We've been here in the DR for a little over a week. It's been a bit stressful, but good. We spent most of last week at the University with a bible study group. Throughout the week, we spoke to them on different subjects. Voice for the Voiceless, the power of prayer, hearing God's voice, and just whatever came up. In the afternoons we did evangelism with them. It was so difficult for me. On the first day, I went out with two Dominican men and Denine, our leader here at the base who speaks both Spanish and English. I was expecting to go out and talk with people, but then the Dominicans started this whole thing where they started to stand up and preach and sing worship songs. That's great and everything, but completely different from anything I'm used to. The next day, I went out with a couple Dominican girls who spoke very broken English and later on, another guy who speaks pretty decent English joined us. I started talking to a guy and came to find out he was a photographer and was working on a project for poverty. I asked the guy to ask him what he was going to do with the pictures when he was done, but one of the girls just started preaching at him. You could tell this guy was frustrated. I was definitely frustrated. Probably even mad. It was just ridiculous. Here I was, trying to have a normal conversation with a guy that was leading to talking about Jesus, and they just go in and talk at him. I didn't even know what to do. I think by the end of the week, though, through seeing how we evangelize, they were able to view it a little differently. I think they started to understand that evangelism isn't always preaching. So in that respect, I'm glad we got to do it. It was great to just hang out with the students from the bible study and disciple them a bit.
We did a few other things throughout the week as well. One of the guys from the bible study runs a baseball ministry for little kids. Baseball is huge here and the kids love it. They always have some kind of teaching and worship before the game. We told them the story of David and Goliath and had them act it out. They loved it! Then during the entire game we got to take pictures. We also did a program for some kids in a neighborhood near us and it was pretty similar.
This weekend was perfect. Some of us girls (the ones who aren't sick) got to go shopping. Their stores are so weird. All the clothes are bedazzled and ghetto. You have to search SO hard to find something decent. But it was so great to have some kind of normal activity to do. I didn't get to buy a whole lot cause I'm starting to run out of money, but even just getting to go was awesome. Then when we got back, we made brownies and fruit salad and popcorn and watched Dear John. And cried. A lot. It's funny how emotional I am here. I miss my family so much and that movie made it even worse. It's weird thinking about how long I'm going to be gone from home during track. Six months has been hard. How hard is a year and a half going to be? But getting to have a girls night and some sense of normalcy was so good. And you'll never believe how much of a lifesaver chocolate is here.
Please be praying for the girls on our team that are sick. They've been in and out of the emergency room this whole week trying to figure out what they have. Now they've found out that 2 of them have Giardia, a parasite. I don't think they know yet what's wrong with the other. One of the other girls had an Amoeba but she's just about back to normal. They are getting really discouraged and sick of being sick. These three girls are the same three that had Dengue Fever with me. So it's been way too long. They need healing. Please be praying especially for them and also for our entire team. We are all ready to go home, but want to finish strong.
Also, please be praying for the Central America team. They are going through a lot right now from what it sounds like. You can read their blog post about it here.

10. It's the little things that get you through. Sapi Bon on a hot day. Juice at dinner. Skype dates - even if there can't be video. A fan blowing on your face.

9. There is no maximum number of people who can fit in one vehicle. 30 people in the back of a tiny truck? No problem.

8. It is possible to fall off of motorcycles. If it happens, Haitians WILL make fun of you.

7. Mosquitoes can destroy your legs, but stretch mark cream can cure any scar.

6. Kids don't need to wear clothing until they're 10 years old.

5. I miss my family more than I ever thought I would. As much as I love it here, it's going to be soo good to come home to them again.

4. Joy can be found in the most desperate situations. The smile of a little Haitian child can brighten anyone's day.

3. Once you experience poverty of that level, nothing else will compare. The poverty I thought was in the DR seems like nothing now. It's seems like we're in America now. What will it be like when we get back home?

2. Being sick really sucks. Especially being sick with the Dengue Fever. But even when you're stuck in bed with the ugliest rash you've ever seen, the worst back pain you've ever experienced, and your eyes feel like they're going to pop out of their sockets, God can speak to you in powerful ways.

1. Jesus is so powerful. He chooses to use me to show his power. To heal the sick and cast out demons. I seriously can't get over it.

Sorry that I've been neglecting this blog a bit. It's been crazy here in St. Marc. We're doing more with Voice for the Voiceless here and we've been going nonstop with interviews and research. God is really opening up doors for us, though! Our outreach team is divided into three different groups these few weeks. Steve, Emily Rice and Me are working on the Voice for the voiceless stuff. We're trying to get stories of people struggling through injustices and stories of those who are doing something about it. Emily Williamson, Elizabeth and Hannah are focusing on the brothel ministry. They go over there about every other day and just hang out with the women and share Jesus' love with them. Dani, Jorn, Christine and Hilary are focusing on the movie stuff. They've also been doing a lot of interviews and a lot of outings for the film.
I'm really excited for all the opportunities we have with all these interviews. We're probably going to get to interview the mayor sometime this week, as well as the UN. There are so many stories we can do, but we're trying to narrow it down so that we get better quality stories. It's tough knowing there are so many more that we aren't getting, but we know that it's good to focus on a few good things rather than get a whole lot of crappy stories. I'll try to be posting some of them on here so you can get a taste of the things I'm doing.
The base here is beautiful. It's so green and has gorgeous mountains on one side with the ocean on the other side. It's rainy season right now, so there is so much produce available at the market. We get to explore the city whenever we are free and it's so much fun just walking the streets. I really like it here a lot.