Merry Christmas from the DR

DR Christmas trees

Our Christmas tree and decorations

At the roll demonstration in the Stake Center. I just love my translator! The kitchens in the churches here are usually bigger than this - they double as the Relief Society room. The kitchens only have a sink and a stove - no refrigerator.

RS sisters enjoying their rolls (looking out from the kitchen).

Do you want to buy a leg of meat for your holiday party??

We asked their mother if we could take their picture. She was taking them to preschool just before Christmas.

Do you need a snack while you are out shopping? You could stop and get some corn on the cob.

It takes a strong stomach to look in the meat counter here. Poor little pigs! Pork, chicken and goat are the favorites for Christmas.

These chickens still have heads and feet attached.

Lights across the street from the temple.

The temple at night - It is very beautiful.

Cattle grazing right on the ocean.

This woman was selling chinola by the side of the road. She has blue eyes. It's the first time we have seen them on a Dominican.

The monument at night.

The fish department. Doesn't tempt me.

Mango season again. There are 3 mango seasons a year.

The church has a camp at Bonao. The missionary couple there gave us a great tour. It is very nice. It has the church written all over it. It is much nicer than anywhere else here.

There is a huge pavilion at the camp. There are also several smaller ones.

There are 67 of these huts on the property. They each sleep 10-12.

The inside of the hut. It has a cement floor.

The Munoz's gave us a great tour. They are from Puerto Rico.

It is sugar cane season. We see these around on the street. They have a machine that squeezes the juice out of the sugar cane and they sell it a cup at a time. Notice the ice,

The Many Faces and Places of the Domincan Republic

Colorful peppers. They have lots of peppers here. Many times when you order vegetables in a restaurant you get peppers, onions and eggplant.

This seahorse was outside of a resort in Cabarete.

As we were walking by this police station, they had all the traffic stopped in both directions and the band was playing. We are not sure what was happening but we have never seen this before.

Taking eggs to the grocery store and it was HOT outside!

At the cemetery. People have been/will be kept in each square.

The cemetery is a maze with crypts along each walkway.

Some gravesites have little display areas. Someone put flowers in here that morning.

People that aren't as wealthy are here - notice the ladder to help reach those higher up.

A pretty intersection in Santiago. Traffic comes in from 5 different streets.

A nativity set for sale on the street.

Men wear these knit sleeves, I guess so their arms don't get sunburned.

A guy wind surfing at Cabarete beach. The guy is really tiny but he's on the top wave toward the right edge.

A cat came to church last week. He wanted to see the Primary program too! No one paid any attention to him - except me I guess!

Our view of the monument as we were eating in a restaurant one night.

Our Thanksgiving table with Kim and the Leavitts. The Leavitts are the new missionaries in our mission.

The Thanksgiving relish tray. Sister Grange is pretty creative!

This guy tied a palm branch onto a broomstick to sweep the sidewalk.

Merry Christmas from the guys at the gas station.

A man getting his shoes shined on the street.

Do you want to buy a spoon?? Denny's is an unbelievable store here.

More shots in Denny's. You can hardly walk down the aisles.

The washing machines most people have here. Just hook up to a hose and let the water out through the back door.

Navigating a lot of stuff on a busy street.

Want some coco frio?? 

Monuments to the Three Sisters. They are national heros.

The Christmas tree in the mission office. A beautiful nativity set and I really like the Libro de Mormon ornaments.

A Little taste of Dominican

Cows and dogs having breakfast. Breaks my heart.

It is very common to see women wearing huge curlers in public.

Mannequins along the street. Quite often I mistake them for real people.

 Most businesses have parking attendants. We were directed to park on the sidewalk. The guy loved having his picture taken. At least we were in the shade!

The night before we took this picture, this dead tree limb fell across the street just as we got there. Kim cleared the limbs on the sidewalk to the right so we could get by.

Our 3rd semester Pathway students. They are like family to us.

Our 1st semester Pathway students. Another awesome group!

One of my students in my Friday class joined the church!

A couple of takes on how to spell lasagne (check out the small box to the right). Actually the Spanish version makes more sense to me than the English version.

Roasted piggy tails and other various parts?????? Along with some of their ?sausage? and other pork? delights!

Same business as above. This is a fresh pig head and it looks like jerky drying??? Yum???

Satellite dish and telephone pole propped up by another stick.

A sight on our way to church. Looks like someone is having chicken for Sunday dinner!

Tobacco hanging in a drying shed. I'm not sure when they start growing the tobacco again.

Harvesting the rice. Even little ones help.

Pineapple field

Combine to harvest rice. It was a very hot day but still a guy wearing a sweatshirt. Maybe it keeps the dust off of him.

This is a very common sight along the roads. You can just choose your dinner. Notice the bunnies on the bottom left.

Christmas starts early here. This was up in our lobby and ready to go on Oct. 15. Looks like a little one helped. All the balls are at the bottom.

Pineapples on the sidewalk.

These carts with plantains are a very common sight in the neighborhoods. Love these guys hats!

Shops set up in the middle of a divided road. Notice the car on the right coming up the wrong way - a very common happening.

There is so much garbage!!! There are usually people going through it.