Weekend to Remember in Rexburg!

Although we had made a visit earlier in February to Rexburg to met Edmond Tsukasa Swapp who was born on January 23, 2012, this trip was for two very special events.  Lance's graduation ceremony from BYU-I and Edmond was given a name and a blessing the following day, Sunday.  Both were events to make a mom and dad proud or grandma and grandpa for that matter.

March Madness 2012'

You might have thought March Madness was basketball but, no, it is a fun five days with Jenn and Ryan's children while they enjoyed a trip to Canada.  We always love the time we spend with Madeline, Ella, Max and Sam.  They keep things moving every minute.  Swings, bike rides, jump rope, baseball, gardening,  violin, puzzles, play house,  dress-ups, and stories.  We got their on St. Patrick's day and Ella and Madeline had built and ingenious trap to catch a Leprechaun including a sign with an arrow so the Leprechaun would be sure to go the right way to get caught.  Animated Ella was sure it would work as she showed us how it all functioned.

Afton Nicole Swapp

Tom and Ashley had a long awaited for and much anticipated bundle of joy come into their lives on December 20, 2011.  She didn't wait for us to get home from our mission but was their waiting for us when we got back on the 17th (to Colorado) of January.  Girls and their daintiness from birth never ceases to amaze.  Especially a grandmother that had four sons and no little daughters to raise.

Life Between Missions-Will's Birthday

We returned from the Dominican Republic the middle of January and thinking that we might have a new baby born to Lance and Mai in Idaho shortly after we got there, we flew in to Utah where our car was, stayed a few days and headed for Rexburg but little Edmund had a different plan and didn't come until some days later but he did get here save and sound and is doing well.  More on him later.  We headed to Colorado to meet two other grandbabies we hadn't met yet.  Greg and Darlene's little boy William and Tom and Ashley's little girl Afton.
A few days later, we had a birthday party for William, his first to be precise and Darlene had planned a fun nautical-themed party.

For kids only....and kids at heart.....

A random kind of posting, things you might see in the Dominican Republic........

This is the fruit  or cashew apple of a cashew nut.  The nut is in the shell at the bottom and has a caustic liquid in side.  One of the locals said that they have to roast it by an open fire to get rid of the poison. http://www.tropicalpermaculture.com/growing-cashews.html    This website gives more details.  The fruit is yummy boiled with cinnamon and cloves.

The bikes above and below are recycle utility vehicles!

A new stadium being constructed out of cement (everything is made of cement here) and they use 2x4's to brace things.  Somehow they make it work even if it doesn't seem possible.

Yes, we had an uninvited guest for breakfast at this open-air dining room.

Yes, this is a kind of millipede and NO it is not my hand holding it.  Madeline and  Ella would probably be brave enough to hold it but not their Grandma....

Some friends I made at the Colonial Zone.  They were on a field trip with their school.  The Dominica people are a
beautiful people.

Count how many mattresses?

A birthday party here means a pinata.   The mother of this little girl made this pinata out of seven balloons and paper.  Can you count the balloons in it?

Yes, motorcycles are used as delivery trucks for many things.  Often, they are covered with racks of bread and buns.  This just happens to have many dead chickens on it.  I am not sure where they are being taken.

This on the other hand, happens do be a dead pig, yup.  You see them on the roadsides especially on holidays for people to stop and buy part or all of it for the family gatherings.  I am not sure I want to taste it.  You can sometimes see them being roasted over the fire.

dA few last remarks although I do have more pictures to share.  I would think this moto is more like we would have the family car.....However, much of the time the motos are a kind of taxi.  It doesn't look to safe to me, but it is probably their only option.
Dominian Joke:  What do you call a moto with three people on it???????? Wasted Space....
A second edition will be in the works shortly........

I KNOW....

Promptings happen everyday. Being aware of them at all is, at times, a problem, however, a bigger problem is being willing to act upon the promptings. Regrets of missed opportunities to serve others and share the gospel linger long in my memory. 

The story I share today strengthens my testimony of God’s love for each of us and that it is important to listen to the still small voice of the Holy Ghost.  First some background to this story.  People in the Dominican Republic do not always have ways or means to get the medical attention they need.  Either there are no doctors with appropriate equipment or they do not have the money to get the help that they need.  The public hospitals (national healthcare) is free for everyone but this is kind of how it works as I am told.  If you are in a moto accident which happens often and you have a badly crushed leg or arm, the national health care will cut it off for you for free but if it need specialized, pins, plates, surgery you have to have the ability to pay for that.  Many do not have the means and therefore do not have a choice.  I do not know the extent of this but I do know that I have never seen so many amputees as I have here.  I'm a little side tracked here...just know that health care here is not the same as it is in America.

Anyway, we received a recommendation for a missionary wanting to serve a mission and his picture was of a very nice looking young man but he had one eye that was all white and a little larger than the other one.  I felt the prompting that I needed to do something for this young man but as I thought about it there were too many questions that I didn’t have answers to.  For example, could this eye be fixed here in the DR or does it need to be done in the United States?   Could it be fixed and fixed safely?  Could it be worse?  Who could help?  Would it be impossible to care for afterwards? And who would have answers to these questions?

