Driving the Hinkley's

28 October 2009

At about 6:00PM we went downstairs and met Elder and Sister Hinkley and drove them over to the institute to meet with the youth there. I had asked him on Monday and he was so kind to make time tonight. He and his wife both were very tired yet they were willing to do that for the youth. There were no classes at the school today so we were concerned that there might not be many youth present tonight. There were about 70 or 80 youth that came which was wonderful. Many had come in their Sunday best. Elder and Sister Hinkley were given a tour by Bro. Amparo, the institute director and then he spoke for a few minutes and answered questions. One question touched us. One student asked what it was like growing up the son of a prophet. Elder Hinkley’s response was so insightful. He said that he believes his life was no different than any other young man who grew up in a home where the parents loved each other and lived the gospel. What hope that gave to the youth. He spoke to them about using institute to find eternal companions and shared a story of their oldest son who graduated from the University of Utah unmarried and then went to Arizona to school. He was in the institute there and was seated across from a young woman who he said is now Sister Hinkley. He also encouraged them to stay faithful and strong attending their Sacrament meetings and having strong families. He commented on the need of the church for sister missionaries and said all are welcome. They are not expected to serve but if they feel a need to serve, they should talk to their bishop. He asked how many had served missions and there was about a quarter of the group who had. He then asked how many planned to go and another large number of hands went up. He then asked how many planned to serve with their spouses later in life and most raised their hands. He asked Sherrie and I to stand and encouraged them to serve as senior couples like us. Elder Amparo was the translator and did a wonderful job. It was hard getting back to the car. The youth wanted to have pictures with them and shake his hand. The traffic was heavy on the way home so we had a chance to visit. I asked about the missionary committee that Elder Hinkley is part of which oversees all of the missionary work. He said Elder Perry is the member of the quorum of the 12 to whom he reports and has a hard time responding to all of his emails. He had one come to him while he was on the car on his Blackberry that he had to respond to. With divine intervention, we returned home without incident. It was such a special experience to have that time with them.

Family home evening-Elder Hinkley

27 October 2009

Last night we had a special opportunity to have Elder and Sister Hinkley speak to us at our family home evening group. There are about 18 -20 couples here serving in various capacities from the area presidency office to missionaries like ourselves. He and his wife are here on a mission tour with the East mission and with the MTC in our building. They are staying in our building in Eld and Sister Roberts apartment who were gracious enough to move out for a week. Elder Hinkley spoke of his father and other things. I asked a question when given the opportunity, about the inspiration that was part of building the temple here and making it so large. He did not make any specific mention of anything unique but did ask Pres. Harris to comment as well as Elder Coleman who was also in attendance along with their wives. Pres. Harris indicated that the temple was built here because of the fact that the Dominican Republic has more membership and is more central to the saints coming from other countries. He stated that the Saints from Haiti can get into and out of the DR with ease but if the temple had been built in Puerto Rico, they could not have gained entrance. He said that when Elder Eyring was here for the dedication he called it the “Jewel of the Caribbean”. It is truly that! Elder Coleman commented that within the last few months, Cuba had been added to this area. He stated there is currently a branch of the church in Havana and one military branch. He said that they are currently applying for licenses through the state department to allow the church as a foreign corporation to be in Cuba. He did not know how long that may take but things are in motion in that direction. When Cuba opens up, I believe the people there will be very hungry for the gospel and may very well keep this temple busy all of the time!

Elder Hinkley also commented on the growth of the missionary effort in the church. He said this year we will see an increase in baptisms in the US of about 18%. This is the first time in a long time that the missionary efforts in the US have had a positive growth. He was asked why and stated he thought it might be due to a number of reasons. One was that the missionary committee felt that the membership in the US was finally putting into practice the direction of having the bishop take charge of the missionary effort and involve the members effectively. The other reason is his thought that the economic downturn may have humbled more people and has turned more toward thinking of spiritual things. I believe that to be true since his father said that would happen as we progress through these last days.

He shared a story of his father and commented on all of the things his father had accomplished and for which he is known. He has been passionate about building temples all over the world and started the Perpetual Education Fund. He has influenced the development of the missionary program to place emphasis on both baptisms and convert retention. He has accomplished so very much but when he was asked to perform the sealing of his last grandchild in the Salt Lake Temple, he paused in his comments during the sealing and stated that of all that he had done, sealing all of his children and grandchildren in the temple was perhaps his greatest achievement. I felt that was a tender and choice perspective placed on what is important.

This is one of the most beautiful temples of the church. It is also one of the largest. It has two sets of endowment rooms so it can accommodate a large number of people. It is used only a fraction of what it is capable of holding. I believe that with the opening up of Cuba and the increased missionary efforts in the Caribbean area, it will be in great demand in the not too distant future. The crowning jewel of the temple is the people that attend. The Dominican people are such warm and genuine and humble people. They are so kind and forgiving and generous. The light in their eyes shines brighter than the Caribbean sun. We love them all already.

