I'm HOME!!! (for now ...:)

Hey friends! (as Jen, our team facilitator, always said)

I'm back from the Dominican Republic! Actually, I've been back for about a week. The trip was so incredible! I don't know where I should even begin to explain.... I left two weeks ago on June 7th, around 2:30pm, with half of our large team of 22: Me, Darryl, Denise, Evan, Nate, Rachel, Morgan, Morgan, Susan, Dan, and Heather (the team was so big that we had to split in two groups for the first flight). We went from Louisville to Miami, where we met up with the other half of the team: Joy, David, Lisa, Daniel, Kailey, Madeline, Angelique, Andrea, Craig, Lizzy, and Katie. In Miami I also met Sydney, a very sweet and bubbly girl who is so like minded! She was just traveling with us to be a photography intern in Santiago, but ended up staying/photographing our team for the week! (as you can imagine, she and I had a lot to talk about :). From Miami, all 22 team members, plus Sydney, flew and arrived safely to Santiago, Dominican Republic:

There, at the airport, we met Jen (our "boss"), Kerlyn (a former kid that grew up in the feeding center, and is now a translator for GO ministry teams that come in),  Deloris (the nurse), Katy (an intern) and Potone (our amazing bus driver!) After brief introductions, we all piled into the bus, at the Santiago airport, and were on our way to Hato del Yaque! There was quite the temperature change there, too....it was hot and HUMID!

When we got to Hato del Yaque, we toured the church we were staying in, had a little snack for dinner, chatted for awhile and then went to bed. The girls stayed in one room and the guys stayed in another. There were tons of 3-stack high bunk beds in each room:

Church in Hato del Yaque

Girl's room.

The next morning we all piled back into the bus, bright and early, and headed to San Marcos, which is in the mountain area of the Dominican.  Greenville Christian Church, who our team represents, supports Gumercindo, a pastor in San Marcos, DR. San Marcos is in one of the more poorer area's of the country. This was to be our "home" for the week. 18 girls slept in Gumercindo's "cozy" house, while about 8 guys slept in the church/nutrition center up the road (which, btw, was much cooler than our "sweat lodge" ;). The majority of the time, we didn't have electricity...which meant we didn't have running water, either (not that we could drink the water, even if we had it). We slept on the floor on cuchones (mattresses). All 18 of us girls shared one bathroom, which was...interesting... :) Our "shower" was a bucket bath. (The guys on the other hand, had 4 actual showers, with running water....) Our toilet was, well, a toilet...except, you can't throw toilet paper in it, you can't flush it, the toilet seat was not attached and the toilet leaked. And it's not like it was leaking water either...

The girls lovely bathroom.

Throughout the week our team helped put Stucko (sp?) on the side of the church, feed 83 kids at the nutrition center everyday (quite the task!) and paint Pastor Gumercindo's house, where we were staying. And of course our primary goal was to make friendships and share the gospel! We played with the neighborhood kids a lot ♥   

One of the hardest things for me to deal with was at lunch every day, when we fed the kids. Only the kids that are sponsored are fed. Which means, those who aren't, watch from the windows as the kids (and us) ate. It was heartbreaking. I didn't even want to eat, when I knew they had nothing. I wanted to feed them all!!

We put together a fiesta on Friday night. It was so much fun! We decorated the church and set up all sorts of games and activities for the kids. I did face painting - loads of fun! But man, I'll tell you what, even being the ice-cube that I am, it was HOT in there!!  I think they said there were about 300 people in the one room building and we were constantly doing something active! At one point I had to get a paper towel to wipe the kids cheeks off before I painted it, because they were too sweaty! After the fiesta, all us "gringos" (that's what they call white people) left to go to the La Sirena (store). Jen said if we didn't actually leave the city, the fiesta would never truly end - kids would stick around forever. So, we went to the La Sirena to get a few souvenirs and ice cream - their vanilla ice cream has got to be the BEST ice cream EVER!

In the afternoons, after lunch, since it's so incredibly hot there, they have siestas. Siesta is basically relaxation time - people would just chill out and/or nap....I love siesta!! I napped anywhere and everywhere :-) I vote for siestas here in the states! ;)

Siesta!

Just a few days into the trip people on the team started getting sick. Amazingly, I was not one of them, though! For several days Nate was sick. He ended up with 103° fever and getting sick all the time, so he was taken to the hospital to get an IV. I think about 7 people total, ended up getting sick at one point or another. Whether it be from a virus, dehydration, food they weren't used to, or the poverty they saw. We coined the phrase, "social pukers", since we'd just be sitting down for dinner and someone would puke, or in the bus and someone would puke, etc. I think we're all immune to being around it now. lol.

Half way through the week we went to Phaeton, Haiti to play with and feed the kids there, too. We left San Marcos bright and early at 5am and drove for about 4 1/2 hours to the border. We sat there in the bus, while Poton, Kerlyn, and (can't remember his name), our Creole translator, took care of "business" to get us across the border....it took FOREVER!  Once we finally got through, it was like we entered a whole other world... The first thing you saw as you crossed over, was a river...and hundreds of people in it! People were swimming, washing their clothes, filling drinking jugs, and bathing...all in the same river:

It took about an hour to get to Phaeton. Once we got there people started to gather...but they were very different from the Dominicans. Dominicans love TOUCH. The children always want to be held and played with. But the Haitians were shy and reserved. It didn't take too long before they were playing field games with us, though. It's amazing to see how happy the people are there, even though they have basically nothing.

