Trivia at Santo Domingo

This is a note to explain a bit of trivia history… first I had no idea about Chris.Columbus, and where he landed and hung out… so I learned and will pass it on, As I’m sure you are dying to know this. When we first got to, Santo Domingo, and started to work in the Church Employment Center I noticed the University across the street and on a lunch break we walked over and around the campus with the students,, (120,000 or more) really.. we were told by our Boss, Domingo Ayabar that he graduated from here (his first degree) and it is the oldest University in the western hemisphere Est. 1538. Then we took a few hours off and went to “Old Town Domingo”…. A restored part of the city… and learned a ton more. I will include a few pics. Of the oldest road, the oldest Cathedral, and the oldest Fortress in the Americas,,,the Cathedral and the road are still used today. However the fort is not as you can imagine.. Chris. Columbus’ son Diego was the first Viceroy and laid the first stone in the Cathedral. The fort, est. in 1503, was also a prison and Diago Columbus and his wife lived here after it was no longer used as a prison. I’m sure this is So interesting to you,, so one more item.. Sir Francis Drake stayed in the Cathedral, in one of the (13) chapels and had a fit, and chipped off the nose and hands of a bishops statue… The rest is history… Now I have to learn about how all of this transpired..I thought Columbus landed at Plymouth Rock.. ????

Me and Christopher Columbus The new LDS Templo ( spanish for temple) in Santo Domingo
Two pic of the old Cathedral

Old Street
Old Fort

Filling in....

So I thought since Mom and Dad aren't able to figure out the blog because it's all in Spanish, I decided to post the pictures they sent via email and the latest news from Mom's email (I'll take out the part about us being your favorite kids. j/k)....

Dad's description of the pictures (yes, this is Dad's language, unedited--we love you Dad)...
these pix are Sherry atwork iay n the employment center, a very poor school,, notice theschool kits like we made in draper, Domingo Ayabar with Mom, he is ourboss for a week or two, he is the area welfare manager, has been abranch pres. stake pres, and is now a bishop. The temple is so so neathere we have gone to it many times,,, It is a large temple for thewhole Carib.

It is Sunday and we still don't have the internet. I'm writing today in hopes that tomorrow I can send this. It has almost been a week since we got here and it seems like a month!! So much has happened!! Last Monday early in the morning (4: ooa.m.) we left for the Salt Lake airport and got off right on time but had some problems after that!! By the time we got to Dallas (our first stop) it was raining so hard that we couldn't land. We were in the air for so long that we had to go to Houston for gas!! Then we had a hard time getting off the ground there and when we finally arrived in Dallas, it was so late and of course, we had missed our connecting flight. We spent hours trying to get out of Dallas and when we finally arrived in Santo Domingo, it had been 25 hours!! And that's not the worst of it….we had no luggage!!! With all the flight problems, our luggage was lost along the way somewhere! By this time, I was so tired and not too happy. The Briggs who had come to meet us had been waiting for so long also but they were very good about it.

Things got better as time went on. We have a very nice place to live in! All the conveniences you could ask for. Our luggage finally got here and that made things so much better!!! We got all settled in and they put us to work immediately. We have been going to the Employment center most of the time. We are working on the PEF. Checking on the students, talking to them on the phone and updating their information. Can you imagine us working on the computer for hours at a time, especially me!! We have met so many people and all are very nice, humble people!!
It's hard to tell you everything that has happened so I will just touch on most of it. We are living right here on the Temple grounds on the end of the MTC. It is Temple housing and it is so nice. The church looks our for the missionaries! We have been invited to so many socials!! I can't believe how much they all get together. We went to the Temple on Friday and Saturday. We got together afterwards. Last week, we all ate together. Tonight we are going to an Open House for a couple who is leaving. Tomorrow night is Family Home Evening and we are going to have a special evening in the Temple. And there are more gatherings.
The Temple here is beautiful both inside and out. It's a different experience being with all Dominican's. And of course, all Spanish speaking. We use head phones. We have really had a great experience here and look forward to attending the Temple several more times before leaving.
Today was Stake Conference and it was great being there. Once again, we had to use head phones! The Stake President is an incredible person! You should see some of the Bishop's here. The Bishop of the ward we are attending is so young. I seriously thought he was a teen-ager when I first saw him. We have met other Bishops also and they are so very young also. Domingo Ayabar, the man we are working with most of the time is so young and he has already been a Branch President, Stake President and now he is a Bishop!! We are amazed at these very young leaders and yet, they are so humble and good!!
Santo Domingo is a crazy place…sometimes I think I am in China, it is so similar. The streets and the crazy driving is almost identical. It is also very beautiful and tropical here. We walked down to the Caribbean yesterday and it is amazing. We just
Sat there for awhile and watched the waves and the beautiful water. There are some very unbelievable places here. The food is good and we are fairly close to a grocery store so we have been eating way too much…in fact, we both noticed that we are gaining weight very fast. Also, our neighbors keep bringing us very delicious bread. Everyone here bakes bread. So we are eating all the time. We also went to a very fun restaurant with Domingo last week. It was right on the Caribbean and the food was so good and it was packed with people!!
Well, I have to go to Relief Society now so I will close. I just wanted all of you to know that we are fine and doing very well! I'll write more in a few days when we get our internet.
Yeah!!! We have our internet now!!! So much is happening that I can't even begin to tell all…it's wonderful here!! A couple of days ago we had an unbelievable experience with the Humanitarian couple that is serving here. We went out into a very poor area to an elementary school where they had received some desks and school bags from our church and we had the opportunity to hand them out. It was so hard to keep from breaking down and just sobbing as we watched those wonderful little children and their parents being so grateful as they clapped their hands and hugged us and wanted their pictures taken so Fred took many pictures of them and we will post them on our blog if you would like to see them. The thing that was so touching at first was they had a little ceremony to thank the Humanitarian missionaries for the desks and school bags. One of the administrators of the school is LDS and a few of the students are too. They started their meeting with singing "We Thank Thee O God For A Prophet" in Spanish and with a prayer. It was so touching to us!! And they ended it with singing "Til We Meet Again" and another prayer. It was quite the event to be a part of. There is so much more to tell but I will close for now. We miss all of you

Hi we can't blog... as everything is in spanish... can someone help... is it because we are here in Santo Domingo? or is it someone changed the language on us... what is this,,?? we are ready with pictures and with text.
help!!!!!!!!!!!!! no comprendo espaniol, Comastau

MTC Finished

This picture is of Sherry and I pointing at where we've been and where we're going! Wish us luck!
This is our study group! We worked with them all the time we were at the MTC. This group of missionaries is headed all over the world!
This brother was a guy that I served with 50 years ago! What an experience to see him again! What a small world!
Kenyon, Sherry, Kris and a soon to be elder at the MTC!

Study... study... study... she's the brains in the companionship!
Inspiring to see the missionaries everywhere we looked! What righteous young men and women!

We trying to add some photos of the mtc..It was an incredible experience,, we learned tons, and got totally worn out, and very spirtual.

e will try to include a few photos,, some of our study and fun group of senior missionaries.. plus we had a great time being with the young Elders and Sisters,,, they are so so neat.