Buena Vista

We visited a smaller town called Buena Vista! It's right next to Jarabacoa. There we visited some brothers who are friends with Jordi. It a couple whose home is the Kingdom Hall! Their whole front yard is the Kingdom Hall since there is not an official hall built for that town.
The congregation is in Spanish and is called Buena Vista. There are a total of 32 publishers and half of them are pioneers!
There are 2 elders and 3 ministerial servants! And even though its 32 in the congregation a regular meeting attendance is about 64!!! Double!!!!
Also in this town there is a lot of need in the Creole language! There isn't a group or a congregation a brother just interprets when needed!
So for their memorial they had a total of 152 attendance! 84 were there for the Spanish and 68 were for the creole! The talk was in Spanish and there was a brother there interpreting for the creole!
Wow!!! Amazing right! In the pictures you'll see how the hall is at this couple house!!
The couple is so sweet! They made us lunch and showed us pictures and we really enjoyed our time with them! After eating the brother Jose showed us pictures and the wife played a game with us!

Jarabacoa!

We made it safe and sound! We took a bus, Caribe Tour, from the Capitol to Jarabacoa. It only took about 2 1/2 hours, but man were we in for a scare. First let me explain the scenery. Santo Domingo is where we mainly reside it's the Capitol- so pretty much it's always loud, Music always playing, and lot of noise! Again it's a city! But here in Jarabacoa it's just mountains and vegetation! It's so green!!! It's so beautiful! And because its a smaller town its a lot more quieter and relaxing!!!
Jarabacoa again mainly full of mountains, so to get here the bus had to take the route that goes around the mountains. Well on an incline-on the route in the mountains- the bus just stops! It stopped and the driver tried to turn it on like 7 times and nothing!!! We were all so worried! I thought "if the brakes aren't good we can go in reverse" or "what if we get robbed?!" It was a time to worry and pray! And the worst part is none of the staff would inform us of anything!!! Finally about 5 minutes later they said "the bus is overheated, we can get it running but no AC" wow! Thank you Jehovah!!! Lets just keep moving!!! Haha so bus on an incline in the middle of no where you can only imagine our worry! Haha
But we finally made it safe to Jarabacoa! Such a nice town! It's funny cause at the bus stop there was a whole bunch of people there waiting, we thought oh those are the family members waiting for someone on the bus! But NO!! As soon as we got off all those men waiting are taxi drivers!!! All at one time asking "taxi! Taxi!" Haha sadly most of them got rejected! But it was just funny to see that.
Well we are staying at a Hostel! Owned by brothers who manage it for a living! We are literally out in the country! It's so beautiful! Because Jarabacoa is away from the city and in the mountain it's a lot cooler!!!! And it rains a lot! It's been raining ever since we got here but the rain sounds amazing! At the hostel the roof is made of aluminum plates, the sound of the rain is much harder than what we are used to but it's relaxing! And because we are out in the country we here all types of animal noises! Last night I asked Karen "what is that???" And she said "I don't know!" Haha we were laughing but it's n nice to be able to visit this part of DR! The moon at night is just bright!!! It glows and shines!
So we have done our family study Wednesday night and then Thursday we went out with some brothers and cruised the town!
We tried a drink called "morir soñando" which means "to die dreaming" and pretty much it's milk with lemon! Different right! But it's so good! Not an alcoholic beverage I promise just milk and lemon it's really tasty! Definitely will have it again!
Also the brothers, Molly and husband Rodolfo, who at the owners of the hostel live 2 house down from house....so they always come by and check on us and are so attentive! Lovely couple! And their dogs always come to us too!!! The little brown dog name is Caramelo. Rodolfo says they had a family from France staying with them one time and the little girl named the dog! How cute!!! This hostel is more home like! It's a house with a yard and a dog!!! We miss home! But we love it here!
The last picture is of Molly and Rodolfo who are regular pioneers and run the business of renting out the hostels. The little girl is their daughter!!! She is too cute! Zahara!!!!

March 26- Special Evening

The Memorial----what a wonderful evening I'm sure all of us enjoyed this evening of remembering the sacrifice Jesus made for all of us! Definitely the talk tonight helped us appreciate the sacrifice as well as strengthening our relationship with Jehovah!!
On our side of the world, our evening went very well. I will admit that during the first song all the power went out! So they had to start up the generators but within minutes everything was back on and no problem!!! Because of the small space, during the song instead of standing up we all stayed seated because if we all stood up it would be difficult for most to see the front screen and follow the song.
I can't emphasize enough how loving the congregation is! Once the talk was finished we stayed for over an hour talking and taking pictures!!!! And oh my goodness everyone looked so good! The sisters looked beautiful! And the brothers were very well dressed!!! Goes to show that even with limitations, a servant of Jehovah will always give their best for Jah! In the pictures you'll see how a brother is on his knees and giving flowers to Diane. That's Rimber he is so sweet but also a comedian! Always laughing haha and he did that gesture because him and Diane got along very well!
One issue we had was how were we getting back home!? Getting there was no problem because it was early in the day but walking here at night is dangerous. So a group of 6 brothers walked us home!!! Wow we gave them so many thank you's! They are so sweet!!! Our personal protectors! Haha lol just kidding but definitely appreciate our new friends. I wanted to inform y'all of the total assistance we had tonight but it was not announced! I'm so sorry but once I know I will definitely post it!
The arrangement of flowers was beautiful! Afterwards each of us could take some flowers home! Our friend Isaac took some home for his mom, I brought some home for Jordi, and Karen brought some for our neighbor Elvira! Very colorful and tropical flowers!
What a beautiful experience! Hope y'all enjoy the pictures but more than anything hope you enjoyed your Memorial! Continue meditating on the sacrifice and remember it was for you and me! And everyone else!!!
Tomorrow we leave to a different town called Jarabacoa! We are so excited! It is known as the "town of eternal spring"! It's suppose to be a lot cooler, has waterfalls, and rivers! So my next posting will be about that town!!! Have a good night ' till the next post!