Although it was a lot hotter in Haiti, it was much more comfortable for me, cause there wasn't very much humidity, like DR. I did, however, get sunburned on the back of my pure white legs. lol.
There was one incident while in Haiti, that I will never forget - A little boy kept coming up very quietly and slip his hand into mine, so I'd smile and keep on walking with him by my side...but then a few minutes later I would look down and there was a tiny little girl holding my hand instead!...then she would run off. Then a few minutes later the boy was back, and immediately did the same thing again: slipped his hand out and put the little girls hand in mine. After several times of the boy doing this, the little girl stayed by my side and gripped my hand tightly and smiled occasionally. I was and still am very confused by that. I wonder why the boy kept putting the little girls hand in mine and left her with me...

After a few hours of playing with the kids there, we headed back to the DR, so we didn't get stuck in Haiti when the border closed. Apparently I slept, lying on my knees, all the way back to San Marcos. I can sleep through everything, it seems. Can't wait to see the pictures everyone took... O_o I woke up after the long drive, and couldn't feel anything below my waste - my body had fallen asleep! It took awhile to get rid of the "asleep" feeling. lol.

The next morning was Sunday. The only thing I wanted that morning was a SHOWER! I think I was the only one who hadn't had a shower (bucket bath) for SIX days by this point, and that's all I wanted before we went to church. And guess what? The water for our bucket baths was gone!! I couldn't believe it. lol. But, after thinking I just wasn't going to get one until I get home, the guys were SO very kind to offer to vacate their shower area, so I could take one...and it was an actual SHOWER, even!! It made my day, haha.
At church a few people from our team played/sang some songs for the church in an English/Spanish mix. It was beautiful! "Glory to God" has been stuck in my head in Spanish, ever since. :)


After church, we packed up and headed back to Hato del Yaque to finish out our week there. There, we played vollyball with some local teenagers and played with the young kids that hung around the church waiting for attention. Rachel and I were apparently the whitest people on our team, and the kids just thought it was hilarious! They would grab my arm and put their arm next mine, and then laugh as they compared the difference in color.  We also had an evening where we hung out with teenagers. It was a blast! We played "Fruit Punch" and a game where we raced to get a raw egg across the floor to your partner so they could take it to the finish line, but we had to use paper to blow it across the floor, nothing else... I lost miserably. lol. We also played "Spoons" and a few other games. Even with the language barrier, I think we all had a blast hanging out with people our own age.

After a long week of sweating BUCKETS (literally. you didn't have to go to the bathroom but a couple times a day, because you sweat so much!) our team, along with a few Dominican teenagers, piled into the bus, (making there be about 49 people crammed into about 22 seats!) and went to the 27 Waterfalls, where we were able to hike up a big mountain and jump into waterfalls... it was incredible! Probably one of the coolest things I've ever done. I think they said the highest waterfall was 35 feet high - but we could only do 12 waterfalls, due to the high waters after the rain and the highest was 27 feet, I think.  It was a great ending to our hot and sweaty week, (though, the water was a little TOO cold in some areas!) especially being able to take some new Dominican friends with us, too!

Then, the last two nights, instead of sweating all night (not that I personally noticed... I sleep through everything and loved the heat lol), I slept on the roof of the church in Hato del Yaque. It was so awesome! I laid there, feeling the gentle breeze and looking up at the few stars that weren't covered by the cool looking clouds, then drifted off to sleep and woke up to an incredible sunrise - I could just feel Gods love come over me!  Not a whole lot of people would sleep up there, but it was a lot of fun with the ones who did! We stayed up playing card games by the moon light and talking about what God has shown us throughout the week, and sang Happy Birthday to Madeline at midnight. She turned 15 in the Dominican Republic, how cool is that? :) 

Then, the week came to a close and we were going home...or so we thought! When we got to the airport in Santiago, our flight was canceled. So we all laid around on the ground outside at the airport, playing cards, sleeping, talking, and saying goodbye to one another, waiting for a flight home. We waited for HOURS! Once we finally got a flight to Miami, we found our flight to Louisville was canceled, too! So, we were stuck in Miami until the next flight out...which was the next day! Luckily, after many more hours of lying around the airport, we got rooms at one of the airport hotels. After we finally got to the hotel we immediately went to the bathroom....it WORKS! haha:

Oh the things we take for granted!

I took quite a few showers while we were in the hotel...making up for the lack of them throughout the week! haha. We wanted to go to the beach, but it was getting dark by then. So instead, since it was still Madeline's birthday, some of us walked a mile or so to the nearest store to get a birthday cake to have a little surprise party for her at the hotel.   The next morning, (after showering again... :) we headed back to the airport to go home! But, of course, our flight was delayed once again... multiple times. I've had a lot of practice sleeping in airports, vans, buses, planes (yes, i finally slept on a plane!!!) and, well, the ground. lol. Finally, after a day and several hours late, we were on our way home! As soon as we got off the plane, I think the first thing everyone said is, "IT'S COLD!!". It practically felt like winter here, compared to the DR. I'm still not used to it yet (though, knowing me, I probably won't ever get used to it lol).

It was an incredible week! I fell in love with the people of the Dominican and the Spanish language! I pray I'm able to go back next year and reunite with everyone there!

Once my mom picked me up from the airport the feeling of: "America is so incredibly spoiled - I don't even want to live here anymore!" hit me hard. But, I guess I might not be here for too much longer anyway.... I wasn't in the car for more than 5 minutes, before my mom told me she got on email from a lady in China (I've been emailing someone in China about volunteering in an orphanage), saying I can go there and be a photographer to help get the kids adopted!!!.....but that's a whole 'nother story ;)