Last days of the Dominican Republic

Well we are already home and I didn't tell of the last days. We had lunch at the missionary home after a morning in the roof top pool at the bed and breakfast. Not at all a simple meal! Greek chicken, humus, salad (notice this is not the last item mentioned as by this time we had very little vegetables), potatoes, roasted peppers, flat bread, cake and coffee.

More enjoyable was the company. Two sisters from Brooklyn were leaving that day after having worked two weeks with the French Creole congo in Santo Domingo. Both started attending the

French congo in Brooklyn and one of the sisters had been born on the island but had moved to the states and did know French Creole.

There was also a family of three accompanied by the daughters friend. They are from Las Vegas and had just arrived the day before for a three week stay. We gave the benefit of our experience thus far as they were going to be headed for Las Terrenas. Hopefully they were able to avoid some of the obstacles.

We headed home (to Las Terrenas) and hit the pool before bed. The next days included beach, a going away party for three need greaters and meeting. Then came Sunday.

We drove out to a brothers house and after field service meeting loaded into a variety of vehicles. One being a flatbed truck. Adam was heard to say 'You haven't done field service until you have gone in the back of a flatbed truck'. We one upped you!

Our experience inclued a rain shower while in the back of the truck! At first it was mere drops which we were thankful for as it was a very hot day. Then came the showers! Before the umbrellas could be grabbed and opened we were soaked and laughing joyfully! We stood along the road huddled under umbrellas after the truck stopped and waited for the rain to let up a bit before continuing the territory. A joyful spectacle we were to those watching us from their porches.

Monday we went to Samana and took a wild boat ride out to an island nicknamed "Bacardi Island" where the beach is white and the water carribean blue. Paula found a treasure while snorkeling. A lovely ring which it would be wonderful if it turns out to be genuine diamonds and silver! Wait for the cointinuing story!

Tuesday was back to construction in Sanchez where we found the walls up and the metal roof supports up and the interior walls cemented and the brothers working on preparing the floor for tile. Much work has been done and more to do.

By far Wednesday, the day we left for Santo Domingo to come home, proved to be eventful. Several of us needed a chiropractic adjustment after our wild boat road on Monday and got an appointment. Paula went first and then found she had locked the car key in the car. She went in search of some help and came back with a young man that she had no clue as to what he was saying. The chiropracter and the hotel owner above the office came out and brought a wire hanger.

They worked for quite a while and while we asked whether the police would not be able to help (we were told their solution would be to break the window) the young man was laughing and making a call to someone. Nobody seems to have heard of a "slim jim".

Carrie saved the day by suggesting that the men try to snag the latch to open the trunk. They finally listed to her and got the trunk opened. We unloaded the luggage and Carrie crawed into the trunk. The next thing we know she has her hand inside the car through the slots in the seat (they were the type that folded down). She looked like "thing" from the Adam's Family. She managed to push the button on top of the seat and get it to fold down, crawled in and unlocked the doors all to the amusement of the men and the people across the street!

Our day did not stop there. There is a habit of the men lifting their shirts to expose their bellies. Jenny did this and said it actually was quite a bit cooler and suggested that we do it to. Well it was just the three of us, so up with the shirts. Carrie and I looked around just as two Haitain brothers were walking through the gate! We gasped as did they and down the shirts went and out the gate they went. Laughter erupted and we okayed them to come through but no sunburn matched the red of our faces from that!

Finally we got on the road and headed to Santo Domingo for one last shopping spree in the Colonial Zone. The next morning we were off to the airport and headed home.

Well that was our adventures of the Dominican Republic!

Santo Domingo

Well we came to Santo Domingo yesterday to bring Janet & Janice to the aeroport. We stayed at the Quality Inn by the airport. We played around down by the colonial district in the late afternoon after finding where the kingdom hall for the english meeting is. We found a Hard Rock Cafe and enjoyed an all American Meal (except that there were nachos & quesedillas besides the hamburgers, onion rings, mac & cheese, a couple of salads and a milkshake).

The Kindgom Hall was across town from the hotel and involved some pretty chaotic driving. Since there was six of us I opted out so that only one car with the "Queen of the Road" Paula was driving.

