Things I've learned about myself since moving to the DR part 3

11. I should never eat at a roadside stand named D'Raffy Delicious (and neither should you).
12. Moths and centepedes creep me out.
13. Christmas doesn't feel like Christmas without the cold weather and snow.
14. When speaking English, I now have to translate in my head from Spanish to English.
15. A Dominican beach is one of my favorite places to commune with God.

Update

I have about 20 minutes until my last English class for the week and I need a break from grading papers, so I thought I would use this time to write a quick update on what has been going on here. 

Things are pretty crazy around here right now.  We recently had the land around our school leveled and it looks so much better, is much more functional, and is much safer for the kids.  It's very exciting to see progress being made.  We are ending our first trimester in the elementary school, so teachers are busy assessing and compling grades.  Since I'm the English teacher, I also have been trying to finish all of my assessments and grades.  We also have our preschool Christmas programs next week and our elementary Christmas program the following week.  We have lots of planning and practicing and decorating to do.  Because I am going home for two weeks for Christmas, I have also been busy trying to get everything ready for January for the preschool teachers. 

January and February will be very busy as well.  We are very excited that in those two months we will be having three groups come down to visit, two of which will be doing construction on the school.  My friend Katie will be coming down to visit as well.  January and February will be two very fun, productive, and exhausting months and I can't wait.  But in the mean time we have a lot of prep work to do.

I will be heading to Chicago to spend Christmas with my family in two weeks, and along with all of the work that I have to finish for the school, I also have to get everything ready for my trip and celebrate Christmas with my friends and family here.  I am a part of our school's 'angelitos' which is like a secret santa but with a much better name. (It means little angels).  We will be having our school Christmas party next Saturday night and next Sunday night Eddy's family is throwing me a "fiesta de Carolina" since I will not be here for Christmas or New Years and won't be able to attend the family parties.  I am very excited about this but also very nervous because my first big Dominican family party that I will be attending is also being thrown specifically for me.  I'm feeling the pressure :)

It's time for my class now, so I will leave it at that.  I will try to update again soon and post some pictures as well.
Blessings.

Trajedy

On Monday we had a teacher's work day.  We met with all the teachers, gave workshops on active learning, talked about how everything was going, and enjoyed spending a day together.  It was a wonderful day of talking, learning, enjoying each other and growing as a school.  I arrived on Tuesday, re-energized and excited about the work I was doing.  And then we heard the news.

Juhenny, a little girl in our 4-year-old preschool class died the night before.  She had asthma and had been in the hospital over the weekend.  They did bring her back on Monday, but they couldn't save her.  Her two-year-old sister is a student at our school as well and also suffers from asthma.

I heard this news about two minutes before I had to teach my first English class.  As I was teaching my class, the other teachers at the new school building were all finding out.  Several of the teachers left to go to the family's house.  I needed to help take care of the classes of the teachers who had left so I didn't allow myself to think about it and I tried to distance myself from it because when you are standing in front of 30 children who don't understand what is going on, you have to keep it together. 

At noon, when all of the morning students were leaving, I found out that school would  be cancelled for the afternoon classes due to the fact that her burial would be at 3.  Eddy had to tell me this several times before I understood because in my mind I couldn't understand that if she died last night that she could possibly be buried today.  It was at this point that it all hit me.

This child of four years arrived every day with her dad and her little sister.  He was always very protective of them both and carried them up to their classrooms.  He is actually one of the few fathers that I know because he was here every morning.  Both of the girls have struggled with asthma and other complications and when the hurricane passed it made our weather crazy.  The temperature was rising and falling 20 or 30 degrees in a few hours time.  Everyone was feeling the effects of it, and for this child with asthma, it put her in the hospital.  I have been told that she had other complications, but I still can't help but believe that if this child had access to better health care that she might still be alive.  On top of the fact that this family lost their child, they needed to bury her in less than a day.  The family couldn't afford to treat the body.  Their child died on monday night, on tuesday morning her body was brought to their house for the funeral.  She was meant to be buried that morning at 11, but the family needed more time so she was buried at 3 pm instead.  Less than a day since she had died.  That is so fast.  It is too fast.  And it was necessary because of their financial situation. This fact hit me like a ton of bricks and in that moment my heart broke for this family and the tears started and didn't stop for several hours.  Not because it effected me directly, I did know Juhenny and she probably knew me too, but this wasn't my trajedy.  The tears were a result of the knowlege that what this family was going through might have been prevented if they were in a different situation.  I felt so helpless.  I also felt guilty because if I had a child who was sick, I would have the option of going to the US for medical help but this child didn't have that opportunity.

Juhenny's family are not Christians.  Juhenny, however had been in our school for two years and had been taught about Christ's love.  I was told that when she was in the hospital she was singing Christian songs that she had learned at our school.  Our focus now to figure out how we can best help this family.  Their grief is beyond what any of us can imagine but we want them to know that we are here for them and we want to share God's love with them.  We are all praying for this family and some have plans to counsel them as well. Our prayer is that God will give us wisdom and show us how to help them.  Please join us in these prayers.

Why am I here?

Why am I here?  On a day like today, when I am completely exhausted and overwhelmed by the amount of work that I have to do, it's important for me to remember why I am here.  Why AM I living and working in the Dominican Republic?  I decided to explore this question with you because I have found that God helps me understand things as I write about what is happening in my life.

Why am I here?  The question in itself can have many meanings.  For example, it could mean, 'what caused me to come here?' or 'what is my job here?' or 'what is my purpose here?'

What caused me to come here?
Well, I know what caused me to come here, and it's not a what, it's a who.  God led me here.  God showed me in a very clear way that this is where He wanted me to be.  I was so full of faith and love for Him, that I followed Him blindly and trusted Him completely.  I arrived here 10 months ago full of energy and just hoping to be a blessing. 

What is my job here?
My job here has grown and changed.  Last school year, I was the english teacher to grades Kindergarten through 3rd grade.  I also started getting involved in the praise team ministry and helped host people and groups that came down to serve.  This year I am teaching English to Kindergarten through 5th grade, and I am also the preschool coordinator.  I am reconstructing the curriculum, helping teachers understand how children learn and best practices, helping plan and give workshops, and a bunch of other random responsibilities.  I am still making and running the powerpoints for the praise team and helping with special activities and fundraisers.  I am on the church volleyball team and I continue to help coordinate and host people and groups that come to visit.  As my spanish is improving and I am more aware of how things work, there is more and more work that I can do.

What is my purpose here?
As an american, this question often might have the same answer as 'what is my job here?'  But it's not the same.  Because as I think of answers to that question, there are several that are seperate from my job here.  I also think it is important to change the question to 'what is God's purpose for me here?' And although it is true that a part of my purpose here is the work that I am doing, there's more to it than that. I am not just called to do my work and then I'm done.  The children here need so much love and attentions, many come from difficult home situations and have never known true love or the love of God.  My hope and prayer is that I can be an encouragement and a blessing to some of the other young women that I am getting to know through the relationships that I am building with them.  Most of them became Christians later in life and have a lot of things that they need to deal with and move on from in order to continue to grow in Christ.  I believe that God has a purpose for me with the family that I am living with as well.  I also believe that God has several purposes for me personally as well, that He wants this experience to help me grow in my faith and grow in my relationship with Him and become more Christ-like.

