La Romana

We recently took a trip to the opposite end of the island, to a town called La Romana.  We live in the northwest and la Romana is in the south east.  There is a brother in our hall from La Romana who was going to visit his family, so we tagged along.  Where we live the landscape is mountainous with a lot of vegetation.    The southeast is completely different.  It is super-flat and there aren't a lot of trees.

The city of La Romana is comparable in size to Puerto Plata (the city closest to us).  We stayed with the brother's grandparents.  It was a joy to get to know them and hear many stories from their years of service to Jehovah.  One story that stood out had to do with his grandfather (Br. Eustache) before becoming a witness.  He was 19-20 years old in Puerto Principe (Haiti) and was a pentecostal preacher.  He told us that in 1961 he had a conversation with a witness and that afterward he thought, " He's crazy..."  He then asked us, "Do you know who that witness was?..... Br. Franz."  Br. Franz was on a trip to Haiti and was preaching with a special pioneer who lived close to Br. Eustache (then a pentecostal preacher.)  Br. Eustache said that Br. Franz asked him to explain the whole trinity thing.  After trying, Br. Eustache said that it was just a mystery and that he couldn't explain it.  Br. Franz responded, "I can see that you are a sincere person.  Sooner or later you are going to become a witness."  After that was when Br. Eustache thought , "He's crazy..."  A year later he asked for a Bible study and soon after was baptized.

A lot of people in La Romana work at a resort complex called Casa de Campo.  It is a very high end, super nice resort.  It's actually more like it's own little country, because you don't feel like you're in the DR anymore.  The brother who we went with's father works there and we were able to get a tour of some parts of it.  www.casadecampo.com.do  Right there's the website where you can see pictures of some of the places in the complex.

Part of the resort is a place called Los Altos de Chavon.  It's a mini town built as if it were in the colonial days.  The town is set above the Chavon river.