Day 7

Well the water came back on, but then the power was out! So half my shower was in the dark!
Joanna and I headed to the Kingdom Hall in the morning to help out with the cleaning to get ready for the Zone Meeting Sunday. We started with sweeping and moping the stairs and porch.

Then a ton of people showed up and we went inside to clean the fans, window slats, floors . . . everything! We helped get the chairs back in line and when everything was done, we headed back home.

 

 I was supposed to go on a study in the afternoon, but it didn't work out, however Joanna and Emily were able to go out with Giselle and help Miguel study the Watchtower.

Our power came back on but then the water wasn't working. . . finally Julia came and fixed it and I was able to do laundry!

Me trying to wash the laundry without water, by stirring it with a mop.

In the evening Sterling came over and taught us how to dance Bachata with Cassy and his brother. Finally we were approved for graduation! Since we were planning on getting up early for service, we headed straight to bed after that.

The town at night

Milo, the neighbor's dog

The rest are party pictures from Friday:

Dante and a friend

So in case you're wondering how we get by without water, here's the answer. In the shower we have a bucket of water to use or we can go to Julia's across the street. They have warm water too so it's a treat!
We have buckets in the kitchen too we can use to wash dishes. We have to add bleach to the tap water so that we can clean with it.
For drinking water we buy big jugs and use it only for drinking. The rest of the time we can use the tap!

Day 6

This is our second day without water, it's not that bad, but our water tank on the roof was having some problems so they took it away and are doing repairs. We can hear the men on the roof banging around early in the morning and the local church started it's sermon early this morning as well. How would I know? Well their sound system is cranked up all the way so the entire hill can hear what they say at 7AM. Actually it was probably 7:30 but I was trying to sleep so I'm not too sure on that.

Emily's pictures of the sunrise in Samana

But coffee makes everything right!

Emily's picture-she makes coffee every morning.

Back out in service today Joanna and I met with the ASL group at the Kingdom Hall. Unfortuantly none of the elders were able to make it out today so we didn't have any territory to do. But Joen and Domingo were out and they had several deaf to visit in the morning so we went with them. The rest joined Spanish, fortunately they were meeting at the Hall too!

The first person we visited was a 12 year old boy named Miguel. Domingo went over the signs he had been learning: girl, boy, man, woman, Jesus, good, bad, future, etc.

This sister is from Norway, she lived there for 10 years. Before that she was in Africa. I'm not sure how long she is in the DR for though. We passed them on our way to another return visit.

The next call wasn't home so we stopped by a small snack stand and talked to an old deaf man. He told us when he was a young boy he had climbed a tree to eat fruit, however while he was up there some bug attacked him and he fell out. That resulted in his loss of hearing.

Using Joen's picture book and the Listen and Learn brochure we taught him man, woman, Adam and Eve. He told us he thought he was dense because he was having a hard time signing and remembering but we encouraged him that he was doing a really good job!

We headed out to the next house but alas, that call wasn't at home either. We parted ways and headed back to our house.

In the afternoon we went downtown for some groceries and shopping. This evening we are going across the street for a surprise going away party for a sister in ASL! Hopefully we will finally get to do some Bachata or Merengue!

Day 5

Thursday morning we were able to sleep in a bit-yay!! Our neighbor, Cazzy, walked us over to Joann's house where there was a group gathering to help the deaf prepare for meeting. We drew the answers on a white board of sorts (it was actually some left over materials from the Kingdom Hall roof!)

Bella showcasing some of our drawings.

On the left is Domingo, a deaf Bible study that has been progressing really well.

Joann

Joen -also a study making good progress. Together, Joen and Domingo act like they are doing some comedy routine.

We headed out for some pizza that is made in a roaving truck however it wasn't there, so we headed to a place close to the Kingdom Hall for some empanadas!

After resting at home, we headed out for the meeting which starts at 7. Since Sign Language is a group here, they meet with Spanish. Sitting on the right side of the hall they have a TV on a mobile cart where they can play scriptures, songs and pictures. The Congregation Bible Study is done independent from Spanish so we studied the Family Happiness DVD just like all the other Sign congregations while Spanish was covering the Jeremiah book just like English.

The Theocratic Ministry School was also done all in Sign and then the Service meeting was interpreted. There was also an announcement for the Zone Meeting that will be on Sunday! Spanish is in the morning and English and Sign will be in the afternoon. All are invited so we're really looking forward to it!

That evening after the meeting I went with a group downtown to try getting pizza from the pizza truck again. It was only a couple bucks for a pizza and I shared one with Lauren. There was a park of sorts right by where the truck was parked where they had tables and chairs so we pulled them all together and ate under the stars.

