Relief Society workshop and scripture class

Today the ladies in the Relief Society had a scripture class with sister Andersen. She gave each sister a copy of the book of Mormon and told us to look at the first four chapters of 1 Nephi and to mark with a red pencil anything relating to his Character, attributes and the atonement. she told us that if we do this daily, we will be able to understand Him in a way that no other book including the Bible let us get to know him and to strive to be like him.


She told us that elder Bednar picks a certain topic or theme to study the book of Mormon, marks it and stars a new one again. He has many books of Mormon in his bookshelf and each has a theme he studies and that is where he gets his talks. Themes can be, faith, repentance, charity, etc. she gave us a handout that read as follows:


The Character of Christ:
"Seek through prayer and study of the scriptures a witness of the divine character, the atonement, and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ." Elder Todd Christofferson

Farewell dinner to the Andersens

Today we hosted the biggest event since we moved to the Dominican Republic. We had the General Authorities over the Caribbean area and their wives over for dinner to say good bye to Elder Willford Andersen and his wife Kathleen. Daniel volunteered our home to have it. He wanted to make milanesas because he knows how much he likes them. He went to Argentina on his mission.


 I prepared the fabulous mash potatoes, broccoli and coliflower, cole slaw, layer salad, pico de gallo, humus, and the flor de Jamaica drink. Sister Witaker brought some muffins, Dina Zivic made empanadas and pasta frola, an Argentine dessert and  Elaine Cornish brought a fruit plate and made home made ice-cream.


It turned out great! we had twelve people sitting at our table. The most you can have. After we were done eating, we presented him with a bust of Joseph Smith by our bishop Rotellini. Now they get to move to Utah so perhaps we get to see them when we go there to visit. They are an amazing couple who we would always remember fondly.

Mama Hida turns 90

All day today I thought of my grandma who would have turned 90 today. It is her special day but she passed away at age 65 over 20 plus years ago. I thought about how time have changed and also how her family has changed. 

We are a huge family since she had seven children and about 40 grandchildren and a few of her grandchildren like me are grandparents. I was thinking of how much she would enjoy talking to all of her children and grandkids and great-grand kids and even great-great grandkids via internet. I am amazed how much we depend on it for everyday living.


In her day there was no such thing call internet. Today I had to be without it all day and I am amazed at how much I needed to be connected.  I needed to check my email, pay bills, look up some recipes etc. but the internet company was working of getting something new installed and it took all day. How time has changed from the early 90"s when my grandma returned to our Heavenly Father. How we all miss her and can't wait to be able to see our grandma again. She must feel disappointed at some of us and proud at others but one thing is for sure we all love and admire our mama Hilda. 

There was a note written by Norma Cornett Marek that I found on the internet of course that I want to share because I sure hope she knows how much we love her and miss her but sadly maybe we didn't let her know:

If I knew this would be the last time I would watch you sleep, I would hug you tighter. I would plead with the Lord to protect you. 

If I knew this would be the last time I saw you walk out the door, I would hug and kiss you and call you back to hug and kiss you one more time. 

If I knew this would be the last time I would hear your voice in prayer, I would record every gesture, every look, every smile, every one of your words, So that I could listen to it later, day after day. 

If I knew this would be the last time, I would spend an extra minute or two to tell you, “I love you,” instead of assuming you already knew it. 

If I knew this would be our last time, our last moment, I would be by your side, spending the day with you instead of thinking, “Well, I’m sure other opportunities will come, so I can let this day go by.” 

Of course there will be a day to revise things, And we would have a second chance to do things right. Oh, of course there will be another day for us to say, “I love you.” 

And certainly there will be another chance to tell each other, “Can I help with anything?” But in my case, there isn’t one! I don’t have you here with me, and today is the last day we have—our farewell. 

Therefore I would like to say how much I love you, And I hope you never forget it. Tomorrow is not promised to anyone, young or old. 

Today might be your last chance to hold tight to the hand of the one you love and show all you feel. If you are waiting for tomorrow, why not do it today? Because if tomorrow never comes, you certainly will regret for the rest of your life Not having spent some extra time for a smile, a conversation, a hug, a kiss, Because you were too busy to give that person what ended up being their last wish. 

