Abandonded in the DR for a week!!

Well not completely ;-) A friend Clara Ines came to stay with me while Kristin was in La Vega. We had plans to play dominos every night! We did manage to find one night of domino fun, the rest were filled with homework (Clara), work (me) and other ministry functions.

Our first adventure was to pick-up groceries for the week at Iberia. We had our groceries and were all set to find a couple of motoconchos (motorcycle taxis) to take us home. Iberia has a station for personal belongings outside of the store.  They don't allow you to take other purchases or large bags into the store.   I took a minute to pick up the bag I had checked and when I turned around another motoconcho had taken all our grocery bags and started handing them out to all the motoconchos. I tried not to, but I panicked!!!

I said "wait, wait, wait!" and then realized they couldn’t understand my English. So I said "un momento, un momento, un momento" (one moment, one moment, one moment) until they all stopped.



This is where the motoconchos wait, this picture was not for our adventure day.  
This picture was taken on a much calmer day.



Then I said "Juan" the name of the man who usually helps us, and searched  for his face.  There were about 6 or 7 guys, and all of them started to say "I’m Juan, I’m Juan" and were laughing.  In the moment I didn't understand any of this, but found out later they were joking around.

I finally saw Juan calmly standing on the side.  When I saw him he just smiled and nodded. God sent him to be my angel that day, and I was extremely thankful! Juan was the one I knew. I didn’t have to try to tell him how to get home!

The rest of the week was pretty mild compared to the first day, but we had another adventure when it was time to get water for the tank. Joselo called them for me, but then they never showed up.  Clara and I flagged down a passing truck and they filled the water tank, so we could shower, do dishes and clean.

One of the more fun and exciting parts was on Friday night. About 20 people from church went to La China and evangelized.  We had three mini services in different areas of this community. At each mini service we prayed over people and invited them to come to church. There seemed to be an interest from those that were around. We pray that God touches their hearts and leads them to Him.



Gleny and Jessica stirring the sweetbeans

On Saturday night the youth of the church had a sweet beans party. We all brought ingredients and made the sweet beans together over the fire. 

Jessica, Rosa and Isabel adding ingredients to our sweet beans

At the party, we also played a game called "escondido."  It is like “kick the can.” I had never played either game, but it was fun. Clara, Yanibell, Natasha and I hid together behind a big barrel.

Clara and I hiding



Sweetbeans ~ Delicious!


Kristin returned on Tuesday and everything was still on one peice, including me! All in all, it wasn't a bad week being mostly alone in the DR, but I am definatly thankful that Kristin is back.

Kristin's back!!

Kristin's comments:

- Come on, Linda.  Toughen up.  It wasn't that bad.  Aren't you being a little dramatic?!