So which is more important?  My job or my purpose?  In this mission there is so much work to be done.  I could work non-stop from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed every single day and there would still be more that I could do.  So how do I find the balance?  I am dutch-american, I know what it is to work, and I have a very strong work ethic.  But if working so much is preventing me from fulfilling all of God's purposes for me here, is it worth it?  And if working so much is preventing me from spending time with God and reading the Bible and praying and listening to sermons and growing in my relationship with Him, is it worth it?

So that brings me back to my original question.  Why am I here? I know the answer, I have known it all along.  To serve God.

That is the answer.  I am here because Christ is my Lord and Savior, and He died on the cross for me, and even though I stumble and fall and sin every single day, He loves me in a way that I will never fully understand.  I am here because I love God.  I am here because I decided to surrender all of my control over my life to God.  I am here because I want him to lead me and use me for His purposes.   I am here to serve Him because I want to please Him.  I am here because I know the love of God and I know the peace and joy that comes with feeling the love of God and I want to help show and teach the people here about this love. 

One of my favorite songs that we sing here is called "Sobre la Cruz" and the lyrics to the chorus are:
'Ahora quiero amarte, vivir para agradarte, como tu te entregaste, sin reserves me amaste, asi, asi quiero amarte.'   Roughly translated, 'Now I want to love you, live to please you, how you arrived and loved me without reservations, like this, I want to love you.'

I'm Moving! (again)

I have been hearing about it for months, but it is now becoming a reality.  We (my Dominican family and I) will be moving next week.  In case you don't remember, for the last few months I have been living with Eddy's sister Guille and her two daughters.  For a few years now, they have lived in a very small apartment above a colmado.  In this apartment there were one and a half bedrooms, I slept in the half and Guille and girls slept in the other.  It was tiny but it worked. 

However, next week we will be moving into a house.  I finally went to see it today.  It is about twice the size of our apartment.  There are three bedrooms, so the girls will actually have their own room and my room is much bigger.  It's still about half the size of the average bedroom in the US, but there may actually be space to stand or even walk in this bedroom.  Which would be a big change for me.  I have even heard something about a closet.  This very exciting.  However, I was in my room and there wasn't a closet, so I'm not really sure what they mean by "closet", but again, if it's something to put my clothes in other than a suitcase, I will be thrilled. 

The best part about it though, is how excited everyone is.  The girls are practically beside themselves and I don't think I've seen Guille in a better mood.  I kind of feel bad that I am not more excited.  I am looking forward to having more space, but I really don't like moving.  I am not looking forward to trying to pack all my stuff into my four suitcases and carrying it down the road as all the people look at the crazy American girl with all her stuff.  And it's true.  Honestly, in my tiny little half of a bedroom, I probably have more stuff (that came here in a total of four suitcases) than the three of them have in the whole house, and I'm including the kitchen.  This is definitely a humbling realization, especially when I realize how often I take the blessings I have been given for granted.

Recently I realized that one of the reasons that the decision to move was made was because of me. It was because now they have added another person to their family and they need more space.  Through this whole process, I have been shown that in their minds, in a very matter-of-fact way, I just another member of the family.  They look after me, and worry about me, and take care of me as if I am one of their own.  (In order to avoid confusion, let me explain that when I say "they", I mean the whole family.  Not just Guille, but her parents and siblings as well.  Because here the family is one, even though some of them live in different houses, they are one unit.)

I know that I am probably repeating myself talking about this again, but it continues to surprise me.  It's something that is so different about the Dominican culture.  They are so open and welcoming and you are never made to feel like a burden.  They see you as a blessing and they treat you that same way.  This is one of the biggest things about their culture that I hope rubs off on me.  It is my prayer that in my life I will be as open and welcoming to the people that God puts in my path as this family has been with me.

Things I have learned about myself since moving to the DR cont.

6. Skim Ice popsicles make me happy.
7. I am terrible at driving a moped.
8. This close to the Equator, I will burn in 10 minutes.
9. In the US I prefer Pepsi, but in the DR I prefer Coca-Cola.
10. For Dominicans, my name (Carrie) is weird and impossible to say.  (So they renamed me Carolina.)

Something to think about

Something that my friend Katie Copeland said to me several months ago has stuck with me ever since.  She was telling me about another friend of hers that was also a missionary.  I don't remember which country she was living in, but everyday, on her way to work, she would have to walk past a group of men that would harass her.  They would say horrible things to her, make gestures, basically they just enjoyed trying to make her miserable.  And when she would talk about it with Katie, she would say things like "I'm just having a really hard time loving them right now."  Because she understood.  She understood that we are called to love, that we are called to show the love of Jesus to everyone, whether they deserve it or not, because Jesus loves us, even though we don't deserve it.  Her reaction to these men, to try to show love to them, is not a typical reaction.  It's shocking.  And when Katie was recalling this story, she told me that her reaction was "Wow, you've been spending a lot of time with Jesus, haven't you?"  That is the sentence that I have thought about repeately ever since.

"Wow, you have been spending a lot of time with Jesus, haven't you?"

And in that moment, I knew that I wanted to live the kind of life that causes that kind of reaction.  I want to have such a close relationship with Christ that the things that I do or say are so abnormal and so shocking, that people have no other reaction but to accuse me of spending a lot of time with Jesus.  And most days, I fail.  Most days, people probably would not have that reaction to my life or to the things that I say.  But it remains my goal.  God puts this thought in my  mind often:  When people look at my life today and listen to the things that I say, will they look at me in surprise because they can tell that I have a deep, personal relationship with Christ? I hope so.

Things I have learned about myself since moving to the Dominican Republic

Since arriving in the Dominican Republic almost nine months ago, I have learned a lot about myself.  I have learned things that I may never have known if I had never plopped myself right in the middle of another culture.  Some of them are spiritual, some of them are comical, some of them are just random.  I was thinking about some of these realizations the other day and decided to start a list on here and add to it as they occur to me. So...

THINGS I HAVE LEARNED ABOUT MYSELF SINCE MOVING TO THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC:

1. I love grape pop.
2. I have a fear of turkeys
3. I will never be able to dance the merengue how it is meant to be danced
4. I am capable of getting used to ice cold showers every day.
5. The JOY that God gave me, shows itself in a physical way.

A Ministry of Dance

In Spanish there are two different words for dance.  They are 'bailar' and 'danzar' and they have two different meanings.  I looked it up and the spanish/english dictionary doesn't indicate any difference, but it has been explained to me that here they mean two different things.  'Bailar' is what most of us think of when we think of dancing.  Here it would be mostly merengue or batchata, and in the states it would be the kind of dancing you would do at school dances.  However, 'danzar' is the word used when the Bible refers to dancing.  There are examples in the Bible of people singing and dancing and praising God.  This is the kind of dance that 'danzar' refers to.  There are many Christians here that do not 'bailar' but do 'danzar'.  In fact, many of the churches here have a Ministeria de Danza (Ministry of Dance).  They are groups of girls and young women who dance as a way of worship in the same way that a praise team sings as a way of worship.  They take it very seriously and have great respect while doing it.  The girls have to follow many rules and may not participate if their lives are not reflecting God's will.  Our church just recently began a Ministeria de Danza and on Saturday we had a big fundraiser for them.  It was awesome.  It was amazing to experience another culture worshiping and praising God.  We had two different praise teams play praise and worship songs, our girls did several dances, a dance group from a sister church came and did some dances, we even had a mime.  We also sold pop and empenadas and popcorn and many other Dominican foods.  They raised a lot of money and it was a night of rejoicing, enjoying time together and praising God.  I posted pictures from that night.  My hope that they will give you a small idea of what it was like.  I would really love to post a couple of videos of the girls dancing so that you can have a better idea of what the dances are like, but the website is not letting me upload any of my videos (I have been trying every day for the last week).  I will keep trying and if my computer ever lets me upload them on here, I will post them.