Then hug tight today the one you love, your friends, your family, and whisper in their ears how much you love them and want them close to you. Use your time to say, “I’m sorry,” “Please,” “Forgive me,” “Thank you,” Or even, “That was nothing,” “It’s all right,” Because if tomorrow never comes, you will not have to regret today. 

Love,
Vero

Meals on wheels

Today there was a small earthquake here in he DR but I felt nothing. It's funny how people will write on their facebook wall as if it's a real disaster but thank goodness there is nothing major to report so no worries. We are all doing fine and dandy.


 In the morning I got to go visiting teaching with Jill Kimball today and the message was any talk from General Conference. We chose to message by elder Urdoff about being grateful at times of adversity. It is one talk I can read over and over again. Later on I took dinner to another sister. She is a wonderful woman who is separated from her husband and getting all the paperwork done for her pending divorce. She told me her ex has another child with another woman. She has no job and also cares for her aging mother and the sole provider to her children.


She has been unemployed for some time and is looking for work. I felt like I needed to do something for her and the only thing that came o mind was to prepare food because I know she would never ask so I made dinner and found out she was too busy to make dinner tonight. She welcomed everything I took. A casserole, rice, fruit, and apple pie. She told me that her phone has not been working and that explains why I haven't been able to get a hold of her. I want to help her when she decides to enter the temple but for now is not a priority although it would be wonderful when her life gets more settled with her divorce finalized and a good job.


I felt good about doing a little something for her when no one asked me. I did it all by myself. Jill was busy with her own life and I didn't want her to worry about fixing another dinner. I wanted to be like meals on wheels and feel so bless I can be of some service to a sister who truly deserves it.

Dinner is served.

Today I felt like fixing food. A lot of food. My intention was to buy enough food to take to a sister who is not doing too well. I called her and called her, left messages and nothing so Daniel get's home and reminds me that today is ward temple night, and the office temple night too.  He had invited Guillermo Antivilo and Brother Toro to the session. We get there and we are the only ones there so it turned out to be a private session. After the session we came home to have dinner. The menu included Chinese fried rice, chicken, cole slaw, bread, guacamole and salsa and apple pie for dessert. I made cramberry smothes too. It all came together so perfect because I was prepared. It reminded me of an article that came out talking about how I love to have a pot of beans or stew or something always ready to eat in case there is an emergency. That was the ideal in my dreams but today all what I said is true. It feels good to have some type of food and in this case Chicken and Rice to eat at a moments notice.

