We are all packed up and have finished breakfast. We are cleaning up our rooms and will be loading up and heading to the airport soon. Our flight departs the DR at 1:15pm. We are scheduled to land in Miami at 3:35. Then we leave to head home to San Francisco at 8:05pm and arrive 10:45 local time. Please pray for the flight schedules to be on time and for an easy trip through customs. We miss all of you and will see you soon.
Dominican Republic Team News
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
July 24
Monday, July 23, 2012
July 23 a.m.
July 23 p.m.
Birthday Shoutouts
Saturday, July 21, 2012
July 20
Today, we went to a local church and spent the entire day working on a building that the church uses for their children's programs. We worked on putting a ceiling up, framing an interior wall and demolishing a section of a concrete block wall. We ended up having quite a bit of idle time during the work, due to not having all of the neccesary supplies for the project. Once we were missing items, the Dominicans we were working with would run out to get the neccesary item, which happened several different times throughout the day. We also had to make do with the tools we had available to perform the work. The block wall we ended up taking down with framing hammers. We ended up having paint rollers but no trays. Throughout the challenges, each of the team members kept a good attitude and worked hard, when there was work to do. The weather today was clear in the morning and a little more humid than yesterday. After lunch it rained hard several times. This actually helps to relieve the humidity some during the rain, but when it stops raining it is more humid. Many of us run outside when it begins to rain to cool off a bit. We are adjusting to the weather, but it does tire us out quicker than we would like. We all have a greater appreciation for air conditioning. We have also learned that cold showers are a blessing. Not much need for hot water here. At the end of the day we returned to the base to a nearly full swimming pool and enjoyed a refreshing swim in the pool. During our evening session we spent time in small groups praying for the 7 spheres of the Dominican Nation. The 7 spheres were: Business; Family; Media & Communications; Arts & Entertainment; Government & Law; Education and Church. We followed up the prayer time with worship. After worship we and the Ywam staff prayed over a young man by the name of Bobby who had come to the base a couple of days before us. He is 20 years old and will soon be starting his third year at Indiana. He left out earlier today to head home to Chicago. We are looking forward to a day off tomorrow to go explore the beach and some of the city here. After a long hot days work, this will be very refreshing.
July 21
Hello, this is Abigail, writing today's post. Today was an awesome day! We got to sleep in an entire hour later (8:30 whoop whoop!) and then we prepared to go to the beach. The beach is about a 10 minute walk from the base where we are staying. It was beautiful! Light colored sand and blue, clear, warm water (Total opposite to the beach in California). We all had a great time playing in the water and splashing around. John, our YWAM leader, warned us about swimming to the areas where the bottom was covered in seaweed in case there were sea urchins (Because they would sting). All was going fairly well, we had a chance to buy some souvenirs and then it was back in the water. I was with Josh and Matt in the water when I sorta tripped onto the seaweed. Oh my goodness! Instant pain shooting up my leg, and first with the shock of the hurting I wasn't sure what happened. I stood up out of the water and yelled out, "Is this what it feels like to be stung by a sea urchin?!" No one was quite sure. Within minutes it seemed to be inflamed or something because it was bright red and clearly, very swollen. After a painful walk up out of the water and onto the beach, I was able to lay down. I took some benyadryl and advil (Don't worry mom, I'm fine.) and slept for a bit while my Clairene rubbed my back and took good care of me (What else are bestfriends for?). John later said that he could tell I was a shopper because everytime a vendor walked by I would sit up and say, "What are they selling? Is it a good deal?". After resting a bit I felt much better and there was no more swelling and we all managed to walk to a restaurant for lunch where we got some AMAZING pizza and pasta. After another 10 minute walk back to the base we all got to rest for a while before eating super good tacos. We started a great game of Silent Football (Whaddup, Mark?) before a crazy/freaky/awesome/exciting discovery was made. A HUGE TARANTULA!! The YWAMers who were near by were shocked at its ginormous size! So, after taking what seemed like a million pictures it was time to "take care of it". Rod found a large board and killed it so that it wouldn't poison anyone/thing and, as one of the Spanish speaking girls living on base, described to her brother "He went KABOOM KABOOM on the tarantula". So, it's been an eventful day and I hope everything at home is going well. Te amo mas, Abigail.