:)

Donuts

So you might think that, with all of the stuff going on right now, including major construction on the new school building, school getting postponed for the elementary classes, and preschool starting their second week of classes, I would have plenty of things to write about.  But, I spend every day working and thinking about all of that stuff, so instead, I am going to spend my time telling you about my quest for donuts :)

As some of you may already know, one of the hardest things for me to get used to living here is the food.  I now live with a Dominican family so I eat rice, beans, and plantains every single day.  Most of the foods that I ate my whole life in America, I can't find down here, and if I can find them, they are very expensive and I don't have what I need to cook them.  Most of the food is fine. I'm used to it.  I don't hate it. It's edible. 

However, there are a few foods that I have found that I love, that might even be better than what you can get in the states.  The avocados and mangos, for example, are much better here.  Another favorite is yogen fruz which is frozen yogurt blended with fruit.  And finally, there is a bakery here that I discovered that has amazing donuts.  I am not really a donut person, after Lansing Bakery closed, I never really had a desire to eat them.  But down here they are one of the few things that I love to eat. 

Now that I moved, I am no longer in walking distance of the bakery, so getting there is a much bigger deal.  It is not close to anywhere else that I ever go, so if I want to go there I have to make a special trip (plus I don't have a car).  Since I moved to my new apartment, I have managed to get to the bakery a few times, but each time they had no donuts.  None.  But I didn't give up.  I kept hope that they next time, there would be donuts.  It started to get a little rediculous, I even started having dreams about donuts.  Yes, I do have several more important things to think and worry about, but sometimes you need a little 'rediculousness' in your life. 

Two nights ago, I had another dream about finding donuts, so yesterday I decided to try one last time on my lunch break because I needed to stop at my old apartment anyway, and when we got to the bakery.... THEY HAD DONUTS.  I bought two.  One chocolate and one vanilla.  When I got back to the school, I realized that I had done nothing but think about how happy I was and how excited I was to eat my donuts the whole way back to the school.  At this point, I decided it merited a blog post.

I made that decision for two reasons.  First, I think that some people (Katie Copeland) will find it amusing.  And second, I feel like this story, in a way, paints a picture of my life down here.  Living in a different country with a different language and culture can be difficult.  I have a lot on my shoulders and I am now constantly and completely emersed in this other culture that I don't always understand.  But to keep myself from becoming completely overwhelmed, I have learned to remember the good.  I spend a lot of time focusing on my work and what I need to get done and what else I can be doing to help the people that I am serving, but sometimes I need to remind myself to appreciate the little things.  The little gifts that God has put in my life that cheer me up or make my day or remind me to breath and relax and be happy.  Those gifts come in many forms, it could be the hug I get every morning from the cutest little boy, Henry, or the daily lecture I get from Eddy's mom to take care of myself because she loves me, or eating mangos on the front porch while watching the people on the street, or maybe even eating a donut at my favority little bakery. 

Changes

I have made some big changes since I returned to the Dominican Republic.  The biggest one being that I have moved.  For about four months I was living in the apartment of another missionary while she was in the United States.  It was a very nice, two-bedroom apartment in a more wealthy area.  Very similar to what an apartment would be like in the US.  If you are a follower of my blog, you might remember my entry a few months ago about my decision to move in with a Dominican family in a neighborhood close to our school.  A few months ago, God led me to the decision to make myself as much a part of the community that I am serving as I can.  I made the decision then, but now I have actually done it. 

I am now living with Eddy's sister Guillermina and her two daughters Adriani and Adriana.  The girls are five and seven.  Guille's husband lives in New York and only comes home about once a year to visit.  This is actually a pretty common situation here.  My new place is a two-bedroom apartment as well, however, the whole apartment could fit into the living room of my old place.  The girls sleep with their mom and my bedroom is tiny.  The headboard and the foot of the bed touch opposite walls and I have about two feet next to my bed.  If I were to guess I would say the room is 6x6 feet, maybe 7x7.  There are no closets so my clothes are hanging on a bar that is in one of the corners of the room and all of my stuff is either on my new bookshelves of in a suitcase under the bed.  Almost everything that I own came here in four suitcases, but I still had a really difficult time fitting all of my stuff into my room.  I tried to take pictures, but it's so small that i can't get far enough away from anything to take a picture of it.

There are many other differences between my old apartment and my new one as well.  I no longer have an inverter, so when the electricity goes out, it's out.  Also, there is no hot water.  I don't know if I will ever get used to the ice-cold showers.  Because there are no screens, the bugs and mosquitos are very bad.  I even sleep with a mosquito net. However, with all of this said,  I have to say that I love it.  I love living here and I love being a part of a family.  Not just Guille and the girls, but the whole family.  Eddy and his parents, Guille's two other sisters, three aunts and countless cousins all live withing walking distance and are always at each other's houses.  The women are such caretakers.  They are always insisting on cooking for me and doing things for me.  For example, Yasmin, the oldest sister, keeps insisting on doing my laundry.  I don't know how to tell her that I would prefer to do it myself.  I also love living with the girls.  They are so cute and they love coming into my room and hanging out with me, they are so amazed by all my stuff and love doing my hair. 

God definitely knew what He was doing when he led me to this decision.  Being a part of this family has blessed me so much and will continue to bless me in ways that I'm probably not even aware of yet and I pray that I am a blessing to them as well.

Sancocho Night with Francisca

On monday night, I had a quintessential Dominican experience.  Eddy's aunt Francisca invited us over for sancocho.  Sancocho is a very popular Dominican meal.  It is similar to stew and has a little bit of everything in it.  Usually sancocho is reserved for special occasions, probably because it takes a long time to make and also costs more to make because it has so many ingredients.  Eddy says that now I can be sure that Francisca loves me because she doesn't make sancocho for just anyone.  Everybody makes sancocho a little bit differently.  For this occasion, she made it with yuca, plantains, potatoes, carrots, chicken, beef, corn, and of course some mystery ingredients that I didn't ask about.  Now, when I say that it has chicken and beef, I mean big chunks of chicken and beef, bones and all.  And when I say that it had corn, I mean on the cob. 

So let's picture this for a second, I am there to eat sancocho with Eddy and his parents, and Francisca hands me a huge bowl, (full of these giant pieces of vegetables and meat) and a spoon...  How do you eat stew with corn on the cob in it with a spoon?  How do you eat stew with a chicken leg in it with a spoon?  and of course, I'm the guest, so I'm expected to eat first. I'm sure my face was priceless.  But, now I have started the process of  learning how to eat sancocho. With your bowl you have a big plate, first you put a huge helping of white rice on your plate and then some of your sancocho and then, of course, a few pieces of advocado.  The problem is that I am trying to eat with good table manners, which is impossible.  Every time I try to take a part of a gigantic piece of yuka or carrot with my spoon, I try to do it as carefully as possible so that my food doesn't go flying everywhere and as soon as I get halfway through it my spoon quickly cuts through the rest and crashes into the plate making a loud noise, which embarrasses me everytime, but everyone else finds hilarious. 

