Isaiah 40...my strength

Ok well I have been busy...actually I have no excuses to why I have not blogged in two weeks. Lack of desire maybe. But here I go...

Whenever I have my rough moments here, I immediately think of the passage Isaiah 40 that I mentioned about in an earlier blog. It gives me the strength to hope and understand that any worries, burdens, or doubts I have, God is so much greater, and it is foolish to even think for a second that He cannot handle it. Here are some of the key verses me gusta:

:12-14 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance? Who has understood the mind of the Lord, or instructed him as his counselor? Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding?
:25-31 "To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One. Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.
Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God"? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

I have truly loved being here and know this is exactly where God wants me to be right now, but I have realized no matter where you go, the Lord still puts trials in your way to help you grow stronger, especially in your relationship with Him...trust. Wednesday night and early Thursday morning were one of those rough times. We had Thursday morning prayer, and each of the girls prayed for me. I cannot even begin to explain to you how grateful I was for that, and how much it meant to me. We set off for school, and I already started to feel more peaceful. We did the morning ritual of singing songs and breakfast time, which led to story time. Cristina decided we would take our kids outside for this, which I was pretty excited about, and she did a few things before asking me to read a book about hugs (in which i had already read a couple of times and said un as if it was the pronunciation of une in Francais...smooth). Cristina and I were both sitting on an already slightly broken lawn chair while I was reading the books. After I was done, Cristina asked the kids a few questions, and on the last one, they all pointed to me and started running. The next thing I know, the chair folds, and I am on the ground with about ten boys and girls hugging me. I was laughing so hard, and I knew, at that moment, my day was going to be just fine! We went to Chichigua after school for the second day of a Revelation study, and I sat with Yesica (Jessica) who I have mentioned before. We doodled and laughed the whole time, which was okay because I had already missed half the lecture from the morning...probably should have paid attention, oops. I then went out to the soccer field with Robin and Cara to play with some of the kids and watch some of the older boys play soccer. While this was going on, Robin asked if I had ever tried sugar cane before. Once I said no, she called out to Ronal who disappeared in the sugar cane field with a machete and came back with some. When you eat sugar cane, you have to tear it off with your teeth, suck on it, and spit it out. It wasn't so bad! Except for the fact that it hurt my teeth to tear it off. Naturally, I did the side bite my dad always makes fun of me for. In the picture above, Jeson decided to get some too and eat it with me. If you have not already noticed, Jeson, Rebecca, and Yesica are all related and are some of my absolutely favorite people here. Every time I am around them, they hold my hand, and I have started to realize how much I love holding hands, funny eh. Their lil ones are so precious! All of this to say, my day ended up being absolutely wonderful, which led me back to the passage Isaiah 40. The Lord gives us strength in our time of need when we put our trust in Him.

Two side notes:
1) Appreciate water and all its goodness. We have been without water now for four days. That may not seem like a big deal, but when you have a set of los tweems to bath, a sink full of dishes, toilets to flush, a shower for your stinky self, etc...well you get the point.
2) Katy, Ashley, los tweems, and I went to the beach Friday for Dia de Independence from Haiti in a twelve passenger gua gua with at least 24 people inside.

