We’ve been in Haiti for about a week now, and if T.V. shows have taught me anything, it’s that weekly recaps are super helpful (and necessary for our attention spans). So here’s a little recap (F.R.I.E.N.D.S. style) of what happened last month in the D.R. to get you ready to read all about Haiti!
Episode 1: TOW the route change
If you didn’t know, we were originally slated to go to the DR for month 2, after Haiti. But God showed us again and again that He wanted us in the Dominican Republic exactly when we were there. His timing is so much better than ours.
Episode 2: TOW they’re praying all night
We took shifts to have 24 hours of consecutive prayer among our squad, which meant alarms going off at 2 a.m. and midnight star-gazing with our Best Friend.
Episode 3: TOW the arepas
Margot cooked all our food for the month, and I told her that we know she loves us because she makes us a gigantic bucket of coffee every morning (that we promptly finished) and because she made arepas—wonderful, onion-filled fried dough that counteracted all the runs I went on. But they were so worth it.
Episode 4: TOW the horse gets loose
Dominguez, the horse on property, lived in a stall down the hill and away from the main house, but bolted up onto the driveway a couple times, frightening a few of our squadmates.
Episode 5: TOW Claire and a duck
This is Claire and the duck she adopted, Hank. She fed him cornmeal and cleaned him up before releasing him (tearfully) back into the wild.
Episode 6: TOW Elsie speaks Spanish
My teammate Elsie knew no Spanish when we got to the DR, but she started learning while we were there and got to practice with our friends in the community!
Episode 7: TOW the frog in the toilet
So a frog lodged in our bathroom at night, which made for some apprehensive potty runs, since I had to shine my headlamp into the toilet to see if he might jump out.
Episode 8: TOW Angie runs
I finally got my teammate Angie to run with me in the morning (and we even raced a little bit down the mountain)!
Episode 9: TOW the rainstorm
We arrived at H.O.P.E. Mountain in a drought, and started praying for God to provide rain, and He did! The rainstorms were so beautiful to watch as they crossed the mountain range, and reminded us daily of the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Episode 10: TOW the waterfall slides
For one of our adventure days, we went to the 27 waterfalls. It was a short hike and then we were jumping off waterfalls, floating down natural lazy rivers, and sliding down rocks.
Episode 11: TOW all the tea
Nothing beats Diemi’s tea, which she sold right outside her front door. It was not uncommon to see her porch filled with locals, racers, and children all sipping tea for 10 pesos and eating some of her amazing torta (cake).
Episode 12: TOW the WiFi cards
To get WiFi at H.O.P.E. Mountain, we walked a couple minutes up the street to buy WiFi cards that would work (maybe) for 10 or 24 hours at a time. “Wanna walk with me to the WiFi store?” became a squad catch-phrase.
Episode 13: TOW the anointing oil
During the month, Elsie felt led to anoint the Dominguez family and their home, so we did! We prayed over their family and God’s calling for them and their ministry.
Episode 14: TOW rooftop yoga
One of my favorite things to do was yoga on the rooftop. I would lead some of my squadmates in yoga and meditate on scripture, all with a mountain view and the lovely breeze.
Episode 15: TOW Chiquito fights a goat
Our last week in the DR, it became really hard to focus on working out near the pool, because there was a live goat-fight going on! Chiquito, one of the little dogs, would antagonize the two goats, especially the little kid, and they would chase each other around the pool deck like a mini-matador and bull.
Episode 16: TOW everyone gets a haircut
First, John needed a haircut. Then Emily got an undercut. Then Alexa. Then Gisele and Cimone shaved parts of their heads. And it wasn’t long before Victoria had a healthy list of haircut clients to figure out how to use a buzzer on. #11n11.
Episode 17: TOW they haul cement
A big part of our ministry was helping Nani build his house. Usually that meant moving piles of dirt/rocks all day. There was a particularly fun, but challenging day of hauling cement up and down the little hill the house was being built on. How do you say “My obliques are crying” in Spanish?
Episode 18: TOW Ruben’s birthday
Ruben, our host for the month, celebrated his birthday while we were there! We helped his wife put on a surprise party for him after church, complete with nachos, cake, a photobooth, and singing.
Episode 19: TOW the shark song
On one of our ministry days, we worked at the local school, mostly teaching English and reading bible stories. We were told we would have the kids for a little less than an hour, and ended up in the same classroom for more than two hours. We sang songs (repeatedly), made rain noises, and tried to keep the kids from spontaneously tackling one another. (We weren’t very successful.)
Episode 20: TOW the talent show
Starr and Soli put together a talent show for our squad to perform in one evening. There was dancing, singing, a dramatic reading of Green Eggs and Ham, paper airplane making, and headphone karaoke. The sought-after prizes included denture tablets (for cleaning water bottles), a journal, and candy, so a lot was at stake, for sure.
Episode 21: TOW they play pong
In preparation for a squad-wide water pong tournament, we used a team time to teach the rules and learn about each other. Making a cup meant your opponent had to answer a question about herself, and we discovered some secret natural pong players on our team.
Episode 22: TOW the squad says goodbye
Month 1 was also our all-squad month, and when it was time to load the buses, we knew we weren’t just saying bye to H.O.P.E. Mountain and the Dominguez family. We were also preparing to be sent all over Haiti as single teams or sets of two teams, to build kingdom in even more sites for month 2. All-squad month was challenging. It’s a lot of people and emotions and so much fun. Gracias a Dios for a wonderful part 1 of this series all together as a squad, a church and a family.
For more insight into our life in the DR, watch my “Day in the Life” video here!