Francisca, being a the wonderful Dominican host that she is, doesn't even have a place set for herself.  She is busy running around and preparing things and bringing more and more food to the table.  At one point she came back with bananas, which I was expected to dip in my broth, I think.  The thing about Dominican moms (and aunts) is that they always tell you that you have not eaten enough and force you to eat more.  And when I pretend like I don't understand, they always tell Eddy to serve me more and tell me to eat it.  Also, sancocho is served very hot, which can be a little uncomfortable because I don't think it's ever less than 90 degrees here, and by the time you finish, all you want is a glass of cold water.  But apparently there is a rule that you can't drink cold water after eating sancocho for several minutes, and when you are finally allowed to, you may only drink small amounts at a time.  So there Eddy and I are with our little glasses as Francisca serves us 1/4 of a cup at a time of cold water.  At this point Eddy's parents leave and tell us to stay and talk to Francisca because "Francisca loves talking to Carolina" which is amazing to me because we can not understand each other at all.  But I do love talking to her too, so we stay and talk for a while and then, at the end of the evening, she gives me a sandwich-sized ziplock bag as a present.  Or as she called it, a 'fundito', which translates to 'little bag'. 

I thought my heart might burst with love for this woman.

The First Six Months

When I was back in the states last month, I was asked to speak in church about my first six months in the DR. I spent a lot of time reflecting and praying about my first six months and wrote several different descriptions. The following is not the one that I chose to say in church, but I just found it on my computer and as I am readjusting to life here again, I needed to be reminded of these things that I had written about my life down here. So I thought I would share it with you as well.



"the last six months have been a journey. I have been through a lot, i have had ups and downs, but God has taught me many lessons along the way. But through it all there are two truths that i am now fully aware of:
1. That, on my own, I am completly incapable of doing everything that I hope to accomplish in the DR. and 2. that nothing is impossible with God

I have been made very aware of my own weaknesses. As soon as I arrived, I could feel the weight of the responsibility on my shoulders, and I was overwhelmed. I struggled with feeling inadequate for what God wanted me to do. I felt like, being a missionary, I should be more than what I am. Someone better than me should have been chosen for this mission, someone stronger, someone more capable. But at the same time I knew that God had chosen me for it, I never questioned the fact that it was God's will for me to be here, I just had no idea why. I compared myself to the other missionaries that I knew and I didn't seem to fit. My personality is not quite what I thought a missionary's should be. I am not very outgoing, I tend to be a little shy, I don't necessarily like being around new people. So, I beat myself up about it. I tried to change myself into who I thought I was supposed to be, what I thought a missionary is supposed to be like. But through that process I learned a few important things. First, God makes us all different for a reason. We are not meant to be cookie-cutter shapes of each other. We are each given different spiritual gifts so that together we form the body with Christ as our head. I needed to see that God made me as I am, and He, in His infinite wisdom gave me a set of unique strengths and weaknesses, spiritual gifts, and personality traits because He has a unique plan and a purpose for me. Also, I needed to be reminded that it's not about me. I am a sinner and I am weak, we all are, and He uses us to achieve great things so that He will be glorified through our works. So I needed to stop trying to find a way to be good enough, and completely lean on Him and allow Him to be my strength and to guide my actions and to work through me in the lives of the children and people around me. I needed to stop trying to change myself into who I thought I was supposed to be and allow Him to work in me and change me into the person He wants me to be for His purposes.

I love living in the DR. I love it because I know that it is where God wants me to be. And through it all, through the ups and the downs, through the struggles, through the sicknesses, there is a peace and joy that comes with knowing that you are in God's will. That you are following God and completely trust that He is there beside you and will never leave."

27 Waterfalls

Yesterday, fourteen of us piled into this pick-up truck and headed to 27 Waterfalls. It is a place in the mountains where you can climb, swim, and hike up waterfalls and then slide, swim, and jump back down. I wish I could have taken pictures of the actual adventure, but I thought you might also like to see how 14 people fit in a small pick up truck (four of us are in the cab).

Home Sweet Home

To those of you who check this blog regularly, I apologize for not updating it much in the last couple months. The reasons for it are two-fold. First, I was very busy wrapping up the school year and helping prepare for next year. Second, the dominican electricity fried my charger and my battery, so I did not have regular access to my computer.

So, I am home. Well, one of my homes. I am back in the United States for four weeks. I am so excited to be home, to have the opportunity to spend time with family and friends and share my experiences in the DR with them. I am also thankful for the break. Although I love living in the DR, and now that I have been gone for about a week, I am starting to miss my other home, I was definitely ready for some rest and 'American normalcy'. Sometimes I feel like the time in the DR flew by and other times, when I think about everything that happened, I feel like I have lived a year's worth of life in six months. I am hoping that while I am home I can really step back and look at everything that has happened and see the lessons that God was teaching me and prepare myself for going back refreshed and ready to serve Him in the DR for another year.

Thank you all for your interest in my mission, for your prayers, and for your support as I serve God in the Dominican Republic. I appreciate it more than you can know. (And I promise to try to update more regularly :)

pictures

So I was looking through my pictures this morning and I found these, which were taken when Katie was here. I am so excited for August when she is going to come back for a visit, but for now, these pictures make me happy :)

Camino de Jesus

I have been thinking a lot lately about culture. My culture as a Dutch American, the culture of America in general, and the culture here in the Dominican Republic. The culture here is so different in so many ways and I often find myself in situations where I don't fully understand what is happening or why. As a result I spend a lot of time thinking about where I'm coming from, how I think based on my culture and the difference between that and where the people that I am meeting are coming from and how they think based on their culture. I believe that in order to navigate through life here I really have to have a firm understanding of that. I have also been thinking a lot about how much I want to make myself a part of the Dominican culture or, on the other hand, how much I want to separate myself from it. In general, I have been trying to figure out what kind of life God wants me to build here.

The fact that my experience here is very unique is both freeing and overwhelming at times. Most of the Americans that I have met, including Shelley, came to work at Santiago Christian School (SCS). This is an english-speaking school where all of the teachers are American. If you are a teacher at this school they assign you a nice apartment with roommates, you speak English all day, you have American roommates and American friends. Everything is planned out for you. For me, however, it is very different. I have the freedom and added responsibility of figuring it out for myself.

I am approaching a fork in the road. I will be living in this apartment until the end of July. After that, I don't know where I will be living for the following school year. The first idea that we had was that maybe I could move in with some of the teachers from SCS. I have had the opportunity to get to know some of the teachers there and they have an empty room. I would first need to get permission from SCS, however. If I were to move in there, my life would be pretty comfortable. I would be living in a very nice apartment with some great Christian American girls who are teachers as well. A friend from high school would be living in the same building. I could probably even get away with riding the SCS bus to and from work. It's a great plan and I believe that I could grow there and build a life there. However, God always seems to have other plans for me.

The day before Katie left, we went to Eddy's house to meet his family. We had a great time. They were so welcoming and open to us. I hadn't been that comfortable or happy since I arrived here. Which was odd considering I was surrounded by a bunch of people that I didn't know and didn't speak my language. It should have been the most uncomfortable that I have been. On the ride home, Katie (who knew that I had been struggling to find the balance and find my place here) turned to me and said that maybe I should move in with a Dominican family. That maybe that's what I needed to really feel at home here.

