landslide.fleetwood mac

This past week was...awesome! I don't even really know how to explain it fully, and if I tried, this blog would maybe be a bit too long. Being here has been wonderful, and I have known this is definitely where God called me, but it was not until this week that I truly felt it. I felt the passion I have for each of the students in my classroom and for the kids in the villages especially Chigs. I will give you a lil look see of my past week...We had a highschool group of about 35 people from Austin come. Let's just say we were a little cramped in the casa. Not going to lie, I was somewhat dreading the week, not because of the help but because of the small personal space. At the end of the day, we are exhausted, and sometimes all I want to do is hide away and read a book or get on my computer. With 35 extra peeps, this is not possible. On a more positive note, they ended up being an awesome group who were very mature for their age, and them being here allowed me and Katy to do some of the group activities because group members were helping with los tweems. That is where the fun began. Monday and Tuesday after school, we took the preschoolers to the playa. Monday was assigned for Ashley/Katy's class, and Tuesday was for Cristina/my class, but I went for both days. The kids were beyond excited. They sang some beach chants in the car, and right when we got to the beach, they ran straight out to where we were headed. I took as many pictures as I could of them running from the waves, getting buried in the sand, and running around in their lil undies. If you are on facebook, you can see pics of the cuties on there. Otherwise, email me, and I can send you some.
Wednesday was the usual go after school for house visits time so Katy and I went to Chichigua and took four of the group members to Rebeka and Jeson's House. If you have read my previous blogs, you are probably thinking, "Hmm...house visits...shouldn't you be visiting more than their house?" And my response would be yes we do visit other houses, but I cannot help stopping by their casa every time. Their family is so loving. Anyways, their dad Soni talked to the four boys from the group for a bit while I sat with Yesica (she is the one who always tries to teach me Spanish). She brought a children's book in English to me and started to try and read it. I was so impressed and helped her along the way. After some pages, Yesica (who is in one of the pictures toward the end of this blog) and her sister grabbed a spiral and asked me about the English alphabet. I then proceeded to write each letter also saying its sound and a word that starts with it. All that to say, I gave a mini English lesson to these girls who had such a strong desire to learn it. Sometimes, in this culture, people expect things from you without wanting to work for anything. With Yesica's family, I have learned this does not apply to them. It was awesome to see their dad Soni (who knows seven languages) instilling in his children the same desire he has to be educated. After leaving their house, we resorted to finding Ronal to cut down some sugar cane for the group members y Katy and watched the Chigs boys play some futbal. Yes, I am holding a machete in the picture below :).
Friday was my turn to take care of Los Tweems, but I had told Yesica I would try to come to the afternoon Bible class. Thankfully, Sharla did not mind so I showed up only to see that Yesica did not show up because she had to take care of her baby brother. The majority of the afternoon class are some rowdy boys who love to cause "trouble" and beat each other up (do not worry...it is always playful). The sad part about all of that is I love these rowdy boys. I do not have a brother but have secretly always wanted one in the Blackwood fam. When I go to Mexico, I love play fighting with some of the boys there I have known for a long time...I know, mature right? So class begins, and the boys will be boys, or I guess I should say the boys were being boys. I talked about Ernesto in my last blog who gave me a ring he made. This time he gave me a gold colored one that had a heart on it. I love it besides the fact that it turns my finger green haha oh well, I am just glad I am becoming buddies with the Friday kids. We ended early and let them play outside with some of the soccer balls. Sili, one of the super sweet older boys from Pancho Mateo who knows English, had his basketball with him and was bouncing it right outside the classroom door. Naturally I had to go up to him and steal it away, which turned into a "dribbling take the ball away from the other person" game inside the classroom...oops. Soon, Ronal and Ernesto joined in, and we started a game of keep away. At one point. Sili jumped on the table pretending to dunk the ball, which I thought we would for sure get in trouble for if anyone saw. Ya I know, I am supposed to be the responsible teacher who is making sure everyone gets homes safe, pshh how could I resist a game of basketball. It was finally time for them to go home, and I said to Sili, "Some time soon I need to come to Pancho and play you in basketball", which lead him to say, "Today!" I had to get back to taking care of the twins at home, but I will let you readers know when that happens and how it goes.
Yesterday I went with Katy to meet Robin for a birthday partay in Chigs. Katy and I brought Coke, and Robin brought the cookies. For a majority of the time, I chased Memo my cutie valentine around and carried him upside down around the village. I also promised Yesica (pictured above) and Sara that I would take them to the beach sometime soon, which I think will be so fun.
All in all, I have started to see myself more courageous to form relationships with these kids, getting more involved in playing with them or visiting their homes, which has really been great for me to stop and think about. Even though I do not speak their language, the Lord is so much greater than that. By just hanging out or simply saying, "Hola, como estas?" the Lord has continually provided openings for me. I have started to understand more Spanish and speak choppy sentences, but please continue to pray for me in that area.
So sorry this blog is now a novel, but I just could not stop...Love you all soooo much, and I will be seeing some of you in less than two weeks :).