There were some Spanish who were learning English and one sister who gave her first talk in English. We understood how she felt. We got invited to have a meal at the missionary home, formerly the D.R. branch and now also the kingdom hall. So we decided to stay another night. (I tell you, these gals are adventerous souls and seem to have little worry or apprehension about things, which is ok since I have enough to go around.)

We went back to the Colonial district and did some more shopping and made another stop at the Hard Rock Cafe where a band was playing. We visited the Amber Museum and learned about the different types and also the history of larimar (only found here which is seen by the red arrow on the map picture). As you can see from one of the pictures I had gotten a bit dehydrated, nothing but bones!

Actually it was at the bottom of the museum and was completely dark as you descended the stares. A motion light came on to reveal the room. I got to meet a couple of sisters who were handing out invitations to the district convention while I was sitting on a bench people watching.

The sister that we were put into contact with has a bed & breakfast. In our minds we are picturing some two or three story house in some cramped little neighborhood. (Remember that Santo Domingo is a large city.) We phoned the sister who took us to her bed & breakfast. We drive along the ocean and turn into a large building with 20 some floor.

We are wondering what is going on as we thought we were headed for the B & B. We park on the 5th floor of a parking garage and are told we are here at the B & B. We gather our overnight bags and follow our sister into the elevator. Once inside she takes a key and inserts it into a locked floor button that says 13. We step out into very elegant tiled hallway and she opens a large dark wood door and we enter the B & B and follow her to our room which goes past the kitchen, two bedrooms and around the corner. Inside are two bunk beds and two twin beds. The view out the window is incredible, like looking over New York city scape.

She then shows us the view from the front which is an ocean view and the pool below from a sleek living room. Needless to say we had to pick our jaws up off the ground. The sister took the others to the grocery store (its the D.R. version of Cosco) & I stayed to blog about our experience and upload some pics.

So here you go! lj

Another Beach & another storm

Well we ventured off with some need greaters to a little backwood restuarant in an area called Coson. The road was nice and paved for a large part of the way, although a little narrow. It was raining and when the pavement ended the potholes that were now lakes and covered the whole road were completely unavoidable. We trekked through without loosing anyone (fortunately we were in cars).

We followed our lead car into a side road and had to cross a small bridge, if you could call it that. The lead car had stopped in front of me and Jenny says quickly to open the trunk. She got her camera out, took a picture of something ahead of the lead car and after the lead car went across, I saw what we were about to cross and she then took a picture of my face.

We made it across and found that the restaurant was not open and not the right one. So back across the bridge, down the road and off onto another side road to Restaurant Luis. The sides dishes are non negotiable, they are rice, beans, fried plantains and french fries. The main consists of choice of shrimp (the whole bodies-eyes and legs);fish;chicken or beef. The latter two take a bit longer than the hour we waited for the other items. There were many people there, we joked that we had to wait until they were done with their plates before we could be served.

The beach had more waves than the previous beaches so I attempted some body surfing but the breaks were a little too close to shore for real long rides. Others walked the beach looking for shells.

We came home and had a bit of a thunderstorm with some awesome coloring in the clouds. A nice day.

P.S. Hey Carl look what we could do! :)

More snorkeling

Well we have got 3 more hooked on snorkeling that thought they were scared of what was under water. Unfortunately, they also got burned on their backsides because they snorkeled so much!
Here are some pics of these newbies.

We also found another wrecked ship and Jenny and I swam out to it, this time without seeing any sharks. I did prepare by looking up information on how to avoid a shark attack and what to do just in case. Hit the shark in the eye, gills or nose if he comes at you. Don't play dead - it doesn't fool a shark. Don't swim crazily but either stay still or calmly swim away. And the most important, if you do get bit, try to stop bleeding. Hmmm....

So a few more pics of our underwater adventure and of the beach.

We had an awesome thunderstorm yesterday morning before sunup and I got some great video but inadvertently deleted it :( . Hoping for another chance. We went to meeting yesterday and after meeting one of the three elders was handing out slips of paper. They were survey questions that the circuit overseer wanted everyone to answer and hand back (no names) asking about the study habits. Unique.

