Good bye, Dominican Republic

This month we have been aware that we were doing things for the last time. A mission seems like a long time at the beginning but looking back it appears to have rushed by very quickly.

We attended the Gonzalo Branch for the last time already. We have one more Sunday but with a fireside in the far west of the country we can't go east for church and make it in time. Our Sundays in Gonzalo will be a fond memory and a great reminder of how blessed we are to be members of well organized wards with every program available to us. It takes a lot of people, and it certainly helps to have had experience, in order to offer Young Women activities, Relief Society enrichment meetings, Boy Scout camps, Priesthood quorum presidency meetings, Family History classes, Primary singing time, Seminary classes, Young Adult firesides, Ward dinners. In a little branch, with few people to share the load there are a lot of opportunities to serve. The youth are not only given a chance to participate, they may be the best qualified for many leadership roles. There are opportunities for all of us to participate wherever we live. Find a way to contribute. Serving is learning and has certainly been my best opportunity to improve my education and skills.

Here is Grandpa teaching the Priesthood class.

This is the Relief Society with the president giving the lesson.

Here you can see Primary on the right with the Sunday School class on the other side of the curtain. Distractions are inevitable but everyone seems to learn something and the children love to draw with the new pencils and crayons we brought. Some older than 12 like to come to Primary as well. The three hour block begins at 9:00 with Priesthood and Relief Society and Young Women and Primary. After an hour Primary continues along with one Sunday School class for everyone age 12 and over. Sacrament Meeting is last. The members arrive whenever. It is a bit of a challenge to welcome and find more places for children as they drift in over the two hours. Naturally they enjoy the activities more than the lessons so they tend to drift out occasionally also. No one is the least bit worried when small children walk out of the building. Some live very close by and there are no cars to worry about. It seems children in this community have a lot of freedom to roam. I would feel panic that young children were wandering around unsupervised but I decided that if their moms are comfortable, everything is OK. Last Sunday, we did have 58 people in Sacrament Meeting. I am so glad that the Jones' will go to Gonzalo and continue to give them some support and help. The Jones' are new and the husband is serving as the executive secretary to the Area Presidency. They will get involved and be wonderful. The wife is a piano teacher and the Primary children will love having singing time with someone who can sing on tune. She has already found a portable keyboard to take. We'll just hope there will be electricity for them more often than not.
This is Juleidys who just turned 17 and is the Primary President. How would you teenagers like the responsibility to be the Primary President, Sacrament Meeting chorister and give a talk in Sacrament Meeting every month? She is pretty amazing.

We were honored last Monday night at the Family Home Evening. It was a pot luck dinner at the Harris' and there were three couples leaving. We gave our little talks and sang "Placentero nos es trabajar". It isn't in the English hymn book. We have sung it every time someone has left for a year and a half and it finally was our final time. This has been a wonderful experience for us and I think we have done a little good for others as well. I was nervous and so I wrote out a little talk. I didn't read it and probably didn't say many of these words but thought I would post what I had written:

It doesn’t seem so long ago that we came to our very first FHE with the senior couples and wondered if we could ever be comfortable with so many new responsibilities and the many differences involved in living here. We were in awe of the other couples and so happy to have a chance to have a peer group. In our last mission we loved spending time with the young missionaries but felt a lot more like parents or grandparents than fellow missionaries. We thank you for being such a great blessing to our 18 months here.

I’ve felt for the last 18 months that our experiences have been far more positive than difficult. I look forward to going home to our family but I will miss the wonderful and faithful people we have become acquainted with here in the DR. Our immediate boss Domingo Aybar is a wonderful man and has been the perfect leader. He is available and willing to help whenever we ask but never micromanages. He expects us to act like responsible adults and usually we do. We have had the opportunity to talk with most of the stake presidencies and bishops in this country. It is so comforting to me, when I often wonder what our world is coming to, to realize that we have strong, faithful priesthood leaders throughout the world. They have the help and support of at least as many faithful and resourceful women and the church is making progress and becoming stronger. The people of the Dominican Republic are not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ and take seriously their responsibilities as children of God. They are a happy people and always kind even to those of us who butcher their language. Relationships are important to them and they value their children and their families. I am grateful for the time I have spent in their beautiful country. It always amazes me how much we have in common with other members of the church even when our experiences, culture and languages are different. It is easy to feel like brothers and sisters. I hope I can always remember that and help my family members who have only lived in the United States to feel a kinship with people from far away places. We also had the chance to visit both Jamaica and Guyana. I found that speaking the same language does not guarantee that you can understand all English speakers but the same spirit and devotion to the gospel is evident with members everywhere.

