The Update...

So there is a bit of a back log on the Blog now. Finally have internet access, and my two previous posting are stuck on a usb drive in the house. ugh. So a quick update on things here. The Major theme lattly seems to be rain. it hasn't stopped in over 2 weeks. so, for that, the river between us here in El Estrecho and Ranchito has been more or less impasable. While we have been having mini meetings with the seven brotheres and sisters from this side, we havn't seen some of them for quite a while.
More then just a high river though, Its destryoyed some sections of road pretty bad. For a couple days the main road going through the county was shut down between Imbert and Altamira. As a recent guagua driver said , "La calle se fue". or, "The road left", it just is gone! so no Santiago trips for a while. a Little closer to home, Two different bridges on the way to Imbert had there supports washed out, making the bridge have a big slope down and then up in the center. really sketchy. In the states this would have been a big problem, as there weren't many ways to get through to the other side. in fact none. but Here in the DR, the firefighter/construction crew just had us hop out the taxi and walk accross on foot, and then the car could go over.
So to add to the insult of Non stop rain, a lot of the water mains have broken. as well as the main pumping station for the town. So for that, no running water for the past four days(that is if you don't count all the watter dripping from our light fixtures). so we've been washing dishes and taking showers with rain water collected of the roof. Knowing that the rain would probably stop before the water came back, this morning i went out and bought a 50 gallon water tank for backup. Wouldn't you know it, all we have collect is a lousy 1/4 inch all afternoon. weather reports say that the rain might be stopping now. The Special pionner couple are in the same bind though too. only, there tank HAD plenty of water(they have a big on ont there roof) but there neighbor used it all on them when they where gone . oh well. hoperfuly it gets turned on soon.
The funny thing is, this whole issue in the states would be national emergency or something, but here, run of the mill kind of thing. power has been kind of bad too, 2-4 hours a day. Max. but No riots yet. Its been quieter lately because of this though. people don't have the energy to blast their merengue and Bachata all day like normal.
Our power has been especially bad in the house. our battery system has been on the fritz. We're not sure if its a bad invertor, bad batteries, or something to do with the water leaking out of all our light fixtures. but either way, candles every night as we make our 9 o'clock dinners. More or less I've been pretty ok with the power thing lattly. more reading and studying...things like that. While it would have been a great time to write emails and get caught up on computer things, The Internet places use satalites, and with the heavy cloud cover where not working properly. So so much for that. Sorry all.

the wetness has hurt the preaching a bit in effectivness. more then 3/4 of our studies are still unreachable due to rivers and such that have been flooded. One spot Me and Miguelito went to This week(braving the downpour with umbrellas) we walked for just under two hours(occasional call here and there) to find that for a about a miles worth of road was a river. Taking of the shoes rolling up the pant legs, we waded through. Got to the call the call on the otherside....Neighbors tell us he went to newyyork only a few days earlier. Oh well. The afternoon /evening was good. between the two of us. conducted 8 Bible studies. All with great success. Seriously, everytime you come back from service here, you always just feel great. so pumped up.
There where a few really good experciences from this day in particular, but Mikes writing about those I think. Maybe for the Non-knowers of Mike I'll Steal some for the blog. But as my turn for the internet is coming up(only two cables where i'm at right now, and mike is taking FOREVER...) We are going to leave it at that.

Oh. One other thing. I'm going to be picking up some plane tickets for a short trip back to NH. Should be the 23 of this month tho the 9th of march(something like that at least). Just as means of a heads up to those who might be interested.