Family home evening with an apostle of the Lord

Since Reed has been so wonderful to write all of our posts except the very first one, I decided to try to share some of my feelings.  This past Monday night Elder David A. Bednar,  an apostle of the Lord, came to our Family Home Evening with about 20 couple missionaries.  He was accompanied by his beautiful wife,  Elder Costa (of the presidency of  the Seventies) and his beautiful wife.  What a sacred experience it was to be so close to a chosen witness of the Savior and others of His faithful servants.  One of the things that touched me the most about what Elder Bednar shared was that he said that a lot of people think that an apostle's main duties are to speak at conferences, attend weekly meetings, and administer the affairs of the Church.  He learned the first week after he was called that the keys of the apostleship are to be used in ministering to the "one",  just as the Savior did.  That is his main responsibility.  Every single day he seeks opportunities to use his keys in blessing the "one".  This applies so much to us as missionaries also.  He also left us with his apostolic blessing that each of our families would receive great blessings because of our service,  even more than they would if we were home to attend baptisms, blessings and all the special family events.  It gives me the strength I need to miss Matt and Vanessa's wedding in Feb.   Elder Bednar and the others also came Thurs. night to speak to our Institute students.  Over 300 were there dressed in their Sunday best.  He spent the time answering their questions just as he had at our FHE.  The Spirit was felt so strongly.  What a huge blessing this was!!
We are soo grateful to be missionaries here in the DR!!  Almost every day we have a chance to see examples of the people's pure faith and feel the love they show us.  I was promised when I was set apart that I would love the Institute students as my own and that has certainly come true!

Earthquake Update

I am sure you have learned from the news of the horrible events that have occurred in Haiti as a result of a 7.0 magnitude earthquake there this week. We have experienced no physical effects here just 200 miles to the east. We were in our car so did not feel the quake. There were some tsunami warnings out for a few hours. We live less than a mile from the coast.

The church as usual is first on the scene with supplies and support but most especially information about the welfare of the missionaries and the members. All of the missionaries are safe and they are still trying to determine the welfare of the members with communication being difficult. Our neighbor across the hall is the area medical director and he leaves tomorrow morning with 4 other doctors to try and get into Haiti by road. They are hoping to take some supplies with them since the roads are badly damaged that access the ports. Many of the supplies that are being sent by ship in cargo containers cannot be off loaded and moved to the people that need them. So much will have to come by road through the DR. We understand there is a team of LDS physicians scheduled to come over the course of the next few weeks. Logistics is a big problem with food, water and shelter for the rescuers being part.
Of course, the biggest heartache is for those wonderful faithful saints here whose families are in Haiti and who do not know of their whereabouts or condition. The saints in Haiti are so humble and so faithful. We pray for their safety.

We encourage all to help through prayer and where possible, financially. The following website is a donation site for the purpose of directing 100% of all donations to the relief effort. There are no overhead or administration fees taken out so all of your donation goes to the people. The Church is extremely careful in making sure the supplies and food get to the people.

http://give.lds.org/emergencyresponse

Our Message

Of all of the opportunities that we have here, the most 
meaningful has been to share the message below. 
That He lives! 


If you like, go to the link below for a short message.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P20XNA5x18k

Our daughter Wendy and friends' visit for New Year's

We have had a wonderful 8 days with Wendy, Ester and Alina here. They were delightful and we hope they had a good time. They seemed to and from the very start were taking advantage of every opportunity. (note: Calle Las Damas means road of the dames or ladies) Sherrie worked hard to find a dance for them to go to on New Years Eve. One of the young men at instituted said he would set something up. They wound up going to his house and and dancing for a while and then to his past bishops house where they danced until 5 in the morning. They took a taxi home. We pooped out just after midnight and came home. I was nursing a cold. The next day we went to the beach. We went to church at one of the wards were we are trying to recruit youth for institute and then off to another ward to visit. On Monday we went to a resort on the north side of the island called Barcelo, Puerta Plata. It was about 3.5 hours by car. We traded our car for a van at the area office for the time they were here which made it very convenient to pick them up at the airport and carry all of them and their things. I included a few pictures of their activities.

You see Wendy demonstrating the currect use of a Dominican umbrella! We have enjoyed the fact that we can kiss our companion!

We stayed at a beautiful resort which was all inclusive for $60 per person per day. That included all of the food which was plentiful! Unfortunately it rained most of the time but we still got in some beach time. The water is so pleasant when you are in it that the weather does not seem to matter. At night they provided a stage show and were successful in getting Wendy up in front to dance the first night and then she and Ester were on stage with others learning a new Latin dance on Tues night. We stayed two nights.

On the way back we stopped at a place called the 27 Charcos (27 water falls) which were a series of falls that people can slide down or jump into the pools at the bottom. They had to wear helmets and life jackets. They had a wonderful time but were a bit cold. They had guides (20 year old young men) take them which made it fun for them. Sherrie and I stayed in the car this time. We made it home late on Wednesday night and on Thursday went to the temple. Sherrie was able to be the ordinance worker when Wendy and her friends were there. It was a sweet experience for all of them. The girls loved to dance and were able to get together with the fellow from institute and go to visit one of the sites in the area and go out dancing again. They got back to the temple gates at 11:30PM and the guard did not want to let them in! Wendy was able to deliver some books that she brought down to donate to a school so we were able to go and visit with the directors of that school. It was sad to take them back to the airport. They were so fun. Sherrie made lots of food so that made it fun as well. We still have some left over cinnamon rolls for which I am excited.

Institute starts tomorrow and our first class is Wednesday at 5:00pm. We have about 15 students signed up that we know of so I guess we have to go! Sherrie will do a great job and I have been practicing nodding my head in agreement! (Actually, I have been doing that for the past 35 years!) We visited 3 wards yesterday trying to encourage kids to enroll in institute so we are hopeful we are having an impact.

It is so wonderful to watch Sherrie melt the hearts of the youth as she stands up and starts talking to them sharing her love for them and her testimony. They love her!