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Hola, mi amigos!
We woke up in our bunkhouse at Juan Tomas to the sound of rain pattering on the tin roof above us! After quickly getting ready for the day we were served a delicious breakfast of pancakes and fresh fruit! We were chauffeured on a forty minute drive to New Jerusalem where we did a number of activities. Today was Saint Valentines Day and the Dominicans take this very serious! Upon arrival we were each given a heart bookmark and a lollipop in celebration. The guys headed off to help with concrete along with a few girls who were tasked with carrying buckets of water because in the culture here woman are not allowed to do "backbreaking" work! The rest of the group joined a translator in telling the Bible story about Queen Esther as well as a fun crown making craft. It was soo cool to see how proud the kids were to wear their paper crowns and show it off to their friends!
We were asked to help distribute a plate of rice, beans and chicken to all the kids! This is part of their school program and the kids receive a meal every school day. A short minute of refreshing rain relieved us from the sweltering heat! As the guys continued with work a couple girls raced off to market to buy some paint for a mural we were asked to paint on a wall. At 1:30 we were finally served our lunch and boy oh boy was it a lunch! We were excited to eat white rice beans, and the crispiest chicken and plantain but before we even had a chance to finish half of it they came in with another tray of chicken and the cheesiest lasagna!
After lunch some of the girls hurriedly started on the painted mural as we didn't think their was much time. Although feeling rushed, thanks to the creativity and talents we managed to pull off an amazing piece of art! The other half of us walked across the road to play skip rope and soccer with some local kids. An interesting fact about schools here in Dominican is that they start early and are finished shortly after lunch to escape the heat in the classrooms.
Around 4:00 we headed back down the bumpy road to the school compound where we sat around for a bit till dinner was ready. For supper tonight we had mashed potatoes, chicken legs and a vegetable salad!
After supper we were invited to play a game of volleyball against the VERY competitive Dominican teens who put us to shame! Just as we were about done playing a downpour of warm rain had us racing to the lunchroom where we finished off the day with out devotional booklet and a circle of sharing our highs and lows of the day.
Today was a super successful and enjoyable day and finished off the evening with some fun games!