LOST Mountain

So...I will never complain about the Turkey Trot, eva again. Today I hiked up the mountain next to my neighborhood I frequently like to call the LOST mountain. Earlier this week, Anne and Ashley decided that Sunday was going to be the day we conquered the hike. Knowing I may not get this opportunity again while I was here, I immediately caved and joined in the decision along with Katy. At the same time, I knew I was in no shape to do this. The best line of the day came from Katy at the end of the climb, best put, "I almost puked, and then died." We got home from church around twelve, changed, and set off. I knew I needed to eat something, but I grabbed very minimal too worried that I would regret eating too much as we hiked. We started off walking through a couple of towns along a not so steep road, and that is when my pride kicked in. I thought oh psh sure I can do this, easy. I was way too quick to speak! Soon after, the steep parts dominated me. It took us two hours to get to the top. We got a bola (ride) along the way for a few minutes, but it was way too short. Thankfully the majority of the hike was shaded, not to mention beautiful, so that helped. Every once in awhile, we would stop and take in the scenery, which was incredible! You could see other mountains, cliffs, random homes scattered about, and the ocean. I would have to take in the scenery while at the same time catching my breath, which never wanted to be caught :). We finally got to the top, which I thought would never ever happen, and I wish I could describe the view we had. I would not do justice so I took some pics of course. You could see the whole town of Puerto Plata, which you can see from one of the pictures above. You might be confused about the picture with the hatch looking object with the number 21 on it...don't be. If you have seen Lost, it will all make sense. If you have not, then well do not worry about it. It further confirmed the name I gave the mountain because it would definitely be one of the many hatches on the island. I know at this point you are thinking I am such a loser (Kelly if you are reading this, I am mostly referring to you haha. and Mary you are loving this). So the way down the mountain is by going in a gondola, basically a cable holding a box...I know, safe right? I took a picture from the top where you can see one of the gondolas going down. It is very tiny, to prove how high up we were. I am terrified of heights, seeing that I hated the blob at camp because the part of jumping off the platform onto the blob freaked me out. The gondola though was actually quite nice. All that to say, climbing the mountain was one of the best decisions I have ever made even though I felt so defeated at different parts. If you ever come visit me, be prepared to have your own experience :). Two blogs in one week...booyah.

let it be me.ray lamontagne

Month and a half...craziness. The time is flying by! In less than two months I will be home for Easter for a week, and it will be such a weird feeling. Thus far, I have really enjoyed being in the DR and have loved seeing the process God took me through to get here, showing me why I am suppose to be here, and now seeing what He is doing through me. It really has been a humbling process seeing how much I did not depend on God before now and understanding how much I need to let go and let Him handle. He is amazing!

Like I said in a previous blog, the rain never stops. For awhile it was as if we had one big rain cloud that never wanted to go away. The smart person I was before I left (insert sarcasm) packed the day before and did not think it was necessary to search around for a raincoat. I packed my sombrilla I got in my stocking from Papa Lyle for Christmas, and that was it. (ps I had the coolest umbrella when I was little. It was a yellow taxi umbrella with a clear rectangle on one part to look through and a fake windshield wiper...awesome). Anyways, I went to Santiago Tuesday to help Sharla before she went back to Austin and left my umbrella in the taxi. smooth. Wednesday I woke up immediately realizing my misfortune, and my first thought was, well how about a trashbag :). Luckily, my roomie Katy had a poncho she let me borrow that looks like a clear trashbag, hence the picture above. I told a dear friend I would take a picture so there it is for the world to see. Thankfully, you can still see my rockin outfit for school so the poncho turned out to be very fashionable. In addition the sun finally came out for us chicas on Thursday, yay!

Thursday at school Ashley had her students make Valentines for our class and all the staff. I was standing in my classroom when all of a sudden Memo handed me a piece of paper. It was the cutest lil Valentine. Folks, I have myself a Valentine, so no worries and sorry to all those boys who wanted that chance. A Haitian boy about five years old who is precious beat you to the punch.

FYI, Friday I had my first music lesson with Robin. It was super basic but great. She taught me about notes, where the notes go, A-G, where they are on the piano, and about sharps and flats. My homework is to memorize where each note is on the staff lines/spaces. I have not had homework since fall '07, but at least this is interesting :).

Dia de San Valentin. Not going to lie, it started out pretty rough (and not because I am single :) haha). This week had its ups and downs, but this morning in particular was not my finest for personal reasons, in other words, I need lots of prayers from you guys. I know that is not specific at all, but the Lord knows what's on my heart, and that is all that is needed. Well anyways, Anne came over and offered me and Katy a ride to the beach. We were going to go to the usual Cabarete, but she suggested Sosua instead. Um, it was absolutely wonderful! The beach was more private and clean, and it had the most beautiful view of the Lost mountain wayyy in the distance. In addition, we ate some yummy chicken fajitas for lunch. At four we headed home to make an attempt at making queso, guac, and margs. While we made all this, we had a mini dance partay. I miss those very, very much. All that to say, my day ended up being one of the best Valentine's eva, well besides last year when Mary and I scarfed down a whole pizza by ourselves along with our students' candy valentines and watched Lost. As you can see, February 14th is a thrilling holiday for me every year without a doubt.

