Day 52: I'm home!!!!

Layovers only last for so long, but the extra anticipation made the homecoming that much more wonderful.

I went live on Facebook last night when I landed in Louisville, so the video of that is on my Facebook as it would not let me save and add here. I added below some photos my mom took of my homecoming hugs and etc. Thank you mom and dad for staying up late to come and pick me up from the airport. I love you both and appreciate all that you so for me! No words can really express how much I really care about you two and how much of an impact on my life you two are.

Until next time everyone! Thank you for following along the events, emotions and enjoyment of my internship with Project Manana in the Dominican Republic!

Day 52: On my way home

I cannot believe I have spent over 7 weeks here in the Dominican Republic. I have done so many things to help the staff do what they were called to do and I can only say thank you for the experience and time you all have spent with me as I worked alongside you.

It is a bittersweet thing coming home. I am sad that I have to leave the new friends I have made, but I am happy to be able to go home, share what all I have learned and done and hope to bring back people to experience the love and passion Brian and the rest of the staff have for sharing the gospel here in the Dominican Republic.

I had to get up at 5:30am to leave the guest house by 6am to catch my flight to Miami at 8:10am. I have an 11-hour layover...alone in the middle of a HUGE international airport. There are other flights home, but there is evidently a rule that you must travel with your bag and you can't change it after you check in your bag. So if I had wanted to change flights, I should have done it in Santiago.....with people who do not speak really good English..... Great idea! So after taking a FREEZING, almost two hour flight to Miami, going through customs and etc, eating at TGI Fridays (I ate a house salad and potato wedges which was two things that I didn't have down there,) I am now chilling out, waiting for the Arrivals/Departures screens to tell me which gate to sit at since I have many hours until my flight.

I took a video shortly before I left the guest house (or my apartment) this morning. I posted on my Facebook, but I am trying to keep everything logged on here.

Miami is a lot bigger than I would have liked it to be, but it is what it is...

***insert mental picture of me walking all across the airport to get something to eat and deal with customs and everything else during an eleven...... ELEVEN HOUR layover***

I took photos of my room and all of my bags packed before I left this morning. I couldn't believe I would be leaving here after spending almost two months away from my family, friends, fiancé and my fur baby.

I woke up with the sunrise this morning and I could not have enjoyed it more :) It was so peaceful and worth getting up this morning to see.

So, since I have until 9 pm to do something, I will just have to people watch for a while until it gets closer to time that I leave. All will be great when I can finally see and hug my family once again.

I will post a photo of me as I arrive at Louisville, KY tonight. Love you all and appreciate all those who followed along with me through my journey in the Dominican Republic.

Day 51: My Project Manana Friends

Everyone on the staff for Project Manana have been wonderful to work with and I am upset to leave due to the relationships I have created with these people over these past 7 weeks. I wish them all the best and that all of their future endeavors are blessed by God. Below are some photos photos of the staff and some stories I have of what they do and how they have impacted me personally.

This is a photo of my supervisor Brian Berman and his wife Carolina. Due to a small, language barrier, Brian shared both of their stories to each team that came down this summer. Each and every time, I teared up due to how the Lord worked in them at such a young age and helped them become the selfless, God-fearing man and woman of God that they are today. I was blessed to have worked alongside them as they were doing the Lord's work. I only hope God blesses them, their two lovely, beautiful children (not pictured,) and their marriage as he explained to me that the missionary life is hard as some can understand. I only hope their lives are used for the betterment of others.

Hugo and Selina have made an impact on my life more than they will ever fathom. With sharing their testimonies, I have really wanted to work on my spiritual walk and become more of a servant and better example with not only those I work with, but those who I go to school with or others I come into contact with. I am so excited for them to continue their walk and the plan God has for them here in the Dominican Republic. They will be expecting their first baby this January, so I am really excited for them too.

