Upper Jimenoa Waterfall Hike

Jarabacoa summer interns with Jenilea and I.

From left to right: Jenilea, Rebeca, Jillian, me, Emily, and Alicia

A view while hiking to the waterfall.

It was a beautiful day at Upper Jimenoa! Apparently, part of Jurassic Park was filmed at this waterfall.

Loving on Sally.

Having fun (although the water was really cold).

I think this is my best waterfall handstand yet. Thanks for taking the picture Alicia!

Thought I'd take a picture of the pretty flowers, taken specifically for my sister and Megan :)

A random horse.

El Gran Circulo del Arca

Every Friday night during the summer, all the kids at the Ark (our residential site in Jarabacoa) and even some house parents put on a show for each other. The kids are put into groups by gender and age and come up with a variety of performances including skits, dances, singing, and other talents. It was so neat to sit and watch all the kids and house parents have fun together on a causal Friday night. I loved looking from the first row of youngest kids thinking, "Wow, just a year or two ago these kids were in awful, awful situations and now they are healthy, happier, loved, and growing up in godly homes," all the way to the last row of kids, some who are graduating from Anija this week and thinking, "It's amazing to see how these kids have embraced new opportunities over the years while living at the Ark and now they are leaders and role models for the younger kids sitting just a few rows from them."

Hopefully I will get to keep going to El Gran Circulo del Arca throughout the summer (depending if I can get a ride out there) and maybe even be brave enough to perform something with the interns or other missionaries!

Update on Pasola

I removed my lastest post about getting my pasola back and sent it my email. Let me know if you didn't get the email and I'll send it to you. Thanks!

First Week of Summer Program

The first week of our summer program is done and if you've read my previous post, you're probably wondering if I've gotten my pasola back. Well, I haven't. Our Field Director has been in contact with the owner of the pasola (a former missionary who left about 2 years ago) and after looking in several places for the title we still haven't found the documents. Please keep praying for this situation and that I could at least get my rain jacket and pants from the seat of the pasola (we aren't actually sure where it is... Jarabacoa, La Vega, Santiago...?).

As for the first week of classes, things went pretty well. It's quite different teaching kindergarteners than 3rd-8th graders but it's a nice change. Having Ruth in the class has been so helpful! This week we read and did activities with the book, "Peter Rabbit." The first couple of days we didn't have enough activities to do but I'm planning on having even more "fillers" next week. One of the best parts of the week was on Thursday when I sat with the kids as they listened to Ruth read Peter Rabbit and three or four of the kids wanted to sit by me.

Another part of my job this summer is tutoring a couple of sixth grade boys in math, finally something involving math! We've been reviewing the multiplication tables and practicing taking your time to do problems correctly. The boys seem to actually be enjoying it!

Thanks for your prayers as always. Please pray for the next week of summer program, for my transportation situation, continuing to raise financial support, for my daily time with the Lord, and for missing my friends and family. Have a wonderful weekend!

Some of our students working away.

We had a special snack of Pringles (we needed the cans for a project).

Jeff is one of the boys who came over from Haiti after the earthquake. He has been doing great in my class and he got "Student of Week!"

The Bible verse for the week was Romans 6:23.

Here are some of the projects we did this week.

We learned about gardens while reading Peter Rabbit. We made a graph of all our favorite vegetables. The most liked was potatoes!

A Rough Day

Today was a rough day. It started out well as I got up, did a yoga video and spent some time with the Lord. Then, I made my first mistake of doing my laundry. Doing laundry here is a strategic thing as it always rains, even if it's only for 3 minutes (just enough to get your clothes wet), on laundry days. I thought, "well, the sun is peeking out so why don't I do it and then come home during lunch to take my clothes down before the afternoon rain."

So after doing my laundry and getting ready I headed to Anija. At 9am it started to rain, oh well. As for class, let's just say the kiddos got bored of coloring, crafts, activities, stories, etc. and we ran out of things to do within the days' curriculum. That left me with a handful of restless kindergarteners which didn't make the morning go so smoothly.

