Day 11

So this was our second try at whale watching. The water was about as calm as it could be and as we headed out, we weren't even getting the slightest spray from the ocean!

After a bit of searching, we were excited to see a black mass rise up and spray water in the air. It was a mother with it's baby!

Spraying water

 How beautiful! I think we all felt that we can't wait for paradise when we can swim with these beautiful animals Jehovah has given us.

Can you see it's white face under the water?

After spending a couple hours I guess chasing whales, we headed for a privately owned island where there are a few hotels and a beautiful beach.

We had some time to chill, people were trying to sell you everything there. Someone tried to charge me 2,500 pesos (over 50$) for a beach towel! Then they wanted you to pay 3$ to sit on their beach chairs. We just sat in the sand on our towels and after an hour or so we ate our lunch. Rice, beans, fish, chicken, fruit. It was a typical Dominican meal, and delicious!

Me jumping

A sea lion jumping

It seemed like this couple paid to have the sea lion get in the water with them. We were really surprised to see it there!

There was even a three piece band walking around playing Spanish tunes.

We then got back on the boat for an uneventful, but still beautiful, ride back to shore. We spent the rest of the day with Natalie and ended up at her house in the evening watching Despicable Me and eating some guacamole. 

For some reason watching whales made us all feel super beat so we all headed in for bed.

ps: The pictures in this post are all Joanna's. I was afraid to bring my camera on the boat since last time we got soaked!

Day 10

We preached with Spanish again since no one from ASL was going out. Jo and Emily were each paired with someone else and I was with a Special Pioneer sister here named Debbie.

We started with a return visit she had in a cellphone shop but she wasn't there so she witnessed to another girl behind the counter instead. When we came out, we had lost the group! Debbie knew the general area that they were going to so we kept looking for them. Finally we spotted some of the group around the outside supermarket area.

We continued back behind the stores and I was able to practice my presentation in Spanish! The first woman I talked to was very busy getting her clothes off the line so she asked me to come back later in the afternoon after 3. That was my first RV!

We kept heading back further down the street and Debbie had some really good conversations. People here are so laid back, it's really nice to preach to them. They invite you to come in or sit down or at least let you talk. They seem to be listening to what we say and when we read from the Bible, they really pay attention and follow along. They seem easy to talk to and pretty relaxed so that makes the conversation go smoothly. Most of the sisters I've been with have been able to share two, three or more scriptures at the door! So I have really been enjoying the Spanish ministry here as well since the Bible conversations in service have been so good.

Debbie in front of some pretty leaves

And then my turn! Will have to photoshop the two of us together later :D

 We went to another house where the woman invited us into sit down and I got to use my presentation again. I gave her the "no more suffering" tract and then Debbie had a conversation with her about God's purpose for the earth, his name, and his role as the only true God, Jehovah.

She said I could go back on her too so that was my second RV!

Debbie had a study up the street with a woman who works in a salon. She had lived in the States for 10 years so she understood English as well as Spanish which was nice for me because I could comment on the study in English!

That afternoon I had plans to join a sister on her study by the study canceled so we went back to my first RV to try her again but she wasn't home. So we went back to my house and I made Doris some peach pancakes that I had already for lunch.

That evening there was a group going to the beach for a small goodbye gathering. The two sisters vising Tom and Natalie were heading back the next day so we went down and played frisbee.

Natalie and her sons riding back on a moto

Day 9

Today was Whale Watching day! And boy was it a doosey!

So we made plans with Natalie to go on the tour at 10AM. She works for a tour group owned by some witnesses called Tour Samana with Terry. We weren't really sure what time we were supposed to leave the house, so we were ready a bit early.

Suddenly Natalie showed up at the door and said we had to leave right away, the boat was two hours early! So we grabbed to motos at the bottom of our street, Natalie and I on one, Jo and Emily on another and rode down to the main street. Wished we'd gotten a picture but I think we were all just hanging on, three on a motorbike is pretty tight!

We got in a van with some others and drove to the boat dock.

The ginormous cruise ship looms ominously on the horizon

But it brings in a lot of money for the locals!

