Beach day!!!

This weekend was pretty ordinary. Except Sunday I went to the meeting by myself because my mom went to the English meeting Saturday. So I'm finally starting to really feel at home here. Like I can get by on my own, I don't need an escort.

Monday was so nice out!!! We decided to head up north to the beaches for the day and were we in for a treat. The weather was amazing! The waves were HUGE! And the food was goooood. It was nice to take the day just to relax and associate with the brothers and sisters from our congregation. I fell asleep in the sun and got a huuuuuge sunburn. My skin is just hot. But shame on me for not wearing sunscreen. I had mofongo , a Dominican dish consisting of mashed plantains and meat. It was so good and the portions were huge! Of course I had to have a piña colada too! Fresh pineapple , carved out and filled with deliciousness.

Today we worked back in Villa Olga today, the territory in which our salón del reino (kh) is located. This territory is different , but still fruitful. Since there are groups at Imbert and Villa Olga which meet on Tuesday now, the service groups are smaller. But it gave a nice chance for us to work with some friends who we hadn't worked with before.

Tomorrow we head to the Capital for some residency stuff so I'll try to take pictures of it all. I've never been there before so I'm excited. I do know that we're going to bethel though and we'll stop in for lunch so I'm SUPER exited for that.

Below are just some random shots. Clouds, feet and pineapples. Pretty self explanatory there. :)

Hope you friends are doing well!

Nos Vemos,
Aaron

"... Well you are a missionary"

Every Friday morning and Tuesday evening , I'll be working along with Teresa in Sign language. It's really neat being able to work so closely with a missionary because she's training me how to be a missionary. I said that to her this morning and she said something that I never really thought of. ".... Well you are a missionary !" I guess I was think of myself more as a need greater. But in a way , Everyone who is serving here and in other lands could be considered missionaries. Teresa said Esa and I are to learn 20 new words in Spanish and ASL. I replied "o , that'll be easy since I know more then twenty signs and I can use Spanish (somewhat)". She then broke it to me. She meant 20 new signs and Spanish words a WEEK. She said that in the missionary book, that's one thing that they're required to do! So I guess I have a lot more studying to do now.

Teresa also extended a special invitation to Esa, Mom and myself. She asked us to go with her to the southern part of the island while she visits some friends. Now the cool things about this opportunity are : 1. We'll get to go to Haiti since its just a walk away , and that's where we will be preaching. 2. We'll get to go to some AMAZING beaches which will be soooo nice. 3. This kinda made me feel like Timothy. I'm bot sure exactly why, but accompanying Teresa somewhere and meeting her friends and all just feels so great and like such a privilege. I'm expecting some spiritual giants!

Tonight Teresa came over for popcorn and some drinks. We sang some kingdom melodies as I played on guitar and it was just a nice time to associate with others.

So anyways it's late and tomorrow we're gonna be working on inviting more to the meeting held on Saturdays now. So I'll have to cut this post short.

Below you'll see a view from my school. It's not much of a view but I like it for some reason.

We've been able to call some of you friends through Skype and I can't even begin to express thanks for the encouraging conversations. When I start think about home a little bit, it's nice to be able to make a phone call, chat with you guys and catch up for a bit. For those we're missing , I'm leaving little awkward voicemails for you.

Nos Vemos,
Aaron

Goals for the 2013 service year!

Thursday is public witnessing day and we were BUSY!!!! We preached outside of one of the universities and we were blessed for our efforts! Adrean started 3 bible studies this morning and I was able to get a few return visits of my own. I was able to place 5 sets of magazines and 3 truth tracts! Using the truth tract here is so nice and easy. There's no rush for time really so you can ask questions, really digging for what the person truly feels on the matter. Opening the bible is expected here, so it's different from back home because to read a scripture sometimes felt like a feat in itself. After each conversation, we exchanged contact information and set up a return date. One man wants me to come back Saturday morning for more information! I invited a young man to the meeting tonight , texted him the time , and waited for him to show up, but he never did. Now I felt a little saddened by this but I figured something had come up. After the meeting I checked my phone and he had messaged me at 6:55 asking for a ride because it was pouring outside. Although I was mad at myself for not checking my phone before the meeting , it made me happy that this man WANTED to come still. He made the effort to ask for a ride! So I'm hoping we can work it out for this Sunday.

