6/10/15
The journey begins……on my first flight, a guy elbowed me in
his sleep on the plane to Austin. But that wasn’t as bad as having my personal
space invaded on my second flight. I was sitting in between two men who
insisted on touching me the whole time, even after my several attempts to move
away.
It was a great time getting to know the other interns this
past weekend on the retreat. I got to watch the sunset at Mt. Bonnell in Austin
with Iesha and Brian. It was so beautiful. I was glad Jacob (one of the other
interns) had suggested it. However, I got 13 mosquito bites from that
excursion. Also, I’ve found that my bug spray makes me smell like a walking
citronella candle, but Kelly (another intern) likes the smell, so I’m glad it’s
not off-putting to everyone.
I was kind of nervous about meeting the other interns….facebook
stalking only gives so much information. When the interns arrived at the
Highland house rental property (generously donated by Brian’s dad for the
weekend), the awkward introductions ensued. But now, I feel like I have seven
new friends. Chad, another one of the interns, is actually from Cedarville too,
which was unexpectedly cool. He and Emily and Anna are staying in Austin for
the summer at the Makarios headquarters, and Kelly, Jacob, Cole, Win, and I are
NOW in the DOMINICAN REPUBLIC.
During the Austin orientation, we went on a scavenger hunt
ending at Whole Foods for our burrito dinner. Then we had more of a formal
introduction and received our job descriptions as we picnicked in the grass. I
will be a group host, focusing on building fellowship, preparing meals, and
supplying for the needs of groups who come one week at a time. I will also help
some with the soccer camp, look into the feasibility of alternate energy
sources for the school, and lead Zumba for the Makarios staff ladies on
Fridays. Jacob is also a group host, and he seems to be an encouraging person
to be around, so I’m looking forward to working together.
We had a game night and played Jenga, bananagrams, and
catchphrase to have fun and get to know the Austin staff and Makarios summer
interns. It was exhausting but funny. We had a rule that whenever you got out
in the game, you had to say something interesting about yourself. I talked
about scuba diving with Grandma last year.
During the Austin retreat, Kelly stayed the weekend with me
at Iesha and Brian’s.
*As I was writing this, I was flying over the Everglades.*
We went to church at Austin Stone, which is a large network
of churches in Austin. We went to the St. John’s branch. They serve Dominican
Joe coffee, which is Dominican Republic coffee that supports the Makarios
ministry. Then we had orientation in the Makarios office, which was in the same
building as the church service. Kelly said the building (a community center)
was built over an empty lot filled with drug needles…a great image of
restoration.
Sharla, a Cedarville graduate and the founder of Makarios,
told us about the history of Makarios and how it all began eleven years ago.
Jamie, another Makarios staff member, gave a lot of
encouragement to us to serve God in our daily tasks and thoughts. It reminded
me of Camp Loucon and our talks there about how everything we do should be
worship.
Austin is known for food trucks, so we got lunch from a taco
truck near the church.
We also got to go putt putting, take a trip to Dominican Joe’s
coffee shop, eat P. Terry’s burgers and fries, and have a prayer time before
the end of the retreat.
While we were at Dominican Joe’s, we got our prayer partner
assignments. Mine is Emily, one of the interns working in Austin for the
summer. She is more of the charismatic/prophetic type, of the mentality that I am
often cautious of for theological reasons, mostly because of my opinions about
speaking in tongues. But I kid you not, when this girl was talking to me,
praying for me, and speaking over me, it broke me in a beautiful way and was
exactly what I needed to hear. I had asked for prayer about my emotions and
blamed my hormones. She challenged me on it and made me realize that the enemy
had been attacking me with feelings of inadequacy, negativity, and fear. She
redirected my thoughts to truth and reminded me that I am just a vessel for God
and that He loves me and cares and won’t put me in a circumstance and expect something
out of me that I’m incapable of. I’m super excited to stay in touch with her
this summer and share our experiences and prayers. Also, I made an interesting
connection with her because she and Anna go to church with my friend Jaret who I
co-oped with!
After the Austin retreat, Kelly and I got to bed around
10:30pm and woke up at 3:15am for our early flight. It was cool how, although
we all bought our plane tickets individually, we ended up on the same flights
down!
*As I write this, I’m in the Miami airport and it’s almost
11am. Despite my Tex-Mex breakfast tacos at 5am, I’m hungry once again….I’m so
EXCITED, especially to meet Margaret and the Makarios kids!*
IN THE DR…
We arrived June 8 with a welcome at the airport by a
Mariachi-type band playing before the customs area. Once we got our bags, we
were greeted by Margaret, Doug, Lorie, and her sons.
Now that we are FINALLY here, we have been going through
another orientation down here with the Becks (Doug/”Paco” and Margaret). We
have visited a couple different communities so far. The kids always want a “caballito,”
which is a horsey-back ride. We typically oblige. It has been interesting
learning about the history of the communities, success stories of individual
kids who have grown into hard-working, Christ-centered adults from their
experience with Makarios. There are a lot of places in the communities that
smell like urine and garbage. There is trash service available here, but it’s
usually more than they can afford, so the trash just ends up on the side of the
paths.