Book club list

I got in a organizing mood today for all cards, office things and papers. I am trying to throw away papers that I probably would never touch again. I found some old BYU papers when I was in school and for the life of me, it was hard to let them go. One in particular had a list of 100 must books to read in case I ever find time. I read a few of those classics back in High School and sometimes I wonder how do people like Barbara Lovejoy read a book per week? I start with one and it takes me months to finish it. Well Here is the list by tittle and Author: Tuesday with Morrie by Albom. House of the Spirits by Allende The Heart of a Woman by Angelou. Alias Grace by Atwood. The Edible Woman by Atwood. Handmaid's Tale by Atwood. Pride and Prejudice by Austen. holy Blood, Holy Grail by Baigent. Jihad vs. Mc World by Barber. A Man for All Seasons by bolt. Fahrenheit 451 by Bradbury. The Martian Chronicles by Bradbury. The Mists Of Avalon by Bradley. Jane Eyre by Bronte. The Da Vinci Code by Brown. The Good Earth by Back.Your Blues Ain"t like Mine by Campbell. In Cold Blood by Capote. The Education of Little Tree by Carter. Tale of Conjure and the Color Lime by Chesnutt. Girl with a Pearl Earrin by Chevalier. Mark Twain by Clements. Prince of Tides by Conroy. The Road from Coorain by Conwey. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Covey. Far from the Tree by De Berry. The Red Tent by Delamant. Guns, Germs and Steel by Diamond. Tail of Two Cities by Dickens. Stones for Ibarra by Doerr. Nickel and Dimed by Ehrenreich. Love Medicine by Endrich. Like Water for Chocolate by Esquivel. The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner. Finding Fis by Fisher. The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald.  The Side of Paradise by Fitzgerald. Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.  Frank Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Gaines. Love in the Time of Cholera by Garcia Marquez.  Memoirs of a Geisha by Golden. Final Payments by Gordon. Greenberg Joanne by Green. Ordinary People by Guest. Malcom X by Haley. A Raisin in the Sun by Hansberry. Test of the D'Urbervilles by Hardy. The Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne. Catch 22 by Heller. The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway.  Seabiscuit by Hilenbrand. Smilla's Sense of Snow by Hoeg. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Hurston. Middle Passage by Johnson. Secret Life of Bees by Kidd. The Beekeeper's Apprentice by King. The Bean Trees by Kingsolver. Pigs I Heaven by Kingsolver.  Kim by Kipling. Left Behind by LaHaye.  Inherit the Wind by Lawrence. To Kill a Mockingbird by Lee. The Color of Water by Mc Bride.Makes me Wanna Holler by McCall. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by McCullers. Truman by McCullough. The Rosewood Casket by McCrumb. A Day Late and A Dollar Short by McMillan. The Prince by Machiavelli. Autobiography of Malcom X by Malcom X with Haley. Life of Pi by Martel.  Under the Tuscan Sun by Mayes.  Beloved by Morrison. The Bluest Eye by Morrison. Sula by Morrison.  Women of Brewster Place by Naylor. Leap of Faith by Noor. Animal Farm by Orwell. How to Make and American Quilt by Otto. Cry, the Beloved Country by Paton. The Chosen by Potok. One True Thing by Quindlen. Harry Porter and The Sorcere's tone by Rowling. Catcher in The Rye by Salinger. Princess,A True Story of Life Behind the Veil by Sasson. Killer Angels by Shaara.  The Jungle by Sinclair. A Thousand Acres by Smiley. The Covenant: with Black America by Smiley. the Kitchen God's Wife by Tan. Vanity Fair by Thackeray. The Hobbit by Tolkein. A Connecticut Yankee to King Arthurs Court by Twain. Saint Maybe by Tyler. Lincoln by Vidal. Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Vreeland. Night by Wisel. The Diva Doctrine: 16 Universal Principal Every Woman Needs to Know by Patricia Davis. I will continue to add books as I hear about them. My goal is to read one every month as my own secret book club.

Celebrating mother's day one more time

Here in the DR all mothers are celebrating their day. I was greeted with a corsage made by the Young Women and the whole meeting was so sweet. Cindy Lee gave an amazing talk on her mother and she couldn't have been more perfect for that. She calls her mother every single day. She told us that even sometimes when it might be late to call she can't go to bed without calling her mother. That is how close she is to her mom. I don't know anyone who does that.


 I feel close to my mom and try to call her often. I remember one time she told me how I never called and it was probably true. Back in the day, it was expensive to call, about a dollar a minute but that shouldn't have been a reason for not to call often. I try now not to forget calling on those special days like Mother day, birthday, Christmas and New Years and at least once a week. She is now mostly in Mexico or Miami. Daniel also calls her mom every week and I like that about him.

Turnning 90 or 91

Dear papa Meme. Today you would have turned 91 or is it 90? Your birth certificate reads you were born May 24, 1924 but everyone knew it was wrong because you were born in the year 1923. This is a problem in El Salvador because I heard people gave whatever date to not have to pay a late fine for not registering a child within a reasonable amount of time when in reality, all this law created was people giving the wrong date and messing up the truth. I wonder if anyone ever paid the full fine?


 I also found out here in the DR, the same thing happens too. A sister in my ward I was visiting told me that she celebrates her birthday on February 15 but her birth certificate says March 15 and her husband has that same problem so that got me thinking I guess I do too! My birthday is January 3 but my birth certificate reads January 13 since 1971 when my mother had the brilliant idea to change the date so I could travel to the US before turning 12 to avoid paying full fare on a ticket but the irony of it all is that I ended up traveling in December and not January like it was planned so she didn't even have to do that. Now my birth certificate is messed up for life.


So today I imagine you are celebrating 90 or 91, who cares when it comes to eternity! What matters is that you are in Heaven celebrating with your mother and father and all your brothers and sisters and all so many good friends who have passed on. Happy birthday!








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Friday night at the temple

 This morning Jill and I went visiting teaching to one of the nicest ladies we know. She has a son in my primary class but has been ill and has not attended the meetings. She has a strong testimony even when her husband is less active. I do admire her for her continued effort to be faithful.


