GIRL IN PINK DRESS & CONVERSE

JW International Convention 2019 Button Pins - Avail to Preorder on Etsy

2018-09-03T06:31:00.003-04:00

Love Never Fails 2019 JW Convention

Order Here on Etsy

Tell me your opinion! Which design do you prefer?

Lego Witnessing Cart

2018-07-11T12:44:00.001-04:00

I received a Lego Witnessing cart kit as a gift and I love it! I was able to compile the pieces necessary from https://shop.lego.com.

See list below:

The only thing missing I couldn't find from the site is this stabilizing piece:

Found here: https://brickset.com/parts/4223247/space-skeleton-arm

Or E-bay

MINI HANDLE £0.10 4 £0.40Remove
PLATE 1X2 W. STICK 3.18 £0.10 4 £0.40Remove
PLATE 1X2 W/HOLDER, VERTICAL £0.10 4 £0.40Remove
FLAT TILE 1X2 £0.06 4 £0.24Remove
RIM NARROW W. HOLE Ø8 £0.07 8 £0.56Remove
TYRE HIGH NARROW Ø15 X 6 £0.14 8 £1.12Remove
FLAT TILE 1X2 £0.06 8 £0.48Remove
FLAT TILE 2X2 £0.07 8 £0.56Remove
WALL ELEMENT 1X2X1 £0.10 4 £0.40Remove
BEARING ELEMENT 2X2, DOUBLE £0.14 4 £0.56Remove
ANGLE PLATE 1X2 / 2X2 £0.10 4 £0.40Remove
PLATE 2X6 £0.18 4 £0.72Remove

Mindmapping and Basic Drawing Class (ASL)

2017-01-23T09:21:00.001-05:00

Are you looking for ways to improve your Mindmapping/drawing skills for ASL*? I'm providing a class that will help explain and improve your understanding of Mindmapping and drawing basics!

Most people in ASL are familiar with Mindmapping, but many feel that their drawing skills aren't good enough to pursue this form of note taking and diagramming. The goal of this class is to help you have the basic tools needed to draw and convey your thoughts, ideas and ASL concepts onto paper!

If you can draw a line, you can take this class and improve your drawing/Mindmapping skills!

This class is an hour long and price depends on class size.

Minimum: 4 people = $5 each

7+ people = $3 each

Classes will be held over Skype or Google Hangouts.

Use the Contact Me form in the right sidebar if you are interested and I will put a class together. Classes will be Saturday evenings. Scheduling is flexible. Message me with any questions and requests

*ASL knowledge not required. This class will be taught in English.

All Time Favorite Bands

2014-03-02T16:38:00.001-05:00

In no specific order. These are the bands that I feel have or had consistently produced a catalog of quality albums that make up the staple of my musical diet. Or their specific sound is just perfect to me since some of the bands have a low album count.

Andrew Bird

The Mountain Goats

Stars

The Decemberists

R.E.M.

The Long Winters

Radiohead

The Cranberries

Beck

The White Stripes

Belle & Sebastian

The Cure

Feist

New Wallpaper

2014-01-13T17:57:00.001-05:00

Open an Etsy Shop

2013-09-10T18:23:00.000-04:00

Check out these shoes drawn by my good friend Steve at etsy.com: In the Belly of the Beast Shoes

Use this link to open your own shop:
Open a Shop at Etsy.com!

Which are you?

2013-07-09T23:32:00.001-04:00

The chart at the bottom of this page helped me finally see why school wasn't as great as it could have been: Learning Styles

I feel like I definitely fit the the visual-spatial learner category and looking back now I see how much school was geared towards the auditory-sequential learner. It also helped me to see why I love sign language so much!

Anyways, hope you find the chart as enlightening as I did. Which type of learner do you think you are?

Yum!

2013-06-26T17:15:00.002-04:00

Need a good recipe suggestion?

Try this sandwich for a filling healthy lunch!

Ezekiel Bread
2 Slice Turkey Bacon
Sliced Avacado
1TBS Mayo
One lettuce leaf (I pref romaine)

Simple and delicious!

New Page - Indie Playlist

2013-06-02T17:07:00.002-04:00

Check out my Indie Playlist page and make some suggestions!! Thanks!

xkcd

2013-05-15T13:33:00.002-04:00

http://xkcd.com/1187/

Day 21 - End

2013-03-05T20:34:00.001-05:00

2/23 - Saturday

We went with Dauris on her study to help her practice ASL and prepare for the meeting

The beautiful view!

2/24 - Sunday

A brother from Barahona (5 hrs from Samana) came to give the talk and we had a ton of visitors there that day.

That evening we went to the Sadler's house and played flashlight tag!

2/25 - Monday

Took a boat to Cayo Levantado with Julia and Darilady

Saw the seal again!

Lunch!

Darilady

Playing dominoes on the boat on the way back

2/26 - Tuesday

Watchtower prep

This is a picture at the top of some steps going down a hill. You can't even tell they are there it's so steep!