It has been a privilege to work with The Perpetual Education Fund. PEF is a process to help young adults see the need for and to make the preparation they need to in order to become the leaders their families, the church and our world needs. The only real change is within an individual who chooses to use their own effort and make progress within their own life and serve others. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only answer to all of the problems in our world. Progress usually happens slowly but it is clearly visible in this country. The 30 years the gospel has been taught in this country has produced 19 stakes, 5 districts, this beautiful temple and thousands of Latter-day Saints. I find it amazingly impressive.

I see each of you serving and making a difference that will matter eternally. I appreciate your example and hope to continue to be your friend in the future. We might have to wait until the next life but then I hope we can all live on the same block (along with all of collective kids and grandkids of course) and have time to get to know each other well enough to be best friends forever.

This photo was taken that evening. It is blurry but we probably look better that way. The Francoms are in the photo with us. They are moving into our apartment this Friday.

This morning we went to the beach for the last time. The Whitakers are the sea shell champions. Sister Whitaker has always loved shells but living in Utah has never had much opportunity to find them. She and her husband have collected many hundreds of pounds of shells and provided opportunity for members (and non-members) to make picture frames with the shells. They spend hours and hours collecting and cleaning and sorting and sharing with wards and branches all over. Here are the two of them this morning:

And here a a few photos I took at their apartment:

A bowl of small unbroken shells. It takes patience to sort through all that they bring home.


This is a LARGE pile in their second bedroom. They have washed out all of the sand, soaked them in bleach water and after we left they were going to spread them out all over their apartment to dry thoroughly. The amount of work it takes is considerable and the housekeeping can't help but suffer. But the results are beautiful and foster a wonderful appreciation for God's creations. They were kind enough to give us one of their big shells that they bought from a fisherman right out of the ocean, soaked them in straight bleach and then scrubbed them for hours to make them all shiny and beautiful.

I invited Dad to write something to each of you. Here is his letter:

As we finish this mission we want each of you to know that we have a strong testimony of the importance of the Savior in our lives. Without the sacrifice and suffering of Jesus Christ we could not receive forgiveness of our sins and we could not be resurrected. All our actions are accountable and there will be a decision (judgment) made on all our actions and works. If we have done well we have nothing to worry about, but if not, we have a problem. The beauty of the gospel is that we can repent or change who we are. And the Savior has said he will not remember our sins if we covenant with him to follow him and keep his commandments. We don’t have to be perfect; we only have to want to be perfect.

The Savior explained it best in the Doctrine and Covenants thus: (D&C 19:16-18)

“For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;

17 But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;

18 Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink—“

In all our activities we try to be good examples of love, patience, kindness, forgiveness, and helping others. If we have failed in any of these categories (and we have) we try to do better tomorrow. We have faith that the Savior will forget our mistakes as we make the effort to improve (repent).

We love each of you and pray for each of you daily. We know that our example may not be perfect but we are trying to serve others as we go on missions. We also want to serve each of you but not make you dependent on us. That is why we will be babysitting for each of you as you request it. We are happy to help.

With love,

Dad

We both love you a lot!
See you soon,
Grandma and Grandpa Pettingill

Pot Luck, Parrots and Future Plans

This week we enjoyed a pot luck dinner at the apartment of the temple president to say good bye to the Johnsons (our Area President who is going to be the new Area President in Mexico. He grew up in Colonia Juarez in Mexico and his wife, Leann is from Sugar City, near BYU Idaho.) We also said good bye to President Lee and his wife (He is an Area 70 and was a member of the Area Presidency and Chairman of the Area PEF Committee. He is also our landlord.)The Lees are moving north to Santiago to serve as the Mission President there. The Fletchers (Secretary to the Area Presidency) are going home, as well as the Bagwells (He served with Grandpa in the West Mexican Mission many long years ago) and the Goodmans (He is retiring from his job as the Area S&I Director). Did you know that CES is now S&I? The Church Education System is now Seminaries and Institute. Many wonderful people are leaving right now. There is a slow and constant turnover. No one is irreplaceable and we will take our turn to depart next month. It is a privilege to work with great people who are willing to leave their homes and families and give service in parts of the world that have less opportunity than our country. These are the Johnsons.

