Dominican Republic

We had the wonderful opportunity to go back to the Dominican Republic and see where Andrew served his mission. 

IT WAS AMAZING!!!

I think that it was such a fun trip because it was not only fun, but meaningful. I got to see the people he taught, and brought the gospel too. It was amazing to feel the missionary spirit, and see the places and people that I had heard about, and read about in Andrew's missionary journals. It truly was a fun, exciting, adventurous, but very spiritual, and a great bonding trip.

We went with a Jake and Haley Castle, Jake served there at the same time as Andrew, a big thanks to the Castles, they did most the planning :) 

They were way fun to go with.. we recommend traveling with them..

 Well pictures say more than words, so I had to narrow down the 1500 pics I took. So here are a select few to see a part of our trip.

 

 

 We rented a car, so we got to drive around and see all the areas, that both Jake and Andrew served in.

 This is the house we stayed in.

Yeah AMAZING. 

We stayed with a member family in Puerto Plata. The Father was a former bishop of a ward that Jake served in and

THEY WERE AWESOME.

Truly some of the best people I KNOW. I learned so much from the Mother, I was so impressed by her, in so many ways.

I hope that I can have the pioneer spirit that she had. Made me truly want to be a better member missionary.

 ( I could have done a whole blog post on the house.... they have a full time maid, who cooks AMAZINGLY, another maid who is in charge of laundry and linens, and a full time gardener.)

 Yep, this is the view from their back patio.....

 This missionary is from Orem, turns out his family lives just up the street from us.

 WE GOT SPOILED.. 

Mariluz made us fresh squeezed juice everyday. Infact, she insisted that it be fresh, so she wouldn't make it ahead of time, she had to make it just before any meal.

SHE WAS AMAZING

This honestly was the BEST orange juice I have EVER had in my life.

She is amazing, I know I keep saying this, but honestly she prepared some of the best food and drinks I have ever tasted.

But what I loved most about her was her humility. She was so happy and willing to serve.

While she cooked she would listen to church music. She constantly had it playing in the kitchen. I loved it.

 

 

  We went to the beach one night before dinner.... No biggy... :)

 Our breakfast...

 Like I said, we were spoiled.

So this is sugar cane... SO GOOD.

Its a little like chewing on wood that is juicy and extremely sweet... kinda like a juicy cotton candy...

These were crazy, They were sweet, but it was like eating something soft.. cotton-like almost... I don't know. But I liked it.

 La Bandera!

Its a staple meal they have there... rice and beans. We had it a few times.

Mariluz makes everything amazing, it was good. They also have plantains, and they cook them lots of ways. Its like a mix of potato, and banana.. sounds weird, but it was pretty good.

   You might notice they also serve avacodo and sweet potatoes with everything.. I think it's because they have so much they need to eat it at every meal... which I am totally OK with.

And of course, fresh passion fruit juice :)

 27 Charcos AKA 27 Ponds

 We hiked up this mountain, and jumped down 27 waterfalls. YUP... I said that right,

 waterfalls. It was some of the most beautiful landscape I had ever seen. Everything was completely natural which is crazy because there are these rock water slides all over the place as well as deep pools to cliff jump into. Our guide took pictures, they aren't great, but you get the idea... and Andrew got some cool video. 

But I am to lazy to upload them :)

 That right in front of me is Elsa, she is the wonderful lady we stayed with...

  Then we got to wake up to some amazing oatmeal.. I didn't know it could taste so good, and some more juice.. Spoiled I tell you, SPOILED.

 So one day we went out to Dajabon, an area where Jake served right next to the Haiti / DR border. So.. we went and checked out the Haitian Market. I was humbled once again. I have never seen poverty like that. I was extremely grateful for what we have. It was chaos, extremely busy, smelly, loud, and to be honest, pretty sad.

 yup.. these are ALIVE...

 This river is the boarder to Haiti

 The market...

 

This is a family Jake baptized.. They were awesome.

So fun to see the work progress, and see the happiness they have through the gospel.

   The missionaries in Dajabon.

 So later on that night the family we stayed with took us out for dinner, it was so good. We literally ate on the beach about 20 yards from the water.

We had shrimp and lobster. SO GOOD.

As if they didn't already do enough for us... So grateful...

 Once again, we woke up to an amazing breakfast made by Mariluz...

 We stopped by the mission home to meet the current Mission President and his Wife.This is Andrew in front of one of the places he lived at in Cotui and the Church he went to.

  We had an extremely pleasant surprise in Cotui. 

We got to meet his first mission president, President Cornish. He is now an Area Seventy over the Caribbean and he spoke in the latest General Conference. It was an amazing experience. He talked so highly of Andrew and remembered so many amazing specific experiences from his mission. I couldn't stop crying..

 Haha.. so during this trip I took 1500 pics, so this was me.. most of the time....

 More food, and a fun dance party with the whole family :) 

Grandma had some sweet moves she taught me.. and Andrew

 

Sunday was an amazing day. We woke up and went to Pueblo Nuevo for church, and met up with one of Andrew's companions, who drove 4 hours to see him. Got to meet a member Emmanuel, who had just returned from a mission. It was cool to see the ripple effect, of someone he taught and baptized, who has since gone on and served a mission. Cool stuff.

 We also had a wonderful surprise of a family Andrew baptized. (who has since moved but came to the church because they heard Andrew was going to be there.) Way cool to meet them. We went back to their house and talked with them after church.

  A view from the drive out to San Jose de Las Matas.

GORGEOUS.

 Above is Arturo, the second counselor from the branch in Andrew's very first area, and his family. Arturo recognized Andrew before we even had a chance to get to his home.  This area no longer has missionaries which is pretty sad.

 Ok, we got some frest fruit off the street, and the orange was amazing, but fresh coconut juice isn't as sweet as I thought it might be.. a little bitter.. hah

 Below is guava... yumm, we literally got it directly off a tree..

 So on our last day we went out to this beach. AMAZING. 

I felt like I was in a post card...

 We then took this boat out on the ocean, and in about 15 minutes.. we pulled up to this little island...

 

 Yeah.. crazy I know. 

We played there for a few hours and went snorkeling around the nearby reef. Our guide fed some of the fish some bread crumbs and they seriously swarmed us! Thousands of fish everywhere we looked! I couldn't believe how cool it was! I felt like I was in the movie Finding Nemo.

 

  Elsa, soaking up the rays... as we went on our boat tour of the mangrove trees...

Yup.. that is a crab.. kinda cute... kinda NOT

We were welcomed home by the best fried chicken ever.. and La Bandera.. so yummm.. 

 

 Thanks to Mariluz for all the amazing food she made us. We loved ALL of it.

 This is Andrew making brownies with their grand kids, they were so cute,and of course they loved Andrew... but made me miss our kids like crazy..

 On our way home.. It was so fun! But I couldn't wait to get home and kiss my kiddos. And also be able to understand the conversations that were going on :)

This trip was a blast. But it couldn't have been possible with out my WONDERFUL parents who watched our kids while we were gone. We are so grateful, and so blessed to have them in our lives. Our kids love them, and I don't think they missed us one bit :)