I have been enjoying a Monday of rest after a weekend of adventure. On Friday and Saturday, my friend Anna and I decided we had to get out of Santo Domingo for a little fun and r&r. We headed to Jarabocoa, which is a few hours away in the mountains of the DR. It is gorgeous...everything is so green, like the color of new leaves when the trees are first turning green in the spring. So lovely! Honestly, if you ask what we did, there isn't much to tell. We did a lot of walking and exploring, ate some good meals, and did some serious relaxing. I was given a free bachata dance lesson on Friday night from a random man. It sounds weird, but I have been wanting to learn bachata, so I went for it and had some moments of hilarity learning to dance with this man! I think Anna and I both came back refreshed and a little bit in love with this small town. It is considerably cooler, because it sits on top of a mountain, so you can actually walk around midday without sweating. You can whitewater raft, horseback ride, hike, swim in waterfalls, and jump from cliffs...sounds ideal to me! So consider this my official recommendation for any future tourist stops in the DR...go to Jarabacoa!

Then, Sunday morning, I woke up super early to leave for the mission trip with the youth from the church. I was definitely intimated at first, because it is really hard to let your personality show when you are working with a language barrier. My spanish doesn't entirely suck, and I am definitely improving as I study each day, but it is still hard to joke around and be myself in spanish. I am generally really shy about speaking spanish. I understand way more than I say, because I have that natural fear or looking like/feeling like an idiot. I continue to try to let that go and just own my mistakes, but it is certainly difficult.

I am thankful I went on the trip, even if church dramas and all that this brand of evangelism entails are not particularly my thing. It was fun to watch the youth from this church go out and serve each other in ways that are truly sacrificial. We left yesterday at 6am, and got up this morning to come back at 4:30am, because they had to be back for work and school. I came back and was out of commission from the day because I was so tired, but all of these teenagers went directly to school and work. We slept on floors, spent two hours yesterday peeling potatoes for dinner, showered by pouring buckets of water over our heads, and piled into cars for hours of driving. All of this was done with smiles, a lot of fun, and genuine belief in their call to serve other Dominicans as God has called them to. It was fun to be with them for times of prayer, for preparation for the worship service last night, and as we stood together late last night and encouraged a pastor who moved to this country town not because it would be easy, but because it is the challenge God has laid before him.

I know I promised funny stories from the trip, but really am so impressed with this group that it is hard to make fun of it all! I did stumble into some pretty serious traditional gender roles, hence my having to peel potatoes for hours simply based on the fact that I am a lady. Otherwise, I swam in a river, came back with some SERIOUS bug bites (as in so swollen that I can't bend my knee all the way back at this point), and danced around the room with a little girl to Miley Cyrus singing 'Party in the USA.' All in all, not too bad of a weekend! At this point, I am saying yes to most of the crazy things my friends are asking me to do, because I want to soak up every cultural experience I can when I am here. I think I am competing in a bible school competition this week...not sure how that will go, but again, I am just going to go for it and see how it goes!

(the photos are my view in Jarabacoa, a little relaxing, and my bachata lesson!)