So I know I post my prayer requests on here quite frequently, but at the same time, I would love to hear what you are in need of in your life. If you have any particular prayer requests, I would love to hear from you and pray for you. Email me anytime you like (even if it is just to let me know how you are doing)!
ps Read Isaiah 40! This passage in the Bible is truly amazing and humbling. The fact that I even doubt God at times is crazy to think about after I read this chapter. This is probably one of the coolest passages I have ever read. Ok I'll stop...but really go read it.

brightest hour.the submarines

So this week was a bit slower than the others, but I will say my favorite part of the week was a dance partay Friday night with Jakob. I miss those wonderful dance partays in Ayrshire with my gfs so I put on a little old school Mariah and new Beyonce while Katy and I were making dinner. I looked over to see Jakob shaking his shoulders. I started dancing, probably looking real cool, and Isaak and Jakob were laughing at me...Jenna, I thought you said I had good dance moves? Anyways I pulled Jakob off the counter and he grabbed my hands and started dancing. I made him do a few twists, step side to side, and do a lil grapevine action. Sorry Jim, I will teach him the stanky leg next time :). All that to say, small things like this continue to put a smile on my face.

Wednesday night it was my turn to give my life story to all the girls. I had my mom send me a few pics when I was a kid till now, which turned out great. I started off with a fact from my birth that is probably a painful memory for my mom...I was over 10 lbs when I was born. chunk. I went on for maybe a little too long about my whole life telling some funny stories and some sad. It went really good. I was nervous at first and had a hard time at one part, but as a whole, it was nice sharing my life with these girls I already feel so close to and comfortable with. I did forget a few funny stories like Brooke telling Katy and I that if we gave her our candy, we would get jewels on our crowns in Heaven...what do you think happened, well yes, we ended up with all our candy in Brookis' tummy. When I finished up my life story, the girls then got to ask me all kinds of questions, like first kiss, craziest moment, what celebrity would I go on a date with (Mary, you know the answer). My craziest moment was with my sister, Ali Woods, and Kelly. We went pool hopping in a neighborhood where the backyards were facing a golf course. A man in a golf cart started chasing after us, and when we got in a backyard where we could escape, the man stopped his cart on the other side of the fence. Kelly and I stopped, hugged each other, and like the smart girls we were, pretended to be a tree together...shameful. Back to question time, the best part of it was when I mentioned how much I love music and how I wish I could play the piano. One of the girls I work with, Robin, told me she could teach me how to read music so now I will be meeting with her on Thursday afternoons when I am done with school. I am so excited, such a blessing!

Prayer request for the week: Since I have gotten here, I have not been feeling too good. Nothing too extreme, but my body feels very achy. In addition, I constantly feel fatigued (for those who know me well, this is normal :) I can fall asleep anywhere at anytime!). I talked to Anne about it because she is pretty much the expert about anything and everything. We came to the conclusion that the cause might possibly be that I am not getting enough iron. I am hoping that once I start taking iron, that will solve the problem. If you could be praying that this would go away, that would be great! As minor as it sounds, it really does affect my work and the relationships I am trying to build here. Funny fact, anemia can contribute to poor concentration...maybe that explains my ability, or shall I say my non-ability, to multitask...nah, I am just awful at it.

As a last note, for those of you who feel like you are going through hard times, I found the perfect verse for you. I was reading in Psalms this week and ran across Psalm 119.
verse 50 "My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life."
This verse is absolutely wonderful and is so hopeful. No matter what pain or suffering you might be enduring at the moment, always remember the bigger picture of God's gift to us.

Love you all.

breaking it up.lykke li

Spiders. hate em. never will enjoy their presence. Sunday night the roomies and I were watching Thomas Crown Affair on the bottom part of my bunk bed with our backs against the wall and the window open. There were about 20 minutes left of the movie when I looked to the space on the wall between my head and Sharla's only to see one of these (http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/995/80001188.JPG). Ew. Back in my first blog, I mentioned a spider just the same as this one in los tweems' room, except that one was not chillin next to my head. So after I saw this second one and probably made some girly squeal, Sharla then started to say as if it was totally cool, "I thought I felt something crawling on my head earlier." Ashley also played it cool, but I could definitely tell Katy felt the same as me, even though she did not act as girly as me. Being the cruel roomies that they are, okay maybe an exaggeration, they made me finish the movie while it was still crawling along the wall. Naturally, I could not focus, and when it was over, I made Sharla kill it despite the fact that they kill mosquitoes. This is no ordinary task because these suckers are super quick and jumpy. We usually keep the windows open at night for the cool breeze, but I have not opened mine since only to find out from Anne that they are inside the house and do not come from the outside...and Robin called me and Katy newbies for caring. I will always care. creepy.