It is easy to get discouraged about the state of the world but there are many positive things going on and progress is being made within individual lives. And that is where it counts. Many people are choosing to contribute and build rather than complain and demand. Youth are finding ways to go to school and sometimes when they can’t find a job they start a business. People are learning to read. People who can read are choosing to read good books and learn new skills. People are serving and helping within their families and trading services with their neighbors. Many youth are stepping up to serve in church teaching and leadership positions because they have skills that are needed. Our little branch, Gonzalo just called José, who is 12, to serve as the assistant clerk. He is the assistant and the only clerk in the branch. The branch president can’t do everything and Jose is more skilled than several men much older than he is because José can read and write and is a responsible person. Many members of this branch grew up in Haiti and have never gone to school. It is very difficult to learn the gospel and serve in church callings without being able to read. You are so blessed to have that skill. Use it. Everyone is needed. Develop your skills and reach out to help someone. It isn’t necessary to leave home to make a difference.

We had our next to last Area PEF Committee Meeting. We accomplished a lot with that meeting but also learned that we sent out the wrong version of a letter to every priesthood leader and participant in the DR. Oops. So we spent two more days sending out the correct version. Maybe they will read it and pay more attention with two copies. We have had so much difficulty identifying payments...hopefully they will better realize the necessity of putting their loan number on their deposit slips!

I finally got a photo where you can actually see the green parrots in the green tree tops outside our bedroom window. Look carefully and you can see them. Just imagine that you can hear their squawking. Not a lovely sound but very tropical.

We had a baptism in the Gonzalo branch. Here is the group in front of the chapel before the baptism.

Here is a photo of Presidente Rodriguez and some deacons and wannabe deacons. They all took turns wearing the missionaries name tags.

We are planning a Lewis and Jeri Pettingill Family Reunion in June of 2010. We welcome your suggestions and hope you will come if you can.

And, schedule us for a grandparent visit so we can spend time with your little darlings and you and your spouse can spend time without them. This is a limited time offer...meaning we only want to stay as long as we and the kids enjoy it. I suspect the parents could enjoy it for months but we are thinking a week or less.

Love you, Mom and Dad P

Small Businesses and a Fortunate Rescue

I missed my opportunity to get a photo of my favorite small business. It was located on this corner very near our apartment. Right here in the dirt, on a wobbly table, was a print shop.

A man would bring two car batteries, lots of paper and a little printer. He usually had several customers waiting for his service. There are many college students who attend a technical school just another block down the street. They bring their homework on a memory stick and he prints out their papers. I haven't seen him for awhile. Life is challenging for small business people. I hope it is just that lately we haven't been by during his business hours.

There are many many street vendors all throughout the Dominican Republic but most are more traditional, like this lady in the bright pink shirt (you can barely see her), selling drinks from an insulated pitcher and gum and candy. Her wares are displayed on a baby stroller. In this country, I have seen lots more strollers used as portable stores than as transportation for small children.

I had to go back and take a photo of this trap below. It at least 6 inches deep. It may look innocent but we got stuck and couldn't drive back out. It is in the parking lot next to the park

where we walk in the mornings. A couple of months ago, when it was pitch dark at 6:00 AM, we pulled too far forward and fell in. The car would not move. We decided to go walking and figure out what to do afterward when it was light. Fortunately, we came upon our Area President, President Johnson and one of the Seventies who lives in Puerto Rico, Elder Alvarado out jogging together. They offered to help. With me in the driver's seat, and three men lifting, the car could back up. We were very happy to have our problem solved and the priesthood leaders not only got their cardio taken care of but some serious strength training as well. We were grateful.

I will end with some pretty photos I took in this park. We moan and complain about our morning walks but we do enjoy getting out and seeing our beautiful world. The first photo is of a painting on the side of the building that serves as the office of the environment police.