After lunch time I thought, "well, it stopped raining a couple of hours ago, my laundry is probably fairly dry, why don't I go home and take it down before it really starts to pour." As I started to leave Anija on my pasola (like a scooter), I debated whether to turn right or left to go back to my house. Mistake number two, turning left (my usual path to and from home). LONG STORY SHORT, THE POLICE STOPPED ME AND CONFISCATED MY PASOLA BECAUSE I WASN'T WEARING A HELMET. Now you have to know a little bit about the Dominican Republic. I've lived here for more than 10 months and have probably seen a total of 10 people (n0n-missionaries) wearing helmets throughout that time. I was so confused about what was going on, although I've heard they do this randomly- the police randomly choose a day and start pulling people over and giving them fines for things that are not enforced the other 364 days of the year to make a little money. So, as I walked the rest of the way home, I of course saw every other person on a motorcycle not wearing a helmet, motorcycles with two adults and a baby without helmets, and people who had helmets on but not buckled. Needless to say, the police really don't care about safety when it comes to wearing helmets. They care about money.

So I finally got home and needed to go to the bathroom as well as make some copies but of course there was no power. I took down my clothes (they were fairly dry) and started to walk back to Anija for the afternoon program. Of course it started raining hard.

Throughout the next hour I had all these emotions about the Dominican culture. I felt angry. I was angry at the fact that I heard one of the police yell "gringa!" (meaning there's a white female) before they pulled me over. I was angry that it really wasn't about wearing a helmet for safety and that I kept seeing others not wearing helmets and not being pulled over. I was upset that instead of being able to drive quickly past all those comments and "cat calls" from Dominican men, I had to walk by them and hear them. And I didn't like that I had to go back to Anija, knowing that I looked like I had been crying and that I wouldn't be able to explain all that in Spanish when people ask me what was wrong.

But you know what, even though it was a rough day, I can honestly say that I know God was right there by me, reminding me that He is GOOD no matter what happens, even when I'm really upset. At the end of the day, God is good and He is faithful and will work things out. I'm grateful for our summer interns at Anija who listened to and encouraged me this afternoon. I had a fun time tutoring a couple sixth graders in math. My roommate Katie happened to drive by as I was walking home and gave me a ride. And I got to have dinner and Bible study with some great people tonight. As for my pasola, it's a little complicated. Usually, you could go to the police station, pay a fine and show documents for your pasola, motorcycle, etc. But, I've been using a former missionaries pasola (from a few years ago) and we don't have her documents and haven't been able to get a hold of her since I started using her pasola. So, please pray with me that things get cleared up with having papers for the pasola or that other transportation would work out such as purchasing another motorcycle.

Thanks for your prayers and for reading this! GOD IS GOOD!

Maraton del Arca

Every year during the summer there's a "marathon" out at the Ark. Everyone gets excited for it even though they don't train much (or at all). I think Dominicans call any race a marathon although the farthest I've heard of here is the 12k (7.45 miles) I did back in March. I helped with registration and putting on numbers. I also ran in the at the back of three of the races to encourage runners and to make sure everyone finished. Here's a few pictures from the afternoon.

Kids listening to instructions before the race.

Vic explaining that there are four different courses for different age groups.

Waiting around for awards.

Ahh, how cute!!

One of the winners!

I know a couple of people took pictures during the race so I'll try to get a hold of some of those pictures and post them soon.

Summer Schedule (and lots of pictures)

Bare with me, I know this is a little long but it's a good update :)

I can't believe another week has already gone by since I blogged last. Here's a little recap... I have really enjoyed being on a different schedule compared to the school year. At the beginning of the week my roommate Jenilea returned from a visit home along with 16 summer interns. The interns were all in Jarabacoa for training for the summer programs and are now dispersed throughout our ministries in the DR. There are five girls here in Jarabacoa and three of those are with me at Anija.

