Traffic

  One of the most memorable things about the DR would have to be the transportation and the way the traffic moves.  It may be beyond description, but I'm going to give it a try.  We think there may be rules, but we have not quite figured them out.  If you want to be in a lane that you are not in, you just move there, no matter what that person behind you is doing.  If you are in the left lane and want to turn right, apparently it is okay just to glide by others in the left lane (while you drive in the lane for opposing traffic) and then when at the head of the line, just turn right in front of all the other cars.  At least we saw a car do this with no dire consequences.)  The same seems to be true for turning left from the right lane.  Cars just move every which way in an intersection and traffic lights are there, but rather casually obeyed.  Lanes are rather casually considered as well

 Today we noticed parking on some streets.  Cars were parked both directions on the same side and practically nudging each other. Tried to get a picture, but couldn't.  Motorcyles of various sizes zip in and out between cars.  They don't need a whole lane after all.  Also, it is more fun if you can have two or three on it at once.  We were told one lady saw five.  The other day I saw a fellow with about 10 loaves of bakery bread on a bike.  Another had a large cardboard packing box.  Another had a large wooden palette.

  Also today we noticed buses and large vans driving along with the door open.  (One is pictured.)  That's so a paying passenger can hop in quickly as it goes down the street.  I think maybe someone pulls you in....

    On the Sunday blog you saw a horse in that little town.  Here in the big city, along with the crazy traffic, we saw this fellow wheeling his cart....

Sorry the pictures aren't better and not cropped.  Haven't yet figured out that for the blog.  Just click to get them bigger and know that we just wanted to share what we are seeing.

First Book

  We completed our first book--500 pages of birth records---nacimientos--plus the index.  So I took a picture of it to share.  We also completed another one of the same length--that was a little better put together so didn't take as long.  The binding on the first one was string, plus a pretty sturdy cover.  Those pages didn't turn very easily or lie flat, etc.

First Sunday

  Our first Sunday in the DR we attended a branch with the Yturraldes, the other filming couple.  They have been coming to this branch all the time they have been here.  He learned Spanish as a child and she has gone to Spanish branches about 17 years of their marriage and speaks Spanish (but she claims not that well).  Since Dominican Spanish is different--much faster and briefer, since they leave off some syllables and letters, it is often a challenge even for them  The people in the branch were warm and welcoming.  Here are a few of our new friends~~~

She is the Primary president and the little girl is six, about to go to first grade. She is learning to write her name.
Next is another young lady from the branch.  I think she was a little tired after three hours of church.
These two young ladies are fun and friendly.  After the meetings they were checking out facebook on an Android tablet.  They talked me into finding my page on facebook and since it shows my family, I told them all the names.  They thought it was a big family.  The one on the left will leave for a mission to Mexico City in October.  She currently leads the singing in the branch and teaches a class of young people.  They will miss her when she goes.  She is a faithful example.

 

   You can see in the following pictures the church and the views of the road from both directions~~~You will see Elder Yturralde unlocking the gate.  Notice the horse in the first picture (Click to enlarge.)

Here is another street in the town.

Next week I will get some more that show a little more of the 

real side of the town. 

I wanted to get a picture of the guy on a motorcycle with

about 10 big loaves of bakery type bread.

The other day near the beachfront we saw ladies carrying

the huge baskets on their heads--missed the picture!

Food, glorious food!

      A little of what we have noticed about the food here~~~~  It is not as inexpensive as I had hoped, but I am used to Aldi prices.  (For those unfamiliar with it, an inexpensive store near our home.)  On Wednesday afternoon you can buy produce at La Sirena (the sort of Walmart) for 35% off, but when we got there, it was quite picked over.  Another day we got this beautiful pineapple that is pictured.  Sweet and delicious!  Several different types of  bananas or plantains are available as well as some fruits we had never seen.  Now, about this carrot--THIS is a carrot!  It is shown on a dinner plate.  We have eaten four meals so far with this carrot.  Coins from it are larger than silver dollars.  It is good all the way through, not pithy like many large carrots at home.  Milk comes in a box--one liter.  Not refrigerated when you buy it, it is much better cold.  We bought a whole case at PriceSmart.  You have to wash all the produce in water with bleach in it--or, I learned the other day, with vinegar water.  I quite liked the romaine lettuce that I had washed in the vinegar water.  Yesterday Earl made chocolate chip cookies.  Dominican flour is also a little different, but they tasted good.  We were just glad to be able to get chocolate chips here, because you can't in Peru and some other countries.  We can also get brown sugar here.  I am amazed at the different American brands available here--Shurfine, Hellman's, Kraft, Revlon, Dawn, Knott's (jam), Oreos.  The Oreos are a little different--but since I always buy the house brand at home, it didn't really bother me.  Now, for the pictures:

I have discovered that positioning pictures is not totally under my control, so what it is, it is.

Coming to the DR

     We stayed in Salt Lake to make the departure a little easier.  After lots of hugs and kisses from grandchildren, we hurried to sleep so we could arise at 3 to get our shuttle.  When we arrived at the airport, we were with MANY young missionaries departing for various places, including the Mexico City MTC before going to Chile. Our flights were good, stopping in Dallas, Miami and then Santo Domingo. All on time!  The Buttons met us at the airport and brought us to the nice apartment that they had arranged for us.  Another missionary couple had lived in it before us.
                                                         Our living room and dining room

Come for dinner!

                                                                                                                                                         

Nicer than we expected!

  The next morning the Buttons fixed breakfast at their place for us and it included fabulous pineapple and cantaloupe.  Then we picked up another couple and went to the beach that the senior couples like about 40 minutes away.  It was snorkel time!

