Increíble

Manuelito

la playa

Another week in the Dominican Republic has come to an end. I can't believe I'm halfway to being back home in Austin. I've learned and experienced so much...but it seems like it's all happened over about 4 days. I really do love it here. So, so much.

Jeson

So, to update!

This past week two groups, one from Austin Ridge Bible Church and one from the Austin Stone Community Church (holla!), were here to serve with us in the bateyes. There were around 30 of us living in the house, which was fun for me because I love living in community (that may be why it's my job at UT...). The high school girls from Austin Ridge were helpful, encouraging, and really energetic. This past week they led field days in Pancho Mateo and Tamarindo, which was like a sports day-camp sort of event. Word on the street was that it was a success; the children from the villages, during this week off of literacy camp, were able to be actively engaged with people, their bodies, and their environment, and the gringas (Americans) learned a great deal through their time in the villages with the children.

My time wasn't spent at field day, however. I worked this past week with the young adults from the Stone (several of them UT students and alumni--Hook 'Em!) in Chichigua, putting on a VBS for what was originally just the pre-schoolers (including Wilson, at left), but was then opened up to anyone who wanted to come because not a kid in Chichigua didn't want to. I served as a part-time translator, part time pato, pato, ganso (duck, duck, goose) participant, part-time jungle gym, etc. VBS was great, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the little Chichiguans and the gringas (some of whom are pictured below, and with whom I look forward to spending time in Austin this fall!); however, I think my favorite parts of the week were those times each day that I was able to take a little time away from VBS to hang out with the women in Chichigua. Part of what I really wanted in coming here was to form real relationships with the people whom Makarios serves (especially considering that my personal project involves introducing Dominican Joe patrons to these Dominicans and Hatians) and I felt really blessed to get to do that this past week.

Each one of these women is so welcoming, so inviting, and so eager to get to know you. I spent the most time with Gerda, who runs a little colmado (food shop) out of the front room of her house, which is next to the one-room church. Her house also opens up to the common area in Chichigua (where their cistern sits, pictured below), so I see her as knowing a lot of what goes on, just by default. She is incredibly generous and when I asked her a question from her window, she proceeded to invite me in for the afternoon.


We looked at the photos of her children and grandchildren, some of whom still live in Haiti, hung out with her daughter, Mercuis (who is also 21!), discussed the importance of mosquito nets, and even went through Romans 8 together (not my idea...just was lucky enough--right, "luck"--to be invited to read it with her). Her house is beautiful, a Caribbean mix of orange and blue. She has a neatly swept dirt floor, shelves neatly stocked with a modest amount of food, a dining/bedroom/living room, and a room for cooking (not quite a kitchen) in the back. She was incredibly patient with me as I fumbled over some of my Spanish, and incredibly jovial and generous with her sense of humor when I tried to make a joke that may or may not cross cultures.

As I mentioned, her daughter Mercuis came home and joined us while we were chatting. Mercuis told me that she had just completed typing school and then proudly showed me her certificate, printed in English. She and her mother explained that it took nearly a year to complete the course because when they didn't have money, Mercuis just didn't get to go. (This is a theme in developing countries--the inexistence of student loans--and will be the focus of my thesis this coming year.) I asked what she does now that she is finished, and she explained that she cannot find work, but would love a job as a secretary. She asked to exchange emails, eager to practice her well-earned skills. I look forward to keeping in touch with her and pray that somehow she will find work.

the cistern

The theme of joblessness here is a constant topic of conversation. The unemployment rate for Dominican citizens is around 16%, which does not include the unemployed Haitians who reside here illegally, seeking to find better opportunities than in their home country where there is a 60% unemployment rate. One Chichiguan woman this past week told me that she can only find work braiding hair, usually just a few clients weekly, which is not enough now that her brother, formerly a moto-taxi driver and primary income-earner, passed away 8 months ago. And though she is nearly destitute, constantly searching for more work and at times relying on la comida del gringo (food from a white guy she knows), she has not lost her beautiful faith or hope.

