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!

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!