At the meeting tonight we ha a letter from the branch read about goals for the whole country. So for the year of 2013 the branch wants 3 main things done:
1. Each publisher should have at least one bible student. If we need help or assistance with this we can see the pioneers or the service overseer.
2. We want to hit 7,000 regular pioneers !
3. For the month of March 2013 , the branch wants us to have 20,000 auxiliary pioneers! So we have plenty of time to prepare for the activity ahead!

Below is a picture of brother Rigero and Nicol together as we sat down for a bit. Yes, they're seated on stumps , but that's what we do here so what're you gonna do.

We think of you all very often and hope you're doing well. It's been nice to call some of you , so if you see some number you don't recognize, PICK IT UP!!!! It may be me calling you over Skype.

Nos Vemos,
Aaron

"Uhhhh.... Salludos "

Today I worked with the La Zurza Spanish congregation. Now my Spanish is coming along but I was by no means ready to preach in this language! Needless to say I was a mess! We went to Guandules and this was like a whole different world from the English territory. Everything was these cement alleyways so it was hot. There was little to no airflow , and people everywhere! BUT the response we got made it all worth it. People invited us in to talk and not one person refuse literature. I even gave a presentation in Spanish today!!!! It was all based off of the truth tract so I at least had a visual reference.

Esa, Armando and I continued to work with each other in the morning , stopping by to visit Armando's return visits and studies. Armando is pretty awesome. He takes time to study with all these little children and you know it's motivated by love. He was showing one of them Jehovah's name today in the bible and it was just such a nice thing to see. I was trying to think of how I could learn from him through our morning activities. What I think I could do is make more time for children in our territory. There are kids who are learning English so there's a huge field. Even right in my own classroom !

Today , David Rigero and his friend, Ken Nicol, arrived safely in Santiago. They're staying with us for the next 10 days I think so it'll be a nice opportunity to get to know each other better as we work together in the ministry!

Below you'll see some pictures of the territory we worked in. Also , a picture of Armando and Esa as we stopped for some jugo de chinola( passion fruit juice ).

We hope you friends are doing well and think about you often.

Nos vemos,
Aaron

A Facelift

Alright first off I'll just explain the new design and why I changed it. I wanted to make the blog more appealing but also I wanted the background to make sense as well. I could have done the waves or a beach. But this blog is about doing whatever Jehovah requires of us and that means doing wherever he wants me to. So that's why it's a picture of the globe and an airplane. Also if you check out the blog on your cellphone, it's formatted for mobile view with a theme based on maps. So check it out sometime!!! Also I wanted to let you know that the blog is being viewed very often!!! I have a way of checking where the blog is being viewed in the world and how often! So far it's at over 400 views and the too views for countries are United States , Dominican Republic , France and Germany!!! I have no idea how It made it overseas BUT it made me really happy to see that.

So the meeting Sunday had great results even with the meeting Saturday. We had 56 at our meeting and I forget the exact number on Saturday but it was over 80. So we definitely saw that Jehovah was blessing the efforts here.

Sunday I played a little solo gig at Paulette's house. I was super nervous but it was so much fun!! The friends sang so loud so it was very relaxed. We played songs by Adele, Coldplay, Lifehouse and more. It's really nice being part of this congregation. I love how its like a little family. Because we are so few , you HAVE to get to know everyone in the congregation. It gives a huge opportunity to widen out. I know I have lots I'll learn from these friends and all their experience.

Today out in service was a nice chance for me to widen out because I worked with a newer brother. He was just baptized at the past special assembly day. His name is Herbie and he's really encouraging. He speaks French , spanish, creole and English. Me and Herbie are always laughing at each other out in service. But besides the laughs, it's so clear to see the love he has for people in the territory. He feels so much empathy for these people and its a good example to follow. I got a new call today who lives nearby!!! He promised me he'd come to the meeting Sunday and wants a study. We exchanged numbers and all that so I can call him to remind him.

Class has been awesome lately. I've gotten into the swing of things and my students actually respect me. I'm enjoying it all so much! I just can't believe I'm teaching English. Like who woulda ever thought that would happen?!



Anyways, we miss you friends very much and think of you often. Again, please Skype us sometime! We would love to hear from you! My Skype is musicman2131 and my mom's is baileymk1.

Below are a couple goofy pictures. First is Candy and I just lazing around during siesta. And then at the bottom is Nigel and Herbie goofing off after the meeting while we help some friends move.

Nos Vemos,
Aaron

The Big Day!!!