Today I also attended the temple along with all the stake Presidents. They are going to have a training tomorrow at the area office and Daniel has to be there to make sure everything  works out fine.


 At the temple I asked my Heavenly Father to guide my sweet Bianca on what she needs to do next if she is to never have a child of her own to make her feel at peace with that and to help them find a way to be parents. She wants so much to be a mother. I know a family who are the best parents a child could dream of having and both children are adopted and I don't think you could have better kids. They are so sweet and sometimes I wonder if Bianca will have to be looking more at adoption.

A full day

Wow, what busy day!
 It started by going to sister Andersen who was hosting the luncheon. Sooo good. Everyone brought some kind of salad but besides the great food, the conversation revolved around questions we all had about how to be a better mother. We wrote questions on a piece of paper and we went around telling answering the question with sound advice the best we could. Some people want to know how to prioritize time, others how to keep the kids from fighting etc. It was a neat meeting sharing our thoughts with the sisters. I will do this activity with my sisters and Cristi to see what we can come up with. Sister Andersen shared a favorite poem book she is making and also stories that go with each poem as she remembers them. Later that day, I had invited the Primary kids for activity days tomorrow without knowing I needed to be at the temple around the time they are here so I moved it for today. I got everything ready as if I was going to have eight kids but only one came but I don't blame them because it was such a short notice.
While I was doing that I remember to call Gary Flake to confirm that we were going to eat out tonight with them and Edgardo Carbajal and another fellow visiting from Utah. Well, I don't know what got over me that I decided to invite them to our home for dinner instead. And in only two hours I fixed two quezadillas. 12 pupusas, rice, platanos fritos, beans etc. There was plenty of food including 5 types of salads, bread,fruit, salsa and chips and two different drinks. sister Flake even brought a jello catage cheese salad. The dinner was great and so was the company.

Mothers day at the office

The administration office in the DR has several parties a year. One is for mother's day and it was celebrated today. They had a presentation first where the choir sung and three spots were shown about motherhood, One from Elder Holland another funny segment of what mothers often tell their children and the other one was about a job posting they had with ridiculous hours and no salary that ended up being a job for a mother. Very funny. It was a good distraction for me after spending a sad day and night yesterday. I cried so hard. It hurts so much as if someone was cutting my heart wit a knife.


After the presentation, they took a group photo. They had some food catered and a Victoria secret gift. Very nice! I can see how Grace likes to do events and likes to be involved with details of what is happening. I was invited to attend since all employees contribute money every month for these type of events and parties. The next one is going to be at the Bonao camp in the Summer.

A sad day for our family

I can't even begin to start how disappointing it is to know that I won't be a grandma of twins. My sweet Bianca went to the Dr. again today and there was no heart beat. This is like living this incident over again exactly the way it occurred a year ago. There are no explanations for what happened to her and those babies. She has done everything humanly possible to get pregnant and carry those babies full term but always something goes wrong and she has a miscarriage. The miracle will be if somehow those babies start to develop and get to be full term but there is almost no chance that could happened. We were praying for a miracle and we still are. I can't lose hope. I need to stay strong and think may next time but by now, I feel so sad and can't even imagine how she might be feeling. I understand fully why some people get mad a God or think there is no God and lose their faith.

Today was her birthday

This is the first birthday Shirley gets to celebrate with her husband, mother, father and son. Not to mention all her long time friends like the Farrs. What a great celebration this must be for her. Happy Birthday! There was a poem elder Zivic read at a funeral that touched my heart. It was about the ship that leave a shore to get to the other side where others are waiting and that is how I feel about Shirley. She has momentarily left this world but has been united with her loved ones on the other side. How happy they are now to have her there with them. How relief she must feel not to be in pain anymore. How happy she must be to know she did her best and was always faithful to her covenants.

