things from the past couple weeks

so i'm not very good at this whole blog thing. it's not that i don't want to write about things but it's just a matter of actually doing it. so i want to use this post to write about some things that i've done the past couple weeks. i'm just going to write about them in the order they come to mind. apologies if it's not really chronological.

last wednesday night instead of all our separate women's bible studies we had a worship night. it was exactly what i needed. last week i feel i spend a lot of time worrying about the future. but that night of scripture and praise combined with prayer has given me peace. it helped me to refocus and remember what God has planned for me is far greater than anything i can imagine for myself.

two sundays ago was the super bowl and a bunch of the staff from doulos gathered at tim and whitney's house. we didn't actually watch the super bowl, not exactly having a way to turn on the game, but i didn't mind this. instead we just brought and shared super bowl snacks, played games, and hung out together.

after the party i think i had a record setting skype date with eleven people all at once. my family was in kansas city at my grandparents house celebrating birthdays and watching the super bowl. it was so fun to talk to all of them and see so many people i love all at once.

at doulos they've started a general fitness class a couple times a week as a way for the high school girls to get gym credit. they're currently doing zumba and when i passed through the library one afternoon it looked like fun. so i've joined in on the action. not because i can dance, because i can't, but because it's fun exercise and good company.

since i don't have a space that i can really decorate i've been doing some decorating projects for other people. this last saturday i painted a frame on my dear friend lorraine's wall. she hung a collage of pictures, notes, and cards in it. next weekend i think i'm doing one on robyn's wall around her window which i'm excited about. i love getting to do random art projects.

on friday night this past weekend i also got to help host at pico escondido, the young life camp here in the dominican. it's beautiful there. it sits tucked in a valley between mountains. i got to run around camp helping set up sound and the carnival and making sure everything is running as it should. i got to spend a lot of time with the work crew which was the best part. they were all dominican and spoke little english and i, of course, speak very little spanish. we laughed a lot as we struggled to communicate and tried to teach each other words and phrases as we sat around making flour bombs for the carnival. i enjoyed being there so much that i went back on saturday morning for a little bit. i got to enjoy a french toast breakfast and sat in on club. basically i really just love the atmosphere and hope that i can spend more time there helping out any way i can while i'm here.

one last thing for now. three weekends ago, i know that was awhile ago, i attended a women's retreat. not gonna lie i was a little skeptical at first. but minus a few things that one typically thinks of when they think about a women's retreat it was a really good weekend. the focus was on our identity in Christ. there was a lot of small group time and i got to meet women from all over the dominican and hear stories about how they ended up here. and one of my favorite things is listening to what God is doing in other people's lives and what they're learning.

so there it is. my last couple weeks at a glance.

photos around town

so here are some more photos that i've taken since i've been here.

a rooster.

a colmado. a dominican corner store.

a man working the rice fields on the edge of town.

here you can see in the foreground the way they flood plots of the rice field with water.

and then the water drains into this small canal along the side of the road.

the baseball field about a block from where i'm living.

these photos are from a few different places around town. hopefully it'll give you a little better idea of my surroundings.

living in the present

things continue to go really well here. i was thinking the other day about how comfortable i am here. in a place i should feel so out of place and uncomfortable i feel exactly the opposite. i think it's the community. community is something that i feel has always been lacking. and it's not that there hasn't been great people around me seeking Christ. but i spend time in both topeka and in lawrence and feel it makes it harder in a lot of ways. i'm literally spreading myself too thin and not being fully present in either place is maybe not the best way of doing things.

a couple weeks ago at my wednesday night bible study we were talking about the idea of being present not only physically but mentally. so often we can get caught up looking back to the past or ahead to the future. i feel that i tend to think more to the future, whether it be simply looking forward to lunch or the end of the day or further ahead to next month or next year. and not that it is bad to get excited about things coming up, but i now realize if i constantly spend my time thinking about the future then i'm going to miss out on what God has for me right now in this moment.

waking up

since i've been here in the dominican every time i would wake up i'd have to think about where i was. whether it be in the middle of the night or in the morning or from a nap and i would open my eyes and look around for a few seconds before remember i'm here. just in the last week i've started waking up already knowing where i am. it's kinda a weird thing to think about but with the amount of times i sleep in a day it's something that i experience more often then most and a way of recognizing that i'm more comfortable and familiar with my new surroundings.

a few photos

this is a photo of the little cafe that is on the school property from one of the classroom windows. kerrie and i spend a lot of time on the upper deck and enjoy being outside while we plan classes.

the first weekend i was here i watched adriana's soccer game and this was my favorite of the photos i took there.

projects from the first classes with the first and second grade.

caberete beach where i spent last weekend.

last tuesday i stayed and took photos of kerrie's ballet class and the shoes that were just recently donated. the classes are serving as an awesome ministry offered after school at doulos and open to anyone in the community. there are lots of younger girls there on tuesday afternoons getting to dance that would otherwise not have the opportunity to.

what i learned from kindergartners

the best part of my day at doulos yesterday was watching the kindergartners weave through cones set up outside on the basketball court. there were two lines and they were doing a variety of relay races around cones. and it wasn't just that they were ridiculously cute, and some uncoordinated as they attempted to dribble a ball, but it was the way they encouraged each other. every single kid in each line would begin chanting the name of the teammate performing the task until they returned when they then would begin cheering for the next teammate to go. no matter how fast or slow, how successfully or unsuccessfully their teammate was doing they continued to encourage them along. what an awesome picture of community.

last weekend

last weekend we had a four day weekend so i had the opportunity to travel to the beach. i left friday morning with brock, sara, keith & kerrie, tim & whitney (all wonderful people who work at doulos). it was a beautiful couple hour drive through the mountains to get to caberete beach. we went to the beach friday, saturday, and sunday and enjoyed the ocean, beach volleyball, hunting for treasures, and sunshine. i ate sushi for the first time on friday night and saturday we were joined by jess (who works for students international in jarabacoa) who helped whitney, sara, and kerrie prepare a delicious multi-course thai dinner. we left late sunday evening and played a rendition of 20 questions where we took turns asking a question and then each person in the car had to answer. it was so good to get to spend time with new friends while enjoying a few days at the beach. i then had a chill monday before going back to school on tuesday. it's been really nice to not have an entire week of school since i arrived here and to just ease into the schedule.