Yesterday was a great day in service. We continued the census work and found a lot of English speakers. The way we did this was by going to all the English schools in the city and asking if we could leave invitations and magazines. In about 10 minutes we had placed more then 20 magazines , and that was just in my group.

In the afternoon we were invited to have lunch with Brother and Sister Jones. Now first I have to say that Jenny Perez makes the best lasagna I have EVER had, and second, the experiences that were given by Brother and sister Jones were AMAZING. Things about what they learned in Gilead, how they supported and were strengthen by the refugees from Libya, and more! Also different questions were asked about bible topics. Such as why the Israelites were allowed to stay in captivity for so long. We left that lunch on fire with zeal and ready to get back into the field.

After I got out of work my mom and a sister in our congregation , Katherine, met me at the school because Katherine wanted to turn a call over to me. So we go to this call center were almost everyone speaks English and Katherine begins to invite people to the meeting. We asked a man to go and get the RV for us and he went up. It was taking a bit of time so we were going to leave , but just then the man who went up for us said the RV was coming down. So we waited and a group of people came out of the center, none of which were the person we were waiting for. But a woman walks by us and asks "testigos?" Come to find out, she's 18 and studying with her mom right now! She's applying changes to her life like with association and music and she is seeing the good results that come from doing so. We all left from there so encouraged ! The man never came out but we knew why we had gone (were sent) there. It's amazing cause just as we were about to leave before its as tho the angels were saying "no! Wait just one minute more!"

Today I was able to work with Cardon again. I love working with the younger ones because it reminds me of some of the young ones from back home. Cardon was showing me his Spanish skills at the door and I was impressed!! My Spanish is improving too ! I know this has GOT to be Jehovah became because I've never been great at Spanish before. Or maybe it's because I actually have to use Spanish everyday now. Either way, it's getting better.

The meeting was a huge success ! We had 84 in attendance!!! And these were people from another part of the city! While I wasn't able to attend because of work, my mom told me one of the men we invited from the call center yesterday came and a bible teach book was left with him. It's amazing to see this work being done because Jehovah is making sure EVERYONE has a chance to know him. I'm so happy to be able to be apart of this. And remember friends , you can too! We need the help now more then ever before !

We hope you are all doing well and think of you often.

Nos Vemos,
Aaron

"This is circuit 24...."

Service today in Imbert was amazing again. We continue to find more and more English speakers who are living here and we hope to have good results for the meeting on Saturday. The territory is rougher then other parts of Santiago tho so the brothers are assigned to watch the sisters. It's priority above all else that we stay as a group because you can easily find yourself in a bad situation if not. But everything has worked great because the friends have stuck together. Not only are we preaching to English speakers tho, we also are finding many Haitians who speak creole and are able to witness to them as well.

The circuit overseer , Brother Jones, and his wife are really cool. They're down to earth and a really special couple. They've served in several different language fields and also in many places including Sierra Leone. Working out in service with them is such a pleasure and we can joke around about a lot of stuff. Sister Jones was preaching to a man in creole/French and he started to leave. She said "hey wait a minute , I'm not done talking yet !" It was hilarious! And the man stopped and kept listening until she said she was done.

The meeting tonight went like a normal meeting except for 20 minutes we had a special talk by Brother Jones which addresses several things. He gave commendation to us all for serving in a foreign language congregation and also gave pointers about how we can assist the brothers as we continue to do the census work. What stood out to me though was what he said we should be doing for you friends back home. That may sound a little funny but I'll explain. The English field is booming here. We need more help to e able to cover all our territory and so our responsibility is to inform you friend how much we need the help. I'm hoping my blog is conveying that I'm some sense , but we truly need more brothers and sisters to get this work done. He also said that going to the beach is nice and there is a time for that but we need to preach as well. So if you friends are stopping by Lifestyles anytime soon, Brother Jones says that at least 50% of your trip should be spent in service to Jehovah because you have to experience the preaching work!!! He says our motto now is "This is circuit 24 and we are here to PREACH. " So if any friends are interested in visiting the Dominican Republic , please email us and let us know! We'd be more then happy to help with plans as to where you can stay and things like that.

I apologize as well for there not being any pictures. It's not a good idea to pull out an iPhone in this territory tho so I'll try and sneak some pictures for you soon.

We hope you friends are doing well and think of you everyday.

Nos Vemos
Aaron