May 30, 2013

We had lots of rain on Mother's Day in the DR, the last Sunday of May.  Towards the end of the services, members got up grabbed some brooms and started pushing the water out so it wouldn't get into the chapel.  It flooded the patio area in front but eventually receded after plenty of sweeping.  This Saturday, some of the brethren and Aaronic Priesthood boys are going to dig the trench they dug several months ago much deeper so that the water will stay out of the patio area.  Always challenges.

The official hurricane season begins June 1 so I am told.  There is supposed to be lots of activity this season.  We shall see.

To keep the hair dry in the rain for the walk home, some sisters just grabbed some trash bags and made a cute rain hat.  So clever.

Today, May 30 is Corpus Cristi Day in the DR. It is a Catholic Holiday.  All the government offices, schools etc. are closed so we are home today. Because of the holiday many people are expected to come to the temple so will be working in the temple today from 2:30 'till the evening. 

Yesterday late afternoon after work, we went to Quisqueya and brought our two laptops so we could help some of the members get started or continue in their family history research using http:/new.familysearch.org.  They were getting the hang of it quite nicely. 

Dominican Coins

We went to a museum a couple of weeks ago and it was quite interesting. It was called El Museo Numismático y Filatélico del Banco Central or in other words coin and stamp collections.  Carlos figured there were tens of thousands of dollars worth of items in that museum. Very impressive. Carlos as a youth was an avid stamp and coin collector so he was quite interested in this. I managed to get pictures until they told me I wasn't supposed to. oops!

These are some coins and some beautiful glasses with a cut design in them that were found at a shipwreck site.

Old Coins

Time is moving quickly and we will be home soon. I am excited and looking forward to seeing all of you again in Escondido. It will be sad leaving all the good people here. We have made many friends and we have developed some strong bonds with our good friends in Quisqueya.

Carlos & Nancy

April 25, 2013

Ever since we arrived here, Carlos in his usual friendly manner has made lots of friends at the Junta Central Electoral (JCE) where we are digitizing the documents.  The marriage records are pretty much completed as work has been going on here by FamilySearch for several years, however the birth records have only been done up until the early 1940’s.  There has been a problem trying to get permission to work on those records even though the Church has had a contract with the JCE for many years to do all the birth, death, and marriage records. Well, after many meetings with the people in charge over the past several months, we are finally allowed to do the birth records.  I can say that this has only been possible because of Carlos’ friendly manner and ability to persuade and inspire.  So here are some photos of some of these records.  Some of the books are 600 pages and take a while to do especially when the paper is brittle and crumbles in your hands.  We have to be very careful.

A hole in the page.  During these years  (1940’s) a type of ink was used that had a chemical in it to prevent the ink from running and smearing on the paper however that chemical also began to eat throught the paper and make holes.

Clipping the piece of a page so it stays in place.  Some pages have to be literally put together like a puzzle.

This one is in really bad shape. Carlos brought this one to a recent meeting to remind the officials that their sacred responsibility to their country is to preserve the records, something which hasn’t been done.  The restoration department is ready to go to begin restoring documents like this one however the funding hasn’t been granted.  After this meeting it looks like things will get rolling. Carlos can get away with this because he is not an employee and he is an outsider. The employees of the department have told him that they fear they would be fired if they complain about anything.   It also looks like this one got wet. The books used to be stored on shelves next to windows where the heavy rains would come in and get them wet. The windows are such here that if it rains hard the rain comes right in through the sides. They don’t seal well when the window is shut.

We have been home this week are part of last week as Carlos is down with a first-time flare-up of diverticulitis.  He has been on a liquid diet since last Thursday and hopefully will be able to begin regular food tomorrow. 

With much love and friendship,

The Yturraldes

This young lady will be the first missionary from the small branch we attend in Ingenio Quisqueya.  Her papers were turned in a few days ago. She just turned 19. 

