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