Less then one week to go....

It's Friday today which means that by next week I will be back home in Portland! Its hard to believe that time has past by so quickly and that a trip that took almost 9 months to plan and save up for is almost over. wow!
The past two weeks have gone by especially quick. A new couple from Montreal had arrived in Pedernales while I was away to help  out in the Spanish. (They quickly got talked into helping out the creole too:) It has been really nice to get to know them, plus now I have a good contact for visiting Montreal! I was able to turn over some of my studies here in Pedernales to the the sister, Marisa. I also plan on drawing a map of all my good studies that I had in Anse-a-Pitre; hopefully soon we will be allowed to pass the border freely again as before and some of my studies over there will be taken care of.
I has a really nice experience last Saturday. Since we have been here I have always much preferred to work over in Anse-a-Pitre rather then here in Pedernales. We only worked here in Pedernales two mornings a week, all the rest of the time we were in Haiti. So after learning that we could not got cross over there for now, it was hard to have a positive attitude about having to stay in Pedernales. But of course, the need here is great too as my experience showed. We had all gone together, spanish and creole, to work in an area that is close to the border. There are a lot of Haitians and Domincans that live there. We all had a really great morning,  getting many new calls in spanish and creole. Towards the end of the morning we were all gathered around under a tree and were starting to beak away to do studies. A bunch a little kids gathered around us, all asking for something to read. I noticed a young girl, though, standing a little ways off, who was just watching us. Something about her seemed different and I decided that I wanted to talk to her. So I approached her and asked her name. I then asked her, since she seemed different then all the other kids, more withdrawn, if she had lived here long. She told me just 3 months. I asked her where she lived before and she told me she was a refugee from Port-a-Prince, a cause de the earthquake. Then it made sense why she was so much more timid and quite then the other children. I talked to her for a bit and ended asking her in the end if she wanted to study the bible with me. She said yes right away, she wanted too. So I arranged to come back on the following Monday. Well since then we have studied 3 times. I turned her over today to another sister here, Maria Ange. She is very quite and timid on her studies too, but she really seems to be understanding what we go over. Every time I have gone she is always ready to sit down and study. I hope she continues to learn after I leave!
Also too, this afternoon we had a nice experience. I was at another study which I had started with just one woman, Jocelyn. After the 2nd study, her neighbor, Roselyn, wanted to join in. Then a couple weeks ago, while having our study, an older lady nearby came up and was listening in. At the end she said that it wasn't fair that I was studying with just those two women and not her. So she then joined the study. Today I took Marisa on the study in order to turn it over to her. In the middle of it a young man came up and stood behind Jocelyn, listening in the entire time. Another young girl sat down nearby as well,  listening in. Well after we had finished, I asked the young man what his name was and where he lived. He pointed off behind us. I asked him if he too wanted to study the bible. He said yes. So I explained that Marisa's husband would be able to come back if he could show us where he lived. We followed him through the neighborhood to his own house. It turned out that his father was already a study of Jonas' but the young man had never met him. So now he would start studying too. And of course, the young girl who has sat down, she said that she also wanted her own study. It was a great ending to our day!
Tomorrow will be my last day in predication ici.  I think I will go to the beach as much as I can before I leave too. Soak up all the sun as I hear there is snow back home....Yikes!
Much looking forward to seeing all of my family and friends soon!
bisous



This is me with the 3 woman I studied with today.
The young man in the back is the one who we followed to his house!



This was me saying goodbye to some studies in Anse-a-Pitre

I know we are not supposed to have favorites, but the two girls on either side of me
were mine, Annanie and Annanemme. Sisters who live in Anse-a-Pitre

Snuck this photo while they were busy reading the paragraph!