Home Sweet Home?

Well the last time I wrote I said you might not hear from me in two weeks, and now its August 25th. Yeaaaah. The first two weeks of teams were completely awesome, but at this point its hard to give you a play-by-play of what happened. After two weeks of teams we had a week off, and went to a place called Jarabacoa for a little vacation. The staff stayed in a big house and we cooked our own meals and played cards and just hung out for three days. We went to a ranch the second day where we got to go canyoning. Canyoning involves putting on wetsuits and repelling down waterfalls. Between waterfalls we swam down the river, jumped off a few cliffs, and ziplined to the next waterfalls. We had a great time but it was almost more relaxing to get back to Santo Domingo on Wednesday of that week.

Long story short, I ended up coming home two weeks early. Austin had been having some difficulties at camp, and I wanted to spend time with my parents before he got home (we were scheduled to come home on the same day, August 8). It broke my heart to miss the last two teams and leave the DR early, but after a lot of prayer I felt that this was the right choice. I had been praying and praying about this choice, and in the midst of deciding whether to come home early or stay the full time, a good friend (Laura) gave me some advice. She said, "Amy, sometimes God doesn't say 'Go this way,' He lets you choose on your own. But he does promise that He will walk with you no matter which path you choose." This was so encouraging to me. In the midst of what seemed like silence from God, I believe He used Laura to tell me that there isn't always a right and wrong answer, but that He promises to be faithful and see me through whatever decision I make.

If you were part of my prayer team or sent financial support, you already got my letter summarizing my time in the Dominican. I am pasting it here because it seems like a good way to summarize what happened. God did so much, and I am so thankful to Him that I got this opportunity. I hope that I honored him while I was there, and I think that I did. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to update this blog very much (especially towards the end). Maybe the next time I go someplace (CHILE: Feb. '10. be there. or here. whatever, I'll be blogging.) I will make sure I have consistent internet access while I'm there. Until then, here's my letter. I'll give you a cookie if you make it to the end :)

Dear Friends and Family,

I am writing to tell you about the time I spent in the Dominican Republic this summer and what God did while I was there. I am now back in Sycamore at my parent’s house, and I have gotten to catch up with many friends who have also traveled to do mission work this summer. It has been amazing to hear the stories of how God is working all over the world, and the Dominican Republic is no exception. Your prayers and financial support made it possible for me to grow closer to God as I got involved in His work in the Dominican Republic, and I would like to thank you for that. God started showing me His power and plan before I even arrived in the D.R. by giving me a community of believers to love and support me and by providing me with exactly the amount I needed to raise to get there—despite these hard economic times.

I arrived in Santo Domingo two weeks before our first American team, and spent those two weeks getting to know the other World Servants summer staff and preparing the four different sites where the American teams would be working (La Romana, San Cristobal, La Represa, and Consuelo). God really brought together a great summer staff—all the workers, cooks, translators, team leaders, and interns brought different gifts and histories to the summer, but we all got along wonderfully. This could only be done by God!

The teams that we hosted were there for a week each, and for four weeks we would drop one team off at the airport and pick up the next team that same day. Our staff was challenged to maintain energy week after week when, already exhausted from a full week with one team, we got no time to rest before the next group of Americans came. It was sometimes hard—the teams could easily maintain a high level of energy for a week (as is often the case on mission trips) but the staff had to stay pumped up for multiple mission trips in a row! I had to learn to bring my tired spirit to God and allow him to fill me back up when things overwhelmed me.

I was blessed by getting to stay with a host family my first two weeks in Santo Domingo. I cannot tell you how encouraging it was to have a mom, dad, sister, and brother who treated me as one of their own and spent time helping me with my Spanish. Getting to practice and speak Spanish was so fun! My first few weeks I avoided speaking out of fear of sounding stupid, but when the teams got there I was asked to do some translating and fell right into the language. As many of you know, my Spanish class at Hope this spring was very challenging and frustrating to me. I questioned why I was even studying Spanish—but God knew that my ability to speak Spanish would help me to do my job in the D.R. by connecting and bonding with the people and being able to help the Americans who didn’t speak Spanish connect with the Dominicans.

