Sometimes on the World Race, when you want to go home to America for just one day…you can! X Squad had a unique 24 hour layover in Atlanta, Georgia, on our way from Asia to the Caribbean at the end of April. It was truly a surreal experience after 8 months outside the country. The only thing I really did (other than sleep) was go to Target, where in one trip I spent as much money as I would in several weeks abroad. After some Starbucks and American snacks, we were off to the Dominican Republic.
Two years ago I spent a summer in the Dominican Republic, so I was excited to get another chance to go. This time instead of a city on the coast, I was in a village in the mountains. The weather was rainy and cool compared to the last few sweltering months in Southeast Asia. Our hosts were a Dominican/American family who graciously invited all 31 ladies of X squad to stay and work with their ministry for the month of May. We all lived in tents, shared one bathroom, bathed in a waterfall, and cooked in an outdoor kitchen, yet it was still one of my favorite months on the race. I loved actually being able to communicate with the people around me by speaking Spanish.
We did several different types of ministry in the DR: teaching in the village, teaching down in the city of Santiago, tutoring, landscaping, and prayer walking around the neighborhood. Usually I really enjoy teaching English, but this month the kids were a little more rambunctious and several times I came away frustrated with their disobedience. As the month came to a close, however, I was sad to leave the little faces that chanted, “Lucy!” whenever I walked in the room. It was a challenging but rewarding experience, now on to Haiti!
