Well, well. It has been a while since I have blogged...

So, this past week was a little bit loca, but awesome. A high school group from Austin came to Makarios, and we had a blast! The Makarios house was busting at the seams with the normal roommates plus 31 visitors! I am trying to gather my thoughts to put a few anecdotes here...

To explain the pictures, the first one shows Ricardo in his beach attire. Since we were blessed with this big group, we were able to take our students to the beach! Ricardo sported these orange shorts. Go ahead. Read em. Hooters. These must have been donated from someone. Note to philanthropist Hooters employees: know when to stop, ok? Basically, Ricardo is a miniature little thug, so he can do whatever he likes. (Yeaaaah).

The other pics show: Ashley+Luis Fernando, Kendall+Regina, Me+Memo. We love those stinkers!

So, unlike other groups, this group rides public transporation to school to get part of the legitimate Dominican experience-- fun. So, each morning, one of us staffers set out with a group of 5-7 people to hitch a ride on a guagua. The first two mornings, God smiled down on us, and a bus-style guagua arrived. The last day, we piled onto a regular guagua, and fancy meeting a business man who spoke a little English in the back row. His opening line: "Wow, I don't know what I'm going to do with three beautiful women here in this seat." Drive. Drive. I barely talk to him. When we reach our stop, he says, "Stay." [Um, no, I'll get off here]. "You come with me to Sosua. You come to my house, I live alone." SUCH a great offer, but I had to let it pass by.

I was also able to try sugar cane this week. During a trip to Chichigua, I pretty much demanded it from one of our older students, Ronal. Some group members were with me as well.
Me: "Ronal, we want to try sugar cane."
Ronal: "But, I don't have a machete."
Me: "Pero, todo el mundo has a machete. Go find one!"
Then, Ronal fetched a machete and disappeared into the sugar cane field and returned with sugar cane! About 5 of us tried it. It's pretty much not my favorite food. Though it will sound like a stupid comparison, sugar cane tastes like a cross between celery, a tree branch, and sugar water. It was a little too much work for me to appreciate, but hey, I needed to try it.

Que mas? So, last week, my dear roommate Ashley was stricken by a stomach illness. The poor girl basically slept for two days and was just in a lot of pain. Thankfully, she is well now, but on the first day she was sick, she needed a sub. Ash has never missed a day of school, so this was serious. I'm her teacher's aide. Hence, I became the SUBSTITUTE teacher. I have been to preschool enough to be comfortable with basic discipline and short lessons. "Get in line! Leave that alone! Be good!" I can say those phrases all day (and sometimes I do). But now, an entire day was in my hands. Sheehs. I'm not sure that the education of children should be in my hands. Of course, Robin and Cara were there to help (a lot), but I'm happy to say that no one died. It was actually kind of fun. Probably the one time I could have been a little bit cooler of a teacher is when I went off on the children about asking to go to the bathroom. I think I said something to the extent of: "Nobody say anything to me about the bathroom. If you are going to DIE if you don't go to the bathroom, raise your hand and I will put you on a list. Don't ask about the bathroom again!" Don't worry, the children weren't scarred for life. They're fine. And obviously, there is room for improvement on my part. :)

Hmm, what else? I should definitely write on this thing more. Oh, some students from Chichigua (a sweet little village) happen to be very talented at making rings. They used to make them out of pesos or something, but now I think they use piping of some sort. Anyway, pretty much every teacher had received a ring but me. Kendall and I are the newbies, but still, she won Ernesto's heart by saying to him one day: "Tu nombre es Ernesto, no?" The next time she saw him, she got a ring. On our last visit to Chichigua, Robin told Ernesto to make me a ring. Thus, I received my beautiful little heart ring out of force. I know-- my heart is warmed as well.

I am coming to visit in two weeks!

AND,

Jesus is still seated on his throne! There is so much to rejoice about.

⁴Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

⁸Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. ⁹Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

(P.S. I of course do not think that me coming home is a greater reason to rejoice than Jesus being seated at God's right hand).