Saying goodbye to everyone

2/27 - Wednesday

The gua-gua we were taking to the capital

In the taxi

In the plane

Day 15 - Day 20

2013-03-05T20:19:00.000-05:00

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.

2013-02-22T07:00:00.001-05:00

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

2013-02-16T17:00:00.000-05:00

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

2013-02-15T16:39:00.000-05:00

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

2013-02-14T14:08:00.000-05:00

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

2013-02-13T19:00:00.000-05:00

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

2013-02-12T13:11:00.000-05:00

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

2013-02-11T19:38:00.000-05:00

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

2013-02-10T18:17:00.000-05:00

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

Day 7

2013-02-09T21:00:00.000-05:00

Well the water came back on, but then the power was out! So half my shower was in the dark!
Joanna and I headed to the Kingdom Hall in the morning to help out with the cleaning to get ready for the Zone Meeting Sunday. We started with sweeping and moping the stairs and porch.

Then a ton of people showed up and we went inside to clean the fans, window slats, floors . . . everything! We helped get the chairs back in line and when everything was done, we headed back home.

I was supposed to go on a study in the afternoon, but it didn't work out, however Joanna and Emily were able to go out with Giselle and help Miguel study the Watchtower.

Our power came back on but then the water wasn't working. . . finally Julia came and fixed it and I was able to do laundry!

Me trying to wash the laundry without water, by stirring it with a mop.

In the evening Sterling came over and taught us how to dance Bachata with Cassy and his brother. Finally we were approved for graduation! Since we were planning on getting up early for service, we headed straight to bed after that.

The town at night

Milo, the neighbor's dog

The rest are party pictures from Friday:

Dante and a friend

So in case you're wondering how we get by without water, here's the answer. In the shower we have a bucket of water to use or we can go to Julia's across the street. They have warm water too so it's a treat!
We have buckets in the kitchen too we can use to wash dishes. We have to add bleach to the tap water so that we can clean with it.
For drinking water we buy big jugs and use it only for drinking. The rest of the time we can use the tap!

Day 6

2013-02-08T18:00:00.000-05:00

This is our second day without water, it's not that bad, but our water tank on the roof was having some problems so they took it away and are doing repairs. We can hear the men on the roof banging around early in the morning and the local church started it's sermon early this morning as well. How would I know? Well their sound system is cranked up all the way so the entire hill can hear what they say at 7AM. Actually it was probably 7:30 but I was trying to sleep so I'm not too sure on that.

Emily's pictures of the sunrise in Samana

But coffee makes everything right!

Emily's picture-she makes coffee every morning.

Back out in service today Joanna and I met with the ASL group at the Kingdom Hall. Unfortuantly none of the elders were able to make it out today so we didn't have any territory to do. But Joen and Domingo were out and they had several deaf to visit in the morning so we went with them. The rest joined Spanish, fortunately they were meeting at the Hall too!

The first person we visited was a 12 year old boy named Miguel. Domingo went over the signs he had been learning: girl, boy, man, woman, Jesus, good, bad, future, etc.

This sister is from Norway, she lived there for 10 years. Before that she was in Africa. I'm not sure how long she is in the DR for though. We passed them on our way to another return visit.

The next call wasn't home so we stopped by a small snack stand and talked to an old deaf man. He told us when he was a young boy he had climbed a tree to eat fruit, however while he was up there some bug attacked him and he fell out. That resulted in his loss of hearing.

Using Joen's picture book and the Listen and Learn brochure we taught him man, woman, Adam and Eve. He told us he thought he was dense because he was having a hard time signing and remembering but we encouraged him that he was doing a really good job!

We headed out to the next house but alas, that call wasn't at home either. We parted ways and headed back to our house.

In the afternoon we went downtown for some groceries and shopping. This evening we are going across the street for a surprise going away party for a sister in ASL! Hopefully we will finally get to do some Bachata or Merengue!

Day 5

2013-02-07T19:00:00.000-05:00

Thursday morning we were able to sleep in a bit-yay!! Our neighbor, Cazzy, walked us over to Joann's house where there was a group gathering to help the deaf prepare for meeting. We drew the answers on a white board of sorts (it was actually some left over materials from the Kingdom Hall roof!)

Bella showcasing some of our drawings.

On the left is Domingo, a deaf Bible study that has been progressing really well.

Joann

Joen -also a study making good progress. Together, Joen and Domingo act like they are doing some comedy routine.

We headed out for some pizza that is made in a roaving truck however it wasn't there, so we headed to a place close to the Kingdom Hall for some empanadas!

After resting at home, we headed out for the meeting which starts at 7. Since Sign Language is a group here, they meet with Spanish. Sitting on the right side of the hall they have a TV on a mobile cart where they can play scriptures, songs and pictures. The Congregation Bible Study is done independent from Spanish so we studied the Family Happiness DVD just like all the other Sign congregations while Spanish was covering the Jeremiah book just like English.

