Start of Fall

Hello from San Juan! I can’t believe it has been just over a month since I returned from some time at home. I feel like it’s been a much longer amount of time; we have been so busy!

We started our fall teams with three weeks of Barrio clinics and construction! These teams brought some returning faces from earlier this year and a friend from home for the final week. I was able to go to Santo Domingo for two teams to welcome them from the airport. I find that I do enjoy going in to greet the teams.

Being home for this month has made me extremely grateful for the friends I have made in San Juan. I had previously shared that I moved just before traveling back home. One evening after working with the team, I came home to find I was locked out. After a few phone calls (to Kamanda) to ensure I didn’t have a spare key somewhere, Randy was here to help me get in. He even climbed the side of the building to do so. I was also in a very minor accident a week or so ago, and thankfully I had Santo in the car with me. He quickly got out and helped me manage the situation and later in the day, he helped me work things out with the driver. A friend came to us a few weeks ago concerned for a family member, and with one phone call Dr. Pena was back at the guesthouse ready to go with us to see how we could help.

Whenever you need help here, someone is willing to step in. I’m pretty sure it’s the Dominican way of life, and I’m so thankful they have adopted us into it.

I’m also thankful for the adventures these friends are willing to take me on. Santo and Starlin took me to the local basketball tournament a few weeks ago, Im hoping to catch the last game this weekend. You know being a Hoosier there is a good chance I enjoy basketball, and that is true. It was such an adventure to watch how passionate everyone was for their team!

We held a clinic in Cuenda a few weeks ago, and I was able to reconnect with a local family there that Pine Hills had helped to complete a home project. After spending some time with the family Eucledes drove down to the farm, and I picked Yuka for the first time.

Eunice was able to ride back from the Capitol with me a few times, and spending that time with her was special! Santo also was nice enough to be my tour guide in Santo Domingo one Friday when going in with the team. I even ran into some familiar faces picking up a team one Saturday afternoon!

We took a girls’ trip to a pumpkin patch last weekend, we had two trucks full of friends to go on this adventure! It was very interesting to experience a pumpkin patch and corn maze in the DR, very similar to home, just a lot warmer.

When we introduce people to our ministry assistance for the week we always encourage the teams to trust them because as Sarah says “they truly are our friends” and I am so thankful for their friendship!

This past week Kamanda was in the Dominican! It was so nice to have her here, even if it was just for a few short days. We picked her up from the airport on Wednesday afternoon, and headed to Las Terrenas on the north side of the island for a retreat! It was very nice to spend some intentional time with each other (Kamanda, Kate, Sarah, and I) outside of San Juan. We participated in a retreat from Velvet Ashes called Equip, which had many different topics about serving in international ministry.

Sadly it has been a while since I have been able to make the trip with the church to El Cacheo and El Hoyo. Our church did take the kid’s ministry a few weeks ago on Sunday to El Cacheo to be with the kids in that community for a time of teaching. The road to El Hoyo hasn’t been passable lately, so last week I saw some photos of my friends passing the river by horse. Please continue to pray for these communities, for the road to be fixed so that people can more easily get into El Hoyo if they need to, and for the work Mennonite Central is doing in these communities.

I have restarted my Spanish classes since returning from the States and continue to try and make learning a priority.

I have also been working to try and open a Dominican bank account to help make paying my rent and electricity a little easier, its taken a bit of time and a lot of help from friends, but thankfully I finally have an account!

With school being back in session here in the DR, we are back to visiting CCED with teams, but I’m even more excited on these days because I get to visit Anyeli! She has recently taken the school nurse position with CCED and I’m so excited to watch her grow in this role. Kate was able to spend some time with the senior nursing students promoting our upcoming surgical team, and I’m looking forward to encouraging these nursing students and teachers in the future!

We have almost wrapped up another set of weeks with Barrio, Construction, and Surgical teams. People in San Juan have started to put up their Christmas decorations, and I’m feeling a little left out so I need to get to the store to get some decorations!

This week Sarah and I were able to attend a breast cancer awareness event at the clinic, which was very informative for all in attendance!

Prayer requests: