Our first stop of the day was a store called "La-Maderna," owned by a Jewish man named Benjy. He is quite religious, and at times our conversation turned emotional.
Our next visit was to Gad, from Diamond International. We spoke for a while, helped him put on tefillin, and scheduled a repeat visit for tomorrow.
We then paid a visit to the Jewish proprietor of a cigar shop. She is an elderly lady who is totally unaffiliated, and was impressed with our open style of connecting to all kinds of Jews. We had a very nice discussion about how G‑d expects each of us to serve Him to the best of our abilities. She took upon herself the mitzvah of lighting Shabbat candles every Friday evening before sunset.
We then headed over to the "La-Linda Clothing Store" and met the owner. He said that he needed some time to get ready to put on tefillin, and asked us to come back tomorrow to show him the ropes (or should we say straps?).
Finally, we made it to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Albert, who both anxiously await the "Annual Chabad Visit." Mrs. Albert told us that the second she heard we were in town, she advised the security guard in advance to make sure to let us in! While enjoying a cool kosher drink (bought just for us), we discussed their family, community, and the possibility of moving to Israel. We sold them a couple of Jewish books which we had schlepped with us, and put up two mezuzahs on their doors. Mr. Albert took us outside to show us the fruit trees that he has growing in his backyard (one of them which was planted from Israeli seeds) and we ended up lingering there for hours! At long last, we said goodbye, with plans for another visit before we leave the island.
Our planned adventures for tomorrow include: visiting David who does imports, Martha from the Israeli Consulate, Shea who owns a large mall, and a candidate for president of Aruba.