There is an english meeting in Santo Domingo on Tuesday, we will be going as we are dropping off Janet and Jeanette to catch a plane Wednesday morning along with one of the rental cars. A missionary couple has been assigned to the island, their territory is english and covers the whole island! The local congregations are to take note of any english speaking persons in the territory and pass the information on. A couple in our group are hearing the call to step over into Macedonia.

Signing off! lj

Ask me what I saw...

when I went snorkeling yesterday! Decided to go out a little farther than I had been to where an excursion boat was anchored. Wasn't seeing much but kept going in the hopes of seeing a turtle or rey or eel or something. I saw a sunken ship, not a really cool old one, but none the less a sunken ship and there were fish swimming in amongst it.

It was time to head back in and I turned to the shore in time to see a really large fish but as my eyes adjusted I realized it was a shark! Later found out it was probably a white tip reef shark. As thoughts raced through my head about whether I was suppose to stay still or swim like crazy I did both, of course not at the same time. Checked the surface to see if there was any fin coming at me as in my mind remotely I thought I remembered that sharks attack on the surface and checked under the water to see if I could spot it. Thankfully it was no where to be seen and I made it back to shallower water although my heart was beating pretty fast. The shark I saw wasn't quite as big as the one in the picture, which I got off the www, as I did not have the sense to take a picture when in the moment.

Back in what I thought was safer ground I heard some surface commotion. Poked my head up to find a surf kite about 10 feet away from me and the surfer getting dragged across the reef. He let his board go toward me so I grabbed it and waited for him to get free of the reef and returned it to him. He apologized for scaring me and went about getting his kite back up and on his board.

That was my adventure for the day. Four went to the build again and they have got the roof supports up (not exactly trusses but framing for the metal roof.) The days adventure for them included a brother who seemed to be a "Gomer Pile" strong on heart and short on experience and long on mishaps.

Well, take care! lj

27 Waterfalls and Bethel

A brave band of 6 went to the 27 Waterfalls. My camera went as my representative. The trip to this involves a 4 hour drive each way, a short hike up to the top of the falls, helmets, life jackets and deep breathing and trust in the guides. Intrigued?

Here are some pics of their adventure (Steve, Alexis, Paula, Keri, Jenny & Nathan). These were taken on Tuesday.

Wednesday we all went to the branch and dropped off the Martinez, Scott & Rhoade families to stay the night and catch planes this morning. The branch is small and is a kind of depot for the literature that comes in from the farm. It does have an assembly hall which is used for circuit assemblies and district conventions. There is one huge fan and lots of little fans hanging from the ceiling and the seats lean back. The have a baptismal pool which several in our group were willing to get rebaptized in order to get in the cool pool.

The outlying territory is definately in need of help. One couple are on the border of Haiti and the DR and it is very hard as they speak mostly Spanish but there a lot of interested Haitians. There is a couple from the first Gilead school who are still in the DR and are quite active, the brother having 7-8 studies.

Also included are some pics from the last meeting that the Spanish and Creole had together as the Creole has just been appointed as a congregation. The talk was given in Creole and translated into Spanish. The Watchtower was 1/2 in Spanish and 1/2 in Creole with questions asked in both languages. There were almost as many outside as were inside the kingdom hall.

Enjoy!

Playa Bonita

"Beautiful Beach" We found another beach to explore yesterday. After a few went out in service we headed for the beach. There were different fish and a lots of shells. We also encountered two large larvae caterpillar type creatures which Steve enjoyed scaring the sisters with. Shirley is really the only smart one of us as she uses measures to keep from sun exposure and her umbrella makes a great weapon and protection.

This morning we went out in the invitation work (Steve, Nathan, Jenny & I). We got to know the friends a little better. A special pioneer couple who have recently been assigned here. He is Dominican and she is from Colorado. Her sister will be going to the same international convention in Korea that some of us are assigned to. The territory is walking and involves perception as their are houses that are tucked into every little nook and cranny and require training as a mountain goat or mule.

Tonight we have a meeting and it will be both Creole and Spanish and it is the last time they will meet together as the Creole have been formed into a congregation officially on July 1.

Hope you enjoy the pictures of the beach!