Monday was a holiday here so we hopped in the truck to go to Cabarete, which is about 45 minutes away. The beach there is wonderful because you have the opportunity to watch the professional kite surfers out in the water. I do not know how they do that. It requires some major arm strength and the lack of fear of sharkys, scary. This weekend Sharla wants to vaca there with the tweems so she asked me and Katy to come with her. Weekend at the beach, with the occassional watching of Isaak and Jakob, not too bad :) Jakob calls me nendall now. Katy tried to teach him to say k-k-kendall to practice saying the k sound, and instead he now says k-k-nendall. No joke, every time he calls me over or to look at him he says that because he actually thinks that is my name. I know I should correct him, but it is just so cute! Jakob and Isaak just got stick horses for their birthday from Nana so all day long Jakob says "be horsey" to me, and for hours I run around the room in circles with him and Isaak pretending to ride a horse. I make all sorts of sound effects for them...ok I will stop there.

Side note for Wednesday morning at the preschool: I help Cristina out, but it is usually getting things done for her, helping the children with their manipulatives, or just plain being a kid with them during free time. I have not had the real opportunity to teach yet, obviously since I do not know the language, but Cristina asked me to read a book to them on this particular morning. The book had the sentences in English then in Spanish so I assumed she wanted me to read it in English. Ohhh absolutely not...I smiled and said "en Ingles?", and she responded also in a smile with "no, in espanol." I wish someone could have been recording this. It was a sight to see! I pronounced word after word wrong, read the story so slow, and found myself pronouncing the words like they were French words (for those of you that do not know, I took French for three years so when I say something in Spanish, I want to use a French twist :) ). Quite a humorous sight to see. At least I have a sense of humor about it, eh?

After school on Wednesday, I went with Ashley to one of the villages called Chichigua that sends kids to our preschool. Ashley goes every Wednesday to hang out with her students' families so I decided to join her this week. We got there and walked around at first, and I felt slightly overwhelmed. I just walked around and smiled at everyone having no idea what they were saying. This can be very intimidating. You really do get the feeling of what it is like for those who move to the US and do not know English. So we continued walking around and one of the families invited us into their home. When I say home, I mean a one room shack. My student Rebecca and Ashley's student Jeson lived there with their mom, dad, three sisters, and baby brother...more than a humbling experience. In addition, as I am feeling overwhelmed about not knowing Spanish or Creole, the dad starts speaking to me in English. This was a blessing from God for sure because it is rare to go into these poor villages and meet people who speak English, yet here was this man who spoke Spanish, Creole, English, French, and is learning Italian...again I felt humbled. I was so glad that for my first experience God provided me an opportunity where I could communicate with my student's parents. One of the daughter's named Jessica, who is absolutely beautiful, decided she wanted to give me a Spanish lesson so she started talking to me in Spanish, which was crazy because I followed a lot of what she said, and pointed to everything in the room, saying it in Spanish, and making me repeat it. She tried to give me her plain paper to take home to write words on (only paper she has) so I could bring it to Bible school, and she would check it. I have felt grateful about a lot of things, but I think this was one of the greater times. I want to keep writing about it, but I do not think I could express in a short paragraph how I felt at that moment. I could probably write another page about this girl, but I will move on for the sake of not rambling.

So beach weekend in Cabarete with Sharls, los tweems, Katy (aka teetee by Jakob), and I. You will probably hear about it in the next blog of course.
PS I have the whole week off before Easter, and I am trying to decide where to go. If there is a specific country, city, you name it in this vicinity (in the Caribbean or South America) that I should go to, let a girl know :) love you guys!

