Woooweee! Who knew I could write this much...

Tonight’s meal ticket was spaghetti with aji (bell peppers) and tostones (our favorite fried banana treat).
I really am dumbfounded as to where and how to start catching you up on life here! So, in my favorite style, let’s start with today and work backwards.

MONDAY, April 5 –
Today, I was fully exhausted, which was not how I envisioned work starting upon return from spring break. Spanish lessons after school were fun, where we focused on “ser” and “estar” some more, along with vocab and alphabet review. (“k” – kuh sound) Nelly really is a fantastic teacher who puts up with my constant desire to learn vocab words and interrupt our lesson by finding them in the diccionario.

I talked to Mom, Wes, and Dad about their upcoming TRIP TO SEE ME!! They’re arriving tomorrow night, and I can’t wait! It’s the first time my dad has traveled internationally since my parents’ honeymoon cruise in ’87. May I remind you that they are now divorced; that was a completely different era! Hooray for Dad’s bravery (which is being tried).

For the first time, I felt the presence of building relationships in English class, rather than feeling like that random girl who helps out in class from time to time.

It really was great to be back at school today, to see friendly faces and share smiles and spring break stories. Afterschool on our way home, we felt like big shots. Not really, but boy do we love running into Dominicanos we know about town! That way, the groups of men who normally cat call in that area may stop, if even for a minute, while they see us talk to a local. (GASP! A local!!) For a split second, we are not the Americanas with arms, legs, and pale skin but rather people who are connected to the community. Take that.

LAST NIGHT, April 4/5 –

This is a significant entry because…DUDE. I could not sleep last night. I was not sure if it was from sheer physical exhaustion, giddiness and my planning ways toward my parents’ upcoming visit, receiving a dear friend’s recent text message, or who knows what. I could not sleep, for the life of me. Kymberlee and I attempted to drift off around 9ish, while we were lying in bed reading. Hours went by, and we shared a giggle fest at 11:30 PM for a good while, because as you must know, everything at that time is funny. Especially life in the Dominican Republic.

We took to pills. Benadryl, that is. I was ingenious and took two, following the box’s “1 or 2” order for adults over twelve. My logic was, well, I’ve lost hours already, I’m beat, and there’s only a handful of hours left to grab; I better get to sleepin’! Unfortunately, the pills had every effect but the ones I originally intended. A dual drug-induced sleepiness and steroid-like heart pumping occurred, where my heart was not allowing me to be still. My exhausted, drugged self wouldn’t allow for an awake state either. I tried reading my Bible, I tried pacing the floor. I shuffled down the hall. I even cried. Who knows what time I went to bed, because I don’t. I still don’t believe it really happened after all that mess. Benadryl, I now abhor you and will avoid you at all costs.

[RAT!!] I let out a blood-curdling scream while madly kicking off the covers and jumping onto Kymberlee at about 1:30 AM. A hot-blooded, large animal suddenly lurched itself onto my foot, causing this mid-slumber scene to startle Kymberlee out of her Benadryl coma. “WHAT,” she loudly whispers. I scared her half to death, which had to have been more than I scared myself. I told her there was a large animal in our bed, to which she threw back the covers and asked, “WHERE?” She was being the brave one, and I couldn’t believe it wasn’t moving, racing about the sheets. “THERE,” I said, pointing to the mound under the comforter. She grabbed the comforter and – yank – there was nothing there. Much to my dismay, the mysterious creature turned out to have been Kymberlee’s heel. All that excitement for nothing…but a good story.

EASTER, April 4 –
What a day! Praise, joy, and the resurrection. Jesus – the life, the way, the truth was celebrated in full with dancing and singing at church, La Vid (the vine). Youth With A Mission (YWAM) had their first kids camp in town, and at the end of the service, the kids performed for us! The 10-13 year olds gave us quite a show with a thug-like dance to the song “En La Calle.” Pretty dank, if you ask me. All of the acts were absolutely precious and worth every penny (joke).

