Mirabal Sisters

In the history of the Dominican Republic, there are three sisters who are heroines in the independence of this county. They were martyred in their effort to rid the country of a murderous dictator who reigned in the 1940's, 50's and 60's. We traveled to visit their childhood home which is currently a national visitors center and even have a province named after them. The sole remaining sister still lives in the home and is a wonderful example of dedication to her sister's legacy of sacrifice. She raised all of the children that were orphaned as a result of the deaths of their parents. We have a picture of her with us as well as the beautiful orchids that she has all over her yard. The home is on a working cocoa plantation which produces cocoa beans that are dried and shipped to Europe. You will notice the cocoa pod grows on the trunk and limb of the tree. The beans are on the inside of the pod and are surrounded by a delicious covering which is thrown away in the harvesting of the bean. They are then dried on large flats with movable roofs that can protect them from the rain.

Alfredo-A Humble Family

When we go shopping, we always like to take an opportunity to share the gospel. At the grocery store, there are "bag boys" or "impacadores" who take the groceries to the car for a tip. It is the only income they have so they compete for the chance to take out your bags. On the way to the car, we talk with them and get to know them a bit and then share a pass along card or Book of Mormon. One young man, Alfredo, has a family and lives off of the tips he makes taking out groceries and other odd jobs at the grocery store. We tried for 3 months to get him connected to the missionaries and finally met the missionaries and went with them to his house. It was such a humble home and his little boy and wife were so cute. We understand that he is continuing to take the discussions and we are hopeful that he will feel the Spirit and be baptized.

Presidente Almonte's Cabin

Our mission president and his wife have a beautiful "cabin" as they call it in the mountains of the central part of the Dominican Republic. It is about 3 hours by car from the temple. When we first arrived, they invited us to use it any time we wished. A group of senior missionaries went to spend a few days there and see some of the beautiful scenery in the other parts of the country. It was a wonderful blend of pine trees and banana and orange and grapefruit groves. The flowers were amazing with many of the plants we try so hard to grow indoors at home growing in the wild to amazing heights. Yes, that is a swimming pool on the left.

Anniversary and Baptisms

Sherrie and I celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary on the 20th of April and Sherrie wanted to do something to surprise me. She asked two students in our institute class to help her put on a special Dominican dinner for me. They were so excited and planned secretly for 3 weeks. One of the girls came to me and asked to open the room where they have the music keyboards on the second floor and said she needed to get something for her class. I walked into a room with a path of flower petals to the table which had a traditional dish, mofongo, and fruit. It was very good. The girls had also made a CD of one of the Carpenter’s songs and some other Dominican music and played it in the background. They decorated with some pictures that they had made and some of the other youth came and sang to us. We danced a little and had a wonderful time. The kids were so happy to be part of our anniversary. It was a wonderful surprise.

We have also had the opportunity be participate in some more baptisms for youth in the institute. We have now had 6 from the first of the year. 

One young man, Nathaniel, was talking to us before the baptism that had he known what the gospel was all about before, he would have joined the church much sooner. He has been attending institute for over a year and no one had invited him to hear the missionary discussions. 

We have determined that there are so many non-members (40) attending institute that we cannot assume that they have been invited to become members and need to invite them all.

Our most recent joy has been the baptism of a beautiful young woman who is attending our institute class. Her name is Annette Saurdi and she is small but a bundle of enthusiasm and joy for the gospel. She is so excited and so enthusiastic. Her friend, named Jose, invited her to hear the missionary discussions. He was baptised in November of last year. She has been attending institute for a year and no one had invited her to take the missionary discussions. She is a pioneer in her family (as are most of the youth that are members in the institute). She is the first to join the church in her family. Another couple, the Roberts has also been instrumental in fellowshipping her. There is a great support group for her as well that attended her baptism.

We also attended an institute activity at the temple where the youth went to do baptisms. There were 39 youth from the institute there. One of the young men was so excited. He had his father's name and was going to be baptized for him. As we were watching those wonderful youth being baptized, I thought of the first pioneers and what an honor it would have been to be with them in the Nauvoo temple as they were doing baptisms for the dead. Then I thought about how much of an honor it is to be with these pioneers here in this country who are the first in their families to receive the gospel.