March 2013

Well, we are on the final leg of our journey and many different things are happening.  We still don’t know about the Mexico project but we received an email that a couple will be here who are student interns and will be working for FamilySearch when their training is completed  They are from Brazil and speak Portuguese and some Spanish and we have been asked to train them.  They will be here until September and arrive around the beginning of April. This should be fun.  The couple we have been working with since we arrived in the DR went home March 19^th as did some other wonderful friends.  It’s sad to see people leave that you have known for several months.  Then in less than six months we will be going home also.

 I must say that being on a mission constantly brings an array of many mixed emotions.  I admit that many things were difficult at first, especially being bitten by mosquitoes, being constantly surrounded by extreme poverty, dealing with no running water for several weeks, an elevator that didn’t work for several more weeks, living in a condo in a poorly managed condo association etc. etc.  But the people are so wonderful here, always smiling and happy despite their living conditions and our condo is quite comfortable. I now look forward to our weekly jaunts to Quisqueya and working with the members of the branch.  We just came a little bit ago from a District conference transmitted y satellite broadcast in the chapel of San Pedro de Macorís.  Wonderful messages were delivered by some of our General  Authorities, Elder Zwick being one of them.

A few weeks ago we visited a Spanish Galleon that was on tour from Spain.  They made stops at different ports and the DR happened to be on their list. To begin with, must show off my mastery of the Dominican pose.  Hee hee

Still trying my hand at Dominican cooking. I made plátanos al caldero which is very ripe plantain bananas sliced and cooked in sugar, water, cinnamon, and vanilla until it makes a thick sugary syrup.  They are quite good.  I also have been making flan in a flanera especially for this purpose.  It is cooked on the stove top and very easy to do. I made a chocolate flan the other day using Dominican cocoa.  Very tasty. Those of you on Facebook have already seen these pics so please bear with me. 

Here’s my tropical fruit bowl that consists of plátanos (plantains), lechoza (papaya), and guayabana.  I also use a lot of chinolas or passion fruit and pineapple.  The mangos haven’t come back in season yet.  Can’t wait to include those in my daily fruits.  By the way, here they call the sweet bananas that we in the states are most familiar with “guineos”.

These are cashew apples.  The cashew shaped object on the top is a cashew.  They are twisted off and processed so they can be eaten.  The cashew apple can be stewed in a sugary syrup and eaten.  They are kind of interesting tasting.  But now you can see why cashews are so expensive.  Can’t imagine all the work it takes to harvest and process them.

Speaking about sugar, here is the ingenio or refinery smoking again and processing the sugar cane.  This is right before the turnoff to Quisqueya. The stacks were quiet for several months while new sugar cane plants were growing. That also means that many people are out of work and the poverty increases.  Sad.

Had to get some shots of Carlos getting his haircut.

ALL DONE!!

The Yturraldes

February 2013

Our New Haitian Friends with Manuel the expert técnico 

Our listing information for the Hidalgo de Parral project has been sent by our field supervisor from Salt Lake to those in FamilySearch who determine whether or not to accept the project.  Our supervisor, Tim Law and technical operator, Manuel have been here with us all this week to train us and two young men from Haiti on “dCamX.net” a new, upgraded software for digital imaging.  He told us that FamilySearch needs more descriptive information on the exact types of documents that are in Parral and if they would be of interest to those seeking ancestral information.  Carlos is busy right now writing about what is exactly there.  If the project is accepted, we then have to request a visa for Mexico.  So now the timeline looks like we would go there around April.  We shall see.

Our Field Supervisor, Tim Law

Our training has been fun.  The two young men from Haiti, Dalmisa and Bernardo are employees of the government archive there and they, of course, speak French.  Dalmisa speaks some English. Manual, from Canada speaks fluent French, Spanish and English.  He is originally from Chile.  His family moved to Montreal, Canada when he was 15 where he has lived for the past 30 years.  That’s where he learned French and English.  It was fun watching interaction in three languages going on.  We have been going out to lunch every day this week, all of us.  So it has been quite different from our usual schedule.  On a regular week we work from 9:00 to 3:30 or 4:00 and bring our lunch.

