Christmas Choir Programs

It's the Christmas season here in the DR.  Peggy and I joined the senior missionary choir and have had a special experience traveling to three small branches about 40-60 miles outside of the city of Santo Domingo to provide a special Christmas music program.

This has been a spiritual experience sharing music, singing together and feeling the spirit of the birth of our Savior.  Our first performance Nov 29 was at the branch Padre las Casas--a small agricultural town nestled in the foothills northwest of Azua, DR.
We left at 5:30 am to get there for our 10:00 am performance.


Very loving and appreciative people. After our 50 minute program of Spanish Christmas music and scriptures,  we enjoyed fruit, papaya, pineapple and grapes with them.

Padre las Casas Branch

It was touching to hear their heartfelt, "Muchas gracias por venir" (thank you for coming).

The next Sunday afternoon, Dec 6th we were off to Nazao, DR and the Don Gregorio branch.

Don Gregorio Branch Nazao, DR

Wow, over 200 people packed in to hear our best performance so far.  We had a large piano for accompaniment so our sound quality was better than before.  The city mayor and many non-members attended.

Peggy and I were surprised to see one of our Institute students, Tifani Guzman there.  Wow, she lives a long distance from the Institute in the city.  What a sacrifice students and the saints make for the gospel!  We were touched.

The next day, Monday Dec 7, we left the city at 2:00 pm traveling northeast of the city of Boca Chica, DR for a family night program in the los Llanos branch.  This was a very small branch of about 50 people.

It was crowded in their leased building but again the spirit of anticipation and appreciation was very strong. The "chicas" and "chicos" were especially cute here.

Los Llanos Branch

I was overwhelmed by the dirt streets with cows lazily sauntering down the middle, very humble houses, and the chickens everywhere.

We distributed a bag of candy to the kids and left rice, beans and some other staples for the branch president to distribute as needed.  To show their appreciation, the teenagers (about 8) prepared two Dominican dances for us.

Choir Los Llanos Branch

They dressed in brightly colored red dresses with the boys in dark pants and white shirts.  Fun and impressive!  They had rehearsed well.  The branch president, Elder Smith (a senior missionary) said that there will be three to fourbaptisms because of the Christmas dance program preparation and the spirit that attended this program.

(I was asked to go to the relief society president's house to pick her up with Hermana Smith.  I jumped at the chance. She lives in a tiny little house that was immaculately clean. She is very old and as sweet as she can be. I was so surprised to see that inside was so nice. Outside looks like all the other houses on the dirt road, surrounded by a picket fence. Very, very poor, but no garbage at all (unlike Santo Domingo) But inside was like my grandma's house back in the 1950's, except it was tiny. It was fun to be there in a charming and humble way. The picture below is of a little guy that decided he wanted to sit by Hermana Park. He left his family and pulled up a chair next to me and climbed up. He didn't want to sit on my lap, just "by" me. This was my favorite place that we visited. How precious these people were, and so very happy and grateful that we were there. An added note: President Smith said that many of the young people that danced were not members. They are now taking seminary and as Randy mentioned one has now been baptized and several baptisms have  been scheduled as a direct result of their preparation for this night. Peggy)

Little guy pulled his chair by me

A fireside for the Temple workers provided another opportunity for our choir.  It was fun to see many of our Institute students that work in the temple,   Elder Zivic , from the Area Presidency and his wife spoke along with Pres. Flake.  I felt good about this performance.   I took my glasses so I could finally read the Spanish lyrics.  I only think I messed up about two Spanish words.  I;m getting better.

Our best performance to date was performing for our missionary Family Home Evening Group.  It was the Nielsen's last night to sing with us before they finished their mission and returned home to Idaho.

Good, sound tonight!  Some nights feel good and you can tell when you have a good performance.  Tonight was one of those nights.  Strong spirit was felt.  Singing in the choir has really provided a special opportunity to see the country, provide service, discover the Dominican culture, feel the Christmas spirit and meet amazing people.

Sister Lynn Keisker, with a Ph. D in music,  has provided a special technical skill and leadership for our little choir group that is only found once in a life time.  She has amazing writing, musical abilities and singing talent!
The choir has been a sacrifice in time and comfort to be involved but so well worth it.  Definately a good return on investment. Randy

Feliz Navidad

      It's December 21st and 84 degrees in the DR (it's always 84 degrees) It's very humid but it's "cozy" as President Cornish (Area President) says.