Prospekts March/poppyfields.Coldplay

Rainy season...all I can think in my head is "rain, rain go away. come again another day." It has been raining here nonstop, which I have been told is nice because after rainy season is over, you would do anything for a drop of rain...in other words it's blazin. The funny part about it all is that the people here are scared of the rain. When you step into a gua gua with an umbrella, people steer clear from the umbrella knowing water will drop off of it, or when you see the men on motoconchos driving, the driver is holding an umbrella while driving, safe. It is quite humorous! If it is raining without ceasing, barely any students come to the preschool because the parents think their children are going to get sick. On Wednesday, we only had a little group of them come so we did fun activities like fingerpainting (pic of Ambiolix...told him to smile, and he gave me a huge cheesy smile) and let them go early.

We all left Tuesday to go to the city Santiago. Tuesday night, the moment I did not think would happen till I went home, well, actually happened. We ate mexi food :). Of course it was not the exact same, but it was enough to fill the craving I have had since I got here, seeing that I eat mexi food at least three times a week probably more. If you could have only seen the smiles on me and Katy's faces when we were told that we would be eating at a mexi restaurant. We ordered queso curious to see what would come out, which ended up being a big plate of chips with carnival type cheese on top...no bueno, so I settled for the guacomole. I ordered chicken tacos and of course had Katy tell the girl in Spanish only chicken and cheese, no lettuce or all the rest of the nast toppings. So what do you think happened...tortilla, lettuce, chicken, cheese, and sour cream. If any of the people I worked with truly did not understand how picky I am, they definitely saw it at that moment. I slid everything off of the tort and picked out the chicken and cheese that did not have anything touching it. Shameful I know...

Wednesday morning, we woke up early and drove up a mountain to Jarbacoa. The scenery surrounding the mountain was other mountains and was absolutely gorgeous. We went to our positive discipline seminar at a school in Jarbacoa called Doulos Discovery School. Ok so this school was amazing...several buildings, a pond area, amphitheater, basketball court, cute outside cafeteria area, must I go on...the work that the Lord has done there is amazing, and the people that work there were very hospitable. If you are bilingual and want to teach in a foreign country, I would highly suggest trying to teach there.

Thursday was my wonderful roomie Katy's birthday (Ashley you are just as wonderful, don't worry :) ). We had pizza and Bon ice cream for dinner and dessert. When you don't have these lovely things at your disposal, you appreciate them so much more...and so we did, maybe even a little too much. We all scarfed down several slices of pizza and ate way too much ice cream, recipe for a stomach ache for us all. But it was delish! Afterwards, we had Katy tell us her life story. We are doing this every week from now on till we go through everyone. You are front and center spilling out all the fun, crazy, sad, and so on details of your whole life. Not going to lie, I am a bit nervous about this, but I am sure when my turn comes around, I will feel very comfortable in telling everyone my crazy life. After the person tells their story, everyone gets to ask questions about anything for 10 minutes. Katy did a great job with her life story because she was personal yet added some great funny touches all throughout it. After all of this, I went upstairs to finish the book A Voice in the Wind I have been reading for the past week. Okay so I am not much of a reader...but this book (and I'm sure the two other to follow it) was amazing. It was not your sugar coated Christian fictional story by any means. It was very descriptive in every part of it, whether dealing with war, romance, or faith. It reminded me of Redeeming Love where you read about a great romance, but that is not truly what the story is about. It has such a deeper meaning that challenges you in your faith, and if you have been in need of a new good series to read (for those of you who finished the Twilight series), go get it! Not gonna lie, I teared at the end of it, yes I just admitted that, but thankfully it's not over :).

I forgot how hard it is to blow up balloons. I mean I can do it, but after a couple, I thought I was going to black out. This is when you realize you are getting old...Friday was los tweems third birthday. Sharla made them a cake pictured above, which they only eat once a year on this special occasion (they are not allowed to eat anything with white sugar in it). At first I felt so deprived for them, but then if you don't know the difference between desserts and dinner, why distinguish that and have them eat something not good for the growth process. In addition, Sharla made them a fort and put on a movie with horses in it/the circus movie, which I think I have memorized. There is one song on it that makes me cringe, just ask Ashley :). Sharla, if you did not already figure out, is my boss in the matching scarf pictured above and is adopting los tweems Isaak and Jakob who live with us. She has been a great mother for them, providing the boys with everything she has and has been so selfless. I hope someday I can be like her when I become a mom...but hopefully that will not be for a long time haha.