I continue to be dismayed at the extreme poverty here.  The average income is about 200 dollars a month.  Families double and triple up in homes to make ends meet however the homes aren’t anywhere near the quality of homes that poor people double and triple up in in the US.  There was an article in the paper about the men who clean the sewers.  They call them macos.

 In the article you learn that these men make 5000 pesos a month.  That’s about 125 dollars.  They crawl down in the sewers with just their regular clothes.  They are not provided sanitary gear to protect themselves, no gloves or masks.  They clean out the trash the unthinking citizens throw on the ground and end up in the drains, animal parts, feces, and are exposed to dangerous chemicals, germs and bacteria.  I can’t imagine such a life. 

 SANTO DOMINGO. Si existe un modelo de vida infrahumano, la profesión debe ser la de "Maco" del Ayuntamiento del Distrito Nacional (ADN). Por cinco mil pesos al mes Luciano Lara, Martín Pimentel Doñé, Juan Antonio Suárez, Luis Catalino Arias, Gerónimo Mateo Mateo, Martín
Rosario Batista e Hipólito Reyes Vargas se sumergen dentro de los pozos filtrantes del sistema de drenaje pluvial capitalino a extraer los desperdicios de los inconscientes ciudadanos que son arrastrados durante las lluvias.    Lo hacen armados de picos, palas y cubetas. Vestidos de camisas, pantalones cortos, botas de goma y una gorra, sin guantes ni mascarillas, ni traje especial. Allí se enfrentan a plásticos, cartones y papeles. Pero también heces fecales y pedazos de animales, agua del drenaje sanitario, químicos que expiden negocios y compañías, y todas las bacterias y parásitos que pudieran existir en la superficie, pero concentrado en un ambiente húmedo en el que proliferan.

We are so blessed to be able to live in the United States.  When we get back, however, Carlos is going to have to learn to drive all over again.  LOL  He has turned into a genuine Dominican driver. He can now execute with ease left turns from the right lane cutting in front of everyone and is an expert at nosing the car in just enough to get everyone to stop so he can drive into the lane of traffic.  I do very well at sticking my arm out the window begging permission from someone on our right to let us in the lane of traffic.  His reaction time is that of a 20-year-old ready to stop in a split second when someone cuts in front of him or stops suddenly.  What I like about driving here is that no one gets upset at anyone.  There’s no road rage. Love it!! 

  

Update on Josefa’s house. The picture on the left is the original house that flooded with 12 inches of water with every heavy rain storm. Below is the new house.  To the right is the inside of the house.  Carlos has been picking up wood from shipping crates.  A carpenter fashioned this wall separating the kitchen from the living room.  Notice the louvered window.  Nice work.  Below left you can see part of the inside wall separating the two bedrooms. 

We continue our work in Ingenio Quisqueya with the members of the church and interested community members.  Self-reliance is the goal but it is a long, slow process.  

I continue to enjoy experimenting with cocina Dominicana cooking finding ways to get good flavor from the food that is available in the grocery stores.  The meat is a challenge but have been having success by adding bouillon cubes that are much more flavorful here than at home.  I think I will try to bring a large box home if it doesn’t make my suitcase weigh too much LOL.  I’ve made some great soups and guisados.  Mexican albondigas come out quite nicely.  There is a Dominican recipe for albondigas that is also very good.  I have been baking bread every week for our lunches and other meals.  We haven’t found any tasty bread here.  When we have found something that seems pretty good it is completely different the next time we buy it.  Their products here aren’t consistent, poor quality control I guess but the cost is high.  The prices are the same as the US and some things are higher like pinto beans, a dollar a pound.  The poor eat a lot of rice, plantains (sliced and fried) and a little chicken if they are lucky.

.

Well, we finished our training yesterday (Friday) and look forward to being beta testers for the new software.  Should be interesting.

I miss all our family and friends and look forward to seeing everyone again very soon, about 7 months.  The time has been going very fast and we have been VERY blessed.  We have witnessed many miracles. 