It's really awesome that there are a lot of people from all over the world here. For example, Sweden, Africa and Canada (a lot from Canada). And there are American's from all over the States. So when we are all together there is such a mixture of races and cultures it's truly beautiful.

Sorry I don't have any pictures of the meeting but I'll get some next time!

Day 4

So I mentioned yesterday how noisy it is here? Well at some point, pretty much everyone goes to bed, sometime around midnight, and it gets really quiet here! And that lasts into the morning.
This morning I woke up before my alarm went off to strange silence (yes the silence woke me up). And when I came downstairs it smelled really good! What was it you ask?


Rain!


Boy was I happy! It smelled so nice, like rain air freshener(TM). Anyways, this was the first time we were going to meet at the Kingdom Hall (Salón del Reino) so Darilady walked us over. It took less than 5 minutes maybe.

Addresses are kind of funny here, I'm not really sure anyone has one. But if you look on JW.org the address for the Kingdom Hall is literally "in front of the Samana Cemetery" pictured below.

Those holes are unfilled graves.

Another visiting sister - yay!

Joanna and Emily went with another sister to a study while I joined Natalie, her daughter Bella and Natalie's sister-in-law Kayla for some studies in an unknown location. As in the location was unknown to me.

We hopped on a Gua-Gua and headed about 20 minutes out to a beautiful little sea side village. The first study wasn't home so we headed to Virginia's house.

On the way we saw a man showering on the side of the street. Not the best picture, but still share-worthy!

A beautiful baby!

Apparently most of the deaf in Samana don't know sign language, so a lot of time is spent teaching them how to communicate and how to learn since those that don't know how to sign have had no education.

However, the Listen and Learn brochure is a great tool and that's what Natalie has been using to teach Virginia. Using pages 8-9 we talked about Adam and Eve and the choice they had to either obey or disobey Jehovah. She didn't know the sign for obey so it took a lot of drawing and we acted out me obeying Natalie's command to go outside then disobeying her telling me to come back in but finally Virginia understood the choice and the signs.

Virginia on the right.

 

Natalie, Kayla, Bella, not sure about the little girl's name though. :(

Day 3

Unfortunately nobody from Sign Language was out in the ministry today, so we just joined Spanish! There were two brothers there from Canada who also spoke French and English. They told me that the congregation didn't really use territory maps like we do in the States, they just pick an area that they haven't been to recently and the whole group heads there.

The service group.

The house we met in.

Emily and Joanna went with one group and I went with Julia in another group. Starting with some businesses around the corner she left a magazine and a tract with some workers. I didn't have a presentation so Julia gave me a short question to ask (?JesusCriso y Dios son la misimo?), a tract on Jesus, and two scriptures, John 7:29 and 14:28.

There are the two Canadian brothers in the baseball caps. Behind them is a funeral procession. A hearse with yellow flowers on top passed by with a large procession following on foot.

The center of town, sort of.  =D

Downtown Samana is in a valley so we hiked up some steep hills to continue preaching. We came to a house where a chicken was tied by his leg to what looked like a small barbell. However, upon closer inspection, it seemed to just be a stick with cans in bags attached on each end. There was a woman holding a small child on her porch who pulled out chairs for us as we came up. I was able to do my simple presentation for the first time and with the assistance of Julia left her a tract. It was really nice just to sit for a few minutes and talk to someone pleasant.

Here is the view of the town from where we were preaching, up on a hill.

Julia said the house we are staying in is visible somewhere in here. . . I'm not 100% on that though!

Lots of these super cute tiny dogs around! They seem to stay pretty cool with their really short fur. I haven't seen any dogs with long fur yet.

The coast! And some really pretty brightly colored buildings.

We had two other nice conversations, Julia is really skillful and while I can't understand everything she says, I'm still impressed with her teaching. She started a Bible study with one young man and is planning on going back Sunday.


After taking a rest at the house Julia shared a wonderful lunch with us and we all showed each other pictures of our respective families.

This afternoon Joanna is joining Julia on a Bible Study while Emily and I will be working on our Spanish presentations with Darioly.

And on a final note, here are pictures of the house we are staying in, courtesy of Emily.

Kitchen

Front door/Living Room/Joanna

To the left of the front door, standing on the stairs.

 

Yay the bathroom!

Joanna's bedroom.

Emily and I are sharing this room.

PS - It is super noisy here! And the street is so close to the front door that people and motorcycles sound like they are right in the house! It takes some getting used to!