take it with us if we are going to be somewhere without internet connection.  It is very reasonable – under $50 a month – which is great, but sometimes it runs so slowly that I feel I’m back with a dial-up connection.  Still I am grateful for it.

54 is the best that it gets, but sometimes it's 19..

In Conclusion

In rereading this post, I feel that I must sound like a whiner, and, please believe me, there are many more positives than negatives!  I just didn’t want you to get the impression that this has just been one long week in paradise.  Obviously, none of these things are a big deal, but they can mount up and just send me nearly into tears – I feel like such a big baby.  I had thought that going on a mission as an older person would be so easy.  I would know my companion and have learned to work with him, and my years of “experience” would make me be able to handle anything.  This has caused me to spend more time on bended knees asking my Heavenly Father to help me, and this alone has blessed me greatly.  Will I survive?  Well, at least for another week :-)

We Visit Food Again

One of the other senior missionaries told me that she doesn't think of the seasons here by spring, summer, fall, and winter, but, instead, by pineapple season, avocado season, mango season, etc.  So every month or so, we either see on the street or in the grocery store a new fruit.  Here are some of the recent ones.

Dragon Fruit

This bright fuchsia fruit is about the size a a large softball with little fuchsia “leaves” on the outside.  I tried to peel them off, but that was too hard.  So I cut the fruit in half and found this wonderful taste treat  – sort of like a smooth watermelon with little seeds sort of the size of poppy seeds.  I can’t really describe the taste, but it was quite good, and such a fun experience.

 Mangoes again

I had no idea that there were so many kinds of mangoes.  For the first couple of months, all the mangoes were about the size of a large pear and turned gold when they were ripe.  Now, he mangoes are about twice as large and either green or red when they are ripe.  They are delicious and I just blend them with cold water and ice for breakfast.  Rob likes adding some vanilla yogurt to his.  – I love mangoes.

Mamey

This fruit is really interesting.  The skin is kind of tan and about the feel of a kiwi.  They remind me of a cooked yam when you scoop out the insides.  But they taste sort of like a mango but much sweeter.  I have to dilute them more in a drink or a smoothy.   But the fruit salesman has to cut a little piece of the skin off to determine if the fruit is ripe.  If it is ripe, it will be pinkish orange – if not, they are green inside.  . So when you are stopped to wait for a light and the street sellers come to try to get you to buy their fruit, they will show you’re the slits in the mamey fruit.  At first, I couldn't figure out why there were these little cut-outs until I read about them.  

*****


Caribbean Butternut Squash and Sweet Corn Stew
Serves: 6          Prep: 15 min. Cook: 25 min.

This is one of our favorite recipes that we have about every other week.  I’m including the recipe here, in case you feel like being a little Dominican some night.  It is just a wonderful, flavorful vegetable soup. 

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 onion, sliced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

I large carrot, peeled and cut into small pieces

1 butternut squash, (1½ lb), peeled and cut into ½ - 1 “ cubes

1 red pepper, seeded and sliced

1 bay leaf

1 can chopped tomatoes

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed (I've also added garbanzo beans instead which are good)

1 can sweet corn kernels, drained

1 ¼ c. broth (I just use water and then add 2 T. powdered chicken broth)

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, or to taste - I keep forgetting to buy this

1 tsp Tabasco sauce, or to taste- ditto above

1 tbsp sugar

1 T. balsamic vinegar

Chopped parsley to garnish

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the onion, garlic, carrot, butternut squash, red pepper and bay leaf. Stir well, then cover the pan and allow the vegetables to sweat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add the tomatoes with their juice, the black-eyed beans and sweet corn, and stir to mix. Add the stock, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, sugar and vinegar and stir again. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until the squash is tender.  Sprinkle the parsley over the stew and serve at once.

Some more ideas (haven’t tried these yet)

For an Indian stew, soften the sliced onion and garlic in the olive oil for 2–3 minutes, and then stir in 2 tbsp medium balti paste. Add the butternut squash with 5½ oz. thickly sliced baby corn. Cover and cook for 5–6 minutes. Replace the black-eyed beans with borlotti beans, adding them with the canned tomatoes and stock (omit the sweet corn). Garnish with 2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander instead of parsley, and serve with boiled jasmine rice or warm naan bread.

Down to the River

We were intrigued when the missionaries who work in the little town where we have been assigned on Sunday told us that there was going to be a baptism in a local river. Usually baptisms are held in a font built just for that purpose in our meeting houses, in a local swimming pool, or in a sort of portable font that is used in many parts of the world.   However, those choices weren't available this time.   A sweet man from Haiti, and a young brother and sister were going to be baptized.  (In our church, we believe that children should be at least 8 in order to be responsible for their actions before being baptized).  So we happily agreed to go out to the town on a Saturday afternoon to participate.

There is a fairly large river that runs through the town, but we were told it was too dirty 

and not private enough for a baptism.  I still thought it was a pretty river.

So we were directed several miles farther down a little dirt road.  We climbed down 

a pretty steep vine-covered little path, which reminded me a little of the movie Romancing the Stone.

through kind of a jungle forest to the little spot where a stream had backed up 

forming a pool that was deep enough for baptisms.  

Unfortunately, for those of us on the banks trying to keep the mosquitoes at bay 

with small tree branches, it wasn't the most spiritual experience. 

Elder Morris with Anul

But it was a sweet baptism and memorable to see a river baptism 

which doesn't happen very much anymore.   

(And I think that the chiggers who gave me with about 30 bites around my ankles 

must have had a great dinner that night!)

Just a Walk in the Park

One of the nice things that we do a number of mornings in the week is to go over to a park just across the street around 6:15 to go walking.  This park used to be a zoo and I can’t find out why it was closed – perhaps it was too small.  Anyway, there are a lot of walking trails and wonderful trees growing. There are guards here, so it's perfectly safe for me when I have come walking alone in the morning.

  

These lovely little bushes are all over - so pretty.

They are adding new curbing - this is some of the debris that they cleaning up.

 Remember the old house plant the philodendron.  Well, there is a giant 

philodendron plant growing up this tree.

A fountain that they are updating.

Look at the size of these leaves - magnolia - the

national tree.

A funky table and chairs.

We don't know what animals were here, but can you see the beautiful tree in the background?

It's called a flamboyant tree = perfect name, huh?

Here is a closeup of the blossoms.

When they fall, they also are pretty on the ground.

 A very unusual tree.

Can you see that there are sort of roots hanging down from the branches?

It is called the Caucho tree and is from India.

Rob's "hiding" in the vines of the tree.