Elder Kent and Hermana Kay Wilson Parowan, UT

We just went to lunch with the new "self-reliant" missionaries, the Wilsons. This is a picture of them and they are cute and fun. On Christmas Eve we went to Boca Chica to the beach. It's the first we've seen a beach since we've been here, It's was pretty. We traveled further east and went to Juan Dolio Beach where everyone says you can find lots of seashells. Kay (Sister Wilson) got a beautiful shell that she watched wash up from the ocean. It was about four inches long and three inches across. It was a nice day and as I stood next to Kay, I said, "Look out there across the ocean. Can you believe we're standing here on the beach on Christmas Eve worrying that we will get sunburned?"

Beach Boca Chica, DR

We are so blessed to see other parts of the world and experience different cultures. We are so blessed to meet new people that can teach us so much. Everyone of the missionary couples has something to teach Elder and Hermana Park. We love them so much and are grateful for them. They certainly don't replace our children and grandchildren, but they are our family for now and they are amazing examples to us.

We are having a very unique Christmas. We are excited to spend our first Christmas serving the Lord full time.

Hermana Paula Fuller y Hermana Park

For FHE wrapped presents for missionaries here in three missions. Our FHE group has been putting together gifts for all the Latino missionaries who don't get any gifts at Christmas (which is all missionaries, except North Americans).
We started with one mission, but got so many donations from home, we've been able to do all three missions in the DR plus give ties to a large group in Haiti and in Guadalupe. We still have ties for next Christmas.

Wrapping Presents for Young Missionaries

Most of our FHE group will have gone home next Christmas, so watch for your opportunity to share with these awesome young missionaries next Christmas season. We will be looking for earrings and dark Peds for the sisters and socks and maybe ties for the Elders. We'll let you know next October.

Many Elders go out with one tie. They are required to acquire everything to get them into the mission field, even if they get help for expenses while serving.  For many of them, it's a huge sacrifice. I remember our son David telling us that many of the missionaries in Peru actually lived in better circumstances while on their missions than they did at home. I really understand that now.

On Christmas Eve we delivered a small gift to our two  apartment security guards. They are so grateful and we really appreciate them being outside for 12 hours a day to take care of our every need.

Christmas Day we cooked breakfast for the missionaries in the CCM (MTC) at 6:30 a.m.  When everyone found out that it was Peggy's birthday, the young and senior missionaries sang "Happy Birthday" and "Cumpleanos Feliz."  At 7:30 am one of the missionaries commented, "...we have to have cake if you sing Happy Birthday."  It was a fun moment for Peggy.

Then our choir performed our Christmas program for them at 8:30 a.m.  It was a special moment when we realized that here are three cultures (Dominicans and Latin Americans, French Haitians and the North Americans) all brought together with a common bond of unity in Christ to celebrate His birth, to praise His name and to invite everyone to "come unto Him." We all sang together, "Regocijad! Jesu's nacio" (Joy to the World).  What strength.  What power!  There was an amazing feeling that we shall never forget.

DR MTC Missionaries

At 1:00 we went to the Westover's (another couple that we sing with that are serving as temple missionaries) for lunch. It was a great feast of turkey, salmon, potatoes, gravy, stuffing and all sorts of extras. Then in the evening we went to the Colonial Zone to a concert at the Cathedral there. We've been too busy to feel melancholy.  It's good for me.

This morning we helped in the baptisry. It was crazy busy. I got to see some of my favorite people either working there or coming in for ordinances. I love to see our Institute students in the temple. There is a kind of bond we have when we serve in the temple together. It's hard to explain, but you definitely feel it. The spirit is so strong.

When we finished, we went with our friends, Kris and Steve Bentley, the mission techs, to order our next year's Christmas presents for our family. It was a fun day and an interesting adventure.  We are actually in our home for more than a half hour for the first time in a week! It's 8:00 p.m. and I'm ready for bed.

One more thing about Christmas here: We may have said we live across the street from the park. It has one of the 10 largest light displays in the world (so we've been told) they use 8,000,000 lights.

When it's not really crowded, it's amazing. They have many vendors there that sell food and you can sit and eat and just look. They have a kids area with a small roller coaster and a tubing hill. It's all done in an "Under the Sea" theme this year. They even have a mermaid "Nativity". Weird but it's all cute. The baby Jesus is in the oyster shell (odd).

The tree trunks are wrapped very densely with lights. They have lights strung across the walking paths with hanging-down streams of lights. There's entertainment, like at theme parks, all through the park also.

Mermaid Nativity 

They do have a traditional Nativity that's really pretty. It's life size.

The best part is all that the music is American Oldies, like White Christmas etc.

City Park Entrance

One of my favorite displays in the park is the octopus.  Really colorful with the black lighting colors.  

Well, that's all for now because this is starting to sound like a diary. 

