Republica Dominicana--Domingo, Lunes, y Martes (S/M/T)

Hola!

It had been longer than I realized since I last wrote about our trip. It's crazy to think that we've hit the half way mark already.  Just to catch you up on all the goings on here we've been busy almost 24/7 aside from our sleeping.  We have had the opportunity to perform in a church in both the adult service and the children's service which was a great experience for all of us. Church here is what some of us call "Jumping for Jesus" church...not your typical TU stand still clapping service...you move you dance and almost every song has some sort of motions.  Sunday afternoon was relaxing and consited of games and surprise fire in our back yard.  The valley in which we are staying hasn't had rain for about 3 weeks and it's really dry.  Thankfully we had some very fearless guys on our trip who helped put it out (ZL and JR...they wanted to be written about :) )  and according to them "we saved the WHOLE island of Hispanola!"

Sunday night was group mixers because we are staying with a group from Bethel University in Minnesota and a group from CalPoly out in CA.  The mixers were a good way to force us to mingle and break some barriers.

Yesterday was our first official day at our ministry sights.  Wow, talk about seeing the real DR for many people on our team.  The areas in which SI has sights are some of the most deprived areas around Jarabacoa.  I want to get specific stories from all the sights, but I'll just give you a brief rundown of a day.

6:45 Devotions with SI staff
7:30-8:15 Quiet Time
8:15-8:50 Breakfast and lunch packing
8:55 - 4 Sites
4-6 Free time
6:-7 Dinner
7-9 Cultural Activities
9-10 Free Time
10 lights out....intense days.

Yesterday was culture night we learned out to Merengue! It was fun and gave us TU kids an excuse to dance.

Today we worked and then went to dinner in the community at a persons house.  The people of the DR are so loving and hospitaple. And it certainly was a cultural experience too; as is writing this blog as we switch from city power to generator.  So I'm going to quickly wrap up and say adios before I lose power and internet again!

Brooke Jantzen