The verse that is brought to mind is Proverbs 31:8-9, which says, "Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy."

house in Chichigua

[Here is where I spare y'all the exposition on the poverty trap. While thinking of it in my own mind, somewhat hopelessly, I couldn't help but be reminded of the promise that if you have faith and do not doubt, you will be able to say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and it'll happen. ]

To conclude, I'm going to leave you with a little fact and some personal reflection-- To begin, check out the photo below:














Chichigua, a mile into the cane fields, has a beautiful view of the hills and the Atlantic ocean into which they fall. Therefore, logically, it is the perfect place to build a golfing resort. Thankfully, Chichigua has been spared and the resort is being built across the dirt road; however, in order to keep the future patrons from resting their eyes on the poverty, the wall above (which reads, no pase, propiedad privada) has been built. At first, I was disgusted and wondered at what sort of injustice the developers were commiting by keeping their patrons in ignorance, but then I (soberingly) realized that I'm just as guilty. The wall above is merely a physical manifestation of what I do by living on the West side of I-35 and vacationing at nice beaches far away from the hungry. Every single day I keep myself at a safe distance from poverty, indulging in my own desires. I may not have built a physical wall and told the poor, No pasen, but I certainly have built a wall with distance, fear, and selfishness. And until I can honestly overcome the part of me that prefers air conditioning and pleasant smells and sights to whole-heartedly, utterly, and uncomfortably serving those in need, which won't happen until I see the King of Glory face-to-face, I have no room to judge.

Is anything too hard for the Lord?
Genesis 18:14

wow

So this past week in the DR, and at home, really, has been super, super awesome but I have some sad news to start. Bad news then good news is always my preference. Goldie, our dog/my sister/my mom's roommate passed away today. It's super sad and honestly really frustrating, but in true Straus fashion, we're dealing with it with some inappropriate humor. I was RSVPing via my mom on Skype for a friend's wedding and when she asked if I was RSVPing for just myself Cody asked, "Are you sure you don't wanna bring Goldie?" Oh, man. Anyways, I'm just honestly frustrated for my mom and ask that you would pray that God would help her to grieve well and to find comfort in Him and in friends and in the remaining blessings in our lives and in the hope and faith that our suffering is not in vain.

So, now for the super awesome news not related to the DR, Cody has started walking with assistance!!! Praise God!!! When I left, there was this far-off idea that maybe he'd be walking when I got back...not at all likely but definitely hopeful. Well in the two weeks I've been gone he's started walking with help!!! Super, super, super awesome and such a miracle. So, yay.

I guess it's no coincidence that I've been reading through Genesis lately and seeing this theme of redemption over and over and over. Whether with all of mankind through Noah and the flood and the covenant...or with the tower of Babel and then the Pentecost...even though there is so much poverty in front of me and so much pain at home, I know that our God redeems. And I know that it is for His sake that we have lost all things, and we consider them rubbish compared with the surpassing worth of knowing Christ...and that He keeps his promises, even if we do not see them in this life. In Hebrews 11 it's illustrated that all the patriarchs and prophets of the Old Testament died not having received what was promised (v. 13), but held fast to their faith. So, we will also wait patiently in all things--trouble at home, disgustingly sad poverty in the Dominican Republic, everything--knowing that this is not what we were made for, but that we long for a heavenly home (Heb 11:15-16)...

So, now for a brief synopsis (relative to its actual contents) of the last week:

It was our first week of literacy camp, wherein the children that attend pre-school throughout the year come from 9 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. to review the things they learn throughout the year. The 30 children rotate through different stations throughout the day, to different teachers and activities related to the theme letter of the hour (A, B, C, etc.). As I mentioned last Sunday, on Monday one of our teachers Robin couldn't be at camp so I taught her lessons over the letters A and B. We worked on recognizing sounds at the beginning of words, and thanks to all the prayers, communicating in Spanish wasn't a problem at all! Recognizing the beginning sounds, however, was very difficult for a lot of our kids, which was made clear later when I was helping to enter individual child assessment data, in which the teachers had indicated that nearly every child is able to recognize beginning sounds "rarely." But, the kids and Anne Boon (Host/Director) and I had a great time learning! I also got to take the kids on mini-adventuras afuera (outside adventures) where we collected leaves and balanced on logs. I'm not very authoritative, especially in Spanish, so a lot of our adventures involved us running around the yard. Oops.

The rest of the week at literacy camp I was a go-to girl, helping out at different stations, helping the kids and the teachers with different things. Below are a few photos from the week (forgive the incorrect spelling of the kids' names):

Reiley

Luis Fernando

Ambilouix (Am-bee-O-lee)

On Monday the Makarios men re-created the Alamo Drafthouse in our living room for the Makarios women and it was a blast--we had a four course meal, adult beverages, previews catered to our taste (Celine, So You Think You Can Dance, the last scene of Pride and Prejudice, and Friends) and then watched When Harry Met Sally. It was fun for me/one of the most creative and well-thought-out things I've ever experienced, but it was even more fun to see how the Makarios women who are here full time, sweating for these children daily, were able to take a night and enjoy themselves. Here are a couple of photos of the super clever menu (which included zero calorie cookies. How convenient! Those are my favorite!):

This past week Marissa and I also went to Santiago Thursday-Saturday to visit the Makarios director, Sharla, enjoy some Dominican culture, and have Bible study together. It was such a treat because Santiago is so cosmopolitan! We even experienced air conditioning and a sushi dinner during our time there. My favorite part, by far, however, was when we visited the Centro Leon Museum that had really impressive historical, photographic, and art exhibits. The museum is owned by a Santiago cigar company, so before touring the museum we got to watch Dominicans rolls cigars in the colonial building next door. It was really Ernest Hemingway. The cigar-rolling shop had beatuiful wooden floors and smelled of aged tobacco. There was a man on a stand in the front who was reading baseball stats from the newspaper in Spanish while 5 men stuffed and rolled cigars throughout the room. One was smoking a cigar. I'm sure the whole set up looked nice for tourists, but I ate it up. It was really poetic. We even got private lessons on the precise way to cut, light, smoke, and evaluate a cigar...without actually smoking one, of course. ...But if I ever do...!

Lastly, this weekend two groups, one from the Austin Stone Community Church (my church in Austin) and one from the Austin Ridge Bible Church came in to help with projects in the villages this week--Stone is putting on a VBS in Chichigua and Austin Ridge is directing a sports day camp in Pancho Mateo. We've had a great time with the 30 new guests in our house; today we went with them to church, Pancho Mateo, and (!!!) La Tienda. La Tienda is a fair trade co-op established and run by the Canadian missionary Rachel that I've mentioned. She trains women to make crafts that are then sold out of the building pictured (and I believe online, too) to groups that are brought through the village. It's such an amazing project and provides the primary source of income to nearly 25 women who would otherwise have no employment or resort to prostitution. What an amazing project and a cool thing to be a part of.


So, that's the SHORT of it. I've had such an incredible week here, am loving it so much (ha, I nearly started crying last night when I told Jody I couldn't believe I only had 4 weeks left...), and am learning so much spiritually. Right now please just pray for my mom now that she doesn't have Goldie at home. Guh. This all has a purpose. I know.

Alright, thank you all for your love and support.

OH, and praise: I have now reached full financial funding for my time here! Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone. Thank you. I can't say it enough.



...to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21

be still...

In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.

Isaiah 30:15

Un fin de semana fantástico

Hi friends,

Okay, so it seems like I've been updating this a lot lately, but that's only because I have. We've had a lot of down time since the group left Saturday, so I've just been hanging out with my housemates, exploring a little, reading a lot, etc., etc.

Tomorrow starts literacy camp at the Makarios School, for which I still don't have a particular job description, but I'm confident whatever I will be doing has been purposed!

My first full weekend here has been one of the most restful weekends I’ve had in ages. Friday was the Austin Stone youth group’s last day here so they took a trip out to Cabarete (“the beach”) to swim, hang out at LAX, a coffee house on the sand, and eat dinner/break bread (oh, Christian lingo) for the last time. Marissa, Katy (which I like to pronounce Cot-E, the Dominican way), and I took a gua-gua (aforementioned Dominican mini-bus/large van that squeezes in an average of 20 passengers) met up with the group around 2:00. The gua-gua that picked us up at the front of our neighborhood appeared to be full, but the driver’s assistant, the man who arranges us just so in order to pack us in and then collects our pesos, assured us that we could sit on one another’s laps. The gua-gua rides are always fun because you make around 7 stops before reaching your destination, at each one shifting around to a completely new seat so that the newest puzzle piece can occupy its optimum position. Anywho, the ride there was fine, got a great accidental picture of the man below riding his moto the opposite direction. I meant to take a picture of the fence behind him, but he sped on into the frame just in time. Look how he’ stylin’!