My morning devotion and the message were linked; God so often blesses me in this way here. I really only need to say one thing:

“The evidence of knowing God is obeying God.” –Eric Alexander

…but I won’t. I’ll say more. A favorite line from my devotion went as follows, “God is looking for those who have the flexibility to pick up and go when He says to pick up and go, and to sit down and stay when He says to sit down and stay. “ Numbers 9:15-23 is a perfect illustration of this. Believe it or not, we are called, not to live our own lives, but to live HIS. Those of us (me, me!) who want to save our own lives must lose them, and if we lose our lives we will be saved!

During church, I was overjoyed hearing this because God has truly been transforming me, because I have let Him. (And hear this – I am far from perfect and know that to be so true.) However, in coming here to Jarabacoa, I gave up a piece of my plan, whatever that was. He has been teaching me to give up more and more of myself to gain more and more of Him.

The pastor, Keren, challenged us – Maddie [fill in your name here], if you really to walk with me, you have to stop walking with your old self. Living here, I have started shedding my old self and have never felt so vulnerable, yet so free. My ultimate fear was addressed. What if I start putting on my old self when I get home, back in the US? You know what, that’s what Satan wants me to think will happen. I blatantly refuse to accept living life as the old Maddie. The new one, who is growing in wisdom – the only wisdom that matters – is who I want to be. I really just ask you to peer into yourself and ask if you like what you see. It’s not easy. We almost never want to do it. Read Romans 11:29, and be comforted. His calling on our lives is permanent! He will never leave us, even if we do forget our new, better-in-Christ selves for awhile. Our imperfections never mar His flawlessness. (P.S. God made us in His image, and He thinks we’re each beautiful, as He made us unique!)

Easter dinner couldn’t have been more fun. It was one of those sit-back-and-take-it-all-in moments for me. There was a feast of food and thirteen friends around one big table. As we Americanos were far from America, I felt at home celebrating Jesus and His resurrection. Tim and Laura Stanley, a couple that works at Jarabacoa Christian School, were the hosts. Oh, how could I forget their dog Holly and cat, Mune (named after a Dominican hot chocolate cube). We brought the little we could contribute, which we decided would be carrot cake. We walked from church, sweating in our jeans, to La Tinaja Café and bought the best bundt carrot cake in town.

SATURDAY, April 3-

I slept in. And loved every minute. Jess and I walked into town to meet Julie Anne. We were heading to register for the 10K! What a Dominican experience that was. There was a “21 Maraton in Las Montanas” banner on a side street in town, and we heard registration was near some government building. I pointed us in the direction of the Ayuntamiento (City Hall). As we strolled in that direction, some boys with their numbers already on let us know we were heading the right way.

Rounding the corner at City Hall, we saw the registration table. We had arrived at 12ish to sign up for the 3 PM race. There was of course hardly no one else signing up, and very little direction was given from those “orchestrating” things. We signed up in the “Feminines Superior,” our delegated age bracket. We were given a floppy, magnetic-like red number. “09” I was the ninth girl to sign up in this category, and the race started in 2.5 hours. Filling out the registration form was tricky in our Spanglish. The girl asked me for my “phone number,” and I thought she was asking for my “full nombre.” From there, they gave us two white circles stamped and signed (very official) – one for medical, and one for food. What that meant, we had no idea.

We passed the table and asked around for what to do next. There was a long line waiting outside of a wooden door inside City Hall, that was supposedly where we entered for the Medical Exam. Wait, what? Is this required to race? I’m not going in there by myself. What are they doing? We waited in line for literally forty minutes, while the Dominican Red Cross took their lunch break. Oh, the food ticket? That was for lunch served before the race, logically. It was a Styrofoam box filled with rice, beans, and chicken – la bandera. Before a run? I think not. So, we continued to wait and wait in this medical line, not knowing what we were being examined for on the other side. Dominicanos waited in their non-line-like fashion and tried to cut us at every bat of an eyelash. Finally, we got into the little office set up for our “medical exams,” where I swear my blood pressure was not even measured correctly.

I felt like we were in an SNL skit, trying to shut people out of the room so people wouldn’t cut and the work would actually begin. As a Red Cross worker left the room, leaving the door open after her, a lady poked her head in. She craned her neck around the door, offering a bucket of baked peanut goods with outstretched arms. Really? Really? She was trying to sell us peanuts, while we were having our official medical exam performed before a race.