So I have been thinking about it a lot. And I have really been trying to seek God's wisdom in this decision. And it's interesting because He keeps leading me to Bible verses and sermons that are really speaking to me. For example, the other day I listened to a sermon, in which the pastor opened my eyes to the the fact that we put a really high value on comfort in our American culture. And I realized that that was what I was struggling with because that is what I would be giving up. I would be giving up my comfort. My own space with privacy, a hot water heater, and real running water. The place that I would be living in is in a poorer neighborhood where the living conditions are much different than the ones I am living in right now. But they are the living conditions of most Dominicans and I know that it would be beneficial for me in so many ways if I were to make the decision to live there. Over the last couple of weeks, I have continued to spend time in that neighborhood and with some Dominican families from my church and the feeling of peace and happiness that overcomes me when I am there is almost unbelievable to me. To a Dominican mom, there is nothing sadder than the fact that I live alone. They worry about me so much. It doesn't matter to them that I live in a really nice two-bedroom apartment, in wealthier neighborhood, or that I have some comforts that they don't have. Because those are not the things that they hold as being important. To them, people are important and family is important and living alone is the worst living condition that they can think of.

This decision feels a lot like the decision to move down here in the fact that it feels like the decision was made without me. I know that it will be difficult at times, that I will struggle with the cultural balance and the lack of American comforts, but if this is what God wants for me, then I have to be open to it and He is making me open to it. I know that I would grow as a person and in my faith in many ways and that it could help me be better suited for the work that He wants me to do here. I believe that God sent me here to be a part of it not to be on the outside looking in. I just have to figure out exactly what that means and how it will show itself in my life.

dominican experiences

Here are a few pictures of me teaching the third grade class. They have class in the partially built house and their room is very cramped so I try to bring them out into this open area as often as possible for class.

In this picture we are playing a review game (boys vs. girls).



In this picture, I am teaching them a new song.








A few weekends ago, Katie and I went on a beach trip. Osiris (the assistant pastor at our church) is starting a sister church very soon, and as a fundraiser, he planned a beach trip. About half of the people that went were from our church and we knew them, the other half are members of his new church. Shelley and Guille did not go, so it was basically me and Katie and 30 Dominicans crammed into two gua-guas (vans). But of course, they were an hour late leaving the church, and then one of the vans broke down and we sat on the side of the road for about an hour and then finally tracked down a new guagua, which needed gas of course, so we ended up getting a very late start, but that is to be expected here. Katie and I were expecting a typical tourist beach, so we didn't pack a lunch. When we got there, we were shocked to find out that this was not a tourist beach. I cannot imagine a more 'dominican' beach. We were the only Americans there. There were no gift shops or restaurants. Just lots of dominicans with loud music playing out of speakers that were as big as their cars and dominoes games being played everywhere, shacks containing people cooking fish and rice and chicken lined the 'street'. Our search for a bathroom included walking through a 'dance club' (basically a tin roof with loud music and presidente) and being told we needed to pay 10 pesos to get the key to a tin home-made outhouse painted pink. It was definitely a dominican experience. I wish that I could have taken pictures of everything that we saw and experienced, but it was not a place for tourists and we were trying to blend as much as possible so taking pictures would have been a bad idea. I did take this picture while hiding next to our van so that no one could see me. Of course all of the women had gotten up two hours early to make a complete dominican meal for lunch so Osiris' wife, Manuela, gave us some of her food and it was so good we asked her if she would teach us how to cook. So last week we went over to her house and spent almost 6 hours there walking miles searching for chicken and spending hours learning how to cook a real dominican meal. We took lots of notes and took pictures of every step to help us remember. It is a lot of work. We both definitely have a lot more respect for dominican women and the amount of work that they put into every meal.



























A few weeks ago, we decided that going to a salon and getting haircuts would be a good idea. When we went in to make the appointments, the lady told me that my hair was boring and that she would make it more exciting, so I was pretty nervous. Luckily for me, however, Katie went first. We were there for hours. Katie had long hair before we went in and asked for a trim. However, she ended up with a bob. She cut a lot off. So by the time she got to me, she was so worried about cutting too much off, even though I kept telling her that she could, she barely cut anything of. However she did style it in a very fluffly, bouncy way. This is a picture of me at the salon.

the last two weeks

Here are some pictures of the people in my life.


This is a picture of me with Eddy and Katie, my two best friends down here. Katie is leaving to go back to Kansas Saturday morning. :(






This is a picture of Katie with our neighbors. They came over the other night because the twins needed help with their english homework. They brought 'arroz con leche' for us to eat as well. They are always bringing food over for us. Yesterday it was mangoes, and today we went over to their apartment for lunch. It was amazing.






This is a picture of the 'Hernandez family'. It was taken at the monument. Guille, Shelley, Mark, and Sarah, with their two new adopted members of the family.





Here are some of the highlights of the week that the Illiana group was here.


This is a picture of me and Katie shopping at the beach.












This is a picture of me running the projector for the praise team at church on Sunday.










In this picture I am playing ball in the rain with some of the kids, while other people worked.
:)











In this picture the Illiana group is singing a song in Spanish as part of our Sunday service.














This was taken at our goodbye activity.








This last picture shows how we filled the columns with cement. In case you can't see, they are passing buckets full of cement up to the top, dumping it in, and passing them back down. We filled seven columns that way. It was a long, but successful day.

My New Home

I had an interesting experience at our goodbye activity for the Illiana group Sunday night. Several of our church members were there and Shelley gave everyone the opportunity to say something to the group if they wanted to. Many of the church members said thank you to the group for helping, and many of members of the Illiana group talked about what a blessing the experience was. We did a similar activity when I came on my work team in August. It is always an emotional experience.

I decided early that I wasn't going to say anything. I had been listening to Katie (who is leaving Saturday) talk with some of the girls in the group about their families and how much they missed them, so I was already feeling emotional and I didn't want to cry in front of the whole group. So my plan was to not talk. But, as usual, God had other plans. Just as everyone was finishing their comments, I realized that I had not had the opportunity to share with the Illiana kids my story of how I ended up in the Dominican Republic. I did speak in chapel in November, but I'm sure that they don't all remember that. So I was feeling like I really should tell them and that I really should encourage them to allow God to lead them in their lives as well, just as I did in chapel.

At that moment a mosquito flew in my face and I swatted it away, Shelley saw it and took it as me raising my hand to talk, so I went with it even though I hadn't really thought through what I was going to say. But as I had been sitting there listening to everyone, I was very aware of the difference between them and me. They were just wrapping up their trip and heading back to my hometown, where all of the people I miss are, and I am just starting my life here. I don't allow myself to actively think about and miss my family and friends the way that they had been earlier that evening because I am afraid it would consume me. I haven't even reached my halfway point yet. Having the Illiana group there was very good for me. It was very much like having a piece of home there. A bunch of Dutch kids from my high school and a chaperon that was actually my teacher and coach. It was difficult to know that they were leaving and I was staying.

And as I started sharing with them about how God had brought me here, and how he had led me back again, I did start crying, but then something interesting happened. I all-of-a-sudden was surrounded by and was very aware of my new Dominican family, all of the people that God has brought into my life since I arrived here. Sleeping in my lap was Eliseo, one of the children that I love as if they were my own nieces and nephews, and then Bartolow (the resident 'grandpa' of our church) came and put his hands on my shoulders and handed me his hanky, and then Eddy, my best Dominican friend, was there as well, and the whole time that I am speaking, I am looking and talking to my sister in Christ, Shelley, who is crying with me as I talk. In that moment, as I was feeling very sad about saying goodbye to my piece of home, God comforted me in a very real way with the people that are pieces of my new home.

illiana group

So life has been really crazy over the last couple of weeks and I have had absolutely no time to blog. I am way behind so I will have to write about my haircut and beach trip another time. For now, I want to write about the awesome Illiana work team that is here this week. I am exhausted. It has been a week of construction, long days, and getting to know some great kids.