The beach was fun—buried some high school kids in the sand, got buried to look like I was being eaten by a sand fish (not pictured), learned how to float on my back, bought a coconut from a lady with a gold tooth in her mouth and a basket of fruit on her head, and saw some live sand dollars. We all ate together Friday evening at Casanova where Marissa and I had some nasty pizza. Lesson learned! (We’re making a list of things to remember not to get next time.)

Saturday, those of us who are left in the house were supposed to take a trip out to 27 Waterfalls, a local place wherein you climb up and slide down 27 waterfalls (genius). However, it has been raining every day so we figured it may be safer to leave it for another Saturday. Instead, we slept in a little, I did some leisurely reading, and then Marissa and I each took a little jog down the malecón (boardwalk). The malecón is a red brick sidewalk that runs in front of our neighborhood on the autopista, and if you just keep following it (much like the yellow brick road), it takes you to paradise/the Atlantic Ocean (pictured below). During my lengthy walk/jog I took a few photos of the ocean, a man painting the red brick road, etc. It was awesome. I ended up at La Sirena (Puerto Plata’s closest thing to a Target), was unsuccessful in finding what I was looking for, and ended up just taking public back home (by that time I was sweaty and tired…and hungry). After Marissa and I got back and Riley woke up from his nap the 5 of us went to lunch at Cafesíto, a local restaurant owned by a Canadian man and his wife, which serves American food (yummy!). THEN (yes, there’s more) the rest of the afternoon and evening the five of us hung out with/watched tv and a movie on the computer and projector with some other Makarios staff and a cool art co-op creator/missionary from Canada named Rachel and her foster son, Jonathan.

Sunday morning we went to Dominican church, where I took communion with wine for the first time, did some worshipping and listening to a sermon en español, and met some awesome people. This afternoon the 5 of us housemates have just been relaxing, sitting in our sweat, doing laundry (wherein we have to dry it on lines outside with clothespins, which is cool/borderline enchanting for me because I haven’t had to use a clothespin for anything but a craft since I was like 5), reading, updating friends and family, etc. I got to talk to mom and Cody and Sarah on Skype!!!! :D :D :D It was so fabulous. Cody has been doin’ a little assisted walking, which is SO exciting! I also just got to have a really good conversation with him. It’s so obvious every time I go a while without seeing him, and now without talking to him, the progress that he makes in the meantime. God is so faithful at continuing to heal his mind, body, and most importantly, his soul.

So, between starting and finishing this entry, I got a phone call from one of the teachers, Robin, who needs to be with a friend in the hospital tomorrow, asking if I could take over her responsibilities at literacy camp tomorrow. Yikes! Bikes! (That was for you, Molly.) Please pray that my Spanish will suffice. Though I’m not confident in myself or my abilities, I’m for sure confident in what God can do through me. Example of his faithfulness: I’ve been praying that my time here would not be in vain, and then this morning I was read these verses in Philippians (Phil 2:16) where Paul says to “hold fast to the word of life so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.” Did I take that as an answer to my prayer? Yes. Kinda like last summer when I had the same prayer and my Zambian partner Morgan told me on day 1, without me having said anything about wanting my time to have not been spent in vain, “Audrey, as long as we are working in the Spirit, our work is not in vain.” So, priase God for answering this prayer so obviously two summers in a row.

Alright, I’m gonna stop apologizing for making this so long all the time because if you don’t wanna read the whole thing, you can do a little thing that I like to do: skim.

Below are pictures of the Coca-Cola sign that marks the front of our neighborhood (you tell the gua-gua drivers "Coca-Cola" in order to get home) and a man reading a book on a horse in our neighborhood.












Our neighborhood sign








The main road in our neighborhood.

















Our street <3











I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings…Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect…But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:7-14

Thank you, thank you

Hi all,

This is going to be super short, but I just want to say thank you from the very bottom of my heart for everything. Thank you so much for your prayers, your words of encouragement, and your financial support. I'm just overwhelmed with gratitude. Thank you.

More to come on Monday or so.

audrey

Ya está viernes?!

