We have conquered the CAPITAL!!!

The assembly was amazing!!! But that is all that you are going to hear from me about it....you will all have to wait for yours!

Wednesday - We left Duverge at 7am on the gaugau. It was actually very comfortable, its a larger bus with comfy seats and air conditioning!!! It does make many stops but its the only means of transportation for many. The views were amazing, the mountain range is much larger then the pictures explain.




Just some of the things we saw on the bus. It took us 5 hours to get to the capital, but at least we were comfortable.




 When we arrived in the capital our friends Kelsey and Desiree picked us up. We were so grateful, the city is very large and this was our first time there by ourselves. After they picked us up we found the house of the brother that we were staying at. He runs a kind of hotel. You rent a room from him, and you can pay a little extra and his housekeeper will also cook dinners for you. He has a large home with many rooms and apartments so the place is just a revolving door of activity. Brothers and sisters from all over were coming and going all the time. It was really cool to meet so many people from everywhere!
Our rooms were comfortable, not exactly the Holiday Inn but it was affordable and very nice. After we settled in we went to Jumbo! The most amazing grocery store here! Its just like a Walmart. So for us it was like two kids in a candy store. Kelsey and Desiree took such good care of us, we walked around a mall, had frozen yogurt! We now understand why our friends Chris and Lisa get so giddy in the Capital, we couldn't stop smiling and saying "this is sooooo awesome!!!!"
Well lets just say we stocked up on as much as we could!

Thursday - We got up early and headed to the assembly hall for the cleaning of it. The assembly hall is on the grounds of bethel, so its beautiful and safe and I think the best place Gray and I have ever been for an assembly so far. We met many brothers and sisters as we cleaned the assembly hall. Many of them from the United States, England and Canada.

We wiped down all the chairs and swept the entire assembly hall and then it was mopped. We were dirty and sweaty but couldn't stop smiling.






 There is parking all around the whole complex.....

 The chairs are actually very comfortable, they recline!! And if you notice the very large fans on the ceiling (there are 5 of them in the whole auditorium) they are the air conditioning system LOL

But truthfully they do make you very comfortable while you are sitting.

 We also had the privilege of seeing the Christian Couples School in Creole. They were having their classes in a back meeting room attached to the assembly hall. They were finishing breakfast so we took a picture after they had gone back to class.

So when the brothers come to clean the assembly hall they clean it! Besides the obvious on the inside, they rake all the grass, sweep the whole parking lot (and this is done after everyday of the convention) so after we saw how hard everyone here is working in the crazy heat we will appreciate what we have at home. I am sure no one has been asked to go out and sweep the parking lot in Kitchener Auditorium....It really hit home, that we are to be willingly offering ourselves as volunteers!!
And it really is just preparing us for the new system of things where the whole earth will need to be "swept"!!

This the the baptism pool......It took a lot of strength not to jump in!

The baptism pool on the left and the garden where you can take pictures of your loved ones getting baptized. I can tell you that at this assembly a 91 year old (now our brother) symbolized his dedication. You should have seen the smile and sheer delight on his face!!

 The front view of the assembly hall as you drive in.

It reminds us of what paradise will be!

On average we had 1000 people every day in attendance. They said that in 2009 there was only 40 publishers serving the English...now there are 8 congregations! So the field is growing. They also said that Spanish, Creole, Russian, Japanese, ASL, Chinese, and a few more are also growing and in need of help. He asked the audience " where is there the most need here in the DR?? His reply "EVERYWHERE"

Here we are at the assembly just walking around and we couldn't believe it! We say a friend from Canada! He is in the middle of the photo. His name is Josh. We met him through Shauna, a friend of ours who had gone to Panama to serve where the need was great! It was so good to see him, and to think we were both here at the same time. He was staying with the two brothers on the left. We met their family and we plan to go to the congregation for a visit. They live in Jarabacoa, which is in the mountains and much cooler then Duverge. 

There is a beautiful mural on the back wall of the assembly hall. It is a perfect place for pictures!

So far this is the first beach we have seen since we landed LOL. 

 We met Josh and Marina. They are from Seattle Washington but live in Bavaro now. He is Mexican heritage so they are both fluent in Spanish. They are in the same congregation as Kelsey and Desiree.

They brought us Krispy Kreme coffee and donuts every morning of the convention......if we could worship men these two would be top of the list!!

We also met Renata (she is in the middle) She is from Norway. So is so sweet, she will be going home Wednesday but is planning to save and come back. Her visit this time was only for a few months. Mary is on the right, she is a fire cracker! She comes from New York city! And is in the DR for only a month. But that month has really affected her. She is making arrangements to move to the DR permanently! Although she is in the English right now her desire is to be in Spanish. So we look forward to seeing where she goes on the island.

You all probably remember us talking about a brother in our congregation...his name is Ismael. Well his older fleshly brother moved to the capital and we have the opportunity to meet him. He is hilarious which didn't surprise us seeing as the whole family have a great sense of humor.

He told us that maybe...just maybe he is moving back to Duverge. He is engaged and his soon to be wife wants to move to the country and Duverge is her choice. This is such good news and we hope that he does come back. The congregation would be so encouraged. You see people usually leave and move out of Duverge and they don't usually come back. It is far and sometimes work is hard to find, but we hope and will pray that he and his fiancee will move to Duverge.

Gray, Luis, and Kelsey

 After the convention on Sunday we had a brother who is a taxi driver pick us up and take us to the bus stop for Duverge. We thought it would just be easier to go Sunday then wait for Monday morning. Now we were dropped off in the ghetto!!! Fortunately this man came up to sell us something and I decided to witness to him, turns out brothers visit his home in the capital so he stood with us until the bus came.

So we conquered the big city! I think that when we need to go again we will be more confident and ready to take on the challenge. We know you all will enjoy your assembly!!!