They arrived last Saturday night and will be leaving us early Monday morning. On Sunday, they began their week by sitting in on our Sunday School classes and attending our worship services. In the afternoon, we had an Easter activity. We had almost 100 kids show up. Most of them are students from our school, but others were from the neighborhood or friends and neighbors of our students. We were not expecting that many kids, but it was very exciting. The group performed a skit and helped with the craft and the games. We wanted to give them an opportunity to interact with some of the kids that they were helping by being here.

We did construction work on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. We got a lot accomplished. They worked on bending and cutting re-bar and forming baskets and attaching those baskets to the existing columns. They also poured seven columns and finished two of the walls. We are definitely much closer to finishing the first floor. They worked very hard (starting at 6:30 a few of the days) and were very good sports even when setbacks happened.

On Wednesday we went to the beach. The beaches here in the Dominican Republic are so beautiful. Katie and I enjoyed shopping with the girls and helping them barter, making sure that they weren't ripped off. We all had dinner together (at the place offering 1/2 off, of course) and then spent a long 3 hour ride home in the vans.

Today was our last work day, and even though Katie and I could barely get out of bed, we arrived to find the group 'pumped' and ready to get to work. They achieved the goals that they had set for themselves and can definitely feel a sense of accomplishment. Today, Katie and I stayed after work and had dinner with them and also stayed for the evening activity for the first time because we heard that it was going to be line dancing. We had a great time line dancing and playing games with them. They are an awesome group of kids and I have really enjoyed getting to know them and hanging out with them.

It is midnight now, and we just got home. We barely remember the time when we used to do more than just sleep at our apartment, but it has definitely been worth it. Tomorrow is the group's last day here. I am excited to spend Easter with them. We have Sunday School and church, then lunch at the monument, and then a goodbye activity planned for the evening. I will post pictures tomorrow or Monday, but for now, I am going to bed.

life in the dominican republic

Life in the Dominican Republic is very different than life in the states in many ways. One of the big things that distinguishes the two is that, in the DR, it seems as though nothing comes easily. Some days it feels like everything is a fight. If there is a task you need to accomplish, inevitably twelve things will go wrong before it is accomplished. For the most part, I think that I have grown accustomed to this and take it in stride, but some days, frustration takes over and I start to wish for life in the states. Last week I struggled a little with homesickness and with accepting and adjusting to my new life here in the DR. The new normal.

I want to share a couple examples to help you understand what I mean. Last Monday, I walked a mile (literally) in the 90 degree heat (literally) to get to the copy place so that I could print out and copy my assessment that I needed for the next day. When I got there, I found out that they had an old version of microsoft office and that I couldn't open my documents on any of their computers. I didn't have time to walk all the way back home to get to my computer to save it differently and walk back to the copy place before they closed. So, instead, I walked home and had to hand-write the assessments. And then the next day, I took a cab to the copy place on my way home from work, with my zip drive containing the newly-saved documents, printed them out, had them copied, and transferred all of the assessments I did that day onto the copied assessments. Overall, at least a few hours of extra work and endless frustration. Not the type of situation I ever had to deal with teaching in the states.

Another example: Our oven. Last week, Katie spent about an hour preparing her famous meatloaf, put it in the oven and nothing happened. The pilot light was out. I had been taught how to light the pilot light at Guille and Shelley's, but this oven is different. So after trying to figure it out ourselves for a while, we skyped with her dad as he talked us through it. Meanwhile, gas had been leaking into the apartment. So we waited for it to air out and even with him talking us through it, the pilot light wouldn't light, but we were able to light the burner (?) I don't fully understand what we did. (Oh yeah, and there is no thermometer on the oven so there is a random meat thermometer that sits on one of the racks in the oven.) Now it was already at least 95 degrees in our apartment and her dad tells us that we really have to watch the burner because if it goes out, gas will leak into the apartment. My plan was to get as far away from that oven as possible, not to babysit it, opening the door every few minutes to check on it for and hour and a half. The following scene is what happened next:
Buzzer sounds.
I come out of my bedroom to see Katie running around in circles looking confused.
katie - did you hear that buzzer?
me - yes
katie - do you think it's the carbon monoxide alarm?
me- um... i don't think those exist here
buzzer sounds again
me- i think it the intercom
katie picks up phone - hola? no one was there
door bell rings
katie picks up phone again, no one is there again
door bell rings again and we go to the window to see who is downstairs
we see the lady outside that lives across the courtyard
who is upstairs? - she asks us (in spanish)
yo y carrie(me and carrie) - katie says even more confused
now the lady looks confused as well
katie's cell phone rings and it's a man from india trying to sell her insurance
katie- um, i'm in the dominican republic, you shouldn't be calling me
katie hangs up
door bell rings again
it sounds like a doorbell, maybe we should open the door (hmmm, i don't know why it took so long for that to occur to us)
We open the door to see the two little twins with glasses that live across the court yard holding two bowls of dominican food for us from their mom
:)

Me and Katie like to think that between the two of us we almost make up one whole Dominican, because she speaks the language and I know the country and the culture. But the truth is that most of the time we are very confused and lost. Luckily there are a lot of people that God has put in our lives who have taken it upon themselves to laugh with us and help us (and make us food).
And that is one of the aspects of life in the dominican republic that I love. I am surrounded by dominican people who have so much life and so much love and who truly care about me. People who want to help me and look out for me and make sure that I am ok. And I am so thankful for them.

In my next post, I will be writing about my first dominican hair cut and my first authentic dominican trip to the beach, and throughout those stories, both of these aspects of life here will come up again and again: everything going wrong and wonderful people looking out for me.

Nuevo Apartmento

The last week has been pretty eventful. Katie arrived Friday night. She had spent a month in Equador, was back in the states for two days and then flew here. She is going to be helping me with my English classes as well as working with individual students who are falling behind. She will be here for about a month.

That same day I got sick....again. This time it is a sinus infection. There was a cold front that came through. I was hoping it was just a cold, but each day it got worse and worse. Yesterday, when Guille saw me, he asked me if I felt as bad as I looked :) So I got the Spanish name of an antibiotic from the school nurse at Santiago Christian School and stopped at the Farmacia and picked it up on my way to my new apartment. It's still very weird to me that you can just go to the pharmacy and buy things without a prescription. They sell them by the pill. Crazy. But it has now been 24 hours since I started taking them and I am starting to feel better.

The last couple days are pretty foggy. I was feeling really bad, taking a lot of over-the-counter medicine, and I was pretty out of it. I probably shouldn't have worked but I didn't feel like I could stay home because Monday was Katie's first day and yesterday we brought our stuff to school and moved into our new apartment after school, so I couldn't have stayed home. The hardest part about it was that in this culture you can't keep your distance from people, even if it is just because you don't want to get them sick. Everyone greets you with a hug and kiss on the cheek and to avoid that would be rude.

Since we moved into the apartment 24 hours ago, it has felt a little bit like an adventure. All of a sudden we are on our own, forced to figure things out for ourselves. There was no food in the house last night, so we successfully ordered Dominoes, we were very proud of ourselves. Today we only worked for a few hours. We went grocery shopping on our way home. For lunch we made salads with cucumbers and avocados. It's been so long since I had a salad. We were very excited about it. After napping for a few hours, we decided to explore the area. We walked around for over two hours, never actually finding the plaza that we were looking for. We weren't always sure where we were going, but I do know the area well enough that I knew I would be able to find our way back. We did find a different grocery store, a few places to eat, an art gallery, a bakery, a florist, and Yogen Fruz. Yogen Fruz is frozen yogurt blended with your choice of frozen fruit. It was so good.