We really do love and miss you all.  randy and Peggy

Some of our new firends

We thought it would be fun to tell you about some of our amazing new friends we have made here in the DR.  They have touched our lives and we feel the spirit when we are around them.

L-R Vicki Rappleye, Kent Rappleye, Luis Daniel Santana, Randy, Peggy

From the beginning we have to start with Luis Daniel Santana, the new Church Education System (CES) Director.  At age 36, he is the first Dominican to lead the Caribbean CES.  He is so friendly and willing to do anything for us.  We embrace every time we see each other.  He and his awesome wife, Carolina have hearts full of love.  He took the place of Kent Rappelye who was called to serve in the CES in Long Island, N.Y.  We love our "boss!"  Elder Clair and Sister Josie Jensen from Branson, Missouri were in our position previously, trained us in our new assignment, passed us the baton and said, "It's all yours!"  We got to know the Jensen's through Skype and spent our first three days with them.  They are fun and special people. Their shoes will be hard to fill.

L-R Elder Jensen, Sister Jensen, Luis Daniel Santana, Carolina Santana, Peggy, Randy

Jhon Lopez and Oscar Amparo are the Institute Directors at the University of Santo Domingo  Both are stake presidents and powerful teachers.

Peggy, Jhon Lopez, Steven Wallace, Oscaro Amparo, Randy

We work with them daily in coordinating the teaching and activities that go on at the Institute. Oscar speaks good English.  Jhon speaks a little English and always tries to get us to speak Spanish.  Jhon talks "muy rapido"  (very fast) Spanish.  These are great men and we love working with them.

L-R Oscar Amparo, Peggy, Jhon Lopez, Arihanny Muniz

Arihanny (R-re-an-e) Muniz is the Institute office specialist.  She keeps everything going every day.  She speaks English quite well but doesn't understand our American humor.  She teaches us Spanish and we drive her to pick up the refreshments and supplies for the Institute activities.  She is the Primary president in her ward.  We see her and work with her every day.  We love her!

Arihanny Muniz and Bismark Brito

Bismark Brito is 22 and teaches at the Institute two times each week.  He is Mr. Happy Guy and always so positive.  He lifts our spirits and makes us laugh--a lot!  Although not our direct student, he will graduate from the Pathway program at the end of this month.  A returned missionary, he works in the temple, teaches Institute New Testament. and always walks in the door with a real loud greeting, "Hello Seester Park, Hello Elder Park.  How are you today?" We tease him.  He speaks English really well.  (Peggy has nicknamed him "the boat" after the German war ship so she can remember his name).  He is dating a beautiful girl Emil Gomez Perez, Sister Park's Pathway student.  He sang "Mary Did You Know?" at the Area Church Employees Christmas luncheon and did an amazing job.  The guy can sing!

Moroni Eve (pronounced Mor-on-ee) is an amazing young man.  Is the Institute Student Council President.  Student activities are so successful because of him and his beautiful wife Lucy. We enjoy working with Moroni.

Moroni Eve

An excellent leader and well organized, he is well liked by all and skilled on Facebook and at graphic design.  He teaches gospel doctrine classes at the Institute.  He makes our job easy.

Jose Cordero

Jose Cordero is a non-member but attends Institute each week.  He and Peggy make cookies and prepare refreshments most Wednesday's for the Friday devotional.  He is so friendly and smart.  Helps many students with their Chemistry.  A happy young man and has many friends.  We gave him a Book of Mormon for Christmas with our picture and testimony.

L-R Nelly Luiciano, Peggy, Anabel Luiciano

Nelly and Anabel Luiciano are so cute and fun.  Anabel attends English class each week.  They both speak good English.  Their smiles melt your heart.  They seem to always be in the middle of group conversations in the student multi-purpose room.

L-R Alwin Nunez and Jose Rodriquez

Alwin Nunez and Jose Rodriquez are two returned missionaries that we have met singing in our senior missionary choir.  These guys are so much fun and full of life.  Both play piano and are excellent musicians with really good singing voices.  Alwin sings tenor and I get to sing next to him. Jose sings a mean bass. They both teach us Spanish.  I tease them as we sing in Spanish that "I kill their beautiful language with my bad pronunciation,"  They both assure me that I don't..."the Dominicans are the ones that kill the language!"  I will miss these guys when we leave the DR.

Ammy Aybar is a special young lady.  She will be leaving soon to serve a spanish-speaking mission in Rochester, N.Y.

