This weekend was definately a fun one. We got together as a team (all 21 of the students) and spent the weekend ogether at the SI (students interntional) base. Saturday we traveled up to the city of Costanza in a 20 passenger van, up the side of a winding mountain road, driven by Heraldo (a crazy Dominican driver that works for SI). It was a lot of fun, and Heraldo definately made things interesting- and scary! haha! That night we ate in an authentic Dominican restaurant and I decided to take after my brother and try some crazy food...so I had GOAT! It was surprisingly really good.
That night we stayed at the base and three other girls and I decided it would be fun to take our sleeping bags and sleep out under the Dominican sky. So we did, we camped right under the plam trees (hoping the coconuts wouldn't fall on us in the night). There's something about laying under the stars, talking about life with the girls that it just doens't get much better than that.
Sunday morning our team headed up to a village in the mountains to have church on the river and a Dominican style cokout. It was a lot of fun. The river had a prety strong current-but the didn't stop any of us. We swam across the river and found some big rocks to climb on. Then we just sat on the rocks and took in the scenery around us. I've realized on this trip how much I love being in nature. Itis so easy to connect with God when you sit back, amazed at His creation.
After that we found a rock wall to climb up and then jump off into the water. This one was about 15 feet high, about the same as last time. It was so funny because after you jumped the current would carry you down the river, so a few of us formed a chain of people holding hands so as you floated away you could grab their hands and be pulled back to the rocks. It sounds more dangerous that what it was, but it was definately a RUSH!
The weekend was a lot of fun, but Sunday night was by far the best. We got home from the base and Monica and I decided to go on a walk around the area where we live. As we were walking, we passed by "El Arca" which is an orphanage for the Dominican children. We peeked through the gate and saw kids playing in the yard, and Monica and I both looked at each other with the same idea in mind.."Let's go in!" So we did! In America if we did this we would probably get some awkward stares and asked to leave-but not in the DR! The kids were warm and friendly and wanted us to play with them. So Monica and I showed off our volleyball skills and it was a lot of fun. One girl in particular I will not forget. Out of the blue I saw the cutest Dominican girl come running out of nowhere right at me, so I reached out my arms and she jumped up in them. She would not let go and I didn't want to. As soon and she got down she went and jumped on Monica. We fell in love with her. After awhile all the kids had to go back inside, but the girls came up to us and communicated through some Spanglish for us to come back tomorrow. I can't wait. Standing in the middle of that orphanage with beautiful kids running around me- I felt like I was right where God wanted me and it was so good to feel His peace again.
2 comments:
That's a great picture! And I love that you're being daring about the food that you're eating. See if you can outdo Kristin and me...but use caution when you need to, of course. I don't want to hear you say you got sick because your brother told you to eat crazy foods. Keep the pictures coming! Love you!
I hope you're not planning on me putting goat on the grill when you get home!
The orphanage sounds neat! Give them a hug from me. Love you - Mom
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