We also had another activity as a group of senior couples which was interesting and fun. Brother Bowcutt arranged with the government officials here to allow us to have a guided tour of the National Palace. It is a beautiful building and was very interesting. There are about 16 senior couples as well as some single senior sister missionaries serving here. They are all delightful people and make our time here so very enjoyable.

The Palacio National was build in 1947. Over the years there has been a strong US presence here and as a result their government is a constitutional government with a president and house and senate. The building we toured was the presidential palace equal to the White House in the US. The rooms were elaborately decorated and of course are used for entertaining dignitaries from around the world.
There is an election scheduled for May so right now there are huge bill boards all over the city with the pictures of one candidate or another. The people here seem to have the same dissatisfaction with their politicians as we do.

Our Students

We have had such wonderful experiences with the students here. We have been teaching a class every week on Wednesday from 5 to 6:40 called "Studying the Scriptures; The Power of the Word". It has been inspirational to teach the class and learn from the students. They have such a wonderful understanding of the scriptures and love them. It is clear many of them have had the benefit of seminary and scripture chase. They love to play games and eat. One week Sherrie made cookies for class and gave them out during a break. After the break we had 4 new students! It is also inspirational to know what some of the students have to do to be at our class. Some take the bus and have to travel an hour or more. Others have to take public taxies. They do not have much money so to travel is a big commitment. Even though we are next to a large university, some of the students attend other universities in the city and have to make a special trip to the institute.

You can see in the picture of the class some full time missionaries. They have started attending institute at our request since there are so many non members attending institute. Since they have started attending, they have more teaching opportunities than they can handle. The first time they came to the building, they had four teaching appointments by the time they left.

Many of the students are the pioneers in their families and are the only members. The picture of the young man in front of the temple is one such pioneer. He is the only member in his family. He has been a wonderful help at the institute and has shared his testimony and enthusiasm for serving a mission openly with the other students. He entered the CCM (the missionary training center here in the DR) last week which just happens to be above us in the building in which we live. It is wonderful to open the door to our apartment and hear what sounds like a choir of angels; the missionaries singing. Sherrie has been spoiling this young missionary with cookies whenever he and his companion stop by. Since our door is next to the stairs, many missionaries have learned that if they are walking by, they get cookies. Sherrie makes cookies for all of the missionaries on Sunday from time to time. They like Hermana Finlayson!

The other pictures are of Sherries cooking class. She teaches three classes every other week. The kids wanted to learn how to make the good things she makes for treats for them. It is hard to keep the other kids out of the kitchen! As you can see, they love to eat! Sherrie spends a lot of time baking for the institute kids but she feels well rewarded when they enthusiastically "inhale" all of her goodies.

We Continue to Be Amazed by Our Opportunities

It is a hard assignment! We have to work all of the time and have no time to play it seems. We did come across a couple that seemed to be having a good time, though. They were a couple of tourists that showed up at an institute costume party. Lucky that they quickly moved on. They were a little scary!

Some of the youth dressed up for the party. Most just came to dance and dance and dance. The party was part of the weekend celebration for their independence on the 27th of February. They also celebrate carnival the same weekend.

Sherrie has loved teaching classes on cooking for some of the students. They love the things she makes and want to learn how to make them. They are enthusiastic and are so fun and receptive. They have no trouble cleaning up since there is little left to clean up!

While Sherrie has been having fun with the youth in the kitchen, I have been hanging out in the office. While there, we have had 3 people come into the institute during the past week asking to know more about the church. This is a picture of Andre who is from Haiti. He came to the institute before Christmas wanting to know more about the church but did not return. He returned today and came up to me and asked to learn about the Bible. He stated that he attended a church when growing up but has felt a desire to know about the Mormon Church. He was very excited to hear of the Book of Mormon and how we believe it is a second witness to the Savior and that we believe in the Bible as well. He was very impressed with the promise in Moroni that he could know what is true by praying and asking. He speaks english so I was a little more comfortable sharing the gospel with him.

There are many non-members of the church attending religion classes at the institute. It is marvelous to see the light in the eyes of these people. A light of the Spirit working in their lives. A hunger for what is true and what will bring them eternal happiness. We have been working to have the full time missionaries come to the institute and teach. When they did come, they had 3 teaching appointments within the first hour and a half. We are humbled to be able to be here with these wonderful people!