Ammy Aybar and Peggy

She will be serving in the same mission as our neighbor, friend and home teacher Jake Wagstaff.  We kid her about where she will find and buy a coat, boots, gloves etc. for New York; not many places here in the DR--zero!  She is a little nervous but we assure she will love it (when Spring and Summer finally show up).  Just think, the DR to NY in January!!

Wilkins is my friend who asks for me to help him with advanced English.  I am his English speaking partner and we sit together and work on difficult English phrases.  He always asks me to pray before we start and to pray for him. Wilkins is very kind. spiritual and loves the Lord.

Wilkins

Eduardo Mateo

Eduardo Mateo is a non-member who comes to the Institute to learn English and enjoy the fellowship.  He is smart and helps me explain English words and phrases to beginning English students.  He is very friendly and calls me "teacher." I have been helping him prepare for a job interview by practicing his English pronunciation.  He is a great

Steven  Wallace

young man and we hope he will embrace the restored gospel.

Steven Wallace was recently baptized.  He speaks about two English words--"Hello" and "See you"  a special young, man with a great singing voice.  Only two days in Santo Domingo, we met Steven when he sang as a non-member, four verses of "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" in front of 200 young adults at the going-away party devotional for Elder and Sister Jensen that we replaced.  He was baptized about a month ago.  He has a million friends and is so friendly.  We love this young man.  He wants to serve a mission.  I hope to get him into my English class this semester.

Jose Diaz is another special friend.  He is Peggy's Pathway student and I have been working with him as an English speaking partner in Pathway.

Several months ago he loaned me his guitar to play Christmas and other music.  He said, "Elder Park, I haven't played my guitar for a long time.  You have 'happy fingers' and you could make my guitar happy if you play it."  I have enjoyed his guitar. Peggy and I enjoyed a family home evening dinner and lesson several months ago with he and his family in their home.  We love Jose and the Diaz family!
Randy

On the street...

I thought I would provide a glimpse of what goes on the ground every day in the DR.  Here are a few of the all things Dominican.

First is the automobile and traffic congestion.  It is just part of life. Delay and idling are just what you do. AND one way streets--every where! Every car is dented, scratched and damaged.  Three cars sharing two lanes is just what you do inching and creeping along.

Life behind the wheel is not all slow and dismal.  While waiting, at what seems every intersection, you have an opportunity to be productive and actually save time.  You can purchase an array of products and services right at your window.  Yes, no need to go to the store.  The local sales reps. come right to you!

Wow, who would have thought--fruit, veggies, baseball caps, gold fish in little fish bowls, juice, water, window washing services, wiper blade replacement, back rests, sunglasses, potato chips, etc. right at your finger tips--what ever you need!  You can double your product inventory by carrying it on your head (potato chips are light weight).


Most of our students and thousands ride the "public cars" or in the U.S, we call them taxis.  They are everywhere but you cannot spot them by their traditional yellow color.  Multi-colors.

How about this public car with the sun visor broken. Just borrow a card board box and hang it on your window. Takes care of your sun problem quickly. Necessity is truly the mother of invention!

If the public car doesn't work for you, take the autobus.  They are also very convenient and welcoming--the doors are always open with an invitation to climb on board.  Can't beat the price--20 pesos (50 cents) to go anywhere. Watch where you sit.  It could be people under you or some new food design you add to your pants or skirt.  It might not get you a date but it will get you want to go.

And once in awhile they have a little mechanical problem.  No problem.  They fix 'em right there and they are back in business.

The most convenient public convenience is the motor bike or "motocicleta" or "moto" for short.

If you are bold, daring, and well skilled at weaving in, around, through to the front of a congested intersection, turning left from the far right lane (or right from the far left lane) and not waiting your turn, this is for you. Like flies at a picnic, again, they are everywhere.

Versatility is their advantage.  Jumping the cement island to make a U-turn, traveling head on against traffic to save time, and avoiding sitting behind long lines of cars by using the by-pass lane--the sidewalk-- makes the moto particularly popular.

Moving slowly from the back of a line of traffic between cars to the head of the intersection to beat the traffic when the light turns green (or if the light is red and no cross traffic is moving, you can continue)  is another common skill.  It's great!

(sorry it is raining)  Motos waiting for the green light

Gotta love 'em.  Need one.  The available time to do missionary work could double--triple! with a moto.

One of my fond "on the street" memories includes a popular fast food stop 100 yards from the front gate of the Institute.  Hundreds of college students stop for a little snack each day.  It is called "D'Juans on the Corner." It is home to the Dominican hamburger--

The Chimi (pronounced Chim-ee).  Arihanny, our office specialist says, "Elder Park, why do you eat at D'Juan's, it is death on a bun?  Dominicans won't eat there..." She drew me a picture of my near death experience which made me a little nervous but yet smile!  I have eaten a Chimi at D'Juan's twice and am still vertical.  Peggy has at least tried it once (and she is still vertical).

