Christmas Day

A wonderfully creative sister and her husband collect shells to make picture frames that they give away to new members. She made a nativity out of some of the shells and gave us one. It is so simple yet so beautiful.

Christmas has been a very relaxing and stress free one. We have had a wonderful time putting together a night of caroling to the missionaries in the missionary training center in our building. We also went caroling to the building close to us where two of the area presidency and their family live. We also arranged for the senior couples to provide gifts for the 65 missionaries as well which both the seniors and the missionary elders and sisters thoroughly enjoyed. We had 5 big bags of presents in our apartment and felt very much like Santa's workshop!

We also had the opportunity to go to the beach on Christmas morning with about 10 other couples. It was a beautiful sunny day and the morning was delightful. The water was warm and we had a lovely trip since there was little traffic out on Christmas day. While there, Sherrie fell in love with a palm leaf hat. She negotiated for a palm leaf grass hopper to go on top and I was able to get a video of the fellow teaching us how to make one. It was very clever.

Our activities at the institute are slow right now with school being out and the institute activities on hold until January 11th. We are excited about Wendy and two of her friends flying down on the 31st to spend 8 days with us. We plan to see some of the beautiful sights here. She is also bringing some books to donate to a private school here which is so wonderful since they have very little or nothing in the way of supplies. She is on the board of directors for "Books for a Better World" which distributes books all over the world to promote literacy.

Miracles and Activities

Christmas time is upon us and as you can see, we have been celebrating. Sherrie fell in love with the Charamicos. They are the Christmas Trees that are traditional here. They are simply dry tree branches assemled together to make a small tree. Sherrie loved decorating it.

We have had so many wonderful experiences and have seen miracles happen. One that recently occured was the remarkable blessing received by the senior missionary couple whom we replaced. Shortly after they returned home, the sister was diagnosed with a tumor behind her eye. Surgery was recommended with the anticipation of losing her eye and the nerves that control that side of her face. A very disfiguring and difficult surgery. We asked the institute youth and others who knew them here in the Dominican Republic to fast and pray for the sister. It was due to the amazing faith of the people here that we received notice that they did not have to remove her eye and that she would recover.

We have also received many blessings personally. Sherrie's leg had been giving her problems and that has healed. We have been blessed with protection in what could only be described as one continual "near death" experience each day we drive on the roads. We have also been blessed with the gift of the language. We have been able to learn all of the temple ordinaces in Spanish which is a miracle in that we are only in the temple for two mornings a week and it has only been 2 months. Sherrie had already learned most of it in Spanish so the real miracle is that I have been able to do so. The language is difficult for me and it will take time but I am so grateful for the help the Lord has given me. We have an additional challenge as well. A number of the islands that the Santo Domingo Temple serves as well as Haiti, speak French. We will need to learn a little French as well while we are here. There is a gift of tongues!

Sherrie and I have arranged for the senior missionary couples to go caroling to the young missionaries and others as a group on Monday. We have also organized an activity for the senior couples to provide presents for all of the 65-70 elders and sisters in the missionary training center here in the building where we live. It is so wonderful to have such close association with the missionaries. They are so excited to be here and to get out and share the gospel. Sherrie has also been busy baking Christmas goodies for everyone as well as the missionaries. (The sister missionaries are her favorites, however!) I have had the difficult duty of being the official taste tester.

We are missing the chance to be with family this year but hope to be able to talk with all on Skype. As a small consolation we plan to spend a relaxing morning on the beach on Christmas! We have never done that before! The senior couples are also getting together on Christmas eve with the young missionaries as well as have dinner together on Christmas day. It will be a wonderful day but we will miss our kids and grandchildren!

Diego Columbus's Palace(Son of Chris)

We had a wonderful visit to the restored palace of the son of Christopher Columbus. The furniture, armor and paintings are all allegedly 15th century. It was very interesting how small the people were given the size of the armor and beds. One art piece which is shown in one of the pictures was a wood carving which our guide stated was of the Virgin Mary and the Father and the Son on either side of her. An interesting doctrinal statement in the 15th century. I was also interested in the spiral staircase constructed out of coral rock. I thought I had accomplished something making one out of steel! You will also notice the guns which were only about 4 feet long but had about a 50 caliber bore for the musket ball. The last picture is of the kitchen. It is hard to believe that someone could exist in a room where the temperature was unbearable without a fire and having a fire in the room.

The following was taken from a website describing what was a beautiful structure which was remarkably large given the resources and time in history

Alcázar de Colón/ Columbus Palace A 22 room stone home built by Columbus son, Don Diego and his wife. (Colon is the Spanish word for Columbus). They resided here during his term as viceroy. This fortress was built during the early 1500s to be the seat of the viceroy court. Diego and his wife Maria de Toledo lived here until 1523, when he was recalled to Spain. Other relatives lived here for decades afterwards. This building was abandoned in 1770 and turned into a garbage dump. Cave-ins in 1809 and 1835 left the building in ruins.

It was restored by highly skilled stone cutters, with added refinements made during several later restorations. All rebuilding was done to remain as faithful as possible to the original construction and decor. Not one single nail was used in it's construction. It opened to the public on Columbus Day in 1957.

The palace sits in a large open square, Plaza de Armas or Plaza de Espana, Always some activity happening here. A nice place to be. Looks beautiful at night with the lights on. It now houses a collection of furniture and household items from this period

Oldest Cathedral in the New World

We visited the oldest cathedral in the new world yesterday. I thought you might enjoy a little history and some photos. Below is a bit of history taken from a local web site.

The full name of this marvelous cathedral is the Cathedral Metropolitana Santa María de la Encarnación. Originally when this church was built in 1514 it was a hut made of royal palms. It now takes up an entire block.

Diego Columbus set the first stone and since then many additions and changes have been made to the original structure. Spanish workmen began building the cathedral but left to search for gold in Mexico. This second church was much better, it was made of wood and the roof was palm branches. If there was rain there was no service. At the end of 1537 the roof was rebuilt the way we see it today. The front is dated 1540 and was completed in 1544. In 1547 the construction of the tower was stopped because it brought attention to the Fortress from marauders and people wanting to attack.

The church was worked on and designed by so many different people. This is why so many architectural styles can be seen in one building. There are Roman style arches and Gothic style vaults with some Baroque ornaments thrown in for good measure. All this only adds to the buildings originality and powerfully dominating look. It is built with the coralline blocks, as with many of the Colonial era structures, this building has been able to withstand the ravishings of time and humans both.

These are some of the pictures that I took of this amazing structure. It is amazing that they were able to construct the arches out of the coral stone. The exterior is rather plain but the interior is remarkable, especially for being over 450 years old! This huge church was air-conditioned so was a great attraction for everyone on a hot sultry day. Touring the sites here is a wonderful experience in not only the history but also the respect and reverence that the people have for their history. Those visiting the various sites are expected to be dressed modestly and appropriately. Shorts, tank tops, and revealing clothing is not appropriate. We have been impressed generally about how modest the people are here.