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!

Matt and Vanessa Get Married

Matt and his beautiful bride, Vanessa were married on February the 13th at the Washington DC temple. We could not be there but the pictures they sent help us to know that they are a happy couple. We were thankful that the weather cooperated since the previous week they had received a record snow fall and the temple was closed the previous Saturday.

We were grateful that Matt's grandmother West could be there along with Adam and Wendy. One of his good friends from childhood was also able to attend with his sweet wife as well. Vanessa's parents and extended family live in the DC area so were a wonderful resource. We are so grateful for them and for the great family they are.

Fiesta, Fiesta, Fiesta!

The institute kids love to dance and to party! These are some of the kids with whom we have the privilege to work. As you can see in their faces, they love life and they love to play. This activity was a "welcome back to institute" activity after the Christmas break. There were about 250 kids at the dance. Sherrie made refreshments for them and had no idea how many would be there. She guessed pretty close so all went well. The kids love to eat as well. We were teaching one of our classes and Sherrie used cookies for part of her class. We took a 5 minute break and after the break, we had 4 new students! Because they love her treats so much, they talked her into teaching 3 cooking classes every other week on how to make her treats. They are well attended by both girls and boys. 

 

They also are equally as serious about the gospel and when we are teaching our class, they are so powerful in their insights and understanding of the gospel and how it applies in their own lives. They do not take the gospel for granted. The picture of the young man with the balloons is an example. He did not hear of the church until he was 25. He grew up on the streets without a father and a mother who was working. He shared that he had  a lot of painful experiences. The church turned his life around and he is very committed to the gospel. He asked a young lady to marry him last week that he met in the employment center which is on the 4th floor of the institute. The institute building is more than class rooms. It is a place to meet eternal companions. It is also a wonderful missionary tool. We have 4 non-members in the class on studying the scriptures that we teach and there a many more in the other institute classes.

Institute is truly an inspired program!

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