Wow, I can't believe a whole week has already passed! To the left is the banana tree in our "backyard" that I'm looking at now as I type. Below are some sweet girls that hang out at the school each day. Look at that baby! :D






















This week was great--each morning going with the group from the Austin Stone to work on the Makarios school, each afternoon something different (city errands with Robin, Chichigua, etc). While the boys did some heavy manual labor on the addition to the school, us girls continued to paint the interior, organize, clean, and work on craft projects for literacy camp, which starts next week. The school looks great! I'll include more pictures later. For now, check out the work that some of the Stone guys were doing with Yeffry (Dominican for Geoffrey), one of the hardest-working young men you'll ever meet. (He looks a lot like young Walt from LOST, and he's heard this before, just fyi.)


To get to the Makarios school, you turn off of the autopista (highway, pictured at left) that runs from Puerto Plata, past the dirt road through the cane fields that leads to Chichigua (a batey to be described later) to Montellano (where the schools is), and then to Cabarete ("the beach"), onto the street Calle Silencio. Calle Silencio takes you into Montellano, and then after a couple of turns, you are on a little dirt driveway in the middle of the crowded town. The Makarios School driveway is shared with a few neighbors who live in beautiful, colorful, little wooden and metal homes. Our nearest neighbor, Adolfo, whose house is pictured below, made us some jugo de melón delicioso (really good honeydew juice, made from just honeydew and a lot of sugar). Christina, our Dominican teacher, told me that you can make any kind of juice with just a blender! I'm trying it when I get home. Anyways, It gets super muddy when it rains, so most mornings it's dusty but then mud central in the afternoons (pictured below). The school itself is yellow on the outside, now light aqua and mint on the inside. There are two classrooms, a mini-office, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and two closets. There is no glass in the windows as to help increase air flow. Each classroom is full of toys, books, and teaching materials, much like an American school, except that there are no desks, just big round tables, and everything is dusty.

A lot happened this week, way too much to relay back. That said, I'll give you a short account of my first time in Chichigua, one of the three bateyes served by the Makarios school. Bateyes were originally founded as mini-villages for those working on the sugar cane plantations. As time went on, the poorest people tended to congregate in the bateyes, and now these bateyes are scattered along the rich, green Dominican countryside, seated here and there between the cane fields. Chichigua is the smallest of the three bateyes we serve, and though around 100 people live there, I felt like the area was maybe an acre, at most. The houses reminded me a lot of the slums in Lusaka, constructed primarily of found metals that had been hammered flat, some houses acting as a quilt of ads for whatever company had originally used those canisters that now comprise their walls. Only a handful of the houses have floors.

The road to Chichigua is made of dirt, rocks, and potholes, runs through the canefields, and provides some of the most gorgeous views of countryside I've ever seen. As soon as we pulled up to Chichigua (we being me, Marissa my roommate/new BFF :), Robin, the teacher/my partner for my project, and Katy, my super funny other roommate), we are greeted by several Haitian children beaming with smiles and a game of dominoes being played next to el tanque, or Chichigua's water cistern that looks suspiciously like a rusted submarine parked a mile from the beach. The children are anxious to get to know the new gringas, Marissa y yo, and are full of questions for us. One child, Alfredo, is super interested in my watch and wonders why is says that the time is 13:20. I tell him that my watch is broken and I can't figure out how to fix it (that's my way of saying, in Spanish, that I got it stuck in military time on the way here...) and somehow little Alfredo punched just the right buttons to get it back into American time! Instantly we were best friends and I though I told him gracias! gracias! gracias!, I don't think he understood just how thankful I was. Subtracting 12 is difficult! ...Anyways, Alfredo proceeds to hold my hand as he gives me a guided tour of his neighborhood. We all then pause at the back of Chichigua to play with some of the children and talk to a woman, Elizabeth, who lives on the edge of the batey. One of my favorites is a little boy of about 2, Manuel, who during my first encounter with him was chewing on a broken butter knife. Though malnourished, little Manuelito has infinitely more energy than I do and wears me out! His favorite games are: grabbing leaves from the tree above my head, being tipped upside down/maybe trying to flip out of my arms?, and running and plowing himself into my legs. Great fun with little Manuelito! ...This has already gotten VERY long and there's so much left to tell, so I'll conclude Chichigua with a prayer request: that I would get to form some real friendships in my 5 remaining short weeks there. I didn't take any photos because I just didn't feel like it was appropriate to be taking snapshots of their situations when we aren't even friends yet. I want them to know that first, I'm interested in them, and second, I'm interested in sharing their stories with others, rather than just spectating. Ya know?

