still hot and sweaty

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