             

Yes, here we are really out in the beautiful Caribe!  What a way to start a mission!

Our building has this cart you can load your shopping items into so you can bring them up to your apartment.  In the back to the left is our door.  Look at the picture on the wall--a dramatic use for spray cans!

Surprise!

   After an exciting surprise when Tiffany and Mark and the boys arrived the day we were to go to Salt Lake to be ready to depart at 4 the next morning for our flight on Tuesday, we spent the fun afternoon and evening that made the day more of a party than it might have been.  Meredith had been an amazing secret keeper!
We thought they were coming next week for a wedding, so I was shocked to see two darling boys walk in with their cousin!    Taco Rio for dinner was part of the "fiesta."

Training

     Even though we are already in the DR, I want to show you a little about our training in Salt Lake, starting July 8.  Monday through Thursday we rode the "Frontrunner" train from Thanksgiving Point up to the Church Office Building in SL.  We took the Trax the last part of that journey.  It all made the trips much easier and we didn't have to be in a traffic hassle.  When we arrived, we went to a little room with three other couples and our trainer.  There we learned to use this amazing system.  You think it is easy to take a picture, but these have to be perfectly focused and the "grayscale" regulated.  There are different settings for single papers, books, big books, etc.  Here is a picture of what the system looks like.  Usually, those spotlights would be on, but he had just turned them off.

As you can see, it is all connected to the computer and to a "shuttle" that record the images and then the shuttle is sent in to Utah for inspection.  If it passes the quality test, the information will eventually be available at familysearch.org for those who are interested in viewing it to get family history info.

Here we have our trainer and the couples who were learning the process.  The couple on the left will go to D.C. to capture the images at the National Archives of Civil War widows' pensions and the middle couple are going to Peru to Cuzco.  They have lived in Peru before and have shared our visa problems.  At present, there are about 200 cameras around the world, some operated by missionaries and some by people contracted to do the work.  One of the great benefits of training there was that we were able to eat in the beautiful 26th floor dining room (while the regular cafeteria is being remodeled).  We had a spectacular view of the city while we ate, delicious food and wonderful piano music played by a gentleman.  I'll include a photo from the observation deck just outside.

Missionary Training Center!

     We showed you our tutor who has patiently worked with us.  Now we will show you the two teachers we had in the MTC for our daily learning.  Bro. Murphy was with our group of four couples in the mornings and Sister Russon was with us in the afternoon.  Have to admit, we had a good time and both teachers survived the teasing.  She is engaged to another teacher there and he is at the "holding hands" stage with another teacher there.  Both were helpful and yet challenging.  They didn't mind taking us out of our comfort zones.  We learned about getting to know people and understand their lives and being able to share the message of Jesus Christ.

                                               

   We enjoyed getting to know the other couples in our group.  One will go to Nauvoo to take care of the animals there and drive the wagons with horses.  He is a vet from Canada.  Another couple will go to Arizona and the other will go to Chile with lots of adventure ahead.  (By the way, they are in jumbled order here, but I haven't quite mastered control of this blog yet.)
   The messages through the week were inspirational and motivational.  We heard some absolutely beautiful music.  The MTC presidency spoke the first day.  It was so fun to see the Hackings, who had been over our mission a few years ago.  She had wondered for a while where we were because she had seen our names on the list earlier this year.  Attending two devotionals in the Marriott center and being among 3400 missionaries was quite the experience!  These young people are enthusiastic, polite, sharp in appearance and eager to learn--at least most of the ones we talked to were.  We saw Tan Nguyen--some of you will know him--the first day we were there, which turned out to be the day he was leaving to go to Cambodia.  He said they told him after just over two weeks that he could speak the language well enough and didn't need to stay for the nine weeks it usually takes for that language!
     Here you will see a small chunk of the host of missionaries walking from the Marriott Center back to the MTC.

     Eating with all the missionaries in the cafeteria was fun.  We talked to many of the other couples and to some of the young ones--who were willing to follow the instruction to let the older people go ahead of them in line.  Can't even imagine fixing 10,000 meals  day or whatever it is!  It is efficiently done and the food was very good, I thought.  In fact too good!
     107 senior missionaries were there for the week.  One single sister was going to Hawaii.  Among the places people were going were Chile, Nauvoo, Arizona, Ohio, Nebraska, Liberia, London, Bulgaria, Peru, Washington, D.C., Texas--Houston, Oregon, and others I may remember later.
     I think my most emotional moment came at the Mission Conference on Sunday as we were sitting near the front in the auditorium and stood to sing the intermediate song.  Earl nudged me to turn and look in back of us.  A "sea" of about 2000 young people, young men in dark suits and ties and young women in modest, but colorful attire, were energetically singing the hymn and it was very impressive!  Tears came to my eyes.
    Earl is pointing out on the world map where we will be going-----

  The next post will tell about our week in Salt Lake learning about the cameras!

Our favorite tutor!

     Since September we have been blessed with a tutor from the Missionary Training Center to teach us Spanish (or in Earl's case, improve his).  We are officially his longest students since we kept having lessons as we kept being delayed.  Last fall the Handsome Hector Jimenez married the Lovely Isabel and last week we were able to take them to dinner and to meet Isabel.  What a delightful evening!  He is from Mexico and he told me at the start that after I really learned Spanish I would only want to speak Spanish.  I haven't quite reached that level yet.  He also encouraged us to believe that it would be very handy when we get to Heaven because Spanish is the celestial language!