Taking the interns out to eat on Friday night for pastelitos!

The interns checking emails and watching a movie at our house.

Before our two days of official training I helped with other preparations, organizing binders, etc. (stuff I like to do). We had 2 days of training where all the people involved with our summer programs at all our ministry sites came to Jarabacoa. It was really neat to see everyone! Then we spent a couple days preparing our classrooms and reviewing materials for next week.

Training with the Directors of each site before the two day training.

Anija summer program teachers.

Michel, Shawntel, and myself at training.

I will be teaching kindergarten ("preprimario" in Spanish) and I'm really excited! I will be the main teacher and will have a Dominican helper whose name is Ruth. She speaks a lot of English so that's nice for our communication. Then in the afternoon I will be tutoring 5th and 6th graders in math! Yay! I don't have any materials or anything so we'll see how it goes... I will also be helping with one other class in the afternoons but I'm not sure which yet.

My classroom for the summer!

We are studying Europe.

Ruth is helping me this summer. She graduated from Anija and use to live at the Ark.

Here's what my week will look like during the summer.

First, we have summer program Monday through Thursday. Fridays are preparation days. We begin the day with devotions at 8:30am. The younger kids from the community come to Anija at 9am and end at 12pm. We will all eat lunch at Anija. We start the older kids program at 2pm and it ends at 5pm. Tuesday nights we have Bible study with the interns, Thursdays night I'll be having dinner with whatever work team is here to give a sponsorship talk, Friday nights are date nights with the interns, and Saturdays are some sort of fun adventure (hiking, waterfalls, etc). I'll also continue tutoring a couple people in English as well and I'm hoping to spend a little time out at the Ark, maybe playing soccer with the kids on Fridays.

A couple of the kids that live at the Ark. It was so good to see them after being gone for almost a month!

Last night's sunset.

Summer is here!

The school year is officially done and summer activities are about to begin. The first few days I was back in the DR weren't very productive as I got strep throat. Praise the Lord for a couple of Kids Alive missionaries who could help me and had some antibiotics and brought me popsicles. I am feeling much better now!

As I've been back for a few days now I've had to jump back into the Dominican culture. Starting in the airport I got a "dominican whistle" from a guy and thought, "I'm definitely back in the DR!" Then I went to the bank, which always makes me a little nervous as I feel like people are always watching for those "rich Americans" to steal from. I got money out safely and headed to get gas for my pasola. I ended up needing more oil and by the time they finished there were 5 Dominican guys surrounding me... uncomfortable. And throughout these past few days the electricity has been going out way more than usual and the rumor is that it's the mayor whose doing this to the electricity because he's mad he didn't get reelected.

Here's a preview of what's to come in the next couple of weeks. On Monday, 16 interns arrive (along with my roommate) and will be here for 6 weeks. All the people involved with our summer programs at all our ministry sites will come to Jarabacoa for training on Wednesday and Thursday. Then our 5 week summer program officially begins the following Monday. Throughout these weeks I will get to be involved with the interns by doing a weekly Bible Study with them, taking them out to dinner on Friday nights, and going on an adventure (waterfalls, a hike, the capital, etc) on the weekends along with some of the other KAI missionaires. I will also be the head teacher for the kindergarten class at Anija's summer program and will help with tutoring math for the older kids in the afternoon.

Please pray for all our summer activities, for safety and health for everyone and that hearts will be open to hearing, seeing, and knowing God this summer. Also, I would like prayers and accountability for spending personal time in the Word and prayer this summer and that I will also have time to enjoy running/working out.

May God bless you this summer and stay tunned for more updates and pictures :)

More pictures!

Getting self serve frozen yogurt with Deanna :)

Amy's grandma treated us to a manicure and pedicure!

Have coffee with Jennifer, a friend and teammate from Point Loma

My cute nephew Jack

My lovely parents :)

I was reunited with my cat that had been missing for more than 1 1/2 years!