This woman right here has been the one who has helped me the most. Maxima, or as we call her Mami (mommy,) has helped me through each and every step of my internship. She is seen as everyones' mother here (but only literally to Carolina, Eury, Pamela and Ambar whom of which I will talk about later.) Through the two times I had a cold down here (TWICE,) she would stop what she was doing to make me chicken noodle soup when she found out I hadn't eaten that day; she had my best interest in mind when she made me drink an onion, home remedy drink to take care of my cough and cold symptoms too (and forever will make fun of me about it since I made a big deal about it each time they made me take it.) She has given me advice about marriage and children, what she thinks would be best to do in life through her past experiences and made me smile each and every morning. Although she only spoke Spanish, I would always enjoy the conversations we had, even if I didn't get each and every word she said. I made it a point to ask her each and every morning how she was, knowing she had already been up an hour or two at least before me to make sure the team, staff and I would have breakfast ready on time. She and I have talked and laughed and spent so much time together; I could see how upset she was when I told her the other morning I would be leaving in a few days. She sees me as another one of her daughters (she actually called me "mi hija" which is "my daughter" in Spanish.) I hope and pray that it is in God's will for me to come back down so that I can spend more time with this wonderful, strong-willed, loving woman.

This guy right here, Eury, is such a great guy. He is Carolina's brother and not only is he there when someone needs him, he has a great servant's heart; he's funny and really sweet too. He owns two businesses outside of being a driver for Project Manana. He always makes sure that everyone is at the right destination on time and has everything that is necessary for the construction jobs or whatever is necessary. His official title is Logistics Manager, but the work he does for Project Manana succeeds all that his job title entails. I am very grateful for the friendship we have made over these past few weeks. 

 

Ambar and Johan have been great help these past few weeks too. Ambar (one of Carolina's sisters) does a lot of behind-the-scenes work for Project Manana as the Project Coordinator, such as planning projects and making sure each team has the supplies necessary for each project whether they will be passing out shoes or water filters. She helps exchange the American money each team brings into pesos for them to spend here. She also goes to the grocery store the day before the team comes and buys all of the food that will be needed for the duration of each team's stay here. Johan, Ambar's boyfriend, is not only the P.E./ Bible teacher for the private school Project Manana started in San Pablo (a community in the town of Villa Gonzales,) but a Seminary graduate who works as a translator for the teams as he learns English for 4 hours each day (from 6-10 pm at night,) 6 days out of the week after the team's work day is over. I only hope that God blesses them as a couple and through their position with Project Manana. I have been able to work with them, laugh with them, spend time with them and I cannot say that they aren't meant for each other because they are such a cute couple! I wish them nothing but the best.

Wendy and Diogenes (both pictured to the right) have been nothing but smiles and joy. The two plan to be married in less than a month and I am so excited for them. Wendy is an English teacher for the same school that Johan works and a translator for Project Manana where Diogenes is the Sub-director for a program that Project Manana has begun within the male prisons called "Institute for Authentic Manhood." This program within their prison ministry helps teach the male inmates become a rehabilitated member of society through experiencing God's love from the staff and through discipleship workshops where they can choose a skill that will give them a way to express themselves and find self-purpose again. Both of them have made me laugh and I have enjoyed each and every conversation we have had. I wish them a happy marriage. 

Pamela, one of Carolina's other sisters (pictured with Mami and I,) does not directly work with Project Manana, but she has been a blessing to talk with as her smile and kind words can brighten up a room. The night I made dinner for the staff, she was there and made sure I knew that she enjoyed the dinner by telling me more than once how well it was, which really made me happy. I hope God blesses her and her future as she continues working in one of the local hospitals. 

Even though she hates getting her photo taken, Mariana (pictured left with Mami and I,) took a photo with me so that I could remember her. She is the one who makes all of the wonderful and delicious food for the teams and the staff. She is the one who is up before the crack of dawn so that everyone has breakfast on time for whatever the day may hold, slaves at the stove making us authentic Dominican food that I enjoy so much. I appreciate her even if she doesn't smile in the photo for I know that she is smiling on the inside to have been able to have had the chance to get to know me and spend time with me. (I don't mean to sound conceited right now at all.) She is very outspoken and is an awesome woman to have met. 

