Day 12 - Saturday

                Today I woke up and learned how to make Bananas with Cinnemon. I ate breakfast, and Johnny came over and shared with me Matthew 9, which reads:

[ ⁹As jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

¹⁰ While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. ¹¹When the Pahrisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹²On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ¹³But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrafice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”]

It was really nice to talk with him about the verses, and what he thought about them. He is truly a spiritual leader, and I am so blessed to have him as a friend. We hung out more, and the other American girls came over to eat lunch with Christian and I. They were nice girls but didn’t seem to enjoy being in Peralta much, which kind of upset me. After we ate we drove up to the hospital and visited Mercedes who is a member of the church. She seemed like she was in good spirits, but it was sad to see her and all the babies who were there. Afterwards Calvin, Johnny, and I played basketball against some other people at the school. We won! But I played barefoot and got blisters on my feet! I showered and went to church with Franchesca, Zedekias, and Franchellis, then on a date to the Camboya game with Christian! (joke, but seriously, we went) Tons of fun! Can’t wait till the game tomorrow!

Day 11 - Friday

                I learned how to make hot chocolate today with Eudocia, and she made me pancakes for breakfast! We went to Azua to her sister’s house, and she got her hair cut at a salon… we were there for 4 hours! Absolutely crazy!! We came home, and didn’t have enough time to eat and go to church, so we just ate dinner and hung out at the house. She made us Lechosa for desert, which is similar to a milkshake but with fruit. This one was with Papaya.. delicious!!! I hung out with Johnny and Christian and let them look at all the pictures on my computer from spring break, they loved it!

Day 10 - Thursday

             Today I woke up and Wendy told me we were going to work on stuff for “La Semana de los Jovenes”, which is a camp the church is having for kids in the community next week. It was fun, we created portfolios for all of the kids with construction paper, had lunch and just hung out with some people from a church further up the mountain. Aftwards Estelle and I left and went to the prayer gathering, and then I came home to the Pastor’s and saw my new room! It was beautiful! They also have a bathroom inside of there house now 
which is very nice. Tonight, I will sleep in their house for the first time! I am very excited!

Alisa and I

Finished making the file folders

Estelle looking beautiful

All the file folders! (made to look like bags)

The new kitchen! so much more space!

My room!

The new bathroom!

Day 9 - Wednesday

            I was sick the entire day with a stomach virus, (awful), and literally couldn’t get out of bed. Wendy and Chita made me soup and Saday made me the lemonade. They were so good to me. Lots of people stopped by to see that I was okay, which was extremely nice. The pastor called and told me to eat fruit, so Wendy made me a fruit bowl. She also gave me medicine to help with my upset stomach. The “Oracion” today was at Saday’s so I went out on the porch when everyone came over and joined them. They sang Open the Eyes of My Heart so that I could sing in English which was really nice of them. I love spending time in prayer with them, it is very refreshing. When I felt a bit better, I went with Wendy over to the Pastor’s to work on some stuff for “La Semana de los Jovenes”, or week of the children.  That was fun, and I shared with Wendy some things I learned at SB2W like the I’m Third motto and other little things. I like being able to help out in that way and spend time with her. I went back to Wendy’s to sleep for one more night because I wasn’t feeling well still. 

Day 8 - Tuesday

When I woke up today, Chita told me I was all hers, and that I could not go over to the Pastor’s because they were cleaning the house for me… I was very excited to see it and the new parts! While I hung out at Wendy’s for the morning, Johnny came over to hang out, and talked to me a lot about his story, and how he came to know Christ. He told me that he is great friends with Cheito, and when Cheito was saved, he noticed such a difference in his life. He wanted to know more. He said he got talking to the Pastor, and that the Pastor had confidence in him when nobody else did. He started to cry, and although I didn’t understand everything he was saying, I understood his tears and how he felt about his relationship with God, and the radical change it caused in his life. It was a really special time we had together. He had me videotape it so that I could share it when I get home, which I am glad about. We then went to an “Oracion” or a prayer gathering of all the younger members in the church, such as Melody, Melanie, Estelle, Saday, Ezekiel, Raphalito, Kika, Genesis, and more. It was cool to see how eager they are to grow in their faith and support one another at such a young age. Most of them are only 15 years old, and I was really moved by that. The girls needed to practice their dance for the Camboya game, so we went to the church. While we were there it started to downpour like I have never seen in my life, and continued for about two hours. I watched as a bunch of kids had a fight throwing tennis balls at one another in the street, while other people were bathing out in the rain. It was crazy! We were stuck in the church, and finally Estelle and I decided to leave. We ran to her house in the rain. I showered in Wendy’s backyard in the rain (first time for everything), and then some people came over to the house. I talked for a long while with Raphalito and one of his friends about the differences between the US and the DR. He told me how badly he wants to move to the US and go to school at PBA. It really hit home how lucky I am to live where I do and have the opportunity to study at a Christian University. I want to talk with Mark a bit about the posibillity of Raphalito coming to the US. Overall, it was an amazing day, and I never could have anticipated so many events! 

Day 7 - Monday

This morning I hung out with Saday and Estelle, and looked through some magazines with them. They were talking about wanted different types of makeup, and told me it was very expensive and they could only buy it in the capital, and that they only go to Santo Domingo once a year! I decided that I could give them each a mascara and eye liner of my own, and they were so extremely excited. It made me very appreciative of the things that I have, and the access I have to virtually anything I could ever want. I went to the Pastor’s house, and took a ride with Johnny on his motorcycle! It was so much fun! He took me on a tour of the part of Peralta that is further up the mountain, and said soon he would take me down the mountain and show me things down there. At first I was pretty nervous but it was actually really fun. When we got back, Calvin was making a door out of metal pieces for the new part of the pastor’s house. Quite the handyman, I think he knows how to do absolutely everything. I let Daicey borrow the Alchemist to read, and I hope she likes it as much as I did!

Genesis making me 'breakfast' with water (her friend to the left)

Johnny and Franchellis on the motorcycle

Calvin the toolman

Zedekias, Jonny, Myself, and a bunch of kids!

Day 6 - Sunday

The men working on the Pastor’s house are almost finished with it, which means I will be able to sleep there from now on! Very exciting! Today, I got a manicure and pedicure from Lucy and Dorca’s aunt, who paints nails for all the women in Peralta. She did an amazing job, and does it much differently than the Asians in the United States! I think it was better than any manicure or pedicure I have ever had, and it was also free! I also played some basketball today with a bunch of boys which was lots of fun. They kept calling me ‘la americana’ which I didn’t like very much. We also went to a church service at night, which wasn’t boring, just tiring to try and understand the spanish. It is very different than church I am used to, but a great place to meet more people who love the LORD. We went to the basketball games afterward which was tons of fun because the people are so into it! There are more people at these games than I expected, and they treat it like the NBA. I have a favorite team, Camboya, don’t know what it means or if that’s the correct spelling, but I can’t wait to watch the next game!

Making cement

The workers and I

The Ramirez Family, - Ezekiel and Ingrid, + Zekedias and Franchellis

Lucy and I got twin pedicures!

Coolest manicure ever!