Just Another Preaching Day in the DR:)

This is just an example of an average preaching day in Las Galeras! I love it and never want to forget our average days!!

A regular "car" group will never be the same after this kind of "car" group!!

Just one of the reasons the boys love preaching here!!:)

Climbing through the barbed wire. This was a very easy passage through, not all are nearly this easy to get through!

AND, getting stuck on the barbed wire on the easy passage!!:)

The Peacocks....and dogs and chickens, and pigs, and dogs and chickens, and horses, and dogs and chickens, and donkeys, and dogs and chickens, and cows, and dogs and chickens, and goats, and dogs and chickens, and turkey's, and dogs.....

And what a morning of preaching does to my baby!!
It was not even noon yet in this picture!:)

How our average day goes....meet group at 8:45, have service meeting that we do not understand, get service partners and pile into our car and on a couple motor bikes and head to territory.Park vehicles and walk to the houses in the area. Many places you walk back to and you find there are 3 or more "rancheros" in the little yard area.

When we first got here it was hard to tell which places had people living in them because they are so small and the living standard is SO different from America, no screens or even windows, just openings with a wood shutter for when it rains. No door handles, just pad locks, nothing is straight or sealed and many homes are just bare ground and others have just a cement garage type floor. 

Very little furniture and usually it is just plastic chairs and very well used sofas.

And many of the houses aren't even fully roofed.

The only places we've seen that no one is living in is the newer places, either being built by westerners or they just vacation there.

But the longer we preach here the easier it is to spot the little signs that it is someone's home....the ground is swept around it, a padlock on the door, a water pail outside, or a chair that isn't broken.

They have very little and most of what they have is very different from what we have at home, but everyone takes very good care of what they do have. They are constantly sweeping, many with home-made brooms made out of a bush of plants tied to the end of a branch, sweeping the inside AND the OUTSIDE of their homes. 

They are always mopping and doing laundry by hand everyday!

And almost every person brings out chairs for us to sit in, even when we say we are being very brief, they insist we sit! 

We have so much to learn from the people here, about working hard, hospitality, friendliness, and COMMUNICATION!

There is rarely a tv on, or a computer or tablet or even phone in use. Granted many don't have all of these things or continuous electricity to use them, but many do.

And yet, everyday it is people all together TALKING! While they work, while they sit, while they play!

In the evenings when we are driving around you see groups of young men hanging around sitting on their motor bikes, or playing chess or dominos and TALKING!!

Same thing with the older men! I will say, the women are usually doing laundry, dishes, cooking, or holding a baby...just like at home;) but they are happy for the interruption and a little break to TALK!!

Anyways to finish our service day, we preach until usually 11:30 or 12:00. There is no bathroom and certainly no conveince break place, however there are Colmadas scattered here and there where we can stop and get a water or some Dominican crackers or cookies, but we rarely stop!

We walk at a leisurely pace and visit and laugh all along the way and the time just disappears!

Today our family accomplished a total of 18 hours and 71 invitations!  

These are just some of my observations, and things I do not want to forget, and things I love about DR, and the ministry is just like reading a yearbook. 

AND, 

these are just some of the reasons I will do all I can so my family and I can return next year! 

And soon I will make a note to myself about the list of things I will make sure I bring, buy and not go without next year!! Because there are some things I REALLY like to have to make life a little easier here for me...us!:)