Jordi's Congregtion

Wednesday we visited Jordi's congregation. Jordi is the brother who we live with, we live in the apartment above him. Well he had invited us to his meeting and we were finally able to plan it and attend! By this point though we met most of the congregation. Jordi had informed them of us staying here and so many of the members of the congregation have come by to visit us and of course the Llano family who host parties for us go to the same congregation so we knew most of the members there.
Most of our friends had parts tonight. Eduardo did the school, Roberto had the reading during book study, Eliu did part of the service meeting, Niurca and Danaris did the num 2, Jordi and Jay were helping with the microphones, and Lee was in charge of the sound system.
A lot of potential in that hall. Most of the young brothers are so mature and participate so much! Commenting, microphones, helping the elders we were very much impressed. After the meeting one of our friends, Jean Carlos, came up to Karen and I and said "y'all aren't cleaning!" And I said "we don't have an assignment" Jean Carlos then said "well you can mop now"....it was too cute. Jean Carlos is a young 18 year old brother who is very active in the congregation. Him and his friend Lee are always out in service in the evening. It was cute to see him approach us and give us a task. We enjoyed the meeting and of course being with our brothers and sisters. It was interesting because at our hall in Texas we have 2 microphones, so the brother doing the book study has his own and the brother doing the reading has his own as well. But here it is not like that, both brothers share the microphone therefore they switch during the study. Wow! And the microphones that are available for the brothers and sisters to comment weren't working at the beginning so they had to say their comment from their seats. WOW!!!! So different. The microphones started working and we were able to use them, but attending this meeting did prove to us once again how in the states our circumstances are a lot different and that the brothers here do what they can with the little they have. Definitely shows me to be more appreciative of what we have access to and what we have available to us at all times.

Tuesday April 9th

Tuesday!!! In the morning I did not go to service. I stayed attending to some things but Karen and Ariana did go to service. After service they came back with some sisters from the congregation! 2 deaf sisters, one came with her son, And Edwin. I started to hesitate because I thought "what do we have to offer??!!!" Since we leave Friday to San Juan (a different town) we have been living off the little bit of groceries we have left...but man does Jehovah bless. Out of no where the refrigerator provided lots of food: tomatoes, carrots, garlic, rice, chicken, corn, seasoning, melon, papaya, mango, orange, and pineapple. Therefore Reina, one of the deaf sisters, started explaining what we could cook. We all helped out cutting everything up and putting everything into the pan. The ending result was some delicious rice with so much vegetables and chicken! And dessert was a whole bunch of fresh cut up fruit. Once everything was on the table Karen said "where did all this food come from??" I said "I don't know but Jehovah provides!"
We spent a nice time with the sisters, it was nice having them over.
Once lunch was over of course we spent a while talking....it was really nice getting to them better. We are bonding so much with these sisters and brothers...the day we leave we will surely cry a river.
After the sisters left of course we had our usual nap, the sun here is so harsh! It sucks up all our energy. The brothers here though have that routine service from 8:45-12:00...rest break eat...service again at 3:30 or 6:00.....
So after break and a good nap we went to service at 6:00! We went to an area called "El Conde" it's a real tourist place and so a lot of foreigners are there...some Asian, Spanish, German, American, and of course Dominicans are there too walking around. It was so nice the lights at night are so pretty. It was cool too because there was a lady filming there making a documentary. She decided to film us since we were all signing so looks like we will be in a local documentary. It's so cool! But I must admit this is not the first time it happens. Many other times people have filmed us...most of the time we are walking around in service or just out in the town...so as of now we have been filmed in 3 different videos...YAY WE ARE FAMOUS! Haha just kidding.... But it was pretty cool to see that.
It was so funny because Tuesday also was a big night here too. I don't know what's the name of it exactly but pretty much it's like the Grammys of the Dominican Republic, of course awards to singers and actors who are here. And guess where it was held at???? Here in Santo Domingo! And I can honestly say I don't know all the Dominican artists that are here locally but I did know one of them who is visiting.... PRINCE ROYCE.
The location where it was held at is like 20 minutes away from our home. Of course we did not go because we were out in service but after service we ate at this sandwich place and they were showing the performances live. Again I can't emphasize enough how Dominicans love to dance and that means they love their music. Music is playing here all the time! We know when electricity is available because our neighbors play music full blast! Haha
I really enjoy living in the city, all this noise, people yelling, and loud music
Man I love it! I know some of the group prefer the country where it's quiet and calm. But that's why we wanted this experience to see which area need the help and which area we feel comfortable living in once we come back and serve once again!
The last picture is 2 brothers and 3 sisters from our congregation, all 5 are deaf. They are so funny! Milagros the sister the blue man she always makes us laugh!! And they are all so sweet!

