Hi everyone! The World Race has officially begun for the H Squad… We´ve arrived safely and in good health. After saying our last goodbyes in Miami, we flew out to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic shortly before noon on Sunday. We were greeted by palm trees, sun and my favorite friend, humidity. Although it felt like I was carrying 2 birds nests ontop of my head, I was grateful to have arrived at our initial destination. Sitting crammed like sardines for a 4.5 hour bus ride to the town of San Juan de Maguana felt more World Race style. We were greeted at the AIM house at nearly 9 pm and a DR type dinner of rice, beans, plantains and tasty meat ensued. The main AIM house is the residence of majority of the girls. Across the street is guys´housing and a 2nd floor apt for a few girls, including myself.
San Juan is a vibrant town, full of colorfully painted houses, music blasting from different corners and during different times of the day, the constant beeping of whizzing motorbikes, friendly and welcoming locals who greet us with smiles and curious looks as we pass and say “buen dia”, great food, and the barking of stray dogs to keep us up at night. We´ve been having training/orientation sessions in the big Hotel Maguana down the road, where we discuss culture, general information and community living type rules and roles, and have speaker sessions with World Race coaches. My favorite thing so far has been walking around exploring the town. I´m trying to just be a human sponge, absorbing as much of the culture, values, priorities and language as I can. My rusty Spanish isn´t being utilized too frequently, but it has helped. The culture is very extroverted and the locals emphasize relationships and enjoying life. I´m down with enjoying life and slowing down, detaching from the Western culture of constant schedules and entertainment… but the extroverted nature will be something I have to adjust to and cultivate in myself. I´ve observed that motorbikes seem pretty important to the Dominicans. Nearly everyone uses one and much time is spent fixing, polishing, cleaning, sitting or zipping by in one. I´m trying not to do the Asian papparazzi/Japanese tourist thing but it´s hard not to take out the camera and discreetly snap away at the blue, pink, yellow and orange clapboard buildings, the colorful vegetables at the market, the children playing games on the streets, or the stray dogs poking around for food.
Living conditions have been pretty good, except for the scarcity of water in our apt… make that no running water. The electricity is kept on only 12 hours a day, and usually starting in the evenings/nights into the morning. We have plenty of drinking water supply but in terms of showers, we get a bucket of water from a large trash bin filled with water on the porch, and bring it to the tub.. Ashley Musick´s schooling me on ways to make the most of your water and how to take an efficient bucket shower. She also taught us how to force flush the toilet by pouring a bucket of water rapidly and directly into the hole. So yea, much appreciation for both Ashley´s presence and wisdom, and buckets of water. I definitely value the feeling of being clean a lot more here and realize how much I take it for granted at home… and once I get my hands on some curling gel, I´ll be a much happier camper! haha. No real complaints tho – my roommates Sammi and Erica are awesome and we´re having our sleepaway camp convos into the nite, accompanied by a running fan to cool off. My team has our own budget and money supply for breakfast and lunch, and teams will rotate preparing dinner. We´ve been and will continue to eat lunches out, as this is both economically and gastronimically sound. I heard there´s a great bakery for donuts, bread, danishes in the morning…. or cupcakes for dessert.. if I can manage to wake up, I might actually experience it one of these days. =P
Training will continue until Saturday, which is when teams finally get to break out into ministries. I´m blessed to be on Team Luminous with Jen, Benny, Dave and Lindsay, and Melissa. We´ve been told we´ll be ministering to rural villages up in the moutains, which provide a breathtaking backdrop north of San Juan. I´m extremely excited for what´s to come up there, whether it´s staying with a host family or camping… I know God has great stuff in store for us.
This update has been your basic “Hi mom, I´m alive and well, eating lots” but I haven´t touched too much on how much of a process this is going to be. I´ll be sure to write more on that as it unfolds, and before we disappear into the mountains, where I can only assume internet will be harder to come by. I know that God has a ton left to do in me, and the sessions we´ll be having with the coaches will continue to prepare us on our journey. As Michael Hines has said, the World Race is a tool for us to discover who we are in God.. we´ve gone through abandonment… which leads to brokenness, followed by dependency, empowerment and calling. Lots of stuff to process – still trying to absorb the culture and figure out how to reach out to the ppl, what breaks God´s heart for them, and most of all, what will break me.
Prayer requests: Good health and unity for Team Luminous and H Squad. Safe travels up to the mountains. Open hearts and minds from the people we will serve and encounter. That I can release my rights to comfort so that I can really be present and have a heart for these ppl. Above all else, that I will learn to discern God´s voice and crave His presence… not just for the Dominicans but for myself.
To read my teammates´blogs, go here and find Team Luminous, or browse the other teams. We´ll be having different experiences in the DR for the next month.
THANKS and miss you guys back home! More when I can.. with pictures cuz I´ve still managed to snap quite a few. Keep in touch! =)
