Hey everyone! Been a long time. Im sory about that. DTS has been going very well, as for the out reach I have been pushed harder than I probably ever thought even possible. You can take that as you like, either positive or not. Haha no im just kidding ofcourse. It has been really good. But easy is not a work that I would use to describe it at all.
aAs of today we leave in 5 days for Liverpool, England. Where we will be spending 10 days on the Next Wave with all the DTS students and staff. We are all looking forward to seeing eachother again and live on the boat.
So the end is near. Im a bit torn as to what I think about that. Wheather I am happy or sad or excited or scared. It has deffenently been the longest six months of my life. Honestly I feel like ive aged at least 5 years. But during thoughs 6 months I have really become part of a international family here. I love everyone here so much. Its true that you grow closer though tough times…and I think that living on a boat counts and also a poor latin American country. So as you can imagen, we are all very close. Yet, I still am really excited to step off that last plane (I have to take 4 to get home) and be on Canadian soil again, to see my friends and family and aaron again. I cant wait to sleep in my own bed (not having to share it with anyone), having space and quietness, and being able to speak English again with people. Also having a bath is top on the list and eating mom’s cooking.
I think that the hardest part about living in the Republica Dominicana is….well everything. But no, let me explain. Its really living in a culture that is so backwards to mine. Not that mine is a better one at all but its just really difficult to live where they way that you live and the way that you were brought up is all different. The food, the language, the weather (gah, so hot here), the wildlife, the music, the volume that everything is here (so laud the speakers crackle and no cars/motercycles have mufflers), and latino time is hard to get used to. So ya, its everything. like its an adventure deffenently but it does wear you down after a while. And im just going to be so happy to fit into a culture again.
As far as stuff that we have been doing, we’ve been doing a crazy amount of stuff. We’ve run three full sets of Daily Vacation Bible School. These went well. We had between 26 kids one school to over 550 on another. So we’ve learned how to deal with many kid situations. We also fed the kids sandwhiches and learned how to make over 550 sandwhiches in about an hour and a half. We’ve also built a roof and floor on the back of the church for Sunday school. This room has already been very well used. And also cleared a HUGE field of thorn trees with machetes! Someday this field is going to be used as a sport field—something that doesn’t really exist is azua. And aaaaalso, we’ve painted all the walls in both the school and the kindergarten, both inside and out. We first steccoed the walls, then painted them bright colors and are now in the middle of painting murrels in them! And one cool thing about this is that the church didn’t have any money to do these things with (that’s why they haven’t been done before) and neither did we. All the money was donated and such a blessing for these people. Maybe painting a school doesn’t sound like an important thing, but its really important actually. Its giving the kids something to be proud in their school. Its getting them excited to go to school and making it a funner learning environment as well. Plus, ive noticed that its really helped keep the buildings cleaner and less insects. (we found a taranchula in there the other day). So yeah, God has been working crazy miricals here, and though you guys! Thank you so much!!
I have also been learning a lot being here. About how to live in a culture that is so different than mine and how to get along with people that work in a way so different. About how God works when you are willing to be used by him. About faith, and what it means to live by it and what that looks like. About poverty and the roots of it and how westerners should be responding and that its actually quite different than the way it is potrayed to us. About being pushed out of my comfort zone and giving up my rights and using my gifts/talents to help out in any way possible. Resently my camera has broken and God is even teaching me a lot through this as well, and about how to get along with out.
The Dominican republic is quickly approaching hurricane season. We have already had two come through the island in the past two weeks and are expecting a third to hit this weekend. We have all been safe though, for those of you who may be wondering. Azua is actually surrounded by mountains that protect it from hurricain weather. So we’ve been having a lot of rain. But nothing too serious. We had to push the van once in the pouring rain because it was in a puddle to deep and got wet, but that’s the most that weve really had to deal with it. Hati has been having a hard time though.
looking forward to the next few days here. then its back home!!!!! cant wait to see you all! take care and keep praying.
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