We hear that the weather in June is bad (check), July is a little worse (yeah), and August is the worst... not looking forward to that... anyway...
Week 6 has begun! It's crazy to think that we are more than halfway done with our journey here. We have less than two weeks left with our host families and we have two weeks left of class. Our challenge (given by our fearless leaders) this week was to see God in new ways. That could be a difficult task because so many of us have already seen God in so many ways down here. Everything from smiles to conchos driving down the road carrying more than they should are reminders of God and his love for us down here.
We have been doing a Blble Study for some of the girls in Algodon and have been decorating journals with them. There is a common perception among Dominicans and Americans that we don't remember each other when the Americans leave, so we are writing in each other's journals (both verses and notes of encouragement) for reminders of each other. Our hope is that we can all remember that we are valuable to each other even though we only get to spend a short time together.
Here are some random personal highlights:
~Brandon and Shannon got the chance to go to a wedding... a cultural difference for sure, but had a good time none-the-less. And Brandon has has practiced his video game driving skills avoiding pot holes on the road to Los Robles.
~Ingrid went to the salon to get some wonderful curlers... twice... hopefully some pitcures will come later. She also attended a slightly awkward singles night at her church.
~Jessica has been giving multiple children shots daily, and the good news is that only some cry. She goes to the same church as Ingrid and went to the same singles night...
~Kate is finally healthy (the hospital visit from the concho driver helped a ton), but still only eating potatoes
~Karuna went to a men's (what?) Bible Study at church, but made up for it by buying 3 inch gold wedge shoes for church (the only shoes in her size in the whole store)
~Lauren enjoyed dancing with the Los Robles English class last Friday, including, but not limited to, two younger brothers that didn't really belong there.
~Megan went to Haiti (kinda)... she went to the border anyway... and has been mistaken for a Dominican translator with Americans wondering how she learned such good English
~Rachel had her hair braided by one of her 6 siblings... after making them a slip 'n slide
~Shannon got to experience shopping for a dress Dominican style, including dressing rooms that are about 100 degrees
Monday, July 28, 2008
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
half-way there
This summer has been amazing thus far. We have been getting in a groove of tutoring in the morning and teaching English in the afternoon three days a week. The other two days we have an amazing group of teenage girls in a bible study in the mornings and we get to play softball with some of them in the afternoons.
The current rage is to hang out at the clinic/hospital in town. Ingrid set us off on the way with a night stay, and then Kate decided that Ingrid wasn't going to have all the fun and she stayed for two nights. Currently Rachel is there, and we have yet to know how long she will stay. Hopefully no one else joins that club. Aside from clinic stays, parasites and amoebas abound, so please keep our health in your prayers.
This past weekend we had to say goodbye to Andrew and Jenna, which made us all sad, but most of all probably Brandon as now he is the only male on team estrogen. Before they left we got to go on a midway retreat which was an amazing opportunity for bonding the team together (minus the sickie who will remain nameless). We got to go to an amazing beach and other cool stuff that the writer of this update doesn't know about because she was the sickie. All this was possible due to an extremely generous supporter, so thank you to whoever that was.
It's sad to think that we're already halfway done with our summer here. We have just over two weeks with our host families left, at which point most of us will shed at least one tear (some a lot more than that). Our host families will all miss their hijas nuevas (new daughters) and we will be leaving part of our hearts with them when we go.
Enough of the future tears... here and now is amazing. We are all working on soaking in every moment for all it is worth and not letting any of this amazing summer pass us by.
The current rage is to hang out at the clinic/hospital in town. Ingrid set us off on the way with a night stay, and then Kate decided that Ingrid wasn't going to have all the fun and she stayed for two nights. Currently Rachel is there, and we have yet to know how long she will stay. Hopefully no one else joins that club. Aside from clinic stays, parasites and amoebas abound, so please keep our health in your prayers.
This past weekend we had to say goodbye to Andrew and Jenna, which made us all sad, but most of all probably Brandon as now he is the only male on team estrogen. Before they left we got to go on a midway retreat which was an amazing opportunity for bonding the team together (minus the sickie who will remain nameless). We got to go to an amazing beach and other cool stuff that the writer of this update doesn't know about because she was the sickie. All this was possible due to an extremely generous supporter, so thank you to whoever that was.
