The Old Shoes

    They're well worn, broken in and fit you just right. You've replaced the laces, taken them to the shoe repair and had them resoled countless times. They get scuffed and dirty but it's nothing a little polish can't fix. Even when you buy a new pair, you still hang on to these because; well,  they're comfortable. You know the ones I'm talking about, right?
   Coming back home last week was just like slipping into that old, comfortable shoe. After my episode of the Monday blues, it was actually quite nice to slip back into our routine, going to meetings, field service and such. Making our "re-entry into society" a little easier was the overwhelmingly warm reception we received from the congregation Tuesday evening.
   I don't know what I was expecting to happen but we were a bit surprised to get so many hugs when we got to the Kingdom Hall. When we later thought about it, we were gone for over a month when you count the weeks that we attended the Spanish Congregation prior to our trip. Thank You friends for welcoming us back so warmly! It is a bit ironic that when we left we were all feeling like "nobody's gonna miss us". How wrong we were. So many asked us about the trip, the ministry and life in the DR; it was hard to even move around the Hall. That's okay though, not complaining we love feeling loved!
   We have now been through a full week of activity here and have been reflecting on our visit to DR. As our family discusses our future we are realizing that even though we only spent a few weeks away, we are already changing in little ways. Some things are small, like being used to living in a house without air conditioning. So now we keep the a/c  higher and hopefully save a little on the electric bill. Others changes are of a different nature. We are spending more time talking as a family and less time watching TV. I also notice that all of us are doing more reading, especially of spiritual things since we have returned. These, I think are good things and even if we get nothing more out of the experience we will have been benefited. However, I would like to believe that there is  more in store for us in the near future. We went to "spy out the land" and feel as though we can indeed bring back a good report.

More pictures from The Dominican Republic:

Suzanne at The Bethel Branch

Baptism Pool@ Assembly Hall

Us at the falls

mosquito nets are a must!