Sunday Part 2

Well thanks to Jehovah even though we rushed we made it to the meeting!!!
What a wonderful talk! I'm sure all of us enjoyed the special talk about death not being the end to everything. I really enjoyed it. I have to admit something---I visited the ASL congregation in Dallas about 3 years, and I never moved because I thought it would be too hard for me to adapt. To me Spanish is my theocratic language and moving to ASL I thought would be hard but in this brief time here being part of the ASL congregation has touched my heart so much. I realized this because when you sign you have to use facial expression and pictures and yesterday the special talk really hit me hard! We have all studied about the promise of life forever thanks to Jah, but have you ever heard information again again and again in different talks but then one particular talk the way the brother said it just hit your heart a lot deeper? That happened to me but with sign, the pictures the brother used and his way of explaining and facial expression made it all clearer to me!!! It touched my heart deeper than a regular speaker doing a talk....this experience in ASL has changed me forever. For those of you who know me y'all know I'm very expressive and always moving, ASL I can definitely say is for me. I will continue praying to see where Jehovah needs me, my plans are to come back...lets see if that can happen.

Back to Sunday Part 2...
The talk was really good, definitely we can always trust that Jehovah will remember all our dead loved ones, and he will always remember us. And wow so many bible students came to the special talk!!! And some of the people I invited came!!! So happy!
After the meeting an elder from our hall and his wife invited us over for a BBQ!!! Ok I'm not saying this to be nice but honestly BEST RIBS EVER!!!!!!!
The food was delicious and oh man so many laughs!!!! We all started dancing too even the deaf brothers and we really enjoyed our time there!
The brother who invited us was telling us how he was a special pioneer and went to school for single brothers....how he became an elder and then was assigned to ASL congregation... This brother is so loving....and he is all about having fun...cracking jokes, he even asked us about certain things Mexicans say and laughing about it man did he make us laugh! So many laughs...we are truly going to miss these brothers...they are our family now!
What a wonderful Sunday, honestly we came back home really to sleep, we were so tired. But it was a happy tired because even though our day was busy we enjoyed every bit of it, again it all revolved around spiritual things and with our brothers and sisters!

Metro

Here in the Capitol, Santo Domingo, they have subway, underground train. Before it only had one line, but just this past week they finished adding a second line! Everyone is so excited! The train doesn't travel to another town just stays here locally in Santo Domingo. The cool thing is that for this week, the first week that its open its free!!!! But starting Monday it will be 20pesos=50cents. We got on it twice! And honestly have been on it everyday that its free! Hey it's free right! It's super nice! Nicer than Dart but of course it's new! And security is everywhere!!! Not security to check your ticket but security for protection and they are strict! Like you have stand in certain areas to wait for the train you can't cross the black line, and if a child is alone they can't get on, and you can't where sandles. And any little thing security will tell you " you can't do that". Wow so strict but it's really nice the brothers love having a new line! But what I do like is that the rule is to give up your seat for someone with special circumstances, and if you don't do it security will tell you "get up, this seat is for..." Priority are the elderly, pregnant woman, children, and me! Haha just kidding I've been pulled out of my seat many times haha.
Of course we had been in service all morning so it was nice getting on the train to get home a bit faster! We enjoyed it! It was almost the entire service group on the train! Of course we were all talking and laughing, what great friends we have here! Really enjoy them! They will surely be missed but for now we enjoy them for another 3 weeks!