Historic day for people in the DR

We had a multi-stake Conference today to add one new stake and make a few other changes. Our stake has a new name it's now called Central and the new stake will inherit the name of Independencia which used to be the name of our stake. A little confusing for some members but with time, people will get used to. With this new addition the DR has now 20 stakes. One thing is constant and that is change!
What I liked about the meeting is that I was inspire to teach about testimonies to the kids in Primary and today half of the meeting was dedicated for all the new people called to bear their testimonies. It was almost like if I had known about what would happen today. I loved listening to the Flakes, our new Elder Acosta and Elder Andersen.
He said a few things that touched my heart. One was the story of the pipe organ Vs. electric organ. The pipe organ is so much more expensive and he didn't think it was necessary to get it nevertheless he accepted and gave the needed contribution but let the Bishop know how he felt and that is when he  learned the lesson that the leaders might make mistakes but our hearts should always sustained them. Little did he knew that his wife was going to be called to be the organist and she can tell the difference between a pipe organ which is ten times better. When he talks he doesn't say anything about him leaving the area but you can tell he is saying good bye as he gets emotional warning people to repent and to endure to the end.

Smothies anyone?

I am totally in love with the new blender. It is so amazing how it blends in seconds even the toughest things like whole oranges, carrots, celery, etc. In the old days I remember dealing with a juicer that threw away all the fiber on one end and on the other side, it kept the juice separate. This blender mixes it all. No messes to clean.
I made a smoothie with just 1/2 cup of cranberry juice an orange, half of a banana, 1/4 cup of celery and 1/4 cup of carrots more less 1 cup of ice and a teaspoon of sugar a dash of mint and ginger and there in one minute we were tasting this delicious drink. I am hooked!
I want to make shakes and smoothies everyday using fresh fruits and vegetables. I don't know if I can go on a all juice diet but I will try to not eat from Monday through Friday during the day and only eat something at night for dinner with Daniel. It will be a modification of eating the raw food diet with a sensible dinner. Slim fast sort of diet where you drink the shakes during a day and have a meal each day. It is so hard because I love cheese. Out of habit I just had a slice of cheese and bread without even thinking what I was doing.  I need to lose about 30 pounds. I need to or my health might start to deteriorate. At age 54, I don't want to be diabetic so that is why we needed to get the Vitamix. Daniel also needs to lose weight too or he is not going to fit into his shirts. He hates that! He has a fitbit that is calculating how much he exercises and that will also help him burn some calories. We both need help so I hope this will help burn some fat before our next appointment with Doctor Petersen who has encouraged us to lose the weight. We also have a nice tredmill at home to walk while we watch TV but Daniel gets home super tired and the last thing he wants to do is exercise.

Activity about Testimonies.

Today for our activity days theme the Primary children worked on what a testimony is, how we get it and how we make it grow. I had the children draw their hand to show five basic things we know about are true through the power of the Holy spirit.
1. God is our loving Father in Heaven.
2. His son, Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer.
3. Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God, and he was the instrument through which the gospel of Jesus Christ was restored to the earth and the Book of Mormon was translated.
4. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord's Church on the earth today.
5. This Church is led by a living Prophet who receives revelation.
After they learned those very basic things, they were asked to write their testimony down on a special paper I had for them.
Then we talked about how we keep our testimony strong and growing like a tree. They made a drawing of a tree and every leaf was something to help them keep their testimony strong. There were things like: Desire, Fast, Obedience, Faith, Charity, Baptism. The Restoration, Priesthood, Temples, Prayer, Scripture Study, Sacrament, Families, Plan of Salvation, Repent, Be a good Example. etc. At this point some of the children were hungry so I gave them their cupcake treat. After we had this last activity, we talked about sharing our testimonies and I gave them a small package of Kleenex tissue with a note saying that a testimony like a package of tissue, if you don't take them out and use them. they don't do anybody any good. However if property used, they make you and those around you feel a lot better. I wanted to do an activity of making a time capsule but I only have four rolls of toilet paper and I needed at least eight. That will be my next activity plus making a mother's day present for them. I still don't know what I am going to do for mother's day. It is the last Sunday in May here in the DR.

Accidents happen

I am so mad at the family who is suing us because they are implying that we are at fault for their daughter's fall in our driveway two years ago in our home in Bountiful. I can't stand people like that! Instead of admitting their fault for letting their daughter ride a bike without brakes they are now putting blame on us. Maybe is their insurance company making them do that but at least they should tell us why they insist on putting the blame on us.


Now we have to defend ourselves as if we are the ones who caused the fall. It only makes me so mad. I only hope that the lawyers will get this issues resolved quick. Two years ago they had filed a claim and we had not heard anything more about it, but no, the case is still pending and I have a judgment against me so I heard. We are not trying to find anything that will help our case so our lawyer proves our innocence. Accidents happen and that is why you have insurance but some people take advantage of that and use any excuse to get money. It is all about the money and here is a classic example of blaming others for the chance of getting whatever they want but we will see. I hope they have a change of heart and realize it wasn't our fault and drop the charges.