December 2012

Saludos y Feliz Navidad a nuestra familia y amigos

We have been very busy with activities of the Christmas season.  To the left is our youth at Quisqueya practicing for their presentation at the Branch Christmas party.  The above photo is of the annual Christmas party for the missionaries of the Santo Domingo East Mission. They had a great time doing hilarious skits and also a spiritual presentation of the Christmas story.  We shared great Dominican food with them and had a wonderful afternoon of socializing and enjoying the presence of our missionaries, about 200 of them.  There are two other missions here in the Dominican Republic with about as many missionaries each.

Here at the right is Carlos checking the height of the sugar cane.  It will shortly be ready for harvest. Huge double trailors drive down the narrow roads to and from Quisqueya delivering their cargo to the sugar refineries that now spout black and white smoke from their tall chimneys that have been quiet for several months.  Many people are out of work during that time.

Here are several of the Quisqueya Branch members.  I can never get over how well they always pose for pictures. Look at all those lovely smiles. 

A couple months ago this house didn’t exist.  It had burned to the ground.  Only part of the concrete floor and a pile of ashes remained.  Even the corrugated tin was affected.  They were able to salvage some of it and we were fortunate enough to find a supply of used tin to help them rebuild.  We also managed to supply them with recycled wood from them with recycled wood from shipping crates.  This coming week we will donate some concrete, sand and gravel for them to restore part of their floor that had been damaged.  This is not as attractive as the block house we helped build but to them it is a home.  The block house is just about finished and pictures will follow.   We have plans to help one more family rebuild their home that is flooded with each rain.

However we need to hurry as we received word that we will be transferred to Hidalgo de Parral Chihuahua Mexico for a Family Search preservation project at the municipal archive.  They have the largest colonial archive in northern Mexico that Family Search is negotiating to digitize and make available on the internet.   It was 20 years ago that we became acquainted with that archive and created the Hispanic Heritage Project which helped support it with funds and equipment as well as parishes in the area and the Catholic diocese in Durango.  Once this project is completed we will have accomplished an idea that was dreamed of 20 years ago.  Once again, we greatly appreciate all of you who contributed funds to the building of the homes in Quisqueya.

We pray that you will all have a wonderful holiday season and will feel the spirit of joy and satisfaction as you gather with your families and appreciate each endearing moment. 

Con mucho cariño,

Carlos and Nancy

November 25, 2012

Hi friends and family.  I hope all are enjoying good health and happiness as we enter this Christmas season.

Street vendors.  Someone is always on this street corner selling these "piggy" banks and people buy them. I don't know exactly what their purpose is except of course to save money but kind of strange.



SCORED! This guy bought one.











This person's whole house burned down and he is rebuilding it little by little. Brother Yturralde is working on getting him some lumber to finish the roof. As I previously mentioned in a former update, the lumber is from the energy plant that is under construction that well be providing electricity to a gold mine that is several miles to the north.  They receive large equipment on huge pallets that they are giving away and Bro. Y has made friends with the head engineer of the company so the next pallets they have available will be broken down and disributed.

We think these coconut oil palms that died for some reason and they are restoring them. There were miles upon miles of them. We saw them on our way to Las Terrenas which is on the north side of the island. You could see little green shots growing from the tops of the palms.

These are three Aaronic Priesthood boys who spent the night with us when the Branch went to the temple. We went to La Sirena which is like Walmart to pick up some chips and soda.  It was all decorated for Christmas and they of course insisted on taking pictures.

Those of you on Facebook already saw the following picture.  This is in front of the Quisqueya Chapel.  The two high councillmen who attend our branch most Sundays always arrive from San Pedro (about 30 minutes away on this moto).

Googing around after church services while waiting for Bro. Y to finish some church business and playing around with the automatic photo shoot on my camera.

Happy

day for this young man who was baptized November 10th.