I am very thankful that Katie is here with me my first month living alone. She speaks a lot more Spanish than I do, and since she lived in Equador for a month, she doesn't seem intimidated at all by the new country, language, and culture. There's no way that I would have been brave enough to order pizza or wander around Santiago by myself. All the things that we did would not have felt adventurous in the states, but here, in a different country, with a language I don't speak, with people staring or laughing or hissing at you wherever you go, it takes courage.

I can see now how God worked out my transition to my new home. I was given two months to spend as part of a family, where I had all of the help I needed as I got adjusted to the Dominican Republic. It was time when I was really able to get to know Shelley and Guille and the kids. It feels very strange not being around them all the time. And now that it is time for me to move out on my own and become independent, I have been given a roommate for the first month of independence, who knows the language and is not afraid of stepping outside of her comfort zone, to help me as I figure out how to navigate life here. I don't know how I would have adjusted without being given these gifts.

"I am trying to understand, how to walk this weary land. Make straight the paths that crooked lie, Oh Lord, before these feet of mine... When my world is shaking, Heaven stands. When my heart is breaking, I never leave your hands. Your hands. Your hands that shape the world are holding me, they hold me still." JJ Heller 'Your Hands'

Bendiciones

It is Thursday evening and I am still at the church/school and I have a couple hours before church starts, so I thought I would take advantage of the fact that I was able to connect with the internet. Today was a good day. A group of high school students from the states came today for a special chapel. They sang and had a puppet show, the kids loved it. This high school comes down here every year for a week for their senior trip and spend time at different churches and schools. I will post a couple pictures of them along with my pictures of kindergarten and first grade.

Over the next week a lot of things are going to be changing. Tomorrow night a girl named Katie is flying in to help at the school. She is going to be here for a month. I don't really know anything about her, but I will be getting to know her because we are going to be roommates. On Tuesday, I will be moving out of the Hernandez' house and into an apartment. Another missionary is going to be in the states for four months and I am going to be staying in her apartment. Katie is going to be staying with me while she is here. Next Friday, two more people will be flying in to help with the construction for a week, and at the end of the month, a group from Illiana is going to be coming down for a week as well.

The last couple months, since I got here, have been pretty low key. Which was good. It gave me a chance to get adjusted to life here. Staying with Guille and Shelley and the kids has been great. It was good to feel like a part of the family. But now it feels like I am moving into a new stage of life down here. It's a little sad, but I am also excited about it. I will be forced to be more independent. Which, in this country, can be a little scary. Especially since I don't know the language. Also, from this point on, things are going to be much busier. We have so many people coming and going and a lot of work to do preparing for the rest of the school year.

The kids are playing soccer inside and Shelley's phone just rang, so I better go deal with some things. I will try to post those pictures tomorrow. Bendiciones, Carrie

Second and Third Grade

This week I decided to take my camera with me for a few days and take some pictures of the people that I am surrounded by every day. On Mondays and Wednesdays I teach second and third grade. Both of these grades have class at the partially-built house down the road, while they wait for the new classrooms to be built. Tomorrow I will try to take pictures of my first grade and kindergarten classes as well as some of the teachers and members of the church.

The first two pictures are of the second grade; one of them smiling nice and one of them being silly.

The next three pictures are of the third grade. The first one was taken right outside of the house. The next two were taken inside their classroom. It is so small that I couldn't back up far enough to get them all in one picture. As you can see it is very cramped in their classroom, so I try to take them out to an open part of the house for class as much as I can.

Today I stayed in the house after class to help one of the teachers and I spent time with some of the students during their break. The next two pictures were taken during that time by the other students.

Blessings

God has blessed me in many ways since the last time I wrote. I have been having a lot of fun with the kids at school. I am really enjoying teaching. It is very rewarding. All the kids are so cute and they are so excited to learn English. So many of them come from difficult situations and need love and attention. All day long, where ever I go, I hear them yelling "Ms. Carrie! Ms. Carrie!" I usually walk to the colmado (corner store) at lunch and there are always kids around because a lot of them live in the neighborhood. They are so excited to see me walking by. This past Wednesday, two of the boys in my third grade class picked flowers and gave them to me and one of the little girls wrote me a note and drew me a picture and decorated an envelope and wrote 'I love you' on the front. Very cute. I feel very loved by the kids here.

Another way that God has blessed me is in my relationships with the people at church. Saturday was our woman's retreat. Several of the women from the church met in the morning and had breakfast and then we all got in the van and went to Tammi's apartment to have a day of fellowship, singing, and growing in Christ. Even though it was going to be all in Spanish I wanted to be a part of this day in some way. I helped set up, had breakfast with them and stayed for the singing. Before we started singing, everyone took a turn talking about the different obstacles that we had to overcome to get there. When it was my turn, I realized that my biggest obstacle in situations like this is the language barrier. And when I started talking I was unexpectedly hit with emotion. I don't think even I realized until I started talking about it how hard it is for me to be separated by the language. I knew that I was frustrated by it and I knew that I wished I could communicate more. But it wasn't until I was sitting with this group of women from my church that I realized how desperately I wished I could be a real part of the group. I wished that I could be a part of the discussions and the sharing. I wished I could be forming deeper relationships with them. It hit me all at once and then came the tears. It was a little embarrassing, but I think that it was the best thing that could have happened because now we all know how much I wish I could communicate with them. Until that point, they may not have been sure. From that point on, they have made a point of attempting to include me or helping me understand. At church and at school, many of the women that were at the retreat come up to me and try to teach me more Spanish. Allowing myself to be vulnerable in that way has helped me be more comfortable in many different situations because of the bond that I now have with the women of the church.

I have also been blessed with new friendships. I have had the opportunity to get to know and spend time with some of the teachers from Santiago Christian School. I had the opportunity to go and hang out with them at their apartment a few times and to meet them at the school to play soccer. I will be moving into a different apartment next week, and it is within walking distance of their apartment building. Also, I will be needing to find a new place to live in August and there is an extra bedroom in one of the apartments and I am hoping that these girls will actually become my roommates for the next school year.

I am also thankful for being blessed with good health. I haven't gotten sick in over two weeks and I think that I am finally getting adjusted to the weather and the food here. I have even been trying new things. I had my first yuca ball this week and last night we had batata for dinner.

My computer is about to die and the electricity is off again, so I will end my post here. Thank you to everyone who reads this for your interest in my mission. I will try to update again soon.

ps I guess posting a comment is not as easy as I said it would be in my last post, but I believe in you. :)

pictures

Jenri and Gahren are brother and sister. Eliseo and Alejandro are brothers. Jenri and Alejandro are in the 4 year old preschool class, Eliseo is in kindergarten, and Gahren is in first grade.

worship

Hi everyone. I know it has been quite a while since the last time I updated. I will try to update more regularly in the future.

As I thought over the last couple weeks, I realized that the times that stood out the most, and the times of the week that I look forward to the most are our church services. I'm not sure that I can explain how awesome it is to worship with the people here. In almost every service, I am moved to tears. Every worship service is a time of love and community. Everyone greets everyone else when they arrive and again at the end of the service with a hug and a kiss and 'bendiciones' (blessings). It is a time when I feel like I can really get around the language barrier and bond with the other members of the church. During the time of praise, I appreciate being able to sing and worship with everyone. Many of the songs I have already learned and seeing the words, I understand what they mean. Other songs, I know in English and I am able to sing along.

