Day 15 - Day 20

So I thought I would just try and stuff the last two weeks there into one post full of highlights.

2/17 - Sunday

Tom gave the talk since the brother that was going to come had car troubles

Anniversary/Going away party

Kayla was leaving

2/18 - Monday

On our way out of town, we stopped to see Jay who had made and setup these stands for the first time.

Creole version of the brochure "You can be God's friend"

Each book in several languages

We went to a resort

and used their infinity pool.

2/19 - Tuesday

Taking a break from the rain

The two Elenas

In the morning I got to preach with the other Elena in Spanish. In the afternoon I had plans with Debbie to go visit calls again. On our way back from a not at home we met an Evangelical woman and shared some scriptures with her before getting back in the truck.

We headed to see Bertania who I had first contacted last week. She was home and invited us in. We showed her the Truth tract and she thought all the questions looked interesting. We discussed the first and third with her, which she really enjoyed, so we showed her the Bible Teach book as well. After going over the first few pages, we set up to come back next week and discuss the first chapter.

It was getting pretty late but we still had another Bible Study to visit. A younger woman and her little sister were both studying out of the Good News brochure. It was a really enjoyable study and we didn't finish up there until 8PM!

2/20 - Wednesday

Nothing much happened Wednesday so I don't have any pictures. Bailey and I had done some early morning preaching downtown by ourselves and when we met at the hall, it didn't work out to continue in service. So we took the day off and stayed home.

2/21 - Thursday

This is where we met for Spanish

There was a cat a the house that really didn't want to get off his comfy chair

We hiked up some crazy dirt hills to reach people that morning

This was my preaching partner for the morning

Anylina came to meeting that night!!

2/22 - Friday

Pricilla, Natalie's study we visited in the morning 

We studied signs and helped her prepare for the meeting

That afternoon I went with Lauren to visit a little girl who is deaf, Yanet. She had a few friends that came and watched as well. We were trying to teach her who God is. Here Lauren is showing them Listen and Learn in ASL on her tablet 

Here's what I drew.

Sorry guys my computer is at someone's house copying ASL video files. It's 40GB so it's taking days to copy over WIFI. Therefore I can't upload pics. However hopefully I'll be adding some posts soon! Thanks for your patience.

Day 14

Bailey and I left for the service meeting before Jo and Emily so we bid them good bye, leaving them in Natalie's care since she didn't start work until later in the day.

After the service meeting, we were walking to the Gua-Gua station when I heard my name being shouted! Turning around, there was Emily, Joanna and Natalie all on a moto cart heading to the bus station! It was nice to see them safely on their way. Unfortunately, upon reaching the capital their flight was delayed but hopefully they'll be on their way soon.

They rode in something like this

Bailey and I took a bus with Oso and another young sister out to La Pascuala to go on a study for Joann and to help Domingo prepare for the meeting Sunday.

Both of them did a really good job on the study and it was encouraging to see how much they have learned form their studies. During meeting prep with Domingo, we drew one picture/paragraph/answer. At the end his mother came out with a huge plate of rice, three fishes on top (they looked like the fish I'd eaten on Monday and probably looked like the fish Jesus ate all the time now that I think about it) and a mug of beans. How hospitable of her!

That afternoon a study I was going to go on was canceled so we headed to the beach this time with the other Natalie and her son Andrew. We walked way out the bridge again and this time we actually went swimming off the island. There is a dock you can jump off of into the water. It's a beautiful beach but unfortunately a lot of trash is littered about the trees and grass there. In paradise, it will be a really nice looking place but for the time being we just enjoyed looking out the ocean and at the boats docked across the water.

We continued to explore the island as the sun went down, a path led back into the jungle where the remaining skeletons of unfinished structures lay. We didn't quite make it to the end since we wanted to get back to the mainland before dark.

We ended up heading back to the house with Natalie and Andrew for some Grapefruit Seed Extract. It's supposed to help get rid of any parasites you might get from eating contaminated food and we didn't want to take any chances.