The Dominican Chimi

Yum, yum.  I feel like I'm now a step closer to being a real Dominicano.
Randy

Dominican Baseball

We did it!  Our two week wait was finally over!  We went to heaven! We attended our first Dominican baseball game.  I must admit that this experience far exceeded my expectation for entertainment and excitement. About four miles from our apartment is the beautiful Estadio Quesqueya Jaun Marichal Baseball Stadium, the shared home of the two major baseball teams in Santo Domingo--the Licey Tigueres (Tigers) and the Escogido Liones (Lions).  The stadium is named for the former famous Dominican baseball player Juan Marichal, who pitched  for the San Francisco Giants when I was growing up in the 1960's. Right there, I was in heaven--Juan Marichal's stadium!  Three of our Funval students, Jaime Viscano, Andres Anderson and Miguel Perdomo, who are baseball crazies, said they would like to go to a game and would escort us to our first game providing us with all the inside commentary about Dominican baseball.  There was electricity in the air at game time that I haven't felt in baseball for awhile as the game between the Tigers (blue team) and Lions (red team) is a major rivalry here in the city and in the Dominican league.  Our friends Lynn and Richard Keisker--temple missionaries, our Spanish language tutors and directors of our senior missionary Christmas choir--love baseball and jumped at the chance to join in the fun.

Front L-R Miguel, Andres, Jaime.
Back L-R Richard, Lynn, Peggy, Randy

We bought baseball hats for the Tigers but Andres, who is an avid Lions fan, bought Peggy a red and black Lions cap as a gift. Peggy, being undecided about which team to support, instantly decided to join with Andres and support the Lions.  So all during the game, we all had this back and forth cheering and groaning thing going on every time one team would score or make a good/bad play over the other.  I have never seen such enthusiasm by the fans for baseball.  In the U.S. baseball is pretty mild.  Not here!  There were colored flags flying, a drum ensemble pounding out head-pounding, fast-paced rhythms, and Latin salsa music blasting during and between innings and pitching changes.

To top off the entertainment, the two funniest fat-bellied, dancing mascots--a lion and a tiger (the tiger looked like a chipmunk) The Loin was better and funnier, Peggy) put on a great show of their own.
Wow, when the mascots came out during the seventh inning stretch and had a dance and gymnastics "smack off," it was both entertaining and absolutely hilarious. The mascots made the crowd laugh and got both sides cheering and pumped up.

These guys are our boys! We love them so very much.
We missed Edison, who couldn't come.

The Tigers (Loud!) Drumming Team (top row)

This game reminded me of a BYU-Utah game.  Half the stadium was dressed in red and the other in blue.  Oh...the game. Well the Tigers scored first, then the Lions went ahead and then the Tigers tied it up in the 9th 4 to 4.  In the top of the 11 (yes extra innings!) the Lions scored the tie-breaker run on a very controversial call at home plate.  The umpire called the sliding Lions runner safe on a throw from the outfield.  Wow, talk about the blue team fans going crazy and screaming   "Matar al arbitro!!" or "kill the umpire" in Spanish along with a lot of other phrases that I both couldn't understand and was sure that I really didn't want to learn.  And the red team fans, were out of control jumping up and down, dancing the salsa, Merengue and Bachata all at the same time and screaming that they had just scored what would prove to be the winning run.  Talk about a playoff environment!  The umpire ejected the Tigueres manager after he politely commented on the state of the umpires eye sight which the ejection definitely helped to endear the fans to the ref!! The dejected Tigueres fans (including me) slowly filed out of the stadium (Peggy and Andres were having a giddy victory celebration) when we stopped to watch the instant replay that showed what appeared to be an obvious tag out by the catcher on the runner. (You can tell Randy is writing this, aye?) Not only ouch, but a BIG OUCH!  The umpires had to be escorted off the field by the a host of security guards for their protection.  The game was amazing!   It was so fun for Peggy and me to watch our Funval guys have so much fun being together. I don't think they can attend very many games.  They thanked us many times and you could really feel their appreciation.  Miguel said to Peggy, "I am going to miss you." Peggy gave him a hug and told him we will keep in touch with them. This was another special experience with our new life-long Dominican friends.
Lynn and Richard were thrilled to be there also.  Temple missionaries only have one van that they all have to share, so they are more limited to be able to go places. We really enjoyed having them with us.

 We love all of our new friends.

Randy (with Peggy's comments)