Why did I wear those shoes?

Today I was looking at some torn shoes I wore the other day to attend the opening of the Church event at the book fair where had to walk for a mile wearing high heels, why? because they look cute on me. Silly but that is why I wore them, and for that now I got the worst feet. Another person wrote this on her blog I want to share so you don't think I am the only one.

"I have been walking for…well let’s see…yeah, about 40 years now.  And you would think that after 40 years of walking that I would have learned by now that that when one intends to go to the mall shopping, one should wear their comfortable shoes!   Just like you’d think I would have learned that when going to Disneyland it would be wise to wear comfortable shoes, or when going out in the snow it would be wise to wear warm shoes.  Yeah, you would think…right?!?  But no, no those callouses on my heels and those blisters on my toes have clearly not taught me yet the important life lesson that when one intends to do a lot of walking, that one should wear their comfy shoes!

And so tonight, after a marathon day of taking my daughter shopping for Spring clothes, wearing my most uncomfortable shoes, I sit nursing blisters on my feet thinking “what the heck is wrong with me that I have not learned my lesson by now?!?”  Seriously – I am a grown woman!   And I know full well that if I am going to have to walk a lot in a day, that if I don’t wear appropriate shoes I will surely get blisters.  I knew that when I left the house this morning.  So then why???  Why didn’t I choose the comfortable shoes?

I can tell you why.  I wore the uncomfortable shoes because they were cute.  Now if that is not the dumbest answer I have ever heard then I don’t know what is.  But that is the truth. I wore the uncomfortable shoes today because they looked good with my outfit.  Plain and simple.  And tonight I am paying the price for it as I sit nursing my sore blistered toes.

Thinking about what lesson I should learn from my experience today, it strikes me that these stupid things we sometimes do are not as rare an occurrence as we probably wish they were.  How many times do we do something unwise, knowing full well that there will be consequences for our actions, but justifying our behavior because of something silly or shallow?  And how often do we come to the end of our day and sit nursing our wounds from consequences that could have been avoided all together if we had just made the smarter choice up front?

So often we do unwise things for the dumbest reasons – such as “yeah but they look cute” – let’s face it, that was a dumb reason.  But at the time when I was dressing this morning I let that reason matter enough to put on the pair of shoes that I knew would cause me pain later, telling myself “surely this time it will be fine…maybe if I just walk carefully I won’t get any blisters today…I am sure I can handle it”.  It’s so easy to tell ourselves exactly what we want to hear when we are trying to justify a dumb decision, isn’t it?  I swear we all become master negotiators with ourselves with the most ingenious arguments to back up the stupid choice we want to make.  Yet when the actions have been taken and we are left to sit and face the consequences of our bad decisions, it’s always the same story…”how could I have been so dumb?  It’s not like I didn’t know better”…

We can’t take back our stupid decisions we have made in our past, and we can’t get rid of the consequences we face today for the bad decisions we made yesterday.  But what we can do is to be smart enough to learn from our mistakes and setup boundaries to keep ourselves from making those same mistakes again in our future.  Sometimes it may be necessary to set traps for ourselves that will catch us if we are about to do something dumb – for example, I seriously need to put a post-it note on my shoes I wore today as a future note to myself that reads “no matter how cute these look they are not worth the pain you will feel later”.  That way when the master negotiator in me gets started with the “they are so cute…surely this time it will be fine”, the stronger and smarter Amy will see the note and say “I am not falling for your lies this time…no, this time I will wear the comfortable shoes that won’t cause me pain later on.”  It may sound juvenile to have to write future notes to myself, but what is more juvenile?  Writing a future note to myself, or making a dumb decision that will cause me pain later on?  I say WRITE THE NOTE!  Do whatever reminders and tricks you can to make sure you don’t repeat the dumb mistakes you have made in the past.  You are smarter than that.  And no bad decision is worth the consequences you have to pay for them later.  So the morale of today’s story is, for heaven’s sake people, be smart enough to wear the comfortable shoes!!!"

Tonight I will resolved think about this post whenever I am about to do some dumb thing like not wearing  appropriate shoes and so many dumb things we do from time to time.