The baptismal font is outside and they have to order a truckload of water to fill it. The truck comes with a tank of water that the driver attaches a hose to and then fills the font. The services were at 6:00 and it was already dark as you can see so we were unable to attend. We don't like to travel that far out of Santo Domingo after dark.

Love to all,

Carlos & Nancy

Quisqueya Chapel

November 5, 2012

Some more sights of Santo Domingo

This is a Banyan tree.  They are seen all over Santo Domingo.  You can see one of the guaguas in the background that typically race down the streets honking their horns weaving in and out of traffic and blatantly cutting you off so as to get their passengers to their destinations as quickly as possible.  However the drivers are always quite polite. If I put my arm out the window on my side and get their attention, they will let us cut in front of them. This guagua is particularly nice.  Most of them are very banged up from all the crashes they get into with their crazy driving.

A large tree growing through the electrical wires. Looks a bit dangerous to me.

 

The new president travels to and from his Presidential Palace to the goverment office where he works each day.  The traffic cops blow their whistles and make all traffic move aside when he passes.  This happens right in front of our building.  One night beginning at 11:00 pm we heard all this noise.  They were repaving the street eveidently for the president's comfortable and safe passage along the street.  The street was previously full of bumps and pot holes.  The workers were removing the old asphalt with this machine.  It slices out a chunk and then grinds it up and spits it out through that shoot into a dump truck.

This is about 6:00 am and they were finishing up. They literally worked all night long. Traffic began to flow soon after.  Amazing how fast things can be repaired when it is for the government official. hmmm

March 11 2012

Mission Update March 11, 2012

Hi Friends and Family,

We have had a very eventful weekend.  A group of 15 church members from the Quisqueya Branch came to Santo Domingo via guagua Saturday morning to attend the temple. The youth did baptisms and two of the sisters were attending for the first time. Afterwards we all went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch.  We had arranged for four of the young boys to stay here in Santo Domingo with us because Carlos wanted to take them to the Botanical Gardens here to show them around and help them to get ideas on something they could plant in their small yards for food and a possible future small income. So two of the boys stayed with us and two stayed with the other missionary couple (the Snows) who we are working with in Quisqueya.  Well, then crazy things began to happen. 

The water to our building was shut off.  I was in the middle of washing the boys’ white shirts so they would have a clean shirt for Sunday.  We then called the Snows and went over there and Sister Snow finished washing and drying the shirts.  We also ate dinner.  Luckily, I had our dinner already prepared so we had an impromptu potluck at the Snow’s and shared an enjoyable evening with all four boys.  Meanwhile we accidently locked ourselves out of our apartment when we were leaving to go to the Snow’s. That was easily fixed when we called a reliable person and he knocked the doorknob off with a hammer and put on a new knob and lock.  Makes one feel very secure huh? However not to worry there are two other locks on the door.

So we survived Saturday.  Today while we were at church in Quisqueya, the water came on and another missionary couple who had just moved in to the same building where we live, called us and said that they had leftover chicken soup for us. When returning from Quisqueya, we were looking forward to life as usual with running water and some hot chicken soup. Then all of a sudden we got a flat tire.  Oh my!!!  So Carlos is trying to change the tire with the instruction book in hand (that must have looked funny) and along comes a young couple who stopped their car and asked if we could use some help.  Carlos thankfully handed the tools to the young man and he went to work and changed the tire in just a few short minutes. We were so thankful.  Carlos told the young man that he learned something new about changing tires that day.  The young man responded, that he learned something better, that when you help your fellow man, you are blessed. 

It’s not over yet. When we pulled into our parking lot we were informed that the water pump was broken and that the water would again be shut off. YIKES!  After stopping by our neighbor’s house for the chicken soup, we entered our apartment to find the place flooded.  The boys had left the faucet on when the water was off. So when it went on during the time we were gone, the water flowed full force for several hours before it was shut off in preparation to fix the pump in the morning. Sooooo we mopped, and mopped, and mopped before we could sit down to eat our chicken soup.   Now we have a VERY clean beautiful white floor and a brand new door knob, we were blessed by two passers-by and we had a great potluck dinner at the Snows with four sweet ??? young men. The Lord is indeed watching over us.

