Puerto Plata ASL Congregation - November 21-26

I know this is a little out of order, but I didn't want to forget to tell you about the Puerto Plata ASL Congregation.  Puerto Plata is located on the north/northwest coast of the DR.  Twenty years ago it was a booming tourist town, with many all-inclusives and lots of tourists.  Nowadays, most of those tourists have moved east to the town of Punta Cana.  The population is appoximately 148,000.  There are several congregations in the city, including one ASL and one English congregation.  The ASL congregation was formed about 10 years ago and there are about 24 publishers and 14 pioneers.  Wow, that is over 50% of the congregation that are pioneers.  What a wonderful example for us.  They have two elders and 3 servants.  We were able to attend the meeting on Friday night and preach with them one day.  The brother was explaining that there used to be alot more brothers and sisters, but the branch has moved them on to other assignments.  The Coordinator of the congregation (COBE) has been there 10 years and has two children.  His daughter has married a brother from Walkhill (Bethel in NY) and they are serving as special pioneers in the Boharana ASL group (the group I mentioned in an earlier post that had such an outstanding Memorial attendence) and their son is serving here in the country in the Kingdom Hall Construction Program.  His wife is serving as a regular pioneer.  Many of the other brothers and sisters have been asked to move to create groups in others parts of the country and moved on to serve as MTS graduates.

Here are some pictures of the brothers and sisters in the Puerto Plata ASL Congregation:

Puerto Plata ASL Kingdom Hall

Rebecca and Michaela with young 16 year old sister

Michaela with Oneida Garcia (my service partner)

Rebecca visiting with deaf brother

Osvaldo and Oneido Garcia (COBE and his wife)

The congregation is very small and does not have the funds for special video equipment - this is the old fashion way of doing things - there are no camera - so you have to go to the front to answer and then return to your seat

Rebecca introducing herself to a deaf/blind sister at meeting for field service