This is a view of the outside of our apartment building. It is a beautiful building and is on the temple grounds as you can see the temple in the back ground. It has security 24 hours a day so walking in the morning is very safe. The apartment building is a multi purpose building with the Missionary Training Center on the fourth floor. The first floor has space for the temple president's apartment and the office for the Family History Center and the Distribution Center as well as a cafeteria for the MTC. The other floors are apartments for patrons who travel long distances to attend the temple and need an inexpensive place to stay. Most are like hotel rooms while some are like ours for temple missionaries and others like us.

We have been blessed with a car but at this point, it is a mixed blessing. To drive in the Dominican Republic is an act of extreme courage or a death wish. We have need of the car since the institute building is about 3 miles away and we have to attend a branch on Sunday about an hour away to the west. The roads are paved and fairly good except for the missing man hole covers which people have stolen to sell for scrap. One has to be attentive. Night driving gets to be even more of a challenge!

We have a very nice kitchen which came almost fully appointed. We have been so spoiled by the wonderful senior missionaries here. One couple had food waiting for us in our apartment when we arrived late at night and the temple president and his wife took us to the grocery store on a Saturday night so we would have enough for the week end.

We have been very fortunate to have a very nice living quarters. Our apartment is very nice and is air-conditioned. That means a lot when you walk outside at 7 in the morning and the air temperature is about 85 degrees and is about 90% humidity. We have been told that if we die on our mission that we are to put other missionary couples in our will to inherit our bed. We purchased it from the previous missionary couple and it is king size. All others are queen or double size and not nearly as comfortable.

We were invited to the area presidency's office and had a wonderful visit with Elder Anderson (left) and Elder Vinas (center) and Elder Coleman (right). Elder Vinas is the area president. Elders Coleman and Anderson are from the quorum of the seventy. They are so kind and loving. Elder Coleman was sharing stories of the growth and strength of the church in the Caribbean area. The Dominican Republic supplies the vast majority of the missionaries that serve in the Caribbean area. There are 11 stakes in Santo Domingo alone and many more throughout the Dominican Republic. Haiti has to supply it's own missionaries due to the government's ban on any Americans. We asked about Cuba and he stated we have one branch of Cubans there and another military branch in Cuba. The government has not opened up to recognize the church there yet but I am confident that it will come soon.

We were invited along with another missionary couple, the Roberts, to share family home evening with the mission president and his wife in their beautiful home. Pres. and Sister Almonte shared a wonderful conversion story.

President Almonte was having his car repaired and some missionaries approached him. He felt something positive with them. That same day, Sister Almonte had been praying for help in finding the truth. She and her husband were having financial trouble and she was upset with him. That day a neighbor invited them to have the missionaries come and visit them. She told the neighbor to have them come over and since she was mad at Pres. Almonte, it did not matter to her what he thought. He was pleased that they came. They took the discussions and had completed everything necessary to get baptized except attend church. They kept promising and promising to go but their extended families were so involved with family get togethers on Sundays that they never remembered to go to church. Finally, one Sunday morning at about 7:00AM, the two elders who had been teaching them parked their car next to the wall and got on top of the car to climb over the wall and knocked on the Almonte’s door. They told them that they were there to take them to church. The Almonte’s told the elders that they would come but the elders were insistent that they could wait. So they did for 2 hours and the Almonte’s have not missed a meeting since.

This is a picture of Elder and Sister Bennet from Tahiti. They were called to serve in Madagascar. The story of Elder Bennett is a wonderful statement of the power of one standing up for what he believed.

He was baptized as a young man and embraced the gospel with his whole heart. He was a world class soccer player as well and was the best player in all of French Polynesia. He was sought after by every soccer club and team. The problem he faced was that they played all of their major matches on Sunday so after he joined the church he told them he would not play on Sunday. His humble and firm commitment impacted the leaders of the league so much that they all voted to discontinue matches on Sunday. One man standing up for what he knew was right. What impressed me is his wonderful humility then and now. When I read the story a number of years ago I was so very touched and now to have the chance to meet him was like meeting one of my heroes face to face.

Hermano Hernandez was our tutor for Spanish at the MTC and was Sherrie's tutor prior when we were studying by phone for the months before we left. He was a kind, patient and very spiritual man. He is from Columbia and is completing his studies at BYU, Provo and has a beautiful wife and 2 year old son.

This is the group of couples that was in our district at the MTC. The couple on the left is the Neimans and they are going to Poland. The other couple next to us is the Borins and they are going to New York to a military mission. The next couple is the the Calls and they are going to Finland. The couple on the far right is the Dumars and they are going to Romania. Quite a diverse group but wonderful stories of sacrifice and testimony.

Here we are at the MTC in Provo, Ut. We were here for 11 days and had a wonderful experience. In case you cannot read the map, we are pointing to where we will be for the next 23 months, the Dominican Republic.