Mission Accomplished: Dominican Style

Ever since Taylor received his mission call in March of 2011, Tom and I planned to travel to the Dominican Republic to pick him up and bring him home.  

Whoa, what an adventure.  Tom and I flew into Santo Domingo on Friday,  rented our less than adequate Kia Picanto (picture a dented up smart car), and drove out to La Romana to find our resort. the Bahia Principe.

 

We got checked in and after 30 minutes in our room with no power or air conditioning, realized that you have to insert your room key into the light switch in order to have power and air-conditioning.  

One of many things we learned in the DR.

On Saturday we drove out to Punta Cana.  On our way to Punta Cana, we stopped in Higuey at a Basilica visited twice by the Pope.  

 

Hawaii and Mexico have nothing on the beaches in the DR.  This picture says it all.  

We found the perfect spot on the beach and chilled with all the South Americans. After a few hours on the beach and a picnic rated a 10, we drove down to Bavarro and checked out the beaches there 

 

and then drove back through the crazy traffic in La Romana (where we got lost), to our resort for some delicious seafood for dinner.

 

 

 The food at the all inclusive resort was really good, but we learned to eat in the restaurants where you had to make a reservation rather than in the buffet line.  The food was amazing in the restaurants, plus you were served.

Taylor got approval from his mission president for us to attend church in his branch on Sunday in Sabana Grande de Boya which is about 2 hours north of Santo Domingo in the campo/jungle.  We left before 7 am because church was at 9 am and we knew that we would more than likely get lost which happened a number of times.  Can I just mention how difficult it is to drive a car in a country where no one obeys traffic laws, where all the maps are incorrect, and where all the signs (if there are signs) are written in a foreign language? It was a miracle that we finally found the church in Sabana and were reunited with Elder Morris. We were only a half hour late and were able to visit with Taylor and Elder Valencia while the Relief Society and Priesthood hour finished up.  It was such a thrill to go to the Gospel Principles class during Sunday school and hear Taylor teach the lesson in Spanish and then to meet his investigators and new converts.  Tom and I were asked to bear our testimonies in Sacrament meeting (Taylor translated) and I played the keyboard.  It was such a sweet group of people and I could tell that they truly loved and would miss Elder Morris. 

Here we are with most of the branch.  President Hernandez said we could attend church with Elder Morris, but after church we had to leave and let him be a missionary, so we said our goodbyes and hit the bumpy dirt road.

 

 And here with our trusty, beat-up Kia Picanto. Taylor couldn't believe how small it was. On our way back to our resort after church, we stopped off at the Rental car place at the airport and changed our car for a bigger one, a Kia Rio. 
Taylor and all his stuff would never have fit in the Picanto.

 

There was a beautiful sunset at the resort on Sunday evening.

 

We couldn't pick Taylor up at the mission home in Santo Domingo until Monday at 5 pm, so we spent the morning at Dominicus beach.  It was another beautiful beach and another beautiful day.

 

 This cute little girl was more than happy to get her picture taken.

 I was so excited to pick up Taylor, so we left a couple of hours early, knowing again, that we would probably get lost, plus we didn't know what kind of crazy traffic we would find in Santo Domingo. The mission home is right down town, but we only got lost once and fortunately arrived in one piece at 4:30 pm. 

There were 33 missionaries in Taylor's group going home

 

and two other sets of parents picking up their missionaries. It was fun meeting some of the missionaries we had heard about and meeting the mission president and his wife,  President and Sister Hernandez and the office couple, the Ewell's.

 

We loaded up Taylor's belongings and drove back out to the resort where Elder Morris got to spend one night in luxury.  We ate dinner in the Italian restaurant.

 We took a walk on the beach in the morning. 

It was Taylor's first time to see a nice Caribbean beach.

 

 

We checked out of the resort and then drove to 

Dominicus beach and had a picnic (rated 9.5)

 We then drove to Higuey so Taylor could see the Basilica of La Altagracia.

 

This sign says "Crypt of the Bishops" so we thought it was appropriate Tom stand beneath it.

 We then drove back to Consuelo, one of Elder Morris' areas.

Here he is in front of the church he served in.