Love,

Carlos and Nancy

Teníamos un fin de semana lleno de muchos acontecimientos. Un grupo de miembros de la Rama de Quisqueya vino a Santo Domingo, por guagua sábado en la mañana para asistir al templo.  La juventud hizo bautismos y dos de las hermanas asistieron al templo para la primera vez.  Después, todos de nosotros fuimos a un restaurante de China para almorzar.  Hicimos arreglos para que cuatro de los varones jóvenes se quedaran aquí en Santo Domingo con nosotros porque Carlos quería llevarles a los jardines Botánicas. Quería que ellos obtuvieran ideas sobre algo que podrían plantar en los pequeños jardines de sus hogares  para alimentos y la posibilidad de una futura pequeña ganancia. .  Así que dos de los jóvenes se quedaron con nosotros y dos con la familia Snow.  Los Snows  son dos otros misioneros que están trabajando con nosotros en Quisqueya.. Pues algunos acontecimientos locos empezaron a suceder.

El agua de nuestro edificio fue cerrada.  Yo estaba en el medio de lavar las camisas blancas de los jóvenes para que pudieran tener una camisa limpia para domingo. Luego llamamos a los Snows y nos fuimos allá y hermana Snow terminaba lavando y secando las camisas. También cenamos juntos allá.  Con suerte, yo ya tenía preparada la comida.  Así que teníamos una cena de traje espontánea con los Snows y compartimos una noche muy gozosa con todos los cuatro jóvenes. Mientras tanto, por accidente cerramos la puerta con las llaves adentro de la casa.  El problema fue resuelto fácilmente cuando llamamos a alguien con quien teníamos confianza que quebró la manija de la puerta con un martillo y puso un nuevo. .  ¿Se nos hace muy seguro, verdad? Pero no nos preocupamos.  Hay dos otras cerraduras en la puerta.

Así que sobrevivimos el sábado.  Hoy mientras estábamos en los servicios de domingo en Quisqueya, había agua de nuevo en el edificio y otra pareja misionera que apenas se mudó al mismo edifico como nosotros nos llamó diciendo que tenía un caldo de pollo  para nosotros.  Cuando estábamos en camino a Santo Domingo de Quisqueya esperamos la vida normal con agua corriente y un caldo de pollo caliente.  Luego, de repente tuvimos una llanta pinchada. Ay ay ay!!  Así que Carlos estaba tratando de cambiar la llanta con el libro de instrucciones en la mano (que chistoso probablemente se veía así)  y entonces llegó una pareja jóven que paró y ofreció su ayuda. Carlos muy agradecido le dio al caballero las herramientas y él cambió la llanta en pocos minutos.  Estábamos muy agradecidos.  Carlos le dijo al caballero que había aprendido algo sobre el cambiar de una llanta.  El caballero le respondió que él había aprendido algo mejor…… que cuando le ayuda a su prójimo es muy bendecido.

No se acaba nuestra historia todavía.  Cuando entramos nuestro estacionamiento, fuimos informados que la bomba para el agua estaba descompuesta y que estaban cerrando el agua de nuevo.  YIKES. Después de pasar por el apartamento de nuestra vecina para recoger el caldo de pollo entramos nuestro apartamento y lo encontramos inundado de agua. Los jóvenes habían dejado la llave abierta cuando el agua fue cerrada.  Así que cuando fue abierta, durante del tiempo que no estábamos, el agua corrió de fuerza por muchas horas antes de que fue cerrada para las preparaciones de la mañana.  Asiiiiiiii que, trapeamos, trapeamos y trapeamos antes de que pudiéramos sentarse para comer el caldo de pollo.  Ahora tenemos un piso blanco y MUY limpio, y una manija nueva de la puerta, hemos sido bendecidos por unos viajeros, y cenamos con los Snows con cuatro dulces?????jóvenes. El Señor,  de verdad, está velándonos.