We have gotten to try out some different food places down
here. At one of the places, there was sushi for the equivalent of $3 in US
money. I asked Margaret if she trusted the sushi there, and she gave me the
go-ahead, so I got a spicy tuna roll for dinner the other night. I had a
headache, and the sushi was a bad idea. I got nauseated pretty badly. After
dinner, we took a trip to La Sirena (“the mermaid”), which is like their
Walmart. I wasn’t feeling well, so Margaret and Kelly and I just got a few items
and came back to the Mak house early. It was perfect timing when we got back
because I needed to run upstairs and barf. Goodbye sushi.
We have met several of the Makarios staff now and several
community members as well. One of the staff members we met is Benjamin. He’s a
Dominican who used to be sponsored by Compassion International and later worked
with Compassion. He said he could definitely pull some strings for me to be
able to see my Compassion child Angelica earlier, so that’s promising. The
email Compassion sent me told me it takes eight weeks of notification
beforehand.
The animal life is flourishing here. There are cows in the
yard next door. I plan to frolic with them in the very near future. There are
also a lot of chickens and roosters. The roosters make their presence known.
Today that occurred at 5am.
I’m excited to take the public transportation for the first
time Friday on the moto. They are basically guys riding motorcycles who charge
you to ride on the back and take you places. They also have carritos (Toyota
Corolla cabs) and guaguas (vans) to ride in.
I’ve seen God a lot here so far. I’ve especially seen him in
Kelly, my roommate. She’s so self-sacrificial and joyful. I have also seen God
in how Margaret and Kelly were so helpful to me when I wasn’t feeling well (the
night of the sushi upchucking). I also saw God recently in Margaret when she
got so emotional about her friend Miranda going back to the states after
serving here for a couple years. The bond they have is definitely from the
Lord. Margaret also showed Christ to me in how she held a neighborhood girl
accountable to make good choices during her free time this summer. I’ve seen
God a lot in the kids here as well. In both of the communities we have visited,
kids always run up to us, give us flowers, hold our hands, and ask us for “caballito”
rides. One of the girls couldn’t find a bloomed flower to give me so she picked
a bud for me and pealed back the green bud to reveal pink petals. She also
found some beads and an “estrella” (a broken piece of plastic that kind of
looked like a star). It made my heart melt.
We’ve also had some hardships here, but nothing unbearable.
For several hours, we didn’t have water at the house from the faucets. So I
wasn’t able to shower when I would have wanted to, but at least we still had
drinking water from the botellones (giant water jugs). I have gotten over 50
mosquito bites, but now that I’m taking a B vitamin supplement, I think that’s
helping. The heat makes me not feel as motivated to work hard, but I’m glad it’s
so warm and beautiful here. I’m trying to focus more on loving others and being
more self-sacrificial and gracious, which is easier than otherwise with such a
great mission family here with me. The wifi is super flakey, so that has been
kind of annoying, especially with trying to get information about my dad’s
surgery recently. But I’m glad to be disconnected from electronics as much as I
am.
This just in…. Kelly (Kenny) and I (Juanita) went on a walk
to a store (un colmado). We got a little lost on the way there and ended up outside
a house of about 10 rambunctious kids. Most of them were loudly playing dominos,
and the rest were watching and hoping to jump in on the next game. We interacted
with them a little bit then we were disrupted by a scary dog fight. I think the
kids were laughing at us because we got scared when that happened. Then I asked
a girl where the colmado was, and she told us to follow her on her bike. She
took us a couple blocks away to the colmado, which was super nice of her. Her
name is Adriana. (I’m trying to remember names and hopefully interact with the
same people throughout my time here.) Kelly and I got gatorades at the colmado.
They were green, which was unusual to us - mango verde flavor! It was
delicious. Then we walked back to the house, saying “hola” and “como esta” to
many along the way. When we got to our street, we met a woman named An (not a
typo) who was out on her porch. We talked with her for a good five to ten
minutes. Kelly is a bit better at Spanish than I am, but I can surprisingly
hold my own in a conversation. We talked with her about her kids. Her son
Estephen comes to the Makarios house to play sometimes. And she also has a very
cute shy 3 yr old daughter and an infant. She invited us in to see her baby,
who was napping at the time, and my heart leapt for joy within me. When we went
back out to the porch, I asked if there was anything we could pray for her
about, and she said there wasn’t anything. She said she goes to a catholic
church and believes in God but isn’t really into religion. I’m hoping to really
form a relationship with her while I’m down here, and hopefully God will use me
in her life in some capacity. She was playing music from inside the house, and I
recognized Enrique Iglesias’ song “Bailando” when it came on because it is one
of my Zumba songs. I asked her if she knew Zumba. She said she went to Zumba
with her mom before and would like to practice it more. I showed her a couple
steps to that song. She said if I ever led Zumba in Los Ciruelos (the name of
our community), she would come. When I came back and told Margaret about our
talk, she said I definitely should host a Zumba day at the Mak house for women
in the community towards the end of my time there once I had formed
relationships with a lot of the women in Los Ciruelos(!)
Dinner is on its way…….quinoa and chicken and beans for me,
cheesy enchiladas for the other interns. Yum!
Side note to my dad…there are no poisonous snakes or spiders
here J
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