One of the biggest things I learned was how to be a leader. Since I was the only woman on staff with the teams, I had a lot more responsibility than the other interns. Women’s ministry in the communities was almost completely my responsibility; I’ll talk more about this later. Little things like getting mosquito nets up and keeping toilet paper stocked in the women’s dorms each week were usually up to me, and many of the younger girls looked up to me as a friend and leader. I made so many good relationships! I think until this point in my life I have always been led by older women, but since we had all ages on the mission trips and I was on staff, I got to assume the older, leadership role to our elementary and high school aged participants.

Interns had many roles during the weeks with the teams, but our main responsibilities were to organize the following: construction, home visits, children’s ministry (VBS), and women’s ministry. As you may have guessed, construction wasn’t my strongest ministry, but I was able to lead by example to many of the women by helping where needed and having a good attitude. Every member of the American teams went on at least one home visit in the communities we worked in and I really enjoyed organizing and translating for these. It was so awesome to watch Americans and Dominicans connecting and fellowshipping despite lingual and cultural barriers. Children’s ministry was overwhelming to organize, but completely rewarding. Children have an ability to love unconditionally despite cultural barriers, and the bonds with the children were some of the most fun.

I am most passionate about women’s ministry. World Servants helps run a women’s cooperative in a community outside of Santo Domingo, and I absolutely loved working with the women and then bringing the American teams into it with me once they arrived. Women’s ministry can transform communities. Since women are generally expected to stay in the home in the Dominican Republic, they are rarely able to contribute a lot of income to families. Many of the women, despite illiteracy and a lack of education, love to do crafts and can learn to make professional-grade purses and jewelry. The co-op will then sell these crafts in other countries, providing families with extra money which is often used to pay school tuition for their children and help lift them out of poverty. As exciting as an opportunity to rise out of poverty is the chance to get to fellowship and do Bible studies while they work. Women’s co-ops provide not only economic opportunities but also great opportunities to make friends, discuss their husbands and children, and minister to each other’s emotional and spiritual needs—SO awesome!

A big part of my interest in this internship was fueled by my hope to have a career in international development after graduating from Hope. I’m not sure yet what this will look like, but my time spent with World Servants enabled me to understand what development looks like “on the ground,” and to understand many of the challenges and joys faced by Non-governmental organizations in both ministry and community development. I feel that development is both an interesting academic discipline and an awesome way to fulfill the great commission, and I look forward to seeing how God uses me in the future. All of this would not have been possible without your love, prayers, friendships, and support. I want you all to be encouraged that God is doing big things (everywhere, always!) and that you have been a part of both fulfilling the great commission in the Dominican Republic and greatly blessing me personally

All glory to God!

MITES!

As many of you may have heard on facebook, I've got mites and I've got them bad. Apparently the mattresses were full of 'em at the camp we stayed at last weekend, and they ITCH! I was trying to make the best of it, and I said to my host mom, "What's the worst that could happen?!?" and she was very serious and responded "Scabies!" ...So pray that doesn't happen.

On Monday we finished painting the 2nd clinic, and Ruben (our wonderful translator) and Willie and Melqui (World Servants staff members) and my host sister Mellie came out to help so it went really fast. After we came back and showered the boys went to Melqui's baseball game but Mellie and I stayed home and had some girl time. I introduced her to the concept of putting peanut butter on apples (she HATED it) and we made grilled cheese and hung out. It was so so wonderful to make some "American" food! We eat rice, chicken, and beans for literally lunch and dinner every day and it gets tiring, so this was really uplifting to me. After our American dinner we turned on the TV to just veg, and The Bachellorette was on! IN ENGLISH! This seems like such a stupid thing but it was so wonderful to eat American food and watch American TV and kind of get a reminder of home. It was also really fun to hang out with Mellie. As you know I've been craving female contact and so I love getting to see her. She is 14 and very girly and dramatic. She is horrified that I am not wearing makeup down here--I don't even think I wore any makeup when I was 14! Anyway, I can tell she really looks up to me and it has been awesome to get to be an influence in her life.

