Our Fellow Dominican Missionaries and other DR friends

This has been such a perfect place to connect with those who we came to know and love when we served our first mission in the Caribbean and especially the Dominican Republic. We have seen so many of those dear friends during this first year of our mission.


We saw the Crismons for lunch in the fall, but we forgot to take a photo with them.

We saw the Walkers before they left on their mission to Chile as Medical missionaries.

Jill went up to Ogden to have lunch with Cozanne Mahon and Carole Hyde.  It was a cold winter day and a little scary for her to drive up there between the snow and her not knowing where she was going, but it was so fun being with them.  Diana Despain and Kathy Rees were going to come as well but were feeling sick.

We had dinner one night at Marcia and Rodney Ford's home with the Snows and the Rees, again from the DR. The Fords are always so sweet about hosting these.  They and the Snows both on the left were our first friends in the DR and went home at about the same time.  It was so hard to see them go...

Rafael Gutierrez, our director in Public Affairs in the DR, was here for training.  We ate lunch with him at the Nauvoo Cafe and who should also be there but the Lows (who live in Canada but were visiting her mother) who were working with the Legal dept. in the DR.

Georgina Rosario, Rafael's wife, who is now the Publishing Services Manager for the Caribbean, also came in town for training a few weeks later, and we were able to see her.  She was in accounting when we served in the Area Office there, so this was a change of assignment for her.  She is such a multi-talented woman who can do anything.

The Hammons came up to our offices followed by lunch, when they came up for training in preparation for their call as mission presidents. (They are now serving in Riverside, California)
We also celebrated Joann's birthday in April at that home in Springville.

Marilyn and Jim Anderson, who followed us as Public Affairs Specialist in the DR,  hosted a get together at their home, and the Mortensens were there, as well as others that we didn't know because they came after us. Andersons are now serving as Welfare missionaries in Brazil.

Lynn and Janet Snow, among our first friends on our mission, treated us to a wonderful weekend the first of May at their home in Roosevelt - it was such a nice break.  We enjoyed a lovely ride in their area including a stop at the Vernal Temple.  It was perfect weather, and they made the stay so nice.

Us, Cozanne, Eichbushes, Snows, Browns, Glaziers, and Hammons

The Hammons invited all of us to their missionary farewell and then back to their house for lunch afterward.  There were the Eichbushes, Snows, Browns, Glaziers, and Cozanne Mahon there.  It was so good to see everyone!  A couple of weeks later, we joined the Eichbushes at Olive Garden for dinner and to visit some more.

When we were going to Bear Lake over Memorial Day, we stopped at the Burger King in Logan for breakfast with Diana and Dennis Despain.  It was sooooo fun to see them after all this time.

We had a fun dinner  at Joy and Jim Crismons with the Hammons and the Ruckers who were up from Arizona.  We were the closest to the Ruckers, so it was a very sweet visit.  We love all of these folks so much!

And finally in this post of our first year, Joann Bair, our temple president's wife there, was in town, and Jill joined her, Sherry Brown, and Sandra Glazier for lunch.  Joann and her husband Larry were recently released as Visitors Center missionaries in Mesa, Arizona.