There are many other people on the Project Manana staff that are not pictured, but they have all impacted me in one way or another. I pray God blesses all that Project Manana does for this country and hope that they do what it is that God has planned for them to do. I love you all and appreciate all that you have done for me to make my internship the time of my life. 

Until next time! 

Nunca adios, siempre te veo pronto! Never goodbye, always see you soon!

Day 45 - 49: Quest Church

This team has been memorable. This group of twenty two happy souls ready to serve arrived in the Dominican Republic last Saturday. There was not a moment throughout this week where they were hesitant to start the work that needed to be done or going to play with the kids.

This group of people ranging from the age of 10 to over 50 all did their part to make a difference in the San Pablo community. This group spent time hosting 3 different VBS sessions in the afternoons as they spent the mornings working on the new preschool/ kindergarten school that has been steadily and quickly being built in just the time I have been here. Below are some pictures of them and the work they had done throughout this week, including sanding the classroom walls for primer, painting paint primer in the rooms and outside of the school and moving dirt piles and trash off the construction site. 

Quest Church felt the Lord call them to raise the money to have a cistern be put in for the school in San Pablo since the only water supply is unreliable water coming in only when it is pumped maybe once or twice a week into two barrels. Posted below is a photo (from left to right) of Tim (this week's team leader,) Brian and Ken (Quest Church's pastor) taking the first shovels to the ground where they would be digging the cistern. 

This team has been great to work with as they were full of smiles and ready to do whatever deemed necessary for this week. Here are some pictures of them below playing with the kids of San Pablo, hard at work in the nutrition center as well as a video of them singing "Father Abraham" at the third VBS session.

 

We went to The Food Truck Neighborhood last night and enjoyed Pito's Fritos churros. Posted below is a photo of the entire neighborhood with Pito's Fritos behind me and a photo of me and two of the team members, Josh (left) and Mike (right) as we enjoyed our churros.

 

The team leaves on Saturday and I am very thankful to have met some of these women and men of God and spend my last week with them before I make my journey home. Tomorrow is their beach day so I will be hanging back here in Santiago with Selina, the wife of one of the team leaders (Hugo) of Project Manana. 

I cannot wait to share photos with you Saturday of the staff I have met and spent my summer with. I will miss all of them dearly as they have all touched my life in one way or another. I only hope it is part of God's will for me to come again to the Dominican Republic. 

Day 50: Today's events

While the team went to the beach, I stayed behind to hang out with one of my local friends. She and I went to eat at a place called Oli's Place, which was not as well quality (service, food, and atmosphere) as we were expecting, but the cheeseburger I got hit the spot.

We both hung out, chilled, spent quality time together since she will be staying here with her husband and are unsure as of when we will be able to hang out again. We went to a national supermarket that carries many different food types from different places around the world. For example, this supermarket carried what her and I thought was a German type of sauerkraut with German writing on the label and everything beside an American brand of a similar product.

Asian was what was on the menu for dinner with fried rice and noodles, which was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. We had to hurry over there though since the restaurant was about to close, but she called ahead and got the food ready so all we had to do was pay.

I sat in on the last debrief with the team as Brian expressed what was the team's next step: re-entry. We talked about how coming to a place like this, doing all the work that we did, all the emotions we felt while down here, is going to chance our opinion and perspective on life. The only issue is that we want to try and express our feelings onto others and expect them to understand fully what it is that needs to be changed in life and what things we can do to help others.

I am happy to have met Quest Church and it will be a bittersweet moment to see this team leave tomorrow. I hope to meet up with them later this year when I make a trip up to Cincinnati to see everyone I have met over this summer from the Cincinnati area.

Two more days everyone!

Day 41 - 44: Chilling in the Dominican

It has been a very uneventful, rainy past couple of days.

I went to the grocery to make dinner for myself and some snack food.