Hibiscus grow in California but not in Idaho or Utah. And none of those places have the humidity necessary to grow lovely green moss on pavement. I will have to go back to buying lotion but I do look forward to less humidity.


We love you and miss you but enjoy our opportunities to serve here. Start your lists of things we can do to serve you when we return. Make it a long list so we can pick and choose. We may pick and choose to do the things that we prefer to do.
Lots of love, Grandma and Grandpa Pettingill

May in the Dominican Republic

We are feeling the pressure of limited time because of the many things we would like to do before we leave for home. We have firesides scheduled for every Sunday and a couple on Saturdays. We visited Higuey and Hainamosa at the end of April. Higuey is a long ways east and then north. It is the closest chapel to the big tourist towns on the east coast of the island. It was on a Saturday and we left early in order to stop in Bayahibe and Dominicus again. We had lunch at the restaurant we enjoyed with Beverly and Jessica and Daniel. I was able to take more photos because it was daylight. A very beautiful part of the island! We went out to dinner with the Bishop and his wife in Higuey after the fireside. It was fun to talk with them. He is learning English to advance in his job at a hotel and she is proud of her husband’s responsibilities and eager to support him. Higuey is in the La Romana Stake but so far away that they needed their own fireside. The next day we went to Hainamosa which is in the east part of Santo Domingo to hold another fireside.

Dan and Beverly and Jessica, do you recognize the table at the right above? This is the daylight view. The little yellow boat was just to the right and the 3 crabs (Can you find all three?) were just beyond the little sea wall.

The next weekend we went to Las Americas which is also in the eastern part of Santo Domingo to train a stake specialist to call all of the Perpetual Education Fund participants in her stake every month and record her contacts in the PEF computer system. Ester works for one of the major banks and is comfortable with computers so she understood how to do the work and we have high hopes that she will follow through. Church callings require a lot of time and devotion. In order to answer questions and find solutions to problems, sometimes a lot of effort is required. We are grateful that so many are willing to take responsibility and serve their fellow members.

On Sunday, May 3rd we started attending the Gonzalo Branch to support and strengthen this remote unit of the church. We had asked our Mission President months before if he needed us to attend a branch but he never made an assignment. I was enjoying being a relaxed spectator on Sundays (I only substituted in the nursery now and again and spoke once in Sacrament Meeting) and loved our English language Sunday School class. But the other Santo Domingo mission got permission to call us to assist one of their branches. Gonzalo is about 2/3 of the way up to Samana Peninsula on the toll road Susan and Randy will remember. It takes us an hour and 15 minutes to drive there. It is further than Monte Plata where Emily and Edgar went with us to a fireside on their visit. There is not much in the way of employment in the town. There are houses, a police station, a city hall (which is even a bit bigger than Melba’s) and a school for both elementary and secondary levels. The branch has been in existence for about a year. The branch president is in his 70’s and is the only Melchizedek priesthood holder. Actually the records show him as an Aaronic priesthood holder. We need to get that fixed. The Primary president is 16 years old and had been told that it was just fine to let the kids run around outside. I am now the Primary helper and we have kept the kids inside, sitting in chairs and fairly orderly and involved for the last two weeks. The young president is amazingly good at teaching and loving the children. I’m doing sharing time and thinking up quiet activities. The building we meet in is one big room with curtains to divide the room into three sections. Lewis was called to be his first counselor last week and the district suggested we cut back to two hours on the “basic” plan. We will have all of the adults and youth meet together and the Primary President and I will continue with the children for only one hour. The second hour we will have Sacrament Meeting. When there are more priesthood holders they can begin to divide things up more and add the third hour back in. Surprisingly there are more men than women on the branch list. We had to get the data from the Area Office. The branch president didn’t even have a list of his members. There are missionaries assigned to the branch. With their help, we can verify the accuracy of our list and begin to know who are members and who are in the various age groups. There have been 30-50 people coming every Sunday but many were curious children without parents. Hopefully we can retain their interest and teach them what the church is about. The church has a very fun homemade steeple and is situated at the top of a hill. If I sit in the back I can see out the side door during Sacrament Meeting. It is the very best view I have ever enjoyed in church. I have been impressed with the reverence of the people during Sacrament Meeting and talks by several youth have been excellent.

