Time is going so fast!

We have been so busy working and playing that I haven't written in quite a while! Sorry, this may be a little long...Things are going very well and very fast! I can't believe that tomorrow is my two week anniversary, and I only have a couple of weeks left. The weather has been amazing so far. Fortunately I love torrential downpours because we've had quite a few of those lately. I enjoy them because of the relampagos (thunder) and because they cool down the air and remove some of the humidity.

We had a successful first day of reading and English classes last Thursday. Successful meaning that we had a few moments of calm amidst a lot of utter chaos. Ina is continually reminding us in prayer that God makes order out of chaos. Praise the Lord because we can do little to control these children on our own. Many of the children have no school experience and those who do have most likely been in a chaotic classroom of up to 50 students where the teacher just talks over everyone and hopes someone catches what they are teaching. I am realizing everyday how easy my teaching environment is in Iowa!!! Friday morning was our fun day with the kids enrolled in the classes. I was in charge of the craft area while Kasi and Kristin led drama and singing sessions with other kids. Friday afternoon we returned to Cercadillo loaded down with sewing machines, sewing tables, and a small generator for sewing classes with the women. I was able to help two women named Rosa and Cli sew their skirts. Steph, thanks for the brief refresher course before I came here :) We ended the day with a belated birthday party for one of Ina's missionary friends named Kirsten. Her husband Rich is an amazing guitarist, and he led us in some praise and worship on Ina's patio. What a perfect night!

We began our Saturday by going to Cercadillo to give water. We have to bring out a generator to give power to the pump, and the people bring whatever they have (buckets, old gas and bleach bottles, tin cans, etc.) to get filled with the water that will allow them to drink, bath, and wash their clothes for the next several days. When Kirsten was over on Friday night she said that us giving water to the people of Cercadillo is a good illustration of how Jesus is the well that never runs dry and He will fill whatever container we bring to Him. This picture of Cercadillo's containers (nice buckets next to rusty tin cans) is a wonderful reminder of this! We spent the rest of Saturday visiting the Museum of the Dominican Man (containing artifacts from the people who inhabited the island prior to Columbus), going to Price Smart (I felt like I was back in West Des Moines at Costco and they had AC), and going to an amazing restaurant called Adrian Tropical that had several layers of balconies overlooking the Caribbean and great fruit smoothies. This picture shows Ina and I with our limon, chinola, and naranja combination. It was the perfect ending to a great day!

I love Ina's church! It is downtown and is actually housed in Trujillo's old social club. Trujillo was a "not-so-good" dictator who was eventually assassinated. We sang several songs in Spanish that I know in English, and we attended Sunday school with our friends, Pepin, Laura, Claudia, and Maria Jose. Then we had our friends over for lunch and Mama Rosa showed us how to really make rice in the Dominican. We have had some failed attempts in the past :) It began to rain gatos y perros so we decided not to go to Cercadillo and spent some time in prayer instead.

This morning I had another "adventure"! I rode in a taxi to Cercadillo with some American friends. We have another group with us this week so we needed more transportation than Ina's vehicle can handle. The taxi driver is actually from Cercadillo so it is a good opportunity for us to show trust and put some earned money into the hands of the village. There were some hills that I wasn't sure we were going to make it up, but David is a very skilled driver! We began our day with reading classes in the morning. I got to teach two groups, one focusing on comprehension and the other on differentiating between syllables and words. Because Spanish is so completely phonetic, several kids who say they can read are really just reading syllables, not words. Both groups provided many opportunities for me to use my small Spanish vocabulary. It was a lot of fun! I am now writing all of the lesson plans for the afternoon English classes. I enjoy using my abilities as a teacher in a way that stretch my knowledge and skills. Unfortunately we didn't get to use my plans today because it again rained cats and dogs during class so we huddled in a circle with the few kids that showed up and sang some songs.

Praise God that things have been going better lately with us getting out to the village and having meaningful conversations and lessons with the kids. Also, those who had health issues are restored. Please pray for our energy levels as we have been busy nearly every waking moment and have very little time to rest. Pray also that we will show the love of Christ and glorify God in all we say and do in Cercadillo!