For my last and final comment of this blog, I am now officially Kellogg Malkovich according to Anne, my boss in the picture with blond hair, who told us all, "I'm always good with names. I always remember them!" I am not sure where either of those names came from, but it makes me laugh along with the quotes "I always wanted to call her Jackie" and "What's your name?" (as Katy asks her a question. My ice cream almost went up my nose I laughed so hard). Anne is pretty funny, and if you do not know her, I suggest you do...oh wait never mind she does not have facebook because she is scared of it.

Miss everyone more than you know :)
ps the titles of my blogs are now going to be random songs that I like...basically I am not creative enough to come up with title names every week

C'est la vie!...oops

Sometimes I forget I live in a foreign country...and then a man on a horse rides by on our street every day, and it clicks. The sound reminds me of the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which both of my roomies have not seen, just not okay, along with The Labyrinth. So this was the second week with the roomies, and it has been pretty great. They are so easy to get along with, and we have become close very fast, which is such a blessing. When you have exhausting days and come home, it is nice to have friends who listen and encourage you, and Ashley and Katy are the perfect pair for that.

Monday and Tuesday I stayed home with los tweems and played all day. We walked around the neighborhood, played with playdough (of course I joined in), and did all the little kid things you can think of. It has been interesting learning all the individual characteristics of Jakob and Isaak and how you work with that. Sharla has been in the Sudan all week so Katy and I have been moms. I look like a mess all day and am continually saying "yay good job" or "do not touch that." I have been learning sign language little by little so it is a bit easier to communicate with Isaak and actually pretty fun to do.
Wed/Thursday I helped at the school. Wednesday was my first day to walk/ride a gua gua home by myself. I walked through the neighborhood of the school to the main road to catch a gua gua and got a couple of offers from randoms on motorcycles. You would think this would be creepy, but it actually is quite humorous. I just ignore them and keep on walking. A majority of the time I walk around Puerto Plata, I have my ring on my left hand finger and carry around los tweems so I have not had too many marriage offers yet :). Anyways, I stood by the main road for 10 minutes waiting for a gua gua, which is probably a funny site to the people who live here, random gringa on the side of the road just chillin. I then packed myself into the gua gua, said aqui! when I got to the neighb, and walked through my neighborhood to the house, which is always a wonderful walk since I am walking toward the view of the LOST mountain (ps I found a site where I can watch the new eps...amazing). Thursday at school the kids got to have about 30 minutes of play time, and I took this time to observe the difference between girls and boys. The girls went straight for the dolls and play backpacks while the boys ran around the room wrestling each other and attacking me with an alligator stuffed animal. Naturally I favored the boys after I tried to braid a doll's hair and failed, grabbed the alligator, and made my own attack. Next, the boys got to "read" books while the girls colored. I sat on the ground and tried to read some of the books to them, which was a huge failure. The boys looked at me funny because I pronounced almost every word wrong, awesome! I am sure Cristina thinks I am the worst since I act like a little kid and can barely read Spanish. I am learning though!
Friday, I went with Ashley to the two Bible classes we hold for various ages of kids at 9 and then 2. We feed them, teach a new Bible story, and have them do some form of art to take home. At the end of the day, Ashley and I headed for the main road to catch a gua gua, only for one to arrive that had at least 20 people inside. Here is a picture of a gua gua: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/123/340035427_521186369b.jpg?v=0. Now imagine me and Ashley sitting right by the sliding door face to face super crunched in, and if i reached my foot out just a little bit, I could touch the ground. The cobrador, guy who opens the sliding door and takes your money/hangs out the door if there are too many people, decided that he wanted to shut the door and position his body against mine...awkward...I am thinking at this point, there is no way they will stop, yet the DR continues to surprise me. The driver stops for three more girls, who somehow squish on my row, so you can imagine how close I am to the cobrador and Ashley. The rest of the way my face and Ashley's face were a few inches apart, and meanwhile the cobrador pops his face in by ours to say, "Where you from? Estas beautiful" (which led to my nervous chuckle because of the inappropriate sitch of how close he was and then him saying to Ashley "Estas happy?" referring to me). If only he knew why I was really laughing...

Prayer requests: continual prayer for me to pick up the language (both Spanish and learn sign), for me to be fully here and focused, for patience in everything
Love and miss everyone, no joke! I would love individual emails from you guys letting me know how your life is going and how I can also pray for you :)