To all of you at North Kitsap Baptist Church who helped to make my birthday video, I want to thank you so much. It was very neat to see that after two days of very tiring and intensive Spanish classes. It meant a lot to us.
See you at Christmas!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Sometimes I miss home...
Sometimes I really hate looking at facebook; it makes me so sad to see all the moments from people's lives that I am missing... all the traditional trips with friends and family that I am no longer a part of. But my comfort lies in the truth of why I am here and how much I love the D.R. and the people. God is so faithful to provide things that are so dear to our hearts. So I guess what I am trying to say is that I miss you all SO much!
Alright... I am going to take a 180 degree turn now and share about our weekend. On Friday night we all went out to a pizza place after language class and had yummy American food to give the students a break from Dominican food. It was also someones birthday so we surprised her with a cake afterward. Then Saturday we took them all down to Santiago where we did activities that were school related like visiting a museum and The Monument (pictured below). Following these sites we took them to a store called La Sirena; it's equivalent would be something like a Target. We don't have anything like this in our small town, so it was chance to get needed items that are off/on available to us up in Jarabacoa. This small tour took nearly all day... we left just after 9am and didn't get back until 5:30pm.
Now I sit and ponder... do I procrastinate? Work on Spanish homework? Or come up with my Bible study for the ladies? My deadline for homework and Bible study prep is tomorrow... so I should probably get working on that, eh?
This photo was taken at the top of The Monument
Our 15 college students from Bethel College in Indiana
The middle flag is the Dominican Republic flag
The Monument
Alright... I am going to take a 180 degree turn now and share about our weekend. On Friday night we all went out to a pizza place after language class and had yummy American food to give the students a break from Dominican food. It was also someones birthday so we surprised her with a cake afterward. Then Saturday we took them all down to Santiago where we did activities that were school related like visiting a museum and The Monument (pictured below). Following these sites we took them to a store called La Sirena; it's equivalent would be something like a Target. We don't have anything like this in our small town, so it was chance to get needed items that are off/on available to us up in Jarabacoa. This small tour took nearly all day... we left just after 9am and didn't get back until 5:30pm.
Now I sit and ponder... do I procrastinate? Work on Spanish homework? Or come up with my Bible study for the ladies? My deadline for homework and Bible study prep is tomorrow... so I should probably get working on that, eh?
This photo was taken at the top of The Monument
Our 15 college students from Bethel College in Indiana
The middle flag is the Dominican Republic flag
The Monument
Before I do that I have a final thought to leave you with... "Don't scare a man carrying a machete from behind". I did that accidentally yesterday on my run and that machete went flying. If my heart wasn't beating fast before that it was after that!
Prayer requests:
Ability to pick up language quickly and correctly
Energy for all the things we have going on right now
Patience with both our language teacher and the students
Wisdom in Bible study preparation
Thank you everyone for you love and support!
Friday, September 18, 2009
Did you miss me in this long absense?
Life is passing by and my blog page has gone untouched for like a month now… sorry!
Our brief visit to the states was good – here is the breakdown: when we landed in Seattle we were both sick, we were freezing most of the time, Melody and Adam were married on Sat 22th - which Melody and the wedding were beautiful, we got to visit our family and see a few friends, overall it was really great.
Since we have been back – the adjustment, to be perfectly honest was really hard. When we first walked into our home my first thought was… “This is our home? It doesn’t feel like home.” After we started unpacking our things and getting everything back in order, the feeling of “hominess” began to reappear. But it took a few days for totally recooperation to happen. Once it did, I felt right at home. And now, to be transparent with you, I am dreading going back for Christmas because I hated the feeling when we returned. I’m just praying that it doesn’t happen again… that it was just that first time.
On September 6th the semester team arrived and since then we have been busy. The first 2 days were orientation days and then they moved into their host family’s homes. That same day we all began Spanish class. It is 3 hours a day, Monday thru Friday. My mind is so tired... between language learning, working, keeping up things at our house, aka: Snickers and Lucy, and SI requirements… I am exhausted. Last night I went to bed at 9:15… which is REALLY early for me... that's how tired I was!
