Happy Birthday!

So today is the best day of the year.  In case you didn't know, it was my birthday. I share my birthday with a very special little boy, named Jose Leonel.  He's in 1st grade, so of course I had to snag a picture with him and his ridiculously large hat.  :)

The kids soaked me!  This is an awesome Dominican tradition that I got held down by my kids while one of my students, Christofer, threw a huge bucket of water on me.  It was awesome.

My students threw a surprise party for me.  It was awesome!  They diverted me by getting me soaked then sending me to change.  Unfortunately,  I didn't go home and change.  I just chilled up in the library.  They all brought in snacks and Laura, the 5th grade teacher, made a cake.  I felt so loved.  I feel so blessed to spend time with my students and to be celebrated by them.

Marta, my student Nicole's mom, brought me an amazing lunch today of rice, beans, tostones, green salad, potato salad, grilled chicken, fried chicken, chuleta (the English word is escaping me...maybe pork chop?), yuca balls, and a cupcake.  Karyn and I shared it and I still have tons of leftovers!  Yay for having lunch for the next 2 days...

I had a blessed birthday.  And pray the blessings will continue.  Going out to dinner and dessert tonight with some really awesome people.  Thank you God for the many blessings that you have given me over the past 2 years of being here in the DR!

Names in the Book of Heaven

Today I was blessed with the opportunity to share with my students about the love of Jesus and accepting Him as their Lord and Savior.  It was awesome.  I love that God gave me awesome words to use and to share with my students about how great it is to be loved by someone who is always with you. 
After our talk about things you need to know in your heart before you accept Jesus, many of them prayed with me.  I pray that as they continue to grow older, they will honor this promise to grow in a relationship with Christ, not slipping into a cultural lifestyle of apathy. 

I am so proud of my kids.  I love them a lot. 
Please continue praying for them...

Amazing Girl.

I give You my heart; 

I give You my heart full of sin and regret.
I give You my soul; 

I give You my soul to rejoice in your name.
I give You my love: 

because You deserve it, and so much more.

 

Like those lyrics?  Thought so.  I know this wonderful, beautiful girl who is graduating from our high school this year.  Her desire is to continue to grow in the Lord and attend a Christian university where it will snow.  :)  Tonight, at Young Life, I was privileged to hear her share not only her testimony but a beautiful song she had written about the struggles and joys of following Christ. (yeah, she wrote those lyrics above...)  I love hearing her heart and pray that God continues to direct her steps in a path that will lead her closer and closer to His heart.

Unfortunately, college is expensive.  Especially Christian college.  Please consider financially helping her be able to get the opportunity that right now is just a dream. 

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Hebrews 6:10

God is not unjust; 

he will not forget your work 

and the love you have shown him 

as you have helped his  people 

and continue to help them.

Elections in the DR

Piedad Wins!!!


 Yesterday, Sunday, were the local elections here in the DR.  Needless to say, from an American mindset, these elections looked interesting.  Each candidate’s party has a color.  For example, the red party and the purple party and the white party, etc.  (No the red party is not related t o communism.)  At our school, there are a few political parties represented.  Sharlene’s grandma is running for mayor (the purple party), Ambar’s uncle is running for Deputy (red party), and Jose Leonel’s father is running for mayor as well (blue, yellow, red party).   Although there is no animocity towards each other at school, it is definitely interesting to me how the election system works here in the DR.

Mayoral Candidate, Piedad Quezada de Dominguez, (purple) recently paved a street in one of the barrios to obtain the votes of the poorer people.  Mayoral Candidate and Deputy, Carlos Jose and Rogelio Genao, (red) recently through a huge block party about 4 blocks away from our house.  They brought in a famous Dominican rapper, OMEGA!, and threw money out into the crowds.   There are hugs caravans of purple or red that you can see going throughout the streets on different occasions. Many people don their red (or whatever color of the party they support) shirts, grab a homemade red flag, and honk like it’s their job.  Motorcycles, SUV’s, Daihatsu trucks, 4-wheelers, whatever mode of transportation you can get on, you go!  Ten or fifteen people sticking out of an SUV, 30 people piled in the back of a Daihatsu, 5 people on a motorcycle…I think the goal is to have as many people on as few vehicles. 

I’ve attached some videos because I don’t think words (or even the videos really) can give justice to the craziness of the elections here.  Thankfully they’ve been peaceful thus far, schools here in Jarabacoa do not have school today “just in case” there were riots or negative repercussions from the elections…

Red Party Caravan




Red/Yellow/Blue Party March



Purple Party (Piedad) Caravan, when the President (Leonel) came



Party Color Pride before Elections



Purple Party Motorcycle Caravan

I'm Dominican!!!

So I felt super Dominican today.

1.  I drove down the sidewalk instead of the road.
2.  I drove the wrong way down a one-way road.

All in all a good day!!

Visiting the US!!

Friends and Family,

I am excited to share with you an awesome opportunity that I have been given.  I have been given the opportunity to bring 3 of my students (girls) from the DR to the United States to Indiana for the summer.  Right now I have 4 students who are interested (Smirna, Suleidy, Nicole, and Maryed) I'm excited for them to be able to get an opportunity to see the United States, eat American food, visit colleges, and learn English in a completely immersed environment.  We will be taking trips to Indianapolis, Chicago, and just hanging around Fort Wayne.  They may also spend a week at a camp in Illinois that my cousin and her husband work at.  We will be in the United States for somewhere between 5 and 6 weeks. 

Some of the fun activities that we would like to do is:  visiting a zoo, going to a baseball game, seeing movies, visiting Sonic, and visiting the Children's and Art museum in Indianapolis, visiting the "Bean" in Chicago, and going to the aquarium and possibly the Science and Industry Museum in Chicago.   I am really excited about this, and I pray that you will be able to give to these awesome kids.  I've attached their pictures, so that you can see them! :)

We are going to be raising about $1,500 per student that I am bringing.  If you are interested in supporting them, please let me know.  That means we are trying to raise almost $5,000 in 2 short months.  Please consider supporting them and their trip to the US.  Their plane tickets cost almost $900 a piece, with $200 for camp, and then $400 for other exciting things that we will do.  I am setting up a paypal account for them.  I will let you know when it is confirmed. 

Thank you and I will send you another update soon.  Please pray for these students, as I don't want to get their hopes up too high, although judging by their giddy laughs and excited faces, it's hard not to give them way more hope! :)  Because the idea excites me too!!

2 month hiatus?

Can you believe it?  It's been almost 2 months since I've written on my blog.  I'm exploring new options, as I'm getting bored with blogging...yeah, bored isn't the right word...it's just time consuming.  I want to share pictures and stories from my class, so expect something soon!!