donderdag 19 maart 2015

Last week in Las Galeras! Nooooo

Sooo.. The last week has arrived..
There is too much to write about and I have too little time. Next to that, it is a disaster to write the blog and upload photos from my phone! Buuuut since yesterday I've been at the capital, and right now I'm writing from a brother's laptop!! Whooo go technology!!
I met this brother at the English assembly, and he offered me to stay at his place the last days that I'll be in the country. So kind!
He is serving in Santo Domingo south-English. The congregation exists out of needgreaters only! Including 4 missionaries, bethelites and special pioneers. The meeting was so encouraging!!!
We are visiting Bethel tomorrow :)

I decided to dedicate this blog to things I will miss, and things I surely won't miss!

So here we go fellas.

What I'll miss.. The nature! And the weather! The place where I was at is beaaautiful, I got a taste of what paradise would be like.. The sun shines an average of 8 hours a day with at times random 3-minute rain showers throughout the day.
30 celcius temperature with a soft cool ocean breeze.. Perfect!








What I won't miss.. Going to the bathroom at night and seeing a huge cockroach crawl or fly away as you shine light with your mobile phone..
Huge cockroach


What I will miss.. Is that everybody wants to listen to you in the ministry. They are so kind and have so much respect to witnesses! A little bit too much at times.. Like they think we are holy haha.
Everyone wants to read the magazines or some tracts, you don't have to worry if it will be read or not, because THEY WILL!

What I won't miss.. The constant battle between me and the neighbor turning the key open for the tap water leading to our houses.
You see, when they constructed the tap water pipelines to the neighbor's house and our house, they made it that way that if the neighbor closes the waterstream, we don't get water either! And because there's this little tap in his garden that's leaking 2 waterdrops in 10 seconds, he closes the water pipeline whenever HE doesn't need to use water. And that's a lot.
So while I am taking a shower, he might just feel like closing the water supply haha.. :'D

What I will miss.. Is my studies. They're great! One of them went to the meeting last Sunday and he gave 3 comments! He said that he was really thankful to Jehovah that he got to know the truth and all of these brothers and sisters. It touched my heart.


The study with Mervin



What I won't miss.. The HUGE and spiders with giant legs in and around the house! O.O
One time there was one INSIDE the toilet. I tried to flush him down but he escaped. I didn't go to our toilet for 3 days.
This was the temporary toilet we were using.
To get into the bathroom, you had to climb through a 1,5 meter tall window.
When Brian used to be here, we'd sing the Indiana Jones sound theme whenever one of us went to the toilet haha!
 The floor of the little bathroom (without light) was kinda flooded with water.. Which wasn't very nice.. Wet feet every time you sit down, without a toilet seat. 
NOT gonna miss that!

Classic house spiders


I'll definitely miss all the brothers and sisters. Especially the Belgium family and the American family who had basically adopted me as their spiritual son. They have been such an encouragement to me!

Last night in Las Galeras with the family from the US

The family from Belgium



Both families had kids they had to care for and many things they had to leave behind at their country. So many sacrifices they made for Jehovah and the worldwide preaching. Such dedication! Thank you sooo much!! I love you all.


Last thing of the many more things I will miss, is the bachata and salsa you hear on every part of town. I love it!

This was a great experience I will never forget and carry with me for the rest of my life. I met sooo many brothers and sisters who are super dedicated to Jehovah and to serve him at places where Jehovah needs more workers than in their hometown!
The experiences they told me make me even more eager to dedicate my life serving my life to Jehovah where he can use me to the fullest. There are soo many congregations here with 1 or 2 elders who have to do everything for the congregation.
30% of the country is still unpreached.
I got to read the book study almost every week and I realised how much young spiritual brothers can mean in Jehovah's organisation.

Everything was worth it.

Next country.... Ecuador? Mexico? Or maybe Costa Rica? I have no idea.

Will be continued. :)

PS: Here are some more photo's :)
Fishermen coming back from fishing with Stingrays

Underwater picture of coral

Amigos!



Playita, a beach 7 min walking from where I lived.

Laguna Salada

Adios, amigos!

woensdag 11 maart 2015

Adventures..

Here I am again.. Waiting for my food at the local food vendor, with lots of friends who love my legs! Blood sucking friends... also known as musquitos.
Anyway I have been really busy so I'm sorry there weren't any updates!


Soo..
2 weeks ago on a Saturday.. I went with Orbis the Special pioneer to another town for a public talk, 3 hours away on motorcycle..
On the way there was a lot of road washed out by the rain, so we made a detour, but we still had to drive through 30-40cm deep water .. 😅
We heard that the reader who had a reading at our kingdom hall, had an accident with a dog on the road, which left them some nasty wounds.. But he and his wife incredibly still further and the brother came on stage still continued on to give the lecture. Wow they do so much effort to give a lecture here!