Language learning has been an interesting beginning… the first 3 days of classes the lady that heads up the program couldn’t be there because her daughter had an emergency in Miami and she had n .,to be there. So Josh, myself and Lowell knew, but somehow she failed to mention this to the other teachers. So the other ladies show up and asked us where Aurelis was. We told them that she wouldn’t be there until Monday and they freaked out. Not only did they not know this, Aurelis had not given them our curriculum or any direction. The first 3 days were horrible – and that’s being nice. However since Aurelis has been here, the class has picked up significantly… she is an amazing teacher and she knows Spanish inside and out (not to mention backwards and forwards)!
Story of interest…
When Josh and I moved into this house in April, the landlord had gone and paid all the bills for the house so everything was up-to-date. Since we have lived here, our phone bill has come, but we had never received an electric bill. So we figured since 3 ½ months had gone by (and still had electricity thankfully) we should go down and try and figure out what was going on. So we get to the electric bill pay store and ask about it. We told them about everything and the lady looked it up in her computer and said that everything was fine. We asked her to print us a bill of whatever needed to be paid up to that day and when she handed it to us it read 15 pesos –which is like 50 cents. So we paid it and went on our way. Well just a few days ago we received our first bill at our house and when we looked at our balance to be paid it read 30 pesos! A dollar! Can you believe it? So we asked Lowell and Cheryl about it and they said that whoever lived in this house before us may have paid off someone at the electric place and now our bill is NOTHING! So we’ll see how long this lasts… they said that once they figure out that Americans live in our house, they’ll put us in the highest paying bracket, so I guess we had better enjoy this while it lasts.
Well, I’m off to relax! So in the words of Aurelis - Chao Chao
Our brief visit to the states was good – here is the breakdown: when we landed in Seattle we were both sick, we were freezing most of the time, Melody and Adam were married on Sat 22th - which Melody and the wedding were beautiful, we got to visit our family and see a few friends, overall it was really great.
Since we have been back – the adjustment, to be perfectly honest was really hard. When we first walked into our home my first thought was… “This is our home? It doesn’t feel like home.” After we started unpacking our things and getting everything back in order, the feeling of “hominess” began to reappear. But it took a few days for totally recooperation to happen. Once it did, I felt right at home. And now, to be transparent with you, I am dreading going back for Christmas because I hated the feeling when we returned. I’m just praying that it doesn’t happen again… that it was just that first time.
On September 6th the semester team arrived and since then we have been busy. The first 2 days were orientation days and then they moved into their host family’s homes. That same day we all began Spanish class. It is 3 hours a day, Monday thru Friday. My mind is so tired... between language learning, working, keeping up things at our house, aka: Snickers and Lucy, and SI requirements… I am exhausted. Last night I went to bed at 9:15… which is REALLY early for me... that's how tired I was!
Language learning has been an interesting beginning… the first 3 days of classes the lady that heads up the program couldn’t be there because her daughter had an emergency in Miami and she had n .,to be there. So Josh, myself and Lowell knew, but somehow she failed to mention this to the other teachers. So the other ladies show up and asked us where Aurelis was. We told them that she wouldn’t be there until Monday and they freaked out. Not only did they not know this, Aurelis had not given them our curriculum or any direction. The first 3 days were horrible – and that’s being nice. However since Aurelis has been here, the class has picked up significantly… she is an amazing teacher and she knows Spanish inside and out (not to mention backwards and forwards)!
Story of interest…
When Josh and I moved into this house in April, the landlord had gone and paid all the bills for the house so everything was up-to-date. Since we have lived here, our phone bill has come, but we had never received an electric bill. So we figured since 3 ½ months had gone by (and still had electricity thankfully) we should go down and try and figure out what was going on. So we get to the electric bill pay store and ask about it. We told them about everything and the lady looked it up in her computer and said that everything was fine. We asked her to print us a bill of whatever needed to be paid up to that day and when she handed it to us it read 15 pesos –which is like 50 cents. So we paid it and went on our way. Well just a few days ago we received our first bill at our house and when we looked at our balance to be paid it read 30 pesos! A dollar! Can you believe it? So we asked Lowell and Cheryl about it and they said that whoever lived in this house before us may have paid off someone at the electric place and now our bill is NOTHING! So we’ll see how long this lasts… they said that once they figure out that Americans live in our house, they’ll put us in the highest paying bracket, so I guess we had better enjoy this while it lasts.
Well, I’m off to relax! So in the words of Aurelis - Chao Chao
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