The Theocratic Ministry School was also done all in Sign and then the Service meeting was interpreted. There was also an announcement for the Zone Meeting that will be on Sunday! Spanish is in the morning and English and Sign will be in the afternoon. All are invited so we're really looking forward to it!

That evening after the meeting I went with a group downtown to try getting pizza from the pizza truck again. It was only a couple bucks for a pizza and I shared one with Lauren. There was a park of sorts right by where the truck was parked where they had tables and chairs so we pulled them all together and ate under the stars.

It's really awesome that there are a lot of people from all over the world here. For example, Sweden, Africa and Canada (a lot from Canada). And there are American's from all over the States. So when we are all together there is such a mixture of races and cultures it's truly beautiful.

Sorry I don't have any pictures of the meeting but I'll get some next time!

Day 4

2013-02-06T17:19:00.002-05:00

So I mentioned yesterday how noisy it is here? Well at some point, pretty much everyone goes to bed, sometime around midnight, and it gets really quiet here! And that lasts into the morning.
This morning I woke up before my alarm went off to strange silence (yes the silence woke me up). And when I came downstairs it smelled really good! What was it you ask?

Rain!

Boy was I happy! It smelled so nice, like rain air freshener(TM). Anyways, this was the first time we were going to meet at the Kingdom Hall (Salón del Reino) so Darilady walked us over. It took less than 5 minutes maybe.

Addresses are kind of funny here, I'm not really sure anyone has one. But if you look on JW.org the address for the Kingdom Hall is literally "in front of the Samana Cemetery" pictured below.

Those holes are unfilled graves.

Another visiting sister - yay!

Joanna and Emily went with another sister to a study while I joined Natalie, her daughter Bella and Natalie's sister-in-law Kayla for some studies in an unknown location. As in the location was unknown to me.

We hopped on a Gua-Gua and headed about 20 minutes out to a beautiful little sea side village. The first study wasn't home so we headed to Virginia's house.

On the way we saw a man showering on the side of the street. Not the best picture, but still share-worthy!

A beautiful baby!

Apparently most of the deaf in Samana don't know sign language, so a lot of time is spent teaching them how to communicate and how to learn since those that don't know how to sign have had no education.

However, the Listen and Learn brochure is a great tool and that's what Natalie has been using to teach Virginia. Using pages 8-9 we talked about Adam and Eve and the choice they had to either obey or disobey Jehovah. She didn't know the sign for obey so it took a lot of drawing and we acted out me obeying Natalie's command to go outside then disobeying her telling me to come back in but finally Virginia understood the choice and the signs.


Virginia on the right.

Natalie, Kayla, Bella, not sure about the little girl's name though. :(

Day 3

2013-02-05T14:26:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately nobody from Sign Language was out in the ministry today, so we just joined Spanish! There were two brothers there from Canada who also spoke French and English. They told me that the congregation didn't really use territory maps like we do in the States, they just pick an area that they haven't been to recently and the whole group heads there.

The service group.

The house we met in.

Emily and Joanna went with one group and I went with Julia in another group. Starting with some businesses around the corner she left a magazine and a tract with some workers. I didn't have a presentation so Julia gave me a short question to ask (?JesusCriso y Dios son la misimo?), a tract on Jesus, and two scriptures, John 7:29 and 14:28.

There are the two Canadian brothers in the baseball caps. Behind them is a funeral procession. A hearse with yellow flowers on top passed by with a large procession following on foot.

The center of town, sort of. =D

Downtown Samana is in a valley so we hiked up some steep hills to continue preaching. We came to a house where a chicken was tied by his leg to what looked like a small barbell. However, upon closer inspection, it seemed to just be a stick with cans in bags attached on each end. There was a woman holding a small child on her porch who pulled out chairs for us as we came up. I was able to do my simple presentation for the first time and with the assistance of Julia left her a tract. It was really nice just to sit for a few minutes and talk to someone pleasant.

Here is the view of the town from where we were preaching, up on a hill.

Julia said the house we are staying in is visible somewhere in here. . . I'm not 100% on that though!

Lots of these super cute tiny dogs around! They seem to stay pretty cool with their really short fur. I haven't seen any dogs with long fur yet.

The coast! And some really pretty brightly colored buildings.

We had two other nice conversations, Julia is really skillful and while I can't understand everything she says, I'm still impressed with her teaching. She started a Bible study with one young man and is planning on going back Sunday.

After taking a rest at the house Julia shared a wonderful lunch with us and we all showed each other pictures of our respective families.

This afternoon Joanna is joining Julia on a Bible Study while Emily and I will be working on our Spanish presentations with Darioly.

And on a final note, here are pictures of the house we are staying in, courtesy of Emily.

Kitchen

Front door/Living Room/Joanna

To the left of the front door, standing on the stairs.

Yay the bathroom!

Joanna's bedroom.

Emily and I are sharing this room.

PS - It is super noisy here! And the street is so close to the front door that people and motorcycles sound like they are right in the house! It takes some getting used to!