Okay, so that wasn't so short after all. Surprise! But here below are some pictures to illustrate the week:

Pictures of sweet/rowdy little niños that hang out at the school each day, asking for basura (trash), melón, and globos (balloons):














Qué preciosas!!















Below are two of the niños who hang around the school. Sweet moment, right? Right after this the two started peleando (wrasslin'). Oh, kids.


















Thanks for reading and praying and keeping in touch! Here are the praises and prayer requests that I have now:
Praises: i love the people here. Americans, Dominicans, everyone. I especially love the other intern, Marissa, and we've been blessed with some great time to share and pray together. It's been raining, still, so I'm not hot yet! Plus, praise God that I live in Texas and am used to heat.
Prayer: still feelin' a little funky, but it comes and goes. So just that I'd start feelin' great every day. Also, Spanish, humility (this is a scary prayer...and :/ slash :) has been being answered...), mom and Cody!, especially as mom makes some big decisions, and the people here. They need love and prayer.

love you all.

Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with enurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the corss, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1-2

Que Hermosa

It is absolutely beautiful here. I don't even know where to start!















In the wee hours of Saturday morning mom drove me to the airport, had a little bit of a stressful (aka not trusting God) time checking in but we made it! The flight was gorgeous--the Atlantic from above...wow.

It's rained a little each day I've been here. And by "a little" I mean "for a short time," and in that short time, a lot of water comes down. The day I arrived I experienced the hardest rain of my life--including that time I was in a hurricane in Florida--while I was traveling from the airport to the car that was picking me up. Exciting for sure :) The rain is really nice because it keeps it cool. This to our left is a picture of the storm this afternoon sitting atop Mount Isabella (as in Queen Isabella of Spain). The view is from my bedroom window.

On a short drive from Santiago to Puerto Plata you are likely to see about 10,000 different types of flora and fauna, donkeys parked on the side of the road every few miles, and "motos" (motorcycles, both private and public, as in moto taxis) galore. Traffic here is more like one giant game of chicken. Somehow, always, everybody wins. I haven't seen a wreck yet! ...I think Americans maybe just don't know how to drive...

Saturday afternoon I arrived at the Makarios House, my home for the next six weeks! I share a room with the other intern, Marissa, and a full-time staffer Katy. We share the house with two full-time guys, Jody and Reiley, and all the groups that travel through to volunteer and donate their time :) An Austin Stone youth group is here this week, lending a hand at the school, doing construction, etc. They're great! After putting my bags down we played some War, chatted a bit, and then I headed out with Sharla (the director) for training with Marissa at "the beach." We ate, prayed, planned, learned, and enjoyed creation. We also saw some of the darker (sadder) sides of the DR (in the form of young prostitution), which was heartbreaking. Don't mean to be a downer, just want to be real. It's strange to see such beauty and such ugliness juxtaposed against one another. In America we tend to hide it, which blurs things, and may be good and may not...

Moving on, the beach is beautiful, the waters clear. Marissa and I went swimming on Sunday afternoon after concluding our orientation with the rest of the group. We rode "public" back, which is a giant van/mini bus with a tree and a fish painted on the side (that's how we knew it was the right bus) that travels between Cabarete (the beach/training site) and Puerto Plata (where we live). We rode the bus (probably designed to seat 15) with about 26 Dominicans, including a sweet old, toothless man and his chicken, which we found out was going home with him to be dinner. Sweet man, poor chicken :(

This morning I went with the Austin Stone group to the school to paint the classrooms. We discovered the expert way of cutting painter's plastic, in case any of you ever want any tips. The classrooms look great and I'm discussing with the teachers and director of operations about possibly a painting mini-mural or teacher's aids onto the walls. We shall see!



Met some precious little kids today just hanging around near the school. Talked with a neat woman, her daughters, and her mother. Their house was beautiful and colorful and made of sheet metal. I hope to get to know them better later.