I learned one, small lesson from being down here... When you are snacking rather than eating three square meals a day, you should be eating healthy food, or your health will relapse into another week of a cold. Before this last team got here, I got cold symptoms again for a couple days because I was eating junk food, rather than protein or fiber.

To fix this issue to start healthy snacking, I bought strawberries, which are good for you and taste great. I also bought almonds, lightly-salted cashews and cranberries so that I could make my own, healthy trail mix rather than spend more money for ready-made trail mix. Those who know me know that I do not care for almonds, but with the mixture of cashews and cranberries, it tastes good. I plan to critique and fix this concoction to make a better one with healthier options within the trail mix when I get home and after some research.

I went to Brian's house for a night to enjoy the view up there, but God decided that it was better for the earth to receive a downpour of rain instead. So, during the drive up to Ranch de La Paz throughout the afternoon and into the night, there was thunder and lightening as the vegetation received a healthy amount of water to grow.

The next morning, I woke up at 7 am wide awake and decided to make the most of it and write in my journal overlooking the beautiful scenery that Brian can see over his front patio gazebo.

I watched, listened and relaxed as the sun shone through the low-lying clouds in the valley, onto the trees and plants around me, watching them soak in the sun's UV rays, knowing they were creating the photosynthesis to keep themselves beautiful. 

My last team comes in a couple of hours, so I cannot wait to see what is in store for this week and the people I will be working with. 

Only a few days before I am on my way home though. I will miss this place for sure as I am very grateful for the time and experiences I have been given here. I plan to make the most of my last week here. Thank you Project Manana for the chance of a lifetime to work alongside you all and make a difference in the local's life as well as mine.

To a great week!

Day 35 - 40: Dance Camp, Church, Beach Day & Relaxation

This team from a Cincinnati dance studio called Encore Performing Arts came to the Dominican Republic to teach the girls in the San Pablo community a handful of different styles of dance, including tap, ballet, lyrical and jazz. With only 4 days to teach 7 dances, the girls separated the younger girls from the larger so that the dancers in middle school could teach the "littles" when the high school dancers could teach the "bigs."

Here are some of the photos of a few of the team members with local kids they bonded with throughout this week.

 


With around 4 - 5 hours of practice each day, the dance girls and the locals did their best and pulled of a very nice dance recital. The song that one of the girls danced a lyrical dance to was called "Unsteady" by X Ambassadors (video below.) The song in English is posted here.

I was really excited to see how the dances would end up. But I was a little more excited when some of the girls asked me to sing with them at church "Holy Spirit" by Kari Jobe. The video is sideways unfortunately, but since it was a live version that was being played, the song was over 6 minutes long; this clip was taken out of that 6 minute video.

Today was beach day, so we spent the day lying on the beach chairs while watching the waves roll in. Some of the girls on the team and I were able to connect really well, so they got me out on this banana boat where we raced on the waves (don't worry we fell off and couldn't get back on a few times, all the while getting salt water in our mouths and having to spit it back out.) The video below is of my boat floating in before the driver flipped us off. Three groups of girls went out on these banana boats and went on a ride that was only $5 (I am on the middle of the banana boat in the left photo with a red life jacket on.) 

These group of girls were so funny and bright to be around. I am very thankful for the chance to have met them. These girls, between the age of 16 and 17, were very awesome to be around. From left to right, there was Makayla and Cameron in the front row and then Grace, Shelby, Me, Cameron, Zoe, Kennedy and Natalie in the back row. I hope to be able to make it up to Cincinnati to hang out with them soon. 

It isn't an actual beach trip without sharing a Virgin Pina Colada right out of a pineapple with friends! (Cameron and I pictured right.)

This was the lunch many didn't want to encounter this trip, but this white fish hit the spot after playing in the water for two hours. Red Snapper fish with a salad, white rice and tostones (or fried plantains.)

Beach day #3 this summer was spent around friends that I am happy to have made. I miss them already as I got up at 5:30 am today with them as they left to board the bus for their 8 am flight this morning. I really hope to keep friends with them for years! I love you girls so much! 