We ended up staying for dinner, eating BLTs, guacamole and watching TV which was a really nice way to spend the evening!

This is looking up the street from our front gate so you can see how tiny it is.  Julia's house is the yellow one on the right.

Not real sure what these are. Saw them in the park the other day.

This is the island we were on Wednesday when we went whale watching. We saw it on our way to zip lining since we were climbing way up high into the mountains.

Day 13

Jo and Emily's last full day in the DR! We headed out for some Zip lining!

It took a while to get a reasonable price on a ride but we finally did, and the ride was in the back of a pickup  truck!

We weren't real sure about the body hanging at the entrance . . .

but we swallowed our fears and headed up the mountain. It was quite the hike. The hill we climbed up was pretty comparable to some steep hills in Pittsburgh! Whew!

This looks steep... it was steeper.

When we made it to the top, *gulp* take a look below

We were all pretty scared. So we watched the group ahead of us go down, then it was our turn. After being hooked up, I went first down the line.

I have to say, it was awesome! Even Emily and Natalie who were pretty terrified loved it! We got to zip down twelve lines. If you have to get down a mountain, this is the best way to do it!

We tried hanging upside down and spinning around a bit too.

At the end, we got a tour of the tree house hotel the owner is building. It looked like Ewok city.

We also got a brief show about the local fruits and was able to try things like sugar cane, coconut, hot chocolate, coffee beans and some things I didn't even catch the name of!

When we got back that afternoon I was able to join Natalie on a study close to the Kingdom Hall. We were looking at the Listen to God brochure and the story of Adam and Eve.

We tried to help her understand how Jehovah felt when Adam and Eve stole from the tree and ate the fruit but she was having a hard time answering that question. So we got to act out me stealing some gum that Natalie told me not to take and we got to do some drawing as well. Natalie said I could go back a few times next week so I setup with her for Sunday.

When I got back to the house, we headed for a final look at the beach with Emily and Jo before they left. There is a really long bridge that goes out to an island close to the beach so we walked out that. The island also has a beach so we explored all the cesspool life. There were super tiny snail-thingies (not quite sure of the proper name for them!) everywhere! We found sea urchins and hermit crabs as well.

Seeing rain in the distance...

we started to head back.

We met Natalie and Bailey on the beach and decided to head to a Chinese restaurant up the hill and across town. On our way back after eating we also stopped to see a sister that goes to the La Pascuala congregation, about a 20/30 minute ride on a Gua-Gua out of town.

After bidding Natalie adieu and the girls finished packing, we hit the sack!

Day 12

Like last week, Thursday we would normally have gone to Joann's house for meeting prep. However she was unavailable so instead we headed to the Kingdom Hall to meet with the group.

When we arrived, the gate was still locked, so we waited in the shade for someone to come. Joanna and Emily had both been out early morning preaching as well. Fortunately, Natalie and sons showed up so we headed to my canvasing territory pretty close to the house.

We talked to people in the businesses and houses along the way, sometimes giving out tracts or magazines as well. I was walking with Natalie and she had a few good discussions with people and was able to share some scriptures with them as well.

It was really hot, the past couple of days it seems like it's getting hotter and hotter here! So we finished up pretty early and headed back to the house. Will still had service to do later that afternoon though helping Joen and Domingo prepare for the meeting!

Walking to the study at Oso's house

Cassy drawing an answer for the paragraph

We almost finished the Congregation Bible Study prep but had to leave Cassy to finish up since Bailey was getting off the bus around 5 downtown.

Jo and I got some ice cream while waiting and when the bus pulled up, we were so relieved Bailey had arrived safe with all of her limbs and bags!

At meeting that night, Tom asked me right before starting to copy sign for the Bible Study and Highlights. So I got to stand up front and copy the audience's comments so that they didn't have to walk up to the front and sign it and everyone in the audience could still see the comment. It was great to help out!

Service meeting translation

The boys were dressed to match

So we had a modeling session!

That night we went out for ice cream again at Bon with Tom, Natalie and their two kids. So I've definitely been on an ice cream kick here!