This afternoon I went into the city with Robin, one of the teachers, who will be my partner this summer for my photo/bio/media project. We had a great time walking along the boardwalk, planning, talking, looking at the old fisherman's boats floating in the harbor, etc. Oh, and I bought fresh squeezed pineapple juice. I saw the man squeezing it out of the pineapple. It is as incredible as it sounds. And it was only 70 pesos! (Translation: 2 bucks!!!)

Alright, SORRY this got so long! They'll fluctuate, but this is more of an intro to a lot of what it's like and what we'll be doing.

Prayer requests:
-Health (didn't feel super hot earlier...took some antibiotics and a 2 hour nap and feeling much better!)
-Humility
-Servant's attitude
-Spanish

Love you all! Keep in touch :)

From of old no one has heard or ear perceived, no eye has seen a God besides You, who acts for those who wait for You. You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember You in your ways. Isaiah 64:4-5

¡Falta Un Día!

For those of y'all looking for a quick update:
Yikes! It's 6:00 a.m. on Friday June 5 and I leave in about 23.5 hours. I have LOTS to get done today, things to wrap up here in the States (I like calling it that) so that I don't have to worry about them in the DR. God's continued to be gracious to me in all things. I've continued to feel encouraged and nervously excited, getting affirmation here and there about different concerns on this side of the Gulf of Mexico. I've been talking to myself and to Goldie (our dog) in Spanish for about a week now, just to practice so I won't be shaken and stirred when I arrive, and I have to say that I'm not nearly as worried about it as I was a week ago. I've even begun to think in Spanish! (I wonder if Goldie does...) Well, to make this shorter for those without a lot of time, prayer requests inlclude:
-Safety on the flights
-God picking up where the Spanish drops off and making good steps towards fluency in the next 6 weeks
-Mom and Cody, of course.
-Humility
-That I would remember it's not about me, but about God, the Dominican people, and the other staff and intern. Always.

***

For those of y'all who have a more luxurious schedule, here's a longer entry to entertain yourself/let me yammer on:
It's 6:00 a.m. on Friday June 5. This time tomorrow I'll be 30 minutes into the Delta 1854 flight to Atlanta, Georgia, after which I will then fly to Santiago, Dominican Republic where I'll arrive at 12:58 p.m. Ha. I always think it's funny when schedules are so specific...like we're gonna land at 12:58 p.m. I think it's a good omen, however, because 58 IS my favorite number ;)

Anyways, I can't sleep! I am debating whether I should lie here for another hour and a half or get up and start working on my To-Do List for today. At the beginning of the week there were 40 things To Do. I've done probably 38 of those, but then another 15 or so have been added. Will I get everything done? Maybe. Will it matter? Eh, not that much. To illustrate the feeling, however, for you Nintendo 64 fans, I feel like I'm climbing the stairs that take you to the first Bowser, but before you've gotten the required 8 stars, and the stairs just go on forever. Cody and I thought when we were little, before we had mastered Mario 64 and were still struggling a bit, that if we could just climb those red stairs for long enough we could circumvent the 8th star and cut straight to the Boss. Wrong. Plus, the time it took for us to pursue those infinite stairs in vain was more than enough for us to have figured out how to get that last star... I would have hoped that by 21 I would have learned that lesson, ya know, Do it right the first time, don't waste time. Sometimes I find have, sometimes I haven't. Really, though, I think a lot of life's about progress, 'cause who ever gets it right every time? If so, I'd like to meet them. (One day...)

Well, so I don't actually want to bore anyone or post into the infinite where it'll never get read--I'd rather save it for my impending book. Keep your eye out. Expect it to be on the shelves sometime in the next 10 or 30 years, depending on when I feel I've reached some sort of conclusion.

So I'll just say this: I'm super excited and nervous to be leaving tomorrow. My prayer is that I would just walk by faith, continue trusting God with perserverance, adhering to James 1:2-4, which say to consider it pure joy when you face trials of various kinds, for the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect in you that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. My prayer is that in trusting God I would be humbled, relying not on myself and nor focusing my thoughts and energies on myself, but on those around me whom I have been called to serve. Whoever would become great among you must be your servant and whoever would be first among you must be your slave. Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Matt 20:26-28)