Santiago ASL

While visiting Santiago we did support the ASL congregation! Man do they need help! Santiago is the 2nd largest city here in the DR and they only have 1 congregation! But the brothers say that the territory is very productive!!!! Many deaf people are interested!
The congregation has 40-45 publishers but on a Sunday meeting the attendance is 60-80!!! And for memorial they had 235!!!! And 185 out of the 235 are deaf!!!
Wow!!! Fantastic right!
Friday after visiting the assembly hall we went to service with 2 couples who were assigned the table! We stayed with them! It was so cool! We had literature in creole, Spanish, English, and ASL! And the table was right in front of the cemetery! The reason being is because Friday was a holy day over here in DR, and many people go and visit their dead loved ones! Wow! It was cool to participate in that at least one day!
The following day Saturday we went to the service group! And I had the privilege of preaching with a special pioneer!!!! He name is Mercedes! What a neat experience! We did a study with a young female bible student. This study was different because not only is the sister teaching her the bible but also teaching her sign language!!! Wow so much patience! This young lady never went to school so sign language was never learned! But it was so cool! Definitely the sister had to repeat a lot to make sure she understood and also use pictures and drawings! It was so neat!! The mom of the bible student participated too! The mom wants to learn sign so she too can communicate with her daughter!
Santiago ASL congregation does need lots of help! This is the only ASL congregation so it covers all of Santiago and surrounding areas! Wow! So much territory! They sometimes have to travel 30-40 minutes to do bible studies. The elder and coordinator of the congregation has only been here 8 months and he said quickly he has already established 5 bible studies that are all deaf! Wow! For those who aren't really familiar with the deaf community, sometimes it's hard to be able to study with deaf. Think about it their whole world is different than ours, in the sense that they don't grow up hearing the things a hearing person does. For example have you ever had a joke in English and try to translate in Spanish? Doesn't sound the same right? Well same with ASL! The deaf base lots of things of what they see, so their perspective of things is different a lot of times. It's not impossible to have a regular bible deaf student it just takes a little more work.
So for the brother to have 5 established studies in a couple months after just arriving shows that the territory is very productive! Wow!
Being here so far we have been in 3 locations helping in the ASL, being able to experience that helps the group out as individuals which areas we would like to help the next time.
I spoke with the Mercedes about rent. She informed me that for a really nice apartment it's about $200 American dollars! If you want water available to you at all times it's about $12 American dollars, and with electricity at all times it's about $25 American dollars!!! Wow! So for less than $300 a month!!! Split that between 2-3 people!!! Wow!!! Super inexpensive! Definitely thinking about possibilities !!! We all talked last night about our goals once returning home and each of us included "coming back to the DR!" Wow less than 3 weeks and what an effect on us! We will all continue to pray to Jehovah, ask for his guidance! And sometime ago for a Sunday watchtower study I remember it mentioned that Jehovah will use you and make sure you get where you need to be but before that can happen one must starting moving and making things happen! Can't just stay still and wait, need to get moving!!!! Definitely keeping those words in mind once back home!