Tuesday the boys went out to the camp sites where we will stay with the American teams over the next 5 weeks and set up bunk beds. I got to go out to the Women's Co-op, Mujeres Unidas with Melanie. This was SO EXCITING for me! In the morning we went to old Santo Domingo and shopped for beads and other supplies for the crafts the women are doing. Afterwords we stopped at burger king for lunch, and it was so gross. I am definitely going to be a vegetarian again when I get back! Melanie had been telling me while shopping and eating about the co-op, and at times I got so excited that tears welled up in my eyes because I felt like this ministry is something that I am really called to get involved in. The co-op is so cool because women make crafts while doing a Bible study and getting to fellowship with each other, and then they sell the crafts and make money to support their families. It is such a neat way to do both ministry and poverty relief, and I really feel called to get more deeply involved in something like this after college. That night the boys and I just hung out, and I realized that while I complain about missing girls, I had really missed the boys that day! We are getting to know each other really well and I think we make a great team.

Wednesday I did office work all day with Melanie and my host mom Mechy (who I adore) organizing merchandise for the co-op. Around 5 Melanie and I went to her house and cooked spinach Lasagna and eggplant stew for dinner for the core summer staff--another wonderful meal without meat and rice! Over dinner the interns and translators and permanent DR staff (about 10 of us) planned out how the next 5 weeks are going to go with the teams. The interns have a lot of responsibilites and I am really excited to get started with this. Some of our jobs are:
1. Making sure the teams always have TP everywhere we go.
2. Seeing that there are first aid kits with every group.
3. Filling coolers with safe drinking water for the teams.
4. Keeping track of tools for ministry such as kids club packets and construction tools like trowels and shovels and toolboxes.
5. Doing Cross-cultural Training with the teams when they get in every Saturday night.
6. Worship and re-cap for the groups every night after dinner.
7. Devotionals for the staff every morning (at 6:30!)
8. Picking up new teams from the airport.
9. Organizing groups into who is doing kids club, constuction, home visits, and women's ministry.

The first week I am in charge of home visits, the second and third I am in charge of women's ministry and kids club, and the fourth construction. I am the only intern working with the women's ministry and I can't wait!

This morning we went into the mountains near San Cristobal to help at a clinic they run once a month. There were 200 patients and 2 doctors and we filtered everyone through before 3pm. Phew! It is hard to imagine only having access to a doctor once a month like the people in this community do. The roads are really bumpy and not paved in the mountains and on the way home it took us about 3 hours because our 3 car caravan kept getting stuck in all the huge ruts. At one point we even had to cross a river. In about an hour (they eat dinner late here) we are having hamburgers and marinated chicken off the grill--Thomas and Brent are cooking for everybody! We also got ice cream and corn. Do I talk about food too much here? :)

Tomorrow the first team comes and I will be without internet for 2 weeks. We are in La Romana for a week with the team that comes tomorrow (returning to the camp with the mites-pray!) and then we go straight to San Cristobal the next week with the 2nd team. You probably won't hear from me again until our week off in two weeks. Please pray for health, safety, and encouragement for both the staff and the groups.

Glory to God!

Amy

1/7

First things first: I am offering a prize to whoever can think of a better title for my blog. A good, creative, un-cliche title. The prize may include but is not limited to the following: a high five, a ride on my new bike, a complimentary coffee drink, a half-burnt candle, and a pat on the back. Come to think of it, I need prize ideas too. I just need ideas.

I am sorry that my blog is so uninspired. The heat here scrambles my head and for some reason I can't think straight to ever write anything that would be entertaining to read. I will work on this.

On Thursday morning Thomas came to the house to pick me up and said that Brent was sick. He had eaten some raw salad (bad idea) and got an amoeba from it. I named the amoeba Phil. Poor Brent was vomiting and having dihurrea all day long and the boys assigned me to stay home and be his nurse. I had mixed feelings about staying back with him. First of all, I didn't know how I would be able to help him. I also knew I would be bored out of my mind with nothing but a book and Dominican TV all day. However, I was glad to have a day off from painting. It turned out to be really nice to have a day to unwind, and I brought Brent water, made him soup (which he promptly threw up), cleaned up said throw up, and tried to encourage him while he moaned on the couch. It was nice.

Friday Brent wrestled with Phil at home without me, and I went out with Thomas and Melqui (our World Servants slave driver) to finish painting the 2nd clinic. This was one of the most intense days of physical labor I have ever experienced. When we broke for lunch, Melqui dropped us back off at the clinic while he ran to get paint, and Thomas and I couldn't figure out how to get back into the clinic. We had the keys but they would not work and I recruited basically the entire village to help us figure it out. There were about 30 kids all gathered around watching and laughing as the stupid Gringos strugged with the door for about 45 minutes. We finally got it unlocked and Melqui returned with more paint about five minutes later wondering why we hadn't gotten any work done--this place keeps us humble!