Back to the story, it was a nice congregation. The evening before the talk we had a party with bros and sisters :) I got to dance!
Gemeente Payita

Bailandoo
Flooded..

We had the English assembly 2 Saturday's ago.. We had to drive 5 hours before getting there but it was definitely worth it!!
I met a brother from the English congregation of the Capital who invited me to stay the last nights at his house. And next Saturday the 22nd we will have the Spanish assembly! One day before I leave, haha that's gonna be a rush..
Together with the American family who is serving in the same congregation as I

1025 attendants

My last week is starting here in Las Galeras.. Noo I don't want to leave!!

Over&out




vrijdag 13 februari 2015

Cavemen &more

View from a mansion in the ministry

Here we are with another post :)
Last weeks have been really busy since Brian came to visit me.. We visited a lot of great places and had a good time preaching. He left last monday :)

I promised to tell about the people who live in caves..
Well, these people were living in normal houses before the army came with large vehicles to destroy the whole village.. While people were still inside their houses. It seems some American bought the land the village was build on. Fortunately nobody was hurt. 
They fleed to the caves nearby and started improvising. Now they live here.. in houses like this..



A lot of them are studying with a very zealous American sister who has been living here for a long time!

Today I started my first study!! It was greaat the man is so kind, so humble. He is 39 years old and had a bad car accident when he was still a 4 year old kid. He has problems walking and he has many scars. But he is still staying positive! Incredible. He knows to read a bit and he's really taking time and effort to study with us.


Here a few photo's from the places we have been visiting the last 2 weeks.

(Photos coming)
Salto del Limon
La Playa
Our territory




donderdag 29 januari 2015

Arrival of a good friend


Yesterday my friend Brian from Paris arrived in Samaná! So we picked him up and brought him to Las Galeras. He's staying with me till saturday next week! So happy!

Because the toilet stopped funcioning, we have a temporary toilet at a private unfinished part of the house. And look what I encountered there!!

 After I defeated the spider with the size of my hand, I could visit the toilet in peace...

This week we also had a fun "pasaratta" some sort of houseparty with bros and sisters :) Everyone brought something nice with them.

And of course we danced a lot!!

Unfortunately today it has been raining a lot.. And when it rains, it RAINS! Buckets..
But before it started raining today, we took an early morning swim in the sea at 7:00, as the beach is only 7 minutes away!

Next time I'll write about a place we visited to study with people who live inside caves!

Over and out.

vrijdag 23 januari 2015

The Las Galeras experience

It's been some time since my last post.. I've been very busy here!

My day starts when I wake up around 7:00.. Well actually I usually wake up a few times in the night when the hen starts singing/screaming, starting at 4:30!!
We meet up to preach at 8:45 and eat a hot meal at 12:00. Thats the standard morning.

Last saturday we went to isolated territory, where a lot people live very poorly/simple..
But oh man they love talking about the bible!
One experience is:
We walked up a mountain which took about 30 minutes or more.. Exhausted and dripping with sweat.. We encountered a very friendly couple living up there! They were so happy that we especially came up there to visit them! He chopped down a few big fresh coco nuts for us to drink from and afterwards eat the coco inside. So delicious!!! Afterwards he showed us a few lovely panorama views from his (huge) garden. He kept saying God sent us to him :)

This week I also went to Playa Rincón, it is officially in the top 10 most beautiful beaches and I can see why!

This was it for this week..
over and out.

Some photos:

Catching some coconuts for us

The beautiful view from where thry live
Jungle vegetation

A part of Playa Rincon

Caño frío

The beautiful sea

maandag 12 januari 2015

Arrival in Santo Domingo

Dag 1 en 2..
Veilig en al aangekomen, leuk ontvangst van de speciale pionier Orbis en zijn vader! 
Daarna zijn we lekker gaan eten. De Dominicanen weten wel wat lekker eten is!! En ook een super lekker drankje gedronken! (zelf gemaakt door de moeder van Orbis) 
Gemaakt van Ananas en meloen met fijn ijs erin.




Vandaag zijn we inkopen gaan doen bij de lokale shoppingmall(La Sirena) Morgen gaan we naar Las Galeras, waar ik kom te wonen voor de komende maanden :D

Over and out.

zaterdag 10 januari 2015

Ya no falta nada!


The time is near! Bags are all packed.. A few hours of sleep and then I'll be on my way to Brussels Airport, to take the airplane to Santo Domingo!
There, I will stay a few nights at a very lovely family. After these nights, we'll drive to Las Galeras!! My destination! I really can't wait.
Pedro, an unbaptised publisher will be waiting for me there, he offered me to live at his house (he has a free unfurnished room). He told me he doesn't want my money.. All he wants is my ''friendship''. How nice!! So warm and kind. (I'm gonna support him anyway muehahah wether he likes it or not)

I hope everything goes well at the airport.

Needgreater, over and out.