Day 33 - 34: My Fourth of July

My Fourth of July was a little different than everyone's at home. I am sick again, unfortunately, so mine was spent in bed. But with some positive thinking, prayer and a long talk with my dad, I worked on trying not to be sorry for myself, but look at everything in perspective. I posted this last night on my Facebook, but I thought I would share it on here for those who didn't read it.

Although I am thousands of miles away from home in a country where Fourth of July is just another day to them, I am very thankful for those who have, are and will fight for this country I am proud to call mine. Thank you Anthem Lights for sharing with the nation a compilation of songs that ring true of our pride and joy for being Americans. I might not be at a cookout stuffing food in my mouth or watching fireworks pop and crack above me, but I stand up to salute my country for its fight for independence 241 years ago and showing the countries around us that we would not deal with bull crap any longer. That we would stand tall, with heads held high, for what we believed was right. I might not be political about how our country is or how it is being run, but I am thankful for this country I live in and love. Enjoy your Fourth of July and remember why we are really celebrating this day of freedom.

Anthem Lights America Medley

Today, I will help clean what is left in the guest house before the team comes in tonight. 19 total, including 15 girls ranging from high school, college and adults with two couples. They will be here to teach a group of girls in one of the local communities how to dance with the intention of hosting a dance recital for the community at the end of their time here. I will post more about that at a later date when I have more details of it all. 

Anyway, I hope everyone has a great day. Talk to you soon! 

Day 30 - 32: Relaxed

Mom requested a video/ photo of my living quarters so below is a video I took Saturday night of my place with an outside photo of what it looks like. The stairs to the left lead straight to the door I start with explaining in the beginning of the video.

This is the front of the building Project Manana calls the "Guest House," which is where I have been staying during my internship here. 

 

Sunday (or yesterday) morning, I went with Brian, my supervisor, to a church called New Life where the church service was similar to church in the states. The only differences from an American, Christian church is that the praise and worship was in Spanish (Spanish lyrics were posted on a projector for all to follow along,) the service was in Spanish too, but this church is considerate of those who are Spanish-illiterate or who are somewhat not the best at Spanish or understanding it by providing a headset that is tuned into a local channel where a translator translates what is being said into English without interrupting the others by not having a translator on stage repeating a sentence or two right after the preacher says something. 

After church, Brian and I went to the store to buy groceries and funny enough, one of the grocery store clerks asked me where our kids were in English. I guess he assumed we were married? Brian explained to me that him and his son had been in that particular grocery store before, but him and his wife (who is a local) had not been in there together so when the clerk saw his son was a lighter skin tone, he assumed that his son was not part American and part Dominican Republic. 

The best part of yesterday was after dinner. Brian, his family and I enjoyed the night with a bonfire and s'mores. There is nothing like a lightly toasted marshmallow on a honey-flavored graham cracker with a sweet, smooth piece of Hershey's chocolate in the middle. After eating three s'mores (hey, don't judge!) we sat, relaxed and talked about nothing important, enjoying each other's presence as the fire blazed for a couple of hours. 

 

Today, I had to go to the hospital/dr office with Brian's wife, Carolina, for his sons hand. We were there for 2 hours. No one had an appointment since it was a public hospital, so whenever you get there, you give them a piece of paper telling your name and then it is the waiting game. The nurse comes up, calls a couple of names, tells the patients which direction to go and leave. This happened for the entire time I was there! So finally, his wife's name was called and since the rooms were small, I had to sit in the waiting room being a people watcher, trying to not look like a stalker as I was the only American, white woman in the entire waiting room. Military officers help with security in these hospitals so he asked me if I had an appointment or if I needed anything. Thankfully, I was able to express that I was waiting for a friend who was being seen and he just shook his head and talked to some other waiting patients. 

Finally, lunch time at a mall food court eating pizza before leaving to go to work. We drove to Villa Gonzales to the San Pablo community where I taped pencils and pens onto crayon boxes for what I assume is for the upcoming team for about an hour and then I babysat Brian's two kids while his wife was in a meeting. 