The race started thirty minutes late, with no instructions and without separated age brackets. BANG. The gun shot off, and we all (children, men, women, and all) headed out on the “course.” I have never wanted to laugh more in my life, if I wasn’t hurting and dying from heat. There were Dominicans cheering us on from corner to corner, but the race was barely marked off. Motos and cars would sneak in and drive alongside us, as we were trying our best to even stay on the [unpaved] roads.

It got better when we reached people with water. One fourth of the way through the race, our cheerleaders became water boys. We were trying to avoid dogs and rocks in the road, while little boys ran after us dousing us with water bottles. If we were lucky, we got soaked head to toe with a huge splash of a full-size bucket of water. That was honestly my saving grace. Had I not been soaking wet, I would have walked the race, limping home in the heat.

On a serious note, there were people from all over the country. We met some serious runners from Santo Domingo, and I didn’t want to run near them simply due to their fancy gear. Julie Anne got third place overall and won pesos, Jess got seventh, and I – well, I finished. There was a whole crew from Doulos. Krista, the Director, and Chad, her husband and the Project Manager, along with their daughters. Sara, Amanda, Jess, and I. Greibys, the IT star. Of course, we had our own Doulos cheerleaders too! Eric, Mark, and Joey were cheering us on in the spots where we needed it most. Rounding one turn, they awaited us with a Gatorade. Mark was filming our run, and I can’t wait to see that footage, I think.

I met my first SC friend, too! Sandy from Sumter now goes down in the books. She works up at Escuela Caribe at the foot of the mountain.

SPIRIT-FILLED, Saturday, April 3 –

Worship at the Pace’s topped off the day. We started walking over ten minutes after we were supposed to be there, in our Dominican custom. Then, we encountered a gentleman who was going a bit crazy down the road in the darkness, yelling out who knows what and running about on the street. We decided to go the other way, so our ten minutes turned into thirty minutes late. Or right on time.

Patrick plays the guitar. Erin plays the flute. Jonathan plays the violin. That, my friends, is what we call one talented group to set the worship mood.

I felt so pure sitting before God that night. It’s hard to explain, but I hope you’ll understand. I felt clean, broken, and humbled all at once, coming before Him with all that I had to worship. Cecilia, Maria’s daughter had blow-dried my hair, my legs felt broken with my knees throbbing from the earlier run, and we simply came to be with the One.

FRIDAY, April 2 –

A day in Santiago. WOOHOO!

We took Amanda’s dad to the airport, in the rental car (pchyeah). Even that was eventful. Amanda, Jess, and I got out to go to the bathroom and so left Kymberlee at post in the car. When Jess and I returned, Kymberlee was not in sight, and then I saw the car doing the drive-by in the parking lot across the way. The cop had made her move, so we hopped in and looped around again.

Okay, so driving at an airport doesn’t sound that difficult, right? Wrong. Try driving here where no one’s paying attention, there are little to no signs, and babies and children can be seen left and right. This is all occurring while people are pulling in and out of the curb section, and cars are driving by to the left.

So, in a panic, Kymberlee let me drive. Ha-ha! I was so excited to drive twenty yards – until Amanda spotted us and got back in the driver’s seat. Maybe next time.

As I am writing this, I am reminded of how hilarious life here can be. When we found the inner city of Santiago, we stopped at a nice supermarket (not before turning around first) to buy candy for the movies. We found the mall (Plaza Internacional) where we parked the car but did not get out. Is it open? I don’t know. Go check. Look, people just came out! Well, it’s Semana Santa. What do you think? A “gentleman” came up to the car and let us know he would gladly check the mall’s open status in exchange for pesos. We decided to check for ourselves. The mall was open, but we’re not sure why; nothing inside was. So, we headed to see what else we could do. After asking the Pizza Hut workers where the bigger movie theater was, we drove off.

I got excited to see a Tony Roma’s sign outside of the plaza down the street. Tony Roma’s!

Thursday, APRIL FOOLS DAY -

Twenty-seven waterfalls. Need I say more? After leaving the beach, we headed out on an our driving adventure to find Los Charcos. Hours later, we did it!

...gotta run, but will finish later!!