"Leaving on a jet plane" - our bags are unpacked we were not ready to go

As with some many things in this system our trip had to come to an end. We were sad to go and honestly the only thing I truly missed from home was sitting down to dinner with my whole family together. Now we will miss the love and joy we experienced with our new family in Bavaro. However, love and relationships are not limited to time and distance, so we hope we will continue to carry our love for you not only in our hearts but also in our efforts to 'reach out' here at home.

Not just another day in service!

What do you say when a 5 or 6 year old boy picks up your track and starts reading it??

LA Vega Group

We arrived - through trust, as we actually did not even have an address. After three texts we got direction and arrived at Charlene's home. The difference in leaving the coastal areas and entering the mountain areas is exciting. Kind of fun to be in more familar type of geography, but palm and banana trees remind us of the fact we are on an island. The group is warm and friendly and I now have made two 'commentarios' since I have arrived in DR. We will be at the Branch tomorrow after having a tourist day here in the mountains.

LA Vega Spanish Group's Kingdom Hall.

Electricity when it works still needs work! The generator switch over switch is on the right.

headed to La Vega

Internet is tough. We have stopped in a BK with wi-fi in Santa Domingo, kind of because we are a little lost -- but have direction now. Hopefully we will arrive -before dark and in time for the Spanish meeting.
Janille has joined us is is getting tanned...

Enjoy the picture of those two in service.

There is no stopping the joy of finding new friends.

Gabby is from Staten Island and joined us for a drive to another beach location. since when do you put the french frys inside the sandwich? I wish it wasn't sp hard to load the pictures to the blog, we have way too many to show anyway...

So, we now have 4 need greaters here - a mther and daughter form Satten island also and a special pioneer couple from Sweden have come for a vacation but he has already given one talk and joined us in sharing encouragement with the entire congregation. Turns out they know the missonary couple that Elizabeth is visiting in Tanzania!! What a small world! So today we went to another beach for our 'funday' off from service. Nex ttime i hope to put a picture of that up. But more so i wan toyu to see the service territory. The response is so strong you could place all of your literature in one day. But you don't because it seems that the dominicans are very polite and will accept anything you give them

just to not be rude.
Janille joins us this Wednesday and we have spanish CO week. Hopefully we will go to Bethel next Monday for tour and orientation. Love to all from the Bavaro group and us.

Headed out to Visit some of the southern beach areas.

So today is our day off - no Monday service group. We have taking the morning to go to an internet cafe and get caught up. Read the Arushadada.blogspot.com to see that the girls including Elizabeth are doing great - but have encountered a snake. just a little one but that is enough I am sure. Here in Dominican Republic there are no poisonious snakes.
Service is so much fun our sides hurt with laughter. The brothers and sisters speak some English but Russian is the other group and many of them speak very little English. Jehovah provides though in that the desire to understand overcomes the lack of words. We feel love and concern from all the congregation.

I wanted to attach some pictures so let's see if I can. Yesterday we had 38 in service!

First full week In Bavaro

January 3
First Day in Service with the English (and Russian) group today. We had 28 meet in the parking lot near the a local shopping area. The group had brothers and sisters from Siberia, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, New York, Kansas, Dominican Republic and where else I am not sure! plus us.  We worked with a brother and his wife who are need greaters from Kansas and a young sister from Switzerland - who spoke French, German, some Spanish and little English. As we are looking for English or Russian speaking people and mapping the area; it is interesting that the response from the Dominicans is very supportive. We as a group only spoke to one English speaking person, however we had several conversations in broken Spanish, Creole and French with many others.  All were helpful and understood the witnessing work.

 After service Denita and I went to a local place and had the 'plato de dia' (I think that is what it is called) - beans and rice with chicken.  Good food and a third of what we paid for a cheeseburger at a beach restaurant.  Very basic foods are relatively cheap but everything is expensive.

Our first Congregation Bible Study and Service Meeting was so encouraging. We were so excited to meet the entire group! Two of the parts given were the first English parts for the brothers. To see the joy and clear effort they shared helps me appreciate the value and privilege of being in the school.  There is a Special Pioneer here who speaks Russian, Spanish, English and I think other languages. As he gave a part he stopped to translate the aspect of 'our local business territory' into Russian, so the friends were very clear on the suggestions. I turned to Denita and said  "this is why we are here!".

We hope you enjoy the pictures of the sunrise yesterday morning and the service group.