[Famous Last Words]

As I sit here and write, I have one day left in the DR. My time here has gone so quickly, and yet, I feel like a different person than the girl who got off the plane in Santiago three months ago. That girl was wondering if she had made the wrong choice. She wondered if it would have been better to stay in the States with her friends and her fiancé for her final semester of college. That girl thought that she might not be able to handle being away from everyone she knew for so long while trying to teach a group of students whose native language is different from her own.

However, I sit here feeling like a different person. I am a girl who has struggled while being here, who has definitely had days I wished I was home. And yet, I am much stronger than I was when I left. The night before I came, I was wishing I could turn back the clock to when I decided to teach overseas. I wanted to go back, to make the decision to stay in Ohio and do my teaching during the day and come home to friends and comfort at night. I cried while going through security at the airport (not the highest point of my life), but when I got on the plane, I felt peace. Ever since I have gotten here, I have had that peace. Through the good days and the incredibly bad ones. I knew I was supposed to be here, and I did not regret coming.

Nick wrote me a letter before I came that had a lot of positive reasons for why I was coming here to help me remember why I wanted to in the first place. That letter has proved to be true in every positive area he pointed out. (He is pretty good at helping me stay positive about things that seem terrible to me at the moment). Because I have been here, I have gained great teaching experience in both Language Arts and ESL, I have become much healthier, Nick and I have been able to grow in our relationship greatly despite the distance, and I have learned better how reliant I am on God for every need. I would not trade this experience for anything. Not even the couple of days I left school just to go home and cry made me wish I had never come. Those days were important, maybe even more important, than the days I came home feeling pretty good about myself and my teaching. It is through the struggle that we grow.  That is scripture focuses so much on suffering.

“but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint…” (Romans 5:3-4)

“for it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake” (Philippians 1:29)

“for his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him…that I may share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:8-10).

Suffering is an important part of becoming more like Christ. I think this suffering is something I have gotten only a taste of here, but it has been teaching me.  It has produced endurance in my faith, and I believe that I now have an even deeper hope in Christ. I pray that this (along with my growing Spanish skills) will not leave me when I leave the DR.

I took some pictures, and I had a lot of happy moments, but I also feel as if I suffered. I suffered while doing work that Christ had for me to do. It was hard, and it was not always fun. However, the reward I see in my life is evident. I was not here on vacation, I was here on a mission, and I like to think it is a mission that I will continue on even once I leave the DR.

        So if you ask me "How was it?!" when you see me next, know that I am not going to respond saying "It was good!" because it was so much more than that. And, despite the fact that I am getting pretty sad about all of the goodbyes I will have to say today, know that I am excited to see you (as in my family and friends) when I am State-side again.

Cliff-Jumping, Kayaking, and Cross-dressers

It’s Semana Santa, folks! In other words, it is spring break. I will not lie, I was greatly looking forward to a week off of school. I had a pretty rough stretch there for a while, and it was nice to see a light at the end of the tunnel. I had a lot to look forward to, because I have had a pretty wonderful spring break so far.

I was able to go on a few little trips, which were all equally wonderful. First of all, I was finally able to go to 27 Waterfalls! I first heard about this place on my ride from the airport to Jarabacoa right after I had arrived in the Dominican. The longer I have was here, the more I heard about it, and the more I heard about it, the more I knew I needed to go before I left the country. Basically, you hike up a mountain for a while, and then you jump and slide down 27 different waterfalls. Sounds pretty amazing, right? Well, I was finally able to go with a group of Doulos people on Saturday. Because of recent storms, there has been some erosion and we could not jump in the first half of the waterfalls. We got to do the last twelve, however, and those are the biggest ones! I jumped from some pretty nice heights, landing in some rather chilly river water. I loved it. Our guide said I was “muy valiente” at the end of the trip when we were walking back. Either he was saying it to be nice, or he was worried that I was maybe a little too brave for my own good, considering I practically tripped every time I stepped on a rock, and yet I still wanted to jump off the highest cliff three times in a row.  Either way, I was flattered.

After this, I rode in the back of a truck for about an hour and a half to get to the beach. Tina and Joe Atkinson graciously allowed me to stay with them at their beach condo for the night before I headed to a resort the next day with some girls from staff. Their condo was beautiful. The location was in the middle of a busy beach town, but it was very private and blocked off from the other locations. I was able to go swimming in the infinity pool, walk along the beach with Max, Emily, and Ana, and relax on the back porch in the evening while looking at the water.  It was much better than the alternative of riding home in a cramped car just to ride back to almost the same place in a cramped car the next day.

Finally, on Sunday, I was at the resort with five other girls who are on staff at Doulos. We went to an all-inclusive resort for two nights and three days. (Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for paying!) Other than the very frightening entertainment (cross-dressers dancing to Spice Girls and Dirty Dancing), we had a great time. (There were some good entertainment options. We watched an African show that had some pretty great dancing, and we watched a magic show where the magician danced to the song “Sexyback” while holding a rabbit, which he turned into a chicken, and then a goat. That part was pretty impressive. The dance was the best part, even with the impressive tricks.) I got a massage, laid on the beach, swam in the pool, walked along the shore, and kayaked in the ocean. On top of all of that, I did not even get a sunburn! (success!) Overall, I had a pretty great trip. I am so thankful the girls invited me! It was nice to get away.

[here is a picture of the group I went with]

However, despite the niceness of the resort, it got me thinking. Being at a resort in the Dominican does not feel like being in the Dominican at all. In fact, I almost forgot where I was. For all I knew, I was in Florida or South Carolina. The comforts you find in the States were everywhere, and the Dominican culture was squelched from the resort life. Being staying in the Santiago airport for three days would be a better picture of Dominican life than staying at a resort. I just wonder how many people come to the DR to stay at a resort and then perk up and say “Oh! The DR? I’ve been there!” I would argue that no, you really have not been to the DR. Sure, you have stepped foot on Dominican soil, and you may have even helped their economy a little bit. However, the Dominican you saw inside the gates of the resort is a completely different place than what lies outside. I wish those people could experience the true Dominican Republic, not just nice resort side. They are missing so many great things, and some pretty eye-opening things as well.  Do not get me wrong, I do not think it is bad to come to the DR and go to a resort, I just hope that people understand what they see at the resort is not truly a picture of the DR.

Aside from that rabbit trail, my trip was great. The day after I got home, however, I was sick all day. I had some sort of stomach thing going on. I felt nauseous all day and had some sharp pains after I moved too much. I slept for a long, long time (12 hours one night, 2 during the day, and about 14 hours the next night), and it went away. I could not believe how tired it made me. I guess someone I know had a similar sickness last week and slept for 18 hours straight and was fine. I am just glad it is over.

Now I just have a wedding to go to on Saturday, church for Easter on Sunday, and less than two weeks left in the DR! Time is flying by. I will be seeing you people very soon!