 

To eat or not to eat

Last Wednesday, exactly a week ago, we left Santo Domingo to go to Juan Dolio, the nearest beach. It was a little cloudy and at times rainy but over all it was great. Hernan and Rachael had come home with Daniel from Utah.


  As a graduation gift we gave him a trip to the DR using our miles and since he helped us sell the Passat, we also gave him $1,500 dollars in cash. We know money can still be tight while you are waiting to start work and receive your first pay check next month.


We packed up and I thought well, the condo has a kitchen so why not take food so I did but I don't even know why I even bothered. I should know by now how Daniel loves to eat out. I do too but it's expensive and due to the fact we have not receive one dime from City Creek in the last six months and the apartment in El Salvador has been vacant for seven months, I thought we can go out a night but should eat at home during he day. Not a chance!


 Daniel told me that when the kids were little they would go to a home on the beach to spend a whole month and during that month they always ate out. I still managed to make some pupusas and some quesadillas but apparently I got a reputation of cooking old stuff and whatever I make even if it is super fresh, people are not too eager to eat.


Daniel has this habit of throwing everything away and not to eat leftovers. I, on the other hand love to eat something already prepared so I don't have to re invent the wheel each time I want to eat.  I had gone to a Mexican store to get the freshest tortillas to make quesadillas just to have Daniel tell me how Hernan saw something green in the tortilla but didn't say anything to me so I wouldn't feel bad. What, no way, those were tortillas made fresh and place on the freezer immediately to be used later and is exactly what I did.  Needless to say I learn my lesson and from now on I will let Daniel figure out what to eat.  No more cooking! I never cooked all that much anyway so why start now.

Trying to understand God

Today is a day after mother's day, a wonderful and beautiful day if you are blessed enough to be a mother but so sad if you are not. I don't relate to this because I became a mother at age 22 and if fact, only 9 months after I got married.


We felt that if we were old enough to get married, we were old enough to have children but I think it was a chock when I told my in laws. They thought I would at least wait until their oldest son who had been married longer would have their first grandbaby.


The day came and is probably one of those days I will never forget when for the first time I became a mother to a beautiful full girl with a full head of hair. She was the talk of all the nurses at the LDS hospital.  Three years later I had another beautiful daughter, Bianca who is now 28.She is one our family has been praying about. I love her so much and can't wait for her to finally hold a baby of her own. Maybe the Lord will not grant her wish but we are so praying for a miracle.


 She is pregnant but is having issues with her pregnancy. It scares her to go to the bathroom and find some spotting. It scares her to think she is miscarrying again and all I can say is to have hope and faith it will all work out.  I cry because I feel so upset at the fact some women get pregnant who shouldn't like Ruth, the woman Andres Da Silva had the affair with. Why does she get to have a baby? and when I told my husband how mad I was he told me to repent and he is right. I don't know anything, I am not God, only he knows why my baby is having to go thorough so much to be a mother and to be able to someday celebrate mother's day. All I know is that we need to keep praying. That is all we can do.

What to do when the leaders don't show up?

Today when I got to the Relief Society people were asking me: "are you teaching the class?" "Not that I know." I said. Because neither the Relief Society President, counselors or the secretary were there. They all had issues with sick children and who knows what but not one of four of these women had come to church today. So before I had time to process what I needed to teach, the Sunday School teacher said, I'll do it! She is one lady who you can depend on for sure! She gave the lesson, I was asked to give the opening prayer, Cindi took care of the translation and we were set to go.


This ward of Piantini is one of the best put together wards and in fact I met a woman who had decided to attend our ward because she thought her ward was too unorganized, how ironic to find herself with this situation on her first day when it has never happened before. Sure one of the presidency is not there but all four of them? It is not the norm and I am sure it won't happen again. What I learned from this experience is:
One, that someone will pull through and it will all work out.
Two, we need to be better prepared to teach if we have to.
Three, if not ready, pretend to be and do your best the way this woman did. I am glad she volunteered because for one minute it looked like they were depending on me and I was not ready one bit.