 Here's his apartment in San Pedro de Macoris. Taylor lived in San Pedro, but his area was in Consuelo.

Many famous baseball players are from Consuelo.
Sammy Sosa's brother lived right below the missionaries.

 

A beautiful Catholic church in San Pedro

Who knew that the Boy Scout had a troop in the Dominican Republic?

After visiting San Pedro, we drove back into Santo Domingo and after some stressful traffic got checked into our hotel at the Marriot Courtyard.

We ate a delicious dinner at an Italian restaurant.

 Wednesday morning we took a long walk along the malacon in Santo Domingo.

We drove out to Bayaguana (Taylor's first area) and visited

 Salto de Socoa, a beautiful waterfall out in the campo

 Tom jumped right in!

 It was so hot and muggy with lots of bugs!

 Here's Taylor's apartment in Monte Plata.
Don't you love the garments hanging out to dry?
I don't think the mission president would approve

 Taylor took us to lunch at a comedor 

 

where he regularly ate.
The food was really good, beans, rice, chicken, fritos (fried plantains), and salad with avocado. Can you tell there is no air conditioning and it is really hot?

 Here's the church in Monte Plata

 and a cute little boy having a bath in his front yard

The campo

.  Taylor lived in Monte Plata but would spend Tuesdays, Thursdays and every other Saturday in Bayaguana They would take the gua gua (bus)

 to Bayaguana .
Here's the church in Bayaguana
While in Bayaguana, he lived in the church

 in this little class room.

 complete with gecko.

 

 Here's the baptismal font.

We then drove to Sabana Grande.

It is beautiful in the campo.

We drove to the top of this hill and Tom and Taylor climbed to the top.

  

 

Here's Taylor's apartment in Sabana.

This is where the battle with the rats took place.

We made it back to Santo Domingo and were so tired, we ended up eating at McDonald's for dinner.

 Thursday morning we took another walk to the temple.
It is absolutely beautiful!!

 The CCM (DR MTC) where Taylor lived for 6 weeks

shares the parking lot with the temple

 We toured Santo Domingo on Thursday and the old city "Conde"

 These are the forefathers of the DR
Duarte, Sanchez, Mella

 The old fort

 The oldest church in the western hemisphere

 The Dominican Republic is believed  to be the first island Christopher Columbus landed on.  His son Diego was the first viceroy.

This is the house Diego lived in

 Picture of Christopher Columbus and his son Diego

 We walked and walked, and it was sooo hot and muggy.

It was fun shopping in the marketplace and Haitian market and hearing  Tom and Taylor bargain with the best of them.

 

 A typical taxi. They would squeeze 4 people in the back and 3 in the front.

We ate dinner at a "Chinese" restaurant across from the mission home, called "Happy Hour". It was really good.

 Taylor talked us into buying this electric green soda called Manzana verde.

It was very sweet but pretty good.

 Friday morning we got up and walked to the Santo Domingo temple and went through a session. It was a wonderful experience.

We ate lunch at "Tropical", a fantastic restaurant right on the ocean.

 Unfortunately, this is what happens when you throw your trash in the river.

 Taylor took Tom on the subway and the gua gua to Espaillat, and Los Mina
(two kind of sketchy areas that Taylor served in)
so I rested at the hotel and swam and read.

That evening we drove out to Hainamosa.
Here's the church.

 and the apartment the missionaries lived in.

 

 We met this cute family he taught,
and ran into the sister missionaries at the home of another
family he taught

 This family was so excited to see Elder Morris. The little girls ran out and gave him big hugs. The cute Mom, Anna, made us some delicious lemonade.

 Saturday morning it was time to fly home. We saw this billboard in the airport and thought it was very appropriate since Elder Morris would LOVE to go back to the Dominican Republic some day. The best word I can think of to describe the Dominican Republic is CRAZY. The traffic is insame, it is loud, hot, and humid, but Taylor LOVES it and the people and he can't wait to go back.

 We had quite an adventure getting back to Boise and ended up having to overnight in Chicago because we missed our flight so we didn't get home until Sunday afternoon. Thankfully we still had a welcoming committee!

 Welcome home Elder Morris. It is so good to have you back!