Saying Goodbye

Well, the time has come. Our latest adventure in the DR is coming to an end. To be honest, it doesn't feel so much like an adventure anymore but just life. It's interesting how you can become accustomed to things that are very different than you're use to. It's been 8 years since we made our first visit to Sosua and it's been nice to come back and see faithful brothers and sisters still serving Jehovah, it's been fun seeing how the young ones that have grown and made advancement in the Truth. As always, we've enjoyed the ministry here. We did our study with Vilma for the last yesterday, we've turned her over to the special pioneer couple here, so she is in good hands. She told us yesterday that she has known and talked to many different Jehovah's Witnesses over the years but this is the first time that she has taken time to study. When Doug got her in the door to door ministry he was using more of a direct approach using 1 Tim 2:4 and opening with the question, What do you think God's will if for you personally? and highlighting that it is to come to an "accurate" knowledge of truth and she needed to have a study of the Bible. This obviously touched Vilma and we returned a few days later to have her first study. So it's a good lesson in not giving up on people in our territory even those we're preaching to often because we never know when something will happen that will touch their heart and move them to want to come to know Jehovah. I have my last study with Laura this coming Tuesday, I'll be sad to say goodbye to her but we're hoping to stay in touch. So we'll miss the ministry here, the beautiful blue skies and warm breezes but there are some things we won't miss like the bugs! spiders, roaches, mosquitoes.....and the crazy drivers, the limited selection at the grocery stores. I'm looking forward to seeing my washing machine and dishwasher again. Our neighbors that were letting us use their washing machine moved out about 2 weeks ago so we are back to doing laundry by hand. And there have been a few times when we've been without electricity or water, ya know just things you take for granted back home. And we're looking forward to getting back to our Spanish group, hopefully you'll see a little improvement in our Spanish????? It really does help you get more comfortable with a new language, being able to use it regularly, chit, chatting at the meetings, being able to have conversations at just about every door in the ministry and conducting Bible studies, so we're thankful for the opportunity we've had here, I've always felt that our visits here are a gift from Jehovah. We're always asked at our last meeting, When are you coming back? and we always say quien sabes (who knows) We've said different times this is probably our last time....but quien sabes. We have our last visit with Cory and Jeni this week and then they'll be driving us to the airport. So see ya all soon, our flight is the 27th, our first meeting will be March 2.

My last picture for you, as the horses ride off into the sunset.