It's sad to think that we're already halfway done with our summer here. We have just over two weeks with our host families left, at which point most of us will shed at least one tear (some a lot more than that). Our host families will all miss their hijas nuevas (new daughters) and we will be leaving part of our hearts with them when we go.
Enough of the future tears... here and now is amazing. We are all working on soaking in every moment for all it is worth and not letting any of this amazing summer pass us by.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Week 3
Well, we are most the way through week three of the internship. Things have been going pretty well. Of course, there are always some hiccups. But I have to tell you that I am so, so proud of our interns. They have been so flexible and self-starting. For example one of the events that we have had planned for a few weeks didn't go off as planned so we ended up having a free morning on Tuesday. Instead of getting upset or disappointed they simply said, "Okay, let's go find some kids." They ended up hanging out with some of the smaller kids and playing games with them. Shannon and I have been so impressed that after three weeks of living with host families, working in the heat, and facing some challenges, that there have been little to no complaints. We really couldn't have asked for or imagined a better group of interns.
A lot has been going on this week. Jessica and Rachel joined a group of nurses from the COTN clinic who've been traveling to the bateyes to give tetanus vaccinations. It's pretty amazing. The people out there haven't had them so they've been giving shots to people anywhere from 3 to 95 years old! (See picture below). Monday Wednesday and Friday mornings have been filled with summer school tutoring for smaller kids in Algodon, Los Robles and Don Bosco. (See pic) This is mostly working with the real young kids on reading, writing and math. The afternoons have been English classes. Some of the interns have been teaching conversational Spanish in the bateyes while Megan and Ingrid are teaching a beginners class for kids from town. A few other things have been going on. Andrew, with the help of two American high-school students, has been building shelves for the wear house and will then be organizing and inventorying it. This is a huge job. Pray for him as he leaves next Friday and is really hoping to finish it before then. The girls have also been coaching softball in the bateyes on Tuesday afternoons. At the end of the summer the girls will play each other. As you can see A LOT is happening! Here are some prayer requests as we continue this work.
Prayer requests:
- We've had a couple interns get sick with Amoeba's. Pray for their recovery and for the health of the rest of the interns.
- The interns will be spending the entire weekend with their host families. This can be tiring when you don't speak the language and aren't used to the living conditions. Pray for endurance and that they would find joy with their families.
Thank you for your interest and prayers. Your support is making this summer go so well!
Jessica giving a tetanus vaccination.
Lauren tutoring the kids in Los Robles.
A lot has been going on this week. Jessica and Rachel joined a group of nurses from the COTN clinic who've been traveling to the bateyes to give tetanus vaccinations. It's pretty amazing. The people out there haven't had them so they've been giving shots to people anywhere from 3 to 95 years old! (See picture below). Monday Wednesday and Friday mornings have been filled with summer school tutoring for smaller kids in Algodon, Los Robles and Don Bosco. (See pic) This is mostly working with the real young kids on reading, writing and math. The afternoons have been English classes. Some of the interns have been teaching conversational Spanish in the bateyes while Megan and Ingrid are teaching a beginners class for kids from town. A few other things have been going on. Andrew, with the help of two American high-school students, has been building shelves for the wear house and will then be organizing and inventorying it. This is a huge job. Pray for him as he leaves next Friday and is really hoping to finish it before then. The girls have also been coaching softball in the bateyes on Tuesday afternoons. At the end of the summer the girls will play each other. As you can see A LOT is happening! Here are some prayer requests as we continue this work.
Prayer requests:
- We've had a couple interns get sick with Amoeba's. Pray for their recovery and for the health of the rest of the interns.
- The interns will be spending the entire weekend with their host families. This can be tiring when you don't speak the language and aren't used to the living conditions. Pray for endurance and that they would find joy with their families.
Thank you for your interest and prayers. Your support is making this summer go so well!
Jessica giving a tetanus vaccination.
Lauren tutoring the kids in Los Robles.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Bueno tiempo a la casa
Well, we've been here for about a week and a half now. And, finally, after much preparing, English classes have officially started! It's was great to be finally out in the bateyes today. We had English classes in Los Robles and Algodon. We've also been teaching a class in the office that has been going great. We have a couple more prep days before we start turtoring next Monday. It'll be great to be in our full rytm come then. Please pray for us as we get ready for full days. And here's a picture to show you that our morale's still high, even when we were at the Casa all day.
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