The class couldn't be more perfect because it was about our testimony of the book of Mormon. Not a hard topic at all and one we are so familiar. I was asked with some other six women in the room to give my testimony of this wonderful book that I decided to read to cover to cover when I was 20 because before that it was more like little bit here and little bit there. I will never forget how excited I was to read it as fast as I could for a Book of Mormon Institute class I was taking and it seemed that I was the only person who had not read the Book of Mormon. I felt the pressure to get it done super fast and I think it only took me about 10 days to read it all. Amazing the things you do when you are under pressure.

May 10th

May 10th is mother's day in El Salvador. It can be confusing because in the United States, my home for over 35 years it is celebrated on the second Sunday of every May no matter the date but for me growing up it was always May 10th. To all those Salvadoran women today is mother's day and I haven't been able to get I touch with my mother. I am calling Vanessa's home since that is where she is staying for a while. She had gone to see Mari in Miami but was going to return to Mexico on May 3 and stay with her for about another two months.


 As I think of my mother, I can't help to think of someone who has given up so much in time and money and one who has sacrificed so much for me and my sisters. I will never understand her relationship with my father and why did she put up with so much coldness from my father but she loved him. I love my mom's sense of humor and her ability to lift you up anytime you feel down and today is one of those days.


I feel a little down since Daniel had to go to Haiti on this special weekend but thank goodness he will be back tomorrow and that is a blessing since he was supposed to come Monday and miss out on his kids being here.  Hernan, Rachael, Alejandro and Lexi are in town enjoying the beach while Daniel is away for work. I am in the apartment waiting for him to get home tomorrow to be reunited with them.


It is also one of those award days when they need to think of their own mother and I don't want to be in the way. She is one who I imagine would like to have a better relationship with them. I can't even imagine what my life would be like if my girls had distanced themselves from me. Children are what gives purpose to our lives, we see an extension of ourselves when they have children of their own. On this mother day, my wish as a mother is for my sweet Bianca to be able to hold a baby of hers. It is what we are all rooting for. It is what we all have prayed for and have faith it will happen soon if it is God's will. I also wish that every woman who desires to be a mom, can have that special blessing and I am grateful for the opportunity my Heavenly Father gave me to be called mother!

Going to Marbella

Well this is it! Hernan and Rachael are in town and we have reserved the Marbella condo at Juan Dolio where we spent New Years.


Tyson, the owner is kind to give us a good deal of $100 a night. We have paid for five nights and this was going to be Daniel's little vacation but he has to work and not only that but has to leave us to go to Haiti :( because Elder Andersen invited Bishop Davies to come there this weekend. However we are going to make it the best we can. On my way back I will keep you posted of how it went!

visit to the colonial zone and milanesas

There is one thing Daniel and many who are from Uruguay and Argentina love to eat is milanesas and that is what we had for dinner tonight. We invited the Elder Andersen and his sweet wife Cathleen and Guillermo Antivilo. It was a hit!


 Somehow I managed to feel better for the evening from my allergies and possible cold after we went to the dusty Colonial zone. They are working on getting all the wires underground and to expand the streets there. It would be beautiful if there wasn't so much garbage and dust and not to mention the smell. They got a trolley that took us around the city. There are so many cites that it would take all day to actually see everything.


 Dominicans are very proud to have Christopher Columbus come to this island four times. They got the first University, the first Cathedral etc. The historic zone is probably a must see for any tourist, too bad is so dirty :( but hopefully it will eventually get improved.

Family Home Evening

Family home evening are not the same now that we are empty nesters so today since Herni and Rachael are visiting we decided to have a formal family home evening with them. Daniel spoke about his work as a DTA and how it all started way back during Joseph Smith era. He had a nice power point presentation of every Presiding Bishop and what they accomplished. It was so great to see the needs and the progress with each Bishop. The presentation is 10 years old and a lot has happened since 2004 like so many temples being dedicated and the Perpetual Education Fund etc. One of the most important projects for Bishop Burton for example was building City Creek.

Vacation is over

Back to the DR and back to reality! For the past ten day we were in Utah and the last three days of the trip  we were at the Sundance cabin thanks to the Merkley's who so kindly let us stay there while we went to the BYU Women's Conference over the weekend.


The setting couldn't be more beautiful and the company can't get any better when your are with family. It is always so nice to be with the girls and to see how much those girls love each other. If there is one thing I am pleased with is how Mandy, Bianca and Cristi support each other. They have developed very strong sister bond like my sisters and me. Sister time is the best and I am a proud momma!