Your Hands Are Cold.Dario Marianelli

Cutest/Funniest Part of my week...so I got to school Wednesday, and Cristina did not have a lesson plan ready for the morning. La letra K was the new letter of the week, and if you know Spanish, you would know that you are super limited when it comes to teaching children different words to help remember the letter K. She gave me koala and karate, hmm not so helpful when coming up with something in a matter of minutes. With a bit of help from Ashley, I told Cristina that the kids could do some karate moves during carpet time, and then I would do the lesson of my name where Profe Kendall was written at the top of a sheet of paper. I would go over individually with each student that my name starts with la letra K, and after a few times of repeating that, they would have to draw a picture of me. Cristina had me read Dora during carpet time, which I once again butchered and was not ready for at all, and then she asked me to teach them karate. Sometimes I think she thinks I am tricking her and know more Spanish than I say I do...trust me on this one, I have no tricks up my sleeves. I laughed inside having no idea what the heck I was going to say. I pointed to la letra K, asked what it was, then said, "La letra K es para karate." Complex, eh? Right then and there, I started doing karate moves and tried to get them to do the moves also. They looked at me like I was crazy. I would punch and kick and say the sound for K at the same time. Finally, Cristina said something to them, and they followed along. They loved it! Yes you are right. This was the cute part. Now the funny part comes with the lesson of drawing a picture of me. Modeling is important for teaching so I did my own drawing of myself to show them (btw my example of my name looks pretty shabby in the pic above. I of course made theirs cuter). Ok the modeling thing was to try to make you all think I know what I am talking about. Really, I drew it so they would not look at me weird when I tried to explain in Spanish what to do. I go through the first table, and apparently I wear no clothes, have huge hair, or have really stick-like long fingers :). Next, Ambiorix comes and sits by me. Everything is going great, well until he is done drawing the basic stick figure of me. Usually, I would have to tell them, "Yo necesito un camisa, pantalones, y zapatos." Before I could even say that, Ambiorix reaches over to my drawn picture and decides to add two details to it as you can see from the pic up above. If you were wondering why I put up such an inappropriate picture on my blog, well now you know why. He immediately looked at me and gave me that cute lil Ambiorix smile that he always gives. I felt like I was Will Ferrell in the movie Anchorman: "I'm not even mad." I started laughing along with him, and then told him to put his paper in his bucket. Awesome.

Best Part of my week...I went to Chichigua like usual Wednesday afternoon with Katy and two people who are visiting the DR. As we were walking them around Chigs, one of the boys from our Bible school on Fridays walked by. I remembered his name from Robin and Cara, but I had never talked to him before. I do not know where the urge came from, but I looked at him and said, "Tu nombre es Ernesto, si?" Ernesto smiled, said yes, and like an embarrassed junior high boy naturally ran away. Now, fast forward past Thursday and Friday during the day. I got really sick those two days so I was kinda down in the dumps...haha no pun intended. I am so mature, and I bet attractive now too. Anyways, we all went to dinner Friday, and when Robin got there, she took a silver ring off her finger and gave it to me. She said it was made by Ernesto! Yesica gave it to Robin to give to me because he was too embarrassed. Let me back it up to say, these rings are no ordinary rings. The boys in Chichigua make them for fun, and they are sold nowhere. They at first used pesos to make them then decided to use pipe metal instead. After they get the metal into a ring, they put star-like designs on it. I have been wanting one for a long time, but since I did not know any of the boys or ever attempt to talk to them, this was not possible. Not only did getting the ring completely make up for the awful past two days, but it reminded me how important our relationships are with these children.

Most interesting Part of my week...Saturday we went to a seminar in Santiago about Islam. It had my attention the whole time, and I learned some pretty crazy facts about the religion, such as:
*Muslims pray five times a day, which most know, but what you probably did not know is if they miss one of those five prayers, they are already sentenced to 40,000 years in Hell.
*Muslims believe in the Trinity: God, Mary, and Jesus. God had relations with Mary, and then Mary had Jesus.
*A majority of Muslims have not even read the Koran/Qu'ran.
*Only 5% of Muslims are extremists that either support or are terrorists.
*Most say that Islam is the fastest growing religion, but that is true only because of family growth. Christianity is the fastest growing by conversion.
...hope you enjoy the facts! The speaker was a man from Closed Door Ministries and was one of the most legit missionaries I have ever seen/heard.

Side note for the blog...I had a dream last night that I was waiting at Burger House for my meal when all of a sudden Michael Jordan walked by and started talking to me. I would like to challenge you all to beat that dream. I do not think it is possible!
ps. I will be visiting home in 4 weeks! kinda crazy to think about.

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!