 We climbed aboard, and man were we unprepared for what awaited us! It was actually a pretty rainy day today, most of the time the rain just lasts a couple minutes and only once, maybe twice a day since we've been here. But today it rained a lot, and it made the waves pretty big!

It was like riding some crazy Disney ride at first, we would cut through a wave and be tossed in the air then drop down on the other side through empty air, sea spraying in our faces as we smacked the surface. Other times we would ride the waves straight up then back down the other side, like a small drop on a rollercoaster. The sun was out so we weren't too cold but pretty soon we were soaked! At times it was like having a bucket of water thrown in our face! I was glad to have sunglasses on but that didn't stop the salt water from dripping down, burning in my eyes.

We had some rubber jackets they provided but we didn't know we were going to get that wet so by the time we realized it was too late. Finally we arrived at the whale location and we anxiously searched the waves.

About 15 minutes later we spotted a spray of water and maybe 50 yards in front of us we saw a whale raise up out of the water and then return. Everyone was yelling excitedly as we jetted towards the site. We continued whale chasing, many times seeing the jets of water rise up. We spotted it's back and tiny dorsal fin a few more times as well.

As we continued to strain for a view of the whale, suddenly some of the tourists started shouting angrly at the driver. Were they angry about the way he was driving? Or following the whale? Did they want to go a different way? We weren't really sure because they were shouting in a foreign language, but as they continued we all looked inquisitively at one another.

As we watched the whale continue to spray water the boat started to turn away and drive back to where we had come from! Where we returning so soon? Or just getting a different angle? Finally the woman sitting in front of us explained that the angry tourists had been demanding that the boat be turned around because they felt sick. So instead of watching the whales for hours like planned, we were there maybe 15-20 minutes!

The ride back was a bit miserable, the sun was completely gone, we were soaked and since we were no longer riding against the waves, it wasn't nearly as much like a roller coaster as it was on the way out. However our misery was soon washed away! When we arrived back the other guide told us that since we were with Natalie that they would let us come back on Wednesday and go again! What a treat! Unfortunately for the other tourists, they all had to get back on their cruise ship.

Lunch was included with the tour so we tried to dry off and warm up sitting under the palm fronds roof of the small restaurant there (without the sun out it was really cold! It started raining as soon as we got back to the dock). We hung out at the beach and relaxed.

My fish I got for lunch. Pretty different than I thought it would look! But I was really hungry so it was eaten.

Emily's food, something stuffed with seafood

Jo's fried chicken

Buying stuff from a local

The restaurant

Natalie reenacting the puke scene from the boat

A whale ate my friend's arm

After we ate the fruit, this is what it looked like

After getting back in town we went to a few stores and walked around the outside market that locals setup to sell items to tourists from the cruise ship. A few sisters have tents too so we checked them out and found shelter from the driving rain that started up again.

Happy to be home and dry but definitely looking forward to Wednesday when we will definitely be prepared for getting soaked and possibly cold if there's no sun again. Natalie told us it always seems to rain when a cruise ship is in the harbor!
 

Day 8 - Zone Meeting

Sunday! We woke up early and joined Victor and Lauren in some early morning street preaching at 7AM. It was really cool in the shade and we found quite a few people hanging out on the street or just walking by. Since my Spanish is still limited I just asked if they would like something to read. Everyone we talked to said yes! Then Lauren added in that they could read it with their own copy of the Bible at home as well. Later when we were walking back past the people we placed with, we saw them reading the magazines we left them! That was encouraging to see.

Jo at our front gate/door

It started to get a lot hotter as the sun rose and we ended up back at the house after nine. Since we still had the whole morning before we were going to the Zone meeting, we headed for the beach.

Shade is our friend.

Sunken ship, chilling in the water. We pass it on the way to the beach.

After relaxing in the water and on the sand we headed back to change and leave for the meeting which started at two. At 9AM the branch in Santo Domingo had the meeting and simultaneously recorded and broadcasted Spanish, English and ASL. Then they rebroadcasted at two and six for congregations around the DR to stream locally.

The congregation in Samana had Spanish meet at nine and English/ASL meet at two. 60 were present for the meeting. Some there had went to Spanish in the morning and then came back for the afternoon meeting as well so when it came time for the songs, there were people singing in Spanish, English and ASL. That was pretty sweet.