I am back at the guest house now, hoping to enjoy my Dasani Lemonade, music and the breeze on the patio for a couple of hours. We have teams back to back after Wednesday until long after I leave so I am going to try to enjoy this while I can.

Day 29: Girly Day #2

I finally got my nails done!!! The salon was open so I finally got them done and she only charged me about $6 for everything. I was very thankful for all of it.

I went with Eury, one of the drivers on Project Manana's staff, to the grocery store to buy butter for the churros since his mom needed to make around 100 at least for the weekend. So nothing exciting happened today...again, unfortunately.

Stay tuned until tomorrow when I will be posting photos or a walk-through video of my living quarters while I am down here. I can't decide yet which I''m going to do. 

Hasta Luego! See you later!

Day 28: Chill Day

So, today was pretty uneventful... I just wanted to post something saying that I am still alive and trying to deal with boredom in the house alone.

I went with one of the drivers to get some errands done so I was happy to get out of the house for sure. We went to a hardware store and placed an order for some products Brian, my supervisor, needs.

I was supposed to get my nails done today, but when we walked to the salon, she was closed, so I will be going tomorrow to get them redone.

One cool thing that happened today was that I tried Dominican, Fried Chicken which came really close to being as good as KFC chicken.

I hope to write about something more substantial soon. I will be hanging out with some friends I met when I was down here last time Saturday night. What will be doing? I have no idea. Possibly going to the movies to watch a movie in English with Spanish subtitles, go to the Project Manana churro truck, or go get ice cream at Bon.

What do you think we should do? Comment below on ideas of what we can do in Santiago.

Day 27: Girly Day #1

I finally slept in past 10 am this morning and didn't get up until 11 am. This may seem like something small or insignificant, but I have not had any chance to sleep in because my body is used to getting up at 7:30 am when there is a team here.

About a week before I talked to Brian about coming down here, I spent some quality, girl time with one of my friends since elementary school while we got our nails done. If anyone of you know how acrylics go, you know if you take off your nails after any amount of time of having acrylics without getting them redone, your nails are crap (flimsy, not strong, useless for anything including scratching your head or anything) until your nails completely grow back out. Since I found out about coming down here, I got them redone about maybe a couple of days before I left. So, knowing it will be four weeks tomorrow, you all can imagine the necessity of me needing to get my nails done. My nails have grown out so much that I am having to force myself to not pry them off. There is space between the top of my nail and the acrylic nail so when I try to wash my hair or comb it back, hair gets stuck and it is just awful.

To give you some perspective on this, the picture on the left is what they are supposed to look like and the picture on the right is what they look like right now.

So, I am going to get them done tomorrow. When I do get them done, I will post what they look like on another post tomorrow. I decided to do something a little crazy too!!!!

Don't worry dad, I didn't get another tattoo or anything (although that is on the agenda after I get back.)

Finally got out of the house today (it had been since Sunday) and I thought I would try out the front bangs for a while... Well, I for one cannot wait to see what all hairstyles I can try with these bangs!

That's all for today. I'll see you all tomorrow for some more girly fun.

Day 26: Work around the house

Since we have had three teams straight come back to back this June, Brian asked me to count how many shoes we had left as well as water filters. Something new he asked me to count were these:

        

This device here is an audio Bible translated in Spanish and English. There are 375 of these. I counted bags of 25 which are pictured in a large duffel bag below. These are only a few of the 25,000 audio bibles someone has so graciously donated to Project Manana to give to the inmates in all of the prisons in the Dominican Republic. 

All these inmates want is a Bible and a printed Bible only lasts about 3 months before falling apart due to the amount of use it gets. What is so sad is that many Christian, American families have over 5, maybe 10, bibles on their bookshelves at home. I know I personally have maybe 3 or 4. So it is by God's grace someone is helping Project Manana spread the gospel to all of the inmates in these prisons through a device that can fit in the palm of your hand. 

Thank you God for the many small things You do that cause great things to happen all for Your glory!