This weekend we had training for the entire World Servants summer staff (translators, cooks, interns, bus drivers, etc.). It was really fun to meet everybody! We stayed the weekend at a camp in La Romana and had training in this little hut with a grass roof. Mostly everything was in Spanish and I bravely turned down a translator but after a whole day of only Spanish I could feel my heartbeat in my brain. We went swimming last night and he staff managed to build a standing pyramid of 10 people--pretty good teamwork huh??

At training this weekend I got to meet Laura, a girl who is teaching English in a village called Consuelo. She is there all alone for 7 weeks and we both were loving having another American woman to talk to. We have so much in common. She is a 20 year old poli sci major with an international focus, ran xc and track in high school, is 5'4" with blonde hair and green eyes, loves coffee, introverted--it was like meeting my twin. On my week off I am going to go visit her for a few nights in Consuelo. I was so blessed to meet a friend, but the weekend went so fast and now its just me and the boys again...

Don't get me wrong. I love the boys, I really do.

Anyway, tomorrow we are going to finish paining the 2nd clinic. The work should go fast since Brent is now healed and will be there to help Thomas and Melqui and I.

HIGHLIGHT: At the camp we stayed at, the owner has a pet goose. The goose's name is Tito, and he walks a few paces behind the owner everywhere he goes.

PRAYER REQUESTS:
1. I only poop about 3 times a week here. Darn rice.
2. Its hard to be the only girl. Sometimes I get really lonely because I feel like I don't really have anyone to relate to.
3. This week has been s.l.ow. I can't believe I have 6 weeks left here. I miss home a lot and will need a lot of grace to make it until August.

That's all for now! Everybody go sit in the 70 degree weather for me okay?

A Little More Stupid

We painted again all day today, and finished painting the whole clinic in the town of Guaricanos (technically part of Santo Domingo). We took a break and I fell asleep sitting up, I am so so tired! We go all day and don't get back until around 11 at night. This week we are just getting ready for the teams to come. Our first team is getting here Friday and we will be in La Represa working with them for a week. I am kind of excited to get into the rythym (sp?) of having the teams here, but I know it will probably be harder compared to this week. I have already learned more Spanish in four days than in 6 years of classes, and I'm surprised at how well I'm doing with it. I don't have a lot more to say, maybe if I can get some rest sometime I'll be able to write something of worth here :) Hasta luego...

Bienvenidos al CARIBE!

Oh man I love it I love it. I am here and I am well. Saturday night we got here and crashed. I am staying with a family and they are so wonderful, they help me with my Spanish and I am rooming with their 14 year old daughter Melissa (Mellie) and she is HILARIOUS! She is totally prissy and last night we were standing outside and it had rained and some water dripped from a tree onto her hair and she absolutely freaked out. In about 1/2 an hour I am going to her graduacion from primary school. First I have to shower though...the water pipe to their house broke and we painted all day and I'm gross, so they are rigging a hose through the window so I can shower! They have like 5 guys working on it and I told them not to worry about it, but my "Dad" looked me up and down and said, "No Amy, necesitas ducharte." (No Amy, you need to shower--haha) Anyway, the other two interns (Brent and Thomas) and I get along really well, this is going to be an awesome two months! Sunday, our first real day here, we just relaxed and got oriented and went to the beach since they don't work on Sundays anyway. I got royally sunburned despite my 85 SPF...the sun here is brutal. Anyway the hose is working I will write more later-gotta run! Te Amo.

Leaving TOMORROW!

So tomorrow I leave around 6:30 am, fly to Puerto Rico (random?) to eventually end up in Santo Domingo, where the pastor of a local church is picking me up. I am all packed, and the fear is starting to creep into me. Please pray that I get there safely, stay healthy, form awesome relationships, and roll with the punches. I'll update again when I'm there!

I'm Blogging?

Um, so blogging seems like the cool thing to do when you are traveling a lot. The idea being, I guess, that you definitely do not have time to individually update all the thousands of people who are interested in what you do from day to day, so they can update themselves by reading your blog. This all seems a little bit narcissistic to me. Yeah. Anyway, I am going away for a little bit. I'm coming back August 8. Until then I will try to keep you posted via this weird public thing. That's all for now.