Botanical Gardens in Santo Domingo

On Saturday we went with Elder and Sister Kilgore (they live across the hall from us) to the botanical gardens here in the city. As you can see from the pictures, the place was beautiful. We rode a train around the gardens while a guide gave descriptions of the plants. They had one section that was a Japanese garden. There were so many different varieties of palm tree as well as other plants. It was a warm day and we happened to be there when the tour buses from a cruise ship arrived. The good thing was that all of those old people made us look young!

La Fiesta de Navidad 2009

The youth at institute have been planning one of their big events of the year and that is the Annual Christmas Dance. The youth love to dance and none of the dances are slow dances. They love Merengue, Bachata, Salsa, and Reggaeton music. They are all latin dances and are very fun to watch and to do as you can see. We have also included some clips of them as well. Dancing is a way of life here. It represents the joy for life that the people have here. One survey of the countries of the world has rated the Dominican Republic as the second happiest country in the world. We certainly believe it! Even in poverty, the people are kind and find joy in the little things like dancing and singing. We had about 300 youth at the institute on Friday night. Many were non members that the youth invited. Many were members from stakes in the Santo Domingo area. It was high energy all night with skits, songs and dancing. Sherrie has impressed the young women (and young men) with her treats. Some of the young women want her to do a class on how to make deserts. They do not know how to bake the sweet treats here that we have in the US. They love them. She spent all day on Friday cooking. We did go home for her to get off of her feet for a while. We bought a lot of fruit and the youth made a delicious drink with the fruit cut up floating in the drink. The dance lasted until about 11:30 when they finally had to pull the plug on the amplifier to get them to stop. With 300 kids jumping up and down for 6 hours, it was very warm. What a hard job we have! We had a ball! We tried our hand at it but it does not look at all like the dances that the youth were doing! Sherrie did much better with one of the young men that asked her to dance.

Christmas in the DR begins in October

The traditions of the Dominican Republic are especially rich this time of year. The celebration of Christmas begins in October and does not end until the middle of January. We have had wonderful firework displays a number of times at night. We can watch them while laying in bed out our window. I have included a web site that is maintained by a woman who does a wonderful job of promoting what is wonderful in this country. The site has a number of Christmas traditions and recipes that you might find interesting. It is also a great site for general information about the country.

http://www.colonialzone-dr.com/important_stuff-traditions-christmas2.html#food

Trip to beach near La Romana DR

WE WENT TO THE BEACH! It is about 2 hours from Santo Domingo. We had a beautiful drive with some rain and sunshine. Due to the storm we did not go swimming but did have a nice stroll along the beach. There was a lighthouse near by and a young boy came up to us and asked for money. We said if he would help us find shells we would pay him. He enthusiastically dove into the surf and started looking. I think he enjoyed swimming in the water more than looking for the shells. He did not find much but he was enthusiastic so we paid him. There was an excursion boat that left from the beach we were on that takes tourists out to an island about a mile from shore and caters lunch to them and then brings them back after about 3 hours on the island. All of that costs about 1500 pesos or about $45 per person. We may try that in the future. We also stopped at a cavern that was underground that had been developed into a beautiful display using lights and very nice lighted walkways. Our tour guide spoke English and is a student at the university. He advised us to hold on to the railing as we walked through the cavern due to the slippery walkway and stairs. We talked to him about the Book of Mormon and the story of holding to the rod that is about staying safe and on course. We gave him a pass along card and hopefully he may seek more information in the future. The trip to the beach was beautiful with palms along the highway. We stopped at Burger King on the way home for lunch. It is quite expensive here. A burger combo meal is about 270 pesos or about $8. We made it home through all of the traffic and immediately took a 2 1/2 hour nap. Playing is such hard work! It was a very nice day!

Walk at the DR Temple

This is a video of a walk around the Dominican Republic Temple. We enjoy our walks in the morning. They are a bit warm. It often does not cool much at night so when we walk out of the door expecting a nice cool morning, we get hit with a warm, humid but sunny environment in which to exercise. So far it has only rained when I have washed the car!

We attended a baptism of Jose Amado Cordero Sisa Saturday evening. He is a young man that befriended us at the institute. He has been attending the institute and taking classes there for some time. Elder and Sister Roberts are a missionary couple who are over the Perpetual Education Fund and work in the institute building became acquainted with him when they first arrived a couple of months ago. As they got to asking about why he was not a member he said that the missionaries were going to stop and see him but never did and no one has asked him since! Sister Roberts jumped right on it and within a few weeks he was baptized. He is a wonderful young man who is sooooo excited about the gospel. We attended his ward today when he was confirmed a member of the church and given the gift of the Holy Ghost. He was also sustained and was ordained a priest after the meetings and we were able to participate in that as well. He lives in a strong ward with good supports at the church. His mother is a member but inactive. He is an excellent example of why we should always ask!

Institute

Here we are in front of the institute building. It is a beautiful building with many large class rooms with parking underneath. The building is set up to not only be the institute but also to be the center for employment for the church as well as the Perpetual Education Fund. It also has a full kitchen and recreation area for the youth which they love to use to just hang out together. There are sofas around the wall that also serve well for a short nap between classes as well as a ping pong table and foosball game. They love Foosball and are really quite good at it. Sherrie and I have been taking pictures of all of the youth over the past week in an attempt to learn their names. Last week we had the opportunity to introduce ourselves to the youth at their devotional. The speaker could not come and the secretary, Ingrid, could not get the computer to connect to the projector for a video, so Sherrie and I were asked on the spot to share a bit about ourselves. Sherrie did a wonderful job of also talking about personal revelation and invited the students to take time then to experience it. I gave a very brief explanation of who we were and then bore my testimony in Spanish. It is coming slow but coming.

The institute is directly across the street from the City University which is the largest in the country. We pull up to the gate and honk and the security guard opens the large metal gate. Everything is locked and large iron doors secure the outside of the glass doors. Last week we had to drive an alternate way home because the students decided

to dump garbage in the street that we usually take as a protest to the government's decision to move Constitution Day from the actual day to a Monday like is done in the US. It was a blessing because we were able to see another part of town and actually drive on the coastal highway that is only about 2 blocks from the institute. The ocean is so beautiful. We spend a good deal of time waiting for traffic and Sherrie saw this palm tree by the side of the street with the beautiful red and yellow bunches of seeds growing on it and took the picture.

Wonderful Videos

The following are some wonderful short videos with some messages that will touch you. Just copy and paste the web address on our browser.

Lifting Burdens http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coef8G5ax6E

What Matters Most http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYhDhiojBPA

You Are Never Alone http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIrGKB5nRKE