I called our humanitarian missionaries, the Atkinsons, to ask them about hospitals where the church provides equipment.  They are aware of the medical facilities and some physicians here.    They gave me a name of an eye Dr. but I did not call her.  As I thought about it, the thought of helping seemed like there were too many unanswered questions and I probably couldn’t do anything anyway.

At the end of the week we drove to the Church Camp in Banao.  It is an hour and a half away. The Riggs, another Sr. Missionary couple run the camp and we wanted to visit them.  There was a youth group just packing up to leave and who did we see first thing, this young man with the eye problem.  What do you think the chances are of my seeing him.  There are over 95000 members of the church in this country that might come to this camp once or twice in a lifetime and I see THIS young man.   I knew then that I needed to do more.

I pondered what to do to help him.  Elder Anderson asked what to do with the application and I had no good answers.  He sent it on to be processed. I asked a friend what she thought I should do and she suggested I should get hold of Dr. Christiansen, an eye Dr. who had been here a few weeks prior;  A humanitarian group of eye specialists had come to work with an eye clinic sponsored through the church humanitarian services.  She said she had his email and he could probably answer my questions.  He answered everyone and more.  He has provided this young man an opportunity for a normal life.  His has been called to serve in Guatemala however his MTC experience will be in Utah where he gets the surgery he needs.

Elder Swapp and I have since met and spent time with this young man.  He comes from a humble home in the country but he is a giant of a man.  He is kind, sensitive, and pure. He is intelligent and loves to read. He is well prepared to serve a mission and has taught himself English by reading an old Ensign magazine and talking with missionaries. He wants to be an engineer one day.

This is not the end of it. More tender mercies have happened to this young man and I will save them for another post.

We had the privilege of going to the temple with this young man as he took out his own endowments.

Another young man was at the temple for his first time as well.  He came alone.  For many of the young missionaries they do it all on their own, and that is a story for another day.

I know that the Lord knows and loves this young man. And I know that because I listened to that still small voice I was able to help the Lord bless this young man.  He goes to the United States to begin his mission in July.  He will be a great missionary and thanks to Dr. Christiansen, Dr. McCann and others, plus promptings of the Holy Ghost he will be able to live a normal life.  We have had many small miracles that have helped this life-changing event come to pass.  Our family, my sister Gwen and her husband Mike “just happen” to be coming down here and traveling back the same day he needs to fly to SL for the surgery so he has someone to fly with, to stay with and watch out for him during this time.  I know that the Lord is aware of his needs and loves him.   I also know he is aware of each of our needs and cares about us.  He wants us to return again to him.  And we can if we continue to listen to that Still Small Voice that guides us back to Him again.

La Peluqueria!

La peluqueria!

I'll give you my first experience at la peluqueria.  Just so you know, it is a beauty salon.  I have been wondering where to have my hair cut.  It has been a problem for months until I couldn't stand it any longer.  So, Karolina,   the assistant to the presidency, called to get me the appointment  The owners are members of the church and within walking distance of the office here. (It is the nice part of town.)  To start, it is kind of a put off when they have to come and unlock the door to let you in.  Mind you most places have bars on the windows here.  Even with guards at places like stationary stores, furniture stores, and grocery stores, they might have the doors locked and let you in if you are actually a customer.  (I will not go off on a tangent too much here. I could though.)  It was cute place with a black and white tiled floor.  Karolina goes over with me to see if she can be the interpreter and stays for a few minutes.  They smile and hand me a book of cuts and colors.  So I just smile and point out a picture that is somewhat like I want in both colour and style.  I thought, "If I just get it anywhere close it is good enough for this old sister."  While I wait, Nancy, the stylist, is blowing out the hair on the girl next too me and I see dust or smoke flying.  Wooow, that is new!!  She must must have strong arms because she is pulling very hard, most have curly hair and to get it straight enough is work.  Anyway with the dust/smoke I am thinking QUE PASA!  but I didn't say anything because if I did she wouldn't understand me anyway.  So she is weaving my hair.  It is taking forever and I start to think how they leave there very dark hair woven pretty red around here and I start to worry.  What can I do? How do you explain that?  I can say "Hi"  I can share thoughts and greetings" but how do I explain anything about hair?  Anyway when she feels it is done she takes me over to wash it out and wooow  the water is cold!  Of course it is cold, in most places it is cold.  The casa is one of the few places it is warm.  What was I thinking!  I should have known.  Oh well.  By now it is getting dark and I have no phone with me again what was I thinking!?  Ed does not know how to get hold of me and I know he is worried.  She starts to dry my hair and she puts something on it and wooow my hair is smoking as well.  I guess it was just the stuff!!!! In the end it turned out okay, mas o meno too red for my liking,  but I may go back again anyway after all, the owner walked me across the busy street and half way back to the temple which was nice of her because she certainly didn't have to.  When I walked in Ed was on the phone trying to find out where I was.  All in all it was a new experience just like everything else is around here.  You probably needed to be there to really get the full effect of this story but I did my best.