Gonzalo chapel on the hill

Grandpa is First Counselor to President Rodriguez

Erica is one of the Primary children. Yes, she does have attitude.

I can see this view out the side door of the building during Sacrament Meeting

We went back to Azua to train Flor as a new stake specialist and held a fireside in San Pedro.

On the 13^th Grandpa and I had a ½ hour appointment with the Area Presidency to report on our stewardship. Brother Aybar and Brother Lilly, our bosses were there also. We went over the things we have done, the problems we see and had a couple of recommendations. President Johnson was impressed with how many stake specialists we have trained and the amount of contacts they are providing. We are not doing so well with our Service Center volunteers but overall progress is being made. They kept us for more than an hour so I guess we had good enough answers for their questions.

Last Saturday we enjoyed a very fun day. I had wanted to go to Altos de Chavon but the entrance fee is $20.00 in US dollars for each person. I didn’t want to go that badly. One of the Senior couples had called and asked if a group of us could go for a lower price because we are not tourists but living here in the country. The person on the phone gave instructions about which gate to enter and gave the price as $5.00 per person. So 5 couples went in two cars. Fortunately, the bold couples were in the front car. We just followed. It took a very, very long time and we passed through four guarded gates but we got in after a lot of talking and for no money?! The Altos of Chavon has a beautiful golf course set on a high bluff overlooking a river and the centerpiece is a reproduction of a 17^th century Italian village that has been turned into a wedding chapel and various shops and restaurants. It is beautiful! I read that it was built many years ago by a very wealthy father for his daughter who wanted to travel to Italy to learn to paint. He wanted to persuade her to stay at home and learn to paint. There is a museum and several art schools located here now. They even had couples in period costume and some dancers and musicians along the cobbled street. The prices were outrageous and the hamburger Lewis ordered was inedible but we had a lovely time. There was a man with a donkey and a singing group that sang “Celito Lindo”, a Mexican folksong, to these former Mexican missionaries. There is also a beautiful outdoor theater built of stone that is used for international level performances. This is a very lovely place for those who can pay for the lifestyle of the rich and the famous. But it did seem like they needed a lot more tourists to support the restaurants and purchase the wares in the shops. I’m glad we were able to go and enjoy this beautiful setting. I certainly have not seen architecture like this in the United States.

This is the reproduction chapel

People in period costume stroll by. The dancers and musicians are further ahead.

How about that cool "river" in the darker stones at the top of the building?

This is the view down to the river.

I like the dragons on this building

The Fraziers were brave enough to each take a ride on this cute donkey.

This is a closeup of the stage of the outdoor theater

This is the seating in the theater as seen from the stage. Grandpa is the tiny person on the left.

On Sunday we went to Gonzalo and then drove a very long ways to Azua in the western part of the country to hold a fireside. We were surprised at the attendance. This is only a district but the attendance was more than 75 people! Good job, Azua. Our reservation at the Hotel San Ramon got lost somehow. Not hard to imagine. We were worried. It was a long ways home over unsafe roads in the dark and we were very tired because we had been up since 5:00AM. Fortunately we did find a room at the Don Juan Hotel. Go ahead and snicker. There was no running water but the bed was clean (I think), the air conditioning almost worked and we did sleep and left first thing in the morning.

Last night was our last Family Home Evening at the Johnson home. President and Sister Johnson will be moving to Mexico (where he grew up in the Colonies) to serve as the Area President in Mexico City. President Viñas will become the Area President here. It is always a treat to get together with the Senior couples and extra nice to have a dinner and a lesson by a general authority. He asked each couple to write a description of the atonement suitable for a young child using no more than six sentences. That was a good exercise. After reviewing a number of scriptures he asked several individuals to bear a testimony of the atonement suitable for an audience of small children. He made the point (and we could see for ourselves) that no matter how well we describe the doctrine we need to bear testimony to allow the Holy Ghost to add his witness to the truthfulness of what we say. That is a very important principle for parents and teachers to remember.

Please also remember that we love you and are so pleased with all that you are doing and becoming.

Love, Grandma and Grandpa P.