After the Watchtower summary there was a talk on Ezekiel's vision of the vehicle of Jehovah's heavenly organization by Andre Santiago (Ezek 1:18-28). At that time, Ezekiel was the earthly connection to the heavenly organization drawing a parallel to today. So we can can be close to Jehovah's heavenly organization obvioisly by staying close to the earthly organization. However he gave the comparison that this vehicle is not a pickup truck. It doesn't drag us along. We have to keep up ourselves. How do we do this?
(1) By how we use our time
(2) What our goals are

Brother Santiago then gave four goals for the Dominican Republic.
(1) Preach in places of greater need
He said about 30% of the territory in the DR has either not been worked or is seldom worked. Even though many of the populated areas are frequently covered, there are some outlying areas that have no publishers there at all. He gave an experience of a group who went to preach in a remote area and had huge numbers of people come to the meetings they arranged between Thursday and Sunday, I think 114 and 74 were in attendance to the two meetings. However when they left, they were only able to plan on going back after one whole year!!!
Brother Santiago encouraged the friends and quoted the experience of one family who moved to the Samana ASL group to help out and how it's been a great blessing for their family.
(2) Increase in pioneers
The goal is for 20,000 to pioneer in March. It's a good month because of the 5 weekends and the 30 hour Aux Pio provision as well! They would need 6/10 publishers to pioneer so the goal is definitely reachable!
(3) Learn a new language to preach to foreigners
Apparently there are a lot in the DR from Asia, Russia and Haiti as well as the deaf needing more support. Even if these ones have learned Spanish, we read Acts 2:4,7 to encourage us that a person's first language is what Jehovah wants us to use to reach people.
(4) Conduct progressive Bible studies
He encouraged us to follow 1 Thess 2:8 where Paul encourages us to teach and impart our own souls to our students because they are beloved to us. So we have to ask ourselves, do we love our Bible students? Do we treat them like our beloved children or our own family?
To help them progress he also encouraged:
-Directing them to Jehovah and the organization
-Helping them appreciate the importance of preping for the study
(He gave the example of not preping beans before cooking, if you try to eat them, they will be super hard! But if you first take the time to soak them, then they will be ready to use. So preparation is important!)
-Finish both books with the study
(The first for basic Bible truths and the second to help them live the truth)

The second talk was based on Isa 2:1-3 where Brother Joe Dillinger explained how we can climb, and continue climbing Jehovah's mountain of true worship. Many today try to climb the mountain of "Fame" or "Wealth" but he pointed out that if we are not on Jehovah's mountain, we won't be protected from Armageddon (Rev 6:16-17).
He gave four routes we can take to help us climb Jehovah's mountain:
(1) Control of our thoughts
(2) Control of our speech
(3) Our fine conduct
(4) Preaching with zeal

We won't get the final total on attendance until a future date but it sounds like well over 5,000!

Dante looked so cute in his little bow tie!

The projector setup

But our day of excitement wasn't over. No sir. ;)

As I relaxed on the porch talking to friends and family that evening, I suddenly felt little eyes on me. Where were they? Peeking out from the inside of our washing machine.

I called over Joanna and after turning on the light, it disappeared into the washer! So we pulled out the panel and there it was. A froggy toad thing.

When we finished torturing it with our flash cameras, Jo reached to grab it and when she did, it leapt!!! And it had super grippy fingers so it bounced from one side of the washer to another! We all screamed (it was pretty unexpected that it could move like that!). It ended up on the window frame.

And then finally out of the porch and onto the side wall of the neighbor's house.

Whew! We'd previously seen a lizard on the porch too.

I can also see why the phrase "leaping lizards" is common since they can jump pretty well.

Jo took this at the beach. There were at least three jumping around in the bushes!

That evening we headed out to a restuarant to bid farewell to the group of Canadian brothers who had been here about a month I believe.

Back: Sven (Sweden), Mike(Ottawa), Poncho(Ottawa), Caroline(Norway), Nick(Ottawa), Ben(Ottawa)                           Front: Bailey(Iowa), Me, Victor(Sweden), Lauren(California), Eliza(Canada), Jo