It is amazing to see the members of the church and their faith. I am so touched by their eagerness to learn and their willingness to give their time and devotion to the church and God's Kingdom. I am so thankful to Guille and Shelley and their ministry and to see how God has used them to bring these people to Him.

I have also had the opportunity to meet different people who come to visit. A couple weeks ago, two men from Texas came to the Thursday night service because they were staying next door for a couple days after having gone to Haiti. They will be back in a few weeks to go back to Haiti to help again with a team. Last Sunday two Haitian men who came to the worship service. They knew a little English, so I was able to talk to them a little bit as well.

And then there's the kids. There are four children from the ages 4 to 7 that go to our school and also attend our church. I love these children. I am able to communicate and get to know them in a way that I can't get to know the adults yet with my limited Spanish. I usually end up with one of them on my lap during the worship service and sometimes I go up with them for Sunday school. I always look forward to seeing them.

I hope I was able to explain it so that you can understand a little bit more about my life here. That is all for now, but I will try to update more regularly.

Bendiciones,
Carrie

ps for my technically-challenged readers: if you would like to comment and can't figure out how, just click on '0 comments', it will bring you to a new page, scroll down, and there should be a box where you can make a comment

An Interesting Saturday

This week has been much better than last week. I am starting to sleep better, and I am not feeling as sick. It has been sunny and hot, instead of cool and rainy. Thursday was a holiday and Monday is a holiday, so I am in the middle of a long weekend, which has been great.

On Thursday, the praise team came over for the day. They started with a meeting, then we had a very traditional Dominican lunch, and then we played Wii for a little while before they left to go practice. Most of the people on the praise team also work at the school, so they are the people that I see the most and have started to build relationships with. It is when I am with them that I really wish that I spoke Spanish and could communicate with them without a translator.

Shelley's friend Tammi works with "Hands of Grace" and has lived down here for a few years. She had a girl, Kelly, staying with her for a few weeks. Tammi had to leave yesterday morning to go to the states but Kelly wasn't leaving util today, so yesterday I went to Tammi's and hung out with her and stayed over there so that she wouldn't be by herself for two days. It was the first person that I met that spoke English, so I was pretty excited just because I could actually communicate with her. Last night we walked over to Allison's apartment. She graduated from Illiana with me and works as a teacher at Santiago Christian School (SCS). We went to have a burger and fries down the street with her and a couple other people that live in her building. It was pretty good, and it was nice to get to meet a few other Americans that live down here and also work at a mision school.

Today, we were bringing Kelly to the airport and the van overheated and broke down. Luckily, we were at a stoplight at an intersection where there were several guys selling different things on the road, so they pushed us to the side and were trying to help us until Guille got there. That is when I received my first marriage proposal. Because I don't speak any Spanish, Shelley was trying to communicate to him that I was more focused on doing God's work and that I wasn't looking for a husband, but it didn't really work, because he kept coming over to me and asking me for my phone number and bringing me pieces of candy and water. When Guille arrived, Shelley took the truck to bring Kelly to the airport and I stayed with the van and Guille because there was not extra room in the truck. That is when I recieved my second marriage proposal. He mimed it to me. He would point to himself and then to me and then point to his ring finger and then point up to the sky. When that didn't work he started talking to Guille about it. Guille didnt tell me everything he said, just that he wanted to marry me. At that point, I hid in the van, even though it was really hot. I had to have the window open so several guys came up to me several times to talk to me through the window. Guille thought it was hilarious. He said that this is how they always get around Americans. When they see an American they lose their mind a little and don't know what to do.

We are at home now and I am going to be staying here with the kids tonight and relax a little and maybe do some planning. Tomorrow we have church and then I am going to Allison's again to hang out for the rest of the day. I'm hoping to get to meet some of the other SCS teachers that live in her building as well.

Monday Morning Singing

Every Monday morning, all of the children have a time of singing when they get to school before going to their classrooms. This is a video of them singing one of the their favorite songs.

Sunday Afternoon

So I made it through my first week of teaching. It is definitely an experience. Most of the children don't get that I can't understand them. They keep talking to me and then they're confused that I am not answering them. :) I love teaching them, it's been a lot of fun but the language barrier is definitely an obstacle. Trying to make them understand how to play the game or do the activity without being able to tell them has been interesting. I love being able to interact with so many different classes and to be able to get to know so many of the children. They are so open to me. I already have a few who always want to sit by me or hold my hand or follow me around. They are so cute, they get so excited about telling me the english they know or saying 'good morning Ms. Carrie' when they see me. By the way, no one can say my name. I guess they don't have the sound 'ar' in the spanish language, event the adults struggle with it.

On Thursday, I was walking from the church down the road to the unfinished house where some of the grades have class. As I was walking I passed a stray dog and hoped he didn't attack me and then heard loud Dominican music blaring out of a house and followed three cows down the second road to get to the house. Through all of this I had one of those moments when you are suddenly aware of where you are and what you are doing, when it hits you in a way that it hadn't before. I realized that I'm here. This is where I live and this is what I am doing and it seems so crazy that its almost hard to believe.

I know that everyone is wondering about the earthquake and how everything is going. We are not seeing any of the effects of the earthquake here. I don't think I have any more information about the earthquake than you do. Everthing that I know is from CNN. I think the difference is that since we are so physically close to everything that is happening, it all feels much more real to us. We felt the earthquake, we see the sorrow in the faces around us, we know Haitians who go to our church and work at our school. My heart breaks for the people of Haiti and I am thinking about them all the time. When it starts pouring I am aware of all the people living on the street, when it gets dark I am aware of all the children lost and scared. I saw on the news today about a woman who had been trapped for two days when she was rescued. I think about the hundreds or thousands of people are also trapped and waiting for help and it may never come. Our school is collecting bottled water and other supplies to bring over to Haiti, but from everthing that I have heard, the best thing for Americans to do is to donate money to the Red Cross or another legitimate organization. Down the road there will be opportunities to help in other ways.

Everything in Perspective

Today was a day when everything seemed to go wrong. Dead cell phone, van that won't start, arranging and rearranging my English schedule, driving out into the country, getting lost on the way home, locked out of the house, and the list goes on.

However, at about 6 o'clock, there was an earthquake. I was warned that they do have earthquakes and that they have been expecting THE BIG ONE for years. We were outside in the street (locked out of the house) when it happened. It was not fun. I hated it. To feel the earth moving under you really makes you feel small and completely out of control. Cell phones lost service and we also have no water, but around here I don't think that there is any major destruction or problems.

When we finally got into the house I turned on CNN and saw how bad the earthquake really was. 7.0! Haiti is the poorest and most dangerous country in the Western Hemisphere and their buildings are poorly constructed. Buildings, houses, hospitals all collapsed. Shortly after the earthquake it got dark. The emergency response there is already very poor and in the dark it is dangerous and much more difficult. I heard someone in Haiti being interviewed and he said that all he could hear was screaming and wailing as people were searching for missing family members under the rubble.

Suddenly my day doesn't seem so bad. I feel guilty for even complaining about everything that was going wrong. Everything in perspective.

We have several people that go to our church and work at the school who are from Haiti. (The DR shares an island with Haiti) I don't if they have family still there but I am sure that this is going to hit them hard. I don't know where we will go from here but I hope that we can help in some way.

Please keep the people in Haiti and their families in your prayers.